Slip Slip Knit

I love to see everyone's projects for Ravelympics and Knitting Olympics. I'm really impressed by the hard work and dedication these folks show. Makes the luge look like a walk in the park. Me? No Olympic knitting here though I did, finally, finish my Dad's Sleeping Hat. I do have a pic, but it's on my camera in the trunk of my car and no, I'm not gonna go get it right now. I will post it on Ravelry by next week, Goddess willing.

Other notes, I am moving this blog over to Blogger. Livejournal has gotten too ad-heavy and inconvenient. I'll likely keep the name the same, but we shall see. Hopefully, being attached to my email, etc, will make it easier to post more reliably. So join me over there at

http://slipknit.blogspot.com

Ta-DA!

Hopefully this is the year I pick my needles back up. Between work running me ragged and other such things, I have projects that have dragged on and on and i want them to be finished. I have things I want to knit this year, techniques I'd like to try and I cannot do that if I have all this stuff hanging about. I want no one to get preggers with babies they don't want and can't afford, I want my dear hubby to appreciate my knitting, and I want to finish freaking Sahara.

So long 2009...you ain't gotta go home but you can't stay here!

10 weeks between posts? This is not a blog, it's a space taker-upper. Or something like that. I have done some knitting recently, though I've no pics currently. I just got my digital camera fixed but I hope to take some pictures this weekend. I finished half a pair of mittens, the baby blankets are in stasis, I've a scarf and Argosy that haven't seen any action in a long while. But that is why it's called a hobby. You do it when you have time. And lately, haven't had much of that to spare. But, rest assured, I will be back. Eventually.

Which, in an ironic twist of fate, has not been knitting. When I took this new position at work, I had no idea it was going to suck the life out of me. I've got maintenance folks that don't want to maintain, standards everyone wants me to uphold, but no one wants to support. So, knitting hasn't been just in the back seat, but in the damn trunk. But Christmas is coming soon and my Danny and Steph need their warm woolies. So I've got to get on the stick. Also, since they are expecting a bundle of joy, I'm also working on a baby blanket. Let me tell you this difference between knitting for babies who are wanted and planned and those who are quirks of fate. So I'm trying to schedule an hour of knitting into my days. Between running around like a fool in my kitchen and doing 16 tons of paperwork that I don't want to do.
Here's a pic of the baby blanket.

I have some lovely friends who live in Utah. Every year for Christmas, I  knit them something. Mostly because they are the coolest people, but also because they like my stuff and they use it. So this year I'm making them mittens. Plain mittens for Danny and some lovely fingerless lace mitts for Stephanie. I'm excited about Steph's mitts, largely due to the fact it is my first project on DPNs.  I'm working to overcome my fear of the dreaded dpns. Ever since that first time, I have shunned them, saying it's like handling a handful of sticks. Which it is, a bit, but you only have to knit with two of the sticks at any given point. So we shall see.
Danny's mittens are being done on magic loop. I heart magic loop and cannot imagine what people did before it was invented.

Why yes, yes I can. Readers, meet Sabrina Rose. A lovely 2006 Lincoln Zephyr, with the serious pimp package. Leather, cruise, audio, heated seats, etc. Not to mention the shiny 3L V6 under the hood. Acquired at a very decent price on Friday. It means I can never buy yarn again, but does reinforce what I knew all along, I am a Lincoln girl. I just am.

Ok, here's a link to the pic...because Livejournal won't let me post the silly thing.

http://feedthemuse.blogspot.com

SABRINA fair
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of Lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honour's sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save!

They say there ain't no cure for the summertime blues. They could be right. I can't seem to get into anything I'm knitting. Even though I know Fall will be here soon so I should get Argosy going again, it's almost the 4th and Sahara is not even remotely wearable. I just don't seem to want to knit anything I'm knitting. Bleh.
Maybe I just need a trip to the yarn shop, or a kick square in the butt. :-)
But look, here's a bunny.

It is often the case with my life that I develop what I like to call a "blind spot". For instance, at Stitches, I saw this draped neck tank that I had to knit. I loved the neckline. I spent the better part of several hours, dragging my friend around, searching for the perfect yarn. Now, usually, if I can't find yarn for something (and I searched Stitches, a local yarn shop, and online) that usually means I'm not supposed to knit this project. Added to this, when I figured out what the pattern was, and took a look at it, I realized that major renovations would be called for before I would be able to wear it.  All of this taken into consideration was like the Universe saying "NO!! Get out while you still can!!" Then, finally, the light dawned with a little help.
   You see, I also develop this blind spot with people. No matter what evidence presents itself that I really ought to cut my losses and write it all off as a bad bet, I keep trying to make it work. Keep trying to work it so that I get what I want. At best, it ends in wasted time. At worst, it ends in massive quantities of bad. Never mind the Universe tried to warn me. That blind spot just won't go away. Until you know it's there, and you start to really look for it.
    Even though I knew that the pattern I wanted was all wrong for me, I really wanted it. But sometimes, it isn't about what you want. Occaisonally, the Universe/God/Whatever knows what's best for you and it would do you well if you listen. So, lesson learned, at some cost, and now I find myself a little sad, but wiser on the whole.

You can't always get what you want.

All I ever want is the truth. Not what you think I want to hear, not what you think won't hurt my feelings. I don't mind hurting. I've been hurt plenty and I've lived through it. And I will hurt a lot less in the long run if you tell the me the truth now, rather than letting me find it out later. I hate that crap. It pisses me off completely. But people will say things they don't mean and they will tell pretty lies. And it always gets found out. Sometimes they mean well, sometimes they're just trying to snow you. The result is always the same. Mostly, I don't believe anyone anymore. I can't tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys and I wonder if maybe that means they are all the same. Maybe they are.

Everybody lies.

Which actually has nothing to do with my knitting. That's going ok. Facebook is a mixed blessing. I like reading about what people are up to and such but here's the thing...All of these people from my past keep turning up. People I knew in high school, elementary school even. And I see that they have jobs (some fancy, some not-fancy) and families and really seem to have done things with their lives. I find myself feeling...adrift. I've no family, no children and no plans to have any. I'm living in an apartment, mostly alone, and I feel like somehow all that potential I had when I was 20 years old is...gone. I went into a corporate job after college, where I did not shine, so I left it and came to Charlotte to go to culinary school. Sold my house in Florida, most of my belongings, left my family and friends (not that there were many) and hauled myself and my hubby  up here. I told myself I was going to make something of myself, I was going to be a chef. Now I am, sort of. But somehow I have failed to set the world on fire. I have a good, but mediocre job which doesn't really pay the bills, a husband who's never here, a few friends and a lot of yarn. I'm not sure what that adds up to, but it sure as hell wasn't what I expected.
  But that's enough of my bile and self-pity. I'm doing well enough and there are folks much worse off. So I have no reason to complain. I just wish the past would bury its dead and stop finding me on Facebook.

"What's past is prologue..." ---As You Like It, William Shakespeare