Ooo Baby Knits

And She Takes the Gold!

Defying all odds, Michelle Howard, representing ADD knitters around the world, breaks with tradition and completes a project in record time! She didn’t even complain about the finishing as she was overcome with anticipation and expectation.

Beginning with the opening ceremonies, Michelle cast on for a cabled sweater she bookmarked in the VK 2004 Holiday issue over a year ago, knowing even then that yarn may be in short supply. She finished the back way ahead of the competition and counted the remaining skeins to plan her strategy in the next leg (or should I say arm?) of the event. Oh, no! Does this spell tragedy? Michelle has realized that she started with only 11 skeins, not the expected 12. What they’ve been saying all along is true- she’s one skein short of a sweater.

Not to be deterred, Michelle skips the cables on the sleeves, recalculates the number of required stitches, and takes off again.

The needles are flying and it looks like she’s…. But wait a minute…. Awwww. She can’t catch a break. Actually, she just did. Her Clover bamboo needle has come apart.

Nothing like a quick shot of super glue, and she’s off again, unfortunately it's to Hobby Lobby to check in on that sale they have going. She nabs a few skeins of TLC Wiggles, and as her ADD kicks in, casts on for a baby sweater.

Will this mean the end for medal hopeful Michelle? Or can she regain lost time on the home front(s)? Calculating yardage left, she realizes she’ll have to take another shortcut. She goes for the single cable rather than the double. This could cost her points.

One skein later, she’s running short. Abandoning all hope of working the much-desired cables, Michelle altars course once more and chooses to finish the sweater fronts with a simple knit/ purl design and a v-neck to ensure a sufficient supply of yarn. She’s cutting it close. It’s the afternoon of the last day of the Olympics. Most of the competitors are packing their knitting bags for the journey home, but Michelle knits on. The sun is shinning brightly, but a cold wind blows ominously as she picks up stitches for the neck and rounds the corner into home stretch. Literally. A few toe touches and deep knee bends later, the kinks are worked out, and the last stitches are bound off. What’s this? The spectators heave a collective sigh.

It’s a twisted stitch several inches down on the front band. Amazing how an experienced knitter can mess up simple garter stitch. (Refer back to the one skein short bit.) Are her hopes for a medal unraveling as she unravels the neck and drops two stitches to correct the mistake? No, Michelle has moxie. This twisted sister is untwisted, the neckline is reknit and bound off, and the last dangling end woven in. It’s 5:22, and Michelle Howard takes the gold. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s podium time.

Let the Games Begin!

Ready............             Set..............             Go!

 

The game is afoot! Or a sweater. Whatever. The back is finished except for binding off, but I took a break the past two days to finish Hubby's Valentine's Day sock. Didn't happen. Every time I got in that knitting groove, he'd walk in. Or I'd leave it for a minute and not hear him come in in time to hide it. He's seen it 20 times by now, and it's not going to be finished by the time he gets home from work. I should be working on it, but I've given in to the agony of defeat. (Or should I say defeet?) Maybe he'll forget about it by Easter. Or Father's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Job Well Done Need Not Be Done Again

Unfortunately this was not well done. I thought I learned to count in kindergarten, but apparently I was wrong. I wonder what else I didn’t learn. I have been known to run with scissors…. Anywho, I meant to cast on 64 stitches for Hubby’s Valentine's Day socks. What better way to say I love you than the gift of warm feet, right? Somehow I got a little carried away and cast on 78. I even remember counting several times, like when I had to divide for the heel. Why did it take so long to realize that I was knitting socks for Big Foot? So I’ve started over.

I have actually accomplished a little. I finished a baby set and a few hats and scarves. Our mild winter has turned frigid once again, so I thought I’d do a little more for the homeless shelter. We may complain about our little house, but I am so grateful we have one. Also finished the slippers for Little B and her sister.

 

And in other knitting news, I’m knitting up the sleeves on the Scoop. Basic black makes for boring pictures, so I’ll spare you. And I’ve knit a little here and there on other things. I’m trying not to let any project sit for too long even though I’m concentrating on other things. I have a hard time picking one up if I haven’t worked on it in awhile, and I’ll just start something new instead.

Speaking of starting something new, I joined the Knitting Olympics so I’m committed to starting another project tomorrow. Maybe I should just be committed. Time to gather goodies and find an empty tote bag. I joined the Tote-along, too, so I really should just make one by tomorrow night.

Now I Know My ABCs

I'm a little late starting, but here goes:

A is for Adagio

B is for bananas and burnt cheese biscuits.

C is for cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, celery seed, cilantro, caraway seed, chili powder, and cream of tartar.

A now a word about my last post. It took me so long to get the poem to cut and paste intact that I ran out of uninterrupted time before I could explain. If you haven't seen it yet (I'm always the last to find out about anything fun, so chances are you have), here's where the Silent Poetry Reading started. I was only a few days late posting mine, and that's pretty good for me.

The poem below is on the back cover of an Aztec Two-Step album.  I first heard ATS in high school riding around in Hubby's Honda Civic, swilling beer and cruzing back roads looking for hidden places to call ours. The poem and the music remind me of college- backpacking the Appalachian Trail, ice skating on Pandapa's Pond, a bike-a-thon in February snow, teaching my roommate to knit scarves for our boyfriends for Christmas, camping in Strawberry Fields, throwing darts in a seedy bar, motorcycle riding, and occasionally going to class. Of course, "our song" is an Aztec Two-Step song, "You’ve Got a Way".

Just to throw in a little knitting content, you've got to see this. You can even knit your own. I won't put it on my to-do list, but I can appreciate fine art.

silent poetry reading

from A Coney Island of the Mind, 1958
Lawrence Ferlinghetti

See
   it was like this when
                        we waltz into this place
a couple of Papish cats
                       is doing an Aztec two-step
And I says
          Dad let's cut
but then this dame
                comes up behind me see
                            and says
                    You and me could really exist
Wow I says
           Only the next day
                she has bad teeth
                         and really hates
                                           poetry