fool’s day greetings. from my kid to you and yours.
these are the ones i liked the best.
there were at least 6 more sets of googly eyes
staring at us from unexpected places upon waking this morning.
my top fav is the extra eyes that really pop out
from cookie monster on the toothpaste.
which one is your pick?
‘unexpected’ taken from 25:23 of proverbs.
as i was saying,
except for the internet, our journey might have ended
with sore feet and a tired steed having trekked here and there and back again
in search of the needed zipper.
one of the right shade and fierceness was found,
but it’s extent was too expansive (way, way, way too long).
then my mind, even in its current state,
hit upon the idea of the tag
(i am often lost in the obvious).
yea, the zipper in my possession had a tag
which by the light of a torch, still clearly read:
coats & clark, f45 – 22 – 7, closed bottom sport.
after deciphering the tricky code (color – length – heft),
i was able to procure the exact same hue in the 7″ height that i desired.
the quest for closure(s) was now complete.
until tomorrow, keep your wit sharp and your needles sharper still.
‘sharp’ taken from 27:17 of proverbs.
i’ve got myself on kind of a roll here.
it’s just so exciting to see my daughter creating like this.
before this week’s hat, when she was knitting lots of little garter stitch squares,
there was the lingering question of what to do with them.
then, a neighbor was expecting
her 6th child
and my kid decided to sew them together
to be a baby blanket for her kid.
as much as i lean toward more pared down simplicity,
my daughter dreams in complex forms.
hand knit ‘baby blanket’
wasn’t moving enough for her.
she wanted all the squares of random leftover yarn colors
to meld into some overall picture.
if i’m being honest,
i tried to discourage all the complexity.
i thought a full blankie for a first project was already ambitious enough,
but she would not be dissuaded.
when her plans
meant she would have to learn
intarsia (so that a few of the squares could be two colors side by side),
i tried to ‘talk her down’ once again and she was having none of that.
in the end, her first garter stitch intarsia attempts were
fabulous ( i tried to hide my shock by gushing).
because she was so tied to the colors, the yarn weights don’t match.
when i asked, she told me this was her ‘artistic interpretation’
of knitting. what was i gonna say to that?
as well, she finished the full blanket very shortly after the baby was born.
welcome to this world, andrew matthias.
we’re so very glad to meet you.
enjoy the rainbow filled blue sky and pine tree covered mountains on your blanket
(if you’re like me, you have to squint and tip your head a little to see the scene).
every stitch was knit with oodles of love and rapt attention.
sketching is not
my best thing. not by far.
i do it because mags need a picture of what’s in my head.
thing is, i don’t doodle. i’ve never been one to draw just because i had free time
and a paper, and a pencil.
so my sketches
look like
this
(in ‘real life’,
that turned into
knitscene, accessories
2013).
unlike me,
my oldest likes to draw.
she adds colors
and textures.
she draws eyes (which i can’t yet and so don’t)
and draws mouths (which are still well beyond my comfort zone).
she is brave in this area of sketching where i am not.
that impresses me.
it also makes me think that when she gets
to be an actual grown-up, that there will be no stopping her.
i like that. a lot.
‘impress’ taken from 6:7 of deuteronomy.
my daughter
wants to knit a little.
she feels motivated in spurts.
up until now, garter stitch squares
have been her project of choice. she says,
‘the short little 16 st rows make me feel like i’m getting somewhere’.
this is teenager nearly instant gratification at its peak.
but, i had just one skein of city tweed aran
and she wanted to knit it.
i talked her into
a hat worked in the round:
simple, slightly slouchy, and just her size.
there were starts and stops.
the circular needles felt fidgety to her,
she’d never done knit and purl stitches in the same row before,
and she had to learn k2tog & ssk from scratch to get through to the top.
but her hat came out great.
so worth the effort to learn all the new stuff.
now she wants to knit chemo caps for the local hospital.
i love my kid. she’s enthusiasm and caring, talent and 14 all rolled into one.
wait’ll you see her sketches tomorrow.
i could learn a few things
from her already.
‘simple’ taken from 20:10 in 2nd kings.
it looks like
there is much needed
sleep ahead for both d and i.
yesterday he came home from the doc
with a cast and permission to go back to work.
while the brace and wrap from the hospital was lighter and easier in ways,
the full cast meant that the wrist was protected enough from moving covers and such
that he and i were both able to get decent sleep last night.
it’s amazing how different a little shut eye
makes the next day look.
it’s been hard to watch him in pain
and to be able to do so very little to ease that.
so, when he told me that his exposed fingers were cold
(hanging out the end of the sling, not able to be gloved or even zippered into a coat),
i jumped in to help.
three double pointed needles,
necessity (which is the mother of invention after all),
a little knit forward, pull backward, repeat…
and a thumbless mitt was ‘born’.
the velcro of the sling is already reeking some havoc
on the lower stitches near the binding off,
but overall, i’m happy with it.
the shaping keeps it in place without being uncomfortably snug
and knowing he’s warm and feels loved is he best part of all.
note: i did not forget
the ‘saga of the jagged edges’.
give me a few more nights of solid sleep
then i’ll be able to continue that tale.
thanks for your patience with things.
until my head clears,
i’ve got my 14 yr old’s fo’s to show you.
more on that tomorrow
(for real, tomorrow).
i don’t need much sleep to be proud of her
and i sure am proud of her.
addendum:
my knight in shining armor, has fallen.
the result is both dented armor and a broken wrist.
tomorrow the storyline of the saga will continue,
but for today we rest
filling our weary, battle worn heads
with dreams of the progress soon to be gained.
until next time, don’t forget to
keep your castles in the sky and your feet on solid ground.
‘weary’ taken from 16:14 of 2nd samuel.
once upon a time,
in a castle not so very far away,
there was a grand,
dare i say unequaled twine
that landed in the willing hands of a knitwear designer.
said maiden had in her noggin a vision
which longed for just such a fiber to set it free.
excitedly the designer and the twine set about releasing the vision,
until they tripped as one upon the jagged edge
of the need for a matchless zipper.
having scouted
about the village, they were
only able to obtain the proper shade.
alas, the count of the teeth was too many
(too many by far…about 15 inches too far…)
and, but for the internet,
our tale might have ended upon this point.
instead, the ‘saga of the jagged edges’ continues tomorrow.
until the dawn, keep your sword close at hand, and your dragon well fed.
we discovered today
that my youngest and i have
yet another thing in common with each other.
he asked for popcorn.
i said, ‘ok, but just one bowl’.
he agreed so i went about my business.
i shouldn’t have been surprised since i left him the whole bag…
returning, i found this:
him happily stacking the kernels as high
as he possibly could into his one little green bowl.
and you know what?
that’s exactly what i do when
i tell myself that i’m only going to get one bag of yarn.
seems the apple truly doesn’t fall far from the tree.
