Honk Honk Rattle Rattle Rattle Crash Beep Beep

I was in a car accident this morning while on my way back home from Brother's house.

(Disclaimer: I am fine. My car is surprisingly fine.)

I rear ended a pick up truck on the freeway. He stopped suddenly, presumably because he saw the cop on the side of the road. I hit my brakes, and would have stopped in time if it had not been raining. My tires stopped moving, but my car kept going and slid right into the truck's bumper.

It shook me up quite a bit.

I got to work, but they sent me home to de-stress.

I de-stressed by STARTING to wind a skein of lace weight. It is calming, but taking longer than anticipated.

I think I will take a break and go knit something brain-free.

Forgotten Projects

I am at Brother's house this weekend. Sis-In-Law is out of town.

I was getting ready to get in the shower this morning and realized I didn't have a towel. I went out to their hall closet to grab one, and saw this:



It is the red afghan that I made Brother for Christmas one year, before he had even met Sis-In-Law.

I had forgotten that I had made it until I saw it there this morning.

Frankly, I was surprised that he still had it. It isn't that great of an afghan, comparatively speaking. I was still a starving undergrad when I made it, so it was lovingly crocheted out of cheap acrylic yarn from Wal-Mart (which was my only option at the time due to geography and budget). I shudder to recall the many hours of Law and Order reruns I watched on TNN while making it.

It has held up shockingly well, considering that it has crossed the country several times, been washed often, and used.

It also has gotten me to think about other "forgotten" projects. I think Sister still has her blue afghan that matches this one. I think I gave a creamy colored one to my aunt in TX, too. But there have been a lot of beanies, scarves, dishcloths, and coffee cup cozies handed out over the years. Many that I can't quite remember...and now I'm wondering how many are still in use/existence...

I am also wondering now how many of the things I cherish have been completely forgotten by those who gave them to me...

Interesting.

Switching Paddles Mid Stream

I had been working on yet another scarf for myself, the Corn Rows Scarf.

It was very pretty.

It was also fairly skinny.

I liked it.

Then, I got around to finally organizing and cleaning out my closet.

During said cleaning, I got down the tub-o-scarves. I saw the plethora of skinny, pretty scarves that it contained. All of a sudden, Corn Rows seemed...redundant.

I didn't want to frog it. I didn't want to abandon it. I still liked it.

So, I am switching modes in the middle of the project without changing any of the already completed work.

I am making a belt.

Scarf + Buckle = Belt!

The Song That Does Not End

Yesterday was the third and FINAL Kids Get Knittin'@The Library program this session. (And I don't currently have a kids' program on the winter/spring calendar...)

We added this session last minute, and only opened it to the kids who had been wait listed from the first two sessions. As a result, I had a much smaller crowd. There were four girls, second through fourth grade, and two were sisters. I had not asked Volunteen to come in, because I asked that the kids RSVP to me if they were going to make it. And, although she was standing by, Miss-A didn't come in either.

There was a brief moment of panic shortly before the program began. Although I had left the hand knit socks, the instruction sheets, the project yarn, and all of the paperwork in my program box...for some INEXPLICABLE reason, I had taken my spare needles, demonstration needles, and demonstration yarn home with me the week before! This would normally not be a big deal because I am me. I always have knitting in my purse. Unfortunately, yesterday's knitting was a coffee cup cozy and a sweater...both of which were on circular needles!

I decided to wing it.

I took two pencils out of the supply cabinet, sharpened them, and stuck erasers on the end for needle stops.

The girls thought it was pretty funny that I was teaching them how to knit with pencils.

I wasn't the only one using the rubber erasers either. Two of the girls had purchased double pointed needles...so they got erasered as well!

Since I had a smaller crowd, I was able to spend more individual time with each girl. They were amazing, and caught on surprisingly quickly...especially considering how young they were!

(They all were VERY frustrated by the "out" in the "in, around, out, and off" sequence. But that frustration is normal in everyone I have ever taught from five year old Spaz up to senior citizens! It is a difficult step to explain. I truly have to demonstrate it one-on-one with their hands under mine on the needles...)

The girls got farther on their bookmarks than the majority of the kids did in previous weeks, but that is probably due to the smaller class size. No one finished though, but I didn't expect anyone too. The bookmark took me a little over half an hour and I have been knitting for over decades...literally.

The next library program is going to be in January or February. It is a scarf for teens at the other library branch. Also, at the beginning of the year, I have a two-part adult felted purse program. (That will be interesting, since for felting you need feltable yarn...)

Bangle Bracelet Bags...Another Commission

Psych's mom saw the purse that I made Angel for her birthday and absolutely fell in love with it. She has two other granddaughters, and wanted them to have matching purses.

She offered to pay me for them, so I agreed. I had to do some improvising though since I didn't have enough of Angel's purse yarn to make two more, and I didn't have the same bracelets. Luckily, I did have some felt-able pinks. I knit with 2 colors of Cascade 220 yarn held together. I think the colors were 9478 and 7803. I used sterling silver bracelets in a dark steel color for the handles. Angel's purse used pink sparkly bangle bracelets.

So, while listening to the first round of grad school lectures this quarter, I knit up 2 bangle bracelet bags.

Finished the knitting on Thursday.
Did the seaming up and first round of felting on Friday.
Second round of felting on Saturday.
Will deliver them tonight.

Best part...since they were a commission, they are helping finance the sweater that I want to make! Woo-Hoo!

(Also, I am glad that they aren't exactly the same as Angel's, since I made Angel's as a special gift for her birthday. This way, her cousins have purses too, but Angel's is still one-of-a-kind!)

Living on the Edge

I am living on the edge! I am not going to buy another skein of the yarn for Les Tuileries.

I would like to say that this is because I am a risk taker.

Or that I am frugal.

Or that I am a math whiz who figured out that 2 skeins was indeed sufficient.

I'm not.

The truth is I am a weenie little spendthrift blonde.

However, I am an uptight weenie little spendthrift blonde.

I actually went to Knit This, Purl That yesterday to buy another skein.

Unfortunately, none of their stock of this "dye lot" was even remotely close to what I purchased last time. (Funny...I thought the point of having a dye lot was that the yarn WOULD match...call me crazy...)

Anyway, the perfectionist in me refuses to buy another skein that is so completely off color.

I will make do.

It will be ok.

I hope.

Same Song, Second Verse

Tuesday was the second Kids Get Knittin'@The Library. Once again it was Miss-A, Volunteen, and me.

It amazed me how much having a different group of kids completely changed the whole dynamic of the class.

We had thirteen girls show up for the program. Of those thirteen, eleven of them were second graders. Of those eleven second graders, two of them were lefties. All I can say is that I am SO grateful to Sis-In-Law for being a leftie! Because it meant I had experience with knitting "backwards." (Actually, Jester was a leftie, too...I think.)

One major difference between this program and last week's program was the adult presence. We have consistently told the parents that they needn't stay. However, the vast majority of girls this week came for their brownie troop's field trip. As a result, we had 5 additional parents staying in the room. A couple of them even knew how to knit. This was very handy since the girls were younger and required more individual attention.

Another good thing was that this week all of the kids had the correct needles. We didn't have to eraser tip any double points, or give out loaners. (If we loan needles, we slip the projects onto unsharpened pencils when the program ends.)

Overall, it was a very smooth program.

I have developed a couple of mantras that I have the kids recite before we start each program:
"I love my needles."
"My needles are my friends."
"I will NOT strangle my needles with my yarn."
That seems to be the number one problem with kids knitting...they pull everything VERY tight.

Oh...and the steps to the knit stitch are also repeated verbally over and over and over and over:
"In. Around. Out. Off."
(Out, by the way, is wickedly hard for kids. They can get in and around fairly quickly. And off happens more frequently than it ought to...But "out" is killer.)

In the end, I had a lot of fun, and I hope they did as well.

We ended up with a large enough waiting list for both sessions that we decided to add a third session NEXT Tuesday for those who were not able to make the first two. (We are not advertising this however. Miss-A and I directly contacted those who were wait-listed. If everyone comes, the group will be half the size it has been. I am not sure we even told Volunteen about it.)

(By the way, as costume, Miss-A and I have been wearing my handknit rainbow socks and Sesame Street socks. Miss-A has been impressed with how INSANELY comfortable they are. She keeps offering to take them home and wash them. But I am afraid if she does that they will not make it back to me. I currently have them folded neatly in the program box under my desk, and there they will remain until next week when I take them to MY apartment and wash them myself!)