The Messy And The Dark Side Of Me

The Messy Part And More

That's the view one is presented with when entering my room. A big armchair I inherited from my Favorite Aunt, a footstool (barely visible in the lower left corner) that I inherited from Aunt Dini, the spinning wheel I can use to my delight and the table I pile my WIP's on. Where is the mess? Well, it's not in the picture. I am simply not able to get the whole 360* view one would need to see the overflowing basket with more WIP's, the big old pillowcase full with fleece, the cabinet with all the yarn, the big box full of knitting literature and notes, the two knitting related boxes under the bed and the pile of knitting stuff on the nightstand.

The photo to the left shows the Knee Caps I knitted for my Mom who has really bad problems with her knees. (Pattern idea comes from the book Knitting America.) The warmth of this untreated wool is good for her, and it is a labor of love indeed as I have spun the yarn myself and this was the first skein I made with a drop spindle.

My husband always said that he is going to have to find a place with loads of storing place as Baby has a gigantic pile of stuff (well, loads of relatives take care of that...) and my fiber obsession fills a small room quite well. Well, he has time until September/October, then we finally move to Cologne so we can be together all week long and not just on the weekends. (Any Cologne knitters, e-mail me...)

The "Dark Side" Of Me

This is a very, very special pair of socks. Not the pattern, that was easily made up, but indeed the fact that there is a pretty nasty mistake hiding in the left sock. One extra pattern repeat!
This is unheard of in my world of extreme pickiness, I'd rather stay up all night and redo the whole sock before letting that stand. I have done that kind of stuff many times, frogging, cursing, simply never looking at an idea again...
Well, those times are over.
I have decided that from now on I will relax, take a deep breath and evaluate if this stress is really worth it. With this pair of socks it was not, considering that nobody will be able to tell unless told, and I will have shoes and pant legs covering up most of this sock most of the time anyhow.

When I announced to my family that I was not redoing this sock the reactions where ranging from utter disbelief to shock to anger (at my creating false hope) to applause. One person was brave enough to file the information away for future use, maybe to blackmail me. Luckily I had my came out, so I'll be safe.

And: although I am already starting to make changes to patterns that I am actually knitting now they are small, such as using a different Cast On or omitting short Rows from heels. One pattern I am even following to the letter... I should be proud of myself.

Personal Observations

The last couple of weeks I have reviewed my blog, the appearance and ideals, as I want to improve myself. Things I have noticed are as follows:
-I have not mentioned my Blogaversary, my 100th Post, my 10,000 Visitor.
-Being a natural German Speaker I am not as eloquent as I'd prefer writing in English. Some of the funny stuff does get lost, and my thoughts come across scrambled sometimes.
-Baby Elijah is been given a lot of attention, I need to think about 'presenting' him to such a broad audience. Although I enjoy talking about him very much.
-My personal struggle with my disease has not been dealt with in the best possible way. I don't really like talking about myself like this, but it does open up opportunities, and lead me to create a group on Ravelry.
-I enjoy publishing patterns, but noticed that the critique is practically missing, at least in the comments. Or: nobody has any issues with my stuff, so that's a good thing then... Hehehe...

I am looking forward to improving this blog. My life is getting organized enough, and I feel strong enough to write more patterns, wish myself a belated good Blogaversary, and congratulate myself to all the neat things I did achieve so far. Blogging is fun.