I FINISHED THE REBECCA FISHERMAN’S RIB SWEATER!!!!!!!!!! :)
Did I mention that I’m excited about finishing the Rebecca Fisherman’s Rib sweater?? :) Woohoo! It’s finally done. I was thinking about it on Saturday when I was hanging out at the store. I knew exactly how to knit the neck, but I was just putting it off after fighting with it three times before. I decided when I got home on Saturday night, I was just going to tackle it. So I got it out of my closet. It only took me THREE HOURS to do THREE inches! Aaaah! I felt like I was never going to finish the stupid thing, but I HAD to finish it. I wasn’t going to give myself the option. So I “watched” Trading Spaces while I knitted the neck. I really truly don’t recommend doing a Fisherman’s Rib in the round! I found only one place that explained how to do it in the round - The Big Book of Knitting - it’s under Shaker Rib in the book.

I get to add more finished projects to the pile. I also got to take three tape flags out of my knitting journal. That’s three in three days!
1. My shawl from the Margaret Radcliffe Shawls class at Stitches. Finished on Thursday evening. I was wearing it around work on Friday. It looks so cool. Must get a photo up on my “other knit stuff” page soon.
2. Charm scarf for Aunt Nan. Finished Thursday evening. It’s three balls of Charm, so it took me a bit longer than the other Charm scarves I’ve made. Only one more Charm scarf to go - I was going to make one for Susan for her birthday last year, but decided to make her socks instead. I still want to make one for her so that she has something to open around her birthday this year, since she’s already received her Bollicina scarf, which she loved!
3. The Fisherman’s Rib sweater. It’s DONE!

I worked on the Barbara shawl part of the weekend. I also worked on the Glint sweater this weekend. I finished about 40 rows, which for that sweater is great! It’s on size 3 needles and Kidsilk Haze single-stranded. I love Kidsilk Haze, but if I work with it again, it will be doubled like the Maggie sweater. I was knitting last night while I was on the phone with Bryan (the library boy), my new guy :) and I had just finished a row when the power went out for more than an hour. I was so relieved that I had finished a row because I really hate having to pick up dropped stitches on that sweater. I really want to get the front finished soon. I really, really, really want to finish the sweater so that I can wear it this winter. Did I mention that I want to finish the sweater? :) I’m starting to feel the Christmas crunch already. I guess because I feel like I have a lot to do before Christmas, but I think I’ll be fine. I’m making my Aunt Nan and my sister lace scarves similar to Susan’s, the Barbara shawl for my mother, and hopefully, socks for my dad and grandpa. I’m sure I’ll get it all finished by Christmas, but I really don’t want to have anything on the needles after Christmas this year!

Hoping to update my site soon. I’ve been looking at it this afternoon so that I can update the progress photos on the current projects page and getting photos on the completed pages. I also hope to make some changes to the finished projects pages because they are starting to get quite large and long!

Have a great week!

September 11, 2002
The alarm going off too early felt like any other day, but today is not any other day. September 11, 2001, I walked into the office and the first thing I heard was, “Good think you flew back yesterday.” I had no idea what had happened in the 90 minutes since I’d left my house at 7:30am. Several minutes after arriving I felt my heart sink. I tried calling Susan several times and always got her voicemail. I didn’t believe what they were telling me because Jan was going about things like it was any other day. It wasn’t any other day, I felt extreme fear and anger. My first thoughts were, “It is George Bush’s fault - the US had left the UN conference early because it wasn’t treating Israel in the way that they wanted to be treated.” But as time passed my anger towards him turned to worry - was Susan okay, where was Meredith? I called my dad and said, “Dad, is it true?” He confirmed what my heart knew was true. I have never felt so scared in all of my life. I didn’t want to be at work. I wanted to be at home. I wanted my mom and dad to tell me that everything was going to be okay, but they couldn’t. My dad said Meredith was okay. She’d called Mom and told her she was okay. My heart told me that Susan was okay, too. Patrick (my sister’s boyfriend) had gone down to the area with his photo buddies to take photos. I wanted him to be okay for Meredith and Bunny’s sake.

This morning, I got up and knew I had to do the normal routine. I don’t want to be glued to the tv like I was a year ago. The fear is there again, the fear that something could happen today. I don’t feel the extreme fright that I felt last year. On my way to the train, I listened to NPR. I listened to the coverage from New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. When they started to talk about the ceremony in New York my heart felt heavy and I felt a knot in my throat. I couldn’t hold the tears back. I cried for a minute or so and then started to get antsy, why wasn’t traffic moving? The train platform was eerily quiet. No one was talking, there was no laughing, no one on their cell phone. A little girl, her mom and dad came walking down the platform to say goodbye to dad as he got on the train. The little girl’s laughter seemed out of place. On the bus to work, a woman chatted on her cell phone comparing her newspaper to her friend’s paper. I really wanted to ask her to be quiet.

(continued from above)
I don’t know what to do today. I feel like I should be happy that I’m alive and well and that everyone I know is okay. Another part of me feels like I should be solemn and observant of what happened last year. All of our petty arguments and selfish thoughts almost seem silly, in a way, but they are what make up our lives along with the wonderful memorable moments. It puts things in perspective once again. Who is important to us, where do we want our lives to go and what do we want to do to make a good impact on the world. I’m teaching knitting tonight. For my remembrance, I will honor those who died, were injured and those whose lives changed forever by pursuing my passion of knitting and passion my passion on to others.

It feels like I haven’t written for a while. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten much knitting done since my last entry. My sister moved here Labor Day weekend and my dad was here this past weekend.

My project class started on Sept. 4, it’s a Wednesday night class for four weeks with Sept. 18th off. I want to give them five weeks to work on their projects and still have four classes.

My beginning class started last night. I had those thoughts of “why am I putting myself through this again.” But about the time that they all started to get the knit stitch and realize the difference between it and the purl stitch, I remembered why I love teaching beginning knitting so much. I told them that they get to be my victims for these six weeks while I have the opportunity to “force” my love of knitting on them. They found my comment pretty amusing. I think they are all going to do well. A couple of them, I had to remind to relax, which I think will come with time.

I’ve mostly worked on my shawl from the Interlacements yarn. I worked several hours this weekend trying to wind the yarn into a ball. I didn’t have the swift tightened enough so it collapsed when I was trying to wind the yarn, which ended up as a big tangle of yarn. So I’m winding at least 800 yards by hand. Oh well, it’s been relaxing to work it all out, it’s like a big puzzle. I made a ton of progress this weekend and should have it all wound in the next few days. I have about 8 inches to go on my shawl. Then I really need to get my butt in gear and work on Christmas gifts! Here’s my Christmas to-do list: Mom’s shawl, Meredith’s scarf, Aunt Nan’s scarf and hopefully, socks for Dad and Grandpa.