To FROG or not to FROG, that is the question


I started making this sweet sweater, which should be so easy, from a pattern I got through fabulousyarn.com, but it has grown out of proportion and methinks I should have swatched. I am the sort of person who learns my lesson usually only firsthand and out of painful outcomes. So . . . sigh . . . maybe I should frog it, swatch it, recalculate it, and give it another go?

Second problem. Even if I don't frog it, I am desperately scraping up balls of GGH Goa off the internet, as it seems to be a yarn that is rare or discontinued. At least in the baby pink shade. So maybe by trying again, I would get a result that is really a baby's size (she will be six months when I think she'll need a sweater in California, this fall), not this grotesque, misshapen 18 month size it has become.

I am talking myself into starting over. That feels great. If you have other thoughts, though, lay them on me, and I'll wait until tomorrow before I do anything drastic.

Here's something funny I read recently:

You know you are living in 2007 when . . .

1 . You accidentally enter your PIN number on the microwave. (Too bad money doesn't come out!)

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. Ditto Yahtzee and the dice.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. At home, you email family members even though they too are at home!

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. You walk up to your front door and realize you are holding out your car’s key fob to unlock the door.

8. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

9. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. When you get up in the morning, you go online to read the news instead of getting the paper that’s out on the front walk.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : ^)

12. You know the meaning of at least three of the following: IMHO, LMAO, BTW, TMI, BFF, effing, and CU. You use at least one of them in emails to friends.

13. When a cellphone starts ringing in a store, you automatically reach for yours, even though you know your ringtone is different.

14. You use the term IM as a verb. Ditto the word “text.”

14. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

15. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

Someone Picked up the Torch of Destashifying

So a few weeks ago, "destash" closed their virtual doors, but at the time, I was blithely oblivious, helping with preparations for my friend Monica's wedding.

But when I found out about it a few days ago, I was so disappointed because I have got to find homes for some of my stash this summer (see post below about getting my life organized!) or I may find myself woven into my study someday, or tied to a chair with a rough rope of felting wool. I'm breaking out in a blistery rash just thinking about it.

But . . . someone filled the breach and started a new site, called "Destash for Cash," which is set up basically like the previous one, and you can use flickr for photos of your items for sale/trade. You sign up for a wordpress account and ask to be added, and then you wait to hear back and are then able to list your items. That all happened for me within far less than 24 hours.

Until Ravelry gets up and fully functional, with its destash sell/trade options, I think this blogspot blog will work for me! If you haven't heard of Ravelry, do check it out--it's in beta form right now, so I have only seen the preview pages, but I think it could become a great knitters' community.

Here's the quick project that I made for Adele, a ribby scarf with fringe, and it is ridiculous to contemplate in July (yesterday's temps were above 90 degrees, easy). But I wanted to show you before I gift it to her. She'll probably need it by the end of August in Hamburg. What a cold clime!!

Knitting Competes with New Focus

Who would have ever imagined that I could knit less, even when I have more time for it?

Sigh.

I really let myself go this year. When I was stressed [when wasn't I stressed???], I came home exhausted from all the mental effort and the myriad things I was juggling in my head. I came home ready to vegetate and soothe myself, and I didn't feel guilty or in any way inclined to limit myself or deny myself. It worked OK, and it is one way of getting through demanding times. But [why is there always a 'but'?] . . .

Needless to say, when school ended, I realized I need to change my priorities. Exercise every day (30 minutes seems to me like a long walk, but it really has to be the low end option, since my end is getting lower and wider by the week), sign up for the organic produce co-op, cook more (healthier meals when I cook vs. when I graze out of the pantry), and clean and organize my closet, my study, my classroom, my head. And I have 12 weeks in which to do this. OK, now it is more like ten.

I would have made an amazing drill sergeant, no? [rolls eyes]

BUT the paybacks for these new foci (I AM an English teacher, people) are that I get a more energetic body, my clothes fit better, I don't feel like I'm plodding when I walk through the house, and greater organization to me feels like greater stability and calm.

Hey!!! Where the hell does knitting fit here? Surely there must be room for my knitting life. As my stepdad used to say, so colorfully, "Damn-betcha!"

I have started some new projects (not that I had finished the UFOs, but I wanted some small satisfyingly finishable projects) for Luisa and Adele, my little friends from Hamburg, visiting Cali right now. I made a bubblegum pink variegated scarf for Adele, with fringe, and am going to give the Tahki Bunny/Buffalo Gold stripey hat to Luisa (who just turned a very enthusiastic five years old!).


(This below is her sister Adele in a sweater
I made her last Christmas.)


I also got three pillow inserts at IKEA to use for pillows I want to knit (nice, square, practice with patterns, relaxing, fun to gift).

And I felted a bag I had made with some wool and Rowan Silk Tapestry yarn. Here it is before felting. It needs a haircut and some reshaping, but I have high hopes.

Back above water!

I'm breathing!

The end of the school year was a grueling experience, which, while not unpleasant, was just relentless. I was exhausted!

I have been recuperating by knitting a shopping tote, which I will probably finish and felt in the next few days.

While grading papers, I kept up to date on both CSI Miami and my new best TV show, Law and Order SVU, so I was able to keep the stress rate a bit lower, even though I couldn't knit!

Meantime, DD#2 has graduated from high school and is happily embarking on a Roonil Wazlib summer, touring and playing locally and then in New Jersey. Then at the end of August, she goes to Tufts for her pre-orientation and I fly out to help her get her dorm room cozy.

More pictures of knitting projects when the camera returns from Hong Kong! DH is traveling on business right now.