Good morning - eh?

TGKA

So -  I am clearing up a number of commitments which have been taking up immense chunks of my time:

•  Tour de Fleece - I am letting my singles "cure" on the bobbins for a bit before I start plying. This is just my way of justifying not quite completing this project as that would require pulling out my swift and winding off a few already plied yarns that have also been "curing" since.... ?


• I have finally thrown in the towel on The Young & the Restless. I have deleted all my saved episodes and removed it from my PVR series recordings list. I cannot watch Nikki go to rehab one more time, Nick and Phyllis do the dirty on yet another company desk, couch, floor, bathroom or Daddy's jet, yacht,  helicopter or icecream truck. Or watch yet another victim rise like the phoenix,after falling into an active volcano - for what -  the fifth time?And with a new face??? And Victor? Don't even get me started...


• I'm ready to call it a day on my vegetable garden - the weather has conspired against me and either pummelled it with hail or hidden the sun away for days on end. It's been cold. My tomato plants have a total of 5 little tomatoes holding on for dear life as the dog sniffs them every morning. I'm waiting for him, or the rabbits to make lunch.


• I had fund raising commitments for a Weekend to End Women's Cancers Walk that I did a few weekends ago and that has wrapped up as well. Our team raised over $6,000.00! We were delighted and especially appreciative as our fund-raising efforts were largely successful due to the support we received from family, friends and work colleagues.

And so here I am. I continue to quilt on the weekends and my Mondays off. But I have this evening lull before me which usually occurs around 7 pm. I usually watch my soap (see above) or surf the net. I really don't have many projects that I need / want to work on (knit wise) and I'm getting bored with mindless surfing.

I've been thinking about "my knitting" quite a bit. I've been knitting for a long, long time (it was recently pointed out to me that it's been 42 years. I had to check the math on that - and in reality it's been longer than that). I used to be a fearless knitter. Primarily self taught, I converted patterns to suit my left handedness - and since I hated to purl, I started knitting back and forth and converted the patterns again. I used to knit sweaters and never really had a flop! And then I had kids. And somewhere along the line - I lost my knitting mojo. I started to lack understanding about what the pattern "wanted me to do." Things started "not fitting". I started to just knit kid's sweaters saying "oh well - he'll have to grow into this one". I stopped buying enough yarn to make a project - because I wasn't sure I'd really make it. I started picking up 1 skein orphan yarns in the bargain bin - just to sample. Sampling wasn't that satisfying - so the stash just grew and grew. And grew.

And then I found a book called "Knitting for Anarchists" by Anna Zilboorg. I have always admired her work. And lets face it - anything that can marry the words "anarchy" and "knitting" has to be worth a look. And it was... Ms. Zilboorg definitely has opinions about knitting.

It changed my knitting. I learned to knit continental style. I started to "give a hoot" about my stitches. But there is a difference between "giving a hoot" and actually incorporating into one's knitting practice. And that - is my next project. I have signed joined the Knitting Guild Association. I would very much like to start my Master Knitters Certificate - but I'm a little gun shy as I am a great starter of things (see way up on this post) but not so great on the following and finishing aspects. And so I'm starting with the Basics course. It's set up like the actual Masters program - so if I enjoy it I can give it further consideration...

So there you have it folks - knit on!