Me and my bright ideas

I'm in a great KAL called the Monthly Dishcloths. Twice a month, fabulous organizer Andi releases a new pattern just a few lines a day. The first one is a picture and the second is a pattern. That's the background to my story.


Just two days into the August mid-month cloth, I was so enamored with what was emerging that I thought it would make a great scarf. I just happen to have some fabulous fingering weight yarn from my good friend Holly Jo (who lives in Alaska and tells great stories about life up North). I thought it would be cool to do both the cloth and the scarf at the same time using the same needles. I had even started writing the blog brag in my head. As athlete after athlete learned over the last two weeks - don't count the gold medals until the race is over...



I launched into the project, adding some beads to make it fancy (sent over awhile ago by my friend Lisa in Saratoga - just a wonderful coincidence that they matched the yarn perfectly).



On day three of the pattern I began to realize that the pattern wasn't coming out quite as I had expected. It's pretty and it will make a great dishcloth. It might even make a great scarf with the right yarn and needles. But mine wasn't coming out as I pictured it.




I think I've hit a new level in knitting because I'm actually okay with this. I don't mind the "lost" knittng time. Maybe I should have waited until I was further along on the cloth before trying it on a scarf, but still it was interesting to see how differently the same pattern came out with the two yarns on the same needle size.


On a completely unrelated note - is anyone else eager for school to start? Does this make me a bad parent? I love my children, at least I say I do, but I feel an inordinate amount of joy at the thought of them having a regular schedule and a place to be other than my office every day. I feel like the living embodiment of the Staples commercial.


And on a completely different note - see that clean surface? No papers, no books, no children's toys. At last, I have dug through the piles that cluttered my studio/office. Admittedly some of the piles are in the hall and guest bedroom awaiting proper disposition, but still - this room is clean! I credit the Fly Lady and her "you can do anything in 15 minutes" mantra - it may take several days or weeks (or months) of 15 minutes at a time - but it works. It really works. If you know anyone who is trying to clean or organize or get out from under the piles tell them you heard about this lady, a self professed messie who thought it was impossible, until she did it. Now the real challenge - keeping it this way! I give everyone carte blanche to randomly ask me at some future point in time if my desk is clean -- we'll see. Maybe this time....