UFO!

I really love knitting. I don't sit still well at all & it's something I can do while watching TV, talking on the phone, listening to a lecture in classroom, on a road trip, half time during my kids' games...it travels well, it keeps my hands busy so I'm not fidgety, & I'm rather proud of the finished product. It's also a pretty cool conversation starter.

I've gotten so many comments from others who thought only "old people" knitted or that no one "did that" anymore. I had a child I'd never met before, sitting next to me, ask me to teach her how to knit. I've had a ton of people tell me memories of their grandmother's knitting.

I get pretty happy when Boy Teenager is even impressed by something I've knitted. When he sheds his cool exterior & says, "Wow, Mom, that's really neat. How long did it take you to learn that technique?" I get a little warm fuzzy inside.

While going through pictures of items that I've completed, I realized that I've come a far way in my knitting skills. My finished projects are not only usable, but also identifiable now. That wasn't always the case.

My very first project was supposed to be a scarf for hubby. Supposed to be.

Uh...yeah.

See the smaller end? That's how it started...then one day I asked my friend who's knitting I admire, "So what's up with my knitting getting progressively wider?" Of course I was already halfway through the piece so I wasn't going to undo hours of stitches just to get it back to the original width. I should have. But since I didn't, I have a really unique UFO (unidentifiable finished object) for hubby to occasionally bring out of the closet to ever so sweetly remind me of how far I've come.

If you look closely when it's laying down you can see where I was at when I asked my friend because that's where the width stays the same from there to the end.

See the lovely holes? Those would be dropped stitches, officially. But..I say it's for blizzard conditions so that hubby can put the entire thing over his head & still see through it. I was even thoughtful enough to make sure there were plenty of them...the picture doesn't do it justice because you can't see just how many eye holes there are, but there are definitely enough so that no matter how he place it over his head, there will always be an available eye hole. Always.

I have decided that this scarf is actually pure genius. Genius, I tell ya. Because it is so genius, I wrote up an ad. Whenever the infomercial is ready for into production, the ad is ready to go...

"The Blizzard Scarf. Pull it over your head to keep the cold wind & snow off your face! Several eye holes provide ample safety features; wear it however you want to & you will always be able to see! Wear it as a regular scarf, off of your face, & the eye holes become pen holes! Insert a pen into your shirt pocket (don't forget your pocket protector!) without removing your fashionable scarf! As a head cover, you can avoid frost bite on your nose! Or your ears! The unique shape provides complete coverage for your entire face & neck wherever you need it most! Use the wider end wherever you need extra warmth! Use the narrow end wherever you need less warmth! So versatile, The Blizzard Scarf!"

Here is the dark purple scarf...without any dropped stitches...all one width...that replaced the white scarf-thing. Hubby wore this one the rest of the winter & the white scarf-thing rests peacefully, a beautiful reminder of when I picked up my knitting needles after many, long non-knitting years.

"I'm a ninja in a
purple scarf. Be scared."

When I completed that white scarf, a labor of love for my man, hubby proudly wore it to work, showing off his wife's hard work. Isn't that a great guy? He lovingly wore it while I worked on a new scarf for him. Hubby man was so proud of that first scarf, that every day he came home from work excitedly asking when the next 1 would be done. He was almost frantic, he wanted so badly for me to finish it. He must have really loved that first 1 to be so anxious for a 2nd.

When I finished the second scarf, he was so excited that he tore the white 1 off of him & practically dove at the purple 1. In his excitement, he hadn't even noticed that he'd dropped the white 1 on the floor. It's so sweet that he just couldn't wait to show off more of my work like that. The way he lovingly packed the scarf up & put it deep in the closet, where nothing could ruin it way back behind everything else, was so sweet. He really cares about that first scarf. It shows.


I made Ginger Girl a pink & white striped hat with a flower on the side. I love this hat & she is so stinkin' cute in it! 

Beautiful model. 

I made a white hat....

Not a model.

...a scarf for me...

"I'm a ninja in a
different purple scarf.
Scared yet?"

...& another scarf for me.

"That's right. I'm
a bedpost & I model.
Whatcha gonna do
about it?"

Bedpost model.

"Eddi, that's not how it goes. I
can't be a ninja in a pink hat
when you push it down like that."

It's pretty fun to look back & see how my knitting started out. I should get that first scarf out for hubby tonight, just to see how much he fights me when I tell him to put it on again. That look that tells me he would wear it but he's scared to ruin it, so he'll do anything he has to in order to preserve it. It's wonderful.