Enjoy It

**note!** I'm tired, I feel like typing, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So if you're in the mood to listen to my eyes-closed-because-I-can-type-that-way rambling, read on.



That's right, I enjoy it, I love knitting and all its quirks, and I think my friends are starting to understand just how much enjoyment I get out of everything knit related.

I have a group of friends that gets together most Friday nights to play a game of poker together, just to hang out and have fun, and do it relatively cheaply. I mean, think about it, I buy into our cash game for $15 (we have a $50 buy in limit but nobody ever goes more than $30), and generally leave with at least some of my money, sometimes more than I came with. So for an average of $8 every week, I spend hours of fun with my friends. Can you even get into a movie for $8 now? I don't think so. Oh, and I knit while I play until it's my turn to be the dealer. So double-enjoyment for me, yay.

We normally play texas hold-em, it's pretty easy as poker games go so anybody can join in. But playing hold-em with four or fewer is.... ugly. Five to eight is optimum for a table. If we have four people we'll play other cash games, like 7 card stud, or draw, or something that requires and ante instead of blinds. When there are less than four people it's not worth playing, so you wait for other players.

I digress.

Two of my friends were there waiting for more players when I showed up, so I thought I'd knit a bit. I've been getting pretty excited about the chance to go to the Annapolis Borders store to listen to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak, and then maybe get her autograph. I must have started waxing passionate because they started making comments about excited knitters. So to demonstrate how amusing, how true to life I find her writing to be, and how other knitters share my enjoyment of the craft, I asked and received permission to read out the 4-page chapter from "Secret Life of a Knitter", page 60-63, "Nothing in my Stash". I am greatly amused by this chapter, it's so true, no matter how much yarn you have, there's nothing to knit. Harry commented that I must really identify with this woman based on the amusement and emotion I put into the reciting, and Kim loved how much I enjoyed sharing the chapter with them and the subject matter.

That's right, I enjoy it. I love doing it, talking about it, reading about it, hearing about it, I love knitting. There are worse hobbies I could have.

That being said, I am REALLY looking forward to this Annapolis appearance. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is one of the bonuses of my sister learning to knit; I'd been knitting for years and never bothered to check out books about knitting, just patterns, and the occasional online magazine. But my sister, ever curious, is far more adventurous in both the internet and real life and managed to find this treasure of an author who also happens to be an avid knitter like us, and my sister shared this treasure with me. And now she's coming to Annapolis. For the first time ever.

It's just like Christmas, but without all the last minute shopping and knitting involved, wooo!

Okay, now before my heart starts beating faster (that would be the opposite of winding down for sleep...) I'm going to start talking about my projects.


I just finished my fluffy-elegance lap blanket this morning. It took just short of four balls of Caron Bliss, in a lovely lime green. I photographed it with my new digital camera. I just couldn't resist, sometimes having plastic money is dangerous, especially when woot.com has something I want.

I knit a round on my hemlock ring blanket before finding an error in a round knit in a previous session, a missed yarn-over. Grrrr. So I ripped back to fix it (it was only two and half rounds back... no big deal close to the center of this blanket in the round) and knit enough to make up for my ripping and make actual progress. I also to pictures of the ring blanket with my new camera. And the single pre-felted clog that is awaiting its mate before being felted.

And remembering that I want to wear my first pair of socks to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival in the beginning of May, I knit a few rounds on my magic loop toe-up socks.

I think this concludes my rambling post. And yes, I did open my eyes so I could go back through and link things. I dare you to find a typo. G'nite.