June 06, 2007
What is This Thing You Earthlings Call Knitting?
What’s the opposite of an intervention, when you need to talk someone into something, not out of it? Perhaps an “into-vention?” Whatever it is, I need one. I need to be talked back into knitting. Haven’t touched my needles since the Dulaan-a-thaan. Worse yet, haven’t wanted to, don’t have that old, familiar itch. What’s that all about? Even TMK is starting to panic a little since our entire social structure, on which she has come to depend, rests on my desire to loop string around two sticks. Sunday night, she, who feels nauseous with a capital naus when she sees me frog, said, almost pleadingly, and as if frogging actually turns back the hands of time, “Don’t you want to frog the Baby-Surprise Sweater you cast on during the Dulaan-a-Thaan and start again? You know, start fresh? Don’t you? Huh? Please?”
Looking back, my new aversion to knitting notwithstanding, the Dulaan-a-thaan was the best possible way to wrap up the Dulaan 2007 push, with newbies who brought with them that enthusiasm and positive energy we all feed on, and those really super-special knitters who’ve been with us since Day One. The night was spectacularly productive, with items being finished and added to the pile literally by the minute. However, for those of us who stayed until 5 a.m., it all became quite surreal by the end, what with my coming closer to having a seizure than I have in 15 years (you can feel those little pissants coming, I tell you whut), with our being googly-eyed tired, with our being in a yarn store (!!!) surrounded by people in pajamas, with Red Dwarf blaring in the background to keep the more desperate among us awake (as if we could understand the Liverpudlian accents, the way we were feeling. Puhleeze.), the birds singing, the sky starting to lighten, a corgi wandering exhaustedly around (and there’s nothing sadder than a corgi with droopy ears), and me deciding all of a sudden to engage in major retail therapy at 4:45 in the aye em. I had all night but, no, somehow 4:45 a.m. was my witching hour. I think I panicked when Kim said she was going to close the till.
Recovery was not pretty, much like a roller-coaster ride, in fact. TMK and I crashed for four hours, got up for a pancake breakfast (note to Elaine: blueberry pancakes for her, banana pancakes for me. I owe you.), crashed again, woke up again, and then, while TMK somehow managed to soldier on, I crashed uh-gain, and woke up uh-gain. Final crash: 10:15 p.m. The final crash for Sunday, that is. I blearghed my way through Monday and crashed one more time Monday night at 8 p.m. and slept until 7 a.m. How did we do this in college…and then take tests?!
But did you see the numbers? By the end of the evening, counting items that had been brought in and items that were finished during the 11 hours, we gained 100 items for Dulaan. Astonishing!
My favorite picture of the night/day/morning/whatever was this one:
Doesn’t Kim look maidenly, as if she’s sitting in a field of flowers, wearing a crown of daisies, singing, “Hey, nonny, nonny?” Kidding aside, I really think this is a lovely picture of her and all our “loot” (which, incidentally, she took home to mail. She is a Champion of the Mongolian People if ever there was one.)
I’ve gotten serious about packing up the things that I've received for Dulaan and, given F.I.R.E.’s request that we focus more on adults now, I was tickled to be able to pack up a box of 40 adult hats! There were 13 children’s vests in the Avalanche Vest box, then I counted about 25 children’s hats, and then some miscellanea that I’ll have to poke at and mull over tonight. Good work, local knitters, good work. At the risk of offending some people who haven’t seen the movie and may not understand the sentiment behind this, to quote our favorite line from “Babe,” “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”
P.S. Last week I tweaked my blogroll to add some new blogs and remove some that weren’t being updated. Very sadly, that included Creative Text(iles), the blog that made me fall in love with blogs and which was one of the major impetuses (impeti?) behind the last four years of Mossy Cottage inanity. Anne, TMK and I will miss you, your lovely writing and your quirky, loveable humor. Er, not that you’re dead or anything, it’s just...the blog...no longer...oh, never mind.
In the old days when the Native People in Wisconsin got together to make their maple sugar for the year (having only about three weeks to do it all) they may have been "all out" for some time. So the first sugar made looked awfully good - and they all ate as much maple sugar as they could stuff in, with spoons - poured on snow and eaten as taffy - mixed with water and drunk like maple cocoa - packed into little birchbark cones and licked. After two days of this they were ALL happy to pack away the rest of the many pounds to ration through the year.
So it is with knitting - you've been on a non-stop Knit, varying colors, weights, items...for quite some time. Have a cup ot tea. Read a book (NOT a knitting book!); try writing a story; play a musical instrument. Make bread. Before you know it, you'll walk past someone wearing a sweater...or socks...and you'll wonder about the pattern - you'll see some yarn and feel a little curious. DENY YOURSELF! Before you know it you'll scramble around, dig out some needles, root something out of the stash, and as you run past the mirror you'll look at yourself and say "WHAT was I thinking???" All will be well.
Posted by: Dale-Harriet in WI on June 6, 2007 12:40 PMhuh. So it isn't just me. I've got probably five separate projects on hooks and/or needles, and meh, I'm feeling restless. I say let's all settle back for a day or two, drink a 'rita (el grande, of course), and raise a toast to all of the awesome Dulaaniacs. You guys ROCK! But I've got fresh asparagus being FedEx Priority'd in from Michigan, so I'm pretty sure THAT will raise my knitting spirit......I am looking forward to making "8 in 08".......
Posted by: Nancy O. on June 6, 2007 12:59 PMI think it may be going around.
Mailed my box out today, btw. Love me a flat rate box. *L*
Posted by: Cookie on June 6, 2007 01:21 PMCongrats on your successful marathon. You'll feel better after you have rested up a bit.
I've been using your blog links to visit my favorites, and I miss having Wendy there.
Posted by: Joan in Reno on June 6, 2007 01:41 PMRyan: I have gone through the "lack of interest in knitting" phase with each year I have headed up Operation Holiday Stockings. We are doing again this year so I know come December 1 I'll be "off the needles." It comes back, don't worry. In the meantime, let your fingers, neck, and back have a well deserved rest. Read a book!
Baby Boomer Sue
Posted by: Sue on June 6, 2007 01:55 PMAh, birdsong. I discovered during finals this semester that there is nothing--but NOTHING--more depressing than birdsong when you're hearing it after staying awake all night. It just drives home the fact that it is now TOMORROW, and nope, you didn't sleep!
. . . and then the sun starts coming in, and before you know it the cleaning lady is showing up in the classroom you're holed up in to change the trash, and you just kind of look at her sheepishly and hopelessly and hope she understands.
Anyway, glad you're on the road to recovery. Don't push yourself with the knitting--it took me weeks to get back into books after finals, and I have a feeling the same holds true with knitting.
Posted by: Emma on June 6, 2007 03:18 PMAll this and you love Red Dwarf too? wow
Even people that love Sci-Fi don't always get Red Dwarf. That would have been awesome, a knitting party and a Red Dwarf a thon.
I'm up all night most nights. That's my default. But then, I don't have to be awake during the day so much.
Posted by: Mel on June 6, 2007 06:44 PMEek!! Didn't mean to cause you shopping anxiety!! I would have kept the till open!!
The boxes will head for FIRE Monday. There really are 100 things. But really, Lizbeth took home a vest to sew buttons onto, and someone else took home something 3/4 of the way finished, and Ginger's sweater was 90% finished, so I count our total at 103. We know cool people, and that's all there is to it.
Posted by: KIM on June 6, 2007 09:33 PMI'm having my own little "knit like a maniac" thingie going on here. Since I said I had 8 items done, I completed one on Monday night, one on Tuesday night, and I'm just about done a mitten tonight; the second will be done tomorrow.
I may have been a little generous with the sizing on the mittens. I'll try to post a pic later for your gigglesnorting pleasure.
You will get your mojo back, I promise.
Posted by: Rabbitch on June 7, 2007 04:14 AMHah, I thought the maiden in the picture was Jen. Why do I mix those two up so often in photos like that? I have actually met them both in person, at the same time, more than once.
Posted by: CarolineF on June 7, 2007 05:42 AMTest
Posted by: Ryan on June 7, 2007 02:17 PMIntravention?
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on June 7, 2007 05:21 PMI don't have any particular excuse for having them, but I've had the knitting blahs lately too. Perhaps there's something in the air or maybe sunspot activity is disrupting the Universe. Of course, the blahs have arrived while I'm trying to finish my fourth Dulaan hat, of all things. Why do the blahs always happen when there's a *deadline* approaching?!
Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that the blahs will simply have to be evicted. Ignoring them and waiting for them to depart on their own like good guests has been completely ineffective. The past few nights I've made myself sit and knit a couple of repeats on the beret I'm making Tonight I didn't even have to really force myself to sit down to knit, so perhaps I'm over the hump and on my way back to knitting like a lunatic.
Congrats on having such a productive Dulaan-a-Thaan!!
Posted by: Morenna on June 7, 2007 09:43 PMintro-vention maybe?
Posted by: rho1640 on June 8, 2007 12:53 PM