Catching up . .

Wow, I've been sick! We have some catching up to do.

Last weekend (or Why I Don't Get Along With my Mother)

Saturday morning, there I was in Cloth & Clay, my fabulous local yarn store, when my cell phone rang. It was my dad -- after a brief conversation, he tells me he and my mother are headed for a yarn store - spinrite, which is the factory outlet for Bernat, Patons and Phentex. I couldn't be less interested. Conversation ends, and I go back to patting skeins of high end yarns - silk, alpaca, 100% wool . . . phone rings again. This time it's my mother. She insists I go along. Like, seriously insists. After three solid minutes of protesting, I say I'll go along.

My trip to Cloth & Clay ends with a purchase . . of course! Bamboo dpn's, 2 colours of sock yarn for my first ever fair isle project, replacement Lantern Moons to cover the ones I bought that were bent.

Back at home, I tell Mr. Wonderful I have been conned into a day with my parents, and then go out to their car. I bring along my purchases, thinking my mom might just be interested. She begins by SMASHING my Lantern Moons together repeatedly. Then she berates me for buying such expensive needles when I ask her not to do that with my $32 needles. Sigh.

I show her the pattern I plan to cut my fair isle teeth on. She shrugs it off. At spinrite, I am surrounded by what I deem to be inferior quality yarns. Anything they have that is of value, ie. SWS, is in a terrible colourway.

My mother, of course, is offended. How dare I not be swooning over these acrylic blends? They are so cheap. For my mother, cheap is the end all, be all. She will buy any horrible thing in the world if it's cheap, and she thinks she might be able to use it. She has a closet full of acrylic yarns in varying shades and weights. Until recently, I didn't even know other materials existed! My mother knits up these yarns, and sells the mittens and hats, and novelty yarn scarves for far too much at local craft sales.

I, on the other hand, view my knitting as something sacred. I want to use quality materials. I want to use quality accessories. I want to use rosewood Lantern Moons and Malabrigo to knit lace!! For me, it's a past-time, not a business venture. For me, it's spa-like. There is nothing quite like picking up my $32 dollar needles, admiring them, feeling the way they rest in my grasp. It's satisfying. It's relaxing. It's an experience.

On the way home, my mother informs me that she will be giving me some eyelash yarn (shudder) to knit into scarves for her to sell. I say no thank you. She goes a little crazy - tells me that it's the least I can do for her, as I do not stuff her teddy bears, or make her quilts to sell for far too much at local craft sales. I know that she knows what kind of time goes into any of these things. I'm astonished that she would even try this . . . I tell her, AGAIN, that the stuffing for her teddy bears gives me a headache which lasts for days. I don't even touch the quilt thing. She, of course, makes no effort to understand. After all, as her daughter isn't it my priveledge, nay responsibility, to make her things to sell? And why should I expect compensation in any form?

I tell her that this worked much better when I was a teenager. I don't knit for hire any more. Not even for my mother. Who is perfectly capable of knitting her own eyelash scarves.

The Sickness
On Wednesday I woke up feeling a little funny. Long story short, I called in sick, and spent the morning in bed and in the bathroom . . . Mr. Wonderful of course is worried -- that I may be pregnant. Unlikely, but I weighed in with the ladies of Knitty. Seems that morning sickness can begin one week after conception. Huh.

Thursday I went to work, but suffered bouts of nausea.
Today, I think, will be the same. I drank a bottle of water this morning that made my stomach churn. Geez.

Guess I'll just hang in there and see what's up . . . might just be a stomach bug -- but there hasn't really been one at work in a few months . . . I'm trying not to be optimistic, but I sure wouldn't mind an addition to the family.

KNITTING!
I can do it! I can do fair isle!! Well, it's a little bunchy, but nothing that some ironing, or clever blocking won't fix.
I'm making these:
But in 2 shades of pink. I think they're adorable. They won't fit me -- but they're fun nonetheless! **updated to add my own photo**


And I'm working on a special lace project - no pics. I keep leaving the batteries in the camera, which somehow drains them in hours. This project is for my downstream secret pal in the Knitty Mellow exchange. It's about halfway done. I'll hammer the rest of it out this weekend. Ah knitting, I love it so.