First and foremost, I'm glad I vented a little last night. I had bottled up a lot of "why am I still doing this?" and it needed to get out before it burned me on the inside. I got a little feedback to keep plugging away, and that helped too.
I had another moment of weakness, but of the self-indulgent kind. I had to go to Petco for crickets to feed to Bruno and Dahlia, and Michael's is in that same stretch of a strip mall. I made sure I had a decent coupon (40% met that threshold), and then went back to look at more knitting looms. I like the little sock loom I bought last month, but it's so tiny, I wanted to try a bigger one, preferably for a sweater. I'm really good at crochet, but that craft is very thirsty when it comes to how much yarn it requires per project. I get the idea that knit crafts require much less yarn to cover the same amount of inches. I went to the craft store in search of a big loom, large enough to make a sweater to hang loose on my sizable backside. I considered a fancy adjustable kit that reminded me of model train track, but instead I cheaped out and bought the "infinity loop" style, big enough to make a five foot wide afghan.
I dug through old stores of yarn to practice on. I have bunches of things left over from projects that were never finished, and some that were never started. Eventually I settled on a dark brown, of which I only had one skein. I watched videos on YouTube, and found a pattern I liked. I started making a smaller version of the afghan from the video, and discovered almost immediately that this loom was designed for a chunky yarn, and I mean CHONKY. My medium weight yarn looked awful all stretched out on it. I gave up after four rows. But once I had gotten it in my head that I was going to make a new sweater for Elsa from this brown yarn, I was determined to find a way to accomplish it.
It's been five years since I bought a teach-yourself-knitting kit. I practiced in two different colors, making less than two inches of knit combined. I felt like it never became smooth and natural, and I shoved it in the craft cabinet within a week, never to be touched again. It took a lot of digging to find all the pieces (and tomorrow I have a giant mess to clean from my craft room), but I gave it one more chance. I translated the pattern from loom to needles, and watched more videos to relearn the stitches when the book just confused me all over again. Over about three hours, I think I have finally gotten the hang of this knitting business. I used markers to count out the pattern, and a hook to pull out cables. I have made two full sets so far, about two inches in length (and wide enough for newly-slender Elsa). It's going faster now, and it actually feels good to do. Once a few more of my pieces are finished (this plus the shrug I'm making for me and the afghan for my neighbor), I'll buy some fat yarn and make a blanket or poncho on the loom. It won't go to waste.
Having this activity gave me something to do while I watched the spectacle on TV tonight. I debated skipping the speech, but I talked myself into it. I mostly wanted to see all the ladies dressed in their pretty white pantsuits, but I also listened to the call and the response. Leaving the TV on into the commentary afterward paid dividends. I learned live that the woman I most want to enter the 2020 race is expected to make her announcement on Sunday. There are so many good women candidates who have caught my eye, but I have a strong favorite. I cannot wait until Sunday.
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