On Valentine's Day

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, I had a finite amount of time to get started on a knitting project. The plan was to begin an easy hat pattern on circular needles and finish the inch or so of ribbing at the bottom. Once I got past the part where I needed to pay attention, past the casting on and counting out the rib, my thought was that I would be free to pick it up, knit a few rows when I felt like it and enjoy the project during the short trip we were taking. I have a busy few days coming up so it sounded like the perfect plan. Only it wasn't.

I cast on and began to knit. In the process I realized I had dropped my beautiful sliver row marker with the blue bead, and spent quite a bit of time looking before coming to the conclusion it was most likely on the floor of the airport and I was now on the plane. No problem. I would just break a piece of yarn loose, tie it in a loop and use that to mark the beginning of my rows.

I cast on and began to knit the knit 2, purl 2 ribbing. I needed to pay a little bit of attention here, but thought it would be OK to listen to the pre-flight information and instructions, chat a bit with Marc and make sure that the initial row of stitches on the needle wasn't twisted all at the same time. Only apparently I couldn't because I soon realized I was knitting in a figure eight instead of a circle. I ripped the thing out and in the process dropped my second row marker of the day.

I took a deep breath and paid more attention this time. I let Marc know I couldn't talk. I fashioned another loop of yarn to mark my row. I carefully counted out the stitches that I cast on. I made double sure that my initial row wasn't twisted into a figure eight, and then triple sure after being offered an in-flight beverage. The hat was progressing along smoothly until I realized that at some point I had knit 3, purled 2 and that half way though my rib, I was off. I took it out stitch by stitch until I found my mistake. And then I found another mistake and so made the decision to begin the hat......from the beginning......again.

There was a tangled mess after ripping out my knitting way too fast, which took quite a bit of time to un-tangle. I wound it into a neat ball and put it into my carry-on bag. No sense in working on something I enjoy while frustrated. Sometimes its just best to walk away, close your eyes and revisit the idea at a later date.

I know I love the pattern. It's practical, fun and useful. It will be enjoyable and easy to knit. The yarn is soft, the colors speak to me and it feels good to work with. February 14th has been halmarked to be about love, commitment and what it takes to make a relationship work.  I'll give it a rest.....but I won't give up on the hat.

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Warmly, Margaret

This Year's Hat

After knitting several (and by that I mean quite a few......) hats during the past many years following the same or similar pattern instructions, I started itching to find something new and different to make. On one particular afternoon this past December I still needed to come up with a hat to knit for the boys for Christmas, but didn't feel at all like making the trip to the yarn store to pick up more wool or another pattern. I had a pretty clear idea about the characteristics I wanted this year's hat to have and so began to see what I could come up with using the yarn I had at hand and the picture in my head.

I have a couple of boys that hike and wear flannel and spend a fair amount of time out of doors no matter what the season in Montana. Another tends to dress in more traditional business attire and lives in a larger Midwestern city where it gets pretty cold and windy in the winter. Marc's needs are somewhere in between. I wanted to make something warm and functional and with a good fit. It had to work as well on the trail or in the mountains as it did in the city. And it should probably be somewhat 'hipster' in order for the boys to want to wear it.

After several hours of messing with color and needle size and stitch, I finished...... and honestly had no idea what I thought or if it had turned out at all like I'd envisioned.  I was a bit cranky, tired of the project and became very aware that I was trying to design something for guys quite a few years younger than I am. I needed a break, tossed it on the coffee table and planned to search for a new (real) pattern at some point during the week.

When Marc spotted that first hat after having been away all day and not having any idea what I had been up to, he immediately picked it up, handled it and asked if I would make him one.  And 'Yes', he said....he thought the boys would really like one, too. Since then, I've seen them all wear those hats. A friend of my son's asked where he got his 'cool' beanie. Afterward he let me know how much he liked it when he found I had both designed and knit it. Out of the blue one day, Marc mentioned that his hat with its texture feels 'soothing' to him when he wears it.

Sometimes things just work out.......

Wishing you a wonderful weekend and week ahead.

Warmly,
 Margaret

Who We Knit For

New commercials are playing on the television and radio. Red and green ads splash across billboards. I have a stack of catalogs on top of my desk. All of this serves as a reminder that the holidays are just around the corner. 

Last evening this is what I stumbled upon in the Vogue Knitting Holiday issue I just received:

"Holiday time in Canada brings up the age-old question: "Who do we knit for and how many knitted items can we churn out before present opening time?"

Having been raised by said Canadian, I remember watching my Mom turn out hats, scarves, blankets and sweaters during pre-holiday knitting sessions. Except, of course, when I was the recipient. Then I wondered after ripping through the paper and opening the box, how she had manged to hide the project from me as she worked. The first year I followed her lead I was nine or ten years old. I gave a pair of pink slippers I had knit in garter stitch to my grandmother. It was my first completed knitting project.

Three years ago I began a tradition of knitting winter hats for each of my boys. It is something useful and makes me feel good when they live far away and in places with real potential for cold, windy weather and lots of snow. I am an intermediate knitter at best....but this is something I can do. It goes quickly and after knitting several hats, I've learned a lot.  I will readily admit that making them has benefited us both.

The holiday season is appraoching and I welcome it. I will shop......but I will also 'make'. There is a wooden tray filled with yarn sitting on my coffee table; separate balls that are so beautiful before the stitches are even woven together. A small stash of finished projects rests next to the couch. No......I won't say who is getting what from whom, but I do have a list, and as many as I have time for will receive.

Wishing you some wonderful weeks ahead!

Warmly,

Margaret

Lovely, Colorful Autmn

It's the first day of fall, sunny and 80 degrees and I've been knitting. I know the cooler days will be here soon enough and just the thought of them puts me in the mood to work on a  project. I knit a hat for a friend earlier in the week, finished the baby sweater I started this summer and got started on a baby's hat today. I should mention that I started it three times. The first time I lost count of the rows and the second, when I was nearly finished, noticed a mistake.  It's knit with a snowflake pattern in blue and white, and when I was nearly through I noticed that one of the white stitches was where a blue one should be and vice versa. It is a fun project......and small and quick. I don't mind trying to get it right.  

You've probably noticed......I love color. So you can imagine what it's like for me to walk into a store that sells yarn: I practically get dizzy. I couldn't stop admiring this sweater I photographed. (The view is from the back.) I have a few too many things I want to finish first but then I think I need to go back and find the pattern and the yarn. It was soft and bulky and I especially love that mustard color and those big stitches. It would look great with jeans and I can think of a million reasons I'd wear it. OK.....I think I'm convinced.

 The piece I wrote for Make It Missoula this week was about my visit to Loopy Knit/Crochet, a lovely yarn store there.....and about fall and knitting. I've provided the link here and hope you'll take a look!

Hope you enjoy a wonderful fall weekend!

Warmly, Margaret
 

Pics from my week.....Montana

    We spent most of last week in western Montana and eastern Washington visiting each of the boys, my parents, a couple of friends......and each other. Some much needed 'chill' time. Maybe next year I'll head up the mountain with the boys and take a lesson.

 Downtown Whitefish, MT dressed for the holidays.

Winter is my favorite time to stay. Just couldn't get enough of watching snow fall......

and the frozen lake......

.....and walks in the snow.

Spent a few sweet moments one evening watching a little boy and his dad skate back and forth with their hockey sticks surrounded by strings of colored lights. 

And of course time at the yarn store.



We were here for breakfast. No beer that early!

Connecting

I've spent the last couple of days nestled into the corner of a couch with a cup of coffee, three colors of wool, wooden needles and a hat pattern. Big flakes float past the window as I work, collecting on the frozen lake outside.  During a break to stretch or eat or chat with my husband, I've spotted an occasional trio of deer or a cross country skier moving across the ice. They are stick figures silhouetted in reflected light. Morning and evening fog slips in and out and I'm content to sit and knit. A couple days working yarn in winter weather making something I hope will be beautiful.....connecting me with others who practice this ancient art.

I have to admit to being a yarn junkie with probably much too much of it at home hanging out in baskets and drawers and bags. There is something irresistible about walking into a yarn store and being surrounded floor to ceiling by walls and bins of color and texture and weight. Natural fibers are a weakness......especially when I come across those that have been produced in small batches. They are the ones with a story to tell about where and how and why someone chose to spin their wool or cotton or anything else into strands. My fingers get lost in the feel. My imagination in endless possibilities. I savor the thought of taking time.....of focusing attention on making a single item. 

A few years ago I ran into someone I went to college with at a pumpkin patch close to home. We were each with our little ones and introduced them to one another. She was holding a baby who wore the most beautiful red and green fuzzy-ish sweater. When I commented on it she mentioned that the wool was from goats that she and her husband kept. The sweater was from start to finish sheared, spun, dyed, designed and knit up by her. I haven't seen this woman since, but have often thought about that sweater. I love that the single connection I still have with her is a memory of something she spent time making. 

Happy Friday......I'm heading to the yarn store......

Warmly,
    Margaret