…Joining Ginny’s YarnAlong, sharing what I’m knitting and reading…

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 This past weekend I went to a friend’s baby shower. I had been working up until the last minute finishing a little baby vest for a gift. I wondered what to knit for a gift: baby booties? Tiny socks? A hat? I decided I really wanted to knit a vest, knowing how useful a cozy wool vest is to have. I saw the pattern for the Pebble Vest and fell in love. (I’d been admiring it for awhile now.) I had some dk weight yarn from Timberwolf Farm, from their sheep named Carlchen. I love the natural grey color and the feel of the wool. (Our friends are waiting to find out the gender until the baby is born and I thought natural grey was a good neutral color.) I searched for size 4 knitting needles and found, among the stash of metal knitting needles my grandma had passed along to me, size 4. I did a little cheer. I thought the needles would be plenty long, but I could barely fit all the stitches on there, which made the knitting a little more slow going. (I didn’t want to wait for a trip to the knitting shop to get started and I didn’t really want to buy any needles anyway.) I kept a cork on the end whenever I wasn’t knitting, so the stitches wouldn’t come sliding off. I learned something new: the yarn over. Super simple, but I always get excited when I learn a new knitting maneuver, no matter how easy it is. I worked to get the vest done in time. The morning of the shower, I woke up super early and knitted by headlamp while Bracken still slept. After breakfast, I got the knitting finished and then attached the buttons and weaved in the ends on the drive to the shower. At one point I dropped my only needle for doing those two things (I used to have two, one disappeared.) You would have thought it was an emergency. Jeff pulled off the side of the highway so I could get out of the car and search for it. I was so relieved when I found it, knowing I wouldn’t finish in time without every minute of that drive. As I stitched on the last button and weaved in the last end, I wanted to get some pictures before we arrived. We stopped at the feed store to get chicken feed and I went to a grassy spot behind the feed store to get pictures. I asked Bracken if he would hold the vest up so I could take pictures of it and then Jeff took some pictures of me holding it. Then Bracken picked flowers while I finished taking pictures. I adore that vest and was so happy with how it turned out. It’s a pattern I look forward to knitting again. (By the way: Ravelry notes here. And the Wooly Moss Roots Buttons were made in cedar from our yard, similar to these.) Oh yes, and that last picture? Since I had a few minutes from the feed store until the arrival, naturally I started another project. I wanted to have a gift not only for the new baby, but for the big sister as well. I found out she loved bees and since I didn’t have time to whip up a bee hat, I knit a little wrap bracelet in yellow and finished it with a bee button. The wool was also from Timberwolf Farm, and dyed with marigolds. I worked on it during the shower and finished it right before we left. I hope it was long enough.

My mom jokingly (and lovingly) refers to me as “the crazy knitting lady” sometimes. It all started when she called me from the airport one day. (Have I written about this before? Forgive me if I have.) She had been waiting for her flight to board and saw this woman sitting and knitting. Usual enough. Then the woman got up, walked over to the station to ask a question to one of the flight attendants, and all the while was knitting without missing a beat. While she walked, while she talked. For some reason my mom thought it was really funny and said something along the lines of “she didn’t even stop knitting when she got up.” Then I informed my mom that in the “knitting world” that behavior was totally and completely normal. After that, it became a joke. When I brought my knitting along when we went out to eat and knitted while we waited for our food, my mom would joke that the “crazy knitting lady” was at it again. I felt proud of my new nickname. Because in spare moments where I would otherwise be sitting idle, my hands were busy making something. Pretty cool. I didn’t quite feel that I had fully earned that title yet, though. Frantically trying to finish the vest this past weekend made me feel like I was beginning to. …A little bit closer to feel worthy of that title.

When I started turning into a coconut oil fanatic, telling everybody for every ailment to “just put some coconut oil on it” (just like the father with his windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Love that movie.) and then sending my mom and sister articles about coconut oil….. as a joke I decided to sign it “The Crazy Coconut Oil Lady.” So now I guess I’m the crazy knitting lady and the crazy coconut oil lady. Anybody want to join the club? You’re welcome.

After all this knitting talk, I nearly forgot to mention reading. Made some progress in ‘Parsnips in the Snow.’ Absolutely loving it and highly recommend it!

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How about you?

Knitting? Reading?