A little bit of writing, a little bit of knitting...

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Problem…Solution

So yesterday was Monday—which meant that, at precisely 4:00, I made my way to the store for another afternoon of knitting with the kids. It was a pretty slow summer, meaning that I was often left kid-less—or perhaps with just poor, faithful Miss A. It’s a good thing Miss A is so much fun—because we spent a heck of a lot of time together this summer.

So anyway, I got there at 4, expecting an army to be waiting for me. Last week, I had six kids, several of whom spent their time wreaking havoc on the store. And they all promised they’d be back next week. But when I got there, the place was empty. So I set down my bags and took to wandering the store, feeling hanks of yarn, as I often do when I’m waiting for kids to show up.

In the back of the store, I ran into Beth. I hadn’t seen Beth in for-freakin’-ever, so I was thrilled to hang out and chat in the back for a while.

“You haven’t been blogging much,” Beth noted.

“I know,” I sighed as I plopped down in a chair. “It’s on my to-do list every single day. I even have some pictures ready. But I’m just so busy…”

Then I explained that there’s another reason: “I just don’t have anything good to show.”

You see, I’d been a bit frustrated when I showed up at the store. The whole thing revolved around this particular top that I’d been working on. I bought the yarn last summer, and the top I had started was a disaster. So I frogged it. This spring, I got an idea for something different—my own design. So I slowly got to work. I was very careful about the design and the shaping. I tried the stupid thing on about every other round (which was why it was getting nowhere fast). Yesterday, I decided to try it on again. And I hated it. I have no idea what happened, but it fit one day, and it looked all weird the next. I was speechless. And totally ticked off. So I took it off again and left the house for knitting.

So what’s the solution, you ask? Simple. I set the top aside (again). And I pulled out some soft, bulky yellow yarn and started another brainless blanket.

Thank goodness for blankets.

This time, I even went up to 10½s instead of 10s, and it’s flying by. Oh, how I love my blanket.

Before I knew it, it was nearly 5:00—but it was so nice to just sit and knit with the girls for a while. It had been one heck of a Monday, and I needed it. But that’s when Sallie went up to the front of the store and called back for me to brace myself. I had kids, who were showing up a whole hour late—and it was the crazy kids. My two boys.

The boys are a ton of fun—especially Mr. A, who is a totally happy little knitter. He was there, working away on a sweater, when my mom came to visit. So Mom always calls Mr. A “My Little Boy.” His little brother, Mr. T (who’s not nearly as big but just as energetic as the original), is a handful.

This week, though, the guys were pretty beat—and midway through sitting around and trying to figure out her new sock pattern, her mom realized that she’d missed lunch (something I can totally relate to)—so they didn’t last very long. Mr. A worked away on a new stuffed animal that he’s making, and Mr. T decided to work on Mr. A’s sweater for a while. That lasted approximately 6 stitches. Then he came over to the couch by me and hung upside-down from it while discussing things that, I’m pretty sure, only make sense in his little world. But I make sure to smile and nod and “uh-huh” and “oh!” at the appropriate times.

Mr. A was intrigued by my blanket, so I explained the whole thing to him. Then he asked who I was making it for.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “I figure one of my friends gets pregnant about every other day, so I’m just kinda working ahead.” When his mother told me that was a really good idea, I told her it was kinda like a pre-emptive strike. I like to be prepared.

When the kids were getting ready to leave (15 minutes or so early), Mr. T seemed very concerned. He looked at me (from his place, upside-down on the couch) and said, “But will you be sad if we leave you here by yourself?” How cute is that? I told him I might—but there’s always next week.

So despite the knitting headache that I had when I arrived at the store, I left feeling cheery and rested. I’d gotten to chat for a while, I started a project that I know will work out (and go really really fast), and the kids didn’t make me want to go home and drink. So it was a good Monday.

I still have some pictures sitting on my hard drive, waiting to be uploaded so I can show you all my fabulous array of blankets. And I swear I’ll do that soon. Really. I’m not kidding. I’ve already gotten to the point of taking them from my camera and putting them on my computer, so that’s a start. I’m working in baby steps here, but I’ll get there eventually.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pre-emptive baby blankets is a great idea.

4:02 PM

 
Blogger Jennifer said...

yay for a new blog - missed ya!
i hear ya, though...summertime blogging is tough. it's not that we don't want to, but it's just so dang busy that it's easy to put on the back burner.

can't wait to see the new blankets and i love hearing about the kids knitting, especially the mr's : )

5:38 PM

 

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