Kiss My Knits!

For two weeks running, Emily’s told me that she read during art class. Apparently, they’re all working on self-portraits, and she finished hers, so she’s just been quietly reading instead. I feel certain that hers was completed in five minutes, and she opted not to include any detail or color, which would explain the time difference between her and her peers.

Loyal readers may recall this isn’t the first issue we’ve had with art class. And honestly, I could probably write it off if we hadn’t had these same issues in second grade. There was over a month where her answer was “I read” when I asked her what she did in art class. Her second-grade teacher had to have a talk with the art teacher about strategies to get her to not flip out or melt down.

I’m writing her regular teacher to see if a conference with the art teacher is in order. I get that the teacher has 20 little bodies to wrangle in that class, but if a child is having trouble, you can’t just shunt her to the side. If she has trouble with the assignment, she needs a modified assignment, not busywork.

I can’t remember whether I swatched for the Charlie Brown sweater with a size 6 or 7 needle. I cast on with a 7 but then thought… this looks kinda big.

Crud. Gotta swatch again. This is why you keep good notes at every stage.

Speaking of “facepalm” moments, I share with you:

Not Always Right. Tales of unreasonable customers in retail settings. Heh. That’s always comedy gold.

Okay! I’ve got the chart reworked and ready to go. I’ve actually modified this slightly since I made the graphic. It’s a couple of rows shorter now. I printed this out, several iterations wide, and held it up to my Dad’s midsection to be sure it’s the right height. He’s a good sport.

The chart is 22 stitches wide and I estimate a 110 stitch caston with an extra stitch on each side for selvedge will be correct. I hope. If I’m off by a tiny amount per inch, that gets multiplied fast over 110 stitches. Keep your fingers crossed!

Next hat up for: Paris. Ooh la la!

Kind of puts things in perspective.

Last October I lost five pounds and kept it off until the end of the year. Then in January, I was on the road a lot and ate a lot of fast food, and comforted myself more than I should have with food. I didn’t exercise over the holidays, and all told, I’ve gained back two or three pounds and a point of body fat over the course of the month. I want to get back on the metaphorical horse, but it’s so freakin’ cold outside. I love the snow, I hate the cold. Maybe I’ll NetFlix some Firm DVDs. The woman they’ve got on the front page of their website looks like she’s gone a little too far. Eat a sandwich, woman!

Steve’s having to work today. He works a lot on weekends. Poor guy. I complain about exercising in the cold, but he’s been walking a mile up to the Lynx station and taking the train into work to get a little exercise and also save money and wear and tear on his car. Whatta guy.

At right: just before I left for Richmond the other day, I took this picture of Steve, Emily, and the Groovy Girl dolls. He’s a good dad.

I realized last night that I’d charted the full-size Charlie Brown stripe wrong, so I need to go back and redo it. Fortunately I haven’t actually knit the stripe, just charted it with paper and pencil. I know there’s software that’ll do it, but I’m on a Mac, I don’t know that there’s something out there for me.

Still kind of sleepy, having gotten to bed late last night. Today I need to hit the library, Goodwill, and Home Depot, and hopefully a coffee shop in there somewhere.

Today Emily went over to a friend’s house for the first time. She asked me to come along, so I did, but I sat in the living room and talked with the other mom while the girls played all over the house, even going outside just the two of them to play.

Emily had an excellent time, and says that we should go over there again. Absolutely we will!

Last night I was over at Turtlegirl76’s place, and had a fantastic meal followed by a fun evening of knitting and watching trashy TV. When I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, I realized that Turtlegirl76’s lights were much, much brighter than mine. For the first time, I was able to see that I’m getting wrinkles.

Eh, it had to happen sooner or later. Overall, still a good 24 hours.

I have a problem, and I could use some advice.

I’m interested in purchasing Pat’s spinning wheel. She wrote me in March 2007 that she had an Ashford Traveller. I have no idea what condition it’s in, but she could get 300-400 dollars for it if it’s in working order, and I of course would be willing to pay that fair price. I like the idea of spinning Pat’s fiber on Pat’s wheel.

How the heck do I bring this up with her family? Should I even try, or let it go? I don’t want to seem like a vulture. I’ve already got a wheel, so it’s not that I’m looking to pick up a bargain at her family’s expense, I just think it would be nice to have this extra piece of her life, and of course I’d give it a good home.

I’d also like to volunteer to evaluate and sell any yarn or knitting supplies she has. I know she has some, but I don’t know what quality. I’d be glad to help with that, either by giving an opinion or by actually taking the items and selling them online and sending the money and a report back to her family. I don’t know what kind of medical expenses Pat’s care entailed, but it had to have been significant. I’d like to help her family, because I think she’d want that.

I’ve never been in a situation like this, and I’m afraid that I’ll come off as insensitive or that I’ll hurt their feelings somehow.

Any thoughts?

ETA: has graciously offered to approach her son about this for me.

The Jayne hat list stands at 42 hats waiting to be knitted. Assuming I knit a hat every two days, that’s a 12 week wait. In fact, of course, I knit them faster, and that wait is only about ten weeks, but still. That’s ridiculous.

www.wearwithstyle.com is closed to new orders until February 10th (the day after my birthday). If someone’s already contacted me but hasn’t decided whether they’re ordering, I’ll take them. New inquiries will be asked to call me back when I’m out of the tub. I’ll be putting up a note on the site expressing this.

I’m thinking about going to limited signup windows, but let’s see what a little break from new orders does to whittle the line down first. Every year I think the demand will die down, but every year there seem to be more and more Browncoats, and the wait gets longer. It’s amazing, and wonderful. Of course there will come a day when that last order comes in and it’ll all be over, but that day doesn’t seem to be coming soon.

In addition to the practical matter of needing to get more caught up, there’s also a more intangible issue. I am a creative person and I HAVE KNIT THE SAME HAT 500+ TIMES IN A ROW. To be a Jayne hat, it has to look exactly like a Jayne hat. It’s not like I can throw some cabling in there, or stick a knitted spout on the side and call it a teapot hat. I’d like to have the freedom to make a few non-Jayne things and not feel guilty because I really should be getting caught up on the list. I had someone write and ask if they could order a Space Invaders hat for someone’s birthday a month away, and I had to turn them down. Broke my heart.

Finally, those suggesting that Pat’s quilt plays a part in this wouldn’t be wrong. I’ve promised scarves and slippers and dolls to friends and family members, but they’ve been on the back burner for far too long. I promised my father a Charlie Brown sweater last year for his birthday. His birthday’s coming up again next week. You can see how the sweater’s coming. I’ve swatched for gauge and done the math to figure out the stripe placement and the number of stitches to cast on. IT’S BEEN A YEAR. That’s just unacceptable. And bless my dad’s heart, he always says, “Well, I know your paid orders have to come first, you take your time, it’s okay.” Yeah, but I shouldn’t have to backburner a project for my own father to make the 600th hat for a total stranger. That’s nuts.

So I’m taking baby steps in cutting the hats back to a more reasonable level. When wearwithstyle returns, the price on a finished Jayne hat to the U.S. or Canada will also rise to $40. Brown Sheep has raised its prices for my wool twice since I set my initial rates, and I need to continue to cover my expenses and also maintain my enthusiasm for this.

Don’t get me wrong. I love knitting the Jayne hats. I enjoy talking to people from around the world who share my love of Firefly. I like helping many of the people who buy the kits to knit their very first hat. And, on a less noble level, It’s fun having the tiniest possible level of celebrity within the already tiny groups of geek knitters and Firefly fans. I don’t see myself giving up Jayne hats. But if I’m going to keep at it, I need a break.

Hats up for: Alberta, Texas, and Texas.

Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

This may be one of those things that everybody knew already, but The Library of Congress has a flickr account and they’ve been scanning photos and putting them online.

The photo shown is captioned, “An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is ready to leave the hand of an infantryman in training at Fort Belvoir, Va. American soldiers make good grenade throwers”

I have a sudden urge to buy war bonds.