Disheartened after losing a fight with bananas, I turned to something I do well - knitting - to prove my domestic aptitude.
Any knitters out there? I picked up this gorgeous handpainted yarn (pictured above) from a shop on Etsy called Whorled Peace (isn't that the best name? and the yarn is beautiful!).
Ok, so I had yarn - and the urge to knit. And I even knew what I wanted to make. Socks. I've knitted a number of pairs for others but never for me - and hey, even though it's fricking hot and humid right now - it'll be cold soon.
Socks it was. I had a pattern - from a book I'll tell you about later (awesome explanation of the different kinds of painted yarn and how to avoid pooling and ... well, I said I'd tell you later...) - and, even though it looked a tiny bit - um - if not difficult, at least like something I couldn't do while driving or shaving my legs - I knew I could handle it.
Alright, it did look difficult. But I like a challenge. It means intense concentration - can't even knit with the ball game on. I like having a project that pulls me in. So I was pulled in really far. I was concentrating like sixty. I was nose to the needles. For two days.
Not two days straight (although I have done that - jumped into a project and stayed way in there - totally concentrating - doing nothing else - for a couple of days) but two days - off and on - when I needed time away from the computer. When I could drag myself away from the dear Phillies.
And at the end of those two days I was past the cuff and had done a few rows of the pattern. I felt like I was getting used to the tiny needles again (it has been about 6 months since I worked with tiny, #1 needles and usually I knit socks using only 4 needles, but this pattern called for 5) and settling into the pattern.
So I breathed a sigh and let go a bit on the concentration. Relaxed enough to look past the next stitch - to get a view of the whole project. And I was startled to find that the sock I'd been knitting for myself probably wouldn't fit a 2 year old.
I measured a sock of my granddaughters - she'll be 6 in September - hers was an inch bigger in diameter. Ugh! So maybe I was knitting a thumb warmer?!?
Reminds me of the time I was studying a tool, a level to be precise - having worked on a swing set for the girls (back when Slightly-Brit was Wee-Brit). And I had my nose nearly on the level - figuring out those bubbles - moving things this way and that. And - wow - sure enough, the darn swing set was level. Just like it explained in the instructions.
At that moment someone suggested I step back about 20 paces and look at things from their view. I did - and the swing set turned out to be resting at a 45% angle. I learned two things: never use a tiny level and it's really, really important to step back from your work to get the big picture...
So I had to rip the infant sock out and start over with #3 needles - sigh! If I had really checked the gauge I'd have noticed that the #1's weren't cutting it - but I go into denial when I measure knitting ("It kind of looks like 2" - if you stretch it - or hold it this way. I'm knitting real loose right now anyway, but I'll be tightening up as I go along and then it'll be perfect.") - and that is a whole 'nother story...
Ooh, that's gorgeous yarn. I am physically incapable of walking past a display of sock yarn without buying some.
Posted by: Jenny Ryan | Friday, 21 August 2009 at 11:10 AM
Oh, no! You ripped it apart? It would have made a set of really cute kitty boots (along with three others just like it). The fact that any normal cat would rather be submerged in a toilet rather than wear them is beside the point.
Posted by: Square Peg Guy | Friday, 21 August 2009 at 12:23 PM
Jenny, I have to stay away from those places - it's not so hard to rein in when I shop online - I know just what you mean about seeing/touching/smelling/rubbing up against wool in stores (geee..I get a little over excited about yarn, huh? guess that's why I get the odd looks...)
SP Guy, I should have talked to you first - you've always got good ideas! Kinda had a visual on the cat in the toilet thing - and you think they'd rather THAT than boots? silly silly cats...
Posted by: Square-Peg Karen | Friday, 21 August 2009 at 02:48 PM
I might have been exaggerating just a wee bit. :)
Posted by: Square Peg Guy | Tuesday, 25 August 2009 at 03:11 PM
Oh speaking of yarn, you can actually get yarn spun from the fur of your pet, particularly if they're long haired pets. I'm serious!
Posted by: Square Peg Guy | Tuesday, 25 August 2009 at 03:12 PM
No way! By which I mean: No FRICKING way!!!!??!!!! (about the pet fur yarn)
Posted by: Square-Peg Karen | Tuesday, 25 August 2009 at 03:20 PM