Spinning, Knitting, Crocheting, Organic Gardening, Living off-grid, and chasing sheep - because- I'm, like, NOT SANE!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Elvish Hippie Sweater

Thing 1 is, well, you couldn't really say she's IN to Elves. She's freaking mad about them. Exhausted by her reading ability that started before she was three, I finally consented to let her read the Lord of the Rings trilogy at 8. I worried that she'd be too bruised by the war, too confused by the various realms, too informed by the complexities of adult lives involving love, war, and death. I worried. She taught herself elvish. Then Gaelic. A touch of Italian - and there I accepted defeat - who knows what the hell she's been reading that I wouldn't understand enough to worry about. Still, she seems to be an exceptional person. Unless you are playing hang-man with her and her two younger siblings and, after repeatedly failing at guesses and the little ones growing frustrated with the prospect that we'll all be hanged, she giggles, "It's in elvish, Mom, ya'll don't have a chance." It is then that I must dig deep in my Mother self and defend her from what is sure to involve the scorned brothers setting about tormenting her for the remainder of the day - even though I'm sorely tempted to stray to the DARK side. Elvish Hippie Sweater I know I'm babbling, but when one is making slow progress on a sweater, she needs to talk it out. For those who haven't assumed I am a knit liar and never really knit anything, this started as that Nuala sweater. But, since I only followed it for 20 rows on the back, then lost the pattern, then decided I wanted to do a boho type sweater with a sleeve and collar border of some red and darker green flowers. So, I kept the lace at the bottom and went from there. In my previous writing experience - that constitutes ownership of a pattern requires a new name. I give you: Elvish Hippie Sweater. Hopefully it will keep me warm this fall when I am running outside every few minutes to inquire as to why the boys have trapped their sister and are growling at her. Likely as not, she is spouting something in elvish that will translate in english as an insult. My first sweater, I'm so excited!
That may not be a big deal to some, but I have suffered from serious FEAR-OF-SWEATER-MAKING for years. I've made oodles of shawls, scarfs, hats, socks, mittens but sweaters have freaked me out. I made a baby sweater (doesn't count in the first category, I think, because my fear was only of making BIG sweaters - fruedians shut up - I can clearly see that this is a pathetic fear of long term committal. If you were me, you'd understand)to give me some confidence and figure out what mistakes to look for. Then, of course, I realized with Elvish Hippie Sweater that I KNOW NOTHING about sweater making and here we are.

Be impressed...or I'll beat you up. Okay, so that approach doesn't work for an otherwise total push-over. I just thought I would try to borrow something from the kids.