Not just a river in Egypt
It's been a rotten couple weeks at work, the kind of weeks that feel like there are six days worth of existence crammed into five, the kind of weeks that, honestly, make me want to bite people. I actually caught myself figuring out how I could drive around with a carton of eggs in my car to throw at people who don't use their turn signals properly while driving.
"The problem is," I thought, "I'm right-handed, and my left hand would have to be my throwing hand while I drive."
The point is, I have been turning in the evening to light reading, the kind of stuff that doesn't tax the mind much. The other night, I was reading essays from "The Secret Life of a Knitter," the one about Christmas knitting.
And I was feeling smug, because while I have a bit of holiday knitting afoot, I feel like I'm well ahead of the game. It's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Then, the next day, Thorny e-mailed me, and as we often do on e-mail, we talked about knitting. She sent me a list of what she was working on, a little update on each project, and I sent her one back. It's my Christmas knitting.
Here is the excerpt:
Secret Thing 1: I'm knitting this out of the Fool's sight. It's a little harder than I thought, but I had two good shows at Old Town to work on them, so that was a Good Thing.
Eggplant hat: Ready for the green; will polish this puppy off this week.
Semi-secret blue socks: Lost the second one! Aargh!
Sari silk scarf for Carrie: Have a smallish ball of the first skein left; it's slow going, but it's going. I try to knit a couple inches on it every night.
Sea Silk scarf for Cass: Why am I knitting so many damn scarves this year? Hateses the scarfs, hateses them. Anyway. Is faggot lace pattern on 2s, and it's freakin' beautiful. I'm obsessed with knitting this scarf. It'll be a narrow little thing, suitable for several wraps around the neck, and despite the unkind things I said about this yarn earlier*, I am So. In. Love. with this yarn.
Hedgehog: (Or wedgehog, as I inadvertently called it last night.) Stalled for want of - quit laughing - a ball of brown eyelash yarn. Yep. Novelty yarn roadblock.
Rat: Plan to knit another rat for Carrie's squids, probably a white rat with blue eyes and a pink tail.
Secret Projects 2&3 : Cast on for one. Is v. interesting knit. Love my lovely pointy 4s.
Fool's gansey: Am working my way up the front, slowly but surely. More slowly than not.
My Blackwater Abbey sweater: Drooling with lust over the pattern. But as you can see from the list above, I do not need to cast anything else on. CiT: Stalled until I have the time to figure out how to knit the damned twisty stitches right.
An Kamin: Stalled until I have the time to figure out how to knit the damned twisty stitches right.
Fool's scarf from that stuff I bought at Rhinebeck:Oooh, how I want to make this scarf, too. Am going to do it in plushy brioche stitch. But see above re: damn scarves. Not even cast on. Not even in a ball. Every couple days, I pick it up and pet it."
Hmm. So maybe I'm not as set with this Christmas knitting as I thought.
*It took me three days to wind this from a skein into a ball because I was being my own swift and it got all knotted up and it took me two days to untangle the knot. Then I was winding it into a center pull ball on the ballwinder and - I kid you not - it leapt from the ballwinder and made itself into another %$@! snarly mess, which took me another %$^# day to $$#%@ untangle.
But the colors are gorgeous!
"The problem is," I thought, "I'm right-handed, and my left hand would have to be my throwing hand while I drive."
The point is, I have been turning in the evening to light reading, the kind of stuff that doesn't tax the mind much. The other night, I was reading essays from "The Secret Life of a Knitter," the one about Christmas knitting.
And I was feeling smug, because while I have a bit of holiday knitting afoot, I feel like I'm well ahead of the game. It's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Then, the next day, Thorny e-mailed me, and as we often do on e-mail, we talked about knitting. She sent me a list of what she was working on, a little update on each project, and I sent her one back. It's my Christmas knitting.
Here is the excerpt:
Secret Thing 1: I'm knitting this out of the Fool's sight. It's a little harder than I thought, but I had two good shows at Old Town to work on them, so that was a Good Thing.
Eggplant hat: Ready for the green; will polish this puppy off this week.
Semi-secret blue socks: Lost the second one! Aargh!
Sari silk scarf for Carrie: Have a smallish ball of the first skein left; it's slow going, but it's going. I try to knit a couple inches on it every night.
Sea Silk scarf for Cass: Why am I knitting so many damn scarves this year? Hateses the scarfs, hateses them. Anyway. Is faggot lace pattern on 2s, and it's freakin' beautiful. I'm obsessed with knitting this scarf. It'll be a narrow little thing, suitable for several wraps around the neck, and despite the unkind things I said about this yarn earlier*, I am So. In. Love. with this yarn.
Hedgehog: (Or wedgehog, as I inadvertently called it last night.) Stalled for want of - quit laughing - a ball of brown eyelash yarn. Yep. Novelty yarn roadblock.
Rat: Plan to knit another rat for Carrie's squids, probably a white rat with blue eyes and a pink tail.
Secret Projects 2&3 : Cast on for one. Is v. interesting knit. Love my lovely pointy 4s.
Fool's gansey: Am working my way up the front, slowly but surely. More slowly than not.
My Blackwater Abbey sweater: Drooling with lust over the pattern. But as you can see from the list above, I do not need to cast anything else on. CiT: Stalled until I have the time to figure out how to knit the damned twisty stitches right.
An Kamin: Stalled until I have the time to figure out how to knit the damned twisty stitches right.
Fool's scarf from that stuff I bought at Rhinebeck:Oooh, how I want to make this scarf, too. Am going to do it in plushy brioche stitch. But see above re: damn scarves. Not even cast on. Not even in a ball. Every couple days, I pick it up and pet it."
Hmm. So maybe I'm not as set with this Christmas knitting as I thought.
*It took me three days to wind this from a skein into a ball because I was being my own swift and it got all knotted up and it took me two days to untangle the knot. Then I was winding it into a center pull ball on the ballwinder and - I kid you not - it leapt from the ballwinder and made itself into another %$@! snarly mess, which took me another %$^# day to $$#%@ untangle.
But the colors are gorgeous!
Comments
Good Luck!
(Disclaimer--I admit to being nuts, and my nickname, for many many years, has been Meangirl. So maybe I'm not qualified to recommend biting as a communication tool. Just maybe)