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It has been too hot and I’ve been too busy with other projects to knit. So I’m writing about something that has been rattling around in my head lately.
Watching The Sparkle Girl develop her personality, acquire language and skills, and generally begin the process of becoming the person she will eventually be in this world, it makes me think about other people as babies. Some people you just can’t imagine what they were like. Others were pretty much the same as babies as they are adults.
My grandmother, for whom the Sparkle Girl was named, is one of those people you just can’t fathom as an infant, child or teenager for that matter. It’s like she came into the world at 40 years old. She was an amazing and wonderful woman in so many ways. Born in 1901 before so many mundane things we take for granted became widely available—- movies, cars, telephones… these were all available then, but not in the way they were just 20 years later. She died in 1996 at the age of 95. She was a complicated mix of prim Victorian and modern woman. We called her “Grandmother”–not Granny, Grandma, Nana, or any other variant. She went by “Harriet”–not Hattie or Harry or other nickname. She really wasn’t sure what to do with us when we were very little and usually gave us savings bonds for special occasions. An extremely practical and pragmatic lady. But she wore shorts while gardening well into her 80’s. She was vital and active–mentally sharp up to the very end. But what would she have been like as a child? I just can’t imagine her as a carefree, uninhibited little bundle of chaos as all toddlers naturally are.
There are clues though. This is a photo of her as an infant. I see little bits of my girl in there. The tips of the ears that point out (like my father’s too), the inquisitive stare, the dainty hand… I can see that she was very intelligent, taking everything in, watching and observing. I wound up with some of my grandparents’ books–my Grandfather’s Esperanto dictionaries, his McGuffey Reader, and Grandmother’s Eugene-Field Reader. This is a cool old book with some gorgeous illustrations mixed with some less amazing ones. She was given this book as a present in 1906 by a cousin.
I love the handwriting…so stylized. I also wonder who Helen was (I can’t even read the last name). The funny thing about this book is that it has been scribbled in. I find it so incredibly hard to picture Grandmother as a child taking a colored pencil or crayon to a book. The very thought of it makes me laugh. Part of me thinks it must have been my father or his sister who defiled it so. Maybe it was Helen? Whoever it was really didn’t like this little dog.
Whomever did it was also learning how to read. Several pages have phrases underlined in red, some words circled. It’s extremely charming to imagine a small Victorian child sitting down with this book and a pencil trying to suss out the poems and stories. It’s also funny to see how much children’s literature has changed over the years. I just don’t think you’d see a modern book speculating about whether a toy soldier could fire a gun. You also probably wouldn’t see a toy with a bayonet on it.
It makes me wonder what I’ll be like as an old lady. Will people see the sparks of my inner toddler or will people wonder at the fact that I was ever an infant? What will my darling girl be like as an adult? What pieces of her childhood can I preserve to capture these amazing moments of her development? I know I won’t keep everything (unlike my own mother who kept every single one of my baby clothes), but I should keep those iconic and special things that capture the essence of this bright, funny and gorgeous child.
It’s an amazing act of evolution or creation (or whatever your belief is on this subject, not to be debated here thank you) that human babies are born with really bendy heads so that they can fit through the birth canal. According to Dr. Harvey Karp (Happiest Baby on the Block) they are really born undercooked so that we can get those heads out. He maintains that the first three months of a baby’s life should be considered the fourth trimester while they get developed to the point that other animal’s babies are at birth. The upshot of this is that newborn heads are not big enough to accommodate teeth. That means they have to grow teeth when they are painfully aware of the whole process.
I remember when my wisdom teeth were coming in sometime in my twenties. They were all coming in at once. I could feel their tips for a while and then they’d recede back up into my gums. It was all kinds of painful. They were pushing my other teeth forward, which created lots of pressure in the front of my mouth and made my whole face hurt. Knowing this, I can only speculate on how horrible the Sparkle Girl must feel now that she’s growing a mouthful of teeth.
For the longest time she had six teeth: four up and two down. It was an adorable look…those sweet little bottom teeth in that giant smile. In the past six weeks or so she’s grown four more: two more flanking those adorable bottom teeth and two molars. One molar came through on the upper gum and one on the bottom on opposite sides of her mouth.
The past two weeks she’s been growing four more: the other two molars and the bottom canines. When she opens her mouth to cry (which is astonishingly often these days) her gums are big and red and swollen just waiting to erupt. It hurts just to look at it. She’s miserable. When I touch her head it is blazing hot. She’s chewing on everything. Meals are futile–who wants to chew when it creates such horrible pain? She’s emotionally unstable… laughing one minute, inconsolable crying the next, and unfettered shrieking the next.
Unfortunately, this event coincides with my initial attempts at weaning. Last week we were doing great. She’d ask to nurse (”Pleeeeeee”) and I say “no” and try to redirect her to a snack or a book or something. We were down to three times a day–morning, after nap and before bed. That was working well until all this teething business erupted. She doesn’t want to eat so she’s hungry and wants to nurse more. She’s emotionally unstable and needs the reassurance of a familiar and comforting ritual. My gentle “no” is met with a full on meltdown.
This all means that I’m not bringing my A game lately. I met some friends at Oaks Park the other morning. This is a local amusement park that has pre-schooler only hours a couple of mornings a week. It’s super fun! H whined and crabbed the whole way to the park. I get there and get the jogging stroller assembled (have to remove the wheels to get it into my trunk) get everything set up and realize she had pooped. No problem, I thought, we’ll get her changed and meet our friends. Turns out she was playing in the diaper bag and removed the smaller bag with the diapers and wipes. AAAAARRRGH! I had to pack everything back up and put her back in the car. H was FURIOUS at being put back in. We had to find a grocery store nearby, which was a health food store. They just had the hippie diapers that don’t work as well and are more expensive. It was a mess all the way around.
Wednesday she had a photo shoot for an upcoming grocery store ad. When I saw her assigned time slot I just knew it was a doomed venture. She naps from noonish to two-ish most days. Her time slot was 1:45–right smack in the middle of naptime. We had movement class was at 10:30 so I figured we’d do that and go to lunch and then she’d sleep in the car and I’d drive around until her appointment. Sounds like a good plan, right? Alas. The great thing was running into my friend and her daughter who had been out of town all month while we were at lunch. But she hardly ate and was crabby the whole time (H not my friend) so we took off. She * did * not * sleep*. Maybe for about 15 minutes, which is not nearly enough time. We get there and spend half an hour in the waiting room. These times are not absolute. They are shooting a lot of kids all day and it depends on how everything goes. There are toys and other kids and parents waiting too, so it’s not a horrible thing—unless your kid is pushing through 5 teeth and hasn’t napped or eaten. H was a total champ through the whole waiting around process. The stylist came back and got us, handed her the outfit and led us to the photo area. It was a group shot with three other kids. H kept wanting to run off and explore everything. She did fine until one hyperactive little git got too excited and bumped her in the face. That was it. It was all over at that point. SHRIEKING like it was the end of the world. She was pulled out of the shot and I finally managed to get her calmed down somewhat. They decide to shoot just her. Total disaster. She kept running toward me and crying…even when they found a dog for her to play with. They just couldn’t get a shot and we called it a day. There’s an outside possibility that they got a usable photo from the beginning, but I’ll be shocked and amazed if they did. This is why they shoot two kids for every shot they need. In case one has a meltdown, or looks weird in the outfit, or just isn’t quite right. I heard crying while I was in the waiting room so it is possible they didn’t get either of them. She’ll still get paid, but I feel bad and just should have pulled her from the shoot at the beginning.
Needless to say, this has been a tough week. It is abundantly clear to me why some moms drink. By about 4 o’clock I’m ready for a cocktail and a massage. The other day it was soooooooo tempting to put her in her bed, let her holler, pour a glass of wine and watch bad TV. I ultimately resisted, but I had to dig deep for the willpower. I don’t know how those women who put their toddlers to bed at 9 or 1o do it. We’ve actually bumped up her bedtime to 6:30 and she goes right down. Dealing with the chaotic crankiness for all that time would truly send me over the edge.
This is just temporary and already today is much better than the rest of the week has been. She’ll grow those teeth and her whole look will change. She’ll be able to eat a wider variety of foods and we’ll be good until she starts to lose them in about three or four years. In the mean time she’s learning how to manage her emotions and tell me what she needs. These are all good things. Today she took a three and half hour nap!!! See, it’s already looking up~
The traveling sweater continues. All that 2×2 ribbing is a little hypnotizing and I put it down for a little while. I’m almost through the first of four giant skeins. Here you can see the original size and how much it made (nice bonus of Mt. Hood in the background).
You’ll notice how it curves, a nice trick achieved by short rows. This is half of this piece, which is essentially the collar, the fronts and the bottom portion of the back. The arms are worked separately and inset into the hole in the center. It’ll make sense later.
I took a break to work on some booties. They need ties and I’d hate to tell you how long they’ve needed ties. Maybe I’ll suck it up and finish them off this weekend. Special thanks to Big Pinky Poodle for helping me model these. There is a Little Pinky Poodle too and H loves to carry them both around (usually with a little Hello Kitty clutched in one of her hands).
In keeping with many, many generations of artistic and crafty women, The Sparkle Girl has started exhibiting a certain DIY aesthetic around the house. Mostly with crayons–washable thank God. Last night I caught her coloring on the wall so took the crayons away from her. Of course she found them and when I saw her again she was holding the brown one up to the wall looking at me and laughing. That’s when I put them away in a very high spot and put her to bed. This is her first mural. I’m so proud.
The artist hard at work (I love these pajamas! Hanna Anderssen is the best):
A few weeks ago H climbed out of her bed. Alarmed doesn’t even come close to explaining the emotions involved with that discovery. e lowered the mattress as far as it can possibly go and haven’t had a repeat incident. Sparky found her asleep on the pile of blankets next to her bed. This is the same pile of blankets that she usually drags into bed with her one at a time through the crib slats. We often go upstairs to find her buried under a big pile of blankets. Her other trick is to throw her mermaid and anything else she can get her hands on over the edge. It’s so funny to see her do this. She likes watching them drop.
Can you find the toddler in this picture? Notice the basket that holds the blankets where we found her asleep. Notice the blanket halfway pulled through the slats and the mermaid on the floor.
After popular demand (well, my friend Jana asking anyway) I’ve decided to tell the Gory Memorial Day Poop Story. If you are at all squeamish just stop here. Trust me. This is a story my father wouldn’t have been able to take without turning green. He could hardly change my diaper without passing out the once or twice he changed mine. You’d think a man who drove himself to the hospital after damaging his finger in a table saw would be able to take it.
This story requires a little background. We’ve pretty much given up on Unclothed Baby Time. Even though it is incredibly adorable–all that chubby flesh, that cute baby butt, the fact that she runs over to the full length mirror to admire herself–it comes at a very steep price. A price we are simply not willing to pay. About two months ago I was letting the girl air out her nether region. I was sitting on the couch and H was playing on the floor next to me. Sparky came downstairs and noticed that there were turds on the floor. I had no idea. We cleaned it up and then we realized that wasn’t the end of it. Unfortunately, that realization came in the form of Sparky stepping on an undigested raisin. That resulted in a LOT of swearing and a microscopic inspection of every inch of the carpet.
A few weeks ago we had been out all morning and I didn’t have the opportunity to change her diaper. Since it was pretty heavy I thought I’d give her the chance to air dry. Big mistake. She walked over to the front door and peed all over the area rug. I cleaned it up (cursing under my breath) and thought “well, she’s done she can go for a little longer without the diaper.” Even bigger mistake. A few minutes later I noticed a mine field of poop all over the entryway. I took a picture of it with my cell phone and sent it to Sparky. Parenthood does this to a person. We used to send flirtatious texts back and forth all day. Now it’s pictures to show how my day is going. That marked the end of Unclothed Baby Time–probably forever.
In the midst of all this she achieved that all important toddler milestone of learning how to take her diaper off. This has turned changing her diaper into an Olympic event. Not only is she rolling around trying to jump up and run off, but she’s grabbing the velcro closures as soon as I get them on. This is a big game to her, one that she thinks is hysterical. So not only is there no more Free Range Baby, but she also has to be wearing pants or a diaper cover at all times.
This brings us to the Gory Memorial Day Poop story. Really, if the above stories made you uncomfortable, you should just stop now.
We were staying at a newer hotel in Bend after driving all the way to the Idaho border the day before. Poor girl was a champ even though she was trapped in the car for two days. After the “I wish this were charming but it’s just awful” hotel room from the night before it was nice to have a modern facility to lounge in. We were letting her run around the hotel room to burn off all that pent up toddler energy. I was in the bathroom and could hear her playing with her reflection in the mirror on the other side of the door. I could also hear the tell-tale noises indicating she was taking some “personal time”. All of a sudden I hear Sparky yelling “Oh! OH! OH! OH!”. The shouting just kept escalating louder and more intense. “Do you need some help honey?” (knowing full well that he was dealing with a huge disaster on the other side of the door.) Apparently our Sparkle Girl had indeed pooped. But then she removed her diaper flinging poop all over the floor of the hotel room. Huge amounts of poop. Farm animal amounts of poop (probably from being confined in a sitting position for two days). Sparky had grabbed the diaper and as much of the poop as he possibly could and tossed it on the bed (a mistake made in the panic of the moment). Of course, poop rolls out of the diaper onto the bed. By the time I came out to help him he was wild eyed and jumping out of his skin. That’s when I realize that she had also stepped in the giant pile of poop and left little poopy footprints on the carpet. I grab her and try to clean her up (thank goodness for very sturdy baby wipes)–her bottom, her feet. She’s wiggling so much I’m also trying to keep it from getting all over me too. Sparky gets most of the poop contained and disposes of the diaper. We debated whether or not to call housekeeping and put some poor woman making minimum wage through the indignity of cleaning our carpet, but decided to see if we could take care of it first. I put a diaper on her and turn my attention to the footprints on the floor. Those wipes are really amazing–it cleaned everything up and you would never know that moments before it was covered in unholy amounts of poop. I think Sparky still has PTSD from this unfortunate event. I’m sure now you’ve made a resolution to never walk barefoot in a hotel again.
I know that we have more poop adventures waiting for us when it comes time to potty train in the not-too-distant future. But for now we think we’ve instituted poop-containment protocols that will prevent any future elimination adventures.
I warned you. If you are squeamish and kept reading you have nobody to blame but yourself~
There are parenting stories that I’m interested in posting but had not done so yet because I wanted to keep the focus of this blog on knitting. I’ve decided to not worry about it and share all the glorious, gross and goofy stuff that comprises my daily life with the Sparkle Girl. That means there will be poop. There will also be rants about sleeping (or not sleeping), food and my judgments of bad parenting I see out in public (this means you crazy lady I saw at Old Navy). Expect to see bragging and confessions. I’m mixing it up folks!
First off a confession (you didn’t expect me to start out with the gory Memorial Day poop story did you?). My allergies have been giving me hell for the past week. I’ve resorted to Zyrtec and feel sooooo much better. It says on the label not to use if breastfeeding. I took it anyway. What some may consider to be a “side effect” I see as an amazing feature that will probably keep me faking allergy symptoms for months to come. The Sparkle Girl slept last night!!! I don’t mean naps in between furious demands for milk. I mean real, honest to goodness sleep. She woke at midnight and then again sometime after the sun came up. If you’ve never experienced a year and half of sleep deprivation you just don’t know how fantastically amazing this is.
Another confession. I’m a total sucker for the chaotic train wreck that is Toddlers and Tiaras. Those women are so crazy. They spend a fortune on this endeavor. Most of the kids are spoiled and out of control. Most of the moms are completely emotionally and physically unhealthy. It’s delicious and I can only watch it while the Sparkle Girl is napping because Sparky won’t watch it so I have to DVR the show. The most shocking thing about this (and this is the real confession) is that I think the Sparkle Girl would LOVE to do this. (hushed whispers and shocked stares). The dressing up, being on stage, people clapping for her, seeing all the dressed up big girls… My little girly extrovert would explode in a convulsion of ecstasy if I were to enter her in one of these things. Don’t worry, it’s never going to happen because I’m never going to let her know that such a thing exists.
Some bragging. I married one heck of a fantastic father. Sparky adores her, he adores me, he adores our life. He was made to be a parent. While a lot of moms on Baby Center are venting about how their husbands act like they are doing them a favor by “helping” with the kids, mine changes a diaper when he knows she needs one. I don’t even have to ask. And he knows where the diapers live in the house and where to throw it away. He also sets her up for dinner and feeds her without acting like a child. He knows what she eats. He’s amazing.
Ok. That’s enough for now. The Sparkle Girl is going to wake up soon and we’ve got a movement class this afternoon. She had a busy morning with all her friends at my Mom’s group so it’s hard to tell how long she’ll be down. It takes a while to recover from all that unbridled playing, stealing snacks, and running around like a crazy child.
Ok. Finally took some pictures of all the craziness~
First: The gorgeous coppery WooBu for the Traveling Sweater. I’ll be in a car for well over a dozen hours this weekend so there will be plenty of time to make some progress on this. When I get tired of working on it I’ll switch to the booties. Since there are miles of 2×2 ribbing on size three needles I’m certain the booties will see some action.
Second: The green vest that seemed to linger for ages. Not a great picture, but the best I could do with the Sparkle Girl trying like heck to get in the photo.
A close up of the perfect button I found at the Yarn Garden:
I’m hopeful that the next post will show a wide swath of the Traveling Sweater~
Be safe over the Memorial Day Weekend and Happy Knitting!
Gosh–I’ve been in a high productivity mode lately. Must be the new organizational system. I LOVE the new organizational system and I’ve added to it. So in addition to the stockings that I need to get cracking on, Sparky has another colleague with a new baby girl who needs booties, and I’ve picked up another project for the Sparkle Girl.
My virtual friend, turned real life friend Veronica came down to PDX with her daughter. Her husband came down for a conference so we spent the morning at OMSI and the afternoon at the Yarn Garden and Twisted. She’s expecting a girl this summer so I made her a pretty cute baby shrug out of some Manos cotton that I’ve had for a few years. Since I managed to finish it right under the wire it wasn’t blocked. It might be a little small since I used smaller yarn and made a larger size. If nothing else she can use it for doll clothes.
The thing that I’m most excited about is that I cast on for the Traveling Sweater! I tried on the sample at Twisted and loved it. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts WooBu–a wool bamboo blend. The color I chose is called Saffron Jungle. It’s a sumptuous coppery color and will be ohsoyummy this winter. It is named the Traveling Sweater because it looks fantastic on everybody, like the pants in the movie “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”.
This is the photo from the pattern:
I need to take some pictures…the finished green sweater (which I found the perfect button for), the Woobu, the yarn for the booties, etc. That will have to wait for another post~
The cute booties were mailed and Sparky’s co-worker loved them. Yay!
The basket of project kits has been a great success. When I ran out of yarn on the green vest I quickly picked up another project. I also found a better pattern for one of the projects and was able to quickly match it with the yarn.
So, I ran out of yarn. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get any locally so I turned to the internets. First I checked with an acquaintance from high school who now owns a ginormous yarn shop (Threadbear Yarn Studio) in Michigan. It’s not one that they stock. Second I turned to Ravelry and found someone who had two skeins in their stash. I contacted her and asked if she’d be willing to sell me hers. Through the magic of PayPal she had her money right away and she popped them into the mail. Yay! I worked it some more and then realized it just wasn’t going to work. sigh. I was using much smaller needles, which made the fabric very dense and *heavy*. I tried it on and it just didn’t fit right. Too big under the arms and just heavy. So it has been frogged and I started on green vest pattern number three. This time from French Girl Knits. There is some arrowhead cabling so we’ll see how it looks with the variegated yarn.
In the meantime, I started the ShimaJima t-shirt for the Sparkle Girl. It’s a fun pattern and worked up pretty quickly. Here are some pics:
This knit up pretty quickly. It’s in the round from the bottom up (no seams!). Put the sleeves on a provisional cast on and then work the neck and shoulders with short rows. I had to redo the top a few times–user error every time. My first mistake was in not reviewing how to lift the wrap on short rows. It looked terrible, so it was ripped and restarted. Then I was knitting while way too tired and totally lost track of where I was. So ripped again. I can’t really remember what the last problem was, but I’m sure it was my fault yet again.
Once I was finished I really like the way it looks! I love how the purled stripes up the sides come in to at the top. The shoulder shaping is genius~ It fits her perfectly and will probably fit for quite a while. I love the green cotton/silk of the yarn too.
So now I’m back to the green vest. I seriously hope I’ll be able to finish it before next Winter.
I’m still contemplating how I’m going to do the stocking for my friend Steve. The first pattern just did not work out. I’ve got something in mind but am not ready to commit it to needles yet.
I’ve been a little uninspired lately. Not completely sure why. It’s Spring and the days vary between gorgeous and sunny and gorgeously stormy. My baby has become a toddler. The Sparkle Girl has started walking/running and getting into everything. I swear that her arms telescope out to be much longer than it seems physically possible. It’s a weird feature of toddlers that these 10″ arms extend a good foot longer. We’ve been sick here and being all hunkered down has created some fierce cabin fever.
I’ve been working on booties for one of Sparky’s co-workers. This is yarn I bought forever ago. I like it. Superwash wool is great for booties. But it’s a little splitty.
They turned out cute, but need to be mailed.
Being square in the grips of cabin fever made me antsy to get knitting again. I picked up the green vest again and it looked much better than I remember. Part of why I put it down was that I wasn’t convinced it looked right. Once I picked it up again I felt better about it. Now my concern is that there isn’t enough of it. Since it’s seriously bulky the project is just zipping along. Considering how cold and rainy it has been here lately I may actually get to wear it before next Fall. Here’s the work in progress~
Part of my problem, I decided, is that while all my stash is organized and my patterns are mostly organized my potential projects really aren’t. When it’s time to start something new I dither and stew about what to do. The Yarn Harlot had a fabulous idea when she created her own sock club out of her stash. She found the patterns and matched them to the yarn she wanted to use and bagged each project. Voila! Instant project kits. Taking a page from her book (or blog, actually) I paired yarn to patterns and put them in baggies. These instant kits are living in a basket in the living room…carefully placed where the toddler arms will have a difficult time reaching them. This is no small feat considering the tiny, tiny quarters we call home right now. (I just cannot wait to have a craft room!)
At the top is the inherited intarsia sweater. I’m working up the stamina to start this again. I will absolutely regret it if I don’t finish this so it is definitely in the rotation. Once it gets underway it won’t seem so intimidating. But right now I just can’t do it.
Going clockwise, the next is the orange/pink cone I bought at Yarnia forever ago. It’s going to be made into a halter dress for H. That should be an easy project that will knit up quick. Since it’s cotton and nylon (or something) it should work fine for the summer into the Fall. The pattern is from Twisted.
Next is the orangey/green bamboo that I bought at Art Fibers just after I got pregnant with H. This is going to become a nice lace scarf. Perfect for Summer and Fall. It will go with a bunch of different outfits and will feel so nice against the skin.
Then there are a couple of mohair skeins that will become big scarf/stoles depending on how far it goes. One is brownish/neutral. I got it at Knit/Purl forever ago and was originally made into a shrug for my friend Mary. The other is a gorgeous skein of reds that recently came from Yarn Garden on sale. The pattern has four different lace scarves in it and was purchased at Stitches West probably 7 or 8 years ago. I made one out of some amazing yarn from Art Fibers and it was one of my absolute favorite scarfs. I accidentally left it somewhere and it took my months to track it down. An employee had taken it home and called me when she brought it back in. I nearly cried when she handed it over. It had been washed so it was all felted and part of it had broken so it had a big knot in it. I was crushed that my favorite thing had been so defiled. I thought I could live with it but was so emotional every time I looked at it that it went to Goodwill. The yarn was unique and I couldn’t get it again if I wanted to. It was gorgeous and I wore it all the time. This was a lesson in impermanence.
Last up is some pretty green mercerized cotton that will become a darling t-shirt for H. The yarn came from a shop in Vancouver that unfortunately went out of business. The pattern is from Twisted.
This is a great start on using up my stash. Kind of the equivalent of shopping in your closet. I’m realizing that if I buy yarn but don’t have immediate plans for it, that I need to buy more of it. One or two skeins feeds the instant gratification desire, but isn’t really practical. This works for sock yarn or items that can be used in baby gifts, but not for real sweaters/vests/etc. It’s going to take some creativity and discipline to use up what’s in the stash. It feels so good to know that I’ve set myself up for success by organizing things so that I can just grab a bag and start a project. I don’t have to go digging around and flipping through magazines and books to find something to work on. I can just go to the basket and find something ready to go!
It’s funny how time slips away. It seems like I only recently made my last post, but then I look and see that it was back in January. Alas.
This whole knitting obsession has officially spun out of control. My mom and I were consignment shopping while she was here. We left the Sparkle Girl at home with her Daddy. While we were waiting for Bella Stella (at about 28th and NE Broadway) to open we hit the coffee shop just down the street. There was a young woman knitting by herself at a table. I’m always drawn to people knitting in public and want to talk with them about their project, their yarn, etc. I noticed that she was knitting without using tension. This is a technique for holding the working yarn in the hand so that it flows smoothly and evenly. It’s much easier on the hands than picking up the strand to make a stitch every time. It’s faster and the knitting looks much better, the stitches are more consistent.
I wrestled with myself for a few minutes. Do foist myself on her to show her how to use tension? Do I leave her alone and let her seek out the knowledge she wants at her own pace? Finally, the knitting teacher in me won out. She had mentioned that she was a new knitter and that her stitches weren’t even. She had ripped the project back and was starting over. I asked if she knew about tension and if she wanted to learn. Poor thing was very gracious and accepted the guerrilla knitting lesson well. She got the hang of it pretty easily and I helped her as she practiced. Eventually she ripped out her knitting to “start it all over right”. Good Girl! My Mom jumped in and told her about my blog…. if you are reading this I hope you didn’t mind my foisting knowledge on you too much~
It’s so hard not to jump in when you know that you can help propel a nascent knitter up to the next level. That impulse to help is so hard to resist. But sometimes you just have to. I try to read people’s body language and energy. She was chatty, which made it easier to strike up a conversation. She was a new knitter, which made it more likely that she would be open to some instruction. If she had been knitting that way for a long time she probably wouldn’t be excited about some stranger butting into her technique. I asked her first if she’d like me to show her something. Her response was positive and open. If she kind of grudgingly said, “sure, I guess.” Then I would have cut it short and left her alone. She seemed glad to learn a new skill that would help improve her knitting and keep her from getting a repetitive motion injury.
So, I made a neckwarmer as a birthday present for our fabulous coffee lady/baby sitter. She is such a positive woman, gorgeous, and she loves my baby. For her birthday I made her a gorgeous baby blue and camel neckwarmer (camel on top and bottom, blue in the middle). I found the yarn on sale at Close Knit… 60% off silk and cashmere. I knew when I saw it that it was destined for Leslie. It looked gorgeous on her with her blond hair and blue eyes. She says she’ll wear it skiing! Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it. DANG!
It is the Ridged Lace Cowl from Elinor Brown found on her www.exercisebeforeknitting.com blog. The pattern knit up easily and it was pretty easy to make adjustments for gauge. I did 9 repeats around instead of 11 and worked the pattern probably 5 times instead of 7. I put it on and it was nice and soft and warm.
Next up: booties for a colleague of my husband who just had a baby girl. Also still have the inherited sweater project and my vest.
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