The Day Before...
Well...
Let me tell you!
I am CERTAINLY glad that my mother 'decided' on staying with my sister, through this evening. (What actually happened, was this. Yesterday, at about noon, I realized that I would need YET more time, to work my mother's surprise. So, I called up my sister, and told her to convince mom, USING ANY MEANS NECESSARY, into staying the night, again! Fortunately, it worked!)
Let me start this entry off, with a lesson that (for the umpteenth time), I have 'learned'. (To be quite honest, this lesson will most likely be forgotten, days from now, and I will have to 'learn' it, all over again, at a later time. ) NEVER- EVER, under any circumstances, think that ANY project, is ever going to be as simple (or as quick, for that matter), as you first anticipate. There will ALWAYS be some little bump, in the road. You will always find some little snag, to get tangled up in. And, you will (there is ABSOLUTELY NO question about it) wind up spending a considerable amount of unexpected time, on a project that, logically, seems it should be a quick breeze, to work start-to-finish.
Yesterday, I started working the decreases, on the shawl (which I am going to refer to as a shawlette, because, well...it is smaller than your average shawl.) And, I kid you not, EVERY-FRIGGIN-THING that could possibly go wrong, did.
The Yarn Gods were in RARE form, yesterday. They were trying to PISS me off...I am sure of it. They looked at the events of Saturday...they viewed how I started the shawlette, and worked on it, for the better part of Saturday. And they noticed something. They noticed that, 'hey...Michael isn't flipping out. There are no curse words, being muttered. There are no twitching eyes, or hair-pulling. There is no sweating, out of nervousness, or frustration. There is not a single sign, that a meltdown is on the horizon. In fact, look at him. Look at Michael, sitting in that (rather ugly) blue recliner. Look at him, working away with yarn...COMPLETELY HAPPY! In fact, what is that noise? Oh my...He is humming. Instead of shouting out vulgarities (which we have come to expect), Michael is humming out a merry little tune.' And, after the Yarn Gods conversed over the rather rare event, of completely blissful yarn time, they had decided that, while Saturday was a blissful, curse-free yarn day, Sunday would be ENTIRELY different.
I went into the whole decreasing part, yesterday morning, thinking the worst of this project, was behind me. I fully expected, after writing yesterday's post, to have another 'blissful, curse-free, whistle-while-you-work' sort of day. After writing, I had a quick bowl of cereal, then made my way to the blue recliner, where the project waited, for me. All I had to do, was decrease. It was 'seemingly' such a FRIGGIN SIMPLE task. Just decrease, Michael. Work the project down, from 40 pegs, to just 3. Then, make the little end piece, and loom off.
It should NOT have been a problem. Sure, I could see it being time consuming. And, I was ok, with it taking a while to do.
To decrease, I used the method of Knitting 2 Together. A quick review of page 60, in Loom Knitting Primer, and I was good to go. I started, and got (PEACEFULLY) down, to 36 pegs, before things started to take a turn, for the worst.
First...The yarn decided to snap.
Well, no biggie. Sure, it sucked. But, what could I expect? I mean, it is such a thin, dainty yarn, that I REALLY wasn't upset, over this. In fact, I was a little bit surprised, that it had not snapped, before this. So, I (still whistling, and humming out merry tunes, at this point), knotted the yarn back up, and kept right on, truckin' along.
In retrospect, I am sure that, if I just stopped whistling and humming for long enough, and listened, I could have heard the Yarn Gods. I am sure I would have heard sighs of disappointment. "Dang....snapping yarn, usually does the trick." Then, I would have heard them plotting their next move. A move that would suck the happiness away!
Less than 5 minutes, after the yarn-snapping incident, another problem arose. Only, unlike the snapping yarn, this one merited a rather vocal "DAMN IT!"
The pegs of my yellow Knifty Knitter, decided that it would be quite fun, to just JUMP FREE, from the loom. The first time this happened, I did not notice it, right away. By the time, I did notice, the peg was lost (actually, it was hiding under the cushion, of the blue recliner. Have you ever had to search for a TINY little peg? Let me tell you...NOT FUN!) And, on top of losing the peg, I came SO FRIGGIN CLOSE, to losing a stitch (which would have been just DISASTROUS!) Fortunately, I was able to grab the stitch, with my knitting pick, and save it, from disappearing. When I found the peg, I put it back, into the hole in the loom, while scolding it ("BAD PEG! VERY BAD PEG!!!"), put the stitch back on it, and continued, with the work.
After this, the pegs just did not want to stay in the loom. They were bouncing out, at regular intervals. And, my patience was OFFICIALLY gone, as was my merry attitude. Even though I was quick to replace every peg, without letting the stitches fall from them, I was quite angry. The merry tunes, and the whistling, were GONE! And, while I had hopes, to create this entire shawlette, with nothing but happiness in my heart, I realized, at this point, that it was simply not meant to be.
The humming was gone...Replaced, by the all too familiar cursing fit.
And, all I can say is this. It was bad. It was VERY, VERY BAD! What happened yesterday, was not JUST a meltdown. Oh, no! What happened yesterday, was the OFFICIAL MOTHER OF ALL MELTDOWNS! Apart from my Jerry Springer language (which was so bad, that I actually lost a little bit of respect, for myself!), there was a rather lengthy time, where I had to set down, the self-destructive loom, and my knitting pick, and just allow myself to CRY!
All I had wanted, was to make this shawlette, for my mother, while remaining completely calm. All I wanted, was to make this, with nothing but love, in my heart. But, the cursed Yarn Gods (in a rather vindictive act), sought to destroy this wish. And, they succeeded!
Not only did I cry. I WAILED. I howled out, in such (for lack of a better word) agony, that I am sure my sweetie had thoughts, of having me committed.
Eventually, the sobs went away. And, fully embarrassed with my emotional outburst (because, let's face it. It is JUST yarn!), I picked up the loom, begged it to behave (which it did not), and continued to decrease.
By 6pm, tendonitis had dropped by, for an evening visit. ('Why not', I thought to myself. 'After all, every other thing, that could POSSIBLY go wrong, has!') So, I put the loom down, and went to take a bath. (At this point, there were still 23 pegs, looped with yarn. I had to decrease 20 of them.)
Before going to the bath, I grabbed a rather large glass of wine. (Oh, if there ever was need!)
I lit 7 vanilla candles (which filled the small bathroom, with vanilla scent OVERLOAD!) And, I even took a sprig of mint, from my garden. This got cut up, into small bits, and I let them fall, into the bath water, along with the milk & honey bubble bath.
I sank, into the tub. And, in little more than a few minutes, I had slipped away, into a delightful type of dizziness, brought on, by all of the overpowering scents.
'The yarn may be giving me complete HELL,' I thought, as I took a deep, loud sigh. 'But this bath is a little taste of HEAVEN!'
After 45 minutes, of complete bliss, I got out of the bath, put PJ's on, and went back to the shawlette.
It was well after 10pm, before I FINALLY got the loom, down to three occupied pegs. And, it was a constant battle. The loom continued to be a BIG-TIME pain in the ass, with free falling pegs.
By the time I got to the three last pegs, I decided I was done, for the day. So, I went to bed.
This morning, I woke up, and started a pot of coffee. And, as it brewed, I made the last little strap-thingy, by working 40 rows, using these three pegs. Then, I bound off, using the basic bind-off method.
After binding-off, I got a call from my sister, saying that my mother has chosen to stay yet another night. She will not be coming home today. This means that I have PLENTY of time, to work the fringe, as well as all the other final little details, that are REALLY going to blow this shawlette, right out of the water.
After this entry, I am going to start my day, with a rather large bowl (or 2, or 3) of cereal. I am STARVING! Then, I am going to start my day. I will take break, from the yarn...Something I have not done (apart from the bath, last night), since starting this shawlette, Saturday afternoon.
Today's work (the finishing touches) on the shawlette, will be much easier. I can FINALLY relax, a little bit. I know I will be finished, come tonight. And, when mom gets home, tomorrow, she will have a rather lovely little shawlette, waiting for her.
Oh, if only she knew how much HELL this little shawlette has put me through, she would know how much, she means.
In other news...
Today is my last day, of "FREEDOM!" As of tomorrow, I am officially in my first class. I am TOTALLY nervous, about it. But, in a good way. I just cannot wait, to begin. It is going to be hard, and I AM GOING TO LOVE IT! That is all there is, to it.
Well, that is it, for today. Time for me, to go. After I eat, I plan on getting a good bit, of walking time in.
Until tomorrow (when I will be writing as a yarnie, AND a student...)
Happy looming!
Let me tell you!
I am CERTAINLY glad that my mother 'decided' on staying with my sister, through this evening. (What actually happened, was this. Yesterday, at about noon, I realized that I would need YET more time, to work my mother's surprise. So, I called up my sister, and told her to convince mom, USING ANY MEANS NECESSARY, into staying the night, again! Fortunately, it worked!)
Let me start this entry off, with a lesson that (for the umpteenth time), I have 'learned'. (To be quite honest, this lesson will most likely be forgotten, days from now, and I will have to 'learn' it, all over again, at a later time. ) NEVER- EVER, under any circumstances, think that ANY project, is ever going to be as simple (or as quick, for that matter), as you first anticipate. There will ALWAYS be some little bump, in the road. You will always find some little snag, to get tangled up in. And, you will (there is ABSOLUTELY NO question about it) wind up spending a considerable amount of unexpected time, on a project that, logically, seems it should be a quick breeze, to work start-to-finish.
Yesterday, I started working the decreases, on the shawl (which I am going to refer to as a shawlette, because, well...it is smaller than your average shawl.) And, I kid you not, EVERY-FRIGGIN-THING that could possibly go wrong, did.
The Yarn Gods were in RARE form, yesterday. They were trying to PISS me off...I am sure of it. They looked at the events of Saturday...they viewed how I started the shawlette, and worked on it, for the better part of Saturday. And they noticed something. They noticed that, 'hey...Michael isn't flipping out. There are no curse words, being muttered. There are no twitching eyes, or hair-pulling. There is no sweating, out of nervousness, or frustration. There is not a single sign, that a meltdown is on the horizon. In fact, look at him. Look at Michael, sitting in that (rather ugly) blue recliner. Look at him, working away with yarn...COMPLETELY HAPPY! In fact, what is that noise? Oh my...He is humming. Instead of shouting out vulgarities (which we have come to expect), Michael is humming out a merry little tune.' And, after the Yarn Gods conversed over the rather rare event, of completely blissful yarn time, they had decided that, while Saturday was a blissful, curse-free yarn day, Sunday would be ENTIRELY different.
I went into the whole decreasing part, yesterday morning, thinking the worst of this project, was behind me. I fully expected, after writing yesterday's post, to have another 'blissful, curse-free, whistle-while-you-work' sort of day. After writing, I had a quick bowl of cereal, then made my way to the blue recliner, where the project waited, for me. All I had to do, was decrease. It was 'seemingly' such a FRIGGIN SIMPLE task. Just decrease, Michael. Work the project down, from 40 pegs, to just 3. Then, make the little end piece, and loom off.
It should NOT have been a problem. Sure, I could see it being time consuming. And, I was ok, with it taking a while to do.
To decrease, I used the method of Knitting 2 Together. A quick review of page 60, in Loom Knitting Primer, and I was good to go. I started, and got (PEACEFULLY) down, to 36 pegs, before things started to take a turn, for the worst.
First...The yarn decided to snap.
Well, no biggie. Sure, it sucked. But, what could I expect? I mean, it is such a thin, dainty yarn, that I REALLY wasn't upset, over this. In fact, I was a little bit surprised, that it had not snapped, before this. So, I (still whistling, and humming out merry tunes, at this point), knotted the yarn back up, and kept right on, truckin' along.
In retrospect, I am sure that, if I just stopped whistling and humming for long enough, and listened, I could have heard the Yarn Gods. I am sure I would have heard sighs of disappointment. "Dang....snapping yarn, usually does the trick." Then, I would have heard them plotting their next move. A move that would suck the happiness away!
Less than 5 minutes, after the yarn-snapping incident, another problem arose. Only, unlike the snapping yarn, this one merited a rather vocal "DAMN IT!"
The pegs of my yellow Knifty Knitter, decided that it would be quite fun, to just JUMP FREE, from the loom. The first time this happened, I did not notice it, right away. By the time, I did notice, the peg was lost (actually, it was hiding under the cushion, of the blue recliner. Have you ever had to search for a TINY little peg? Let me tell you...NOT FUN!) And, on top of losing the peg, I came SO FRIGGIN CLOSE, to losing a stitch (which would have been just DISASTROUS!) Fortunately, I was able to grab the stitch, with my knitting pick, and save it, from disappearing. When I found the peg, I put it back, into the hole in the loom, while scolding it ("BAD PEG! VERY BAD PEG!!!"), put the stitch back on it, and continued, with the work.
After this, the pegs just did not want to stay in the loom. They were bouncing out, at regular intervals. And, my patience was OFFICIALLY gone, as was my merry attitude. Even though I was quick to replace every peg, without letting the stitches fall from them, I was quite angry. The merry tunes, and the whistling, were GONE! And, while I had hopes, to create this entire shawlette, with nothing but happiness in my heart, I realized, at this point, that it was simply not meant to be.
The humming was gone...Replaced, by the all too familiar cursing fit.
And, all I can say is this. It was bad. It was VERY, VERY BAD! What happened yesterday, was not JUST a meltdown. Oh, no! What happened yesterday, was the OFFICIAL MOTHER OF ALL MELTDOWNS! Apart from my Jerry Springer language (which was so bad, that I actually lost a little bit of respect, for myself!), there was a rather lengthy time, where I had to set down, the self-destructive loom, and my knitting pick, and just allow myself to CRY!
All I had wanted, was to make this shawlette, for my mother, while remaining completely calm. All I wanted, was to make this, with nothing but love, in my heart. But, the cursed Yarn Gods (in a rather vindictive act), sought to destroy this wish. And, they succeeded!
Not only did I cry. I WAILED. I howled out, in such (for lack of a better word) agony, that I am sure my sweetie had thoughts, of having me committed.
Eventually, the sobs went away. And, fully embarrassed with my emotional outburst (because, let's face it. It is JUST yarn!), I picked up the loom, begged it to behave (which it did not), and continued to decrease.
By 6pm, tendonitis had dropped by, for an evening visit. ('Why not', I thought to myself. 'After all, every other thing, that could POSSIBLY go wrong, has!') So, I put the loom down, and went to take a bath. (At this point, there were still 23 pegs, looped with yarn. I had to decrease 20 of them.)
Before going to the bath, I grabbed a rather large glass of wine. (Oh, if there ever was need!)
I lit 7 vanilla candles (which filled the small bathroom, with vanilla scent OVERLOAD!) And, I even took a sprig of mint, from my garden. This got cut up, into small bits, and I let them fall, into the bath water, along with the milk & honey bubble bath.
I sank, into the tub. And, in little more than a few minutes, I had slipped away, into a delightful type of dizziness, brought on, by all of the overpowering scents.
'The yarn may be giving me complete HELL,' I thought, as I took a deep, loud sigh. 'But this bath is a little taste of HEAVEN!'
After 45 minutes, of complete bliss, I got out of the bath, put PJ's on, and went back to the shawlette.
It was well after 10pm, before I FINALLY got the loom, down to three occupied pegs. And, it was a constant battle. The loom continued to be a BIG-TIME pain in the ass, with free falling pegs.
By the time I got to the three last pegs, I decided I was done, for the day. So, I went to bed.
This morning, I woke up, and started a pot of coffee. And, as it brewed, I made the last little strap-thingy, by working 40 rows, using these three pegs. Then, I bound off, using the basic bind-off method.
After binding-off, I got a call from my sister, saying that my mother has chosen to stay yet another night. She will not be coming home today. This means that I have PLENTY of time, to work the fringe, as well as all the other final little details, that are REALLY going to blow this shawlette, right out of the water.
After this entry, I am going to start my day, with a rather large bowl (or 2, or 3) of cereal. I am STARVING! Then, I am going to start my day. I will take break, from the yarn...Something I have not done (apart from the bath, last night), since starting this shawlette, Saturday afternoon.
Today's work (the finishing touches) on the shawlette, will be much easier. I can FINALLY relax, a little bit. I know I will be finished, come tonight. And, when mom gets home, tomorrow, she will have a rather lovely little shawlette, waiting for her.
Oh, if only she knew how much HELL this little shawlette has put me through, she would know how much, she means.
In other news...
Today is my last day, of "FREEDOM!" As of tomorrow, I am officially in my first class. I am TOTALLY nervous, about it. But, in a good way. I just cannot wait, to begin. It is going to be hard, and I AM GOING TO LOVE IT! That is all there is, to it.
Well, that is it, for today. Time for me, to go. After I eat, I plan on getting a good bit, of walking time in.
Until tomorrow (when I will be writing as a yarnie, AND a student...)
Happy looming!