Using up yarn

I seem to be the queen of the wrong amount of yarn these days. Anyway, this scarf is something I came up with all on my own. It's a fern lace pattern blocked to about 7.5 inches wide and 64 inches long. I finished it up last night and blocked it and haven't worn it yet, so we'll see how I like it later. The yarn is Knitpicks Memories in Fly Fishing. I used about a hank and a half (I had about half a hank left over from some other project).

We've definitely had the weather lately for scarves (and hats, I think I may need to knit up some hats!)

Sleigh Bells Ring and a snow storm

If you read this blog at all you'd think that I knit very little, but the opposite is actually true. I have a friend who thinks it's odd that, for the most part, I only have 1 or 2 projects going at a time, and I finish them before moving on. Truly this is a most recent phenomenom. Usually I have many projects going on at one time and I work on them as the feeling moves me. Lately the feeling has moved me to work on one project at a time and to finish it up before moving on. But all of that goes out the window at Christmas. About 30 years ago my mother knit me a scarf. My middle boy discovered that scarf and has been using it even though he, like me 30 years ago, says it's too short. So I bought some uber-cheap Red Heart and cast on this mistake rib scarf. I figured that I can give it to him for Christmas, and he can tell me what he does and doesn't like about it, and if he uses it and doesn't lose it I'll knit him up one in a more natural fiber that acrylic that squeaks across the needles. This bad boy is in maroon and black and is a little over 6 feet long. I even put fringe on it (even though I loathe fringe):






The snow it is sitting in is courtesy of Mother Nature. Mother Nature decided that Colorado needed several feet of snow just before Christmas. My youngest son was complaining that it didn't feel like Christmas because there wasn't much snow on the ground. Then he was complaining because the snow closed down the school (and the roads and the state) meaning that there's no class holiday parties this year. Ya just can't win.

But today, the sun is shining and the biggest snow blower I've ever seen drove down our street clearing a path as wide as a Surburban (I know because a Surburban drove down the road shortly after the ginormous snow blower) so we can get out and go to the store and see if there's anything left to buy there. And, much to the happiness of my kids.....we won't have whatever is left in the freezer for Christmas dinner.

Stress knitting

This is my latest project. The yarn is Knitpicks swish superwash and the pattern is a picture I have in my head which is why I'm knitting it from the top down and have finished the neckline (ribbing and all) so that I can try it on as I go and see if the actual sweater matches the picture in my mind. So far so good.

I heard through the family that my brother and sister in law are still having "issues". It breaks my heart because they have pretty much written us (my brother's family) out of their lives. Because of the problems (drugs) there is nothing that I can do to help them (already tried and was burned). They need to make important decisions on their own. And so I knit. I knit because it is a stress release. I knit because it's like meditation, or perhaps it is meditation. All I know is that I feel calmer when I have my needles in my hand. Back when my brother was still talking to me, I was sitting in his kitchen with our mom, my husband and my brother's wife. We were going over what their drug habit had cost them financially and how they could get back onto track. I sat with my knitting in my hand and my brother asked me about it. I told him that when I'm nervous or stressed I knit. He asked what did I have to be stressed about. This man that has been my brother all of his life, this man who has a heroin addiction and whose wife shares that addiction (along with an alcohol problem and painkiller problem). This man who is the father to my two nieces asked me what I had to be stressed about. This man who I have recently found out is still using and has cut me from his life. There's not enough yarn or needles in this world to help my stress. But one stitch at a time I meditate and pray.