Happy foot

One Pomatomus down, one to go. Still loving the pattern (most days). I would love to make another, but there are so many other beautiful sock patterns to knit. This one may have to get in line again.

The Seafoam Stripes wrap is screaming right along. I now have a square that is large enough to cover one arm. Something tells me that I have a long way to go. I don't think that the cool weather will wait for me to finish. Maybe next year.

Today, it is all about the miniscule progress.

The Queue Starts Here

In my spare moments, I have been wandering around Ravelry. It is the knit wonderland that I expected. Every click of the mouse displays beautiful pictures, patterns and yarns. It is an ever-flowing font of inspiration.

The only problem is. . . . .it is an ever-flowing font of inspiration. Since I can't quit my job and knit full-time, and the actuarial tables tell me to expect to live another 40 to 50 years, I don't know how I will ever knit everything in my queue.

My fear is that my new husband will divorce me, and I will be too busy counting stitches to notice. Or I might start losing pets (and someday children) in the stash. I have never had such difficulty exercising knitting willpower. I want to cast on a dozen items and knit them all at once. And here I have been so faithfully devoted to my active WIPs.

Today, it is all about the endless queue.

Reveling in Ravelry

Home sweet home. Mom is nearly moved. The goal this weekend was to move everything that couldn't fit into her car and needed the rented truck, or that had to be moved by my husband, aka "the muscle". God bless him. He was such a sport spending four days helping Mom move a mere five months after marrying into the family. .

I am (almost) grateful for the Nascar race and the semi-sober men that have descended upon my home to watch it this afternoon, now that we are home. While they cuss, swear and drink beer, I have been quietly scoping out the new world of Ravelry. Can I just say now that Casey and Jess are geniuses who should go down in the Top 100 Knitting Inventors of all Time? I hope that they are able to turn this into a money-making venture, because they deserve all the success they receive from this idea. What a way to gather knitters from across the globe to share resources!

Ok, I am done reveling, in public, at least. Excuse me while I explore further the wonders of ravelry.

Today, it is all about the exploration.

Murphy's Calendar

Murphy's Law strikes at me again. After two months of patiently (though I use the term loosely) waiting for my Ravelry invite, checking the list daily, keeping a log of the waiting list progress (ok, I am a little embarassed to admit that one, and probably kicks me out of the "patient" category), I am down to #342 on the waiting list. This should be cause for great glee and cartwheels. (If a mid-30's woman can still do them.)

Did I mention that in only a few hours, my husband and I leave to spend a few days moving my mother? That she has excruciatingly slow dial-up (I can show you the Top Ten List of Things to Do While Waiting on Mom's Dial-Up to anyone who says "pretty please")? That her computer is already packed into large boxes? That I will be too busy carrying boxes and supervising movers to get on the Internet anyway?

Is this some cruel form of medieval torture?!?! Give me something just as I am unable to play with it? [Insert stream of incoherant expletives here.]

My only hope is that Jess and Casey are really on the ball and knock out the last few hundred people, like now, and I can enjoy it for a few hours before heading out. Of course, I wouldn't get any of that pesky work thing done, but that is a small price to pay, in my humble opinion. My clients may disagree, but they don't knit.

Today it is all about the frustration.

Shameless

I admit it. Before, I was managing to check the Ravelry waiting list only once a day or two. Now, I see that they have added over a 1,000 names in the last four days. Only 1,320 names in front of mine. I am checking every hour, sometimes more often. I admit it. I just leave that screen open on my computer, and refresh it whenever I think about it. 20 more names entered just in the last hour. At this rate, I will be ravelring in less than a week. Woo Hoo!

This past weekend had noticeable but non-picturable progress on my current WIP's. The Sea Green wrap is very soft, very coxy looking, and long enough to cover one shoulder. And I think I showed admirable restraint in not impaling my husband with a 14-inch metal size 8 needle when he asked if I was almost finished. I also worked more on the foot of the first Pomotomus while I was sitting between bands at the Indy Irish Fest. I was zipping along so nicely that for a while I wondered if I was going to have to start removing shoes to test the legnth on my foot. The muggles just would not have understood the concept.

Today, it is all about the waiting list.

Knitting is normal. Really.

I noticed this weekend that the non-knitting muggles that I come into contact with on a regular basis no longer raise their eyebrows when I knit around them. At the American Legion, I am asked where my sock is. (I was working on my wrap, but proudly showed the sock in my bag, "just in case." At Nascar Club, a female member oooos and ahhhhs over how soft my mohair is. I hear "I have always wanted to learn that" more and more.

This just goes to show that knitting becomes less unusual the more often the muggles see it in public, even if it is just the same person over and over. They can be converted to accepting us without question, even if they all won't join us. Knitters of the world, unite! We can indeed take over the world!

Meanwhile, I have to decide what knitting to take with me to the Indy Irish fest this weekend. My favorite Irish band from California is deigning to come to the midwest to play. :-) Something mindless and compact. Hmmm, I hate to say it, but as usual, a sock just seems to fit the bill. (Sheepish grin.)

And I am still waiting for my ravelry invite. I am only checking the waiting list once a day, which I understand is quite restrained of me, judging by the comments on their news blog. Just under 3,000 ahead of me in line, which should get knocked out quickly as their new servers finally went online today. Over two months of waiting, I can't wait to join! I see a long queue list in my future, a lot of wasted time, and unfinished work piling up on my desk.

The bike is still untouched in the garage. My sweetie hasn't had a chance to rearrange everything on the handlebars that got whacked out of place with my inadvertant and abrupt connection with the ground. He has been hard at work on the shed, of course. It got the second coat of paint, which makes it photograph exactly like it did after the first, but I understand that is still progress. And he has been purchasing lots of things from Lowes, so I am sure that the shed is poised for more progress.

Today it is all about the conversion.