Humidity is not my friend, but it’s everywhere lately, creepy crawling up my neck into my hair, curling it like a wig harpo; making me wear a sweat moustache, reducing my careful grooming to a pile of naught in seconds flat.
So, I huddle indoors and even though the AC is a true blessing, in a weird way, it’s like being cabin bound in the winter time by snow. This time it’s by thunderstorms and the moist curtains of air they leave behind.
And I’m crawling those walls! Here in the Midwest, we wait all the frigid winter to be boiled alive in the sweltering summer. Every winter you forget the summer; every summer, you quickly remember the vile, vile, air of the metropolis.
But there is Something coming out of this confinement: I’ve been compelled to “air out” and freshen the indoors as much as possible. So, I’ve been trying to throw away at least one thing a day to hone the melange of stuff I’ve surrounded myself with. Gail Blanke, the throwaway guru, calls clutter “Life plaque” a cringe-worthy but illuminating thought. She proposes that you gain momentum and energy the more you free yourself from the useless things that might be surrounding you.
I have to say, it feels Good! There goes an old couch pillow; how about that old cell phone(s) (recycle), those useless picture frames, those slightly musty beach sandals! Gone. And good riddance.
(But how about instead of throwing away the unloved, half-bottles of shampoo, per her advice, use it to wash some sweaters?!)
In this vein, there’s been digging in the workbaskets, too.
I’ve finished up my cotton Cerisara (end weaving and blocking looms) and went in search of a project, which around here is much like going to an orchard and plucking ripe fruit from low-hanging trees.
Above, you see my in-progress TWIST cardi, started, drumroll please: JULY 28, 2009. (That, my friends, is either ironic or pathic, or as I’d like to think, epic.) This little number has been marinating for a whole year and its time has come once again! There are two sleeves and the Left Front already in-waiting and I’ve gotten even further this weekend. Am up to the underarm BO area.
Sorry. That’s really a terrible joke, isn’t it, but just the nature of the humidified brain.
What else has been lanquishing? To the right, a beautiful turquoise partial sleeve in gogerous mercerized cotton. The main part of this sweater is finished but will the sleeve grow into more or is it just a random piece of lace for the ages? Who knows. Its too hot to call.
Ah, but that slightly yellow-hued horseshoe shape is very interesting and probably will go far. Prototypes made with luscious Rowan yarn tend to have more of a siren call.
But really going to the limit will be the WIP that’s last in line: my navy cotton stole. Now that I’ve finished the Cerisara sweater, it’s my steady diet of yarn overs and chart love — always need a lace project to balance out the more simple things not even in the picture…
It’s certainly been a hot one this summer! I do feel like it’s winter all over again with being “stuck” in the AC. I know here in Cleveland we’ve already had 11 days over 90, with more to come this week. Last year we only had 5 ALL summer! sigh………………
I would much rather be stuck in the snow than in the heat — heat leaves me entirely devoid of ambition, energy and enthusiasm. Loved the comment about life plaque. We are going through a major remodel and I am forcing myself to cull, to donate, to sell and to let go. It truly is liberating. Jo
P.S. I am knitting Cerisara and loving it!
Love the image of plucking fruit! It makes my pile of WIPs a positive image!! Thanks
Here in Georgia, it’s been in the 90’s with a heat index in the 100’s because of the high relative humidity (84% today)–so, I am feeling you. Just walking from my car to the building where I work, I sweat through my shirt, and sometimes even my underwear. Yes, nothing like soggy-butt to get the work day off to a good start.
Good to know, I’m not the only one with a wip problem, though your wips, I must admit, are prettier than mine (I’m still a relative newbie to the knitting thang).
I enjoyed stopping by and looking through your blog and patterns!
One year isn’t too long for a sweater. I know I have at least three or four that are in the 1.5 years and up range, including one that I just need to finish and donate because I’m a no where near the same size.
Hanging your WIP up like that makes them look so clean & organized. It makes me think I should have more WIP on the needles so that I can choose my projects by my mood, like I do with my books.