I CAN knit Lace

Lacey Bits

Ok...so I don't have the skills (yet) to do MS 3 BUT I can do Hanami. I purchased Hanami a couple of months ago and started it in some Handmaiden Sea Silk that I have. However, that Sea Silk, which is still in time out, hasn't figured out what it wants to be yet. It was very clear that it just didn't want to be Hanami. So, when I got my yarn for MS 3, I decided to order some Zephyr Wool Silk in the Lady Slipper colourway. It is turning out pretty nicely....see......







This is the first of seven of these basketweave repeats. I have had some time to try to ponder why I can knit this but not MS 3. It all has to do with concentration. MS 3 is different each row and there are few repeats. While I may be fully capable of concentrating as much as is required for me to be successful at MS3, that's not what makes knitting enjoyable for me. I like the resulting fabric/pattern. That's not enough for me. I really need to be able to enjoy the rhythm of the knit (or crochet.) It's not that what I'm working on has to be all stockinette or all double crochet (although there is nothing more fun than stockinette in the round.....my favorite.) but I want to have enough freedom when I'm knitting or crocheting to be social. Some of my projects have been joyful because of their routine - see the Log Cabin Throw....some have been enjoyable for their rhythm and pattern.....see the Lily Chin Lace Dress......some have been fun because of the knitting challenge.......see Goddess and those damn short rows........it's all a process.

Misty's Oblivious

This is the picture of a cat who refuses to listen when I tell her that in another 48 hours there will be another cat in the house and we are moving. She just doesn't seem to care....go figure.

It's the 25th Annual MPA Packing and Moving Extravaganza....the California Edition

For those of you who know me, you won't be at all surprised by this....I'm moving again. Yes, it's hard to imagine that, once again, you wouldn't get a Christmas Card from me saying...oh by the way, here's my new address. One of my greatest accomplishments in my life is to make sure that I have more crossed out old addresses in my friends address books than any one else. I'm pretty sure I've got that one nailed.

This move is not a big move. I'm moving about an eighth of a mile, from one end of the apartment complex to the other. It is a move, though, nonetheless. It still requires buying boxes (more on that in a second), buying packing paper, bubble wrap, tape. It requires packing my crap up into those boxes. It requires cleaning; the oven (nope, it's not one of them fancy self-cleaning ones), the refrigerator (will they ever make a self-cleaning one?), the insides of cupboards, the baseboards, etc., etc. Then there's that thing that happens with short moves where you just don't think you need to pack something because you'll just throw it in the car and drive it over. My clothes fall into this category.

I am not the most driven of packers these days. There was a time in my life when I would just keep on packing until it was done. And if truth be told, I would do that for this move if this was Thursday and I was moving on Saturday. But, it's not. I've been packing for two weeks now and it really is just about done. Here's my routine....I think about what I'm going to pack. Of course, my best thinking is done with knitting needles in hand. I put together a box, pack it, label it, stack it and then go back and do a little knitting, watch a little TV and then pack another box, go see the new Harry Potter movie (it was fabulous by the way), and so on. Some mornings (like this morning) I get up, put a box together and pack it up. This way, I don't really feel like all I'm doing is packing and by Friday, it will all be done. One of the things I do to make my moving life a little easier (and believe me, I learned this the hard way) is that I buy boxes from U-Haul or Sam's or someplace so that they are all the same size and are made for moving. I am a nut about this. I find it so much easier to manage the move. It's just my little AR thing....okay?



So Thursday, I go pick up a cargo van from U-Haul. Why a van? Certainly I have more stuff than will fit in a van. Yes, that's true, I do but I also live on the third floor of a huge apartment complex. This complex has parking garages so you park on the same level you live on. This is fantastic except that the clearance in the garage is 8'2". Most moving trucks are 9' or more and they won't fit in the parking garage. So, to avoid the whole elevator thing, I opted for the cargo van and making a few trips rather than one. It is only an eighth of a mile after all and the bonus of being able to go straight from one apartment to van to the other apartment without stairs or carrying the furniture for long distances is huge. Anyway, I've hired some guys to come on Saturday morning and help me move. My new roommate should be here by then and we'll have to unload her truck too. Hopefully, they will be able to stay a little longer than I originally booked them for so they can help unload her stuff too.

I have finished the Lutea Lace Shell. I'm not 100% happy with it but I did some work around the armholes and the neck opening and it's a little better. Pictures to follow a little later.



Oh, and have I mentioned Ravelry. Remember a few months back when I talked about Misty and her Kitty Crack.....this is like that for knitters and crocheters. Oh my goodness. What a FANTASTIC community it is. It's like magic...I can be organized. I can see what others are doing. I can talk to other people. It's absolutely amazing. I love it and am fascinated by it. It has truly changed the way I think about my knitting and crocheting. I can see how others have interpreted the same pattern as I did. It should however, come with a caution label: Warning! Joining Ravelry May be Addictive!

MS 3:Realist vs. Loser

So here I sit on Sunday Morning, watching the Gentleman's Final from Wimbledon and I am having a mini crisis of character. About three weeks ago, I joined the bandwagon that is Mystery Stole 3. I bought my first lace weight yarn, ever, I bought my beads, I spent a couple of weeks swatching and anxiously waited for the first clue to come out. I was a little concerned about my abilities as a knitter. I haven't ever done anything this delicate, I am not a very advanced knitter but I'm willing to give it a shot. A week ago Friday,the first clue came out, I looked at it, I started it and I quickly learned that even though these are only knit, purl, yarn overs, knit 2 together's and slip, knit, pass slip stitch over's, all of which I am very capable of doing, the placement of each one of these in relation to the other was going to be a challenge for me. I didn't really have any trouble reading the chart. Following the chart was a different matter. So, I took some of the advice from the experienced lace knitters on the MS3 Yahoo! group and color coded the / and \ so I knew which symbol was which stitch. I covered up the chart except for the row I was working on and I counted and counted and counted. I also started, tinked, reknit, frogged, started again, counted, tinked back 4 rows, frogged, started again, etcetera, etcetera. I felt that I could rise to the challenge of this and continued to work through each row. I even figured out how to put in a "lifeline" so that I could rip back without fear of losing any stitches and easily get the piece back on the needles. I am here to tell you, if I really had to stake my life on these lifelines, I'd be dead by now. After 10 days of knitting and counting and marking lines on my chart with highlighters and check marks....

(Photo removed at designer's request.)

This is where my Mystery Stole stands today.

(I know it's hard to tell but there are three different attempts in this blob of silk and wool.)

So, now I am faced with this crisis of character. I DO NOT want to keep doing this. Seriously, I have restarted this thing 10, yes 10 times. I have restarted it 3 times in the last 8 hours. Yesterday, I spent about 6 hours on it and by the time I gave up, I had knit 8 fewer rows than when I had started in the morning on the same piece. Here's my question, am I a loser for "giving up" and not digging deep and muddling through, or am I a realist for saying, this is beyond my current capabilities and clearly I am not in the right place in my head to keep doing this over and over and over? There is no joy in this and why would I spend my "leisure" time doing something that only frustrates me.

I watch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and think, what if they had given up when they couldn't get their serve just right or lost 6 or 7 matches in a row? What if they had allowed themselves to be defeated by a little bit of silk, wool, a couple of sticks and some /\ & O's?