Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Knitting in Public (gasp!)

I think I've crossed some sort of invisible line. Yesterday I went to a RiverDogs game (We won!). My hubby had asked me, the day before, if I'd planned to take my knitting, and I said no, meaning it. Then, yesterday morning, it happened.

I put a skein of cotton yarn and some circular size 8's in my "ballgame purse" (you know the one I mean--it doesn't show dirt, but holds the sunblock, the insect repellent, the handwipes, the game roster, the cell phone, the raisins, etc.). Nothing came of it right away, though. I settled in, chatted with friends, watched the game, had a hot dog.

Then, about the 5th inning, I gave up. I could no longer resist the urge. Out came the yarn to be balled and then knitted into a washcloth. Sigh... My friends didn't blink an eye, just proving that, to them, it was something to be expected from the likes of me. BUT! I've never knitted at a baseball game before. I've tried to be a NORMAL member of society, confining my knitting to the privacy of my own home, my own car, my own daughter's ballet rehearsals. Now this! What's next?

PS: I also recently bought a bag. Not a knitting bag, not a purse, but a sort of briefcase, complete with padded spot for, of all things, a laptop (which I do not own). Why did I buy this bag? Because I NEEDED a way to haul knitting with me and still look like "oh, doesn't she have a nice large handbag?", instead of "what in the world is the woman hauling around?".
Yes, I think the obsession is going to new levels.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

My First Sweater!


Wow! I did it! A sweater! A simple sweater, but a wearable sweater nonetheless! I'll be shipping it off this week to Knit For Kids, but first I'm going to try it on a friend's 2 year old and see how it looks.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Today's Quote

Today's quote comes to us from Isak Dinesen, born on this date in 1885. After years of struggling to keep her African coffee plantation going, she finally had to sell it and return to Denmark. It was then that she became a published author, her most famous work being Out of Africa, a memoir about her time in Kenya. She also wrote "Babette's Feast".

She said, "All sorrows can be borne, if you put them into a story."

Monday, April 16, 2007

Where in the world have I been?

Has it really that long since I posted to this blog? Yikes! No doubt it's due to all the knitting I've been doing....and the tireless hours spent walking uphill both ways to do good deeds for others...the novel I finally got around to finishing....that sled dog race in Alaska last month....and all that time I spent ironing my husband's shirts.

Anyway, I really have been knitting! I finished the tube socks and discovered they're too thick for this part of the country (except for a few weeks in Jan/Feb). But they look nice. I made a couple of handbags (my own design, aren't I clever? I'll have to post a pic when I finish the handle on bag #2), the first of which started out as a dishcloth with something called the Andalusian stitch. I found the stitch in Teach Yourself Visually Knitting.

The kids do something every year with our homeschool group called International Night and the country we chose to learn about and represent this year was Spain. Did you know there's a region in Spain called Andalusia? Do you see where I'm going with this? What Int'l Night project would be complete without some sort of representative knitting? I told a friend of mine about this plan and mentioned that this behavior might get me branded as one of those people who must include knitting in everything they do. SHE said that was ok, so I took that as "permiso completo", and kept knitting. No I did not knit it in the colors of the flag of Spain. It's only red, and only because I didn't have enough yellow on hand....!

I'm now working on a cotton tank top in blue (my daughter's also doing one in pink) and of course the Alpaca shawl from my first Really Big Yarn Purchase. Except it's very big and warm and becoming inconvenient to work on when it's hot or I'm away from home. So it may take awhile!

I ventured in last week to my LYS, Knit, and bought some teeny tiny needles and some Real Sock Yarn, so I can work on those New Year's Resolutions. Eventually!

Last week we also went somewhere beautiful to hike around and look for birds (and alligators!). Isn't it lovely?