June 22, 2010

  • Baby Blanket Half Done

    So I started this baby blanket before (kind of right before) the baby was born, and now that baby can grab things in a swipe or two, and is 90 degrees into rolling over.

    It will be (it will be) a blanket of my own design. It’s made of mitered squares. One thing I have learned as a knitter is that I I rebel against learning to read patterns. It’s just way too gnostic. I will read a work of prose on knitting, such as Module Magic, and I see that what creativity I possess in this process consists of working out my own simple designs.

    Which leads me to consistency. It bugs me that really good handwork should look, on some level, machine-made. Or without obvious flaws. Consistency  is not a intellectual hurdle for the best knitters I know, such as Rebecca Osborn, because they have the physical skills to make it happen. Me, every time I lose count, I get all ontological.

    And if I’m going to be responsible for the design of something, there should be some consistency. It’s not happening yet. I have tried to make the miters of these squares run in a consistent pattern. I spent way too much time taking out and flipping two. And yet one is still wrong. Can you see it?

    Should I fix it?

March 1, 2010

  • Simple Woman’s Daybook, March 1

    Outside my window it’s grey.Still raining?

    I am thinking about the laundry. Agonizing about it is no longer an option. Efficiency is.

    I am thankful for the safe arrival of baby Apeu.

    From the kitchen I should eat some leftover porridge, after adding chocolate.

    I am learning re-learning, really, the realities of a baby in the house. But with toddlers and grade-schoolers and some work at the same time. Pretty much my past all simultaneously, not consecutively.

    I am wearing  fleece pants and a knit top.

    I am reading the Emma Lathen mystery about a hockey team whose name escapes me. Appropriate with the Olympics ending.

    I am hearing Apeu squawking. Now I hear a rattle and a song.

    I am hoping to get in the groove quickly. So far, so good.

    I am creating knit mitered squares. On and on. Also, a big family.

    I am praying with thanksgiving.

    I am going to the baby’s first checkup.

    Around the house I hope to take small bits of time to rapidly catch up on things.

    One of my favorite things is crooked silent baby smiles. We’re getting a lot of those. She’s a good baby.

    A few plans for the rest of the week baby baby toddler toddler grade-school book report cooking cooking laundry laundry. Repeat.

    A photo for you:

    Catch up with others on The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

    .

February 19, 2010

February 16, 2010

  • Simple Woman’s Daybook, Feb. 16

    Outside my window it’s snowing!

    I am thinking about the laundry. I’m very good at thinking about it.

    I am thankful for talks that resolve things. Also, all the dark chocolate I got on Valentine’s Day.

    From the kitchen I wonder what’s for breakfast.

    I am learning to knit mitered squares consistently. Now, to knit enough … and to join them.

    I am wearing  a flannel nightgown.

    I am reading Sweet and Low. Emma Lathen never fails.

    I am hearing footsteps. Who else is up?

    I am hoping for good communication.

    I am creating mitered squares. For now.

    I am praying for the next week or two.

    I am going to make pancakes, I think.

    Around the house it’s quiet. For now.

    One of my favorite things is dark chocolate. Which I probably should be rationing more.

    A few plans for the rest of the week is that book report, and that laundry I’m thinking about. Some other plans are not in my hands.

    A photo for you:

    A video, actually, that I finally finished editing.


    Check out others’ entries at The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

February 2, 2010

  • Words of Decluttering Wisdom

    I’m signed up for a weekly e-mail from The Spacialist, one of many organizations that offer advice (and want your business) on getting your stuff organized and out of the way. Many of these groups say things like, buy file folders, and never get to the heart of the matter. This e-mail is better. Erica Ecker writes:

    “Space Treat:  Clear out the clutter of self-criticism.
     
    “At least once a week, I’m reminded that organizing is a process of self-love. I hear clients beating themselves up for not knowing how to stay on top of things, for not wanting to do this, for not having done this sooner, for not being able to do it themselves, for letting it get this way. I’ve also seen that when you clear out the self-criticism and replace it with self-love, the organizing process is truly a transformative experience.
     
    “As we approach Valentine’s day, I invite you stop looking at the organizing process in this negative self berating manor. Instead, I offer you the following alternative: Organizing as a process of self-love.  Organizing as a process of taking care of yourself, honoring yourself, nurturing yourself and as a way of respecting yourself when you choose to organize.  Think of it as a way of giving yourself what you actually need to work, to enjoy your life, your home and your family more.”
     
    “For example, I need to drink plenty of water while working out at the gym otherwise I’ll get dehydrated (trust me, I’ve been there and it’s not too fun.)  I need to have a large desk, a phone and a computer to run my business.  I need to have ink cartridges to use my printer.  If I don’t have these things, then everything else just won’t work. 
     
    “Organizing is not a mandate.  It’s a tool that you can use if you want.  If you want to use it, try enjoying it.”

January 30, 2010

  • Let’s Get Going

    Toddler brings shoes and jacket to grandmother.

    Grandmother: “We’re not going anywhere.” Puts shoes on toddler anyway because it’s cold.

    Toddler stomps purposefully from dining room to kitchen to front hallway, jabbering away.

    Grandmother: “What’s she saying?”

    Mother, chuckling: “We go arabia.”

    Grandmother: “You’re taking the car?!”

    Toddler, turning, smiling, waving: “Bye!”

January 24, 2010

  • Haiti and grown-up knitting

    Well, others are giving concerts, texting donations, and raising money for the enormous work that needs to be done in Haiti following the earthquake.

    Me, I knit a washcloth. The ends need trimming.

    It will be part of  one of the baby-care kits that my church, Trinity Baptist, and other churches and groups in Arlington and in America are assembling for Church World Service for distribution in Haiti.

    And this effort has been the motivation for me to try to knit like a grown-up, or at least, to improve by casting-on, purling, and binding-off skills. One blogger lamented that girls were not learning these skills at their mothers’ knees. Well, I did, and I must have missed something, because I have continued to my childish loopy knitting for way too long.

    So I turned first to books and thento the Internet. Of the many books, videos, and web sites, the clearest I have found, the one that resulted in the decent-looking edges above, is from How Stuff Works.

    Now, I have some baby-weight acrylic given to me by a church member that I hope to turn into a baby blanket or two. A sweater? Maybe, if I can get the blankets to look as if they were knit by a grown-up.

January 19, 2010

  • Shopping

    “Red cabbage? Those are purple.”
    “Hot dog! I need hot dog!”
    “That is chicken. We eat chicken tonight.”
    “I see chocolate!”
    “That one: ‘run, run, as fast as you can.’ …”
    “We have yogurt?”
    Eyeing candy: “We don’t get that.”
    “I see dog! That is food dog?”
    Unloading cart at the checkout: “Chicken, chicken. We go home, we do that.”

    And so we did.

January 2, 2010

  • I am not yarnworthy …

    That was my first and second reaction to two Christmas gifts this year. The first was from Liz Ging, who works with me at Crossroads Trade. A fabric artist in her own right, with an Etsy store of hand-dyed silk scarves and dresses, Liz gave me some of her first forays into working with natural dyes and yarn. (Her yarn will be for sale; check her site often!) These two skeins of wool yarn, one bulky weight, one worsted, were dyed with osage.

    Meanwhile my daughter Rebecca Zimmerman was shopping at Osborn Fiber Studio, the creation of her friend Rebecca Osborn. She chose a skein of yarn dyed, in the variegated style, with pokeberries.

    I have admired these frequently. But what the heck will I do with them? I knit like an eight-year-old. Here’s what I started after I got these gifts:

    This is a scarf from Lion Yarn Fun Fur, which my boss Kate Harris got for $1 a ball at the Christmas Tree store, and which I got from her for free. The resulting scarf is 22 (and occasionally 23) stitches of garter stitch, on and on, with the fun furriness hiding most of the flaws. My only claim to a specific competence is that I can’t knit on the bus but I can on the subway; I can compensate for going side to side and back and forth but not for up and down.

    Meanwhile, I have watched Mrs. Osborn knit lace socks while hiking. And did I mention that the dyers and knitters are under 25?

    So I am completely intimidated by these beautiful skeins. My plastic knitting looms (the difference in levels is so laughable) call, because socks in variegated yarn are pretty cool. But I am not yarnworthy.

    All suggestions appreciated.

December 30, 2009

  • In the backyard we can build a snowman

    Well, there have been two accomplishments since arriving in America that have brought the chin down, eyes up, big smile look of pride. One is riding a two-wheeler. The other is, without any help from the grown-ups, is making a snowman.
    There was a request for buttons. The hat appeared on its own, as did the arms. I helped with the mouth.

    It was a big occasion.

    Later, the snowman acquired a twin!

    It seems a little more melancholy, though. It could be the teeth.

    Note that the original snowman has an upgrade with the same teeth, and a scarf. It is also wearing a double-breasted jacket of some sort.

    And how did the snowman-makers learn? “The paper, at school. And TV.”