Like Father Like Daughter

My dad was quite a bit older than me. He was 48 when I was born. In retrospect, I was very fortunate to have an older dad, even if I did lose him earlier than most of my friends. He retired when I was in second grade. I spent after school time with him every day. He taught me how to cook all those Italian recipes my Nana taught him. And instilled in me a passion for gardening, although I don’t believe I’ll ever top his tomatoes.
My dad, however, was famous for losing his glasses. He’d sit in his chair reading the daily paper – a ritual for him – and eventually would doze off for a bit of a nap. He’d wake up a few minutes later and wouldn’t be able to locate his glasses. Did they fall on the floor? No. In between the cushions? No. Under the chair? Not there either. Finally, he’d give up and find one of us. “Have you seen my glasses?” he’d ask, half annoyed and half frustrated. We’d burst out laughing. “Uhm, yes, I’m looking at them right now”. You see, dad would fall asleep with his glasses firmly placed on his head.
We’ve often joked with our mom that she’d pick up this habit someday. But apparently this affliction is genetic because he’s passed it on to me.
I’ve been using dpn’s for one of my new projects (more on that later). While I was busy knitting the phone rang and I had to run into the other room to get it. I must have taken the needles with me when I answered the phone. When I came back I couldn’t find them anywhere. Not on the floor. Not in the cushions. Not under the couch. Clearly, I had concluded, Isabella took them. Damn cat. Luckily I only need 2 dpn’s, so I just took out two more from the package and went along knitting.
In the evening I was cleaning the bedroom and leaned forward to pick up some laundry. And out slipped the 2 dpn’s. I had a good chuckle, and realized that I have inherited more than just his firey temper and love for cooking and gardening. It feels nice to see bits and pieces of dad in me and my brother. So I’ll happily keep this trait, and giggle to myself a bit each time I take out the dpn’s.
Dori
So yes, my lack of focus has created a few new projects here. The first is called “Diamond Pullover” from the latest Vogue Knitting. I’ve picked a beautiful hand-dyed ribbon from Berrocco called Zen. I thought the name was rather boring so I’ve renamed her Dori. Do for Domino knitting. Ri for ribbon.

red and pink and orange oh my!

Lost Points Shawl
The second new projects is the store sample I mentioned yesterday. It’s the Lost Points Shawl by Soy Silk. I picked the all white colorway. There’s less than 50 rows on this. Sounds easy, right? Rows 1-26 have approx 155 stitches. The rest of the rows are done in the round by picking up stitches around rows 1-26. So you end up with over 300 stitches at that point. I’m done with the first set of increases – half of the hexagon center.

I’ve never really knitted with novelty yarn before. I gotta tell ya – this ladder stuff makes for S-L-O-W knitting. But since it’s a shop sample I’ll probably be more motivated to get it done. People always get more excited when they see a sample, right?