So yesterday, there was a lot I didn't tell you (if anyone's out there reading this).
Why did I decide to start knitting, for example. My mom, as I mentioned, used to knit, and I thought it looked rather interesting, and I asked her to show me how at one point, many years ago, when I was visiting her in Ohio. I knit something small and green and (I think) acrylic. Didn't pick up needles again until June of 2003. I had decided to go to Thailand in July of 2003, and thought maybe it'd be an interesting way to spend the hours and hours of flying across the Pacific. So after checking the security policy of the airline, I realized that I could, indeed, take knitting needles on the plane.
I found the closest knitting shop to my apartment (a spot called Knits Incredible, on Lexington & 70th Street), and a nice woman there taught me how to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off. She even taught me how to cable. We put together a pattern to make my younger sister a sweater (without measuring her at all, as she was (and still is) in Ohio), and I chose two colors (a pale blue and a medium blue) of Zara (yes, that lovely Merino yarn), and a pair of #6 needles. I took the sweater in progress with me on the plane -- but in those small economy seats (and the plane was totally full, mind you), I didn't feel comfortable "outing" myself as a man-who-knits. I did knit in the hotel room from time to time, though.
And when I got back to New York City, I realized that between my TiVo and my knitting, I actually felt like I was getting my money's worth out of my cable bill. So much so, in fact, that my main "Away" message for my AOL Instant Messenger is "I'm Knitting and TiVo-ing. Call me if you need me (and are lucky enough to know my number)."
If you have actually read both of my blog entries, you will realize that the Zara sister sweater mentioned above does not match up to any of the WIP's listed below. Yes, I have finished something. In fact, I have finished more than one project. The story, though, of finishing the Sister Sweater (really, the striped sister sweater), needs to be told.
Remember how I told you that the nice Jewish lady at Knits Incredible just pulled the pattern out of thin air? (Well, with my help, as I decided I wanted to have a cable running up the sleeves, and now I can officially tell you it was a cool idea because it really gave a personal 'twist' to what otherwise would have looked like a sweater from the Gap) So I took that sweater to my sister, shortly after her birthday, when she was down visiting my other sister in Washington, DC. The intended recipient-sister took one look at the sweater and said, "Oh, it's beautiful. But it will never fit me. She had neglected to tell me she had an abnormally oversized head (it's about as big as mine, and I'm a rather large-headed guy, if I may say so, and she's a rather average sized woman) and so the crewneck wouldn't even make if over her head. So we could never tell if the sweater would have fit her, anyhow. Regardless, it looked small.
Miraculously, my other sister took a look at the sweater and said, "It looks like it would fit me" which is espically funny if you know what a prima-donna said sister can be. So she pulled it over her (normal sized) head and lo and behold, the striped sister sweater fit the wrong sister. Perfectly.
More on other FO's later. Yes, I have finished a few things. And I'm going to go work on something so that hopefully I can turn a WIP or two into an FO or two.
Posted by Jon at March 5, 2004 12:03 PM