Sometimes Not Knitting

Sometimes I am not knitting. I work at a public library (and knit during breaks and lunch and some evenings with coworkers.) I eat (semi-regularly.) I sleep (alot.) I clean (sometimes.) I think (way too much.) I watch HGTV (while knitting.) I read. It's this last activity that is the subject of this blog. Before I was addicted to knitting, I was addicted to reading.

Many years ago, I kept a file box with an index card for each book I read and a short summary. That obsession died out for awhile, but then I started taking notes, underlining, and starring pertinent passages in books I owned. I have some sort of mental block that keeps me from remembering what I read, but I know those stories and their truths are filed away in some box in my brain!

While cleaning out a literal box from my closet, I found a list of Newberry Award winners. Apparently I had planned, back in 1996, to get caught up reading children's books. Now that it is 2010, it is time to complete that project. Of course, there are now 14 more books on the list! Like knitting, as soon as I think I've read the last book (or finished a project- hah!) another year produces another winner or another project just has to be knit.

I was appalled at how few of the books I remembered reading. So far this summer, I have spent time in Wisconsin with 2 young girls in 2 different centuries, waited with rabbits for the New Folk to arrive, gone on adventures with a cowhorse, worried about the mysterious disappearance of a dog, met a talking twig, walked the streets of medieval Poland, seen how a cat can get to heaven, celebrated life with Chinese folk tales, crossed the high seas with a young pirate, and tried to be more of a noticer. All that, plus my normal grownup reading of anything from spy thrillers to spirituality, plus knitting, has made for a happy summer.

(The project on top of the books is the Anne shawl, which I am trying to finish before I go to a wedding in Georgia in 3 weeks...)

To knit or to read? That is the question...

Catching up

Before I started my "miles to go" project, I actually did get some knitting done. Our Knitting Guild has had wonderful charity projects ever since its inception, and this year is no exception: we are knitting baby blankets. Members may knit any style blanket using any yarn, but there is a suggested yarn, suggested colors, and suggested patterns. The yarn is Plymouth Encore Worsted; the colors are red, blue, yellow, and green; and the patterns are programs for meetings throughout the year. Learning to knit to gauge, mitered square, intarsia, cables, trinity stitch, linen stitch, and bobbles will be featured. The finished 6" knit squares will be whipped together for blankets.

I have been knitting for a number of years and understand the techniques involved, so I went ahead and just did my own thing. For almost 3 months, I had an insatiable addiction to mitered squares.I designed a grid for 2-color squares and finished one blanket.

The squares were the perfect take-to-work-and-knit-on-my-break-and-lunch-hour projects. I could not stop. After finishing that blanket, I realized I could not stop. I started turning out random patterns with random colors. I was unstoppable, until I ran out of yarn.

I turned in these squares to be mixed in with the squares from the other members.
Now it's time to tackle my own stash. My knitmeter for this quarter is now at 225 yards.

"And miles to go before I sleep..."

(The conception of this entry occurred about 2 months ago after listening to a podcast of Stash and Burn and bemoaning my personal lack of knitting discipline. It was partially written 2 weeks ago, and has been waiting for the pictures...)

The end/beginning of the fiscal year is upon us. It is yet another opportunity to start anew. Since I missed New Year's resolutions and a Lenten discipline, I'm ready to embark on a fiscal fantasy: I will knit at least one mile of yarn for the next four quarters. I wanted to set a higher goal, but I am both a dreamer and a realist. It has been awhile since I have actually reached any goal that I set, and I need the warm fuzzy of completion!

One thousand seven hundred sixty yards of yarn. That really is not much:

3 prayer shawls + a few chemo caps...

4 pair of socks + a single sock...

Of course, there are a number of UFO's that need to be completed...

Generic socks

             

      Green Gable Sweater

Prayer Shawls

                                                                                                                

(Other UFO's are planted too deep to unearth and photograph right now.  Maybe there will be time to harvest them in the fall.)  

Four miles of knitting this year barely puts a dent in my stash. I believe I have gotten down below the marathon level I once had, but I still have quite a collection. I also plan to do some weeding. The weeding is the incentive to make way for any new yarns which just might take root in my "yarn garden." Hmmm- another metaphor to make stash more palatable and acceptable...