Finishing

Finishing has to be my least favorite part of any project. Right now, I'm trying to finish sewing together strips of an afghan http://freeknittingpatterns.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-windowpaneThrow.html for my aunt. I started to put them together, but I think it would look better if the one strip was flipped over. I don't know how to explain it, except that the bump seems to be on the side that looks more like the front. So now I think I have to rip out all of the sewing together and start over. At least I'm only part way through the first sewn together part, but it took me a long time to do anyway, I'm not looking forward to ripping it out and starting over. And I have to finish the "finishing" by Friday night when I'm going to see my aunt. You would think I would learn. You would think I would finish things well in advance of their assigned date. But I don't. I never have. I don't with work, school, or knitting. I guess, to a certain extent, the question is, "Why start now?"

The Bee-you-tee-ful Flowers

Look at these beautiful flowers from my brother. The card read, "I'm so proud of you! Good luck in law school."

There are over a dozen roses in it. I'm sitting next to the bouquet, and it is so fragrant, too.

All this right after I had just spoken to him and said how proud of *him* I was for passing the first part of his CFA exam! Always, really. This was just the latest reason. It's one of the nice things about our relationship -- it is definitely an equal give and take and we are always so proud of each other.

I have to think of something to do for him to show him how proud I am of *him* as well!

I had so much trouble getting up for work this morning. One might think that it was because of the weather and that I wanted to play outside now that the weather has broken, but really, it was lack of desire. All I wanted to do was sit inside, watch some movies and work on the Prayer Shawl. I feel as though I am NEVER going to finish it. Or maybe go outside and work on the Prayer Shawl. Either way, I just didn't want to be at work.

It probably didn't help that I stayed up late talking to my baby brother. And then, when I got off the phone with him, I couldn't fall asleep. I'm very happy for him, though. He just found out that he passed the first part of his CFA exam. WOO HOO! I think he's crazy, personally. I can't imagine why anyone would want to take this thing. It's three parts, and you have to pass all three parts in order to be certified. Or, you know, Certifiable. And you study for this for like SIX MONTHS. I know, I know. I'm going to law school, so how is it really any different, right? To quote Ethan Hawke's character in Reality Bites, "I was told there'd be no math on this exam." If there were math on the LSAT, I don't think I ever would have taken it.

I would knit him something warm and cuddly in celebration, but the boy lives in California, so what does he need warm for? And if he wants cuddly, he has a great girlfriend. I don't know that I would call her "cuddly" necessarily, but she's good to him and for him, so I don't think it's a negative that she isn't cuddly.

Besides, for his college graduation, I made him a blanket, that he keeps on his bed every night. He said that it's nice to have when he wakes up at 4:30 am and it is actually cold there. When he moved there, I had visions of it being stashed in a closet someplace never to emerge. I did ask him if he wanted something more lightweight for the couch, but he said that he wouldn't use it. I can respect that. I don't understand it, but I can respect it. Even over the summer, I find that I so frequently dive under a lightweight blanket, just to have the feeling of something covering me while I'm sitting on the couch. And I would never go to sleep without something over me. It used to be that I felt I needed something heavy, but now I'm content with a topsheet if it's very warm out. In any case, though I don't understand, I'm not about to start making him a new blanket.

Acrylics Anonymous and Michele of Saskatchewan

The ring that I tried to join last night is called Acrylics Anonymous. It made me laugh to see it on this other fantastic knitting blog (http://www.beknitted.blogspot.com/). I like reading this woman's blog. Her name is Michele, and I see her on a lot of other blogs -- references to her, posts by her, etc. It seems like Michele is just one of those people who delights in doing nice things for others. There need to be more people in this world out there like her. I only hope that she gets back all that she gives, in triplicate! I have a friend who always says, "You get paid for everything you do. You might not get paid in money, and you might not get paid now, but you get paid for everything you do." I hope that Michele gets paid. Maybe in yarn :)

And speaking of...

I tried to join this Acrylics Anonymous because, hey, lets face it. If it weren't for acrylic yarn, I couldn't afford to knit at all. I have already decided that I. AM. NOT. BUYING. ANY. MORE. YARN. At least not until I finish up everything that I have in my stash. Which, though not as much as some of the collections I see from bloggers, is still considerable. I always say that, though, and then I go out and buy more. I think it will help that as of Sunday night, I will no longer have a car. *sigh* Aah, here comes the life of a poor student. This will be the first time since about May of '96 that I will have been without a car. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. But I do hope that it will cut down on my yarn expeditions! From now on, if someone wants me to knit or crochet them something, they'll have to buy the yarn for me and I'll make whatever they want. Or, you know, within reason...

And as for it being acrylic -- hey, if someone else is buying, I'll use the "good stuff!" I was taught to knit and crochet by a woman who used nothing but Red Heart Super Savers. With a coupon. Her sister would collect the coupons from the neighbors (anyone who didn't knit themselves) in their complex in Florida, and they would make a trip out of it. Drive to Michael's, buy one skein each, put them in the car, go back, stand on a different line, buy one skein each, put them in the car, go back, stand on yet a different line, buy one skein each, put them in the car, take a break for lunch, go back, buy one skein each... By the end of the day, they probably had about a dozen skeins of yarn, for 40% off instead of the regular $2.17 that Michael's charged for Red Heart Super Savers. She very nearly had a heart attack when I made my parents an afghan from the Lion Brand Chenille. I think it was about $6 a skein. We are talking, however, about a woman who was the daughter of immigrants. Her mother worked full time in a factory, and then was a seamstress on the side to make more money. She was a depression-era teenager, and it never left her. My grandmother once told me that she would make a sweater, and if it got stained, or got a hole, she would rip the whole thing, cut out the offending part of the yarn, and make something else. If she were alive to see my stash, she would probably disown me.

Though I've never said it to anyone before, I know that one of the reasons that I love to knit and crochet is not just for the process, not just for the feel of creating, and not just for the finished product, but that each time I pick up yarn, needles or a hook, I think of my grandmother.

confused

Okay, so I tried to join a ring, tonight, and I am completely confused. I don't think I did it right, and so I'm probably in violation of about a million laws, not to mention that I'm probably pissing off the oh, three or so knitters who have actually read my blog. Three might be generous.

Definitely have to seek advice on that one.

By the way, it is now officially too hot to live here in the New York Tri-State area. And so I am going to go to sleep, after having only worked about two rows tonight on the prayer shawl, and I will deal with the world tomorrow.

prayers

For a few weeks now, I have been making, then frogging, a prayer shawl for a friend who recently became an interfaith minister. Great inspiration has come from Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo's Shawl Ministry: http://shawlministry.com/.

I have used different sized needles, different yarns, different colors, different patterns. I *think* I have settled on crochet size D hook, Red Heart Soft Baby, with small pockets knit on size 3 needles in different colors to be sewn onto the finished shawl which will be 613 rows long (well, stitches because I'm working it sideways) and will have fringe. I think the fringe may be in strands of two or five to use those numbers and what they symbolize. I am trying to incorporate as many of these numbers as I can, and represent as many religions as I can: http://www.crystalinks.com/numerology2.html. The pockets will be all of the colors listed under the shawl ministry's "symbollism" section. I haven't tied tzitzit in many years, but I may put them on the corners.

I'm still not sure that I like the shawl as is being crocheted, but I may feel differently after I'm done... I know that my friend will love it no matter what. The goal is for it to be a shawl in which she can wrap herself to find inspiration and comfort and through which she can help heal others. The colored pockets will be to accommodate written prayers, amulets or prayer beads, and I hope she can run her fingers through the fringes, as I often do with my own prayer shawl.

Ms. Bristow and Ms. Galo have prayers sprinkled throughout their website, and I have tried to read some of them as I began this process even though I am not traditionally a "prayer" person. For my friend, whom I love a great deal, I read them.

I'd Rather be Knitting

I fantasized about knitting all day yesterday. Today too. Yesterday, it was so humid, that I looked "wilted" by the time I got to work. Really, by the time I got to the ferry, which is not very far away at all. But while I was waiting for the ferry, in the shade, on the river, watching the boats go by and having the benefits of a nice breeze, I thought, “this is nice.” I could have stayed there all day long, knitting in the breezy shade. Of course, had I not had to go to work, I probably would not have even left my home.

The problem is that not only do I fantasize about knitting while I’m at work, I am often powerless to resist the charm and pull of knitting when I am home. Which means that there are things like the laundry and the dishes that often go un-attended while I am knitting away.

Also, I am *always* powerless to resist the pull of buying more yarn. I really would like some more bamboo circular needles, but I am resisting a trip to the store to get them because there is just too much temptation that lies in the form of yarns. I would go to the little yarn shop right near my office because I know that I can’t afford any of their yarns, but then I’m spending more on needles, too. I’m better off getting them at, say, AC Moore or Michael’s or someplace.
What is everyone’s opinion about having many WIPs or just one? I find that I always seem to have about a million… Sometimes it’s my own darn fault, but sometimes it is just unavoidable. Or, well, kind of unavoidable.

Wherefore, wherefore art thou blog?

So I guess the big question is "why." I don't have time to knit everything I want to knit; why would I choose to write about knitting? I guess part of it is that it seems very "now." To be part of a cultural phenomenon is interesting. And to be a part of a cultural community, whatever it is, real or not. It probably won't last long. I'm not very witty, don't have particularly deep wisdom to impart, and will most likely bore of it sooner rather than later. But for now, I write. Also, it's just fun, and how often do we get to say that any more. I'm doing this just because it is fun and it is making my heart happy. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but for right now.

This is often how I feel about knitting. I'm not very good at it. Mostly, I stick to things that require no joining, sewing, blocking, or sleeves. I'm particularly horrid at creating sleeves. Oh, and "armhole shaping" and things of the sort. And if it has any sort of actual "pattern" I will move on to something else. But I enjoy it while I'm doing it, and I enjoy giving the things I create to people. And for me, that's enough.