A Single Girl's Saturday Night

I could have gone out tonight. A very nice man did call, and under the pretense of selling me a set of encyclopedias ask me if I could give him some time and attention for a demonstration. I thought that was quite clever of him. He knows how much I like books.

However, it's my second-last day at home before going back to work, and so I chose to spend it by myself. I am almost ready to paint that damn feature wall in the dining room (why do I feel the burning need to clean before I make a mess? That's a rhetorical question).

So, Icarus and I spent some time together, and I am mid-way through chart 3. Again. No yarn-shortage worries this time, and having those decreases pointed in the right direction does make a difference. Perhaps because I know it's right now, and that's all that it needed. I still maintain that after blocking, it would make no difference, but I feel better about the quality of my work.

I hope you don't mind, J, but I'm going to share what you wrote to me personally:

"Ohmygod. I just looked at the Purloined Letter site. That's what Icarus is going to look like when you're done? What a beautiful thing! You are going to be so pleased that you went back and fixed things. Did I mention how beautiful it is? It's the kind of thing that makes people want to learn to knit, and knitters learn to be better, and non-knitters bow down before you in awe. Wow. And you say you can't pay attention to detail?"

Yup, those are the kind of photos that make a knitter want to be better. I know I am capable of great knitting. I just choose to gloss over mistakes in the blind faith (wildly optimistic hope?) that only I will notice. But, since this choice was made for me, I must take the opportunity to learn and do better. And, no, it's not that I can't pay attention to detail. I pay great attention to detail in my life. That's what makes me good at what I do (however unsatisfactory my employment situation is, I do have a gift for that kind of work), and I do find a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure in looking at things, whether it be art, spreadsheets, or knitting in great detail. It's just that sometimes, I choose to not let the errors in the details bother me. It's a balance thing. If I stressed about every little thing that only I noticed, well, I'd be in an institution right now. It's a choice. And, since I chose to finish Icarus instead of stuffing it in a basket and ignoring it, I'm going to do it right.

Here ends the lecture.

However, I did take some time to wind some of my precious Sea Silk and start swatching it. I have been searching for an appropriate stole pattern, and the most suitable one is the pattern included with the yarn, and I'm not really that fond of it (I couldn't work three rows of a swatch. Not a good sign). Then, I received the new Interweave Knits yesterday, and I'm quite attracted to this scarf pattern. I would just adjust the width to make it more of a stole than a scarf. The bottom part of the swatch is on 5.5 mm needles, the pattern suggested size. I hate it. Tiny, slippery yarn on such big needles was not at all pleasant. So, I switched to my beloved 4 mm (my favourite size, whenever I have to re-jig gauge, I always fudge it so I can use 4 mm needles). To make a long story short, I could make this, and have it done in a week or so, and then be able to enjoy it this summer, not next. So, I'm leaning that way, but will still give that other pattern another stab.

And, I've been hunting for a stole/shawl pattern for my darling, wonderful knitting teacher. I've found some beautiful designs, but nothing speaks to me more than Print of the Wave. And, finances being what they are, I went shopping in my stash and found this: It's burgundy, beige, purple and blue, which sounds like vomit, but it's not. I'm going to try a swatch and see how it works up. I have loads of it, so running out will not be a problem, thank goodness. Not wild about working with fuzzy mohair in the summer, though. This might be postponed until September, and then it would get my undivided attention for a while. The woman is 77. I can't stall too long. And speaking of not stalling, I have to get off my duff and send some photos. This week, for sure. In the interest of doing this promptly, I think I will be doing colour photocopies instead of searching for negatives from fifteen years ago. I have no desire to drive myself insane after such a lovely, peaceful week (crappy weather notwithstanding).

Oh, and toe-up socks? Pretty cool. I've turned the heel on one, and while I'm not wild about having a much tighter gusset, the short-row heel and toe? Very clever. I'm hooked!