Finishing UFOs

Occasionally, I have a burst of energy, and peruse my pile of UFOs (unfinished objects), or in the case of knitting, my bags of UFOs. This week, I discovered a stack of bags buried deep in my craft closet. Two projects, I did not know the needle size or what pattern I was using. Fortunately, Ravelry has all of my projects entered, so I had that the means to get this data.

It feels good to finish a boat load of projects, but last night this feeling came across my mind that I might not have enough projects in progress. This happens to me, the feeling that I need to have a few, or more than a few projects going at all times. When I travel I make sure to always bring more projects than I need. No surprise, I always pack my knitting first in my suitcase.

In this time period, I started a small knitting project, and finished it.

I wonder if there will ever be a time when I have no UFOs? I doubt it. This is like spring cleaning, or as close to spring cleaning as this house is apt to get!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

California friendliness

While sitting at dinner on Sunday afternoon at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, I brought out my knitting.  2 people at 2 separate times came over and admired my knitting.  I don't mean they admired my knitting, I mean they ADMIRED my knitting.  One of them was a knitter and was feeling badly that she did not have hers and the other was a family where the young child was watching me so the Mom started the conversation.

I started to think, WOW, California is more friendly, but these folks were from Florida and Wisconsin(?).  So is it the atmosphere of California that made them more friendly, or is it that they were on vacation that made them more friendly.

I can tell you it did not feel like New England or Boston the way they approached me and the depth of the conversation.  It was not a polite, "Oh, look you are knitting."  It was "Wow, love your knitting, wish I had mine, let's talk for a bit about knitting, and anything else, but mainly lets talk and connect."

Was I more open to it since I am on vacation?  Am I not open to it in Boston?

I am not really sure, I just know if felt very different and I liked it and at the same time was a bit suspicious about them as they approached me.  Typically New Englander I suppose!

Keeping the fingers busy knitting

At our covenant group on Sunday our topic was relaxation. Sitting under a huge tree in the shade just outside the church in Burlington Vt was pretty relaxing until the band on Church St starting playing. Next time we are going to the Lake, waterfront to meet.

I realized during this meeting that I knit so I can concentrate. When I am knitting, I am relaxed. Rarely, are my fingers clenched when I am knitting.

I also realized that meditation is not meditative for me. It is stressful to stay absolutely quiet (the extrovert that I am). Yoga is meditative because I am doing something, but meditation is not. Someone at Star said "You should meditate"! "Nope, I shouldn't, unless I want to get more stressed." It probably works for some but not for me.

Give me a ball of yarn, some wooden needles and almost any situation, and I am relaxed. There is something that is so familiar about creating those stitches, and having something for my idle fingers to focus on which causes me to concentrate and to relax.

One member of our group talked about Genesis and the 7th day of Sabbath. We need to rest and relax. Knitting is that for me.

Leave it well enough alone - another life lesson

Some of this post only knitters will understand but here goes. I am in the middle of knitting a yoga bag. I did not pay attention and finished the bottom off wrong. My knitting group all agreed that it was fine, but I just knew that every time I looked at it I would know it was wrong.

Last night on the way back from Coniston I started taking it apart. Sometimes you can unravel knitting and it goes quickly BUT in this case (and probably 2 other times in my knitting career) it did not go well. I took out the cast off row, and that took until Montpelier, at which point I said "If I had remembered my scissors this project would be in danger." An hour of frustration building, and in my view an hour of otherwise wasted knitting time

By Randolph with the project in real danger I put it away. Murg was also falling asleep at this point, so I was needed to drive.

Always has to be a life lesson, sometimes you dig stuff up and it is helpful and sometimes it is not so helpful.

Just earlier that day I was walking out of church rolling a ball of yarn and there was a small entanglement. Someone looked at me and said "Ut Oh!" but my response was not just a wee knot, easy to work out, kind of like life. Well this HUGE knot later was not easy to work out, and still sits in my knitting bag, hiding from my scissors.

I have only thrown out one project like this in my life and I really like my almost complete yoga bag, so only a few rows are in danger of hitting the trash can.

Lining up my knitting projects

It is like clockwork, when the temperatures dip, I start lining up my knitting projects for the winter. I am nearly done with a sweater that I started last December. It is a jacket in garter stitch with some green yarn that BEL gave me for Christmas last year. For a long time, this project was stalled because the cast on is a really weird, but this weekend, on the car trip to Vermont I broke through. It is nearly done, but that does not mean that it might not sit unfinished for months.

I have wanted to knit wool slippers for Coniston and have been thinking about a Lopi yarn pattern for slippers. Tonight I browsed through my binder of sock patterns, found the Lopi pattern and off I go. I am obsessive so I will probably be knitting a few pairs of these over the next month or so. After all, guests at Coniston during the winter need their own pair of knitted slippers, n'est ce pas?

After that, I want to knit myself another Jaegar jacket and Judy has been making a pattern of a basket weave sweater that I want to use.

It is winter, and the projects are lining up.

Some things should just never be changed

Short of sewing on a few jingle bells and attaching the braided loop for hanging them, the three stockings are finished. In my mind, that is finished but that is part of my problem. They really cannot be mailed until they are finished and that means FINISHED. The most difficult part of getting the pictures was finding the digital camera. This is great material for another post but the briefly, we have not been able to find the camera since Family Weekend at Hampshire, but I had a visual that it was sitting in the bottom of one of my knitting projects. Yes, I searched thorougly through 3 bags, and found it in the fourth. Why do I have 4+ knitting bags with projects you ask? Again, that is another post.

I started these 2 weeks ago from yesterday and have been happily obsessed knitting them for my 3 extended family members who do not yet have them. The picture in the center above is one of mine, SHR and Thomas Henry's THR. Grandma Katie knit mine 53 years ago, and THR's was completed this week. I don't have the original pattern, but I do have 4 pieces of paper that guide me through these stockings; 1) another pattern of hers that has all the correct stitches and shaping, but not this exact design 2) graph paper with the Santa pattern, 3) graph paper with the candy cane pattern 4) another stocking pattern that has the correct alphabet for the initials. I also bring out my original stocking when I am knitting one, to make sure I have the exact number of rows. I want it to be as close to the original as possible.

The picture on the right is a close up of Santa showing the angora yarn for his beard. At times in my life I did not have enough money for angora and substituted a synthetic, but not for these ones.

I promise some day to write this pattern down for the next knitter in our family who hopefully in 53 more years will be making one of these for the newest member of the family either by birth, acquaintance or marriage.

I have knit a few stockings using another pattern; Rod's is a Candide pattern with different Christmas patterns, but most of the rest of them are Grandma Katie's pattern because when you have perfection why change it.

So now that I am on a roll, I have one last stocking to finish before Christmas. . . .

So far, so good, coz I have some projects

Ok, so maybe it is a bit early since it is only November 30th, but so far I have been able to stay sane for the holidays. It helps to have a knitting project or two or three.

We had dinner last Friday with family and we got to meet our new nephew. Driving around that day it occured to me that he does not have a Christmas stocking. Ooops, Tara, his Mom, does not have one and neither does Ben, his brother.

The stocking story is that Grandma Katie knit all of the stockings for our generation of cousins. They were all the same; red, green and white with angora yarn for Santa's beard, candy canes and our initials on them. Being the knitter in the family I have assumed that role for a lot of in-laws and nieces and nephews. Some of the sisters-in-law have knit their own.

So I decided last Friday night to try to knit the three for Christmas, Thomas Henry, Tara and Ben. I bought the yarn Saturday afternoon and started on them about 3 nano seconds after I got home. Now, less than a week later I am half way through the stockings. I honestly believe this is the reason for my sanity. It is really good to have a project to work on and one that is an antidote to the Walmarts of the world. Pictures to follow when they are done.

Back into some kind of routine

Yesterday some of our Saturday sewers got together after quite a few weeks off. I love getting together with this group. It is a modern version of the Sewing Bee. We sew/quilt/knit/mend and gab. We come for comraderie and community. We support each other, we give free advice, we spend 3 hours in our busy lives doing what we love, and not worrying about Saturday chores. We catch up on each others lives. After getting together yesterday, I realize how much I miss the group when we don't get together.

I also went to church today after a few weeks off. We have been away a lot of weekends this fall, doing great stuff, but nevertheless we have missed church. When this happens, and I finally get back to church, I realize how I love the routines in my life. I love the Saturday sewing and I love sitting in a pew on Sunday for that hour with nothing else to do but soak it all in.

Last Sunday we were in the Berkshires and a friend of ours is an interim minister at the Lee UCC church. We went to her service, and it satisfied my need for church. But I also needed to get home to First Parish. I feel plugged back in, I feel reconnected. With no weekends away planned until after Christmas, I am glad to be back into a routine.

But, I Like the Red Eye

Some call me crazy, but I like the Red Eye coming back from California. I took it last night, got in at 5am, got home by 5:45am, slept for 3 hours and then went to work. I don't even feel that tired right now. A big part of this is that I have been away a huge amount in the last few months and I just really wanted to be home last night, OOPS, this morning. BTW, Jet Blue is a fabulous airline. The seats are comfortable and they give snacks away for FREE; more than pretzels. They also brew Dunkin' Donuts coffee. That alone would make me fly on their airline.

So I was wrong about my next knitting project. I started a very complicated pattern for a scarf years ago. Occasionally, I pick it up, work on it a bit, and put it down because I make mistakes. Last Friday we drove out to Lenox MA for our All Star II chairs meeting and in the dark, I was trying to knit. Yes, I was setting myself up for failure, but at the rest stop where we stopped for dinner, I threw that project away. It was a small project so I did not mind seeing it go into the trash but it felt very freeing. I have never been so impulsive, especially throwing yarn away.

At that point, I had more yarn with me so I started an easier pattern of a scarf for a Christmas present. Can't tell you who it is for, since you may be reading this!!!! I did add some sock yarn to my stash by visiting Colorful Stitches in Lenox. Jitterbug, one pair of socks for me and one for someone else, don't know who yet.

While in Lenox we visited Arrowhead, where Moby Dick was written. New books on my reading list are to reread Moby Dick and to find a good biography of Melville. Our group of All Star chairs have stayed at the Inn at Laurel Lake 3 times now. This time when we turned into the driveway it felt like home. Maybe I have been traveling a bit too much . . .

Let me clarify this Red Eye thing. The Red Eye is good 1) if the plane is not full and 2) you can stretch across 3 seats and try to get some sleep.

Wondering?

Since my last post was August 28th I was wondering whether I would ever blog again.

We are always busy, but the last 6 weeks have been very very very busy.

The Sisters were here from England for the first 2 weeks of September. The first weekend we drove up to Bar Harbor and had a really nice weekend up there with them. Next time we are going to take our bikes and drive on some of the carriage roads there. We did a lot of walking on them with the Sisters.

The last week of September I was in CA for an offsite and then in San Diego CA again the following week for an HR Forum. The following week, another 2 days on Cape Cod for another offsite and this week, 2 days in RI for the NEHRA conference.

As I unpacked my suitcase last night . . . .

I WONDERED, "How did I make it through the last 6 weeks with that kind of schedule?" One foot in front of another foot, one day at a time, because for the most part I really enjoy what I am doing, because I like to be busy, this time of year at work is offsite time.

So since I have been out of town . . .

I WONDER "What dropped that normally would have happened?" There was a shift as I walked into the house last night. I don't have a trip planned for a couple of weeks. This weekend so far has been busy but relaxing at the same time. The dog got walked, THANKS ROD, the mail was retrieved and I am sort of caught up on emails. BUT, I have not sewn at all, and our fridge has next to nothing in it.

Eileen's family had a surprise birthday party for her 50th birthday today. A group of us hung around in the mid 80s. 4 of us were at the party, and of course we had to tell all of the old stories. It was really fun to see all of them.

One big unmet need is that I have not been up to Vermont to see our new nephew, Thomas Henry Russell born September 22nd, named after both grandfathers who have both died. Within the next few weeks, we must get up there.

WONDERING, Thursday night I went to bed before the Sox game was over. I had to be at the conference early the next day, and this was my thinking "If they win, I will be really happy to hear it the next day, and if they lose, I would be really irritated that I had stayed up to watch." I guess I am a fickle fan, but I was really happy when I heard.

SO, I sit watching the 6th game of the ALCS. The Sox are ahead 10-2, I could probably go to sleep right now, but I won't. There is no suspence tonight for this game. They have it wrapped up. Tomorrow night will be another late night for the 7th game.

I am planning my next knitting project. It will probably be one from my new knitting book "Jackets for Work and Play - The best of Knitters".

Glad to be back

Another ENFP Core Dump

I usually have an idea of what I am going to blog, but not tonight.

Here is the core dump, NELS was wonderful. We had a highly functioning staff and an incredible group of participants. AND I am really glad that this was my last year on staff. We ended with a worship service that allowed us to cry, grieve and leave; thanks to Art and the staff who wil be continuing. The good news is that next summer I will take a real vacation instead of a working one that I have taken for the last 4 summers.

So what am I going to do with my time? Well, there is the jacket that I want to make for Margaret, and my office/study/guest room needs to be used as a guest room at the end of this month, and the normal list of things that keep me busy.

I did not take any knitting with me this week. The staff did not know what to do since one of my signs of stress is that I put my knitting down. They figured out other ways, like it is written all over my face, and body language. I am back knitting "Pretty Comfy Socks" and am on the home stretch with them. I also have a "few" unfinished projects to work on as I listed in a prior post.

My biggest personal learning this week, is on leave taking. Apparently within the therapist community it is widely known that a common coping mechanism is to pick fights with those you love when you are leaving. Mid-week, this was pointed out to me and I really had to hold the mirror up. It is true. In the last month I have found myself picking fights with Bethany. (In checking with her last night, she does not think I have, but I think I have) It was such a gift to have the mirror held up and to recognize this. It allowed me to laugh at myself.

So another thing I am going to do more is read. SOOOOOO, I am close and am off to read "Eat Pray Love"

Yoga, Knitting and Meditation

In my yoga class this morning, when the teacher says "Clear your mind of any thoughts and just focus on your breath." this is next to impossible for me to do. I cannot stop thoughts from coming into my head. I can do this for maybe 10 seconds, but then another neuron fires and my ENFP mind follows that thought. I try, really I try. The same thing happens to me when I meditate. CLEAR YOUR MIND OF ALL THOUGHTS. How do you do that? So this is a continuum right, from a gazillion thoughts in your head to a few. I cannot have NO thoughts going through my head.

In fact as I sat there in yoga, or lied or stood there in yoga, I compiled the to-do list of what was concerning me for the retreat that I am about to leave for. I problem solved a couple of things I was worried about and came up with some pretty good ideas if I do say so myself.

During a check-in with one of my groups, I described knitting as my meditation. It is what calms me, gets me to focus and removes those distracting thoughts from my head. It calms my Adult ADD if that is what I have. It lets me really listen to people. In college, my friend Rachel and I knit through all of our Psychology classes. We asked each professor and only one said NO. It was pretty funny to see us focusing on the Professor at the podium and to see many of the rest of the amphitheater, watching us knit.

So when you see someone knitting during a meeting, or in a group, don't assume that they are checked-out. In fact they may be like me and more checked-in than they would be otherwise. So I leave to go be present at my retreat, with my knitting. I once said in this same group to worry about me when I lay down my knitting. That is a clear signal that I am in distress, and enough distress such that I am not able to be calmed by my knitting.

You will come back, You will come back, You will come back

For the last few weeks, I have been knitting a lot and on a lot of projects. I think I have 4 active, unfinished projects for a variety of reasons. I have been knitting the alpaca sweater for a few months making lots of progress. Unfortunately the sleeves are waaaaaay too wide so I am going to have to stitch and cut them. I started a Baby Surprise jacket from Noro yarn that I bought at Wolcott in Cambridge. I am knitting a Star dish cloth thanks to Jessica's pattern and I started a pair of socks.

Last week, as a I contemplated all of my unfinished projects, I planned to pack them all to take to Star Island and finish them. Metaphorically, Star is a place where I can gather all of the loose ends of my life. It is so simple out there, that there is space to grow, and think and play and finish projects that would not get finished otherwise. This plan to finish 4 projects seemed like a good plan and then . . . . We hear from the All Star II chairs that the fire marshal has shut down Star Island.

WHAT?????? We have gone to Star since 1994 and not missed a year. A myriad of emotions have occupied my last 72 hours. And I guess those unfinished knitting projects will get finished sometime, just not on Star, unless it is next year. We will go back, we will go back, we will go back.

Remember, this is her jacket

The pilgrimage to Portsmouth was wonderful. Margaret chose some very wonderful fabrics, that are perfect for her. Of course, they are not the ones I would have chosen, but as Amy kept gently reminding me, "This is her jacket!" After I ignored Amy the first few times, she had to be a bit more forceful in her wonderfully honest way. I won't have time to start the jacket until the middle of June but I have promised it to Margaret in late summer. She has custody of the fabric until I can start the jacket. Fellow quilters and knitters will know how important it is to have your fabric and yarn around to touch and drool over.

Memorial Day we have gone with our church a few times to Ferry Beach in Saco Maine. We are headed there today after the Pops concert at the High School. It is sad and happy to be a part of the "last" events for Bethany. Last x-block, last Pops concert, last week of school. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend at the beach with church friends. First tee times of the season are Sunday morning at the Biddeford-Saco Golf Course, YAHOOOO !

Grocery store shopping? every aisle or wander?

As promised, pictures of my new Slouch socks from the "Socks, Socks, Socks" edited by Elaine Rowley. These are made from Jitterbug by Colinette .

So the pilgrimage to Portsmouth starts in a few minutes and I have no idea what I want to buy in the way of fabric. I was browsing two quilting magazines that Amy lent to me, and there is a very cool pattern that I am thinking of making for the All Star II art auction this year, out of STAR fabrics of course. But, I may get there and in true ENFP fashion be distracted by another project, and completely forget what I was looking for.

Do you go up and down every aisle in the grocery store?

I go to the store, and usually if I made a list it is sitting on my kitchen counter, but the fact that I wrote it down in the first place gives me a 50% chance that I will remember it at the store. I meander, not in any order of aisles, and hope that the things that end of in the bag will 1) feed us for a couple of days 2) be compatible to go together into a meal that 2/3 of us will eat 3) are essentials like milk and bread, and that we don't already have 3 identical items in the fridge already.

Just another peek into my random mind. I think in mind maps, not linear at all. Future posts will include a mind map of my trip to a the grocery store, if I remember and don't get distracted by something else . . . look a bird outside on the window sill . . .

TGIF, but "I don't feel like I am going to work!"

Yes, I love Fridays, and with my new job I love Sat-Thur as well.

I love Friday because of all of the potential play time on the weekend.

UPDATES:

Knitting: finished the blue pair of socks for myself, and will get the promised pic loaded this weekend. Last night while watching John Stewart I started a pair of Breast Cancer survivor socks. I have knit this pattern 5 times before in different pink yarns. This time I am knitting them in a verigated Socka yarn; PINK of course. This pair is for Nancy who bought them at a service auction. I offered a pair of socks every month for a year, and this is pair 4. People say I am crazy but I love to knit socks, HMMMMMMM I love to knit anything.

Weekend Plans: Small group potluck tonight, yoga tomorrow morning with Amy, Pilgrimage to Portsmouth Fabric Company with Amy and Margaret (recepient of next sister-in-law quilted jacket), birthday party Saturday night, sunday school with 15, 6-10 year olds - teaching them about composting and poop as part of our Green Sanctuary initiative, read Sunday paper . . . crash and burn 10:30 ish pm and then the week starts again.

I used to hate Sunday nights, because Monday morning meant work started all over again but with my new job, "I don't feel like I am going to work!" so every night is a Friday night for me.

OK back to "work" or as Mom asked when I said "I don't feel like I am going to work!", "Are you going to PLAY then?". Yes, it seems that all parts of my life have become much more intergated in the last 4 months. I talk about leadership and human development during the day and at nights and on the weekends. My mind never stops thinking about my passions.

OK, now really back to "WORK/PLAY"

Why ask why?

First post. YAHOO! I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time. The title of my blog comes from my oldest brother. Apparently as a child I was always asking why. Even more than the normal young child. When my daughter was the same age, my brother said "Sally, your daughter asks why as much as you did at her age." My response was, "I wonder why she does that?" A few minutes of silence and then I burst out laughing as I realized what I had said.

So, what have I been knitting lately you ask? Socks, socks and more socks. I found a beautiful yarn from Colinette called JitterBug. I knit Amy a pair of pink socks from this yarn, and I am knitting myself a blue pair. The wonderful part of these socks, is that the back of the label is a pattern for socks. Pics to follow. I did knit myself a top down raglan in the middle of all of these socks. Oh and we have another sock knitter in the family; my sister-in-law Judy. While visiting her last week, we found a wonderful yarn store in down town Chicago. Judy and I are really good shoppers together and usually it is in a yarn store.