Matlock and Missing Eyeballs
I'm in Winnipeg right now, visiting my family for a short break. My father had a brief stint in the hospital, and I decided that now was a good time to be home. He is doing pretty well, happy to be home, and weathering the tiresome Winnipeg springtime, as it teases us with sunshine through the windows, and then smacks us with harsh winds as soon as we venture outside.
I am so glad to be home. I've been so tired recently, and I am glad to be away from my office at work for a little while. Being here on my own without the obligations of holiday visits makes it my own little holiday. It's like traveling back in time, because I'm back in my old bedroom, with my familiar things around me. My mom feeds me with all my favourite foods. Dad watches a lot of Matlock and M*A*S*H, and sometimes, during the commercials, I catch myself wondering what year it is. I'm surprised by news of presidential campaigns and commercials for cell phones. It's like being pulled back and forth between the past and the present.
In the airport the other day while I was on my way here, I was sitting at the departure gate and happened to glance over as the lady next to me pulled out a ziplock bag with pink cotton yarn in it, along with two knitting needles. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she began to stitch. She was a beginner, concentrating hard on making her stitches even, counting them carefully. I pulled out my knitting bag, excited to find one of my people, eager to discuss what each of us was doing, but then I became suddenly shy. It seemed a bit rude to pull my lace weight, cabled shawl with the beads I was going to work into them ratting away in my project bag while she was concentrating so hard on her dishcloth. Instead, I folded my hands and watched her out of the corner of my eye. I'm always entranced by knitters.
Isn't it interesting how, in a departure lounge full of people, the yarn people found each other? She even ended up sitting behind me in the plane. Yarn has a strange magnetism, it seems.
I brought along my 2Hundert shawl. It's reached the stage where every single row takes about ten minutes to complete:
And now that I've started adding beads, it's more like twenty minutes:
And add all of the errors and dropped stitches that come along with trying to add beads without a pattern, it's actually more like an hour. Sigh. This will not be a coffee shop project... unless that coffee shop has lots of light and will allow me to shush anyone around me and will tolerate my muttered curses.
Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic about my knitting productivity while I am here. I brought along another mini project to work on when the shawl was finished, but it looks like I won't be getting anywhere near it. I was going to make little hearts with smiley faces on them to sell to raise money for an upcoming Heart and Stroke Fundraiser I'm going to be part of:
It's probably just as well I'm not going to start them yet, because when I pulled out my box of craft eyes, I realized I forgot all the backing snaps for them. Using them like this would mean that the eyeballs would pop out of each toy if anyone squeezed them. That would be funny, but maybe wouldn't be all that appropriate
I am so glad to be home. I've been so tired recently, and I am glad to be away from my office at work for a little while. Being here on my own without the obligations of holiday visits makes it my own little holiday. It's like traveling back in time, because I'm back in my old bedroom, with my familiar things around me. My mom feeds me with all my favourite foods. Dad watches a lot of Matlock and M*A*S*H, and sometimes, during the commercials, I catch myself wondering what year it is. I'm surprised by news of presidential campaigns and commercials for cell phones. It's like being pulled back and forth between the past and the present.
In the airport the other day while I was on my way here, I was sitting at the departure gate and happened to glance over as the lady next to me pulled out a ziplock bag with pink cotton yarn in it, along with two knitting needles. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she began to stitch. She was a beginner, concentrating hard on making her stitches even, counting them carefully. I pulled out my knitting bag, excited to find one of my people, eager to discuss what each of us was doing, but then I became suddenly shy. It seemed a bit rude to pull my lace weight, cabled shawl with the beads I was going to work into them ratting away in my project bag while she was concentrating so hard on her dishcloth. Instead, I folded my hands and watched her out of the corner of my eye. I'm always entranced by knitters.
Isn't it interesting how, in a departure lounge full of people, the yarn people found each other? She even ended up sitting behind me in the plane. Yarn has a strange magnetism, it seems.
I brought along my 2Hundert shawl. It's reached the stage where every single row takes about ten minutes to complete:
And now that I've started adding beads, it's more like twenty minutes:
And add all of the errors and dropped stitches that come along with trying to add beads without a pattern, it's actually more like an hour. Sigh. This will not be a coffee shop project... unless that coffee shop has lots of light and will allow me to shush anyone around me and will tolerate my muttered curses.
Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic about my knitting productivity while I am here. I brought along another mini project to work on when the shawl was finished, but it looks like I won't be getting anywhere near it. I was going to make little hearts with smiley faces on them to sell to raise money for an upcoming Heart and Stroke Fundraiser I'm going to be part of:
It's probably just as well I'm not going to start them yet, because when I pulled out my box of craft eyes, I realized I forgot all the backing snaps for them. Using them like this would mean that the eyeballs would pop out of each toy if anyone squeezed them. That would be funny, but maybe wouldn't be all that appropriate
I go back to real life tomorrow afternoon, and I can't say that I'm totally ready for it. I'm enjoying floating along in this life of no obligations and nowhere to be. I'm grateful to have the break, though. It's given me time to get a better perspective on things, and maybe life doesn't have to be the relentless push forward that I sometimes turn it into.
Gotta go. Family Feud is on. After that I'll take a nap. Yes, I planned that. I have to plan SOME things to keep my sanity. Imagine the chaos that would ensue without planned naps... I shudder at the thought.
Have a great week, all.
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