Warty Bobbles

Finishing

I am still working in “just finish it!” mode.  And aside from Gwen’s stockings, I have finished the Christmas/Epiphany/Groundhog’s Day gift that I cannot disclose quite yet (it is late – it should at least be a surprise!). 

 

I continue on Owen’s “Yzma Blanket.”  And George’s sweater -- EZ’s Seamless Hybrid Sweater done with some of Elsebeth Lavold’s Viking cables on the sleeves.  It is going well, but I am getting a little nervous about what exactly I am going to do with the cables once I get to the saddle shoulder part.  Well, that keeps it exciting.  I have also resurrected a pair of socks (the Woodland Socks) which are quite close to done.  I threw another sock project (this one barely started) into my knitting bag too, but have not done anything with it yet.

 

In the spirit of “just finish it!” I have taken on the Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf (Churchmouse Classics) that Sonja was knitting.  She wants the scarf, but does not find linen stitch at 450 sts/row! to her liking.  So, I said I would finish it for her birthday (end of February).  Can’t say I find linen stitch at 450! sts/row to be my cup of tea either, but maybe once I get more into the rhythm of it….And I did need a good portable not-too-much-thinking project.

 

The only project I have started is a pair of socks for Owen.  His store-bought socks were falling off – the ones that are too big and the ones that are too small (socks are mystical like that).  So, I commented that he was one-sock-off-ish because he was not wearing hand-knit socks.  “So I guess you better knit him some” was Sonja’s answer (to her credit, I do not think I was actually knitting on her abandoned scarf at that moment).  But I had put my own hand-knit-stockinged foot in my mouth, so to speak – and the next thing I knew I was casting on a tiny sock (he has long skinny feet – kind of like a kangaroo—like his cousin Gwen at his age, come to think of it).

 

So, that is the progress report.  Back to knitting.

Blogging About Not Blogging

My blog posts have been few & far between this month – the past few weeks being given up to:

Recovering & cleaning up from Christmas (there is still a small Christmas tree hanging naked in our family room, but this George’s problem not mine)

Celebrating 2 birthdays and 1 baptism

Experiencing a Big Snow

Getting Sarah and the children (and cats & household goods) packed up and off to North Carolina where they will be living at (in? on? I’m still trying to figure out Army lingo) Ft. Bragg with her husband, Jeff

Trying to maintain stiff upper lip about Sarah & her family moving to North Carolina

Doing a major (and much-needed) room-by-room housecleaning

Playing Words With Friends on my iPhone with most of my family

Taking care of the 3 grandchildren (I am typing this with one hand while holding little Owen who had his 2-month shots today)

And, of course, knitting whenever possible!

 

To make up (a little) for sheepishly blogging about not blogging (and to prove that I have not only been knitting, but actually finishing), here are photos of Gwen’s Lace Stockings.

 

Words With Friends

We have a whopping 8 inches of snow!  It is gorgeous outside and cozy inside.  Winter at its best.

I should be happily and productively knitting away -- on George's sweater, on Gwen's socks, on Owen's blanket....

But instead I am playing Words With Friends on my iPhone with nearly everyone in my family.  We are all just crazy over it!  Crazed is, perhaps, the better word.  It is like Scrabble and you can keep several games going at once with different people -- or, as we sometimes accidently start up a 2nd game with someone we are already playing, several games with one person.  At present, I am playing 7 games with 5 family members (most of whom are stuck home because of  the snow with nothing better to do than play this blasted game!).

You can set your phone to alert you with a chime or something when your opponent plays.  I have wisely opted not to do that.  SInce I am playing with Geoff (who is in London  and on London time) and Sonja & Jordan (who have a new baby and are on baby time), there could be plays chimed in at me in the middle of the night. (I know this because I sleep with aman who chooses to have the chime alert on!)  Anyhow, the way I have it set up, the only way I can tell it is my turn (on any of my 7 games) is to punch into the ap on my phone.  So, really, I could make a play and then let it sit for an hour, a couple of hours, a day -- and I think that is how most people play it.

But I am more like a chain-smoker, lighting up my phone every 5 minutes or so to see if someone has played -- and usually they have!  Usually about 3 of them.  So, then I have to (not really "have to" but yeah I have to) take my turns.  And by the time I have finished someone has usually played again! 

This is cutting into my knitting time most severely (not just today but over the past few days, I confess).

It is just so darn compelling!  I could try not to check it so often, of course -- maybe only after, say, 3 rounds on the sock.  But when 2 of my opponents are sitting in the same room as I am, hooting and bragging about their last 32-point word (and I instantly wonder if it was played against me!)...well, there I am punching into the Words With Friends ap again!

Finishing

I have been reading The Yarn Harlot’s blog – about her annual January “Startitis.”  Interesting.  Heaven knows, I have bouts of “Startitis” (the keen desire to start new projects) from time to time.  But not in January.

 

In January, I am consumed by the idea of finishing projects.  “Finishing Fantasies”? “Finishing Fetish”?  I don’t really know what to call it, but I just want to get some of these projects done!

 

Maybe it is the pendulum swing away from the excesses and frivolities of the Holidays to a more virtuous and wholesome way of life.  Like how store shelves that held mountains of tinsel and cashmere and chocolate in December are now stacked with exercise gear and storage containers and finance computer programs.  It could be a little bit about guilt.  But I prefer to think that I am craving the deeper satisfaction of a job well done.

 

Could be that I am just tired, too.  Chugging away at a sweater’s worth of stockinette suits my energy level.  I am not feeling too inspired just now – my creativity was at full throttle for weeks and maybe it is time to let it rest.  Even though I received some wonderful yarn for Christmas, I am not ready to embark on anything new (okay, I made a couple of sketches, but have not even had the urge to swatch).

 

Could be that I am just in a “finishing” mood.  Today, for example, I have been putting away our Christmas linens and dishes – something I just want to get finished.  George and I are planning to give the house a thorough cleaning – something else I am eager to get finished even though we haven’t actually started yet (I have been fantasizing so much about cleaning the house that I feel like I am half-way done – we are not even going to discuss the fact that I am fantasizing about cleaning the house!).

 

Could be that the return of daily demands, exercise, meetings, household work, all the things I put off until “after Christmas” are eclipsing my knitting activities.  And I admit it irks me that these things are slowing down my progress -- making me even for persistent in my drive to finish projects! Call it Finnish (pardon the pun!) stubbornness! 

 

Grandchildren do that too.  Today, all three grandbabies were here and I did not finish anything – not even a sentence!  But that I don’t mind so much.  I really wish that come winter we could just shut everything down and quietly get caught up, finish some things before spring starts whistling to us around the corner and the returning sun gets us energized and inspired to start something new.

 

Winter Settling In

There comes a time to pack up the Christmas decorations:   just before it starts to feel more depressing to leave them up than to take them down.  For us, that day was today.  So down came the nutcrackers and tinsel and santa clauses and angels and nativity sets and snowmen…

 

We are determined to do a good housecleaning now that the shelves and mantels and all are bare (and the house really needs it after all the festivities and tinsel!).  So, everything stays bare and cheerless for now.  It is kind of visually peaceful – like the nude tree branches (if the nude tree branches were covered in dust and glittery bits and unidentifiable crumbs….).

 

We should really turn off the timers on the outdoor colored lights, too (we brazenly keep the white lights on til mid-February because it is so dang dark at our end of the street).  But tonight they are still on.  I think there is a full moon tonight, but it is rainy and so a black night nonetheless.

 

I really wonder what people who don’t knit do in winter.  Music or an old familiar movie, an evening that feels like forever, tea, a fire, a quiet companion, my knitting.  

 

And I kind of wish the days would be as uneventful with no reason to leave the house and nothing very pressing to do in the house.  Just my knitting, books, letters….but I will just have to be content with long quiet evenings.  Okay, I am going back to my knitting now.  Happy winter, happy knitting.

 

Some Perspective

My Christmas knitting report was a bit, um, triumphant.  And while it is all well and good to be pleased with one’s accomplishments, it is only fair to put the achievements in perspective.  I guess I forget that most of you who read my blog are not hanging around my house sipping tea and either tsking over or smiling at the festive (occasionally frantic) bohemian chaos that marks our lives – especially at Christmastime!

So, I should point out that the knitting and other projects I worked on through December meant a routine of early mornings and late nights – and most everything was finished in the ta-da knick of time with hardly a moment to spare. 

I must give deep and heartfelt thanks to my husband George who is not only a great cook and fabulous baker, but a tremendous kitchen manager.  He handled the lion’s share of the holiday cooking, grocery shopping, baking, and kitchen clean-up while the lioness was feverishly knitting or stitching away.  He did a lot of other housework, too.  The rest of the family pitched in (as they always do) and we could not have done it without them!

I kept up with the laundry, did a lot of the decorating and gift-wrapping – and George and I always do the gift shopping together (he drives and I knit!).  But my Christmas cards are late for the first time ever. Sigh.  Usually I get going on those early in the month, but this year they got pushed until the week before Christmas – when everyone was home and then my sister Susan’s family came and, well, the cards were set aside in favor of spending time with all of them, of course.

The point is that knitting happens against the backdrop of our lives – or perhaps, more accurately, as an integral part of our lives.  It is influenced by what occurs in our days and it impacts those very events & activities, chores & commitments, the drudgeries & the festivities.  There are choices to be made, compromises to be made, adjustments to be made.

 I felt I should show that the only reason I could accomplish all that I did and still have such a full & festive family Christmas is that we have a terrific family team.  And that there are times when I put my knitting work above other work – and I am blessed to have a husband who understands and supports that!  And that, try as I may to keep my goals realistic and my time frame reasonable, I usually end up behind schedule – over-tired, kinda stressed out, obsessive….not at my best. 

I just wanted to give an accurate picture of what my knitting life is like during the Holiday Season to set alongside the list of my projects.  Keeping it real!