The party that this is a gift for is in an hour. I dunno...
I'm starting to think that I might not make it. I need to finish the hood, sew up the seams and install a zipper.
I've been thinking a lot about a comment that Chris made. She said "I always love to read the trials and tribulations of the harlot knitting to a crazed, self-imposed deadline." Now that's not just funny, it's thought provoking.
1. What do you think it is that makes it seem reasonable at the time? I mean if it's clear to Chris that I'm about to send myself into a knitting spiral of disaster and insanity...how come I can't see it? What about "I think I'll knit a sweater in three days" doesn't sound just a little whacked to me? I retrospect, I swear that I just thought it would be a little "intensive". I just thought I would have to apply myself. Where did I think my children/job/husband were going? Who did I think would do the laundry? When did I decide that I was no longer a mere mortal but a knitting machine with no need for sleep or food?
2. One good thing about this yarn is that when I was knitting at 2 am, desperately trying to pick up the stitches for the hood (what stitches? I swear to all that is woollen that if anybody proves to me they can see "stitches" I'll give them a dollar) and I suddenly realized that I had hit the wall, my vision was going and my eyes were blurry with exhaustion....I didn't have to stop. That's a plus.
3. Beer is not a help.
Thursday night I took the blurry sweater to Amanda's music night. (Once again, I have circled the indistinct blob that is my child, I can't help myself)
She got a featured part in "The Entrance of the Queen of Sheba" (scroll down to "Disk one, track one") and as I sat in the audience listening to her play I was virtually speechless. Amanda's musical ability floors me at the best of times, it's like watching her do an incredible magic trick, but this was stunning. When she first started playing the violin she sucked. I love the kid but I feel a little queasy when I think of the first couple of years, they took parental fortitude. The third year she was "pretty good" and we've hovered between "actually good" and "darned good" for the last couple of years. Thursday she made some kind of huge leap to "beautiful."
There is something about seeing your teenager play in an orchestra that is enormously reassuring. It's just so stunning and civilized that it's almost impossible to reconcile the young woman on the stage with the mouthy kid who broke curfew the day before. Even though she has blue stripes in her hair, as she draws the bow across the instrument all I can think is that it's going to be all right. All the worry, angst and concern I have for this teenager slipped away, if only for 3 minutes.
If she can do this incredible thing, and do it so well... I can't believe that she could grow up to be a bad person. I really think she's going to work out.
It was so good that I put down my knitting to listen, which brings us right back to the sweater not being finished. If you only had an hour...what would you do?