I am still here

New Shoes
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I am still here, but there have been some real challenges in my life that led to so much stress that I haven't been up to writing. Wow, has that new job not worked out! I am so not the popular girl on campus. Oh well, I am working to fix it all, knowing I can't fix others so I better just change what I do. The effort of being unbearably perky and ignoring slights and rudenesses, though, exhausts me, so I am dead when I get home.

I do have finished Green Bus Socks to show, and two new pairs of shoes! The Dansko Clogs are Merrie, which I saw on the Loopy Ewe blog and fell in love with. My previous Danskos lasted over a decade, so I know they will hold up, even if they are expensive. The Rocket Dog sneakers were only $10, so what the heck.

I am spending some time working on new bus socks, called Frog Explosion. They are from Artyarns Ultramerino (and were #19 if you are keeping track of the random number generator). I am using Wendy Johnson's River Run pattern--a very simple lace that I can memorize. I did the gusset a weird way (just today) and will try to photograph that when I get a chance.

Mostly what I am doing is a bit of charity. I thought it would make me feel better about myself to do something nice for someone. There was a mom whose son played lacrosse when my older son did, and she was very sweet, one of those dear Texas ladies with great hair and pep. She was always really nice to me (not all the lacrosse parents were). One day, a number of months ago, she called and was really upset. Her vacuum cleaner had eaten a hole in the afghan her grandmother had knit her many years ago. She brought it to me and it was pretty nasty--a big hole with black stuff from the vacuum all over it. I said I'd try to fix it, but stalled out looking for off-white Aran-style yarn that would match it. I kept looking, as the afghan sat in a bag on the shelf.

Then, last week she called and told me her mom had found extra yarn in a closet--apparently the grandmother had planned to make another one for someone else and never got around to it. Saturday Lacrosse Mom brought me the yarn, and I promised to take a look at it.

When I did look at it again, I thought, well, maybe I will unravel it right under the hole, knit how many rows were messed up, then graft the stitches back. ACK, I hate to graft. Then, it dawned on me. The hole actually was pretty close to the top of the afghan--just 40 rows or so. I figured I could just re-knit it. I patiently got rid of the mess and got the stitches on needles. But, when I started with the new, matching yarn, you could really tell it was new. The old yarn (acrylic, of course) had fuzzed a bit. I did not like the looks of THAT. So, I unraveled the part I had removed, and I think I actually only lost 203 rows' worth of yarn where the vacuum cleaner attacked.

Now, I am happily re-knitting this old afghan, so it can go home to its family. You can't even tell where my stuff starts and grandma's ended. I got pretty close to her gauge! It will take a few days, but it sure will be worth it to return their treasure in good shape. I really hadn't wanted to do a bad job on it, and I think I'm not!

That has immensely helped my sagging self esteem. It's a simple ripple afghan/feather and fan in a classic pattern. I'll write it down when I am finished, and show you the result.

Dragonfly, thanks for noticing I was MIA. I miss writing.