T's Guide to Freakin' Out People

Step 1: Look like a normal suburban mom. Preferrably in the normal suburban mom uniform of Lululemon. Looking like a normal suburban mom also means you have to look a little rushed and under pressure, but also sport perfect eye makeup and hair.

Step 2: Carry a normal looking bag. Not a bag with any knitting or crafting reference. A bag such as a those made by Coach, or Kate Spade, or Burberry. Truly, any high end bag (and make sure you refer to it as a bag, not a purse) will do.

Step 3: Take your child to their activity of choice. Swimming lessons, soccer, fencing. Whatever your uber-suburban pre-schooler is into at the time.

Step 4: Get your child appropriately introduced to the activity. Make sure they are comfortable in their surroundings. Give them a hug, whatever you need to do to urge them into full participation.

Step 5: Step back. Take a seat with the other normal suburban moms. Observe your child for a few minutes, give them a wave and a smile, then throw them a kiss.

Step 6: Engage in idle chit chat with the women around you. Discuss your child's other activites, how great they're doing in their new school, how excited they are to be swimming/soccer-ing/fencing. Make the other mothers truly believe that you too are a normal suburban mom.

Step 7: Now, this is the key to the Freak out. While talking to the other mothers, slowly and methodically, pull .... out ... your ... knitting.

Step 8: Wait for it. Wait for it. There is it. Shock, furtive glances, chairs turning. You have accomplished the freak out. It usually, in my estimation and experimentation, takes approximate 1-3 minutes for this to occur.

Then you have it. Peace and quiet. You are no longer forced to engage in the idle chit chat, or the comparisons of Bobby Sue's* busy after school schedule or Johnny's* difficulty with his Montessori program. You can sit, watch your Punk swim with an amazing all-encompassing grin, and knit in peace. It works, I can guarantee the results.


*note that these are made up names for the other children that were there. Also note that no normal suburban member of the mom-fia would name their children Bobby Sue or Johnny. I have yet to come across any children with these names in my uber-suburban neighbourhood.

Done.

That's about all I can muster up to say about these socks. They are DONE.

They are being added to the Christmas Cumulus, and will be given away with love to someone who will appreciate them far more than I can.

I feel better about these socks when I put them next to these lovely flowers our family received to brighten our last few gloomy weeks.

Thanks Catknip.

Waiting Game

I am not a patient person. Waiting is one of the most difficult things I ever have to do. I fidget. I pace. I bug the Dude.

So this whole being off of work and waiting for a baby thing is really not my strong suit. Fortunately, I have still been able to do some knitting.

Socks for a nephew.

Socks for a neice.

I'm half way through a pair of pink socks for the Princess in this yarn.

My mind, however, is always drawn to the what ifs. What if my water breaks in the frozen food aisle of the grocery store? What if I have horrible labour that scares the Princess? What if I can't get a hold of the Dude? (Don't laugh. My husband is very difficult to reach at times. Don't confuse this with being important.) What if the Princess totally rejects the Baby and her Mother? What if I don't get the next STR sock club shipment before all of the above happen?

Waiting sucks.

Scarves across Canada

I am participating in a bit of a crazy endeavour. I joined up in the summer and am in the midst of it. I had actually forgotten about it until another package arrived the other night.

I'm in Traveling Scarf group on Ravelry. The premise is that you start a scarf in some yarn and a stitch pattern of your choice. Then you pass your scarf on to 11 other people to work on, and in the end you get it back. There are examples of works in progress from other groups here and here and here.

It has been a great way to use up bits of yarn I have. I can not throw yarn away, so I have bits and pieces of every type of yarn I've ever bought. It's kind of fun to rifle through my old yarn and pull stuff out.

This is how my scarf started.

I used up my leftover Andean Silk that I made my Candystripe kerchief out of. I picked out a pattern I liked from my Harmony Guides and cast on. I sent it off to someone in Burlington and now I wait for it's return.

In the meantime, I work on everyone else's. I received Vivian's yesterday and picked out a coordinating color, and this is what we have.

The blue is not near as bright as the picture leads you to believe. So I'll finish this up today and send it off to the next person and wait for my next delivery. Getting yarn / knitting in the mail is so much fun - even if it's not for me!

Mama, you knit me a sweater?

The Princess has been as patient as a two year old can be lately. She's had to watch me knit baby sweaters, baby hats, socks for Dad, sweaters for Mom. At last, there is something that she can model for her adoring public.

This is the Drive-Thru sweater. It is a terrific pattern and a really fun knit. I usually shy away from colour work because it freaks me out a little and you know that I don't deal well with change.

The body of this sweater goes very quickly and the yoke keeps things interesting with the colour changes. I understand that the pattern is based on EZ's percentage system which just goes to show how brilliant that lady was.

I made this sweater out of Cotton Fleece which is soft and has a nice drape to it. It isn't as heavy as 100% cotton and I think I'll be using it again if I can find it. It would seem that our local LYS's don't carry Brown Sheep products. May I suggest to you local LYS types that this line of yarn would be welcomed by the local knitting community?