Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Hilarious, Heroic, Human Dog

I have a tale in this recent Chicken Soup for the Soul books:

https://smile.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-Hilarious-Companionship/dp/1611590787/ 

My tale is called "Gypsy," and it's a story about my rat terrier and how she appointed herself my guardian, companion and entertainer. You can find it on page 88.

 

 

 

And if you're a dog lover, I also have a nice dog tale in another Chicken Soup book: 


Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons from the Dog: 101 Tales of Family, Friendship & Fun

 It tells the story of my childhood beagle named Kleo, and how his faithfulness went beyond all expectations.

 

What is a stash, and why do you have one/need one?

 Lots of knitters have what they call a "stash" of yarn. It may just be a closet with a few shelves of yarn, or it might be an entire "craft room," devoted to the arts of knitting, crocheting, perhaps beads for certain patterns, or tatting.

This tends to lead the husband to say, "Why are you buying more yarn? You've got a ton  of it in your craft room." Just like the sheep on a t-shirt I bought at a sheep and wool festival--three female sheep are knitting together. Meanwhile, in the background, a male sheep is walking out with his suitcases in his hands. One of the female knitters says to the other, "It's his own fault. He told her, it's the stash or him." 

That pretty much says it all...we fiber artists don't consider our stashes as simply an overgrown collection of yarns in all the various colors, sizes, weights, and let's not leave out the many different feels of various yarn. A dyed-in-the-wool (haha) fiber artist will also touch a yarn that appeals to her, not just look at the color or weight. We may or may not ever use a particular yarn skein, but just looking at it, and stroking it is enough.

Of course, we DO buy yarn sometimes with a particular project in mind, and that's okay too. That does give us a ready answer to the "Why do you need more yarn? question from the husbands. 

We simply say, "See this sweater pattern? I'm going to make this.  So I DO use my stash." And then stick out our tongues.

Try to think of your stash as a "collection." For example, in addition to my yarn stash, I collect antique ladies' compacts, giraffes, and tarot decks. Like the yarn, they are pretty to look at and delightful to hold. They can cheer me up on a tough day, and shopping for new additions to my collections gives me great pleasure.

So don't feel guilty about YOUR yarn stash...just think of it as a giraffe. :-)

SECRET SANTA YARN KIT

This dratted pandemic is sure lasting longer than I expected. It's changed my life in so many ways. One of the ways is a small thing, but irritating. That is, I can no longer go to my local yarn store to buy yarn, choose a pattern, find the size knitting needles I need, or go to a knit-along with other knitters. And you crocheters are in the same boat.

Of course, I could pull something out of my stash to work on...one of the many UFOs in my craft room. But usually I had put them aside when I got bored with them, and they're unlikely to have improved in that respect while sitting in a corner.

Frustrated, I have been wracking my brain for something unique to do with yarn. Then it occurred to me: I remembered one year, perhaps ten or twelve years ago, when one of the yarn stores participating in the annual Sheep & Wool Festival had lovely knitting bags filled with a wide variety of yarn...different colors, different weights, different textures. They also included a pattern for a "Goddess Shawl," but you weren't obligated to make that pattern. 

It was wonderful to take a chance on a bag full of yarn that I might never have picked out for myself, but something about it called to me. I made a shawl using all the yarns in the bag...pinks, browns and oranges, fake fur yarn, multi-color ribbon yarn. It was a lot of fun, and it's the most unique shawl I own.

My two adult daughters and my sister were in the same boat now...knitters and crocheters, without being able to shop for supplies in person. And yes, there is always shopping by mail. But we fiber fanatics like to look at the yarn in person, touch it, maybe put it to our cheek, before we choose. Online yarn stores are a nice alternative if you can't get to a physical store to shop, but definitely second best.

Then I remembered those surprise yarn kits and thought, "Why can't we do this amongst the four of us?" I proposed it, and my two daughters and my sister were quite enthusiastic about the idea. One daughter suggested a "Secret Santa" event where each of us would buy for another person. For this, we needed my husband to match the four of us so no one would know who they'd been chosen by. Or as he put it, he was "Fulfilling my role as impartial-chooser-of-names-from-a-hat." I love it!

We've decided to give a few guidelines to each other. They include "Knitting or Crocheting or Surprise me?" "favorite colors," and "items you'd be interested in making." We also included a spending limit, and decided though it's only February right now, aiming at Christmas would give us plenty of time to come  up with a bagful of goodies. It's an exciting activity, and we are all looking forward to Christmas this year with extra-special joy.

So, do YOU have any special fiber-related activities? Do share!

A Blessing in Disguise?

 

How many of you are getting totally bored with staying home with the kids, working from home, not being able to eat out at a restaurant or go to a movie? Raise your hands. This darn Covid virus has changed many of the ways we live our lives, and since it's an inanimate object--or at least, it's alive but dumb as a post--we can't reason with it or bribe it to go away. All we can do is hope for an effective vaccine, and try not to go nuts in the meantime. So, we're left trying to find ways to entertain ourselves. and our kids or whomever we still have contact with. Here are a few suggestions for what to do with your time when you get bored.

Suggestion #1: Think about something you've always wanted to learn how to do, a hobby, but you didn't have time. Well, now you do! Order the supplies you need for watercolor painting, woodworking, or baking an extravagant wedding cake. While you're at it, order a "how-to" book to help you get started on your new activity. When you're done, post pictures on your blog.

Suggestion #2: Write a series of love poems to the special someone in your life. Print them out on pretty paper, enclose in a fancy folder, and present them to your sweetheart over a delicious homemade dinner. I guarantee, it will become an heirloom that will be viewed with delight for many, many years.

Suggestion #3: Learn to play an instrument. There are several instruments that you can teach yourself to play. For instance, you can order a recorder online: https://smile.amazon.com/Soprano-Recorder-Instrument-Cleaning-Instruction/dp/B07672X8KR/ . It's easy to learn on your own and comes with instructions. If you have kids, buy recorders for them, too and you can play duets!

Suggestion #4: Decide you're going to read all of Shakespeare that you can set your hands on, or Chaucer, or all the Sherlock Holmes stories. Even more fun: recruit some friends or relatives to read the same things that you do, so you can discuss the books with them as you progress. You'll never be sorry you did.

Suggestion #5: Go to your local hardware store and pick up a couple gallons of indoor paint, plus paintbrushes, paint trays, and masking tape. Use it to paint one room in your house, changing the atmosphere and feel of that room. And who knows?...when you're finished with that room, you might decide to do another...and another.

Suggestion #6: If you know how to knit or crochet, create something special, something you ordinarily wouldn't make. Perhaps a knitted lace dress for your friend's new baby, or a crocheted shawl made of cashmere or alpaca yarn. The fancier it is, the more you'll enjoy wearing it, or giving it away to a good friend. When you're done, post pictures on your blog.

These are just a few thoughts. I'm sure you can come up with many more. There's no reason to be bored, even under the current social distancing circumstances. Go for the gold!

Masking and Washing and Six Feet Away, Oh My!

Normally I write about knitting and/or crocheting in this space. But what with the world turned inside out from the coronavirus, it's become not only difficult to amuse yourself or hang out with others...it's actually dangerous and life-threatening. People are told to wear masks (and gloves) when they go out, and to keep the socially acceptable distance from person to person of 6 feet. But do they? Noooooo.

I've heard teens and twenty-somethings say, "I don't need a mask. I'm healthy and young. I won't get the virus. Or if I do, I will fight it off."

Of course, going along with that belief means you think the masks are to protect YOU. But of course they're not--they are there to protect everyone ELSE from you.

Or they say, "I won't catch it. No one I know has it."

Ah, but you can be contagious days before you show other symptoms...so that excuse won't hold water.

Or they say, "If there are people out there whose health is poor, they should stay indoors with a mask on. Why should I have to suffer to keep them safe?

Because WE'RE ALL ON THE SAME PLANET TOGETHER, DUMMY!

Oy.

Liz Can't Knit

Lately I've been having no end of trouble with knitting and crocheting. I have been knitting since I was 5 and crocheting since I was 13, and taught myself to tat at around 16. So you'd expect me to be pretty good at it, wouldn't you? And until recently, that was true.

But suddenly it seems I can't figure out patterns...they come out with too many or too few stitches, or the wrong row(s), or the gauge is off, or they just don't look or fit right.

There could be lots of reasons, such as I'm distracted when I work, or I don't do gauge swatches (well, I *don't*), or I'm still making a size 12 when I haven't been that size in...let's just say it's been a long time.

Plus, when I find that there's a mistake in my project, after I've ripped it out, shouting and scowling, and I re-do it only to find out there's another mistaken, at that point I give up and put the project in the "Corner of Shame."

Has this happened to you? If so, what do you do? Frog it, pretend you didn't see the mistake, try to work around it?

All sensible ideas welcome. Heck, all silly ideas too!

Can't Focus, How About You?

I have been having difficulty staying focused on a project long enough to finish it. This has been going on for some time. At first I thought it was my Parkinson's because it made it difficult to keep my hands still. But then a new procedure (okay, brain surgery) fixed the constant, unplanned movements. But I'm still working on, say, 10 or 12 different projects.

I start a new project with the greatest of enthusiasm. I cast on, knit a few rows, and then find I've made a mistake...dropped a stitch, knitted an incorrect stitch, etc. The first few times it happens, I sigh, frog it and start again. But by the time four or five ripouts happens, I give up, toss the offending project in the "Corner of Shame," and start something else.

Or, I don't make any (or many) mistakes, but the project just isn't coming out as I hoped. Maybe the yarn I chose is scratchy or doesn't drape well, or I don't like the color as well as I thought when I bought it, etc. Then there's always the dreaded moment of realization that, because I don't do swatches (I know, my bad), the project is coming out too small. Or way too big. So, into the Corner it goes.

Do you have similar difficulties? If so, what do you do to get yourself back on track? Any secrets you care to share? I'm grateful for any tips you would like to pass along. I thank you and my unfinished projects thank you!