Ennui

Let me explain why I feel like such a big blob of nothingness lately, as far as knitting goes anyway, and how I am trying to dig myself out of the pit. The story begins in late October.

Around Halloween my younger daughter, aged 9, an A student, national stream gymnast and always the picture of robust health, started getting sick. Soon she was weak, pale, bleeding internally and suffering terrible intestinal problems. Several visits to an unsympathetic family doctor later, we found ourselves at the end of a very long waiting list to see a specialist. Our appointment was scheduled for April. By mid-December we were frantic and managed to harass the unsympathetic doctor into having us moved up on the list. We managed to squeeze in thanks to a timely cancellation and got the poor kid admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with moderate to severe inflammatory bowel disease and put on a nasty brew of very strong drugs. She is now on the mend and we're crossing our fingers that her remission lasts a good while.

What, you may be asking, does this have to do with knitting? Not a whole lot, except that for a couple of months I lost interest in everything but getting help for my baby. I did knit a row here and there but I was too rattled to concentrate on anything more complex than Deal or No Deal, which I found strangely therapeutic during the ordeal. The sad result is that I sit here with countless UFOs and a big hole in my charity knitting with the year-end for the charity group approaching. I realize that I'm not going to make a big splash at the awards presentation.

This month I'm on a charity knitting binge in an effort to finish the year with a decent contribution. The trouble with charity knitting is that it leans toward the mundane. There's no point in using good quality wool because in addition to the cost issue you know that someone, somewhere is going to throw it in the washer. Acrylic rules. And of course the patterns tend toward the uber-traditional and the, well, less-than-exciting. Speed is of the essence here, and one doesn't want to get overly avant garde for hospital donations. So this is the kind of thing I'm trying to churn out.



I just need to put some cords or ribbons through the eyelets. And now I've started the same set in green.



I've also been working on the Moderne baby blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting, which presents the comatose knitter with yet more garter stitch. Garter stitch is actually quite soothing when ones brain has been through a cheese grater, but it also has a tendency to bore the socks off ones feet.

Once we've had the February meeting and the charity binge is finished, I am going to tackle some UFOs and start one new project. I have three socks on the go as well as one lacy shawl and one lacy scarf that I intend to finish before the 2010 Olympics. The basement, of course, is jammed with other UFOs that will go on the agenda for 2012. The new project will be the long-promised Wonderful Wallaby for number one daughter. She's 12 and growing like a weed so I'm going to make her the small adult size. Hopefully it will still fit by the time it's finished.

And what do we need in order to commence a new project? Stash enhancement, of course! I received, with great excitement, the winter catalogue from Knitpicks and have been carrying it around cuddled to my chest like a teddy bear. I have a few needles and gadgets from Knitpicks but have not tried any of their yarns yet. This needs to be rectified ASAP. I ordered some Main Line (cotton/wool blend) for the Wallaby as well as three hanks of Shimmer to make a shawl for the older daughter. The young one also wants a Wallaby and a shawl so future orders are a distinct possibility. Shocking, I know.