Twenty-two centimetres is roughly ten thousand, three hundred and forty stitches;

And ONE CENTIMETRE in garter stitch is a LONG TIME...

Let me demonstrate*:

I've been motoring along on the Debbie Bliss Duffel Coat, which I'm knitting in a nice bluey-purpley-heathered Cleckheaton Country 8 ply 'Heathers' that I gained in a stash dive at Mum's (free yarn is good yarn!).

The first three pieces - back, left and right fronts - were knit up pretty quickly, even for me, and I'm quite pleased to be able to say that this piece, knit entirely in garter stitch has actually taught me to be able to knit without having to look intently at my knitting - without too many errors!

The next step was to join at the shoulders then to knit across both fronts and back to begin the hood. Crikey, I'm glad that I'm knitting this for a six-month-old and not an eighteen-month-old! Ninety-four stitches across, over twenty-two centimetres, in garter stitch, seems like it's taking forever! I of course, have made it worse on myself by measuring that I take about five rows to knit one centimetre, and so I've led myself to the calculation above of a rough total of 10, 340 stitches to complete the hood - phew!

Here we are, with countless ends to weave in, showing just how far I've gone in hood-stitchery.I quite like the double-breasted thing this coat has going on. I bought little wooden duffel toggles yesterday, anticipating a quick finish on the sleeves and sewing up... though just saying that would certainly be tempting the Knitting Fates to step in and stuff me about at this point!
I'm nearly there... nearly! Looking forward to the next step...

A couple of weeks ago, I had quite a vivid dream about going to hospital, knitting whilst in labour, only to find out that I hadn't packed enough yarn to keep going on this duffel coat project, and that I just had to send Pete home to get more out of my stash cupboard... clearly something in my mind has snapped, or I've come to the much more sane conclusion that I should have some sort of (non-complicated) knitting project cast on and ready to go, should I want to knit in labour. I don't see why not - knitting calms me, and will certainly give me something to focus on as I go through the first stage, at least.

Anyone think I'm entirely crazy?



* Anyone familiar with the film 'Yellow Submarine' will hopefully understand my adaptation of that line!

Embracing Toddlerhood

I am in the calm point of my day at the moment, and thank goodness for that because I am having such crappy thoughts about today that I felt just about ready to punt my firstborn out a window.

That's kind of why I'm not saying 'today is crappy' or that 'I'm having a crappy day', as it suggests that the day you experience is subjected on you, which is bollocks. You are the person in control of how you experience your time and perceive those experiences, so I certainly do not like to hand responsibility for my time over to some omniscient presence.

I feel really crappy about today because I am reacting to WonderBoy's (developmentally appropriate) toddler behaviour in such appalling ways, and I cannot begin to fathom why - especially since over the last few days I have been ultra patient with him and really enjoying time spent with him.

Today, ever since we got up, I'm losing my temper so much more easily and shouting when he does something wrong or silly, or just plain doesn't listen (all things he's supposed to be doing now - he is only two years eight months old), and that is sometimes the worst, because then you see what a hypocrite you're being when you're asking him to speak politely to you. Sigh.

I'm going to knit on Little One's duffel coat for awhile, then put my head down and practice my Calm Breathing. I'm going to focus on a few (there were a few) of the happier things we did today, and on how much I love the little bugger. Hopefully when he wakes up, I can behave like the mother he deserves.

All part of being in a family, isn't it?That's me, lying on the floor under the whole family. Or, I could give that statement a positive spin and uplifting attitude and say I'm being the foundations for my family.

Or, I could go for the correct option, which is: WonderBoy placed his amoeba-like representation of me there in a totally random and uncontrived manner because he is two years old (!)

In the meantime, here are the socks I finished last week...
As I've mentioned earlier, I'm happy with the way they've knit up, and they're even and comfortable... I just wish I knew the magic spell to really get those Jupiter stormclouds patterns swirling the way I'd envisaged all along...