FemiKnitMafia

In looking through my ‘07 resolutions, I didn’t do too poorly. Especially when you consider the two huge life changes that were unexpected and largely out of my control: the divorce and being recruited into a graduate program. Still, as I look at the list, I feel a twinge of guilt for not achieving everything I set out to do. It’s silly, I know. But I’m a striver like that.

However, this year I pledge to be a realist. Life is short. Relationships are unpredictable. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Therefore, I intend to focus more on the present, less on the future, and way less on what other people are doing/accomplishing. Accordingly, my goals are:

Human
… pay attention and go with the flow
… continue to be mindful of my body, fitness and health
… continue to love my little boy with all of my heart, and make all decisions with his needs in mind
… regularly tell friends and family how much I appreciate them

Employee & Student
… focus. focus. focus. produce. produce. produce.
… imagine. envision. create.

Home-owner
… buy a mattress & box spring
… buy a couch
… make wise financial decisions

Creator
… look to the stash (both fabric and fiber) before buying anything new
… finish some WIPs
… have fun

In looking back, I realize that I finished more crafty projects in 2007 than I thought.

It’s funny how you can forget about things that are finished and gifted away, temporary, perpetually in progress, or outgrown. If you ignore all of those items, that leaves 2 pairs of socks, one washrag, a pair of mittens, a hat, and my first skein of handspun. No wonder I’m forgetting my accomplishments!
I fudged the definition a little to allow the Dale to make the cut. After all, I finished the whole body. That’s a finished object, right?

Note to self: try to take more photos of completely finished objects before using/gifting them.

In a moment of crazy youthful impulsiveness, and thanks to blogless Deanna’s tip, I convinced Cheryl to drive across the state to Northampton tonight to see an incredible New Year’s Eve show at the Calvin: Melissa Ferrick, Erin McKeown and Alix Olson, together! There’s also talk of additional surprise guests, and I bet Pamela Means will be one of them. I am so f-ing excited I can barely contain myself!!! Happy Dance. Happy. Happy. Happy. Dance. After the show, we’ll drive east in the wee hours, crash hard, and then go to Danielle’s for the afternoon. What a way to welcome the New Year! Hoooooray!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The couple directly across the street from us their first baby last Tuesday. We don’t know them well, but initial indications say that they’re nice. The Dad said his garage is always open and that we should help ourselves to any tools that we don’t already own. He owns a gardening company and offered to haul our yard waste away. Yeah. Seriously nice people.

So I knit a hat. And instead of knitting something that I would like, I knit something that they would like. Whoah. People - this is a big development. I would never knit a picot edge. I would never knit a flare. I would absolutely never knit in shocking pink. But they’re fairly traditional people, so I knit something pink and frilly. Caah-razy.

Details: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (leftovers from knitting the Womb)
Pattern: My own
Needles: KnitPicks Circs size 4 (I think)
Started: May 3rd
Finished: May 4th

(decreases stretched out by Little Man’s Ted Kennedy head)

Then Wifey put together an amazing basket with a stuffed dog, yellow tulips, artisan bread (wrapped in muslin and tied with a pink bow), hummus, grapes, a block of cheese, and some other stuff in the bottom of the basket:

I know. She’s good, isn’t she?

I feel like such a baby for lamenting my tasks during the surro-c-section recovery period, because that’s the least of my problems right now. It’s like the universe gave me a big ol’ smack in the head for being a whiner. And now I shall whine again. Skip directly to the photos if you’re interested in the knitting.

- Teaching two classes is killer. The online class, in particular, is killing me.
- Wifey has been in and out of the hospital 3 times with post-partum preeclempsia.
- MafiaMom just got out of major surgery, and I’m trying to find a way to visit/care for her.
- The perfect next job popped up and I applied. Now I’m in the process of interviewing (a.k.a. shopping for professional drag, de-politicizing my resume, and filing my nails).

I don’t have time to pay bills, clean the house, return phone calls, or snuggle with my Little Man. Literally, I work all day, grade papers on the train, read Little Man a couple stories before he goes to bed, and sit in front of the computer until I fall asleep (sometimes with it on my lap). Rinse and repeat. Weekends, you ask? That’s when I clean the house a little, spend time with Little Man, and then slog through hours of writing PowerPoints and answering emails and grading papers. Wifey suggested that perhaps I shouldn’t teach two classes again — “pshaw, as if! after all this work I’ve put into it? the next one should be a walk in the park.” This is clearly a sign of madness.

Jenny Hat is done, but might need a rip. If I don’t move at all, it fits well.

If I move, I become a dick head.

The Monkey socks are nearly done

and I love the Socks that Rock (color: Watermelon Tourmaline, gifted by the ever-incredible Frickmeister), but the socks are a little tight and the color is frickin’ awesome, but not entirely Mafia-esk, so I’m thinking about adding to Frick’s Pay It Forward sensibility and giving them away. No official word on that yet, but I’m thinking about it.

I’m seriously neglecting my Arwen; I’d love to cast on some green socks with two beautiful gifted-with-love skeins waiting in the stash; and I signed up to participate in a quilt block for charity project, which thankfully starts in May.

Damnit, I just want an entire day alone in a shiny clean house with nothing to do but listen to music and knit. Is that too much to ask?
April can’t arrive fast enough.
April.
April.
April.
April.

Alas, I was just rounding the corner

and realized that the Jenny Hat needs a good frogging. I enjoy a nice skull cap, but Jenny is simply too small. See my poor exposed ear?

In case you’re wondering, I’m too lazy to schlep my camera around, and my blogtographer/work-wife took a 1/2 day, so I’m left to play the boss-avoiding/quick pic/blurry Photo Booth game. Fun times.

-wifey update: no baby and no allegations of spousal abuse. all is well.

CONTEST NEWS

The correct answer to the Mafia Week ‘07: Game #1 is — the birthmark above my right knee is shaped like a HEART.

When I was a child, my Gramma said I was kissed by an angel. So sweet. In later years, I imagined being kissed by this angel.

Because nobody guessed the correct shape (and what’s with all the land mass guesses?), I used the random number generator to decide the winner.

And the winner is:

Kathy!

Congratulations!! I’ll send the Knitting Rules book out tomorrow. Enjoy!

KNITTING NEWS

I spent a week on the Monkey socks in the Frickmeister STR and got to the heel.

I love the yarn, and although I had several moments of doubt during repeat #2, I love the colors.

Then a cold spell hit Boston, and I realized that commuting in Massachusetts is bitter. So I put the Monkeys down in favor of a much-needed Jenny hat in leftover Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in Jewel. As of today, it’s about 2/3 done.

I’m hoping to have enough JS yarn for a pair of much-needed Massachusetts commuter mittens.

Last weekend, I did two lousy rows on the Arwen sweater. I’m the worst KAL co-host in the world. And at this rate, it’ll be 90 degrees outside before I finish it.

Oh, and did I mention the mistake I made on the back of the Arwen cable? For some reason, it doesn’t appear on the front. Strange. I’m still trying to decide if I should rip it out, which might explain the languishing. Any thoughts?

PERSONAL NEWS

Wifey is ready to pull a small baby girl from her belly, but has been advised by her doctor that this isn’t a great idea. So she’s waiting. And god love her, she hasn’t killed me yet. So all is well. In fact, I believe she’s walking the mall right now, trying to get that baby to ‘engage’.

Body
Bruise = very deep purple, arnica slathered (thanks Kat). With all those comments, I Felt The Love.
Sinuses & Lungs = congested, infected, loud, raspy, medicated.

On the Needles
Red Scarf Project = not secret, but not yet blogged. Yet 2/3 finished.
in the Besotted pattern = much love and adoration.
in KnitPicks Swish Superwash = nice, but a bit splitty, especially when frogged.

A Knitter’s Mad Libs
It was a sassy day. I decided to stay in doors and work on my A Cardigan For Arwen. Oh Shit! This pattern is green! I have been hardly knitting this 4 days now. It’s going carefully. What a wagon! I decided to move on and work on my bra. That is a much tighter knit. Only when I was knitting, I made a hose. Now it looks like a drug instead of a bra. I’m so loud. I guess I’ll have to frog and skip it again. Those are the perils of running.
*source: Knotty Bits

Knitastrophe

This photo was taken a couple weeks ago after our first real snow. Little Man is such a good helper, and this is our basic weekend M.O.: I pick a household project and Little Man helps me. At some point he’ll realize this is a racket. But for now, I get some companionship and a little assistance.

However … hold your breath … this is the last time my Celtic Cable Cap was seen in the wild. I know. I know. It’s hard to fathom. It’s a travesty of knitterly justice. Perhaps I lost it. Or perhaps the felting monster made a wee mistake, was too terrified to fess up and shoved the offending piece deep in the trash underneath some old oatmeal. Or perhaps I lost it. I probably lost it. [frown]

The Lesser Knits
With my hat missing and temperatures dipping into the single digits on my ass-crack-of-dawn walk to the train, I broke down and wore in public the formerly beautiful hat that my deceased MIL made for me (now irrevocably stretched out) and the first pair of mittens I ever made. Oh the shame.

To see if I’m really ungrateful, shallow and silly, here’s a poll:

Last year I knit a hat for Little Man, but it was too big. I shoved it into the bottom of a basket and promptly forgot about it. But when the winter winds started to blow, I decided to re-use this very cool yarn combo: Cascade 220 in navy, stranded with Crystal Palace Kid Merino in Indigo #4675 (scroll down). With an ever-growing head, I decided to make the hat too big again, but with expandable all-over ribbing and a big wide cuff, so he could wear it for more than one season.

Apparently Little Man has a different vision. He won’t allow us the roll up the cuff, so he wears it like this.

I have to admit, it’s kinda cute. The ribbing curves nicely around his melon, making a delightfully round shape from every angle.

At the top, I decreased at the same place every time, so the top third of the hat spirals around a bit. Instead of a pom-pom, I opted for a ‘floof’. Yes, that’s a technical term for a loose pom-pom that looks like Wyclef’s hair when he wears it up. See?

Copyright: 2003 Wyclef.com

In all honesty, I tried to find a screen shot of Wyclef from his Sesame Street appearance when he sings “Healthy Food” with Cookie Monster, which is the true inspiration for the ‘floof’, but I can’t find it. I’m not entirely unhappy with this photo, because even us lesbians have to admit that he’s one beautiful man. And while scooting around the web, I found one of my favorite Sesame Street skits on YouTube. Anyone else remember Let’s Sing a Song About J?

Anyway … I also made a pair of mittens for Little Man, so he has a matching set. He loves them, although he’s convinced that “mittens” are actually called “sleeves.”

Now if only I could focus on knitting some mittens for myself. Walking to the train this morning in 20 degree weather was a bit shocking on my bare skin.