anonymous affirmations

The above is my woodland sweater, in progress. I started this in about March or maybe even February. It is slow going, but worth every stitch. Sometimes I pause at the end of a row just to practice gently tugging open the ribbing and stroking the yarn. It is so deliciously soft, and the desire to slide it up my arms and wrap it around me keeps me going. I joke with my knitting friends that I plan to show it off every day and announce to perfect strangers that I made it. Sort of how I feel about my children. But in reality, I am not making it for anyone else to admire - I am making it for me. Also true about my little ones.

This one is for others to admire, as it's a gift for my mom. I thought ahead this year and began knitting this Christmas gift on Christmas Eve of last year. It's been almost complete for over two months, I just need to finish the neckline. It's a very basic straight stitch, but it's her favorite color, a buttery yellow. And there is a bit of interest here at the shoulder seams, a little bit of gathering, that is also around the V-neck.

And here, though the lighting is shoddy, is my Mount Everest. The cross quilt. You can see the orange chalk marks fussying up the squares, but it is coming together. I can't wait to lay this on my bed. I can't wait to sleep under it. I can't wait to start the next one. :) I try to do a quarter row every night. There are twenty quarter rows in all, and then the four quarters need to be joined. After that, I'll start shopping around for a binding fabric and (this is strangely critical for me) an ideal backing. I find that the backing of a quilt can make or break the piece. If the top is gorgeous but the backing is, well, not meant to be seen, I have no use for it.

And finally, my newest project. I'd love to claim that I thought of it myself, but I actually got the idea from a Parents magazine. The idea is little affirmations printed on strips of paper, that you hide or leave randomly for someone to serendipitously stumble upon. So far, I've dropped off about four. I like to think that perhaps giving one person a reason to smile can start a chain reaction. There is simply not enough positivity these days.

long drives

How I wish I lived in an area with mass transit.

Whenever possible, I have Daddy-B drive the family around on weekends. My favorite drives are out to visit my parents on the west side of the state. I sit there in the passenger seat, chatting up lil' b and making weird noises at marmallow in the back, while knitting or crocheting my way through some mindless-yet-pleasurable project. One year, I think it was 2007, I managed to make everyone in my extended family a beanie hat for Christmas due entirely to crochet-on-the-road.

I don't usually like to craft whilst at home with the tots. Not while they are both awake, any way. I can do some crafting while marmallow naps and lil' b colors, but not much. So I treasure the long drives that give me the ideal excuse to work on a project, because I can't possibly get down on the floor and play with them instead.

Which is why it kills me that we don't have mass transit out here. If I lived in DC, or New York, or Chicago, or even some place with a decent bus system, I could get so much done in the forty-five minutes it takes to get to work in the morning and the hour it takes to get home. I could craft, yes, or I could read, or catch up on sleep. In addition to the lovely fuel savings, environment savings, and lack of wear-and-tear on my T&C swagger wagon.

Of course, there are perks to autonomy. I like to know that I can get to daycare quickly, on my terms. I like the (possibly false) belief that I am in control of how fast I can get somewhere, or in some cases, how slowly. I think I've only come up with positives because I have to. It'll be a cold day indeed when the Auto Capital of the US has anything resembling the Metro.

One thing I can't do on-the-go is machine quilt though, Metro or no. So the goings on my cross quilt have been slow. It's looking good, though! I have finished one quarter of the top (it is worked in quarters) and laid out and half-stitched another quarter. It looks very nice and I'm eager to see how it finishes. My woodland sweater is also coming along... which is promising since it's DK weight on 4 mm needles. I've finished the back and both fronts, and just cast-on the sleeves last night. Daddy-B prefers the soft click of needles over the vuvuzela-like buzz of the sewing machine while watching the Tigers play, and since it was Father's Day, his preferences won out. The butter sweater is complete with the exception of two rounds on the neck, which I have been procrastinating on buying the circulars for.

And then there is my road piece, the filagro scarf. That one, of course, is rolling along very nicely.