Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Nine: Hot and Bothered

It is hot. Far too hot. Far far far too hot to be roaring around clearing the floors (as I spent yesterday doing) so the carpet cleaners who could only come today on short notice, can Deep Down Clean with STEAM. Perhaps if we boost the indoor humidity level just a little more, we could create our very own miniature weather system, complete with Severe Storm Warnings.

Never mind that, we need a Severe Mom Warning, because while I make myself dizzy and miserable with overheated household exertion, the kiddos undo my handiwork with equally committed effort. As in "Mooooommmm, you can't throw away that scrap of paper with old food stuck to it because It's Precious To Me," and "we NEED to upend this box of overpriced plastic building materials and play with it Right Now." I swear, I am transmogrifying into Molly Weasley. You know how usually women hear echoes of their mothers when they nag their kids? I sound exactly like Molly. "You could have DIED" - I've actually said that. I just need to start work on a couple of monogramed jumpers for Christmas and the transformation will be complete. In my defence, I must point out that my DD could give Fred and George a serious run for their money.

Every so often, I did have a little sit down with a glass of ice water and the twine.


I noticed the error in the early lace rounds.... early. And I did not rip at first, because the sensible, not-obsessive part of me pointed out that this was a prototype, and also a grocery bag made of TWINE, not handpainted baby camel tummy fur, and once the big tub of blueberries from the farmers market stains it irrevocably It Won't Matter. The slightly more neurotic aspect of my psyche pointed out that it is virtually certain that, while I am traipsing through Whistler looking oh-so-Bohemian-chic (yes, Charity is absolutely correct!) with the bottle of wine and the crusty artisanal bread and the plump aubergines nestled in my handknit grocery bag, someone will ask wherever did I get such a handsome and functional bag, and I will modestly admit to making it, and then they will look at it closely and ask "is it supposed to be all crooked at the bottom like that?" And I will be shamed beyond measure. So........

Now that I can spread it out flat, I notice that the centre bulges slightly in a nipplish sort of way, despite having followed the "doubling on rounds 2, 4, 8, 16 etc." rule. I don't have to rip that section however, because it is an interesting exercise in three dimensional mathematical modelling, as opposed to the other, which was just a Grievous Error. Also, I'm sure a 4L jug of milk will block it out nicely.

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Thanks to all for the lovely compliments on the quilt blocks - I hope to get back to making more once we are settled. Regarding the roundabout tank - I fervently hope that LeeAnn's belief in the power of tallness to compensate for horizontal design features is justified. I have by no means given up on it, but I think I will set it aside for a few days, because in my present frame of mind I am likely to make the sort of mistakes which really will make me hate it forever. Hopefully I can bring myself to finish it before we move, because knitting projects take up an awful lot more space when they are still in progress.