Timing is everything

Some people have a knack for timing. They purchase the right stock before it skyrockets. They show up in time to get the best deals or the best seats. They finish their knitwear in time to wear it during the same season. I do not seem to have the gift of timing which is why my Bohus sweater leapt off my needles as the mercury outside climbed to 68 degrees (F). After a year of on and off knitting, the sweater is finally ready to wear, yet the weather outside just isn't cooperating. I haven't the heart to shove it into the deep recesses of the sweater closet, so it's been gracing the ironing board.

From 2011 Finished Objects

I love this sweater. It was a challenge to knit, taxing my braincells. The pattern is called Wild Apple. Originally released in 1958, Wild Apple is considered one of the most popular of the Bohus sweaters. Theses sweaters could be seen draping the lovely forms of Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman, and helped Sweden during a time of economic hardship. Now, I have one of my own and enough yarn left in the kit to knit a matching hat.

From 2011 Finished Objects

Now the sweater is an official finished object, I can begin knitting down my stash. I've decided to go "cold sheep," meaning I won't buy any more yarn for the rest of the year, with one possible exception. I might allow myself to come home with yarn from a special knitterly trip I'm taking later in the year. Outside of that one exception, I'm striving to knit from my stash, all 29 miles of it. Putting my best foot forward, I think these are a step in the right direction:

From WIPs

Yes, it's a sock, a man sock. Compared to the other socks I've knitted, this one seems very large. I know it's not. I married a man with reasonably sized feet, thankfully, but it still seems to be taking longer than usual.

There's also a secret bit of knitting going on for a new little person I'll be meeting later this year. Since I can't show you the knitting, I'll instead show you a former little person practicing his Abraham Lincoln impersonation.

From Irish Clover

He helped his table tie ours at a charity trivia night. Although we didn't win, we managed to hold our own and place in the top 10 tying for fifth with a few other teams. The trivia night topped off our busy week which included a guinea pig meet and greet, as well as a book signing with Baltimore Raven'sMichael Oher. In addition to being very tall, he was also very nice and generous with his time. I hope he is a positive role model for many years to come.

From Irish Clover

Snowmagedon

Well, we all survived Clover's first dance. After dropping him off at the dance, I parked in the parking lot just in case he needed to run out for a last minute request or a last minute decision he wasn't ready for dances and wanted to come home. That didn't happen, so, I cried. Just a little bit, but I definitely shed a few tears. We passed yet another milestone in his journey.

At least he let me snap a couple of pictures before we left.

From Irish Clover

He looked dashing as he struck a pose. He had a great time at the dance, telling us excitedly about it, with the slightest hint of a blush as he mentioned slow dancing.

The dance was originally schedule for January, but Snowmagedon forced a rescheduling. The weather almost didn't hold out as yet another cold front was moving towards the Midwest, dumping almost two feet of snow on Chicago and wreaking havoc on Dallas for the Super Bowl. The weather was cold for us with a slight break Saturday. Snow threatened Monday as a few flurries fell over most of the City and an inch of accumulation on our lawn. Then, today, Snowmagedon struck!

From Irish Clover

I've lost count of how many days of snow we've had. Rumors of a few inches flew with the flakes. As the snow continued and the flakes got bigger, we decided to take a short walk.

From Irish Clover

From Irish Clover

From Irish Clover

From Irish Clover

At times like this, I'm glad to be a knitter with lots of wool socks.

From 2011 Finished Objects

I finished the Rhodie Gus Socks in Zauberball Crazy. The afterthought heel worked out well, leaving the color repeat intact. The yarn isn't the softest, but the colors are lovely and easy on the eyes. The pattern is slightly looser than I like for my socks, but they still fit snuggly and are comfortable. I think the yarn will soft with a few washes and will be one of my go-to pairs.

Emergency blog post

I just picked up Little Clover from his first dance! One of the girls in his class brought a camera. After being informed by another classmate, I asked if I could see the pictures. OMG, my little guy was slow dancing with his crush! Will post more later.

I was told there would be no math

Remember those days in high school when you sat in various math classes thinking, "Will I actually use this stuff?" There are really only a few times in life outside of a classroom when remembering Pythagorean’s theorem becomes vital. Other than the occasional need for geometry and algebra, my life has been rather void of mathematical equations; that is until last week.

Last week, I received a fax (yes, some people still send a fax) of my accident report. My lovely little blue Element had been sandwiched between a Chevy Tahoe and a Ford Escape. Unfortunately, that is not what the accident report stated. The report stated that my lovely little blue Element crashed into the stationary Chevy Tahoe and moved it forward into the back bumper of a Ford truck. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

From Irish Clover

My lovely little Element was supposedly able to push a stationary Chevy Tahoe forward into another vehicle. At this point, the logical part of my brain began to compare the size of my lovely little Element to that of a Chevy Tahoe. Just on the superficial level, the Tahoe appeared longer than my car. The Tahoe seats over seven grown adults in it and I can only seat four. Hmmm, my airbag didn’t deploy, so I know I was at a near stop when struck from behind. Then I began to wonder if it was possible for my lovely little Element to actual do what the report said it did.

Dusting off my calculator and finding the physics formulas to calculate the force needed to move an object one meter in half a second, I did some math and discovered that yes, it is possible for my lovely 1599.8 kg Element to move a stationary 3084.4 kg Chevy Tahoe. In order for my car to produce the necessary 42,595.6 Newtons, it needed to be traveling at a speed of 29.75 mph, way faster than I was going and fast enough to force my airbag to deploy (did I mention that it didn’t?). I passed along the information to the wonderful lady with my insurance. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a bit obsessive now. Then I did some math on my sock.

From WIPs

I wasn’t thrilled with how a standard gusset and heel impacted the color flow of the yarn, so I ripped it back, put in some waste yarn for an afterthought heel. I need to then calculate how long to make my foot. I guesstimated, which turned out to much easier than calculating force required to move mass, moved the toe stitches to some waste yarn and then added the heel. The universe is slowly getting back into alignment, much like the alignment on the Element.