My kids always know I’m upset when I start cleaning. My son has internalized this…when I start cleaning, he starts cleaning around me. He is, by nature and by birth order, the youngest. He is a pleaser. And he adores me…which is, dare I say, mutual. He also HATES when I am upset. So…he works to make me happy. There are things about this which I absolutely love.
There is also a certain amount of guilt which accompanies it.
When they spend the weekend away from me…and something throws me for a loop…sometimes, I clean. Sometimes I craft. This weekend…there have been a few loops thrown. All that energy has gone toward crafting or Christmas planning while they have been away…I have wished for Bryson to be by my side as I’ve worked through the frustration. Since he’s not here, I currently have six different projects started on the dining room table alone. I thought I would share one…since, after all, it is a pin. And…it’s a simple one. Really. If you have even the slightest inkling toward knitting, you could absolutely do this. There is one stitch involved…a simple knit. There are tutorials all over the internet (youtube’s knit witch is pretty fantastic–she may have a tutorial there for every single knit stitch known to man. I don’t know. I watched her cast on, cast off, knit, yarn over, and knit two together. That was plenty for this project.). Here’s the link to the pattern for Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth. I used size 10 needles (6mm) and about 1/2 a ball of peaches and cream white yarn. I figure I have about 90 cents into it. And a little over an hour.
Perfect for when I want to get something useful done quickly.
And goodness knows, when you knit…or at least when I knit…I want it to go quickly. I only added stitches until I had 40 on the needle, but because I used larger needles…it’s probably about the same size as if you’d used the smaller needles and gone to 44. I like the looser knit (and I couldn’t find my smaller needles…and I was too impatient to wait until I did). The end result measures 8″ x 8″ –a small dishcloth size. You’ll notice I missed a stitch on the very bottom…darn yarn over. I made up for it in the next row, but it didn’t mesh perfectly. That’s the downside to knitting for me…you can’t just frog it. You have a lot more work to do to back up and fix it. I’m a…meh-I-don’t-really-care kind of knitter.
It’s why I don’t make clothing.
It’s also why I appreciate crochet. 🙂
But…these make awesome gifts. I’m going to throw a few more together tomorrow before I pick up the cherubs, I think. 🙂
Gosh, I can’t wait till they’re home.
All Is Grace 