Oh, right, knitting. Here it is:
Flash photo, sorry (hey, if there's one thing I have never claimed to be, it's a photographer). The thumb and hand end in a turned down cuff, which I thought would be more annoying than it was. They were a bit fiddly, but not in a particularly bad way. In fact, I'm kind of thinking that I might need a pair of these for myself. Maybe in the Malabrigo? I have some lovely burnt orange laceweight.
Of course, maybe I'll use those for a pair of Delicato mitts, which I've also lusted after... We'll see. These are a bit big for me, but my sister-in-law's hands are bigger, so I expect the lace to show a little better. I'll have to figure out how to make them smaller for me.Once these are done (and I'm about a third of the way through the second one), that'll be one present down for Christmas. I'm trying to stay reasonable this year, and I'm thinking that other than this, I'll probably just do slippers for the girls, and maybe another pair for my niece. If those go as quickly as these have, I'll try to get through a pair of socks for Rick (size 13 feet make this something of a, if you'll forgive me, feat; get it? get it? I'm trying...). My aunt asked me to make her an Icarus after seeing mine, and I do have yarn for that, but it's a bigger project, so I'm not committing myself, even in my own mind. I have to confess to a small fear that I'll get through it, and she'll decide she doesn't like it and give it back to me (this has happened before, not with knitting, but with other things, but it would annoy me more after putting in that much work). So I'll probably knit Anne's new raven shawl for myself first. I mean, really -- don't I deserve something in all this? (Says the women who just knitted herself a sweater...)
Of course, to be fair, I just treated myself to something really big. I mean really big. I'm not even sure that it'll work, but I've been lusting after this for a year, and had decided already that it was going to be my Christmas present from every single person I know all put together. It's the Socks That Rock sock club. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my sign-up reached them before they were full; I'm waiting for my email. There are so many sock clubs I'd like to try, but that was the first one I saw and lusted after, so that's the one I'm doing this year.
I have a question for you all, before I go to have gingerbread with the family. I was cleaning up today (some friends were coming over -- I'll tell you all about that when gingerbread isn't waiting), and I was thinking about knitting. And I was thinking about friends of mine who can knit, but who tell me they never have time to actually knit. They often say that I must be some kind of miracle worker, or that I must have a time-turner, to get so much done. And I tell them that I don't really get that much done -- I just get different things done. I mean, tell me true: if it comes down to choosing between vacuuming and sweeping the house every day (I have friends who do this -- !!) and knitting instead, wouldn't you choose knitting? Or reading a book? Is it just me? Because I pretty much choose knitting every time. Every time. Vacuuming once a week is plenty. Laundry can get done in between rows of knitting. Right? Am I just a terminal slob who wants to believe that there are other knitters out there like me? Please tell me I'm not alone in my dust-bunnied but knit-ful house. (BTW, linguistic funny for you: my students have to give people a dialect survey every so often, and one of the things it asks is what do you call the balls of dust and fur you find under furniture. My favorite answer of all-time is one that comes from respondents who are Marines: ghost turds. Don't you love it? And of course a Marine would say that. What Marine sergeant would tell the guys to clean up dust bunnies under their bunks?)
12 comments:
Well, if you're a terminal slob who happens to knit (and read), then so am I. I count myself in good shape if the laundry is clean, the bathroom is clean once a week, the Kid has food (and me too), and the dishes are stacked in a very short pile. All the rest is gravy. Or frosting.
I figure that if I can sit and knit, then I'm not actively making more messes around the house. So, in a sense, I am cleaning. :-)
If your aunt gives you back the Icarus, I'll take it off your hands, but that might not be sufficient incentive for you.
In Scotland the dust under the bed is, or was, called 'oos', pronounced 'ooze'. This is the plural of 'oo', which is wool, because the fluffy dust looks like the wisps of sheep's wool that gets caught on fences. My mother called it that, but I don't know if anybody else except me does nowadays.
The way I look at it, I don't have time to vacuum every day, because I'm knitting.
Ack.. the time 'thing'... I find I need to 'tidy' up, and really, other than Tuesdays and Thursdays (grandchildren days) it's just Bobby, Smooch, and I and we're not that messy but I do need a tidy environment, it adds to the overall feeling... mostly I try and get things done in the mornings, the earlier the better, it doesn't take long..and oh yeah... I still have LOTS of unpacked boxes... I figure they can stay packed until some other future date. :^)
As to the 'real' cleaning, that happens once a week, er, maybe...
I call mine dust buffalos, you know, being in Oklahoma and all.. 'oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam' that's what I have... a huge herd of roaming buffalo.
Beautiful mitt.
Dust buffaloes, or heffalumps, or mastodons are the creatures roaming our house. Seriously, as long as they aren't bigger than the smallest cat I figure I'm doing okay. It does make me crazy that the bathroom can't clean itself, and the floors can't self-mop, but I'm in the Sheepish Annie camp on housecleaning (on many things, I suspect, but especially housecleaning). If we have food and the laundry gets dealt with before the hampers overflow, I feel we're in good shape.
I love that yarn. I'll now have to find myself some burnt orange lace weight malabrigo to knit something (really anything) with!
I personally clean house daily...but not all the rooms. Generally the kitchen gets cleaned. Floor vacuumed (because I hate brooms) and dishes and counters cleaned and the cats room gets it almost daily. Other then that for our little family once a week is enough.
I think kids would enjoy the Parrots; I can't remember anything in it that might be, um, unsuitable. They might be bored for short stretches, but not for long. It last 80 minutes, so it's shorter than a feature film.
You have my full permission to make full use of 'oos', and I hope it reaches a wider audience. I asked my aunt tonight and she just calls it 'stoor', which is the general Scottish term for dust.
I expect you know that the British English for 'vacuuming' is 'hoovering'? The Hoover company made the first cleaners and the word was transferred.
I'm like you, i knit when i have time, and i make time to knit. I just don't understand people like my 'bear' who can't do anything for themselves unless the house is spotless - no on ever died wishing they did more vacuuming, and we have two kids - its only going to be spotless for 5 minutes. House cleaning around here might be once a week, but mostly little bits here and there, dishes, mostly putting away stuff that has been used. I'm with you on the laundry thing, a lot can happen between loading and unloading a machine. For several years I had a 'cleaning lady' who was great. Then it dawned on me that I was paying good money for some one to make the house cleaner than it needed to be, or that I would make it myself.
I definitely choose knitting or spinning or reading over any form of housework about 90% of the time.
So there's a fair amount of cat hair on the steps, but you, know, I'm sane.
Which is a fair trade.
And I call them dust-pixels after my late 17 year old cat who was huge, fluffy and responsible for most of the content of the things.
The Wine & Roses mitt looks great! I would much rather knit fingerless mitts than a shawl because if someone gave it back to me, I have no idea what I might do to them.
As for people telling you they don't have time - they don't want to, not really. If they did, there's time. What do these folks do with their time? It's the implication that I'm wasting mine is what gets me.
Your hair looks cute! I want to be a long-haired woman, but my hair is never gonna let it happen.
Well, when the SO and I moved in together, we agreed to a list of chores and the frequency with which we would do them, and I really try hard to stick to that (even at the expense of my knitting!) because, well, the problems caused when I DON'T just aren't worth it. But my chores are slight enough now that it doesn't *really* interfere with my knitting. My main, biggest chore is laundry (although I do all the cooking and, since SO is hopeless, clean up the kitchen after I cook AND after he eats. Those are probably my biggest time-takers.)
Just do what works; at least you have FOs to show for it, right?
(bleep!) housework. knitting is MUCH better.
some reasons:
knitting has lasting results. the house is dirty again within minutes.
knitting keeps you warm as you do it (if you're making something bigger than socks or sleeves), as well as when you wear it. housework just gets you hot and sweaty.
knitting, unlike vacuuming, is QUIET, too! nobody ever woke a napping grandchild by knitting too noisily.
knitting produces items you can proudly present to friends and loved ones. try THAT with a dust bunny or a cobweb!
my late mother, btw, called it "house moss," not dust bunnies, and my daughter calls the drifts of pet-hair that find their way to our foyer in shedding season "tumbleweeds."
ellen in indy
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