All right, you guys, I am just going to spew out words until I am summoned upstairs, or until Stella falls asleep without me. Don't bet on the latter.
My Petely says the sweetest things. Yesterday: "Nobody appreciates me, except you." Today I picked him up at CCD, feeling a little self-conscious that I'd had a run but not a shower. I wasn't really smelly but my hair goes crazy when I run. It's like the exertion causes it to fling itself, piece by piece, out of whatever is binding it and thence towards heaven. "I'm coming, Jesus!" it exclaims as it approaches the vertical. Or perhaps it is just indulging its inner Lindsay Buckingham. Anyway, I went walking down the hall with this crazy halo and Pete came running toward me. "I knew it was you because of your beautiful nice hair," he told me. I can't even tell you how much that makes me smile.
I was out on the trail recently, flagging after 4.5 miles, when I heard a voice behind me call out, "Jamie, is that you?" I turned and waved -- it was one of the leaders from my summer running group. She said, "I'd know that ponytail from a mile away." One of the unexpected perks of running with the group all summer is seeing other women from the group frequently out on the trail. Always encouraging to see a friendly face or a familiar ponytail.
I keep meaning to write a knitting post, but I am never sure how many people are interested in knitting posts. Do you remember that I was doing a mystery knit-along, in which I was making a shawl (even though I don't wear shawls) by a designer whose previous work has never really grabbed me? It was a weird impulse but it wound up being the most fun I've had knitting in years. There's lots to love about the rise of online patterns and Ravelry, but knitting patterns are so...curated these days. The cardigan is flung artfully over the shoulder, disguising the fact that the raglan increases leave you with an underarm that would only fit someone who had breasts growing out both sides of her torso. Or you can find 16 close-ups of the lace pattern in Ravelry, allowing you to decide whether you want to stick with that k3tog or substitute an S2KP. (I love S2KP. If you had told me that I would one day be a person with emphatic ideas about double decreases, I would have thought I should set down the knitting needles and back away slowly, but there you go: S2KP all the way.)
Anyway, with this project I was knitting blind. I had a set of clearly written instructions, with a comfortable amount of knitting for each of the first three weeks, and off I went to see what I wound up with. It was not a pattern I would have purchased if I'd seen a picture of it first, because I don't do ruffles and I really don't do ruffles with simultaneous vertical and horizontal stripes, but it was totally fun making that ruffle despite my anti-ruffle bias. For the fourth week we had to knit up manymanymany yards of sock yarn in garter stitch stripes, and it turned out that the yardage estimates were low (meaning even more yards of garter stitch stripes), but I'm still glad I did it. You can see pictures here whether or not you have a Rav account, or you can admire my oldest son being Emperor Palpatine. He said I should make a solid black one as an Emperor Palpatine costume, but I will need a little persuading that His Imperial Highness was a ruffle kind of guy.
Also this summer: Space Invaders socks and funky macrame bags. Joe decided when I was making a Monteagle bag that if I could make one for him in beige it would allow him to look like Indiana Jones. I am not any more convinced that Indiana Jones hauled around a macrame-looking hand-knit than I am convinced that Emperor Palpatine hankered secretly for ruffles, but I am an obliging sort when it comes to kid knitting requests (except for the kid who asked if I'd make these socks, which -- no) so I cranked out one for him and then another green one for Pete.
One of the things I wanted to do this year was finish all of the stuff I had on the needles in January, which was a lot of stuff. All that remains is a tea cozy and a French press cozy, now that I've finished up this scarf.
Eek, it got late! The End. More soon.
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