Epistolary Knits

Everyday I scroll past my TypePad bookmark on route to blog reading, or playing on Ravelry.  Each time I see the link I think, "oh, must get to blogging".  But I never visit the site.  Instead I tell myself: "I'll do it later this afternoon, tonight, first thing tomorrow, soon."  The holidays being what they are -- lots of people home, lots of food to buy and cook, presents to wrap and find space for once they are opened -- soon hasn't come until now.  Frankly, blog reading and fantasy knitting on Ravelry are much easier distractions when you're working with ten minute increments.

Don't worry though, this isn't going to be a blog post about not posting.  Seriously, we're all past that these days.  No, this is actually a knitting content filled post that I haven't gotten to before now because I have been weighing my options for starting back.  Do I do a retrospective of 2007?  Do I focus on my knitting and life goals and resolutions for 2008?  Since either of these options are comprehensive and require thought, they filled me with performance anxiety. Yet, with these two major themes foremost in my mind, I couldn't bring myself to do something as prosaic as a plain old WIP update.

Then I got a note from one of my projects.  I know this sounds strange.   Yarn is not known for its literary or computer skills, but then, the other day I found this in my Ravelry inbox:

    "message from Rona"

        What are you doing queuing things on Ravelry when you should be knitting me?

        Love,

        Rona

I was caught red-handed, at my day-dreaming, unfocused worst, by one of my own beloved stash knits no less.  What to do?

Should I swear up and down that I've been knitting her, but she just hasn't noticed how much longer she's gotten lately?  I could try it, after all, I have knit her some during December.  But once she looked at herself she'd see that the growth, while visible, is not going to lead to her being finished within the next couple of days.

Here's the proof.  Click here to see how far along I was in August, while below is progress as of today.  Truthfully, much of that has come since I received the missive reprinted above.  Never let it be said that guilt is not a great motivator.

I could proffer the excuse that I had to finish a deadline knit for gifting yesterday, and beg for forgiveness.  Given the level of frustration that she must feel, I'm not sure she'll buy that.  You should know, however, that there was a baby blanket that I had promised would be done by January 2nd that was simple, but larger than the usual baby fare as it was felted to the correct size.

I realize it's hard to see the difference in the two photos at this scale, but trust me, it shrank a lot and grew a lot softer.  Plus, I couldn't get rid of the ruffling around the edges before I had to send it to its new owner.

It was a blast to knit four row stripes of two different colors of Kureyon (#199 and #209, four balls each).  The colors shifted and striped in unpredictable ways and the growing length provided much needed additional warmth.  I am disappointed with the post-felting result, only because different portions of the blanket felted differently and it was impossible to block it to a rectangle.  On the other hand, it turned out exquisitely soft and the colors melded even more, creating a striking bit of comfort for a new arrival.  I wish I had one for myself.

Now it's time to go knit some more on Rona.  Her last note was gentle, even loving, in its prodding, but I do not want to risk making her irate.  You never know what a good knit will do when angry.  With Rona's literary skills, I'm being haunted by the prospect of ads for "The Abandoned Knits Revolutionary Manifesto" appearing on Ravelry.  I'm sure she could drum up support from some of my other long abandoned WIPs.

Comments

[Michelle B]

And my UFOs would be right behind her. Rona looks great and so does the blanket.

[Wanda]

Good luck with Rona. I hate it when the knits start talking back to you.

[Marina]

Wow! That Rona is one clever and resourceful gal. Think what she could do if she had "arms"!

[Lorraine]

Anmiryam- When my projects start guilt tripping on me- they go in time out. But Rona IS a large boxy sweater.

And don't worry about the blanket ripples, it will become that kid's Linus- and will be put through untold horrors.

Happy New Year!

[lou]

Wow, I don't know if I could ignore something so beautiful. I take that back. I know how hard it is to be monogomous with knitting.

[Jaya]

The blanket looks amazing. I can imagine how warm it is!

Rona's coming along. Tell her that patience is a virtue. :-)

[Karen C]

You've been TAGGED - hope you join the fun!

http://choochooknits.blogspot.com/2008/01/random-tag-from-sue-pass-it-on.html

[Karen C]

You've been TAGGED - please join in our fun!

http://choochooknits.blogspot.com/2008/01/random-tag-from-sue-pass-it-on.html

[Krista]

Hey,

Have you noticed that your bloglines feed is all screwy? I see you haven't posted in a while, but you've supposedly got 10 new posts since this one. I clicked to read them and was surprised to see you've changed your name to John-Paul Maxfield, and you've changed your content to some sort of mix of business strategies and ecological awareness. My husband might be interested, but I kind of like the knitting.

You might want to check that out.