Off the needles, off the hook, and PIF

First, did everyone hear me shout hooray this evening when my manly socks finally came off the needles? Indeed, they are finished. I had to put them in time out for a bit but we worked it out.

Second, the snowflakes are finished and ready to be, well, finished. That sounds a bit less exciting when I read it back. The stitching is finished; now they need to be stiffened and sparkled.

Next off the needles will be the leg warmers and at least one hat. Now, for the PIFA/PIFE. It is the Pay It Forward Along/Exchange. This is a movement among crafting bloggers to commit some radical acts of kindness and propitiate niceness. Details are below. If you haven't already joined the fun, please consider it.

Pay It Forward Exchange I'm SO EXCITED to be a involved in the Pay It Forward Exchange! I found out about it from knittingwildflower!

Let me tell you about it, these are the instructions: "It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!"

And, remember...you have 6 months to get your gifts done! Come on, you know you would love to be one of my angels. Then, one day, but you don't know when....you will get a gift that I have made especially for YOU!

Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join :)

And speaking of blogs - this one in particular - I am working on a particularly netshy friend with a wealth of knitting knowledge and experience in an effort to get her to guest at least once, maybe anonymously, you know who you are. Will she do it for a song? Will she do it for a price? (Larry Springer's guests get paid, so why not mine?) Will she do it for a Venti White Mocha and a chocolate biscotti? We shall see...

It is SO not the Season!

Every year around this time I seem to forget that I have lived all but 5 of my 40 years on the Texas Gulf Coast. Why do I bother feeling disenchanted when I already know what is coming? I know that rain is more likely than snow. I know that my one and only Christmas sweater will probably not see the light of day unless I am going ice skating at the mall or turn my A/C down to 40 just so I can wear it. And I know that by the end of the season I will be so sick of hearing "Winter Wonderland" and "White Christmas" I will shudder within the first 3 bars. This morning, it was in the 70s and we were singing "In the Bleak Midwinter" which includes the line "snow upon snow" - like that is going to happen here! (Come to think of it, did it happen in Bethlehem? Does anybody out there know?)

So here is my contribution to the caroling list. I'm not sure when I learned this, but I think of it every year while Christmas shopping in my shorts, sandals, and t-shirt.

(try it to the White Christmas tune) and a 1 and a 2 and a...
I'm dreaming of a pink & purple-polka-dotted Christmas

Just like the ones I've never seen

Where the tree tops glisten, and children listen

To hear cowbells in the rain.


I'm dreaming of a pink & purple-polka-dotted Christmas

With every Christmas card I write:

May your days be merry and bright!

And may all your Christmases be pink & purple-polka-dots-on-white.



Oh, well. I guess you had to be there ;)

Social Knitting vs. Anti-social Knitting

For the purpose of this post, the term knitting may be applied to anything one does with yarn, floss, thread, needle(s), or hook. Lately, for me, it happens to be mostly knitting. I (usually) digress...so, to the point: today, I executed two of my favorite types of knitting - social and anti-social.


The social knitting cost $5, took place in a local store, and lasted 2 hours. Actual knitting progress: 8 rows of a scarf. In my defense, it is a multi-cabled scarf, but good grief, 4 rows per hour? I have actually been doing this for a while now and I know that I can knit 16 rows of that same scarf during one episode of CSI with husband ffw-ing through the commercials! What happened? Okay, don't answer that question if you know me because you already guessed what happened: my mouth worked faster and more steadily than my needles.


The anti-social knitting cost nothing, took place at a child-centered family gathering at the church, and lasted 2 hours. Actual knitting progress: I didn't keep count, but it was certainly more than 8 rows on the k2p2 hat for the homeless. I took the time at this event to say hellos at the beginning, eat cookies, take photos of the children gift-wrapping our pastors, and sing Christmas carols. Still, I got more knitting done.


Of these two settings, I don't have a favorite. Social knitting is fun because you get to see what others are working on and compare notes and show-off and talk the talk without having to explain that magic loop isn't really magic, just really cool. Anti-social knitting is usually free and takes place during something I'd rather knit than sit inactively through - oh, can you say "waiting room"?
"PTA meeting"? Any kind of kids' practice or rehearsal? So many minutes that could otherwise be mind-numbingly boring become productive. Anti-social knitting also tends to ward off the kinds of folks that would come over and talk my ear off about nothing because they are bored, too. They can see that I am busy and since I, along with a growing number of my enablers, er knitting friends, am addicted to audio books - well, the earphones are a dead giveaway that I am not interested in idle prattle for the sake of filling in the time.


So, many thanks to the crafting friends and acquaintances that like to knit together as a group. I'm just glad we don't serve wine because I would only have gotten 1 row knit and would likely have had to rip it out.


And, to all those I have ignored or puzzled as I knit away, completely oblivious to them and my surroundings, well, what can I say? Maybe you should have brought something to work on, too!