Goodnight Tonight

Generally, the week or so after school starts tends to be rather light from me. I'm swamped getting back into a schedule and might have to be prompted to get dinner going. How that last one differs from most other weeks is beyond me, but it sure sounds good. This year isn't any different except for the fact that I am knitting more than years past. Hell, I'm even trying to figure out how to assess more at school so that my evenings and weekends are free for more knitting. Right now, I'm feeling the deadline crunch as the Flyer's birthday is only 12 days away, and I still have a sleeve to finish and a yoke to construct. You would think that I spent all weekend knitting on that sweater, but you would be wrong. I spent it knitting, alright, to the point that my left hand is crippled with pain, and I am consistently making the same error typing because of it. While I wasn't knitting something that had a deadline attached, I had a blast learning new techniques and knitting 90 percent of a mitten, courtesy of Beth Brown-Reinsel's classes held at Mountain Knits and Pearls.

To be honest, I really wasn't sure what to expect other than increasing my skills as a knitter and some time spent with knit friends from the shop. Saturday kind of blew my mind. The sampler sweater looked easy enough, but for some reason, I couldn't keep up. I got ticked because my stitches were loose (personally, I think that Cascade 220 Natural is a wee bit thinner than the rest), I made elementary mistakes (picking up stitches, anyone?), and I became lost. All in all, the class was uber-informative and I know that I'll use the schematics and tables making a sweater at some point, but I was overwhelmed with everything. After the class, the Flyer and I went to see Burn After Reading and grabbed a quick cup of coffee. That was enough of a second wind to let me finish the back of the sweater but nothing further. When I finish it, I'll have Gillie - our cat - model it before I send it to Beaner for her doll.

Now, today's class was something completely different. Mittens, Norwegian mittens to be precise . . . you know the one's that come from Norwegia (family joke). Never made a mitten before today and probably shouldn't have finished the one that I did. For some reason, when Beth said that she didn't expect us to finish the mitten, the competitive ass in me came out. Ignored the pain in my knuckles and chalked it up to two-handed knitting. Gauge too tight . . . must be the needles . . . switch to larger ones. Six hours later, I had a finished mitt, save for the thumb. You know that feeling of vague dizziness and fuzziness when you are tired? You can completely knit through that, although I don't really recommend that. I proudly tried them on for the Flyer and then showed them to Veronica (who is graciously modeling), who promptly said, "Oooh, I like these. Can I have a pair?" Yes, sweetie, you can have a pair . . . you might have these since they are a little snug. To tell you the truth, I can see these mittens becoming addictive. Screw the sugarplums - I've got these babies dancing through my head for Christmas. Bring on those ThermaCare gloves . . . these lovelies aren't going to knit themselves. And neither is that Cobblestone for my baby.

Ava

PS - Who knew I was being disrespectful to Sarah Palin whenever I uttered my favorite phrase about the pig and the beauty enhancements. Since I want to cover my bases, I also enjoy "Putting a band-aid on a gaping wound," which probably offends McCain given his predilections for band-aids on his face and jowls. I wonder which molehill will become a mountain over "You're about as cute as a speckled pup" or "Handy as a pocket on a shirt," since I like them too.

Comments

[Susan B]

How was the movie? I can tell that the mittens have seriously taken over your brain seeing as how you didn't even give it a quarter-sentence of a review............ :)

[Gonzomama]

i love those mittens. i've been wanting to try some norwegians myself.
matt & i wanted to go see that movie too, but at this point i know i can't sit that long in a theater comfortably.
don't even get me started on palin.

oh, how is the new beck cd?

[tricia]

Picking up stitches you say or how many times can one screw up picking up 34 stitches. Apparently quite a few as I didn't have a completed sleeve until the 3rd try.

If the cat doesn't want to model, I have this bear.

Nice writeup of the weekend.

[Carrie]

Lovely colors for those mitts! It's hard for me not to overdo it in a class like that, too. There's the competitive aspect, and then there's the likelihood that what isn't finished in or immediately following class will never be finished.

[Sarah]

Those are cuuuuute! Are mittens the new socks? They seem similarly addictive.