Help!

I need advice. I’m afraid it is of the non-knitting variety although there is a tenuous link to knitting. Last night I got a text message from one of the girls from my knitting group, inviting me to an exhibition with another girl from the group. I was really pleased - not just because I like going to exhibitions but because the girls seem like really nice people and I’d like to get to know them. Anyway, I texted back saying I’d love to go and asking where and when. However, this morning when I got on the train to work I realised that I’d left my mobile at home. I had no way of contacting the girls and I didn’t know where or when I was supposed to be meeting them. I’ve been sitting at work all day worrying about what they would be thinking about me and imagining them waiting somewhere in the cold for me. I rushed home and found my phone… 2 text messages. One with directions and one saying that they were waiting for me. I felt terrible. I called them straight away and explained but I still feel like a complete worm. The worst thing is that when I checked the text with the directions had come last night, so if I’d checked then I would have been able to find them even though I forgot my phone.

I just don’t know what to do now. It just looks so rude and I feel so embarrassed about it. My husband says that I just have to hope that they will think the best of me but I was hoping that maybe one of you could come up with a better suggestion of how I could make it up to them or somehow prove that I’m not a really rude person. Please? I’ve got until next Wednesday to think of something!

Anyway, I’m at home alone feeling miserable but at least I’ve finished the first Endpaper Mitt! I’ll post photos when I’ve finished the pair. The photo at the top was taken on our honeymoon in Scotland. It has nothing to do with this post really but I can’t look at it without feeling true
‘Pollyanna’ gladness about my life. So I thought I’d share it’s cheeriness.

Acceptance

Yesterday I cast-on for the Endpaper mitts and I am in love with colour stranding. It is just so much fun (almost as fun as knitting lace - gasp!). I’m using the method described by Theresa Vinson Stenersen in the most recent issue of Knitty - knitting with one colour in my left-hand continental-style and the other colour in my right-hand English style. I always think it is so exciting to learn a new technique and on this project I have already learnt how to use colour-stranding, how to knit continental-style and how to do a tubular cast-on. The tubular cast-on is wonderful, it is so much more stretchy than a normal cast-on (it almost feels as if there is elastic in the ribbing!) plus it is so neat and tidy looking.

The pattern called for an Italian tubular cast-on but I have a confession to make- I couldn’t do it! This is where the title of my post comes from, one of the great things I’ve found about getting older (I’m 27) is that it is easier to admit that I can’t do something. The other day I overheard some teenagers talking in a pub and one of them was showing-off about how great they were at something, then the other asked her to show her how to do it. It then became apparent the first didn’t really have a clue - I was cringing in my seat because I could remember that as a teenager never wanting to admit that I didn‘t know something, that I hadn‘t seen a particular episode of Friends on TV, that I didn‘t know the latest gossip… But now I know that part of what makes life fun is that everyone is good at different things, there are some things that you are naturally good at, there are some things that you can get good at through practice and there are some things which will always be a challenge but there is no shame in admitting if you don’t know how to do or can’t do something - in fact telling someone is the quickest way to finding out how.

Here is my list of things which I can’t do:
I can’t drive (I had some lessons when I was 17 but I was BAD).
I can’t sing - it doesn’t stop me trying ;-)
I am not a linguist - I struggle getting my words out correctly in English!
I can’t play any sports - I still remember the look of shame on my Dad’s face when he came to watch my brother and I at our Junior school sports day…
I could carry on but I think you get the picture.

In Knots

This is a progress picture of the Celtic Knot Stole. It might not look like much but if you knew the number of times I have frogged, redesigned, and re-knitted this over the past week you would understand my joy at being safely on my way - I'll hurry up and finish the pattern repeat so you can see what it is actually going to look like. Besides, my faith in the blocking process has increased dramatically,so I‘m not too worried that it isn‘t looking that great right now. I’m so addicted to seeing the beautiful transformation that sometimes I haunt lace knitters’ blogs waiting for that final photo!

By the way you might notice the un-ironed sheet in the photograph and I am hanging my head (if only slightly) in shame. My Mum is one of these incredible women who even when working full time managed to iron everything (even the tea towels). I will never be able to do this - I find it hard enough to stay on top of the other housework. So tea towels and duvet covers rest easy - I will not iron you.

The Kim Hargreaves’ top (Hawthorn) is coming on well. I’m using it as my on-the-train knitting and I’ve almost finished the back. I’ve also ordered the wool to make a pair of Eunny’s Endpaper mitts. This will be a real challenge for me as I’ve only ever knitted big blocks of colour before. But I’ve been seeing so much amazing colour knitting going on that I couldn’t resist trying some myself.

I'm going to make an effort to post on this blog once a week from now on. I keep letting the days slip by.

"Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind."

When I was little my parents bought me a set of modelling clay called Fimo. You probably remember the stuff - it came in bright coloured little blocks and cost so much that it seemed very precious to an 8 year old. Anyway, I would dream about all the stuff I wanted to make with this clay but I was so worried about wasting it that I would only ever use tiny amounts to make miniscule things. Eventually one day I decided to risk it all and make something incredible but when I came to unwrap the clay I found that it had gone hard and crumbly and difficult to use. That is what my New Year’s resolution is going to be this year - I don’t want to be nibbling at the edges of life only to find when I come to take a big bite it has all gone stale. This year I am going to grab my opportunities by their beards like the title of my post (a Bulgarian Proverb - don‘t you love it?) suggests.

I did make a huge list of resolutions to post but then I realised that really they all boiled down to this - having the confidence to do the things I want to do.

Knitting content? Please take a look at my finished Jaywalkers! Plus my resolution applies to my knitting too. Less procrastination: more knitting.


Pattern: Magknits - Jaywalker by Grumperina
Yarn: Hip Knits Cashmere sock yarn (sorry I don’t know what the colourway is called but it is pinks, rosy reds, and greys. This yarn is lovely and soft but feels very strong and hardwearing. The only downside is it is a little bit 'splity' but not enough to make it unpleasant to knit with - I'd definitely use it again.
Needles: Long story but started on my Monkey Sticks and then moved on to Blue Sky needles both 2.25mm DPNs.


I’ve also started a reading blog to record all the books I read in 2007. Just because I thought it would be fun. I’m not going to post there as often as on my main blog but I wanted a way of remembering what I had enjoyed this year.