Patience

Well I'm down to a mere 4 digits in waiting for Ravelry. I'm currently 8543 in like with nearly as many people behind me. 53% of the list has been invited... It's not FAIR!!! I wish I'd known about this thing earlier, I'd definetly have signed up in June and be in by now... ah well. I'll just have to wait. The only good thing is knowing there are 8000 people who will wait longer than me, lol.

On the knitting front, I feel I have had some sort of breakthrough with the Digger success. I keep getting compliments on the sweater when he wears it and it just makes me so proud! I want to make more so I can, ahem, encourage (some might say force) Maddie to wear something too. She's quite jealous of Jamie's sweater, she was extremely grumpy the day I finished it and kept wanting it to be Maddie's sweater.

So I thought making her a new one might help. I chose a new sweater - one from Rowan's new Little Knits book (Kite, for those interested...) and a different yarn to the All Season's Cotton suggested - the last sweater which she is currently refusing to wear is in ASC and besides the fact I have loads, I wanted something warmer for her since she tends to get chilly during winter. This evening, for example, DH made the bath a little cooler than normal and she had blue lips. Jamie had red cheeks. But I digress.

One of the things she kept saying was that Maddie wanted a blue sweater. So I went up to the stash room and started poking about, having a think about what could work and what I had enough of. I've had a stern talk with myself about using up the stash lately, I tend to finish so little and start so much, not to mention BUY so much, and I'm ready to try to remedy that. Unfortunatly I don't have that much blue. Just like I don't have that much pink. I tend to force myself to not fall into that stereotype of blue=boys, pink=girls. Ironic, then, that Jamie's sweater is blue, no? Whilst rifling through everything I found a bag of Kid Classic that had been bought at a Liberty sale about 2 years ago. I hate going to those sales, I never really need to get anything and then feel compelled, having trekked all that way, to get something. Then I get two or three bags and sometimes it just molders (and molders).

But now, one less bag moldering. It's perfect, too. It's Iced Jade, a pretty bright aqua (BLUE), and it's light, and just about the right gauge (not that I swatched. If it's too big, who cares, she's 3 and she will grow. Oh the freedom of knitting for someone who grows!). One sleeve down, one halfway there. I discovered this technique some years ago - sleeves first. Being someone who suffers terribly from finishphobia, the sleeves are the worst bit. They take forever, especially when it's just stockinette and it's just about getting them done. The challenge of the pattern or detailing on the front/back is over, the love has usually faded into the dim and distant past, and I've got 3 other things more important to knit. But if I do the sleeves first? Well they seem to take less time, and I'm still aching to get on with the main knitting.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. For now Maddie is excited, "Mummy is making Madddie sweater!" so I'm trying to knit like the wind. For god only knows how much the attention will hold if I don't knit fast, and then once her attention is gone (poor hearts sweater), the willingness to wear goes with it.

At least Jamie doesn't seem to notice OR care what he wears. Is this a boy thing or a 1.5yr old thing?