Wednesday was my sister-in-law Mary’s birthday and I knew she wanted a booga bag. I’ve known this since Christmas but I somehow neglected to plan enough time to make her a bag before her birthday. I thought I was doing okay – I ordered the yarn several weeks ago from Webs. But, honestly, it took forever and a day to arrive. When it finally did arrive I was at a reenactment and couldn’t exactly work with Noro Kureyon on Addi turbos and still pretend it was 1865. Consequently, I didn’t actually cast on for the bag until last Monday night. (remember my dilemma? do I finish the kitty pi first or just jump into the bag?) Anyway, I barely got a start on Monday night but worked diligently Tuesday night. Wednesday was the band concert so there was only sock knitting – since I didn’t want Mary to see the bag. I finally finished it on Thursday and then came the long long process of knitting miles of I-cord for the handle. It took all of my will-power and every ounce of discipline I had to finish that I-cord when I was itching to work on the Leaf Lace Shawl, which had been neglected since Sunday. But, this was a gift for Mary so I persevered and am the better person for it. The booga bag and handle were finished on Thursday. Here they are in their pre-felted state.

Friday afternoon both bag and handle went into the washing machine with a little soap, lots of hot water, and 3 pairs of blue jeans. Two cycles later it was nicely felted and stretched over a tupperware cereal container – the perfect blocking tool for this particular bag. Today I poked the holes for the I-cord handles and snapped this quick photo before Mary came over to help me shop for and plant flowers for my window boxes and deck.

I could tell you a lot of things about Mary. She has always been good to me and accepted me into this family right from the beginning. She’s smart and funny and pretty and old-fashioned in a way that makes you want to sit on a porch with her and drink lemonade. She is a very talented writer and her gardens are beautiful beyond compare. She is an accomplished outdoors woman and passionate about her beliefs and values. But you know what the best thing is about Mary? When you’re with her she makes you feel good about yourself. She makes you feel like all the good ideas are your own – when they are mostly hers. She makes you feel brilliant – like no one else has ever knitted such a beautiful felted bag and it doesn’t even matter that her birthday was 3 days ago. She makes you feel special – like she wouldn’t rather be anywhere but with you right at that moment. And she makes you want to be the person she believes you to be – like you’re not really just another schmuck trying to find your way through life.

I hope you all have someone like Mary in your life. A cheerleader, a sister and a friend. Oh, and if you do, knit something for her, for crying out loud, because she deserves it.

The kitty pi is done! I used Lamb’s Pride Bulky – 2 skeins of blue and little of red for some contrast. Mason’s not a frou-frou kind of cat so I left out the eyelash trim. He appears to be quite excited (trust me, that’s his excited face) and doesn’t seem to understand that he has to wait for it to be felted! See what I mean?

So, I put the hoop-de-big knitted cat bed in a zippered pillow case and then ran it through the washing machine with 3 pairs of old blue jeans. It was felted by the end of the first cycle and it’s now stuffed with crumpled newspaper and plastic bags, drying away. I can only hope that Mason will love it as much once he realizes that it’s for him.

I also want to show you a picture of one of my anniversary presents from last week. I’ve been asking for a clothesline in the backyard for years. (I had one for about a week several years ago but then my father-in-law backed into it one day and knocked it over. A funny story for another time.) Anyway, I came home last Tuesday and found this in the backyard.

Not only do I have a clothesline but it had these three t-shirts hanging on the line with the numbers “143” painted on them. That’s code for “I love you.” Isn’t that the sweetest thing? I’m telling ya’ll, that husband of mine is a keeper.

The booga bag birthday gift was cast on within minutes of finishing the kitty pi. I know that many of you commented that it would be okay to suspend the rules but I just couldn’t do it. It was only a week ago that I said that 4 items on the needles is my limit. I can’t just go breaking rules willy-nilly, ya know.

http://caroleknits.net/2005/06/21/906/

I realize I’ve been AWOL – I spent the last 4 days in a 19th century canvas tent. There are lots of things I love about reenacting and only a few things I miss from the modern world while we’re pretending it’s the 1860s. However, allow me to share with you my belief that indoor plumbing is the greatest invention of the modern world. Just saying.

Unfortunately, while I did knit plenty this past weekend, I don’t actually have any pictures of the knitting. I worked on the Leaf Lace Shawl quite a bit and have finished the leg/heel flap/heel turn of the Dublin Bay Socks. The kitty pi is almost done – which is a good thing since I need to get a Booga Bag churned out by Wednesday – and my rules state that I’m only allowed one “fun” project at a time.

Can I make an addendum to the rules? I think when a gift project presents itself and it’s looming deadline, then all rules should be suspended in order to complete the gift in a timely fashion. What say the masses to this suspension of the rules?

http://caroleknits.net/2005/06/20/905/

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, like other agencies throughout the country, runs a program entitled Becoming An Outdoors Woman. For the last 10 years this program has been offered at the Eastover Resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. I first attended 8 years ago and have been back as an attendee several times. I have also attended as a groupee, as Dale’s band plays for this program every year – during an event affectionaly termed “Call of the Wild.” This year’s concert was on Friday night and the sock and I tagged along. I had 3 hours of knitting time in the car and I also knitted during the concert. It was a totally female environment (except, of course, for the band) and the women were really curious about my knitting. I met one woman who is a brand new knitter and she is all excited about trying socks once she gets a little more experience under her belt. I met another woman who was an avid knitter 20 years ago and is now determined to start again after seeing my beautiful sock yarn. It was a really great evening! As for the program itself, it’s a great opportunity to learn all about the outdoors – whatever part of the outdoors you’re into – and I highly recommend it. The resort is beautiful, the instructors are knowledgeable, and the band is okay, too.

Dale and I took a motel room for the night and spent Saturday morning driving around the Berkshires. I visited a terrific yarn shop called “Wonderful Things” and oh boy did they have lots of yarn! I came home with some great scores for the Summer of Lace, plus some worsted weight for a vest for Dale.

Look at this beautiful Merino Lace from Skacel. There’s 1375 yards there – plenty for a Flower Basket Shawl.

And here. This is Anne from Schaeffer Yarns. Hand painted Merino and Mohair, 560 yards. I can picture a beautiful shawl from this. Maybe Kiri? Oh, and that’s an old pair of my father-in-law’s workboots, planted with Hens and Chicks, by Hannah.

This yummy peach/orange/cocoa yarn is called Peach Tree and it’s made by Malabrigo in Uruguay. There’s 980 yards of kettle dyed pure merino goodness in this hank. It was only $12 and I would have bought more but this was the only color they had left and (sob) they can’t get anymore.

I spent over an hour in this un-airconditioned store and it was about 90 degrees out. Dale sat in the car and read, without complaining, the whole time I was in there. So, of course, I had to make him happy by buying yarn for him. I picked out 5 skeins of this Double Twist Worsted Weight from Green Mountain Spinnery. The color is called Mulberry (isn’t it pretty lying across the hosta?) and it’s going to become a Cable Moss Vest, pattern by Lisa Lloyd. Dale has driven me on more yarn expeditions than I can count, not to mention the drive to New Hampshire just so I could meet the Yarn Harlot. The least I can do is knit him this vest!

While in downtown Stockbridge the sock was pleased to visit the former site of Alice’s Restaurant.

You know the song, right? Seems like it’s still pretty relevant today, doesn’t it? Just saying. You can read more about Arlo Guthrie here.

In closing, I feel the need to point out that while my perennial garden is in the backyard, the hostas are in the front. I have managed to stay hidden whenever I’ve taken pictures of the yarn in the flowers. Until now . As if my neighbors don’t think I’m weird enough for dressing up in 19th century clothes on the weekends, now they’re wondering why the hell I’m taking pictures of yarn lying in a bush. The Civil War reenacting I can blame on Dale, however, yarn in a bush? I will never live this one down.

When I first learned to knit, about six years ago, I would work on one project at a time. I would remain totally committed to this particular project and work steadily on it until it was completed. It was a rule to have just one project.

You see, I have this thing about rules. I like rules. Sometimes my rules are irrational, but I still cling to them until something forces me to let ’em go. For instance, I used to have a rule that when I went to the movies I wouldn’t allow myself to eat popcorn until the movie started. I wouldn’t even eat during the previews. I was self-righteous disciplined enough to wait until the movie started. My reasoning was that if I started eating the popcorn too soon then it would be gone before the movie got going. That and I felt virtuous about the whole delayed gratification process. Somewhere about 9 years ago, right about the time that Dale and I started dating, I abandoned this rule. I realized it was silly to wait and that, frankly, if the popcorn ran out too soon, I could always go buy more. I felt such freedom when I stopped following this rule. Hunh. The fact that Dale refused to wait until the movie started and would have eaten all the popcorn without me had everything nothing to do with abandoning this rule.

What does this have to do with knitting? Well, I’m about to tell you. About 2 years ago I started really knitting in earnest – as in every day. As in, being totally obsessed to the point that I would panic when a project was nearing completion and I didn’t have a plan for what to put on the needles next. That was when I started knitting socks. I decided that having socks on the needles while something else was being knit wasn’t really breaking my one project at a time rule because socks aren’t really a project. (I know this is irrational, of course socks are a project, but I was trying to work around my rule, guys, and that’s not easy for me.) Plus, I could knit socks at a reenactment where I couldn’t necessarily knit other projects since they might not be period correct.

Thus began my descent down the slippery slope of starting and starting and starting new projects. I soon had 5 or even 6 projects going at once. (I know this is nothing compared to what some people have going at once – but this is me, the one project knitter.) Having so many projects lying around caused more panicky feelings for me – who to work on? who to give my time and attention to? all my projects need to feel loved and how do I do that when I can only work on one at a time? (you can see why I only gave birth once, too, can’t you?) This wasn’t any better than having only one project because too many projects resulted in having everything take too long to finish or even, God forbid, be abandoned completely.

I have been trying to limit myself but without any rule to follow I was sort of floundering. I am still determined to complete what I started (no second sock syndrome for this knitter) but realize that sometimes you need to have different things going on. Finally, this very week, I became enlightened. (What that really means is I made up a new rule for myself.) I decided that since I need different projects for different circumstances I am now allowing myself to have 4 projects going at once.

1. A Traveling Project. There will always be socks on the needles, they are perfect for traveling and I can work on them at reenactments. I give you Exhibit A, the second of the Dublin Bay Socks, being treated by the aloe plant.

2. A Challenging Project. This is for times when I need to be completely absorbed my knitting. Or when I just want to feel like a “real” knitter. I give you Exhibit B, the leaf lace shawl, masquerading as a tea cozy.

3. A Fun Project. Sometimes I just need to knit something that’s fun. A felted purse or small project that isn’t socks, a teddy bear for the new grandbaby, you know the stuff. I give you Exhibit C, the felted kitty bed from Wendy, reclining in the hanging geranium.

4. A Mindless Project. This being the type of project that allows me to knit and read at the same time, because sometimes I just want to read. I give you Exhibit D, the never-ending Einstein Coat.
You might note that’s not a picture of Einstein – I just can’t bear to show you a picture of miles of garter stitch. The peony is much prettier.

So, my readers, this is my new rule. Feel free to slap me if I break it.