What's on your needles?

Chez Serenity
16May13

NE Florida has really woken up.   The weather has been so nice that outside knitting has once again become a daily joy.

Ridgely has been on hold for the last week.  While knitting with the girls last Thursday, I put it down on the table, leaned on it funny (or not so funny) and snapped the needles right in half.   New tips were ordered from KnitPicks and I am expecting them any day now.

In the meantime, I have been working on my blue Euroflax Linen Tunic.   The back is finished, which leaves just the front shoulders to do.   For the most part I am very much a process knitter but in this case I am really anxious to wear this project.   I can see it now over my black jersey capris.

Also getting a lot of attention is my black Comfy Fingering Simple Joys Shawl.   I am still working on the seed stitch edging.   This is another project that I am as anxious to wear as I am to knit.

So, tell me, what's on your needles?

Tangled webs

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again  and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

Much has been written about the lies we knitters tell ourselves.  Still, like the insane in Dr. Einstein's quote, we continue to do it again and again, always hoping that this time it will be different.   At least I am in good company.

The last couple of weeks have been physically and emotionally trying.   Comfort knitting has been the order of the day.  With that in mind, I have been working on my black, Comfy fingering weight, Simple Joys Shawl.   Once done with the body, I was not much in the mood for ruffles so I decided to go with a seed-stitch border instead.   Sounds simple, right?    Well, it started out that way.  Then about six rows into it, I noticed that the stitches were not lining up correctly.  A couple of rows back, I had knit where I should have purled (or vice versa), thus messing up the stitch pattern (Damn!).  

I decided then and there that it would not bother me.  I would just continue on in the new pattern.   The shawl is for me and is meant as a casual thing to wear with jeans and/or yoga pants.   Totally, not worth the trouble of ripping back two long stitch rows.   That is what I kept telling myself while working two more rows.   I got only that far before, admitting the truth.  Not only did it show but it was bugging the heck (?) out of me.

In the end, rather than ripping back two rows, I ended up ripping back four and half row (lost track of  the error so ripped back an extra row just to be sure).   As you can see, all is as it should be now;  but I am frustrated by how much angst I could have saved myself if I had just admitted that I was not going to be happy until those rows were ripped out and stitch order restored.   

I'd love to say that I will never do this again, but I know I will.  Just call me crazy.

Knitting Soothes ...

Simple Joys Shawl

 Comfy Fingering Yarn

My current "Sunday" knitting project is this black triangle shawl.   The fingering weight yarn and the fact that I only work on it one day a week makes it pretty slow going but I am pleased with it all the same.

Last Sunday I arrived at church looking forward to hearing this week's speaker give a talk on "Sustainable Change".    What I was not prepared for, however, was how much our guest speaker resembles the ex-husband.    Now, I have long since learned to manage the trauma of my first marriage (thank heavens for a strong support system and lots of therapy).    The nightmares and panic attacks are, mostly, a thing of the past.   But, for whatever reason, this guy threw me for a loop.   My head and heart started to pound and I could not breath well enough to sing.    I was going to step outside but my legs were shaky.   Then I hit on an idea I read about in Priscilla Warner's "Learning to Breath".    I closed my eyes and focused on the parts to of me that were literally grounded.    I could feel my bottom on my seat and my feet on the ground.  The shaking stopped and the pounding receded    Then, I added my own twist and started knitting with my eyes closed which requires feeling each stitch (usually a cool party trick but now a practical skill).  The pounding stopped completely and I could take slow deep breaths.    I tried opening my eyes but as soon as I looked at that poor man at the podium, the whole thing started again.   In the end, I spent the entire talk with my eyes shut and my hands busy.   It really worked for me.