My Very Own Afghan!

Sort of.

I have this yearning to knit something for everyone I know. This works very well for mothers, girl friends, grandmothers, babies. Not so good for husbands or step sons. One, because he is practically anti-fashion and the other, because he is Quite Particular.

I solved the one by knitting socks which are only worn around the house in the dead of winter and I am solving the other by making an afghan. BSS is a junior and will be heading off to cold college in a little over a year and he has agreed to allow me to make him an afghan. His only requirements are color and "not too holey."

Excellent! I can DO this.

I've even decided to Design My Own. Can't be too difficult since there aren't any sleeves to attach, etc. I posted a question...series of them actually...to KnitList and several very helpful people gave me ideas.

My orginal thought was to use a superwash wool, just in case BSS decided to wash the thing. My eyes first fell upon KnitPicks Swish Superwash in Dublin. My LYS suggested an acrylic from Dark Horse which would be affordable, soft, and wear pretty well. It really felt nice but I just have this aversion to acrylic. Probably from all the years of using Red Heart before I discovered Real Yarn. Does this make me a yarn snob? Oh well..gotta be something!

Then I Googled superwash yarn and found Sarah's Yarns. There I found a superwash lamb's wool by JaggerSpun in a lace weight that was Very Affordable and had the lovely option of Trying Before Buying. In spite of the fact that I ordered the wrong wool, I can't wait to get my needles on this yarn. What I ordered is close to what I actually wanted so I may not reorder...we'll see.

For the pattern, I am looking through the Vogue "Stitchionary" books to come up with 3 or more stitches to use in a sampler type of pattern. I have waffled between knitting one big piece and knitting in sections and then joining. I have tentatively decided to do sections and then join the pieces with a three needle bind off. I think this will give durability to the joins rather than simply sewing up. Besides, I hate sewing up.

Now I just have to decide on the stitches. A panel of each with a seed stitch border. I think with the 3 needle bind off, I'll leave the border off certain sides so that all the borders will be equal. Gotta get it on paper.

In fact, writing about it makes me want to do it.

Off I go.

If It Isn't One Thing...

Working for a tax accountant really makes for a rather preoccupied winter. I've managed to knit a bit and read a bit but real life has taken a back seat. I don't even work "full time" but to me, working everyday is full time. I simply don't manage work, husband, family, house work very well all at once. I've said before that I will probably never be classified as a workaholic or type-A personality since it's very simple for me to let What Must Be Done remain undone while What Needn't Be Done is indulged in on a whim. Which is why, during this terribly busy time for most people who work in the tax business, I have managed to complete a washcloth and wrist warmers, begun and nearly finished a baby/toddler sweater, and am planning an afghan extravaganza...as well as read at least a dozen books. Of course, ask my BH what has been neglected and he will firmly and resoundingly reply, "ME!"

Poor thing.

So now that taxes are done, I've begun thinking about gardening and have even ordered seeds from Seeds of Change. Since I ordered so late, I missed out on a few things but my fellas don't thrive on vegetables unless they are in the form of pizza sauce so I guess it's no great loss. OH, except for sweet corn which BH is extremely keen to get in the ground so we can have corn for July 4. In the northern part of Wisconsin, it is an accepted fact of life that gardens do Not go in until after the 15th of May. Accept, of course, for potatoes which Must be planted on Good Friday. So yesterday, April 20th, when BH called me at work and wanted to know if I wanted to plant sweet corn this weekend...I was a little stunned. THEN he informed me that we were going to start planting...meaning regular field corn in the fields...today. So that means that now my life will be full of feeding hungry farmers, running to the implement dealer for parts, driving tractor (I hope!) and being all around "gofer."

So, if it isn't one thing...it's another.

Life is like that.

Lovely, hmmm?