Odds and Ends

It has been one of those weeks where it's just work, work, work and the feeling that I am getting nowhere fast. Not only have I spun my wheels on projects that got stuck in a spot or two, and attended a meeting and had a few teleconferences that weren't as productive as hoped for, but I have also faced the same dullness in my knitting! What gives?

I did fix my goofs on the fingerless mitts and they are completed and ready to send (hopefully with three other pair) to CIC, but am facing the need to completely frog the gift stole from Softwist mixed with Metallic FX, after all, what was I thinking, an experienced knitter using size 35 needles for anything?! I was completely dismayed with the holey mess, as I already know that too-loopy knitting DOES NOT mimic lace, but rather gets snagged on everything. I am going to re-do this combo in size 17 or 19, still large (these two yarns are a super bulky combo when paired together) but with stitch definition and some structure...

I also tried to start a simple fingerless mitt pattern for myself from the beautiful Noro Blossom that my Better Pal sent me a few weeks back. I was mesmerized by the fact that the yarn looked greyish with flecks of several jewel-like colors when wound into a ball, but appeared a dark brown (with the same flecks) as I knitted it up... after a handful of rows, it became painfully apparent that this yarn was going to make up too large. I ripped and thought about adjusting the pattern down to child-size for my smaller-than-average hands, but it was already after 10 PM last night and the thought of math calculations that late at night was too daunting.

I will go ahead and confess here that I never swatch for small objects done in the round, considering that the most accurate swatch under those circumstances is the object itself... after a shorter or longer go at it, I will be able to measure and see if the gauge is working, and if I have calculated correctly in choosing my pattern, yarn and needle size, I will already be partly done with the hat, sock, or in this case, mitt. Unfortunately, this was one of the times when I was wrong.... sheesh, it happens.

My poor Better Pal is feeling daunted as well, having sent a package by priority mail last week, which still hasn't arrived. I am used to the vagaries of rural mail, and expect it will certainly arrive by tomorrow... a bright spot in a dull, achy sort of week.

I do have to say that I am greatly enjoying the readings for my writing class. I spent my most productive time in the past two days reading the selection from Wild Mind, by Natalie Goldberg due this week. She is also the author of Writing Down the Bones, which I will probably have to read soon. I like the way she writes about delving deeply to come up with what you need to write about, and like being, finally, at a place where I feel that I do have things to write about and the tools inside me to do a good job. She has also been practicing Zen and teaching writing for twenty-five years, and espouses using writing as a practice tool. The online learning format has become completely familiar to me, especially since I have been a Yahoo groups participant the past few years as well as a blogger... I would rather meet and work with people, but don't want to move to Pasadena or Oakland, kind of like it up here in the mountains.

Teaching and learning are also second nature, although I was a bit surprised to be offered some part-time teaching work for the balance of the spring semester... I will keep my cheerleaders posted on what comes of that. Personally, I had been inclined to just work in the mornings the rest of the spring, and come home and either garden, knit, or work with the donkeys, depending on the weather!


My darling daughter, and favorite shopping companion, Nikki and I pose in front of Jimmy Beans Wool in Truckee last summer. Yup, there's yarn in them thar' bags!