Oh. I think I get it

I have always suspected that many of you are not standard issue humans.  As a matter of fact, sometimes I wonder if it’s a bit of a prerequisite for a) being a knitter and b) being someone I like, and there are those of you I know definitely have superpowers. There’s one among your number however, who I have secretly believed possessed skills that were possibly useful and potentially terrifying, and after years of keeping my suspicions to myself… I finally have proof.   Our Lady Rams of The Comments is a psychic.

A few days ago, I was sitting right here (well, not right here – where I am right now is sitting in the spare room upstairs while Elliot naps so he doesn’t maybe fall off the bed – my house is still largely childproofed through grandparent supervision) but I was right here in this house, and I was leaning over my laptop, head in hands thinking that I couldn’t write a blog post because I had too much to tell you (rather than not enough) and was feeling like I owed you a really huge post to make up for being away, and I got an email from our Lady Rams.  I opened it up and in the email she essentially said that she bet that I was struggling with feeling the need to write a huge blog post and why didn’t I just stop worrying and post and …. yeah.  Thanks Rams.  You were right, and now I’m here, and by the way, I think that as a civilization we should make sure we keep you on the side of right.

So, some postcards? Just to catch up? For starters, did you know I made Elliot an Advent Calendar this year? I know, I know… I said I was going to wait until he was three, but I suspected that he was more than ready this year, and I was right.  Other than a burning desire to hang all the ornaments each day, he was perfectly enchanted with it. Taking down his ornaments and kissing them, and hanging them up again.

He got a lot of the same ornaments that  Luis and Frankie did, and Myrie and Emmett – like sweaters and acorns and Santa’s and bears… and gnome babies and bells…

but I also added things that I thought were really relevant to Meg, Alex and Elliot’s family.

There was the fox (because Alex’s favourite song is “What does the Fox say” which really, I can neither explain, nor condone, but there you have it.) There was a new snowflake this year – this one from here – though just like in previous years, I had to knit it twice to get the gauge right.

There was a dinosaur, since they are really interesting to Elliot right now –

and there was a little dog, knit to match their family dog, Penny.  (That one was really hard.)

And last but not least, I knit a Santa for the 24th pocket – so that Elliot will always know when Santa’s coming.  All the kids have gotten a Santa, though this one’s a little different. His skin tone is darker, like Elliot’s Daddy. (It seemed best, and helpful likely, should Alex get caught filling a stocking or two.)

Other than that, they were about the same and years gone by, and made me just as crazy.

Now, see, that thing is about to happen. That thing where Elliot is waking up and so I’m running out of time but I haven’t put all the links in, and I’m thinking that maybe I shouldn’t hit post because this post isn’t good enough and that’s really what keeps getting in my way, but nap time really is over and I don’t have more time and…

There you go Rams. Thanks. (Coming Elliot!)

132 thoughts on “Oh. I think I get it

  1. Thank you, Steph, and thank you Our Lady Rams of the Comments. I haven’t posted on my own blog for almost three months. One post to catch up would be as long as a novel. I’ll aim for a haiku and hope the groove will pick me up and carry me forward. The advent calendar is swoon-worthy; thanks for sharing! (Am I really the first to comment? Wow. What a responsibility.)

    • I took so long between posts on my blog that I lost the address!! Finally found it and posted once in early January. Glad Our Lady spoke up as I was desperate for YH news. 🙂

  2. I love, love, love the Advent Calendar figures. A story you might find amusing – one year, I knit my mum some little sock ornaments, because she loves ornaments and because her Christmas socks were going to be a little, um, late. When the little sock ornaments were opened, all the witnesses, my mum included, thought I was trying to hint that I had a wee one on the way (I didn’t). Good fun.

  3. See??? Waiting for “perfect” isn’t necessary! If it were none of us would ever cast on!. We’d be still waiting! Thank you Rams!!

  4. OH good. You’ve gotten over the first hurdle – writing the first post in a long while.

    Now you’ll just have to make a habit of it, again.

  5. You forced my to finally open an Instagram account because somebody said you were posting more things there. Maybe that’s a good thing?

  6. What about putting all the Advent Calendar patterns together with a pattern for the calendar itself, and sell it as a big, more expensive pattern? Bet it would sell.

  7. Glad to read your post…I miss you terribly when you are ‘away’. The Advent pieces are wonderful and a keepsake forever!

  8. I’m sending this post to all my children to prove that once in a while I’m right — but really, it was selfish (I missed your company) and a case of judging others by myself. Well, and knowing that “Finished is better than perfect” doesn’t come naturally to you. NOTE: this does not mean the next post has to be big either. Welcome back, petal.

  9. I’ve been taking a creative writing class. I’ve always wanted to write down the stories in my head and now that I have time, I find that writing corporate documentation and policies has screwed up my brain and while I can TELL a story, I can’t seem to WRITE a story without it sounding like a computer policy, so I’m taking a writing class… which has nothing to do with anything except the first day I had an AH HA! moment.
    That’s the lecture where the instructor said “Just write. Perfect is the enemy of done. Just write. You can go back and fix it later. Don’t wait for inspiration, don’t wait until the time is right. Just write.”
    Steph? Just write.

    • I used to say the very same thing, Mary, but took a writing class and found a writing book that said something like, “Artists sketch, musicians practice, athletes workout, so what makes you think that just because you know the language you can write a decent story?” Which is why I use a book of prompts or an art gallery calendar and write a quick prompt before turning out the light every night. Gotta keep my writing muscles in shape. Oh, and I also heard that you have to write a pile of bad writing as high as your head before you get something really good. I figure I’m at about my shoulders after 17 years. Good luck in your class.

  10. I was wondering about you this morning and thinking that it had been a while since you posted. Glad you’re back. I’ve missed you – and Rams & Presbyteria!

  11. Elliot has excellent instincts: I can TOTALLY relate to the desire to kiss those adorable ornaments, especially the mouse and the snowman!!!!

  12. You see your last paragraph there…I think you’ve forgotten what it’s like to have small children. That’s how I end every email and conversation…the children are done being quiet and I really must go. You must be in a new season in your life that requires imperfect, short snatches of posts. I bet you’ll get good at them.

  13. So glad to see you! The little ornaments are terribly charming. I am drowning in admiration for how you pull that off time and again. I think I’d get stalled around Dec 4.

  14. I”m so happy to see you here again! I know for me, posts from you do not have to be big, or exciting, or anything you maybe think you should write. I miss you when you don’t write. I miss seeing your family. I miss seeing your knitting. I miss your thoughts on life. I hope you will write again soon! Hugs!

    • Yes, to all that. I have been worried about you, and after every day without a post I started saying a little prayer for your joy in life to return. We all need that to stoke our own joy. Together, we can tilt the bent of the Universe toward Joy.

  15. Short small blog posts are great!
    Especially with photos.
    We readers welcome your posts anytime.
    Thanks for the advent calendar photos. That is an incredible work indeed.

  16. Oh my goodness those are all so wonderful I can hardly stand it. Elliot is perfectly right in kissing each one.
    We should all have a Lady Rams.

  17. So lovely to see you back!

    As yet another sufferer of the what my Dad calls “making the best be the enemy of the good” I empathise with you.

    And i love your posts, long and short, and the individualised Father Christmas is particularly special.

    Take care of you!

  18. I really understand the babyproofing by grandparental vigilance. Small grand daughter morphed from baby to toddler in about a week, suddenly the baby gates on the stairs are not nearly enough prevention.

  19. Stephanie, love the post, and you don’t have to be perfect for us. I think we all know that life can get complicated. I think we’re all also really grateful you share your life with us, and your knitting, and you, and we’re not going to think, Why aren’t all the links in her post? We’ll just be like, yay, Stephanie! Adorable knitting!

    Also, thank you, Lady Rams of the Comments. I really, really love the kind of people that hang out on this blog. Hugs and happy new year to everyone!

  20. It’s great to hear from you. I always remind myself that reading your blog is a privilege and not a right. 🙂 .Love the knitting!

  21. Hello Steph,
    You know you were missed, we all say so! We know you have much going on. We are the privileged ones that you share bits of your life, loves, family, passions, and creativity with. Do you know today we have all sighed a BIG sigh of relief ?….. to know you are well, alive, still loved and still loving?? Thank you Steph. ~ Amy

  22. Your posts are like “fun mail!” Fun mail is a warm note from a friend, a knitting catalog or magazine, a package you’ve been expecting–anything that makes you say “Oh YES!!” when it comes. It’s something that I look for every day. It doesn’t come every day, but when it does, fun mail often makes the day!

    If we all could be sitting with you, we’d say “Don’t beat yourself up, Steph. Go snuggle Eliot. Do what you need to do–we will always be here and delight when we can get fun mail from you! 🙂

  23. Oh, man, this is totally how my life is. I catch up with far-flung friends in snippets of phone conversations punctuated by things like, “no, you may NOT hit your brother”, and “I’ll help you with that in a minute”. (My kids range from 9yr to 10mo, and my friends have similarly aged kids, which is handy as they have the same side conversations with their own child/ren.)
    Thanks for the post. The Advent calendar ornaments are terrific.

  24. Done is good, perfection is for the birds. Welcome back, lovely to hear from you & we all hope you are well.

    LOVE the advent, especially the snowflake.

    Cheers
    Lush

  25. Nice to hear from you…there need be no continuity…stream of consciousness is also good..matches our own thought process…and I love to hear what is going on with you, given that some days it matches what is going on with me!

  26. You are good enough. More than good enough.
    Your post is lovely.
    I’m sure I speak for others as well when I say we enjoy the snippets, you don’t need to fill us in on all the things.
    Amazing advent knits!

  27. We love you and your writing so much because what we crave isn’t perfection, it’s connection. Even Martha doesn’t pretend to utter perfection any more, and it makes us hate her much less. Nothing you can write will let us down, you’ve built up some immense goodwill and honestly you should trust yourself to deserve to use it.
    Thank you for dropping us a darling imperfect line.
    You can borrow my weightlifting chant, “less weight, more reps!”

  28. Well, shoot. Now, instead of just watching for a new post I’m also going to have to look for a Rams or a Presbytera comment. So much more work.

  29. You’re sharing love and joy with us. By that standard, there is no “wrong” blog post. Thank you for sharing what you can with us! Enjoy your time with Elliott, we’ll wait and love what you post next when you have time.

  30. I thought the mousie was the most adorable thing ever, but then there came the snowperson.

    Yay for a post, and Ram’s really really right about a short, imperfect post being very welcome. Thanks!

  31. Welcome back Steph! So glad to see your post! Never worry about what you say, how much you write! We’re always so glad to read whatever you do post!!!
    Happy New Year (belatedly) and happy knitting as always
    Leslita

  32. You know that feeling you get as a mother when you don’t hear from your kids in a long time? You picture them trapped in their car, in a lake, upside down! That’s the same feeling I get when I don’t see a blog post from you in a long time. So glad everything is fine and you’re just busy! You’re forgiven because Elliot is way more important.

  33. Welcome Back!! We missed you. If experience with little boys counts for anything, my guess is that Elliot will continue to find dinosaurs fascinating for years to come.

  34. When you hit post a wave of positive cosmic energy moved across the globe. Small or large a sharing from your keyboard helps keep something right in the world. Thank you.

  35. Thank you, the post was perfect! It let us know you were alive and well and provided pictures of knitterly goodness that both enticed and entertained.

  36. Glad to see you back! I’d figured you were dealing with a bad combination of Toronto winter and unfinished X-mas gifts. Still, glad to see that Rams can still deliver a good, swift kick, even via e-mail!

    The advent calendar ornaments are gorgeous. Would love to know what Penny thought of her “mini-me”!

  37. Your post is not only ‘good enough’. It is perfect! So lovely to read your words. Your advent pieces are amazing and thoughtful as always.

  38. The post was wonderful. Share in bits right now….like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. And you’re a busy grandmum….we understand….we’ll be patient and wait. 🙂

    And you had to get the link in for that little fox which lead me to the little pattern…which I shouldn’t spend the money on right now…..and I probably can’t possibly manage to knit. Cuz if the dog was hard and you had to knit the snowflake tiwce….I’m hopeless. lol

  39. I am happy to read whatever you post — and I don’t feel like I need a complete recap of everything that’s happened since your last post. It’s your blog, and you post what you want.

    I adore all the ornaments you made for Elliott. I wish there were such a thing for people who don’t celebrate Christmas!

    • Hey Sarah. What about a knitted item of your choosing for each month of the year? You could knit that adorable snow flake for a winter month and a little yellow sun for the middle of summer…Just a thought.

  40. I’m so happy you posted. I do really enjoy hearing about your life, I love how honest you are with your emotions, and I often think you are the kind of human I want to be, but I gotta admit – I show up equally for the knitting talk. Actually, it’s probably more than equal, but I don’t want to be rude. Today, I woke up with a head cold, and my day feels a little brighter from seeing Elliott’s calendar critters. There may or may not be some jealously over not seeing all of them. 😉

  41. We miss you when you’re away, but remember that not every post has to be the Great Canadian Novel. Sometimes a “hey, I’m still here, look at this thing I knit” is all that’s needed. In other news… I became a grandma over the weekend! My son’s daughter, Scarlett Joan was born on Saturday. She is a tiny little peanut at 6 lbs 8 oz. My other son and daughter and I drove 3 1/2 hours to see her. (the ride home was longer, as I got lost). Whee! Oh, and she’s too small for what I’ve knit her so far, so there’s a smaller sweater on my needles!

  42. Always happy to hear from you, whether it be in a short post, a long post, or just a series of images! I’ve been reading since the beginning and we have kids about the same ages, so it always feels like a friend is keeping in touch with me.

  43. Thank you for the post. Thank you for sharing so much of your life. You do not need to continue to do so, anything you post is actually treasured, I think.

    It does not need to be big, or magical or even explain an absence.

    Friends, even digital ones, that only know this part of your life, understand.

    Take care.

  44. I think The Blog is like an old friend. Maybe you don’t have enough time for a proper catch up sometimes, but a quick chat helps keep the chain of friendship intact and ready for the next chapter.

  45. Well, clearly you’ve spoiled us. We worry when we don’t hear from you. Thanks for checking in! The ornaments are adorable, BTW!

  46. Glad to have you back (and thank you Ms. Rams!)! Steph, you’ve got superpowers too. I hope you know that by now. And as much or as little as you post, it will always be a welcome sight.

  47. Steph, when you don’t/can’t post, we understand. We have been in dark places and scared places and overwhelmed places, too. We treasure you just as you are, however and whenever you are, Knit-Sister.

  48. I love your posts whenever they appear, grandbabies take time and are much more important. Your wee advent treasures are adorable and will, I am sure, be a lifelong treasure. Nicely done Nana. Nicely done.

  49. Rams is a genius.
    Stephanie, if your posts were perfect, you would not be honouring your Mom’s encouragement to not go around making your house perfect when company’s coming. So stay perfectly imperfect. You’re real that way. ooh – the little knits! Now they are perfect!

  50. Welcome back Steph! It’s always a pleasure to hear/see what’s on your mind, even if it’s been a while and you don’t tell us the whole story of while you were away. Drop in any time and The Blog will be thrilled!

  51. I/we miss you when you’re not blogging, but I/we understand that you have a very busy life and can’t always get around to us. And isn’t that why they invented Instagram?
    The advent ornaments are lovely. I’ve vowed to make some knitted ornaments for my 3 year old grandson since he kept pulling breakable ones from the tree and, well, breaking them.
    Pop by the blog now and again to say hello. When you have the time for a long chat, I’ll brew a cup of tea and enjoy sitting down with you. And happy 15th blogiversary

  52. Good to see…er, read….you again. Love the Advent things, especially the fox. I am not at all of Native American descent, but I have studied much of the culture in recent years, and have an Indian (which they do of course still say) name – it’s miskowaagooshekwe ……..meaning “Red Fox Woman”. And truly, little red foxes poke in and out of my 81 (82 on 11 June) year-old life since. Which is rather strange for a gal who migrated to Minnesota 40 years ago from Chicago!!
    And……..I too pulled a non-starter from the sock sack for January – I have 12 single socks (a very bad case of single-sock syndrome, for sure) and this year I’m trying to remedy that. But the one I pulled was the penultimate I wanted to – it’s a lovely single sock with an intricate 2-color pattern designed by a talented sock yarn gal in SoCal. It’s been 5 years, and I can’t remember how to do the most frequent and decorative stitch on the blamed thing! I will have to email her and confess, seeking help. Because I must also get back to the short-sleeved pullover I’m about 2/3 finished with, for my Paris-based (38 years) daughter, currently teaching now for 4 years in Dubai, whom I will hopefully see again after those 4 years this summer, perhaps. Sorry for long post – I am another Gemini, but with a serious case of loggoria or however one says wordyness!!!!!!!
    Welcome back, Steph – and cour-age to you for the coming challenges.

  53. There you are …

    All I really need is … Hi! … That is all. I love more, but … Hi! … is all I need.

    Peace and Love!

  54. Dear Stephanie,
    I peek in several times a week, always hoping you have dropped us a line. When there is nothing, i am sad, then I remind myself “STEPHANIE HAS A LIFE “. And quite a full life this past year; most people would have not written a word, but you reached out with what you had- pain, sorrow, joy, memories and new paths. Thank you for counting us worthy to come alongside and walk the path with you

  55. Thanks for the post! Little snip-its of knitted-ness slightly past are truly accepted, loved and appreciated whenever and however they choose to present themselves to the blog. No expectations other than you caring for yourself and your family and being present with them!

  56. Thank you so much for posting. I’ve no idea why I miss you so much when you are absent. But I do…
    And I look love the calendar
    Felix needs one.

  57. Thanks for all your words and pictures. Always.

    Thanks in particular for the dinosaur image and link — a dear friend’s young son has entered a dinosaur stage, and my mission is now knitting dinosaurs for the young. It’s truly a wonderful world here —

  58. I was hoping we would get to see the Advent knitting. Thank you for sharing! I have been fascinated with all things miniature lately, and these are perfectly perfect miniatures.

  59. I love you and hope that you take this the way I intend.. but I feel scientifically compelled to point out that snowflakes always have 6 sides (or 12 if there is symmetry involved), but never 8. What you made is a pretty star, but not a snowflake. 6 pointed shapes are even more irritating to knit than 8 pointed shapes, and I’m sorry for that, but water makes crystals with 120 degree angles, regardless of our gauge.

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