Wednesday, March 28, 2007

I Am

Where to begin? Disaster, adventure, inspiration, or gratitude? Best to always start with gratitude, I think.
Gratitude
Thank you to my dear friend Aimee, who made me another much-needed knitting log. I was going to copy the picture from her blog, but you should just go there. That way, you can also see how great she is for taking the time to make me this book. I'll be sad to see her leave.

Thank you to DG for a marvelous weekend in the Bay Area. I love and miss the ocean, e
specially on cold days. I walked more than I have all month, but every step was more enjoyable than the one before. Thank you for taking me to Artfibers (where I bought a great Kira K pattern--I would have bought yarn for it, but they didn't have a color I wanted) and Marin Fiber Arts (where I bought Claudia Hand Painted sock yarn in Caribbean Blue).

Thank you to AF, for lunch at Herbivore and inspirational conversation. Which leads me to . . .

Inspiration
AF is a friend from college. We were very close for two years. She and my sister were roommates for a semester, and have stayed in touch. Somehow, though, AF and I had lost touch over the years. It had been over eight years since I'd seen her. Since she's also friends with DG, we all got together on Friday in San Francisco and walked the entire city twice over, I'm sure. AF moved out to SF for grad school, but realized that the program wouldn't satisfy her desire to change the world. So she's working on a business plan to do just that. I admire her tenacity, her bravery, her charm, and her easy laughter. If I could have one of those things in the dose that AF carries, I'd be a better person. I'm going to work on having more tenacity, being braver, nicer, and laughing more.

Adventure
I was in San Francisco and Marin County last weekend to visit DG. With everything that has been promising to change in my life, it was so nice to spend a weekend with people who knew me in college. They live lives that I am envious of, but admire greatly. We walked everywhere, went to the beach in the rain, watched egrets doing their mating rituals, and ate delicious food (some of the best was cooked by DG). There was laughing, and hugging, and discussing, and enjoying. Oh, and knitting. DG learned to cable and took to it like a fish to water. He was even comfortable enough to rip out the few rows he'd knit because he wanted the scarf to be wider. He's definitely one of my best students ever. He learned how to cable while watching "Lady in the Water" with a room full of people, and only made one mistake. I'm so proud.


I've been working on Isabella. After all that pining for it, I decided I should just make it. Plus, I got the yarn on sale. I am definitely enjoying this knit, even though it's for me. I do feel like I should be working on Joseph's sweater or Renée's dress, but there's no rush on any of it, so I'm just going to work on what I want to work on. Tonight it will be the sweater or dress because I unintentionally left Isabella at work.

Disaster
You may notice that I haven't mentioned the somewhat secret project for DG. That's because it all ended in disaster. I was able to find another skein of the grey color, and the hardware I needed came in time to assemble the project. Then I felted it. What was supposed to be a messenger bag turned into a useless glob.

I should have known better. I should have been a better knitter and knit and felt a test swatch. I should have realized that the grey would felt at a different rate than the blue. I'd made an oven mitt from the Lamb's Pride Bulky (also for DG, picture above) so I thought I knew how the yarn would felt. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So, I may cut it down into a lumpy cat bed or into squares for pot holders. Maybe both. I think I'll leave felting to the experts for a while.


After the felting disaster, I was working on Joseph's sweater and knit a good three inches of 1x1 ribbing before I realized I hadn't changed the needle size. So I ripped back and decided that night just wasn't a night for knitting. I think I'll finish that tonight, just to put the disaster behind me.


3 comments:

Lynn said...

oh ugh! well, ya know, I tried to make a felted messenger bag for my sister, and it also turned out to be useless.:P what is it with messenger bags?!a cat bed sounds perfect, though... Mine wasn't big enough after felting for that!

aimee said...

hahaaa. jack is so spoiled.

i'm glad you got to go west. and that i got to see you for a while. it's always sooooo nice to know there's a safe, welcome place to stay whenever i'm in town. i can't wait until surprise time for you.

TK said...

Jack's already taken to using it as a cat bed. I guess he doesn't mind the lumpiness.

It's always nice to have friends around, even in my tiny space.