Dreams

Dreamt about packing for craft camp last night. Dream me is more organised than real me. On the plus side, it was nice to have decided what fabric to bring without having to take time out of my day.

I realised the other day that Sewjourn is my happy place. Specifically the driveway. Ok, that sounds weird, let me explain. I can picture myself here:

Or here:

It’s a liminal space – in between, a gateway, a crossroads. There’s not much going on, so I can create it well in my mind’s eye. It’s quiet, and clean, and bright. And whichever way I’m going, I’m on the way both to and from something lovely. I’m heading back from the studio after a morning of making and chatting and laughing, to a delicious meal, or a quiet contemplative bath. Or maybe I’ve been reading in the house and I’m heading back to be with my crafty family. There is joy and love and comfort waiting for me. Probably I am still chuckling about something someone said as a parting shot as I slipped out of the studio, or I have my head down thinking about what I am going to make when I get back there.

If I am in my real life, and I need a breath of fresh air or a moment of calm, that is what I picture. This view:

Or this one:

I’ve needed it this week, too, that dose of calm, that deeper breath. There have been several infuriating meetings and the like. Good thing I’ll be back there soon, to restock my supply of calm.

I also dreamt that I went to the fat fashion swap in Melbourne. When I found out about it, I seriously considered flying in for the day to go to it. I am not going to do that, but maybe some of you would be interested. Here is the facebook page with the information.

In less literal dreams, I finished Abby’s blanket that I was knitting for my bestie’s child.

I did, of course, make an error in the lace. I got off by a few stitches, for a few rows, and didn’t notice for a while. I set my chin and refused to tink back, because I was on a deadline, and my bestie is of the ‘that’s how you know it was handmade with love’ school of thought. I kind of wish I’d fixed it. Or at least taken close ups of a different part of the blanket.

It’s actually quite hard to spot in real life – I’m not fooling myself either. While it was blocking I looked for it so I could fret over it, as you probe a sore tooth. It took me a good minute to locate it.

Blanket ravelry details here.

Said baby was due on Sunday, as I was blocking the blanket. It’s still not here, and I’d appreciate it holding out a little while longer. I finished a matching Puerperium cardigan on the bus this morning. I brought needles and buttons to work and I’m going to finish the finishing at lunch, and then drop the two of them over tonight.

I requested that the baby not come this weekend, while I am away. On reflection, though, that would be fine – the respective families are going to descend and wouldn’t get a chance to smuggle the much awaited brie into the hospital for a while, anyway. So this weekend is fine, just… wait a few more hours, baby. The knitting is not ready yet.

Quickly

I didn’t get that job. But I got some really great feedback and there’s another position at the same place that they’ve asked me to apply for. So I feel, all in all, that it was positive.

I started knitting the second baby blanket. I decided I was better off getting her the kid’s blanket, so she had something nice to wrap the baby in in the first few weeks. Sunbreak is pretty big and heavy, I think it’s going to be more of a playmat/cot blanket, so there’s less rush. I’m knitting Abby’s Blanket by Kristin Kapur. Like all her patterns, it’s wonderfully knitting, and a perfect blend of simple, elegant and complex. Loving it so far – I’m up to the second repeat of the lace. I’m knitting it from Bendigo Rondo, which is a machine washable one but is twist plied not crepe. I like it a lot, it’s soft and smooshy. The colours are their regular pastelly ones, but somehow are less flat than usual, I guess because the base is nicer? I think the ‘lime zest’ is the same dye mix as the ‘pistachio’ alpaca, but it’s much less insipid. I’m using Lime zest for the inside, I’m just going to knit until I’m out, and then Ocean spray for the border, and I’ll just knit until it’s a decent size. But I’m thinking of this as more of a car seat/wrap blanket, so it shouldn’t be too big to be unwieldy.

That’s been my evening couch knitting. But I’m knitting the sunbreak border on my commute. I’m managing an average of 3 repeats of the cable each way. 27″ down. 161″ to go. That’s still a good 5″ a day, though, so I’m feeling ok about the whole thing.