Knit n Things

I never thought I'd say this because it's something I love to do... but... knitting in public might not be such a good thing. There are all kinds of benefits to KIP I know however – when you knit in the presence of loved ones, who might not be used to the sight (remember I’ve only been an addict for the past 6 months or so) you get a lot of comments like “that’s so cool, do you think you could make me one.” How do you gracefully get out of this?

For example:
I was at a birthday gathering for my buddy Paula & I was sitting on the couch with my beer & mom’s birthday socks. (for background you should know that P is having a was having a lot of family issues at that moment –medical issues, disagreements, and deaths – needless to say she was having a really rough week). And she starts telling me how much she would love some socks & how they would make her feel loved when her family was doing a poor job of it…how can I resist that?! So I told her as long as she wasn’t expecting them for Christmas maybe I’d make her a pair. She was thrilled, and all I said was maybe – how can I say no now when she’s thrilled with the idea?

Scenario two goes like this – occasionally I will stay in the building on my lunch hour and knit in the lunchroom. So I’ve been doing this a lot lately to ensure I finished mom’s b-day socks. Sometimes my buddy Sheila will hang out with me while I do this. Well the other day she says to me, “ya know Jo if you made me a pair of … pedicure socks you wouldn’t have to get me a Christmas present.” So not only does she want me to make her socks, but she wants me to design her ones with no toes! And for background you should know that I’ve known S since I was 11 and she considers herself like a second mother to me. And she’s really, really, good with a guilt trip.

Do these people not know that I want to knit for me?? Don’t they realize what’s involved? And why do they keep asking for socks of all things, I love making socks but at the rate I’m going it will become a chore and then I won’t love it anymore. How does a knitter avoid all this “make me one” nonsense. Strangers, no problem I simple tell them I’ll teach them to knit, but loved ones…they’re sneaky. It’s all my Aunt Cheryl’s fault, “Jo, I’d love to get a poncho for my birthday” she started this mess, now I’m stuck in some kind of knitter hell where I feel obligated to make something for everybody I know! So that’s it no more KIP - if people don’t know I knit they won’t ask!

Look what my knitter did! This is my buddy Gretchen and her first scarf. She’s amazing, finished the whole thing in less than a month and was hounding me about what to make next almost immediately. I took this picture last week (I am such a slacker) and she is currently hard at work on her next scarf. The first one was a plain garter stitch so she could really get a handle on how to knit and now I’ve got her doing a rib pattern so she can master purling and learning the difference between to two.

This is the second person I’ve taught to knit and I can’t even begin to describe the warm fuzzies I get from watching them do their thing. Gretch came to my house the other day and proudly showed me that her knitting had moved into a canvas bag (from the plastic food store bag) and then she showed me *gasp* knitting “stuff” that she had bought, a yarn needle and new size US 10 needles and a new skein of yarn for her next scarf (which she got on sale for 2 bucks – couldn’t you just die!)

Tisha (my other knitter) called me just yesterday to tell me she bought sock yarn. This is of course after the argument at SnB that she could never knit anything on needles that small and with more than one needle “no way!” Apparently the Rag Shop had sock yarn really, really cheap (half off the half off) and she couldn’t resist. She’s coming over next week so I can show her how to make socks. I love it! These two make me feel so good that I want to teach the world to knit!

I just got accepted to participate in Secret Pal Seven. It’s my first secret pal. I’m so excited. I’ve been sitting here trying to brainstorm all the cool things I can send to my SP. I’ve come up with almost nothing so far…but I’m sure I’ll get an idea soon. I don’t want to send yarn. I know, yarn is wonderful how could you not send yarn – but I’d be hesitant to send more than a skein or two and it’s so hard to decide what are you going to do with one skein of yarn, even if it is really nice. Unless of course my SP knits socks, then we’re golden because my LYS carries LOTS of great sock yarn. I’d really like to send things that are unique to my area, but really other than food and the beaches what is the Jersey Shore famous for? It all seems so ordinary to me, but I’ve lived here all my life so I suppose it is. Well I suppose ideas will come to me when I get my match-up. I can’t wait for January.

You had to know I was going to do it. I couldn't just finish what I've got and move on with my life, you knew I had to cast on one more Christmas project.

I've started a hat for my father. It seemed only fair since I've made something for everyone else, didn't want dear old dad to feel left out. I'm pretty proud of this hat actually (not that it looks like much at the moment) but I designed it myself (after much discussion at SnB last night - we decided I designed it) I had a pattern that gave me the idea, but decided it didn't look enough like the scarf my mom is making him to match. So I completely reworked the cable pattern and then OMG did math and figured out how many stiches I needed to do and...tada an original (sorta). What's that? You don't see any cables on this hat? Yea well that's because this hat has a 6 flippin' inch brim...in K1P1 rib...what the hell was I thinking?!?!

I finished the blanket this weekend, it turned out to be about 45" x 56" (homespun & this pattern stretch a lot so it's hard to measure.) The blanket is long enough to cover me from hips to toes, and the recipient is shorter than I am so it will be fine. So that's it I just have the hat for my dad & I'm done!! Yea I can do something that doesn't involve a deadline!!! Hmm what to do next... the possibilities are endless!!

Christmas has exploded all over my house. Mom put up her Dickens’s Village and I put up our tree. We even got some snow to make things extra festive.


I like Christmas, really I do, but there is so much work involved that it makes me a little sad. Can you truly enjoy Christmas with an endless stream of "Jo bring up this & that from the basement please." And believe me there is a LOT of this & that. Ya know those 50 gallon Rubbermaid totes? There are probably 30 of them full of stuff. Last year my dad & I got slick and cleaned out the loft in the garage for Christmas stuff. Wow what a time saver that was. This year we got all the stuff down in 15 minutes, that's a new record!

Yesterday we celebrated my mom's birthday. This is her blowing out her candles on her cake with her grandbaby Alexis. I thought the cake was going to be nothing but a pile of wax because Alexis was so busy checking out the cool candles instead of blowing them out. Eventually we got the candles out and enjoyed cake. Mom got the secret sock project and she loved them to death.

I forgot to take a picture of her in the socks but I did manage to take a few pictures of them before they got wrapped. (*and if blogger would cooperate I would post them, maybe later)

It’s a very simple rib pattern from Vintage Socks. I’m not crazy about the heel but it worked out really well for mom’s feet (they’re kinda skinny). This was her first pair of hand knitted socks and now she wants more and probably won’t be happy until that’s all she owns. Guess I better get to knitting!

I took this from Cara - it looked like fun. Enjoy.

TEN random things you might not know about me
1. I read obsessively – I have been known to blow off plans & stop answering my phone for a particularly good book
2. I struggle with my weight – this is not because I’m overly heavy but because I am an obsessive-compulsive eater.
3. I have never been in love – thought I might be when I was 19 but I was wrong
4. I’m 30 and still live with my parents – I’m sort of old fashioned like that …well that and I live in NJ where a shoebox sized house is impossible to afford without a partner of some sort
5. I play softball, basketball, and football recreationally – I suck at all of them but I have fun and that’s all that really matters
6. I have jumped from an airplane – it was an amazing experience I recommend it to everyone
7. I still believe in fairytales
8. I am not naturally the positive, outgoing, fun person that my friends know & love – I have to work very hard at this.
9. I didn’t like to knit when I first learned – in fact I hated it
10. I have horrible long-term memory – my mother has told me of events from as late as senior year of high school that I have no recollection of at all

NINE places I’ve visited
1. The Grand Canyon – an awe inspiring site, go there
2. Myrtle Beach, NC
3. Washington State (Seattle, Mt. Rainer, Aberdeen)
4. Cheaspeake Beach, MD / Washington DC
5. The Virgin Islands (St. Marteen, St. John)
6. California - Sanfransico, Redwood National Parks (wow), LA (yuck), Oakland, and some other place in the mountains that I have never successfully remembered the name of
7. New York City
8. Canada
9. Bahamas

EIGHT ways to win my heart
1. Foot massage – any massage really but feet for sure
2. Chocolate – Ghirardelli is my favorite
3. Any kind of small thoughtful gift –as opposed to big expensive thoughtless gifts
4. Do something childish & silly with me – like playing in the rain
5. Humble random acts of kindness
6. I’m a sucker for a charmer – being charming is a lost art, most of my generation has forgotten (never learned) how to do this
7. Encourage & believe in me
8. Surprises

SEVEN things I want to do before I die
1. Fly across an ocean – destination isn’t really important I just want to travel somewhere that involves a passport
2. Experience pregnancy
3. I’d really love to experience weightlessness, like those anti-gravity chambers used to train astronauts – that would be cool!
4. Scuba diving
5. Fall madly, deeply, & passionately in love –like romance novel kind of love
6. I really want to spout wings and fly – I know this is impossible but one can dream, maybe hang-gliding would be closer than skydiving
7. Work at a job that I LOVE

SIX things I don’t like
1. Fish & shellfish – you’d be amazed by the number of people that think I’m weird because I don’t eat lobster
2. Bugs – anything with more than four legs freaks me out, unless it also has wings then it’s ok.
3. Red Heart Super Saver Yarn – I think it’s a waste to knit/crochet with this stuff because when it’s done it feels like cardboard, who wants that next to their skin? For the record I am not condemning all acrylic, just this acrylic.
4. Inconsiderate & aggressive drivers – you have a deadly weapon at your disposal, do you think you could be more careful with it?!
5. The mall - I hate the mall, any mall, don’t make me go the mall
6. Scary movies

FIVE things I’m afraid of
1. Failing to maintain a good relationship with my younger brother
2. Going to new places alone
3. The inevitable death of my parents
4. Never falling in love – kind of hung up on this love thing aren’t I?
5. Giving up the battle and letting myself fall into the pit of self-pity that has been lurking around the corner since high school

FOUR ways to turn me off
1. Bad oral hygiene
2. Complain about things you can control – don’t complain just fix it
3. Complain about things you can’t control – you can’t fix it so it’s a waste of energy to complain about it
4. Belittle other people

THREE things I do every day
1. Read
2. Enjoy the weather – it could be ridiculously nasty out but I’ll still try to find something to enjoy about it
3. Smile – a lot

TWO things that make me happy
1. A new book
2. Spending time with my family

ONE thing on my mind right now
1. How hard it was to do this list

I miss my cable hat. I haven't even had the opportunity to try out my new little DP cable needle. I don't dare, I might get addicted and not finish the dreaded Christmas knitting. Why do we knitters do this to ourselves? I've never really done it myself, this is my first time. It's not fun, I won't be doing it again. It's not that I don't love giving woolly gifts - I really do! I just don't like the all at once deadline. Last year I made my brother a hat & mittens. That was it. Nothing else. My first non-scarf project was a gift to my brother, aren't I nice. He wears that hat all the time and it makes me feel good whenever I see him in it. I might make him more hats (He's never without one in the winter so he can't have to many) but I'm not going to do all this other Christmas knitting. And I'm not even doing that much, what's a few hats, a couple of socks and a blanket?

That's the problem, the blanket, that's a big project when you've got 10 other things to get done too, even if it does go super fast. I still not sure about the plan for the blanket, it's still sitting in it's bag doing nothing which is sooo not going to get it finished. I'm thinking I really should rip out what I've got and start again, that way there really isn't a question about the length. My blanket is super - super long, who cares if this one isn't, it will still be long enough won't it? Why can't anything ever be easy??