It's all go at our place. The house is being re-plumbed, I did NOT have to baby-sit a friend's kids at 8 am (It's in another week; got the dates wrong. Good thing I called her first while heading to her house; she was a little confused as it was and had a house full of out of town family so two more people showing up might have been a little much at breakfast time), I did have to call another friend to make sure she could watch Little Guy later in the morning (get to clean-out classroom at new job! Exciting!) and in exchange I'm watching her two kids while she runs to the bank, I have alterations to do but not possible due to needing to steam iron and there is no water but yes plumber in the middle of my kitchen, and I've suddenly rediscovered knitting. This afternoon is still watching all the extra kids so we'll see how that goes if I still have no water. Lucky thing the in-laws live across the street; we'll still get showers tonight without crashing Mom and Dad's house even though I know they wouldn't mind!
But about the rediscovered knitting thing. It came as a slow, but sudden, surprise. I was worried I had burned myself out totally but I couldn't bring myself to "get rid" of anything. The knitting stuff didn't want to be ridded-of. It bore me not ill will. The yarn, the needles, the two WIPs left were sitting there tucked away, not feeling neglected, just patiently waiting for Harriet to visit me again and show me what they wanted to be made in to. I had to take a breather. In the end I've come out better. I'm not tempted by new yarn like before. That's a REALLY good thing for a person on a budget.
But I digress...
I had frogged that cotton cardigan and put it away but it stayed on my mind. I wasn't sure why, especially since I had had such relief when I frogged those other projects months ago. This one wouldn't go away. It sat there wimpering, wanting desperately to be made. A few days later I had some time on the computer and started going through Ravelry's shrug pattern index. I had thought maybe there was a free pattern somewhere that just might work and it was worth a look; I wasn't losing anything if I didn't find it. They have a great selection, by the way. Totally worth joining Ravelry. They also list right off if the pattern is free so you don't have to go to the pattern to check. We need free. We like free a lot. Paying for a pattern means waiting till the truck sells and that's driving me batty enough as is. I was amused with myself because lots of the patterns I liked from the pictures ended up being free anyway and a majority of them were from Lion Brand. I didn't think I liked Lion Brand's stuff that much. I ended up finding 2 patterns that were perfect in the first 12 pages of the list. I printed out both, figured the yardage I had and what I would need, one worked and one didn't, and I got to work. It's a simple, slightly loose shrug, knitted in a 32" by 38" rectangle, 4 sts=1" gauge, 2" of 1x1 ribbing on CO and BO edges, and 2 seams to sew when finished (fold it in half matching rib so is continuous, exclude 7" on fold side for sleeves, and sew up!). It's cool enough to carry around this summer if I get caught in a cold office, washable so I can wear it to teach school, and warm enough (and big enough) to wrap up in and layer in the winter. I thought the 34" of stockinette in the middle would wear me out but I find it nice and zen-like this time around. The yarn is happy, the needles are happy, the pattern is following deminsions perfectly, and I feel like a cat purring making biscuits when I'm knitting it. I already have 7" knitted after 2 days. Crazy! 2 days! And one of those days was half occupied doing those alterations I needed to do.
I am still thinking about selling/giving away some of my books and magazines though. I've moved on and would like them to go to good home. Any of you who are interested and remember something I have you would like, email me and let me know. The only things not going are Elizabeth Zimmermann's books and a few of the sock knitting books. Just let me know!
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