Category: Knitting

I want to grow old gracefully. Really; I do. Who wants to grow old UNgracefully? But, damn. It’s harder than I thought it would be.

Maybe it’s because I’m fighting a cold. Maybe it’s because I’m not getting enough exercise. Maybe it’s because my husband put one of those magnifying mirrors in the bathroom and now I’m aging in 12X. All I know is a year ago I wasn’t really A-G-I-N-G. I mean, I was getting older; sure. But I still had a waist. My knees were higher; so was my butt. And my cleavage wasn’t in my back.

Then I had a hysterectomy. That seemed to kick-start menopause. Now I have hairs on my face and not under my arms. I realize my cheeks and boobs CAN get longer. I have knee-thighs, and they know each other intimately.

This is only the beginning! Is this what I’m in for? Lately I’m compelled to talk to my younger, toned — and therefore better-looking? — friends only on the phone or through e-mail. I seek out people older than me and hopefully in worse shape. Then I see those women on TV shows and ads with their cat-like eyes and their motionless smiles talking about how wonderful the fifties are, and I want to throttle them. “AGE GRACEFULLY, you hypocrite!” I yell at the screen. “Show us it’s REALLY okay!”

Give me Jamie Lee Curtis and Katherine Hepburn and Diane Keaton any day. Show me that that’s what aging gracefully is all about. Quit pushing Pilates, jogging, gyms and fad diets on me, and instead tell me about yoga and meditation and relationships and acceptance. I haven’t done this before, you see. I need guidance from real people who haven’t just come from their plastic surgeon to tell me how life can, in fact, start at 50.

I know you’re out there. Please get to me while I still love my laugh lines.

No one ever told me, though, that laugh lines can go all the way down the neck.

This hat is for Dan. He saw it in the Stitch N’ Bitch book last spring and said he’d love it. I think it’s because the name of it is “The Umbilical Cord Hat.”

He’s sorta like that, if you catch my drift. What a hoot.

 

And finally here are my two Wonderful Wallaby sweaters for my twin neice and nephew! Little projects are SO satisfying!

First I have to post a couple photos of the beautiful sky we had the other day.

Everywhere I looked was like a painting. GORGEOUS!

And then my latest project(s) will be some Christmas stockings for my family out of the Knit Christmas Stockings! book. Of course, I’ve already started out badly, as this sock should be done in cotton, and here I am in el cheapo acrylic and not enjoying it at all. This baby would probably fit the jolly man, himself. I’ll be starting this over; trust me. These will be a real test for me because I tend to find sock knitting a bit mundane. The absolute beauty of these, though, is…

I ONLY HAVE TO MAKE ONE!!!!

 

Literally.

This is the bunny blanket I was doing to take a break from my Cocoon project (which, BTW, has become my worst nightmare since being required to “reverse pattern to match right side.” … Riiiiiiiiight).

This was terrible yarn to work. It was Bernat something or other. The pattern for the head was to sl 1, p1, which I did — at least I did it as well as I could without actually being able to SEE the stitch. Turns out that wasn’t good enough, because when I went to stuff the head, there was no opening. Very dumb. Not a dumb pattern, but a very dumb bunny trying to knit it with this very dumb yarn.

I think this is what they call operator error.

And another one bites the dust-bunny.

 

LOOKY! LOOKY! I have a finished project! Actually, I cheated. I was digging and sorting yesterday and found this at the bottom of one of my (dozen or so) bags. This is actually meant for the Caps for a Cure project, so I’ll have to get it in the mail next week.

I’m also taking an occasional breather from the will-this-never-end lovely Cocoon pattern and working on this little bunny blankie for fun. But I’m using some kind of Bernat fleecy yarn (sorry; lost the label), and it’s NOT fun! It’s like knitting with linty thread.

Thursday, though, was constructive as far as getting patterns organized. I currently have three binders filled with patterns and filed by type. Feels good. Now if I only I could do the same to my clothes closet.

LOOK AT THIS STUFF!

How fun is this? My Secret Pal angel really came through at the last minute. I had SO much fun opening this box. And she really must have studied my blog and questionnaire. I almost ordered this book last night. I’m so glad I waited! And the great wool! Now I can do felted booties for both girl babies and boy babies! Good & Plenty — my favorite! A vanilla scented candle and sock yarn…a Knit Simple magazine! And a great eye-soothing mask for when I become cross-eyed trying to read lace patterns.But best of all?

 

These beautiful STITCH MARKERS — including a couple perfect red hat stitch markers! Can’t wait to use them!

 

Thanks so much, Kimmie!