Weekend knitting

Friday. I remember a distant time when this meant my fellow students or co-workers and I could heave a collective sigh of relief at making it through another week.  The glorious prospect of another weekend lay ahead, wide open with unstructured time and generally speaking, it was commitment-free.  (Unless there was a coffee date to go to with a friend, or a party to attend).  These days, now that I'm a mom of 3 preteen-to-teenage girls, Friday is a less reliable commodity.  Some Fridays, the weekend that lies ahead seems even more daunting than the work-week that just passed.  

Here's an example.  My girls each play on a competitive basketball team in our area.  This weekend, one is playing in a city about 5 hours away, from Friday night to Sunday, another is playing about 2 hours away, tonight and tomorrow, and my youngest is playing on Sunday an hour away in the opposite direction.  Not to mention that today the older two have 3 orthodontist appointments between them.  

I'm not complaining; this is typical fare for parents of older kids.  A lot less diaper-changing and spoon-feeding, a lot more driving around and paying for stuff.  Luckily for me, the logistics of the next couple of days have been taken care of by their father, since this is his weekend with the girls.  It's a pretty typical schedule though, and it doesn't leave a lot of time for getting my own stuff done, especially knitting.  (Though I must admit, I get a TON of knitting done while sitting in gyms, watching the actual games.  I recommend a simple pattern, if you're doing this, since I've been known to get distracted, lose track of what I'm doing, and end up having to rip out everything I knit once I've realized my error.  D'oh!)

So when a weekend comes along where I'll actually have time to immerse myself in some quality time with my needles, it's a true indulgence.  Though I don't have the girls with me over the next few days, my partner Patrick's kids are with us, so I'll be a little busier than usual.  I'll definitely do my best to make sure I fit in some knitting time however, and here's what I'll be working on:

I've been working on this Fisherman's Rib Cardigan for my oldest daughter for, um, awhile now.  Bridget picked out the pattern, and it surprised me.  I keep calling it the grandpa cardigan, but Bridget maintains that's this is the knit she wants.  [I can't emphasize this caveat strongly enough: if knitting for an older kid, have them pick out the pattern.  It's a terrible thing to spend a lot of time and money knitting what you believe is a beautiful sweater for someone, and then never seeing that sweater on them, as it languishes at the back of their closet forever.] The cardigan is a larger project and it's been rudely interrupted far too many times by numerous hats and other odds and ends, but now that I'm halfway done the sleeves, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'd like Bridget to be able to wear it this winter, so I need to push to the finish. 

After that, I've promised my middle daughter a pair of mittens.  I'd made a pair of Jared Flood's Woodruff mittens (below left) for myself last year.  Bronwyn wants a similar pair (which will save her from wearing mine all the time!).  She's picked out Kirsten Kapur's Wood Hollow mittens (below right) but so far I've only got the cuff of the first mitten made.  

          

Once those 2 projects are complete, I've got some luscious yarn waiting which I plan to use to make a Colour Affection shawl for me...but I won't let myself get distracted with that project here. Yet. 

What's on your needles this weekend?  Drop us a comment to let us know what you're working on, and how you manage to squeeze in knitting time even when the weekend is non-stop.  

                                                                                       -Hilary