wow. it is already october...weird...
well, i believe i mentioned the thanksgiving cousin christmas exchange that happens every year and the whole beret thing. well, i finished the beret! huzzah! you can see it here.
it was a mildly frustrating experience for a couple of reasons. first, my increases and decreases were done without any appropriately used stitch markers. (i have since finally figured out how they work. i'm a tad slow on the uptake sometimes.) so that was frustrating and caused the whole thing to be mildly lopsided. second, somehow managed to drop two stitches without noticing until four rows later. (on the upside, learned what to do about that...sorta.) third, i could not for the life of me figure out how to remove the provisional cast on. more on that in a minute. fourth, i completely finished the before realizing i had used the wrong size needles on the brim, which made it look...well... the only description i can come up with i'd rather not admit to. if you really want to know, please ask as it is mildly humorous if not terribly awkward. anyway, i had to remove it without completely destroying the rest of the beret, which was only managed by pure luck when i somehow managed to unwittingly discover how to remove the provisional cast on which shouldn't have been there at that point to start with. huzzah for happy accidents!! well, all that to say that it is done and looks pretty decent, all things considered.
so, now that what absolutely had to be done before thanksgiving is, i've started working on things i have more time for (everything else). i don't think i've shared this yet, but this is to be a year of hats. everyone is getting head gear. hats are generally fairly quick and not too complicated, making them excellent gifts.
i started the first of will turn out to be three to five identical hats (we'll see how many actually happen) almost two weeks ago and it is going rather slowly, much to my chagrin. it is kind repetitive right now. i need to just sit down with a movie and go for a few hours without having to think. that usually works fairly well for the tedious repetitiveness, we'll see.
anyway, all the thoughts about christmas (which yes, i realize, is still two months away) have been reminding me of not only the family and friends on my "to knit" list, but also of the kids that our non-profit takes care of. i mean, if i keep up the pace and really focus, i could be done with my christmas "to knit" list before thanksgiving. after that, i can start working through my stash and get a few things made for some of them.
after all, is it not (almost) the season to think of others? yes, i completely agree that we should keep the spirit of generosity and love alive and kicking throughout the year. however, this is the time of year that reminders of the spirit are prevalent. anyway, that's not the point. i know that i love receiving anything from others that i can tell came from their heart. why wouldn't a group of kids that have had it especially hard not enjoy the same thing? plus giving from the heart is something we should always be doing. after all, is that not what happened with Jesus on a regular basis. eating with the poor and associating with the lowly not because he was supposed to, but because he loved them with his whole heart and spirit. i know that i want to love like that. i also know that i probably have a long way to go, personally, before i am fully capable of doing so properly, without selfishness or anger or...i don't know exactly. i don't think i have those at the moment. i guess God's the only one that knows for sure. we humans have a tendency to convince ourselves that we are doing things for only the right reasons. i mean, think about it...hitler is an excellent example.
anyway, all that to say that i think i'm going to challenge myself to work on that. giving with everything i've got in me. wish me luck and lend me a prayer, i'm going to need it. i'll keep you posted.
