Oh Little One: Four Haiku
That brave little neck,
the stem of a sunflower;
your brain is blooming.
—–
Your luscious curved cheek
is a small apple that begs
for tender kisses.
—–
The tree sapling back
nourishes roots and branches;
may it grow mighty.
—–
Hands touch but don’t clutch
like curious mice seeking
their fortune in cheese.
–Kathryn Harper
How I love her!
At the yarn store I started realizing the enormity of the project. I was going to need almost thirty balls of wool. That’s a lot of yarn. That’s so much yarn that when I told the yarn store lady what I needed, she let out a low whistle and gave me a look that told me that she thought that maybe when I’m not knitting oversized afghans I amused myself by trying to pick up marbles with chopsticks. It’s so much that she had to go into the basement to look for two cases of the yarn in question. As she stacked the yarn on the counter she seemed a little incredulous. This should have been my first warning: When a person who sells yarn for a living thinks that maybe you’re buying a lot of yarn — well, it’s a sign. A different sort of knitter would have taken that as a hint. Me? I thought she was a knitter without aspirations.
–Stephanie Pearl McPhee, Yarn Harlot: the Secret Life of a Knitter
Take another five minutes and enjoy another kind of human creativity. This short video is winsome and light.
Today has been a day of accomplishment for Claire. She is now crawling on hands and knees; the army crawl still gets used, but she’s definitely using the other method, especially outdoors.
But that’s not all!
As of today (who knows what neuron finally developed?) she claps her hands. Sing the “If You’re Happy and You Know It” or play Patty Cake and that starts a round of clapping. So cute! She looks very proud of herself, and delighted. And when I say “kiss kiss” she makes a kissing noise. At the playground the 2-year-old son of a friend gave Claire a kiss on the cheek. He loves babies. When he attempted to give her another one, she turned her head as if to try to kiss him! We had a good laugh — and a glimpse of the future. (Eek!)
But wait! There’s more!
She drank from her sippy cup. At first I helped by holding it, but soon she grabbed it and ended up consuming 3 ounces of water from it.
Claire also played in the park sand today. She didn’t put it in her mouth. She desperately wanted to put a toy that was in the sand in her mouth (the wheel of a little dump truck) but I’d say no and redirect her. She went home with socks full of sand and dusty clothes. I think we’re entering the days of daily baths now.
Knitting is love, looped and warm.
–Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Yarn Harlot: the Secret Life of a Knitter
Since Claire was born, very little else has captured my eye, and I’ve not taken the time to learn all the tricks my new camera offers. However, I was out this morning watering our backyard plants, and the new light coming in (one benefit of the Oleander removal) inspired me to grab the camera. I took a number of shots that I’ll be posting here.
This photo is a close-up of a rusty cat ornament that I’ve owned since my early days living in Austin. The spider web threads caught the light and thus my attention.
I’ve been knitting small items. I’ve got four done, and I plan to get at least four more made. I have a draft post for Claire’s ninth month, but I can barely stay awake at this moment (it’s only 8:24 p.m.!) so it must wait.
And if you live in Santa Clara, it’s possible for you to catch it too. At the end of the summer, Claire will receive a free book, and since I’ll participate, I’ll get one too!
On June 14 will be the third Worldwide Knit In Public Day. From the website:
Knitting is such a solitary act that it’s easy to knit alone somewhere and sink into your work without thinking about all the other knitters out there. Neighbors could spend all their lives never knowing that the other knits. This a specific day to get out of your house and go to a local event (with your knitting in tow) just for you and people like you. Who knows you might even bump into your neighbor! Consider this a spark, to ignite a fire; getting all of the closeted knitters out into fresh air.
In the past some people have used this event as a means to show the general public that ‘not only grannies knit!’ and while that’s great and all, keep in mind that without those ‘grannies’ we wouldn’t have the wealth of knitting knowledge that we do.
WWKiP Day is really about showing the general public that knitting can be a community activity in a very distinct way. In some places there are many different knitting groups that never interact with each other, on WWKiP Day they come together in one place, making them hard to miss.
When I started knitting it was already so popular that it doesn’t seem like a too-solitary activity to me. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that some of my friends own a yarn store and live and breathe all things knitting-related. Not everyone has that, though, so I can see the point of having the day. To find one near you, check this link.
In 2006 I began knitting for the Snuggles Project. I was working for Hands On Bay Area; I wanted to establish a monthly project where creativity was involved and also allow opportunities to socialize and build friendships. It started off well, but when I left the job the project lost momentum. No problem. It’s something one can do anywhere.
The point of the Snuggles Project is to knit or crochet small blankets to donate to animal shelters. I have a lot of machine-washable yarn (it was donated), which is what shelters need. When I want to knit but am really tired (or want to talk with others instead of keeping track of a pattern), I knit something simple like this:
This Snuggle is 17 x 17 inches and was knit with one skein of Lion Brand Wool-ease Thick n’ Quick on size 13 needles in the American Moss Stitch pattern.
I’ve got another one started. You’ll be seeing posts on this project often.
In 2005 when I learned to knit, I assumed that writing about and posting photos of my knitting might be boring to readers here, so I started another blog. It focuses not just on knitting but on domestic arts: recipes, cleaning tips, and I toss in a few silly quizzes for variety. (Because silly quizzes don’t really fit with “serious tone” of this blog.) Then in 2006 I started exploring poetry again. And again, because I didn’t want to bore or alienate readers here, I started a separate blog for that.
And I must admit, it was fun for awhile, and I really enjoy the look of all my blogs. There is such a variety of stuff I like and the styles of the other blogs reflect this. Knit Together is warm and cozy looking; Aenigmas is sleek and austere. There are content-specific links there as well.
And yet… I stopped writing poetry in 2007 (my brain is on sabbatical). I plan to write more someday whenever the inspiration arises. And I stopped knitting in earnest for awhile in 2007, because of pregnancy carpal tunnel and a new baby. Now that I’m knitting more, I’m feeling a disconnect with the idea of managing more than one blog. Sure, I like how nice they look, and yet I don’t know that I want to be split like this. I find that my knitting friends only have time to read and look at my knitting blog, but that’s not the core of me, and they miss out by not coming here. Also, that and the poetry blog have almost no readers, so why keep them?
If I were to integrate these other two blogs with this one, I’m trying to envision how I can bring over some of the extra content as well. I suppose I could list the extra links for poetry under the “Express” page and the knitting/domestic arts ones on the “Create” page. I could put the blog rolls for each on those pages as well. And I could just trust that readers not interested in knitting or poetry would just skip reading posts pertaining to that.
Any opinions?
This was a work weekend. Husband did most of the outdoor work, cleaning and raking the back yard, replacing rotted wood posts, and generally making the space habitable for Claire and me to play. I raked and swept, but much of the credit belongs to him.
I noticed today that plain unleaded gas is $4.39 a gallon in my neighborhood. Just four days ago I paid $4.19 — I’m sure it will get much worse.
I unpacked and stored our emergency food supply — enough to last us a month. We purchased 30 packages of Mayday 3600 calorie food bars; these are good for five years (and probably longer). They are stored in our cars in the “go bags” and in the home emergency supply bin. We don’t have enough water for the county’s recommended timeframe of two weeks, but we’ll amend that soon. Some day there will be a disaster here, most likely an earthquake, and we’ll be (I hope) somewhat prepared to deal with primitive conditions. Beyond gathering supplies and creating a plan, there’s nothing one can do. So it’s done (we’ve had the kits for years but the food got stale), and now we can focus on other things.
I also spent the weekend on Ravelry. It is the BEST site ever for knitters and crocheters. I recorded all my knitting and crochet needles, my entire stash of yarn (which is teeny compared to my friends), my knitting books, favorite patterns, my queue of projects I intend to make. This way I will always know how much yarn I have so that when I find a pattern I love, I can figure out which yarn to use. For non-knitters this may be of little interest, but it is THE BOMB for those who do.
Claire had long naps this weekend — one was 2.5 hours! She was sweet and chipper and her usual beautiful self. She cuddles more and more. We giggle and do nose kisses and generally enjoy our existence. We love her so much. 🙂
I need to go pick up the living room (it’s strewn with toys) and knit a little while before bed. Happy new week!
2 balls of Aurora yarn, 62% Nylon, 31% Wool, 7% Acrylic; 49 yards per ball, colorway 203, on size 13 needles. I may donate this.
But I made this instead.
Claire is fascinated by buttons. If she’s crying and you show her buttons, she immediately stops and begins examining them. I have a collection of buttons (some inherited from my Mom), so I sorted through for interesting ones. Then I cadged an old shirt from Husband and constructed a pillow cover out of it, sewed them on, and covered an ugly pillow (purchased on clearance for $1.50 at Linens-n-Things). Voila! A new toy (to be used with supervision) for almost no money. You can see greater detail here.
I inherited some odd bits of yarn when a relative decided she isn’t a knitter. The amounts are small, so I’m making the usual (scarves!).
This was made with 2 balls of Lion Brand Incredible yarn, 100% nylon, 110 yards per ball; colorway 208, on size 13 needles. It’s going to be donated as a prize for a charity function.
