I think I only post when I have a finished object to show, or at least almost only then. It’s like I don’t think there’s anything worth sharing unless I have something pretty to show. This is why I’m doing good to get in one post a month — I’m a slooooooow knitter.

The thing is, I really am a process knitter. For me, it’s mostly about the making. The utter joy and feeling of “Damn, I kick ass!” that comes with learning something new, or accomplishing something I was hesitant about, or seeing something “real” take shape under my hands from the strange beginnings of “sticks and string.” It’s also about the calm, and the almost meditative quality of the repetitiveness coupled with the concentration that’s required to do that making. So it seems like I would be more likely to post about that process; more likely to find things to share. But it hasn’t turned out that way, and I don’t understand why.

My job is killing me a little at a time. Every day, I come home more tied up in knots. And the unfortunate thing is that I have a great group of kids this year, and I’d love to be able to really dig in and enjoy them, but there is much other stuff that’s preventing that from happening. And I discovered, finally, that if I can just take an hour — even if it’s an hour stolen in bits and pieces through the afternoon and evening — to knit, then I’m able to get up and go do it all again the next day. It turns out, I think, that knitting is going to be my salvation while I try to hang on through this school year. It seems like I should be sharing more of that, instead of spending so much of my time wondering where the rest of my time went. Just more things to reflect on as the year draws to its end.

My college roommate called recently with fabulous news — she and her husband have adopted a baby boy. In celebration, I decided to knit a hat. So many of the hats that Nate had as a baby were — well, just boring. So I decided to make a more entertaining hat from this pattern (at least nominally). I’m using some Sock It To Me yarn from Elann that was sent by my secret pal. It’s going very, very quickly and is quite fun. I’m not really sure what the baby’s Mama (I cannot even put into words how thrilled I am to finally be able to call her “Mama”) will think of it, so I’m probably also going to make a “normal” hat as well, but I’m having a lot of fun making this one. AND, I got to learn a new technique — the tubular cast on!

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Overall, I’m really happy with the striping that’s happening with the yarn, and the way the colors look:

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I’ve also been hard at work on Kiri, though it’s really hard to tell from photos:

Click for a “close-up” view

My sister walked in the other day and said “What are you knitting now?” Dear hubby piped in “Oh, she’s handknitting her cobwebs for next Halloween.” Once I got over the indignant outrage (is that redundant), I had to admit he had a point. Do all lace shawls look so . . . . blobbish while they are being knit?

Off to decorate the tree!