Joy!

My current status is causing joy among my friends and that makes me happy.

Last night I joined fellow educator-knitters in our weekly, virtual, EduKnit Night, hosted by the fabulous teacher-librarian, Lisa Noble. When I entered the chat I was immediately queried “How many days?!” Following some quick and verbalized math … “what’s today … o.k., 31 minus today plus another 31 … 49 days.” Lisa quickly realized “one less than fifty,” and Melissa countered with “exactly 7 weeks.” Again Lisa, “it’s a perfect square!” All three of us were laughing and smiling as the next member joined the chat.

“Joy, we are bringing Joy today,” Melissa shouted out as each new person joined the chat. And as the group grew, the recitation of: “49,” “perfect square,” “one less than fifty,” and “seven weeks” became a chorus, with me laughing, almost hysterically, in the background.

In a year in which classrooms all over are tense and tight, the educators in this lovely little community chose to take a night to embrace Joy.

“If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'.” Lina Lamont, Singin’ in the Rain: 

Counting Down (reprise)

 I know, I know, it's been a while since I've blogged. Life took over and, when life is on the tougher side, I tend to not want to write publicly. The fear that I will say something that will upset someone is ever present so, when my brain is in a somewhat negative space, I try to avoid sharing.

I also prefer to write in the morning when, warmed up by the shower, my thoughts are flowing most freely.

Usually I do not have the luxury of writing in the early hours so the words go unwritten.

Today, however, is the exception and, I hope, soon to be the rule. You see, I am counting down.

In a little under three months I hope to be retired. A lady of leisure, a lady who lunches or, at least, a lady who doesn't commute and follow someone else's rules and requirements all day, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year.

I could give you a number but by the time you read this, the number will have changed, shorten, shrunk and maybe disappeared all together. And all that follows is fresh content.

Fingers crossed!

Counting Down

I have a friend who is always counting down. She has count down calendars for everything including, I think, her retirement which is still a few years away.

As a general rule I don’t count down. It isn’t usually productive for me and often serves to reinforce just how much longer I have to go making me that much more depressed. So, I am not counting down to retirement. At least not actively. As of this writing it is a little over 10 months away. That’s as close to a count down as I am getting right now. A lot can happen in 10 months, including a shortening or even lengthening of this timeline. So, not counting down.

I am, however, counting toward other goals. 

After each rowing session I estimate how many more sessions I will need to get to 600,000, 750,000 and 1,000,000 meters. As of today the counts stand at 2, 23 and 59.  All of these counts will shrink as I get closer and … might even shrink more than one session at a time depending on how many meters I row each class. (Counts estimated based on a minimum of 7,000 meters per class.)

I am also kind of, sort of, counting down (up) to my 500th class at Bar Method Noho. For all the years I have been doing Bar Method, this is the closest I have come to 500 classes at a single studio. My count as of today is 431. A rough, in my head, calculation has me taking my 500th class sometime this summer.

These are positive goals. They are measuring my pleasure. My strength. My aspirations. They are goals that can be reached sooner rather than later and can be sped up if I so desire.

Here’s to counting the positive and (trying to) ignoring the negative.

Now to accomplish some sewing goals!

Making Mistakes

 Making mistakes

As a general rule I am not afraid of making mistakes. Whether it is a cooking mistake, a sewing mistake or a knitting mistake, I take it with aplomb and the attitude that it wasn't a mistake, it was a learning experience. (Except for cooking, I don't view those mistakes as teachable moments but rather excuses for why someone else should cook for me.)

Take for example my latest scarf project. I joined the "As You Wish" mystery knit along because it was from a designer I like and paired with yarns from a dyer I adore. I cast on Tuesday night and over the course of the next few days made a fair amount of progress. I also made a fair number of mistakes. 

The first mistake was not watching the video for the first special stitch. I got cocky and figured I was doing it correctly from the written instructions. Feel free to laugh.

I persisted, however, figuring that no one really looks too closely at the stitches.

Finally, a couple of inches later and an entire color change, I gave in and watched the video. Oops!

Did I rip out my work and redo it? Nope. I soldiered on using the galloping horse theory of crafting.

Then I started the next section and immediately messed up the stitch count. 

Did I stop and rip it out then? Nope! I just fiddled with increases and decreases figuring I’d get the correct number eventually.

This morning I spent a delightful couple of hours on this new section. I did watch the video for the newest stitch (wasn't going to make that mistake again) and kept going. Lost in the book I was listening to, trying not to cry, I knit and knit, changing colors and slipping stitches like a pro.

And then I actually looked at the front of the piece.

D'oh!

Did I rip then? Sort of. I started pulling back a few rows, determined to not start over. But the yarn was sticking to itself and eventually I came to the realization that if I was ripping back this much, I might as well start over. 

And this is why my new scarf looks like this (not a spoiler).

Time for lunch.

I'll start over later.

Sewing for My Siblings

 Sewing for My Siblings

As you might have figured out by now, I am a little obsessed with sewing. 

When I sit down with a pattern it becomes a puzzle which I have to figure out. Knitting fills the same need but more slowly. The speed at which I can finish a project is just so much faster with sewing.

And this is where I ran into a problem. My dresser is full. But I still want to sew!

So (sew?) I turned the problem over to my family and offered to sew for the cost of the fabric. I sent a few links for fabric out to my siblings and my oldest nephew and told them to go for it.

(I sent a similar message to my kids but it just said to choose what they wanted without cost. Yes, I still feel the need to (mostly) clothe my adult children.)

The first one to take me up on the offer was my brother Mike. (Yes, I married a Mike and have a brother Mike. Yes, it makes things a little confusing at times but such is life.)

Mike and his wonderful wife Maria immediately had a challenge for me. They want a golf cart seat cover. They sent a wonderfully detailed schematic, told me that terry cloth would be great, and then chose some fabric for golf clothes – a shirt for Mike and a matching skirt for Maria.

My youngest sibling, Amanda, piped in with a desire for some workout gear and ultimately chose a pair of shorts in a stretch woven.

My daughter asked for a couple of boat necked, long sleeve, tops to go under her new her-made sweaters. When asked, my son said “sure” to getting a couple of new tee shirts in the same fabric.

And so it starts. I spent Saturday and Sunday making up the Be Dreamy dress for Batya and it is hanging out, waiting for her to come over so I can hem it. (This was already in the planning stages and the fabric had been sitting around for a few weeks.)

Last night I did the math and made a plan for the golf cart seat cover, figured out the right size shirt for my brother and bought the pattern. Now I have a polo / henley / tee shirt pattern in my stash which my spouse is eyeing.

Today is a lovely federal holiday and I plan on sewing all day long. My plan coming into the weekend was to get all of the “have to do” stuff out of the way so that today could be a “me” day.

That included not leaving the house. I may revise that because the weather is wonderful so I might get out for a walk.

But maybe not.

**Definitely not as evidenced by this completed golf cart seat cover. Fabric is Camel Bamboo Terry from Knitfabric.com. **