Housekeeping, Hats and Hugs

Last weekend I decided to revive a habit that I developed when I was living in Pawcatuck: comb through all my belongings and cull out things that I don't want, need or enjoy. I don't shop much, but it seems like Stuff just makes its way into my house. I'm not exactly sure where this attitude came from, but I find that having a lot of Stuff brings me a lot of stress. I see the books sitting unread on the shelf and feel anxious. I see the kitchen supplies that I literally have not touched since I unpacked them and feel anxious. In just a quick sweep of the apartment I found 6 canvas tote bags worth of Stuff to donate! Stuff is denoted with a capital "S" and italics because in my mind it takes on its own personality and becomes almost like a presence in my life... an unwelcome, annoying presence. Like someone microwaving fish in the kitchen at work. As opposed to just regular stuff that sits around and minds its own business.


I toyed with the idea of purging the craft room, but decided that I should wait until after I finished all my holiday crafting. Whatever is left after December is fair game for the chopping block...


A few more hats have found their way off my needles. The red hat came out a bit larger than expected, mainly because I didn't knit a swatch and just guessed about how many stitches to cast on. I'm thinking I may try to felt it a bit, just to resize it.

In an attempt to be spontaneous, I made this striped hat with random bits of pink yarn. The biggest challenge for me was not falling into the habit of changing colors every third row. When it comes to crafting, and various other parts of my life, randomness is a forced behavior for me. I tend to lean towards structure and organization (shocker, I know).

The blue rolled-brim hat was super quick to knit since there was no carrying over of multiple colors. But I didn't read the directions very carefully (I was supposed to use a smaller needle for the rolled part) so the brim is a bit looser than it should be. Still, I think if I iron it a little it should keep its form alright.

On Tuesday my super-hero of a friend, John, stopped by on his way to his new post in Hawaii. He rocked Navy dive school and is now off to work with the Navy Seals. When I first met John, 15 years ago at Camden County High School, he was a scrawny theatre freak with long hair. I never would have pegged him as going into the military, but it seems to suit him well. Harley was excited to have a guy in the house, but showed amazing restraint. I've worked with her to train her to keep her paws on the floor and off of humans, so John had to really coax her into giving him some sugar.