Knitting! It's a lot more fun once you know how...

I'm sitting at the Mile High Grill at the Denver airport as I draft this, having a Hazed and Infused microbrew.

On the first leg of my flight to Iowa, I pulled out a new skein of yarn and size five double point needles and cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves. I adore multi tasking, so knitting while watching a movie or while listening to a podcast or audiobook seems like excellent time management, but knitting without the extra stimulation allows my mind to unwind. I don't always appreciate this - I have found times when I really would rather not be alone with my thoughts.

Starting on fingerless gloves...

But happily, today was not one of those times and I found myself revisiting the day I learned to knit. It was Superbowl Sunday in 2007. While I knew how to crochet, having learned as a girl and did various projects over the years, in my late teems quilting overtook everything else as a favorite activity. (Well... except for reading of course!) But I found cotton fabrics more appealing than acrylic yarns.

Somewhere along the line over the years, I realized that Marji had learned to knit and was making some very lovely items. When they were planning a visit to Oregon in the winter of 2007, I finally decided this was the time for me to learn. So I gave her a warning ahead of time.

Her response was enthusiastic, "Okay!" And she brought me some scrap yarn and an assortment of long aluminum knitting needles.

But first, it was mandatory to go shopping for yarn for a proper Project. I had decided on a scarf and the prior week was spent Googling scarf patterns, printing out a couple, and making a Plan. Aha! A whole new opportunity for shopping!  I hadn't anticipated this! But, there are so many knitting accessories that, you know, one can't pass up...

We headed to Websters in Ashland. Oh. My. Goodness. Yarn has really changed since the late 1970's! Ooh la la, such textures! Such colors! I couldn't stop touching! And, it was really, really difficult to finally choose something. I finally settled on a Nubby Texture in a blue, teal, and purple colorway, and it was SO SOFT!

On to the knitting bit... Marji demonstrated a cast on. What?? How am I going to remember how to that after she leaves?! After all, you only do it once, then not again until you start a new project. Well, in theory as it turns out. So picking up a knitting "how to" book at the yarn shop was actually a brilliant idea (when Marji suggested it, I was thinking, "Why? Isn't she teaching me?) Because, as it happens, one must cast on every time one rips one's work out to start over because somehow, several rows down, the number of stitches has mysteriously changed. And not always in the same way. Which, for a while I thought, heck, it should all come out reasonably well in the end! Trouble was, there's also a mistake called Dropped Stitches, and this will unravel back to the beginning if it isn't fixed at some point. Which I didn't know how to do, just that it involved a crochet hook. I have some of those! The skinny ones are handy for opening bathroom doors in our house when it's been accidentally locked with nobody inside. Or when kids have locked themselves in and who knows what they're up to...

So I became adept at casting on in spite of myself. I also frequently forgot which way to wind the yarn when making a knit stitch, thus the book was a Good Thing.

After feeling relatively confident with the scrap yarn = easy to see stitches, I cast on with my Nubby Textured yarn = hard to see stitches. Cool! The mistakes won't show.

Oh. Now when I would get a different number of stitches than when I started, I had no idea of where the mistake was. Dang! Pull it back out and start again. Oh no! Nubby Textured yarn doesn't rip out like regular plain old boring yarn... okay, take it out carefully, stitch by stitch.

Do it again.

And again...

Okay, done with a whole skein finally without having to start over, and you know what? It's long enough. Even if it could be longer, no way am I going to dip into the second skein when I can be done!!

Next project: A shawl. Rich and I were anticipating the upcoming Black White and the Blues art benefit auction in March and I needed a little something to go over my shoulders to go with my little black dress.

Yarn: A fabulous "eyelash" yarn in browns and blacks. A pattern book, and size 15 straights.

Oh my goodness, these needles are awkward and long and I can't make them behave properly. Kind of like the smaller sized straights, only worse. I end up holding the left one under my arm, and maneuver the right one, but even so, when nearing the end of a row, the rest of the stitches slide right off. And eyelash yarn? Even harder to keep straight than Nubby Textured yarn. I comment on this to Marji during a phone call. "That's another reason people like circular needles - they're shorter and easier to handle."

Well! And here I thought circulars were only for knitting round stuff.

So, off for another shopping opportunity. I purchased a set of beautiful bamboo circular size 15 needles, and sure enough, much easier to use. Still had to be careful though, eyelash yarn tends to "stack" and you easily can knit into two stitches at once by mistake. I counted stitches on every row.

I did take an unexpected trip to Iowa that month for Grossmommie Nisly's funeral and this gave me travel time to work on the shawl, plus get help from Marji.

At the airport, a lady was watching me. "That looks like a challenge."
Me: "It is. I only learned how to knit three weeks ago and I'm having a bit of trouble with this yarn."
Lady: "Why don't you work on something easier?"
Me: "Because I need to wear it next week..."

Uh, well, sometimes we like a challenge. Do we not?

It brings to mind something I read recently: A "knitter" keeps going even when it gets frustrating.  :)

The shawl did turn out nicely. Even though I found a dropped stitch somewhere in the middle when I went to wear it. Hmm... Masking tape didn't seem appropriate for this type of clothing repair (works well for hems though)... I know! A small binder clip will hold it in place. Which it did for the next year and a half before I finally caught Marji for help with it. She studied it, then asked for a sewing needle and black thread to stabilize it (remember funny yarn = can't see mistakes). Why didn't I think of that!
 

Brutus the Military K9

Here is a story I received from my friend Lori, author unknown:

I thought you might like to know about this dog and his story....



This is Brutus, a military K9 at McChord..

He's huge - part Boxer and part British Bull Mastiff and tops the scales at 200 lbs. His handler took the picture. Brutus is running toward me [the author] because he knows I have some Milk Bone treats, so he's slobbering away! I had to duck around a tree just before he got to me in case he couldn't stop, but he did. Brutus won the Congressional Medal of Honor last year from his tour in Iraq . His handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents. Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant 'go away but come back and find me'. The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. He came back later and quietly tore the throat out of one guard at one door and another guard at another door. He then jumped against one of the doors repeatedly (the guys were being held in an old warehouse) until it opened. He went in and untied his handler and they all escaped. He's the first K9 to receive this honor. If he knows you're ok, he's a big old lug and wants to sit in your lap.

Enjoys the company of cats..

K-9 Congressional Medal of Honor Winner

Talk about animal intelligence and bonding with humans!

Remember that they can't do a lot of things for themselves and that they depend on you to make their life a quality life!

Instructions for properly hugging a baby:

1. First, uh, find a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you found was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques.

3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.

4. The 'paw slide': Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.

5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented 'hug, smile, and lean' so as to achieve the best photo quality.

Suz here:  I found this to be quite inspirational!  ...enough to post anyway...  :)

Self-Awareness - Sometimes it can just bite you

So a couple of weeks ago, my sister Marjorie and her family (hubby and two little girls who were just about to turn 7 and 3) were visiting which is always a delight. I took a day off work to spend with them and had a great time. Here is a photo of me and my nieces:

Suz, Zoe, & Isabel

The whole day was fun, but we did finally get to go to a yarn shop in Jacksonville called Llamas and Llambs.

Llamas & Llambs in Jacksonville, OR

We'd been trying to go for the past several times they've been here and seemed to always hit the day it was closed so usually ended up going to Webster's in Ashland. Get it, like knitting a web... oh well, never mind... :) after which we came back to Grants Pass by wandering through the Applegate Valley which is invariably a nice drive. We picked up a take-n-bake pizza from Papa Murphy's, a really nice vegetarian pizza with a creamy garlic sauce, artichoke hearts, and spinach along with the normal veggie pizza veggies, and went back to my house to discuss kefir sodas, the culture of which I shared with sis, and kombucha, the culture of which she brought for me, and to eat pizza and mangoes.

When we finally returned to their house (where they were staying), I was recruited for story reading and the book chosen was called Good Morning Chick. It's about a chick that hatched from its egg and basically wandered about the farmyard to explore. When it fell into a puddle, my elder niece lamented, "Oh the frog is really mean to the chick." I thought to myself, my goodness, what kind of torture did they put into this book!?

Turns out the frog was laughing because the chick looked funny all wet.

Me: "Well Isabel, the chick does look funny."

Her face registered a look of shock - a combination of appalled and intrigued. Her eyebrows shot up, her head moved forward a little, and she formed a small smile of surprise. This reaction interested me and encouraged me to continue.

Me: "Look at him! He looks funny. And if the chick's feelings are hurt by that, then he needs to learn how to laugh at himself."

Isabel: "But the frog was mean..."

Me: "That's just a dumb old frog anyway. Who cares what he thinks?!"

Isabel smiled wide.

Her initial comment made me worry that she herself likely feels criticism deeply rather than being able to easily laugh things off. On the other hand, I was impressed with her insight to the pain of others, and her desire to protect and be nice to people.

I said what I did to help her be able to deal with insensitive comments that will find their way to her throughout her life. But later on, it occurred to me that an unpleasant outcome would be if Isabel were to take this as, "It's okay to be mean to others because they just shouldn't be so sensitive."

It reminds me of another scenario where self-awareness can have a negative side effect - in fashion, when we have little regard for how we look in our clothes, makeup, accessories, etc., we also don't really notice those details on others. But sheesh, as soon as I began to pay attention to dressing for my specific body type (thanks to missussmartypants.com), I right away began to notice whether others are dressing according to their body types. Dang! I don't want to notice that kind of thing on others! Can I not develop self-awareness without an equal awareness of others?

So back to the sensitivity bit: I do believe it is possible to be sensitive to others' feelings without being too touchy about other people's actions towards us. Maybe that takes another follow-up dose of self-awareness though...

What would be worse, in any case, is being one who comes off as rude to others ("they just need to toughen up") while taking offense easily at what is said to them. Oy vey.