While you were sleeping...

Aloha-OOO!

I'm sitting here, typing away on an assignment for Selling Power Magazine, when I should be snuggled up with my hubby. Why am I up so late, you ask? Because tomorrow my BFF Heather and I are taking off for Hawaii! Ack! Yes, sans kids, sans husbands, two crazy dames on the loose at the Grand Wailea. Woohoo! It's my 40th birthday present to Heather Feather. I'm such an awesome friend, I know.

The trip is actually work-related (which means, "tax deductible"). I am going to attend the Maui Writers' Conference and Heather is going to sit on her cute buns by the pool and drink pina coladas while I'm trolling for an agent for my book. How lucky are we???

I will be working on several knitting-related projects on the road. More about that when I get back because I don't want to take the time to find the link to the patterns I'm doing. You'll just have to be surprised.

More after Labor Day!

What knitting teaches us

I'm never content to just do something; I always have to analyze. It's the curse, I think, of being a writer. I have to think about life and my role in it, and try to make sense of it all. And of course, as I get more into knitting, I try to find a way that knitting represents life, and how I can learn more about myself by looking at the way I approach knitting.

Through past self-analysis, I've determined that I'm a perfectionist (that didn't require much thinking to figure out),  but I am also extremely impatient. When it comes to knitting, these two personality traits don't mesh well (it's kind of like being a diabetic pasty chef). I want things to be perfect, flawless, complete, but I also want to get them done and get on to the next thing. So these two things really come to loggerheads (what does that mean, anyway?) when it comes to knitting.

Knitting isn't about perfection, though we all long for the "perfect" garment (no dropped or split stitches, even tension, perfect sizing, great colors). Knitting isn't about speed, either. Knitting is, I am learning more and more, about process. And I've never been a process-oriented person. It's soemthing I've strived for for the past few years, as I've tried to become more "zen" in my approach to life. But I'm far from enjoying the ride without a thought as to the end destination.

With small children in my life, I've learned to enjoy the moment more than I ever have. But I still find myself wishing the days and hours away, waiting for that unspecified, unreachable milestone when I will be complete and have everything I could ever possibly desire. And then, I think, my life will really begin.

The problem is, life is now, not later. If I wish away these hours today, I'm wishing away my life that I could be living right this very second. Quite unwise.

So what does this all have to do with knitting? Well, for one, I am learning to enjoy the act of sitting with my yarn and moving my fingers through the dance. I'm learning to appreciate the very act of creating, without regard to the finished object I'm aiming for.

I'm learning to realize that my life, just like my knitting, is a work in progress.

Stash Additions

Well, no sooner do I get rid of some stuff in a Stash Reduction than I fill up again... This time from Purl Soho. And I couldn't believe how quickly the stuff arrived! Here are the latest additions:

The Silk Garden is for this scarf; the rest is for Clapotis. And here's some more that I have no idea what I'm going to do with: I'm sure I'll think of something!

It is just way too cool to come home and see a nice little package waiting on my steps. I was pulling away from the house today as I saw the UPS man come around the corner, but I restrained myself from looking back so it would be that much more of a surprise. And sure enough, when I got back from working on my assignment at Starbucks, there was a yarn-sized box! All I could say was, "Yippee!" Yes, I'm a total nerd.

I tore right into it and was so thrilled with the way everything was wrapped up in mint-green tissue paper with a gorgeous PurlSoho sticker on top:

And on the packing list was a little handwritten note from Jen herself. It made me feel like a superstar! Like, "Yeah, Jen and me, we're homies..." Hahahha.

Of course I wanted to rip the Scarf from Hell off my circulars and jump right on the Noro, but I am restraining myself. I have completion issues as it is, and the last thing I need is a bunch of half-finished projects lurking in corners of my house (we won't talk about Sally's FSS and the Afghan from Hell -- or is that Bin Ladin?).

I've created a monster

I am having a horrible time with this mohair scarf from Exquisite Little Knits. It looked quite simple and straightforward at first, but it has become a thorn in my side. Instead of creating nice, even rows of a gorgeous open stitch, I've got a rolling, uneven wave that looks like it was patched together during a rough trip on the D Line in Boston.  Since I have no public transportation excuse, I am a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. Ugh. Let me put it this way -- it's not so exquisite. I wish I had a cat so I could give it to her (him?) to play with and rip up. Instead, I have three children.

The devil made me do it

Just when I think it's safe to go back in the water, something happens... like a sale at Purl Soho! Someone posted about it on Knitter's Review and I just had to click over and take a look. Argh. It's like a chocoholic "just looking" in a Godiva shop! I ended up with several different kinds of Noro (I've never seen it on sale before, nor have I knit with it -- I'm dying to make my first clapotis with a skein or two of Silk Garden), plus some various colors of Blue Sky Alpaca that I'm not sure yet what I am going to do with. But that's about par for the course. I have binders full of patterns, books full of patterns, and bags full of yarn. Somewhere, the twain shall meet.

Right now, what's on the needles is a mohair scarf for a certain someone for Christmas. I'm making it from Anny Blatt (that name sounds like a disease of some sort -- "Uh, I think I should tell you before we get serious, I've got Anny Blatt...") on size 7s I think it is -- in navy with a lace pattern from Exquisite Little Knits. It's been tough, mainly because when I need to rip back, I get confused with the yarn-overs and end up dropping stitches. After frogging several inches several times, I finally gave myself permission to charge ahead without it being perfect. I may end up scrapping the first take and just using one ball, then using the second ball I got for a smaller version of the project. We'll see. Imperfection doesn't sit well with me.

I'll get photos of this stuff up soon. In the meantime, take a look at my attempts at stash reduction below in my photo album.

It's beginning to look a lot...

...Like Christmas? I hate to say it, but I have indeed begun knitting for Christmas. All those hapless folks on my gift list who are expecting something mundane like a Target giftcard or yet another book are going to be surprised when, come Christmas morn, they open their presents and see handknit goodies from yours truly!

It's been a tough decision whether to knit for some folks on my list... my older nieces and nephews, for instance. (Since they are busy in college, I have no fear that they are going to be reading my blog and wondering why in the heck their favorite aunt (hehe) is talking about their Christmas presents in a public forum...) But I decided that they never seem that thrilled with ANYTHING I give them, so I might as well give them something I enjoyed making. <Insert evil laugh here>

In the meantime, the following things have been stealing time away from my knitting this week:

1. My 10th anniversary on Saturday! We're going to stay at the Monterey Marriott just for Friday night, then we're zipping home to take over for our sitter, and then heading to San Francisco with our awesome neighbors to see Wicked at the Orpheum. Yahoo! In addition to lining up various sitters for our forays, I've been working like mad on my present for my hubby. More info on that later!

2. Scrapbooking. I definitely go in fits and starts on my scrapbooking. Since it's not as portable as knitting, I need some serious blocks of time to get anything done. I went last week to my fave scrapbook haunt, Picture Passion, in Campbell. I got quite a bit done, but as usual I'm behind on the year. To take even more time away, I am working the Bay Area Scrapbook Expo with the Picture Passion girls. I am so looking forward to this, as I love love love tradeshows (I'm a fruitcake, I know!).

3. WORK! I write an e-newsletter for Selling Power Magazine on meetings, and it's due next week.

So all that is the reason why my mohair scarf from Exquisite Little Knits is only two and a half inches. (The lack of length has nothing to do with my knitting ability, though I've made about three trips to the frog pond so far...).

Will knitting save my life?

My dad is in the hospital. Well, technically, he's home as of noon today. He went in Sunday night with chest pressure and a headache, and ended up yesterday in the CVICU with a hematoma and a stent (and a lot of stuff happened in between, but we won't get into that now). The good news is that he is okay and he got in in time to avert a heart attack (one artery was 99 percent blocked over an inch-plus). The bad news is that he has another artery blocked about 66%, and will likely have to repeat the angioplasty in a month or so. The whole situation was kind of surreal. I had been through the scenario twice before with my father-in-law, so I knew what to expect and could reassure my family about what would happen. So while I was confident that my dad -- an Energizer bunny of a man who keeps going and going and going and... -- would come through the procedure okay, I was trying to deal with the realization that I'm entering a new stage in my life, and this is likely only the first in a long string of visits to the emergency room, the hospital, and the ICU. Of course, spending two days in the hospital should have afforded me a ton of time to knit, and in fact, it did. But I didn't get as much done as I would have hoped (isn't that always the case?). I did finish the back piece of "Sally's favorite summer sweater" and it is so boring that I could not imagine jumping right into the front. So instead I started on a simple diagonal belt made with 24K that I admired at my LYS, Yarn Dogs. It's quite cute, but on size 7 needles, it's going to take a while! Anyway, the repetitive nature of SFSS and the 24K belt were enough to calm my nerves -- especially when I dosed up with a shot or two (or six) of KnitCast, my favorite podcast (in fact, the only podcast I listen to). Marie Irshad's smooth British radio voice just soaks into my skin and soothes me. If you haven't listened yet, give it a shot. She's awesome. I particularly enjoyed her interview with Stefanie Japel of Glampyre Knits who was just so entertaining and down-to-earth without being boring or affected. Yea, Stefanie! Well, my mind's a bit scattered today, but I will say that knitting can soothe the savage soul. Or something like that.

Welcome!

Woohoo! I'm famous! Well, sort of...
The backstory... I answered a post a while ago from KnitPicks, an awesome yarn supplier, for people to knit samples for their catalog. I sent a few photos of finished objects and lo and behold, received an assignment to knit a scarf with their knew luxury yarn, Panache. You have to check this stuff out (and, of course, take a goggle at my cool Window scarf). Check it out here . Pretty cool, eh? The best part: I got paid to knit!

I'm not crazy about the design -- I don't think it was really the right choice for this yarn -- but the yarn was awesome to work with, a decadent blend of baby alpaca, cashmere, silk and extrafine merino. And there was a bit left over for me to play with! Now, if I could only figure out what to make... and find the time...