Surfing Yarn in October

First and foremost, I must show you the fantastic Saturday Sky that appeared today. After celebrating Lisa and Jason’s fantastic wedding last weekend, Rich and I were looking forward to Cathy and Dave’s nuptials today. For today, this entry is a knitting one. I will feature their wedding in the next a future post. Promise!!

My OCD has kicked in full force. Besides celebrating the dates listed on the sidebar, there are lots of crafty stuff to do. I have been getting my projects straightened up in their little queue. If you might have noticed, I added Eve’s new WordPress plug-in which gives me WIP tracking progress bars. The bars change color as the WIPs go from start to finish. Let us hope that the bars reach their completion and disappear off the page. 😉

Eve also has a “Pretty in Pink” contest going on too. Come on out and jump on the bandwagon! Now I need to “Get ‘er done!” I started with a pair of mittens for Sandy’s Warm Hands KAL. I knitted up one skein/ball of Reynolds’ Blizzard (65% alpaca with 35% acrylic) in slate blue with Knitting Pure & Simple’s “Super Bulky Mittens for Women” pattern. The only alterations were increasing the cuffs from 2 rows of K1P1 to 10 rows, and knitting into the stitch below instead of knitting into the front and back of a stitch. My cure to nix the Second Mitten Syndrome? For the left mitten I used (2) SRK Collection 40cm 7.5mm circulars while I knitted the right mitten with (1) SRK Collection 80cm 7.5mm circular. Now, shall I attempt to knit a pair of socks before the weekend is over, or should I be a good girl and knit up more mittens??

Some of you may wonder why I used the term “Surfing” in the title. Recently on the drive home from work, I caught a multiple-choice trivia question asking which sport uses the term “Wahine” to reference women. Without hearing the answers to select, I started screaming, “SURFING!!” over and over. You can imagine the driver behind me slowing down to avoid getting closer to my psychotic state. The answer brought back fond memories of my sister and myself surfing in the fall weather. The cooler crisp air meant no more annoying tourists and more waves to ourselves. I then realized that knitting reminded me of surfing in a strange way. The movie Big Wednesday mentions that a surfer may be among many friends in the water, but is always riding alone on a wave. Knitters (and fellow crafters) easily gather together for LYS group sessions, the Boston Knit-out and Crochet, Rhinebeck, and the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Yet in the end, each one of us faces a ball of fiber with our needles the same way a surfer faces the ocean wave with a board. The thought is poetic for me, and may be the reason why I find knitting so calming. I hope others feel the same way I do. Now to lighten up the mood, I shall pan to a recent bunny rabbit shot of Caesar waiting for me to get him his dinner. Bye for now! =:8