February 03, 2006
The Power of Guilt
(No posting Monday, Dear Readers. I’m taking the day off to age one more year.)
It has been nagging at me that, unlike some of the more golden-hearted knitters out there, I haven’t committed my Knitting Olympics time to churning out items for Dulaan. In my defense, my “Year-Long, Big-Ass Dulaan Vision” was to make one item a month for Dulaan until the due date, a total of ten, maybe eleven items. Quick count…one, two, three, four…as of today, I’m already up to, like, item 15, with, like, five months to go. Like.
And, as of last weekend, I can add this to the pile:
Also in my defense, if I finish the sweater, I do plan to send it to F.I.R.E. so some Mongolian child can wear it for the nano-second that he is the 3-month size. And so I can set all of Mongolia abuzz with that age-old question, “Where the hell are the squirrels?”
And yet still more in my defense, I have found a compromise I can live with. Since it would be knitting suicide to work on Fair Isle in the car, my car knitting for those 16 days will be one of these knit out of my new favorite yarn, the new Cascade Quatro colorways that appear at the top of this page.
Oh, dearest knitters, the photo doesn’t do the new yarns justice. Not one whit. They are bright and fun and cheerful and summery and when I saw them I Had to Have Them All. I wanted to shove my arms into the cubby hole as far as they would go, haul every skein out, and squeeze them all to me in a big colorful bundle. And never let go. Not while I was in the store. Not while I was paying for them. Not while we were driving home in the car. Not while we were going into the house. Not while we were watching TV that afternoon. Not while we were eating dinner. Not when I went to bed.
Fortunately for my dwindling shekel supply, TMK was with me (this was the infamous “Roving Day” at Village Yarns) and gave me the hairy eyeball. (Which I gave right back to her because she had, after all, just cluelessly requested a pound of roving.) So I went home with “just” the pink, yellow, purple and green. Close enough.
This is not officially an Olympics project, I’m not saying I’ll finish it before the flame goes out, but at least I’ll be able to look at myself in the mirror.
While still on the subject of Dulaan, I am indescribably pleased to announce to knitters in the Flagstaff, Arizona area that on Wednesday, March 29th, from 3-5pm, the Flagstaff yarn shop Unravel will be holding an event called “Knit to Warm Mongolia and Pakistan.” Charmagne Coe and her husband, the owners, will be generously donating, that evening only, Harrisville Highland wool yarn to be used by those who participate in the event.
The address for Unraveled is 6 W. Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ. It is located right across from the train depot (and is, curiously enough, a block away from F.I.R.E.!).
(Childe, thank you for nominating the Dulaan Project for the The Knitty Professor's competition. Way to get the word out!)
ryan, every item knitted for dulaan is actually *from* you because you brought it up and you've kept it going from the very beginning-
now, about those mongolian squirrels?
happy birthday- knit and be happy-
Posted by: barb in texas on February 3, 2006 12:27 PMHappy Birthday, Ryan! Hope you get more of that yarn you covet.
I too went through the (momentary) guilt of not doing Olympic knitting for Dulaan, but decided I had enough items completed or on the needles that I could take a short break and knit something to keep ME warm in the frigid air conditioning of a Virginia summer. Since I will be done in only 16 days (what? why are you all looking at me?), I'll be able to get right back to the Mongolian stash.
How come everyone else can write these really pithy and hilarious comments and mine go on forever?
Posted by: daisy on February 3, 2006 12:36 PMDo they even HAVE squirrels in Mongolia? Some little child will dig that out of the giant bin of wooly goodness and chuckle and say, "WTF are those?"
And regarding the Flagstaff event, what do you think would be the best way to convince my husband that a "fun afternoon" would be driving five hours one way, with a 4 month old baby who feels the very flames of Hell itself when he's placed in the carseat, to knit for Mongolian children?
*whew* I thought I was the only one feeling the dulaan guilt trip.
But I am sticking to my guns. I have had this yr for over a yr and I tried ONCE to knit it and it failed. NOT this time.. if I ahve any extras I'll knit a hat outta it. :) *that* can goto dulaan.
Posted by: anj on February 3, 2006 12:45 PMI may not finish my Olympic project either, but the thought of casting on during Opening Ceremonies, KNOWING that thousands of other knitters all over the world were also casting on, and to know that every time I watch some of the events, other knitters, thousands of them, are also knitting--it's just too good a mental image to not be a part of.
In my defense on the Dulaan guilt thing (and I confess I have felt a teensy bit guilty when I heard all the others who are using the Olympics to knit for Dulaan), I have 4 items so far, one of them a sweater (size 6-8, so not tiny), with 2 hats "in the works." I figure I can take a 16 day break from Dulaan to do something else. So, no guilt here.
Happy Birthday, Ryan!!!!!!!!!!! Hugs, M
Posted by: Mary b on February 3, 2006 12:54 PMOn the Knitting Olympics, according to Stephanie (blog entry today) there are now more Olympic Knitters than athletes. (2,500 knitters SO FAR, and 2400 athletes worldwide!!) But I don't see your name on the list, Ryan.....M
Posted by: Mary B on February 3, 2006 01:06 PMHappy birthday! And children LOVE Mongolian rat sweaters.
Posted by: Janine on February 3, 2006 01:06 PMHappy Birthday, Blog Mistress!! I hope you get lovely things and lovely memories.
I heart the scarf. Seriously. There might have been drooling.
Posted by: Stalker Angie on February 3, 2006 01:07 PMOkay, everybody, link pinkies with the person to your right and repeat after me: "No Dulaan guilt. No Dulaan guilt. No Dulaan guilt."
And Stalker Angie, I heart the scarf, too. But. Must. Give. It. Away.
Posted by: Ryan on February 3, 2006 01:32 PMOh yeah, and happy birthday!
>grumbles to self about being Mossy Cottage-less AGAIN on Monday<
Hope it's happy!
I'll tell you right now what the Mongolians are going to say when they see the sweater: If they look at it one way, it'll be, "Awww. What adorable li'l marmots!" If they look at it the other way, it'll be, "Hmm. Those look like marmots trampled by camels."
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on February 3, 2006 01:45 PMHappy b'day, dearest Ryan.
May your day & the year to come be filled w/joy, yummy yarns & fibers, loving & fun times w/TMK, creativity, prosperity, stars to wish on & dreams that come true.
Re your idea of no Dulaan guilt (guilt = the gift that keeps on giving) re the Olympics - like that. Having made &/or already donated, 1 adult size sweater, 2 scarves & 4 (or was it 5?) hats, I'm going to do something for me for the Olympics.
Before & after that, I plan to make more Dulaan items.
Hoping you have a great celebration for yourself.
XOXO
Happy Birthday Ryan - I do hope you will tell us all about your celebration on Wednesday. Maybe TMK can take over on Monday for some "behind the scenes" goodness?
Posted by: Elaine on February 3, 2006 03:50 PMMany happy wishes for a great birthday! Hope you get to spend the day with loved ones and lotsa yarn. :) Oh and chocolate - sorry - I slipped for a minute there.
Posted by: Anne on February 3, 2006 03:51 PMHappy birthday, Ryan! You're right, knitting camels...uh...squirrels...heu...
Fair Isle in the car is not good. Especially if you need beer to see the...
Nevermind.
Hope your day is fun and your cake is mostly yours to devour. ;-)
Posted by: Lee Ann on February 3, 2006 04:46 PMNo guilt. Of any kind. We don't operate that way around here.
But Happy Birthday, and I agree with you the online color cards just don't do justice to the Quattro.
Posted by: Norma on February 3, 2006 07:19 PMhappy happy joy joy - good birthday vibes coming your way from so many of us -
Thank you for all the thoughtful stuff and the fun stuff and the lovely writing stuff and etc, etc, etc, with which you have gifted us -
Live long and prosper.
Happy Birthday! Mine is later this month; I didn't know they were so close together!
That new Quattro yarn, wow! Love those colors. I see a trip to the LYS in my near future . . .
Posted by: Patti on February 4, 2006 09:21 AMA very happy birthday to you, Ryan. Hope you have a heck of a weekend!
Posted by: Samina on February 4, 2006 11:53 AMHappy birthday, Ryan! I hope you have a fabulous time (and give us a double-long blog post on Wednesday, so your poor, abandonned readers can somewhat share in the joy) ;)
Posted by: Melinda on February 4, 2006 01:01 PMjust got back from a weekend with my mother. Dulaan guilt can't touch Rosemary guilt. not.even.close.! I'd give you an example but I'm afraid of the we-all-turn-into-our-mothers-eventually pox. Have the happiest guilt free, chocolate, cashmere, expensive make-up, shiney bauble, goddess for the day kind of birthday!
Posted by: marylee on February 5, 2006 01:03 PMHappy Birthday Ryan! Wishing you lots of cake and yarn and well, what else is there?
That scarf is yummy. Perhaps another one in colors that suit you?
Posted by: Margot on February 6, 2006 10:41 AMI'm almost done my first Dulaan scarf . . . I just started though. Wow, you have 16 items?!? I hope that I can get to that many.
Posted by: celticknitter on February 6, 2006 02:07 PMHappy Birthday, Ryan!
Just mailed my first four Dulaan items yesterday. The four I was supposed to send last year. Yeah, those four.
I have two scarves on the needles for Dulaan right now. Let's see if I can get them mailed for this year, hmm?
Posted by: Rabbitch on February 6, 2006 02:55 PMok, ryan, ya guilted me into it. i've been putting off any knitting for dulaan, as i also do a lot of other charitable knitting (the group is AC4C on yahoo). well, i was in michaels last week and entered their crochet contest. afterward, i wandered through the yarn section, and lo & behold, i saw the yummiest fluffy stuff, and at a reasonable price! and then i found some not-so-fluffy stuff that color coordinated with it, even though it was a different brand. and it is on it's way to being a potato chip (wait, that's supposed to read cloud hat, lol). both yarns have 18% mohair, and knit together look so fluffy! the big problem is they are both worsted weight, so this is a super bulky, lol, like brown sheep burlyspun. so i ahd to reduce the stitch count to 48, and may well have to reduce again, lol. it's nice, andi'll post a pic on my blog when i get it done.
boot away, ryan, boot away! (i ahve a sweater pattern in mind, and the yarn earmarked, so i'll be starting that soon, too (just as soon as i figure out hwo to win the powerball and retire permanently (from life, sometimes it feels like, sigh))
Posted by: minnie on February 7, 2006 09:18 PMHappy BIrthday, sweetie. May the years treat you lightly :)
Posted by: Robbyn on February 8, 2006 07:30 AM