Friday, June 22, 2007

Warning: Overthinking is Dangerous to your Happiness

Happy Friday everyone! Jim and I had a lovely anniversary and we thank you for all your well wishes.

I haven't given you a knitting update in quite some time, but I've been thinking of you all. I've been thinking you guys are going to think I'm off my rocker because I've not been knitting what you might think I've been knitting. I know, like you care! Like it should matter to me!

Actually, it does matter to me. The frustrating part is that I feel like you will judge me, but I know that's not true. I know in my head that you won't judge me, but my heart is still expecting judgment. I'm working hard to overcome my habitual reactions, so here goes.


I started a hat, I can't even remember when. This is from Charlene Schurch's Hats On, knit in Dale Falk. The yarn and needles are too fine though, and now I'm not sure it will fit even Jim's small head. (The pattern calls for worsted weight and Falk is listed as DK.) I'm going do some measurements before I rip though, because I really like this. The yarn is soft, the pattern is lovely, and my knitting is awesome!

I surprised myself with how even this turned out. Or maybe it's the yarn that deserves the credit. Either way, it's wonderful even without the blocking. I even love the back.

However, I'm disappointed with the size, so I put it aside but nothing already on the needles was calling me. I needed a sock. When cleaning up my knitting room I found an abandoned sock cuff from way back in February. I'd screwed up the pattern twice and set it aside in frustration. Well, in about five minutes I'd figured out where I went wrong and now I have this:

Once I got past my error, I just had too much fun working on it! I couldn't think of any other knitting. Perhaps I also enjoyed it because there's no baggage attached to it.

The pattern is Austrian Diamonds, from Knitter's Fall 2006.


And in a complete change of topic, here's a funny story I told Jim when I got home from work:

It's Friday, and I grocery shop on the weekends so there's not much to eat in the house. Both of these excellent reasons led me to decide to buy my lunch today. But first, I needed cash. I had given the last of my cash-in-hand to my youngest son who was going on a class trip to East Park. I went to the market, and got in line to withdraw some money from the ATM. But when I opened my wallet, no bank card! I'd left it in my car when I bought gas last night (no worries, it's safe in my wallet now.)

I checked my change purse and I had a buck twenty. I also carry a device on my key ring that holds two quarters for grocery carts, so that brought my total to a dollar seventy. I could have walked back to my car to collect my bank card, but I wanted to knit in the sun. I decided to challenge myself to achieve lunch with what I had. And you know what? I managed a relatively nice lunch of a day old banana muffin and raisin scone along with an apple from my knitting bag. The priceless part was enjoying my knitting in the sun.

And that's where I plan to spend my weekend, in the sun, knitting, gardening and riding my bike. I wish the same for all my knit buddies, where ever you may be!

9 comments:

  1. Why would we be disappointed? *Everything* you make is lovely.

    That's so sad about the hat, because it's looking awsome. And those socks have been on my to-do list for a very long time.

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  2. Anonymous8:28 pm

    You are the only other person I know that has made the Austrian Diamonds - my very favorite socks...yours are going to be gorgeous in white!

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  3. Hat and sock are both lovely!

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  4. Anonymous12:01 am

    The hat and socks look great! I've made some patterns from Schurch's hat book with different yarns (lighter weight than the worsted called for - probably sport or dk) - it wasn't hard to change the number of stitches cast on. The easiest probably was the hat for my toddler - I was able to use the numbers for a larger size. But still not too hard to size up for adult heads either...

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  5. I am so jealous of your colorwork. It's perfect.

    And don't you love what we go through for our craft?? It's a tough choice- eat expensively or knit in the sun...clean the house or knit in the shade (that's me, btw).

    Have a great weekend!

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  6. judge you? never! one of the things i love best about knitters is that we tend not to be judgemental. great hat and socks. i'll have to dig out that issue of knitters. knitting or fine dining? knitting. hands down.

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  7. Anonymous10:53 pm

    Love the hat! Your knitting looks great! Don't frog it. You can find someone that can wear it! Love that sock.
    I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes to knit away from it all during your lunch break. In the sun too!

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  8. Right on. The knitting on that hat is too nice to rip it out. You'll find a deserving victim for it, I'm sure. It does indeed look very even. The socks look great too, but right now they are not calling me.

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  9. You know, I think you might just have the answer to Life! Adjust, make do with what you've got, knit in the sun. You go, Laurie!

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