It's All Good

So, I followed the directions for the back of the “Bianca’s Jacket”, including where it said to do double decreases by slipping one, knitting two together, and then passing the slipped stitch over. And I’m trying to be open-minded, but….well, you be the judge:

Carryfairie and her lady love were here yesterday, and Carry very diplomatically said “Well….you could say it adds to the rustic quality of the yarn….” Which was nice, but which I’m pretty sure doesn’t translate to “My, but that looks nifty! How can I add such loveliness to my own knitting?” As it happens, my Seahawks were playing today (Seahawks football—another of Ms. Knitingale’s dirty little secrets), so I frogged back to before the first decrease row and reknit it, doing back to back k2tog instead. I know the light is different in the "after" picture, but I swear you can't see the decreases at all unless you really hunt:

And, after three hours of football and knitting, my boys won (Go you Hawks!!) and my sweater was…..right back where I’d started. I now have more sympathy for the quarterback when he makes a difficult play and everyone runs all over the place and people get tackled….and the ball has moved not one foot forward. Seeing as how I have the attention span of a magpie on crack when it comes to knitting, I did consider just frogging the whole thing and starting something different that hadn’t taunted me in this fashion, but for some reason, I didn’t want the pattern to win. I’m starting to wonder if exposure, even through the TV, to all that NFL testosterone can really be good for me. It bears thinking about.

On a totally different note (and perhaps because I think a less manly topic might be in order, all things considered)I don’t often read so-called “women’s magazines”, largely because they seem to be not much more than a lengthy list of things I need to do in order to be better (thinner, smarter, a better cook, a better lover, do my hair better, do my makeup better—ever notice that men’s magazines don’t do this?). And dudes, I could always dig out my high school yearbook if I wanted that kind of instant insecurity. But there’s one I occasionally read that includes a column I really like, called “It’s okay to…” Having spent a fair number of years on the opposite side of this fence, I’m all about self-acceptance these days, so I got to thinking about the knitting version of “It’s okay to….” See what you’d add.

It’s okay to laugh hysterically when a pattern calls for 20 balls of a yarn that costs about $20 per ball, and to wonder aloud what the designer is smoking
It’s okay to watch football and knit at the same time (you knew that HAD to be in there, yes?)
It’s okay for “one more row” to be your middle name, and to be about as accurate and meaningful as the “two minute warning” in the aforementioned football game.
It’s okay to ask someone to watch your TV show while you go to the bathroom and fill you in on what happened when you get back because your row ends and the commercials just won’t line up
It’s okay to just give up and buy another damned row counter—even though you know this will make the lost one turn up almost immediately and, for that matter,
It’s okay to have four crochet hooks in the same size because you know you’ll lose one if you don’t have extras—and not if you do.
It’s okay to feel a bit melty every time you pet angora yarn…..and to do it every time you go into the yarn store (don’t worry—they’ll get used to you and stop looking at you that way…..not that I’d know…..)
It’s okay to avoid knowing exactly how much yarn you have (try storing it in locations around the house so you can’t ever look at it all at once)
It’s okay to knit for yourself on occasion, and to even use some of the good yarn to do it (this seems obvious, but most of us knitters have a bit of a tough time with it)
It’s okay to watch reruns on purpose, just so you can work on that fiddly pattern that you have to pay attention to.
It’s okay to fantasize about answers you’d like to give to goofy questions you get when knitting in public: ( i.e., “Are you knitting?” Nope, fishing, but all I keep catching is this same darned ball of yarn).
It’s okay to google yarn stores within a 15 mile radius whenever your partner suggests taking a trip somewhere. Anywhere.
It’s okay to leave “yarn room” in your suitcase when traveling, even if you have to be merciless about other things (I could sleep and run in the same t-shirt…couldn’t I?).
It’s okay to think of sheep as “yarn on the hoof”
It’s okay if you sometimes have to count the stitches 4 times to get two counts that match. Likewise, it’s okay to count a couple of more times if you don’t particularly like that count (“whaddya mean there’s still not 136?? There HAS to be!!!”). Hope does spring eternal.
It’s okay if you’re the only one who likes that funky purple sweater you made, even if it embarrasses your children to have you wear it out when they’re with you. How many times have they embarrassed you?
It’s okay to choose a book entirely because one of the characters knits. (books on tape from the library + knitting = a truly splendid afternoon, incidentally)
It’s okay to sometimes have to shake cookie crumbs out of your knitting (watch out for chocolate chips and light-colored mohair, though….I’m just sayin’)
It’s okay to tell people that cat hairs knitted into sweaters are actually good luck for the wearer.
And it's totally okay to read this super fast because you can't wait to get back to your knitting.