I said, “I love you more than anything in the whole wide world!”
I said, “You’re my best big girl!”
I said, “I wouldn’t be a mommy if it weren’t for you!”
She said, “Okay. That’s great. Now I’m trying to go to sleep!”
Confessions of A Reform[ing] Selfish Knitter
August 19, 2013 By
The other day I was sitting in my chair, knitting, as one does, and my daughter said to me – and I quote – “All you do is knit knit knit and then you don’t even wear your knits you just pile them up on the chair. That is rude and selfish!” (She loves to throw around the word rude. Whatever you do that bothers her – tell her no, make her clean her room, tell her if she doesn’t brush her teeth they will fall out – she calls you rude.) I went on knitting, ignoring her outburst, until she took a breath and came out with this: “Will you knit me a sweater?”
I have gone on record, right here on this blog, many times about what a selfish knitter I am. And I’ve never apologized for it. Rarely have I ever spared a square for someone. I just don’t do it. The more I knit the more it’s about the process, to be sure, but it’s MY process. I knit what I want, when I want and no bossy five year is going to pressure me into changing.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You know where this is going, right?
To be fair, I have knit for others. Why, as recently as the Summer of 2012, I knit not one, not two but FOUR freaking ponchos. None of which were for me. Here’s some proof:
One for Meli, one for Cali. Not pictured is the one for my niece and the one for Meli’s friend. Yes. I even knit for a NON BLOOD RELATIVE.
The truth is that Meli didn’t have to go far to guilt me into knitting for her. Her tirade was accurate on all counts. See, here’s the chair with all the knits.
The most recent knit hangs on the model and the rest get added to the chair. Kind of pathetic, no? I do wear the sweaters – well some of them – and the cowls and the hat but it’s SUMMER.
So she told me she wanted a sweater and I told her okay. Then she drew me a picture of what she wanted. I wish I still had it but her little sister took a scissors to it (I was too busy knitting to notice.) Let’s just say it had everything! Polka dots, stripes, ruffles all going this way and that. Frankly, I told her, this is beyond my abilities. She said I was the best knitter in the world and I said no. I’m not. (Okay even if I am a pretty good knitter I wasn’t going to agree to a project I didn’t at least have a SHOT at enjoying. Am I right?)
I told her about the wonders of Ravelry – that we could sit together and look at lots and lots of sweaters and figure out which one she liked best. This exercise was trying at best. For whatever reason it took her awhile to understand that she didn’t have to have the EXACT sweater in the picture and just because a baby was wearing it didn’t mean that we couldn’t make it in her size and no it doesn’t have to be that color. After much swearing and crying (on my part) she finally decided on a sweater: Granny’s Favourite.
Okay. Super cute sweater. We can do that. She told me it had to be blue green and have hot pink buttons. ONLY THREE buttons. Great! We can do that too. It just so happened that I had a beautiful green blue skein of Madelinetosh Pashmina in the my stash. I showed it to her and she said it was PERFECT! So I went looking for Madelinetosh in Nassau Blue – not Pashmina mind you – something a little more suited to a five year old. Maybe some DK but really what child needs a Pashmina sweater. Again, you can see it coming from a mile away right? Turns out I couldn’t find the colorway anywhere but a call to my bestie who just happens to own a yarn store? Yeah. She had three skeins of Nassau Blue in Pashmina just waiting for me. I know what you’re all thinking. Man she is SO LUCKY to have a best friend that owns a yarn store! That would be the GREATEST THING EVER! But it’s not because when your best friend owns a yarn store you end up making your five year old daughter a sweater in PASHMINA. (And of course one to come for your three year old because you can’t ever play favorites.)
I’d be better off if my best friend was a drug dealer.
The yarn is gorgeous.
The knitting is okay. (The pattern is really tedious in that it’s a million pages long when it doesn’t need to be so there’s a lot of flipping around to figure out where you are and where you need to be.)
And the most important part is that so far she loves it (and it fits! YAY for top down sweaters!)
You may not have noticed but there have been some behind the scene changes on the blog thanks to Carrie (formerly of the Carrieoke knitting blog!) We are fully hooked up to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – all the places the cool kids hang out. I wanted to update the blog (I was rocking some OLD SCHOOL Movable Type) so that I can blog from my phone, upload pictures from my phone – you know – be a part of the real world. Hopefully this will help me blog so much more. I miss writing and I miss connecting with you all so we’ll see. And if you’re looking to update your own blog, Carrie is beyond fantastic! Every tweak I asked for happened almost immediately, she was patient when it took me forever to get my shit together and all around wonderful in getting me to where I wanted to be. THANK YOU CARRIE! (Visit her here!)
I have so much knitting to talk about. And life. But really a lot of knitting. I hope you’ll be back!
L, C
Still Crazy After All These Years
January 13, 2011 By
So best intentions and all that. My plan was to blog a couple times a week. It’s looking like once will be more like it, if that. But hey – it was MONTHS between my last couple of posts, so a couple of weeks isn’t so bad at all.
Let me bring you up to date on the girls – I didn’t do that last time – and they are, after all, the reason I’m not here. My baby girl turned SEVEN months old last Saturday. Seven months. The first three just about killed me and the second three were only marginally better, but the last month (actually last two) have been a lot of fun! She finally stopped puking every 3.4 seconds around the fifth month and has pretty much tapered off to nothing now. She was what our doctor called a happy puker because it didn’t affect her weight and she would spew with this giant smile on her face, so she wasn’t in any pain. Therefore, we didn’t do anything about it – just lived with puke everywhere. I got really good at catching it all in my hand though. #skillsyouneverthoughtyoudhaveorneed #sorry #iloveagoodhashtag
She stopped puking and instantly cut a tooth which took me completely by surprise! Meli didn’t get teeth until she was nine months old and this little one already has two! She was sitting up on her own by five months (never ever liked being on her back – would try to do situps the minute she was on there) and has been bouncing around ever since. The child does not sit still. On her month birthday last Saturday we gave her her first rice cereal (I hate feeding my kids – such a mess and a fuss and I wish I could nurse them forever – hence the late-ish start on solids.) Almost immediately after she started crawling. Here’s a little video of her taken yesterday:
On the Move from January One on Vimeo.
And today we started music class! I forgot how much fun things can be when you only have one child with you (Meli is staying at home with the babysitter) and that child can’t talk back to you! It was heavenly! We both had so much fun!
Meli is… Meli. She turns, if you can believe it, three in the next couple of months and I love the child to death but she can be very challenging sometimes. She’s smart as a whip and has an incredible imagination. Also, stubborn and fearful and stubborn. She’s the best and worst of both G and I and I can’t believe how old she is. She’s doing great in school after a bumpy start and she’s maturing everyday. Currently she loves all things princess, dinosaur, fairy, Scooby Doo and the Sound of Music. No lie, she has the entire score memorized and will correct you if you dare sing a note wrong. Best of all she loves her baby sister and her baby sister ADORES her. It’s amazing to see how Cali looks at Meli. Chanukah and Christmas were a marked improvement over Thanksgiving. It really was a great holiday season. Here are the pictures of the girls we used on our holiday card:
G is doing well, too. His hip is almost fully healed and while things aren’t perfect they are amazingly better.
And me, while, I’m still crazy. But you all knew that.
Let’s get to the knits, shall we? I wanted to catch up on the kids really for me since I blogged so much of Meli’s babyhood and barely any of Cali’s. But I also want to get back to basics and talk about knitting.
I’ve got a couple of finished projects that I actually – wait for it – logged into Ravelry! GASP!! I know. I haven’t been the biggest supporter of Ravelry, but maybe that’s about to change. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s absolutely indispensable when it comes to pattern searching and keeping track of your own stuff, especially if you’re blogless. It was always the social thing I objected to. Do we really need another train wreck message board? Maybe I spent too much time on them when I was dealing with infertility. I just think those things always end badly. (Oh and I was thrilled to see that you can upload your pictures from anywhere – not just Flickr. That’s how long it’s been for me and Ravelry!) Anyway – KNITS. Here’s one that I absolutely LOVE:
It’s the Tuesday Night Cowl by Susan Lawrence. Really, once I saw this on Vicki’s blog it was a no brainer! Then seeing Lolly’s gorgeous version and her spectacular knit-portrait, well, how could I not knit this?!? I called my favorite yarn shop owner and said yo! What do you have in bulky? She recommended some Tosh Bulky in Composition Book Grey and the rest is history.
The yarn was really nice to work with – soft and not too bulky and it wears really nice next to my skin. The color is a gorgeous purpley grey. I don’t think it’s a real yarn yet in the Madelinetosh line – or at least not something they carry all the time? I don’t know, but I will say this – if you can manage to find a best friend that also owns a yarn store? Well, then, you’ve won the best friend lottery!
The whole cowl idea kind of hit me over the head too. I hate scarves – I don’t like wearing them. I abhor knitting them. But a cowl? I wear the fleece ones all the time in the winter. Why did I never realize that I could knit a beautiful cowl out of gorgeous yarn and that I would LOVE wearing it? DUH. Seriously. Double duh. I want to make a million of them now. In fact, I knit a modified version of the cowl into an earwarmer/headband type thing because I don’t wear or like knitting hats but will wear something over my ears. It didn’t come out as nice as I wanted it to – I think the abbreviated cables I used lost something in the translation. The TNC has such elegant folds and this just doesn’t. But it’s warm and on super cold days I’ll wear it. I’ve been looking for other headband/earwarmer patterns because I have yarn left over. The cowl only took maybe 1.5 skeins? And t
he earwarmer only used a bit more of a third skein. I’ll let you know how it goes. Here’s a picture of the set:
See how it doesn’t really fold so nice? Oh well. I tried.
The next little potato chip project was the Mini Sweater Ornament from Greens and Jeans.
I have now almost indulged all of my fantasies by having a Christmas Tree in our house this year. I used to always hang lights in the apartment and last year, our first in the house, I didn’t do anything and it was the worst holiday season ever. So this year I decided to go whole hog!
This little sweater was the perfect back into knitting project. I have so many little balls of sock yarn laying around I just picked up one that was bright and pink (I’m fairly certain this is the Hot Flash colorway) and started knitting. The pattern is super easy and only a bit fiddly (because of the size of the sweater and the small needles and stuff NOT the pattern) and next thing I knew I had a mini sweater to hang on the tree. DISCLAIMER – I didn’t actually hang it on the tree because I only got around to weaving in the ends to take a picture. I immediately dismantled the tree after taking said picture. But seriously, I could knit a million of these. I think I will next winter. Maybe one a year until my tree is full. I have that much such yarn scrapage.
There are my two projects! I will knit more cowls, that’s for sure. And more mini sweaters. But in the meantime I haven’t been knitting at all. I’ve been sewing up squares. So far I have just about five done. The first one took me like 10 hours and 20 tries. The next one about five hours and 10 tries. Now, if I was alone in a room I could probably do all four sides in about an hour. Therefore it takes me like three days to do one square. BUT! I’m getting them done. I really love seeing all the colors and finding the little balls of yarn to use to sew them up and thinking about it being finished and wrapping my babies in the blanket – hell – the WHOLE FAMILY it will be that big! I’m excited! I’ve got half the squares blocked and hope to get a little farther in my seaming before I block the rest. I’m doing each four miter square in the order that I knit them. Just a little more crazy to add to the mix.
I cannot finish talking about knitting without showing you a picture of my babysitter’s FANTASTIC garter stitch scarf!!!
I told you all how we found this great babysitter, who the entire family LOVES and how I taught her to knit and now she loves me just as much as I love her? Here’s her first project! For the longest time she wouldn’t bring it over and honestly I started to doubt she was really knitting even when she said she was but I see now that we have another perfectionist in our midst. Look at those even stitches!! I squealed when she wore it over and she was so damn proud and told me how she hoped that people would ask about it when she wears it so she can tell them she knit it herself and I feel like I got my wings a little bit that day because I taught her how to knit and now she loves it and I’m back to loving it and the world is a beautiful thing when you can knit. Okay. I’m done.
This is now officially an epic post! Hope you’ve liked my ramblings! Thanks for reading! And thanks again for all the well wishes and support and here’s to a fantastic ’11!
L, C
I’ll LOVE You With All the Madness In My Soul!*
July 5, 2005 By
OH MY GOD! You guys are incredible. I’m LOVING all the LOVE SONGS! What fun I had this weekend. Seriously – some I haven’t thought of in a while – some I just adore – some I need to try out. So great. But without further ado, the winner of The Summer of HATE LOVE LACE contest is:
She chose Let’s Stay Together by Al Green as her favorite love song. Great pick Kristin! (I’m also quite partial to You Ought To Be With Me – a great one by Al Green if you’ve never heard it!) Congratulations Kristin! Send me your address and the Zephyr (plus some sheepy and flower cards) is in the mail!
I’d love to send a couple of other PhotoArtCard packages out too – first to Louise, who was the 1776th comment on my blog (she chose Blue Velvet as her lovesong)! It seems fitting that she should get a prize this Fourth of July weekend. Sheepy cards for you! And also for Anne, who chose Silhouettes On the Shade. (Click on the link to HEAR this great song!) Unbeknownst to Anne, that is one of my all time favorite songs. My daddy sang that to us when we were little – all the time! When I told my sister someone had put it on the blog, she said, well you have to send them something! My dad came to visit this weekend too and he got a good laugh out of it as well. Thanks Anne! Sheepy cards for you! (PS – Do you know your domain isn’t working? Hope you get it fixed soon!)
Thanks everyone for playing. I’m going to open the comments back up – so feel free to keep adding your love songs. I thought of a couple more I love: As by Stevie Wonder and Lovely Day by Bill Withers and Dancing in the Moonlight by Thin Lizzy. UGH! I could go on and on and on and on! I LOVE me a GOOD LOVE SONG!
The weekend was crazy – as expected. There was some of this:
The Carousel at Van Saun Park
And some of this:
Blankie/Pacie, Uncle Georgie’s shades and my Dora bikini!
Ah! This is the life!
And A LOT of this:
Chunkilicious Laughing it UP!
Today we had this:
And let me tell you, them leaving me is a HELL of a lot harder than my leaving them! I was so sad I may have shed a tear or two. Sure my house has been turned upside down! Sure I’ve got a ton of laundry to do! Sure I didn’t touch the knitting AT ALL since Thursday (I think I’ve been knitting in my sleep though!) But what’s better than little Charlotte walking around saying “Cara’s house! We’re at Cara’s house!” Or Max and Georgie swimming together and just hanging out. Or Baby Eli, so, so deliciously fat laughing and laughing and laughing! Nothing. There’s nothing better. My house is suddenly very, very quiet. I will be happy when G comes home tonight – I have missed him. Not much quiet time with three kids wreaking delightful havoc!
I’ve got to get a job out – so I have to dash. And I still need to get through two repeats and the border on the FBS. I’m dying to start my SockaPal2Za socks as well. Thank you again for all your comments and especially all the compliments on FBS. Can’t wait to show you a finished project!
Have a great back to real life day. I’m not sure I’m ready for it!
L, C
* Possibly my favorite Bruce lyric EVER. From Born to Run. Definitely a LOVE SONG!
HodgePodge
May 16, 2005 By
First off, for Chelsea, who wants me to post a flower a day for a week. (Okay, not just me, everybody! So join in the fun!) And for Lara.
Next up, we’ve got one you’ll all know. I feel like it should be on Army Warning Posters by now – beware of pretty girls with the Clap!
Alchemy Yarns of Transformation Silk Purse, Sea of Cortez colorway. The color is much darker than I thought it would be, but I still like it. The silk is interesting to work with – very slippery and fuzzier than I thought – also, don’t know if this is something that should be happening or not, but sometimes I find a spot in the yarn where the dye has not penetrated – you can see the white poking through. Normal? I don’t really care, just asking. I’ve dropped three stitches so far and am almost through my second hank of yarn. I started with seven. Used one and change for the increases – I threw an extra repeat in there – and will probably end up going through the rest of the yarn. By the way, thanks Emma for the tip link – very helpful!
New favorite Children’s Book:
Have you seen it yet? Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems. Seriously, after reading this 479 times in three days, I actually miss it. It’s a hoot, and the kids get to say their favorite word, over and over and over. NO! (This takes it’s place of honor in my kids’ books bookcase along with Bark, George, Rotten Island, and Duck Is Dirty. Classics all.)
I don’t know about you, but whenever I look at this, I see the Grand Canyon times two:
Pinwheel avec holes.
I’ve been too heartbroken to pick it back up. I promise it will be fixed before I head back to my sister’s – for my niece’s second birthday. (She’s having a Dora party don’t you know. She so freaking cute. She LOVES Dora. She calls Dora Dodo. But if you say to her, is that Dodo? She freaks out. No, Dodo. Dodo? you say. NO, DODO. Poor girl. We’re so mean!)
What’s this?
Maybe something, maybe not, but you’ve got to try, right? We shall see.
Have a great Monday!
