Distractions

knitting requires focus
slip one, yarn over, knit two together
distracting noises and conversation

ripping out
starting over
dammit dammit dammit

meditate on the pattern
stay in the moment
just knit

More Distraction poems at One Single Impression.
All content written by Liza Lee Miller unless otherwise noted.
© 2008, Liza Lee Miller.

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Ruby Tuesday — The Craft Edition

Ruby firmly believes that she would be a remarkable crafter if only I’d give her the chance. Cat-like, she wants to jump in your lap and help you knit or crochet or glue buttons down to a wreath with hot melt glue. Poor silly girl . . . that whole no thumbs thing really gets in the way.

This is also a sneaky way for me to write about my crafting on Ruby Tuesday. Ruby and I consulted and decided that my “tangerine dream” was an ugly orange nightmare. Soooooooo, I moved on to bigger and better things. Above is the knitting that I did with some amazing alpaca yarn. Totally yummy! Alpaca yarn is amazingly soft and easy to work with. Everything that Julie Zickefoose has been saying about Alpacas must be true!  I am utterly in love with alpaca fiber.

But then, we had Crafty Chix on Saturday and I learned how to crochet.   And, I was — if you’ll pardon the pun — hooked!  I am seriously thinking about ripping out the knitting and crocheting it instead.  And, that is even though my scarf did not turn out — although, I think it’s still wearable.  I’m thinking about ripping it out too and starting over but I’m not sure I can really do that — it was a lot of work!  We’ll see — I would really like it to lie flat the way it’s supposed to.  Decisions, decisions!

This was a big home improvement project this weekend (hmmm, note to self, get out the shop vac and clean up that debris!).  Greg put in a dog door for Ruby.  It is supposed to be electronic so that Ruby can go in and out but her little squirrel/raccoon/skunky friends can’t decide to follow her in.   So far that is proving a little bit problematic.   We had fun training Ruby to use it and still have to remind her about it but it has greatly cut down on my door monitoring hours.  Yay!  You can’t tell but it’s in my laundry room (the most awkward room known to womankind).  The way the room is set up, there is a ludicrous angle that we have to sort of ignore.  I’ve always shoved boxes into this corner to at least fill the space with ‘storage’ (aka, out-of-my-sight-clutter).  That’s going to have to change now because I’m already tired of moving boxes to make sure the path is clear for Ruby!  🙂 For more on our home improvement projects, go see my house blog.  We got a lot done this weekend!

Tangerine Dream

Look at that yummy yarn.  I had in mind to sit and make a cowl.

A what?

A cowl. {click*}  It’s sort of like a scarf for lazy, uncoordinated people.   Back in my skiing days, we called them neck warmers only cowls are bigger, softer, looser.  In their most extreme state, they can become a hood.  In their more modest state, they are like a turtle neck without the sweater attached.    Do I need to tell you that I’m planning a more modest one?  Modest albeit tangerine.

I’ve had this yarn for ages.  It’s in the original ball — just the way I bought it.  I don’t have the label anymore which makes it a bit tricky to work with but hey I’m the kind of knitter who wings it anyway.   But, anyway, I start knitting and get two rows done and a huge knot.  Gigantic, huge knot.  Great.

So, I stop knitting, tear it all out, and untangle the ball of yarn.  It took me about 5 hours.  Yea, I could have knitted 1-1/2 cowls in that amount of time but I have barely started the blinking thing.  Garumph!

Hopefully, I’ll have something cool to show you in a day or two.  I thought about taking a picture of the yarn mid-de-tangle but detangling is a very zen thing and I couldn’t stop and walk away to get the camera and take pictures and then come back to it.  Instead, I watched A Daily Show and The Colbert Report and Demtrios Martin.  Person.  Very funny.  Laughing while doing a mundane task makes it go faster.  Someone should turn that into a witty saying and embroider it on a pillow.

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* Did you click on the link?  I linked to my search at Flickr for “cowl” — the results are pretty funny.  Mostly, you have what I was searching for but you even get some birds and then just some odd stuff.  I love serendipity.  How gorgeous is that Red-Cowled Cardinal — wow!