Hospitality & The Hat

I was playing around with Picnick, making a new Ravelry avatar, earlier today.  I had to hurry off to lunch so I didn't get to make it quite as snowy as I would've liked - I'll have to resnowflake it later. 

I  was feeling good/happy enough to get out and about last night. Thankfully, my fairly newly found Ravelry friend, dharma (okay, so can I use your real name now, too?) opened her home to me for a few much needed out and about hours.  Good company and affectionate animals - just what the doctor ordered to sweep out the last of that grumpiness.

There's just something so comforting about sitting in someone's kitchen, chatting while they cook.  First she made scones - which we sampled with homemade strawberry jelly egads they were good - and, after a bit of knitting to go with our constant chatter, she made potato leek soup.  The smell!  Heavenly.  It was still clinging to my clothes when I got home.   

My parents did a lot of socializing at home or in the homes of others when I was growing up so it's something that I've always loved.  Getting together can be so simple yet so much fun.  And much needed!

Here's where the evening took a turn for the worse.  I was nearly finished with the chullo by the time I got home.  I knitted a few more rows and, after trying it on and checking it out in the hall mirror, I took another look at the pattern.  The pattern I had read wrong.  Bad wrong.  The pattern reads, "Continue knitting in stockinette stitch, until the hat measures 6 inches.  (Measure from the 32 stitches, the front of the hat, between the ear flaps to the needles).  Knit any pattern within the 6 inches."  At some point I really did read the whole pattern in one sitting...but, while knitting, I concentrate on each step as it comes along.  My brain read it as basically, "Knit in stockinette for six inches then knit pattern for six inches" which didn't seem right at the time but who am I to question a pattern?  I am a total dope.  So I took the whole thing apart.  It's gone.  This time around it'll go much faster, I think.  I mean, I've screwed up the parts that are screw up-able - I should be fine now.  This also means I only needed one skein of the camel.   Ah well, Lion Brand has several absolutely adorable holiday amigurumi patterns on their site - that camel color will make a nice reindeer, I think. 

I thought I was finished with this entry but I went to set the categories and discovered that I wasn't.  I had to add a new category: friends.  It's hard to believe that I have no circle of friends to speak of - I've just lost so many friends over the past two years.  Me - the social butterfly.  I think my goal for the beginning of the year is to reach out to some of those lost friends.  Maybe.  I'm leery of it for several legitimate reasons.  When is loosing touch something that just happens due to the business of everyday life and when is it a genuine break up?   Could there be a couple of people who were relieved to loose touch, even after all these years?  I don't know.  And I'm not the same person I was even just a year ago.  Right now I'm thankful for coworkers who must see something different in me because suddenly double dates are brought up when they never were before and for Ravelry and knitting groups that I need to get out to more often. 

Okay, now it's finished.  I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Comments

[Kim]

Adorable, adorable picture! And the description of your friend's kitchen --- I felt cozy just reading it!

[Bertha]

That is a spectacular picture of you...

[dharma]

Aw shucks. It was really fun! Really. And good for my soul. Yeah for ravelry. Stop by anytime, but I can't promise scones every time.

Fabulous photo of you. Just lovely.

As for the friends thing. It's hard to know why it happens. Some friends are meant to just be with us for a specific time, though that can be hard to recognize, others will be there but there may be dry spells. It's always hard to know which is which. Well sometimes it's not but usually it is.