Saturday, March 24, 2012

String of Consciousness: 2 Rows

Knit two together yarn over one two three four five, no, six, yarn over slip two as if to knit two together - but don't actually knit them, knit one, then pass the two slipped stitches over - that's it, yarn over one two three four five...
this is going to take forever, I'll just do two rows, out and back, the second row is straight purling.  If I did just two rows every day it would take... about a year to knit this stole, this is going to take forever...
this yarn is like knitting with air... the emperor's new clothes... weightless, cashmere so fine... it was so ugly, who would want a khaki shawl, so I dyed it, rather proud of that, came out beautiful but a tad hard to see the stitches because they're so small... Steve was the first to make a Lady MacBeth comment but won't be the last, it rubs off on my hands and then my hands touch my clothes and I hope it comes out, it was a little embarrassing at the concert last night, maybe no more knitting with this yarn in public, I'll have to rinse the shawl in vinegar water to set the dye before I'd ever wear it...
I never wear shawls, why am I doing this 12 shawls in 2012 challenge anyway, I never wear shawls... but I like to knit, that's why I'm doing it, and because it's there, the challenge of the thing, but I never wear shawls because they make me look dorky... Jemima Puddleduck syndrome... or is that dumpy middle aged woman wearing a shawl she knit herself syndrome...
oh well, slip those two stitches together, don't knit them, that's it, then knit then pass the two stitches over, more or less, this is a simple enough pattern so far even if my hands are hot pink...the lace part comes at the end, and then I go back and knit the other half of the shawl exactly the same way... most of the rows are quite boring, actually... one stitch at a time isn't so bad... why do I like knitting anyway when I get bored halfway through the row and the yarn is so fine it's hard to knit with, I think maybe I'll get some tiny glass beads to add to the lace at the end, it says that will help the drape on this shawl I'm not going to wear and make it pretty... but it won't be pretty if the yarn is constantly leaving a trail of pink-red dye over everything... and even if it is pretty it won't be pretty if I never wear it, it'll just be packed away in a box in the closet... almost done with the first row of stitches, at least I'm making progress, let's see this is the 5th shawl so far this year and I never wear shawls, but maybe I'll win fame and acclaim on Ravelry, hey fame and acclaim rhyme, and they'll award me a free shawl pattern of my choice and I can knit more shawls that I'll never wear...
past the turn now, it's all purl from here on, I should really get out of bed soon, nice to sleep in on a Saturday morning but I have a lot to do, papers to grade, Bede and Caesar to translate for the Latinstudy list, cooking for tomorrow, library, shopping, ugh, needs to happen today or it won't get done before spring break, and what if we all end up in traction because we're so hopeless we can never learn to ski, or what if we can't afford lessons and lift tickets, or what if...
just knit, it's easier that worrying... the stitches stay done once you make them... nothing else stays done, not cooking, not cleaning, not nagging the kids... what about those 6th graders, how many more times will we have to go over perfect tense and they still won't get it... some do, some don't I guess... will this work ever be finished, too pretty to wear, stored away in a box in my closet like my great-grandmother's wedding dress, every stitch by hand but if you do it right it stays done... it's all I have from my great-grandmother other than her scrapbook of fancy needlework patterns from newspapers and some of the quilts probably... she was a remarkable woman and no one remembers her now, once in awhile I'm sure my uncle thinks of her but no one else probably, that generation is all gone...
what will it be like when I'm gone and my kids take out the box of shawls I never wore and try to figure out what to do with them, they'll get to live on in someone else's closet or get shared around the grandchildren or great grandchildren, now that's hard to imagine, let's pretend I'm young for a little longer shall we, there the row is done and I'm getting up now.

2 comments:

Auntie Stina said...

LOL!
And then I'd be distracted if someone put a shiny something in front of me...

Flying Squirrel said...

What a delightful "blog voice" you have! I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your old posts—it all felt very comfortable and familiar. We have a textile/Latin thing going in our house too! (I'm the textile, my husband is the Latin). So carpe lanam, and don't let go!