Sunday, October 16, 2022

Challenge Accepted

Many of you reading this have never and probably will never meet me in person.  You may have some ideas about my personality, or perhaps you've never really given it much thought at all.  I'm an introvert, weird, and sometimes if I receive a quick response on a text/dm/email, I find it extremely difficult, bordering on impossible, to respond that response, but write imaginary ones in my head for hours, days, weeks, months, or years.  I alternate between very short texts and emails and tremendously long blocks of writing.  That being said, I doubt you'd be surprised to know that I can chatter away with someone for a really long time.  Fun fact:  I'm a telephone pacer.  I wander about, walking back and forth if I'm on the phone for any measurable length of time that doesn't require me to be seated.  I'm also a telephone avoider, (although I don't hate the phone) am awkward, and have not yet developed the skills necessary to not rattle on and on until something comes along and necessitates an end of the telephone conversation.  

Recently, I've reconnected with someone I met through knitting back when I was an in-person social knitter.  We have been having weekly Zoom meetings lately.  It is the free version, so we are limited to forty minutes.  I don't think we are related, but if we are, we don't need a full-on genealogy survey to find a common ancestor, because if one exists, it's obviously Chatty Cathy.  So far, we've been mixing small recaps of recent history mixed with what is currently happening in our lives.  It seems like we've barely begun when the ten-minute reminder countdown clock appears.    

Black, partially knit cardigan draped about a pink, spotted, squishy stuffed animal
  So, while it might be frustrating at times when one of us is mid-story when the video feed cuts out, I choose to look at it in a positive.  This could be a chance build some (much needed, in my case) skills while staying in touch.  Sure, it's a challenge, but it is also an opportunity to make the most of limited time.  And if we keep up with meeting weekly, we might even get around to knitting together.  Speaking of knitting, I picked up the stitches on the black blob, and it could be perfect for working on during the Zoom chats.  I still need to knit a few rows on it to see if my pick-up rate was right, but I feel pretty good about it.  As I'm sure you can tell, this isn't a current photo, (and judge away, 'cause the picture is from February 2019) but possibly the best picture I will ever get of this sweater.
       

Friday, October 14, 2022

Don't Call it a Comeback...Yet

Sure, these UFOs have literally been here for years, but I've not been working on them, and the mere act of dragging them out may not mean anything.  Their longstanding neglected status is not all these projects have in common.  They're both in states of waiting for their next steps, and their next steps are the final steps in knitting them.  One needs a bit of ye ol' pick up and knit action, and then it's just stockinette (and rev-st-st, and maybe a little more st-st) until bind-off time.  The other needs the set-up for the lace edge, and then it's a short chart repeated all the way around, eating up body stitches as I go, a quick graft, and the knitting's done.  Right now, they're also both rather unimpressive (and not terribly exciting when it comes to color, either) blobs of plain knitting--one garter, the other stockinette.  

They also have quite a bit of knitting left on them.  I mean, if I squint, I can make out the finish line in the distance.  The lace edge is an eight-row chart of thirteen stitches, but I will be working it over and over again to make it all the way around.  Sure, it's likely I'll get the chart somewhat pasted onto my brain after I've done it a number of times, but it's not mindless, and when I reach the corners, I will need to consult the written directions, too. I'm not going to attempt calculate the stitches that remain, but the number is not insignificant.  After some quick calculations, I think that the simpler project has over 16,000 stitches to go, but the knitting is pretty mindless once I get it on its way.  Still, if I recall correctly, the "requirements" for NaKniSweMo is knitting a sweater of at least 10,000 stitches in a month, but that's a bit hazy to me and I could be mistaken.  Then again, that's a totally made up, self-imposed, unimportant event for next month.  Ugh.  I just realized that next month is November.  I'm going to need a moment.  OK, I've pushed that reality back into a corner and can get on with other things. 

Two blobs of knitting with their needles, one a mostly garter stitch blob of light brown, the other black blob of endless stockinette.

I guess I'm in the so close yet so far away zone with these, but giving them a chance to be something other than blobs of knitting in a bag seems like a good idea.  I hope you're giving good ideas a chance, too.                 

Sunday, October 09, 2022

Nearly a Nickel Creek Title*

My Kindle Fire has been unwell for a while, and I've been sad about it.  Not only have I enjoyed the device over the years, how I got it is special to me.  As it has been getting progressively sadder, I have tried all of the wishful thinking and lucky rituals trying to get it well.  I gotta say, the one where you hold down the power button for twenty-eight seconds in the light of the full moon, surrounded by a circle of power formed by all your best charging cables seemed the most promising, but alas, it was not.  Finally, I managed to do a factory reset, and now I'm back up and running again.  Woo-hoo!  

Two small, handknit pink uteri, both scowling, one with red boxing gloves over its ovaries, and the other with blue boxing gloves on its ovaries.So, yeah, what with the end of the Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest 2022 (no, I was not a winner, nor did I expect to be) and a bunch of other stuff, I've not done quite as much knitting.  I mean, I was cranking out the tiny creations all summer, so the slowdown is not unexpected.  I don't think I've shown all of the little creations.  Anyway, I do have ideas that would get my needles going.  I would say I'm excited to show you, but much of what I have is not exciting at all.  Of course, now you're excited and feel confident that it will actually be interesting.  In thanks for your good and positive thoughts, I present you with a little bit of my knitting with my revived Kindle Fire.  It's just a couple of Fumin' Wombs from the 20th Anniversary Knitty.    

*Why Should the Fire Die?