I went to Joanne’s Saturday in search of fabric for a my Katies’ Halloween costume. She has decided that she wants to be a hotdog. As I filled my cart with pink vinyl, sparkling relish beads, and mustard yellow 3D fabric paint, Halloween filled my mind, but the cheery plaid tins and glittery blue stars reminded me that Hannukah is just 45 days away, and Christmas just 60. My stomach lurched a little. We are at the top of the annual holiday roller coaster knitters the world over are planning and casting on projects for gift-knitting. In the shop I offer a silent prayer that everything goes as it should in the complicated web that links knitter, project, recipient, and time. Like so many things in life, gift knitting is complicated. An investment of our most valuable of our assets, personal time and energy – knitting for another is filled with emotion and expectation. It is, for us, a tangible expression of our deep affection for the recipient.
A hand-knit gift is wonderful and eminently doable. Choose something
Warren Buffet is famously quoted as saying, If you don’t know jewels, know your jeweler. My mother said similar things regarding all sorts of professionals. From butchers to car mechanics, if you are not an expert, find someone who is, and put your trust in them. The true professionals have a great deal of pride in their work and take genuine pleasure in helping you—in educating you, really, in that beautiful intersection of your interest and their expertise. The charlatans who knowingly dupe you are especially vile, but the amateurs who accidentally mess you up can be just as bad.
I see this on Ravelry all the time. As I often say, the wonderful things about Ravelry is that anyone can be a designer, but the really bad thing about Ravelry
I met my friend, Kathleen in college when she rushed my sorority and ultimately became my little sister. Pretty much inseparable, we easily snagged the best Big/Little pair title. Almost forty years later, we are still close. She is smart and funny, and beautiful, or in my sons’ vernacular, smokin’ hot. She always looks good and pulled together, and a big part of that is her wardrobe. It would be easy to imagine that she can just put on anything and look great, but that’s not the case. She is very much aware of her body and what flatters it – and what doesn’t.
Kathleen can move through a store either scooping up a dozen things that all look great, or coming away with nothing at all. . It’s fascinating to watch. All I
Sometimes my worlds collide in the strangest ways. At one of their last Sunday breakfasts together, my two boys sat drinking coffee, having laid waste to an enormous pile of pancakes and bacon. They were both a little pensive. Colton, about the four years ahead, and Johnny about the four years behind.
Rubbing the stubble of his unshaved chin Johnny said, “Man, I wish I was in your place, Colton, just going off to college. I wish I could do it all over again. I would have done things so differently.
“I’m not gonna lie,” Colton said, “I’m definitely worried about the work in college. What if I can’t do it? What if it’s too hard for me?”
“Just go to class, and do your homework, “ Johnny advised, getting up for another cup. Yeah, I mean the start of anything is always going to be hard, and there is always going to be a learning curve. If you recognize that, and change your
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