Thrills! Chills! Secrets and Cables!

I am not a perfectionist. "Good enough", or "that'll do" are things I often say. This extends to my knitting, too, in most cases. Have an extra stitch at the end of a row? Well, looky here - if I knit this one and this other one together, problem solved! Good enough! No one will ever know. And I'll stop looking at that spot eventually, I'm sure.

But sometimes, "good enough" just doesn't work out. Sometimes it's an unforgivable, unmistakable, uh - mistake. For me, that usually means ripping out the entire thing and starting from scratch. I do that a lot. It tends to make any knitters nearby blanch and clutch their chests, but I've got enough "Process Knitter" in me that I don't mind it much. (Mind you, one time someone actually grabbed the project away from me before I could completely frog it and picked up all my stitches. It was interesting. And great.)

But sometimes the project has just gone too far for that. And then things like this happen:

That's six dpns and my Denise circular tenuously holding together a secret project. Kind of makes you hold your breath just looking at it, doesn't it? Like the climax of a scary book or movie, where you're pretty sure everyone will come out alive, but you don't know absolutely for sure.

This story does have a happy ending, though. Behold.

All better!

Back to "good enough" for me.

Up, Up and Away

I celebrated WWKIP day by completely forgetting about it, due to other things going on. Like getting my father in a helicopter for the first time in his life.

It was my mum's idea initially, and I totally and shamelessly took it over. I researched it, booked it, and even ended up driving us all to the - what - heliport? That sounds like a real word, right? And things turned out in such a way that the whole thing ended up a complete surprise revealed only at the moment we pulled into the parking lot in Niagara Falls.



When we got there, we were informed that the weather was a bit cloudy, so we'd be delayed. It was barely enough time for a quick ice cream break, then my dad was getting in the helicopter.




Then he was in the air, looking down on the falls and the whirlpool and the river.






The flight was only nine minutes, but my father loved it and can't wait to go again. During those nine minutes, I KIP'd, unwittingly keeping the spirit of the day. Then the helicopter was back, and my dad couldn't stop smiling.



This was followed by some time in Niagara on the Lake, where I knit in a pub, then on a bench. Then a visit to Fort George, where I knit on a picnic table. And then, because no family visit is complete without some sort of medical emergency, a visit to the urgent care centre, where I knit in an examination area, and then the imaging waiting room. We discovered that my father had cracked a bone in his toe when he bumped it on my air conditioner the previous evening. (He's doing okay - there's nothing to be done but wait for healing.)

Happy belated WWKIP and Father's days!

The Start of Summer Knitting

Summer has descended on Toronto suddenly. We had a long, cool spring after a longer, soul-crushing winter. Then, suddenly, last Friday, we were plunged into the 3 H's. Hot, hazy, humid. We even had a humidex warning to celebrate our first summery day.

Sticky, hot weather means small, no-lap-contact projects. Luckily, there are lots and lots of babies in my life and periphery. Some have already arrived, and some are still baking. Either way, it means I get to make cute little things like this.



I love the Saartje bootees. This is the second pair I've knit, and they're ridiculously fast, and so, so adorable. And to go with them, I thought a little hat would be perfect.



This is the Vine Lace baby hat, by Sandi Wiseheart. (Ravelry links there) Another cute, fast knit.

This was all made from the leftover yarn from my Coupling socks. It's from Sunnyside Ellen's Etsy shop, and it's really lovely stuff. And obviously a generous skein! This little set was a gift for baby Emma, the new addition to the family of a friend-of-a-friend. Any excuse to knit baby things is a good excuse.

I already have a little sweater on the needles that will be a Christmas present, and a couple of other little sweaters set to go when those needles are free. I'm trying to finish up the current sweater first, mainly because I'm really enjoying the project and don't want to put it down now that I'm nearing the end. Despite a little snag. Details soon. It's not pretty.