Tricotomania and more

The thing about kids is that they grow. They all do this. They often do it in spurts rather than gradually. and the timing of these growth spurts rarely, if ever, lines up with the timing of the change of seasons in the stores. This causes me no end of frustration. What if you need new snowpants in February or March? Good luck. Same goes for swimsuits and shorts in August. And, I learned this weekend, slippers in May.

Freya’s feet grow remarkably slowly. I have been known to replace a worn out pair of Clarkes shoes with a brand new pair exactly the same size (when she was about 4). I know she walks more than other kids but seriously. The folks in the shop recommend coming to have little kids feet measured every 3 months, and she manages to WEAR OUT a pair of their remarkably sturdy shoes. Consequently, I only shop for shoes for her at the change of seasons. And this spring I discovered that she’d jumped TWO shoe sizes. Why this incredibly articulate kid didn’t say anything, I have no idea.

So in addition to needing new indoor shoes for school, new outdoor shoes, new rubber boots, new sandals, etc. etc. She has managed to grow out of her slippers. And, for a change, she actually wants to wear slippers. So, while out getting her hair cut on Saturday we look for slippers. None. Not one pair. I didn’t even know that slippers were seasonal.

So I think, “I could knit some and felt them”. There is some leftover lopi in a darkish pink colour. I have absolutely tons of olive coloured sock yarn that is not superwash … So I determine that 3 strands of the sock yarn is about equivalent to the lopi. I skim the pattern for fuzzy feet, decide I’d rather make them toe up, that 32 stitiches is probably enough for a kid, and ignore the comment about using one kind of wool to ensure even felting. I have some 7.5 mm dpns that I figure will be fine. I don’t swatch. I plan to hand felt to control the size.

I guess about how far the pink lopi will go and merrily cast on. I tried a figure 8 cast on for the first time and it worked pretty well. I knit the toe, I change to green, knit a few rows, go back to pink. Now, you need to know that I really don’t like this green. Don’t ask how I came to have so much of it but I don’t like it. I am even prepared to make something mostly pink, I like it so little. So I only do 4 rows of green and then 8 rows of pink, 4 rows green, 6 rows pinnk, 2 rows green, 4 rows pink… I do the heel in green because I am worried about the quantity of pink but I go merrily on with this more pink than green slipper.

I cast off and think, “I’ve used more than half the pink” but it’s hard to tell. I cast on the second one in pink, 4 rows green after the toe, 4 rows pink and I think “yeah, I’ve used WAY more than half the pinkl” so I go to 6 rows green, 2 rows pink, 8 rows green 2 rows pink, green heel, etc. etc.

They look pretty good so far. I need to wait for the kid to get home from school so we can felt them and I know when they fit. As my partner pointed out, this probably requires having her try on soggy slippers. Hopefully she’ll think that’s fun. Hopefully she will also think that one mainly pink with green stripes slipper and one mainly green with pink stripes slipper is fun too. I’m not ripping them out and starting again with a more balanced stripe sequence.

One day there will be photos. Not today.

Now that the rest of my life seems to be going well, I’m starting to think more about what I’m knitting. There is quite a bit of nice yarn lying around here (I say ‘quite a bit’ but compared to say Stephanie’s stash, it is a miniscule amount of yarn). I have enough of several types/colours to actually make sweaters and other decent sized projects. The problem is, I need to work out what sort of sweaters.

Over the last year or so, I’ve learned a lot about what fits me and what kinds of things I like to knit. I’ve also been wearing more knitwear. I want to knit nice, well fitting, looks good on me, stuff I will wear. That shouldn’t be too much to ask. One snag is that my work has changed from being a 4 day a week office job to a much more irregular self-employed thing which will still require some nice things but I’m not sure how often or in which seasons. I don’t think that’s the main problem.

Season is one problem. I have some Mission Falls 1824 Cotton that I grabbed once I found out it was being discontinued (and no, it wasn’t on sale; the LYS didn’t need to put it on sale, people bought it anyway). Initially I bought a nice deep purple, the colour the call Merlot, and a cream colour thinking I’d make a stripey cardigan for summer days when I needed one (and into fall and spring). I did start to swatch this and found the contrasts too sharp. So I picked up a few balls of a light denim-y blue and a sort of mid-beige colour to add some mid-tones between the dark purple and ‘merlot’ and the cream.

The swatches also made me think that texture would be good. My partner, although not a knitter, is actually quite good at making this sort of suggestion. He actually has some background (not much, but more than I do) in art and can articulate some of the things I also see. So I pulled out an old copy of Knitters with a stripy, textured cardigan for ideas and was mulling this over. I realize I’m no longer mulling. I’m not swatching either. The whole thing seems to be stalled.

Of course, I’m not a fabulously good swatcher. So that is probably another part of the problem. This cardigan is going to need swatches and I’m not really that inspired to knit swatches. I want to knit a cardigan not an endless stream of stripey dishclothes! (If you are one of those people who think that I should keep my swatches with careful notes of the needle size, tension, etc possibly in a little book made for the purpose, don’t tell me. I won’t do that. Ever. It is not in my nature.)

There’s a minor issue about whether a stripey raglan cardigan is going to look good on me but I’m going to ignore that.

My plan is to knit this cardigan top down. I’ve consulted with some cyber-knitting-buddies about steeking cotton and despite many warnings not to (and some encouragement to go ahead) I probably will just because I can’t see any other way to make good firm edges when there are all those colour changes happening there. I think a zipper is in order.

Maybe I should just start the damn cardigan and see how it goes. Change colour when I feel like it. Experiment with texture as I go along. I’m thinking slip stitch patterns might also be judiciously incorporated to break up the edges of some of the stripes. Hmmmm. maybe I need a dice (a die, I’m sure but you know what I mean). i know I want the edges to be the dark purple… This is sounding good.

Someone tell me I’m nuts. Or tell me to go for it. The anti-swatching crowd (Stephanie?) could perhaps provide support and encouragement. I’d also welcome suggestions of nice basic textures (just mixes of knit and purl) or slip-stitch patterns. A collaborative fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants cardigan design…..

Other piles of yarn include 10 skeins of Manos in a lovely variegated red. My partner wants that to be made into a sweater we could share but I’m wondering if it could be something I’d wear indoors. Scoop neck, 3/4 sleeves (to keep it from being too warm; a tried and tested formula)? or something like a longish jacket (is there enough)? I keep thinking this is going to have to be a stockingnette project which is not inspiring (though the colour IS inspiring).

In the meantime, I’m knitting fancy scarves and some socks. Really enjoying soft alpaca blend yarns on 3.5mm bamboo needles. Oh and I’m doing a chicknits Ribby Shell in navy blue cotton. The ribbing keeps it from being too boring but it isn’t really that exciting. I ordered more yarn yesterday — Silkroad Aran Tweed in ‘Enamel’ to make the Classic Slant Cardigan out of the Fall Interweave Knits. But now I’m thinking I need another nice shawl project….

Need to stop mulling and just start knitting that darn cardigan. Did you notice that I worked out how to get the links in? Note to Justine — the photo problem is at the camera end, not the ‘getting them on the blog’ end. I haven’t even got them on the computer!

I have been contemplating a major career change for several years now. I’ve read a few books (including What Colour is Your Parachute which I highly recommend) and even had some career counselling (pricey but probably worth it; I came into some money that paid for it, if I recall).

One thing I’ve noticed about all the advice out there about choosing a job or changing career or whatever is that they frequently quote the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. (Usually without attribution, BTW. I worked it out when reading it to my 7 year old recently.)

The line occurs when Alice is in a space with several doors leading out of it. She asks the Cheshire cat which door she should take. He asks her where she wants to go. She doesn’t know. So the cat says “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Now this line usually gets used to stress the importance of working out where you want to go. Once you know that, you can work out how to get there. But working out what you want to do ‘when you grow up’ is incredibly difficult. Even with the assistance of great tools like those provided by Parachute and others. I frequently got stumped with that. I’ve also noticed (in hindsight, which has better vision as we all know) that I’ve learned something more about what I like to do, what I’m good at, what I don’t like to do, and what gets me upset/depressed/stressed with every job or experience.

So, I want to keep the quote (it’s a good one) but for a different purpose. If any road will do, then take a road that looks interesting and see where it leads you. Usually, there is some other road leading off it that might be more interesting and when you come across such a road you can decide whether you want to branch off in that direction. But there are very few roads that just run up against (apparently there is one in Fort McMurray, Alberta). Even then, you can just turn around and go back.

Thinking of that Cheshire Cat line this way is EXTREMELY liberating. It allows you to pick what you think is best without really knowing what your ultimate destination is. It focuses you on the present — what is the best choice now? Where might it lead? Will I get some good experiences out of it even if it leads somewhere crummy (and I’ve not been to Fort McMurray, so I’m not making any subtle points here, it might be nice)? And sometimes, you get to a place where there is a great road that you never even knew about sitting right there. And the experiences and the people you met on the last road make it possible to go down that road.

That’s what’s happened with this consulting thing. I think I’m really going to like it. I’m off to my first gig tomorrow. I’ve lined up a few more. I’ll sit back and evaluate in a few weeks time and make some plans. I’ve learned enough about what I liked and didn’t like in previous jobs (and other experiences) to know that this brings together some of the best bits and leaves out some of the worst. But I couldn’t have imagined doing this 2 years ago.

The job I took then was clearly a stop gap. I’d run out of my severance money. I’d been back in Canada for 6 months and needed to find something or it would be really unfair to drag by partner and daughter over here. It was related to what I had done before and had the potential to take me in a new direction. But it wasn’t a great job for me and I could see that from the beginning. I was good at it but it bored me to tears. However, that gravel road led to another job in the same organization that I loved. It was temporary but lasted almost a year. I met great people. I learned a lot. And here I am.

Now that I’m over 40 I think I’ve actually figured out some really important stuff. The big one is to enjoy the present. Also take a few risks (calculated risks maybe, but you’ll never have it all figured out). Appreciate your friends. You ARE worthy of their love. And ditch the folks who don’t appreciate you. You DON’T deserve that shit from them.

This is true for work. It is also true for relationships. We spend so much time worrying about the future (will it last? where is it going? etc) that we forget to enjoy and learn from where we are today. And then when it doesn’t work out, we have difficulty appreciating what was good about it only seeing the future that didn’t happen.

So this might be ‘what I’m going to do when I grow up’ or it might be what I’m going to do for the next little while (however long that is) and then I’ll see another interesting road and go down there. And I might stay with my partner (who has given up his job and moved across the Atlantic to a new country, found a new job, etc because he loves me so much) forever or I might not. I’m not worried about it. I haven’t seen a better road in that department for a while.

BTW the books are still good. They give you the tools to learn from your experience and the structure to sit down and think about it from time to time. Just ignore the bit about the importance of knowing where you are going. They help you figure out how to tell an interesting road from a really bumpy one.

Oh, did you want some knitting? still no photos of the shawl but I’ll try. Now working on a lacy scarf for a friend’s fiancée. Thinking about another scarf for a friend I might get to see for the first time in several years because he lives near one of these jobs I’ve got lined up (which means they pay my airfare). Started a Chicknits Ribby Shell in navy blue cotton (boring but useful). Knit a shell for the 7 year old in some stretchy cotton.

Oh, and thanks Laurie (Crazy Aunt Purl) for your last comment. Sorry I only read it today. See, I was thinking that all my lack of motivation to learn about HTML and how to link to stuff and getting photos in would make this blog dull and uninteresting (’text heavy’ as one of my friends would say, can you tell he’s a communications prof?). But maybe that’s not the case. I’ll try to have something interesting to say at least once a week and see how that goes. Also, like Laurie, I haven’t worked out how to get the comments e-mailed to me. That explains the lack of reply, honest.