knitting at the coffee shop

So, on Tuesdays Anika and I meet Mary and Ella at Northern Grounds for coffee and knitting.  Some days Anika wants to go and she is a complete angel and other days she would rather play with the cats at home.  Or rather, have the cats run and hide when she starts screaming - our version of hide and seek.  Today was one of those days when she wanted to get outside for a while.  Lucky me!  I need the adult time more than she does. 

She first had a successful nap in her crib while I read her the Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama then came the poopy diaper and outfit change while I multitasked like a crazy woman and heated a bottle, packed up my needlepoint and put my boots on.  The multitasking paid off - we made it to the coffee shop almost on time. 

Why is EVERYTHING trial and error?  You would think that after going to the coffee shop every Tuesday for a month I would know what position the sun is in and how I need to position Anika's car seat cover to block her eyeballs.  If you think a poopy diaper can piss her off, ride in the car with us when the sun shines bright.  I bought the shades that roll down and blockout sunlight - you know the ones - for $15 a pair?  They are crap.  I drive a Subaru and the sunlight does not shine in the side windows.  Oh no.  The sun comes from the back windows.  So last week, I made the trek to Target and bought the shades that just stick onto the window.  Adam and I cut them to shape, washed the windows and pressed them on.  All was fine and dandy when the car was in a heated garage, but you can guess what happened when the temps dropped.  It is winter in Northern Minnesota after all... only one shade (out of 4) is down, but that happened to be where the sun was positioned on our way to the coffee shop this morning.  Poor kid.  She is probably thinking, "We have done this many times mom.  When are you going to stop drinking Jamison in the morning and get your act together?" 

Anyway, we made it to the coffee shop and I got to drink an entire cup of coffee before it got cold AND eat a scone. Anika drank her bottle like a little angel and let out a demure burp and then smiled and cooed.  Seriously.  This behavior makes my stories about her seem unbelievable.  But perhaps that is her master plan. 

knitting knight

Last night was a very successful knitting night. Not only did I get a few inches closer to the top of the hat I am working on, I learned quite a bit about my Third Eye and the 6th chakra. You see, I have been going to acupuncture weekly for a year. Oh yes. A year. Lately, when Jodie places a needle in the middle of my forehead, it fells like she is hitting cardboard which stretches across my left eye. It hurts going in, it aches when I am relaxing on the table, it hurts when the needle is taken out AND it still hurts today - 2 days after the treatment.

So while I was knitting a lavender cable knit hat, Tanya taught me all about my chakras.

The Third Eye is exactly as it sounds - your intuition, wisdom and clear sight.
Signs that your Third Eye is out of balance - passive aggressiveness, flighty, preoccupied

My internet researched course of action for today - drink mint tea, burn saffron incense and practice forward bends, headstands and shavasana. We will see about the headstand...

Knitting is on Tuesdays - anyone can join in...

knit monkey

A little background: my friend Jo, taught me how to knit one snowy February. She taught me how to cast on, knit, purl, change colors and finish a hat. And all of this was done on a round needle. All of this. Since then, about 4 years ago, I have added the I cord, cable knit and casting off. You can create some kick ass hats with all of these skills. Kick ass. I have only knit one thing that was not on a round needle. Jo made me do it. We started a sweater for Ruby, but have not finished.

I do not have pattern reading skills, nor do I really want to read a pattern. Reading a pattern because that means I am not a natural and I need assistance. Learning curves, schmurning curves. I want to be perfect right away. I think knitting should be intuitive.


I wanted to make something special for E and MJ's bambino/a. I asked myself, "which animal seems the most gender neutral?". My scientific answers: a rabbit - girl, a dog - boy, an elephant - boy, a giraffe - boy, but a monkey? A monkey could be for a girl or boy! Shizam! I knew what I must knit. But knitting a monkey is not like knitting a hat. There are legs and arms and ears and a tail to consider. Not intuitive things to knit.

I had to find the right button eyes and bent bamboo needle and stuffing. Do you know what size bag stuffing comes in? JUMBO. I can make 40-50 monkeys with the amount of stuffing I have left over! I do not plan on making even 4 more monkeys. There are too many hours involved to create just one monkey.

I was not motivated to learn to read the pattern, so I avoided it for a long time. In fact, I did not accomplish more than the body (step one) in 6 months. And to top it off, I made parts of it up. Not a good plan. I had to knit the head multiple times - I am talking more than 3. Oh yes.

But now that I have conquered the basic pattern, I am a knitting fool. I have been working on a monkey for a few nights now. While Kevin and I are watching a movie, I have been knitting body parts. The kitties loved when I sewed up the seams and the yarn wagged in their faces. In fact, Dolemite loved the knitting so much, we stole pieces of the monkey when I was not looking. I gave up trying to keep them from him and I turned one bad head attempt (yes, I still had to knit multiple monkey heads for the second monkey) into a mouse. He LOVES it. It is light enough for him to toss around the room by himself and chase. Shiva has tried to play with it, but when she gets too close, he pounces on her.

Next project: a pink, green and brown mousey for her.