Knitting? What Knitting?

Fine. OK.

Knitting Content
I finished the fourth dishcloth. You didn't even know I was knitting dishcloths, didja? Well, I am. I got hooked on the Ballband pattern—oh wait, that makes five, sorry, Xmas gifted—then the Mason Dixon ones, the mitered and the ninepatch (too tired to link, just google it) and it was a great excuse to learn a new technique, do some "mindless" knitting (sorta but not really) and use up all that Peaches & Cream. Where on EARTH—no, HOW on Earth—did I come to have so much of that stuff?

Well, anyway. Worked on that at Insanknitty last night. YES I finally made it and glad I did, too, because Karen, SarahLou and Becky were there! OtherKaren was noticeably absent. A good time was had by all, and I pet some of the softest yarn ever (whose name I've purposely blanked out on so as to avoid the temptation).

I've also hesitantly begun on the first Caitlin, using stash Ack (Caron Simply Soft, yes, I know) and so far so good. The only thing is, it's worsted and the pattern calls for Gems Sport. Then again, perhaps it will save me in the end, because it's likely to come out larger than the size I'm doing, meaning the grandniece can have room to grow into it.

In addition, I've decided that the reason I've put off formally starting my CPH (yes, I am the Admin for the KAL, why do you ask?) is because I find the yarn I chose to be quite daunting since it is a self-patterning (I think) brown and teal yarn (Di.Ve Autunno):



I want the striping to not be so striped (like on the right) and be more of a graduated tone (like on the left) and couldn't figure out how to do it and match with the fronts...

So I'm putting off doing a sweater in the Di.Ve Autunno for now. Instead, I'm going to do it in the pretty Old Sage Lamb's Pride Single Ply Worsted that has been sitting in my stash for (I shit you not) 15 years (am I really *that* old?). I'd taken a beginning knitting class, and felt confident enough to try my first sweater. Bought the yarn, pattern, started it, got about six inches into the back... and there it sat.

The problem? The pattern I'd chosen, which looked terrifying to me at first because it involved reading a *gasp* chart, became yawningly boring after the first repeat because it was nothing but knits and purls. It's a nice pattern, really—stockinette background broken up by an all-over texture of a couple rows of maybe 12 purls (garter rows), kind of a waffle effect. I just couldn't stand to knit it. I'm much happier doing finger gymnastics like slip stitches and cables in between miles of stockinette.

But first, I had to make sure I'd have enough yarn. Nine skeins? Not likely. While at Yarn Haven last night, I checked the stash of Lamb's Pride and can you believe it? Not only do they have the color, but there is no need for dyelot because the scrap I brought matched the current Old Sage PERFECTLY. I figure I'll start the sweater, see how far a skein goes, and buy more in a few weeks.

Other Stuff
Today was taken over by horses—time for their feetie trims. I wish it had been as warm as it was yesterday, but I'm not complaining. It was still much nicer than the typical January trim (usually I freeze to death). The horses look great, all fuzzy and whiskery. It occurred to me that Cheerios is 11 now and Shaveya is 10. I've been a horse owner for seven years come February. Wow.

The best news is, Shaveya is doing so well that she is officially ready to be ridden again. Granted, we'll start off slowly—maybe 10 or 15 minutes at a walk only—but as long as she's fine the next day after that, she's good to go. Of course, I won't be hopping on right away—we need to get our relationship up to par first. I've been concentrating on Cheerios while she healed. Now, I have TWO horses to play with, and they have opposite personalities. This should be a fun year!

In Manifestation News, I decided to try an experiment. I conjured up the image of something to see how long it takes to manifest into my life. I'm talking something small and simple. I decided I want to manifest (not to have, just to see) a bright pink VW Bug with a yellow 70's daisy (a big honkin' flower) on the "hood" (I know, the trunk is in front in those things). It doesn't have to be an actual automobile. It can be a toy, an image in advertising, on a t-shirt, whatever, even a cartoon, as long as it is a bright pink VW Bug car bearing a big honkin' yellow daisy flower on the, er, hood.

I focused on my image over breakfast.

On the drive to the barn, I passed...

A bright shiny RED VW bug.

On the way in, I passed...

Another bright shiny RED VW bug.

I rounded a corner for home, and passed...

A YELLOW VW bug.

In town running errands, I spied a second yellow bug, but this one had a ragtop.

THEN I saw a SILVER VW bug.

But no bright pink with yellow daisy yet.

YET.

My initial reaction: Dangit! That one's red! It's supposed to be pink! What am I doing wrong?

My second reaction: Well, wait a minute. I did manifest a VW Bug. And pink is the dilution of red. So at least I'm aligned with VW Bug energy. So... does this mean it's a sign I'm on the right track?

My third reaction: Maybe this is why things don't seem to manifest quite right in my life just yet. Something is blocking me from manifesting it properly. I can manifest "VW Bug", I can even manifest exactly the color of yellow paint the flower should be, and pink is close to red, but... I have yet to manifest "pink" "yellow" "VW Bug" AND "flower" all at once.

Things that make you go Hmmmmmmmm.

I'll let you know when I see my bug.

******UPDATED TO ADD******
Is it cheating that I broke down and searched the Interwebs? Or...






The Daisy People

...or, is it a lesson? I put it out there, then sort of sat back and waited for it to appear. Kept my awareness up, but wasn't searching obsessively for pink daisy-covered Bugs. I got Bugs, close, but no cigar.

Then I got impatient, and decided to search. I found several examples close enough to pass for my vision. The toy/bank in the second and third photo is what I envisioned, except swap the colors in the daisy.

What is the lesson? (It's a big one.)

In the first instance, I was hoping to see one. But not expecting.

In the second instance, I went out looking for it with great determination, I was Googling/searching, so I expected to find some results pretty similar to what I was looking for.

I knew that there had to be at least one pink VW bug bearing a yellow and white daisy on the "hood" somewhere in this big old world and that someone had to have photographed it and posted it online. Might take some digging, but I knew I'd turn up something eventually IF I searched the right terms. My first search was just for the bug. When I added "image", I narrowed it down and got better results. But mostly...

I realize that MY ATTITUDE was different. Hoping didn't produce the right results. Expecting, then going out and consciously and intentionally looking for it, brought me within 99%.

I must go watch Project Runway and dwell on this lesson for a bit because I know that if I can figure out how to translate it into my real life, rather than Google searches, I can start to manifest things more easily.

---

Labels: horses, Law of Attraction, WIP

posted by Jeanne @ 9:04 PM