Patience is a Virtue

I'm a SQUARE! I'll be wearing a cowboy hat, and travelling in a varying sized pack of knitterlyness. Other identifying markings - large brown with pink knitted shopping bag, not tall, and often confused.

Yesterday while I was in the shower the mail lady came. She left behind a little bit of paper that said I had a registered package that she could not leave behind. It said the sender was "Sweden" (the nation got together and sent me yarn?). But it was 11am. I had a class at noon. The package would not be available until 1pm. My class gets out at 2pm. The PO closes at 4pm. I had to pick up grain. I needed a grocery stop since I, in my inimitable crappy housewife manner, had yet again forgotten to take anything out for supper. Due to the molt and general laziness exuding from my hen house we don't even have eggs, so I could not do my "Look, honey, I PLANNED a quiche, really I did!!" thing. It takes me about 20 minutes to get back into Greenfield from Webs, if I skipped stopping for food (lunch?). Then fifteen minutes for chicken food and fifteen for grocery store and then another twelve or so on back roads into my little home town. So...by 2:50 I should be pulling into the PO, right? If all goes according to plan. Which, of course, it never does.
And it didn't. I got distracted leaving Webs and wasted ten minutes yakking and looking at garments just in from Classic Elite. I then spent five minutes in the parking lot trying to locate the following: keys. mp3 player. cell phone. headset for cell phone. wallet. water bottle. I finally merged onto route 91 only to discover that I had managed to get myself stuck behind a series of progressively slower drivers, all well under the posted 65 MPH speed limit. Then I got off the wrong exit in Greenfield, adding about ten minutes onto the whole "stop for grain and groceries" thing. I had two choices.
Lose my mind.
or
Let it go.
I let it go. I quit, I gave up. The PO, I reasoned, would be there this morning. Miraculously everything shifted. All of a sudden people were going the speed limit. They moved out of my way as if guided by an unseen hand. Slow people disappeared. All-natural chicken was on sale. I arrived at the local PO at about 3:45pm, fifteen minutes before closing. I handed over my little pink slip. That nice boy handed back a box. A cardboard box packed with loving hands and containing things of great delight and bliss.
Inside were two well-packaged kits - one Green Meadow Mitten and one Wild Apple. The Yarn. Oh the yarn is so yummy it makes my fingers itch to look at it. The colors are unreal, and totally not done justice to by crappy camera that hates me (And I hate it. We're not in love. The thing just gets worse. It's going over the bank soon). Now here's a brutal bit of Melissaknits-ness. I will not (and I am saying this publicly, so I have to stick to it)- I will not touch this yarn to knit it until I have completed my personal Radiance, written the pattern for Gail's angora booties, and started the next Colrain project. Inspired, I knit faster.
I also managed to get the little Hitchhiker all ready for Rhinebeck. We are totally good buddies now, bonded, sanded, and finished, although not particularly well. I have a gripe. It is against this PolyShades product by MinWax. I keep trying. I keep thinking to myself "this is better for the environment, right? It's lower in VOC's. It does not require mineral spirits to clean up. It's healthier. I could probably drink it." Someone probably should, because as a consistent, smooth, covering wood finish? It stinks. Note the "artistic" splotchy appearance of my wheel? That's what happens when a girl just gives the heck up and realizes that there is no point. If three coats have been applied and the consistency is still wretched and obscenely splotchy, one has two options - paint it, or "get creative". I went with option two. Remember this is a stain product, so sanding it off is not an option. Hind sight being what it is, I wish I had gone with my original thought which was satin poly over natural wood. I did not have time to oil it properly, and I really wanted to be certain that the laminated wood parts were well and truly sealed in case of rain. But it's cute and it does the job - see?! Fleece from Jacob ewe 'Heart' lightly carded and spun in the grease, and I cannot wait to ply and knit it. Well, maybe I can...I have some Bohus to get to next I think. But I can get it spun in spurts between knitting - a little break. It also makes my hands feel wonderful and I stink like sheep which is about my favorite smell on earth.
Very excited about Rhinebeck - we've got cool printed postcards to hand out announcing the book launch, and pins for the first hundred people who get handed one. But when they're gone, they're gone! Also, if you're around Saturday morning early, there's going to be a bit of a breakfast at a minivan with balloons perched on the hill by the entrance. Come and find us, have a cup of coffee, a bagel, maybe even a mimosa before the show gates open. I am determined to have a kick-off bash of a weekend, heading into the launch in December. It also will be amusing to see if I can stick to my budget. Ready for this? $200 for food, drink and shopping for two days and two nights. If nothing else, it will provide interesting blog fodder on Monday. "Lookit what I didn't buy!"
Look, a FO! A Megan Shawl Collared Cardigan for ME. I even followed my own directions...sort of. I added extra waist shaping to compensate for my curvy-ness and my shortwaisted-ness and also shortened the garment by 2" because I am short - remember, I look like a tomato in anything I wear, and not in the good "Woo, hot tomato" way. I plan to close it with a shawl pin I bought myself recently at the store. Very luminous, more than shows, and lovely. Less green-y, more turquoise. I really have to go eat lunch, and get ready for drop-in, and knit some more, and make my list for tomorrow...pack, I should pack eventually, right?? See you in NY!!