One of those days...

I would describe myself as an optimistic person. I work hard to understand things, and take the brightest spin on what I experience from life. And when I feel a little battered by life, I wonder what I'm supposed to learn from the lessons tripping me up.

Take the last 24 hours, for example. Last night at about this time, I was on my way to bed. I've been working on a gift for my sister-in-law, Gail, involving casting on 648 stitches that are knitted and gradually decreased, then increased back to 648 stitches on the other side. I had reached the final 4 rows nervously watching my ball of yarn, and I realized that I didn't have enough yarn for all 4 rows. It was my second time knitting this item from a different color of the same yarn, so I didn't expect a problem. I didn't really want to go buy another skein of the special Blue Moon Washington State Cougar colors, but I didn't even have that option since I bought the sole skein that arrived in the recent shipment. I left it until this evening, and it is now frogged back to the middle, is back on the needles, and the yarn wound back into a ball. As if the past hours of knitting never even happened.

Then this morning, I was up and anticipating the full day of class with Naomi at Churchmouse Yarn & Tea learning about Color Design and Customized Fair Isle from Janine Bajus. I drove to Naomi's, and in the course of attempting to turn my car around to park leaving room for the gardening to be done while she was gone, I scraped the front bumper of my red car on the white railing. It's amazing how white stands out on red. I expect it to come off without much ado, but still! Good thing she drove downtown from there! No telling what else I might have done.

We did make the ferry to Bainbridge Island by literally running down from Seattle Municipal Tower all the way to the ferry terminal, and we were on time for class. There were gorgeous Fair Isle sweaters displayed throughout the store. My favorite was a vest by Katie Swanson. I asked to buy the pattern, and was told she has never written it as a pattern. I hope she does one day - it's beautiful and I would love to knit it.

The class was intense and informative. Janine has a way of helping us to tap into internal reaches to see things differently and to use what we see in a new way. We each brought a color inspiration and a pattern, and got a bit of a shock at how much work it takes to plan Fair Isle color design. Janine pointed out that designing a sweater body and the pattern are minor compared to choosing successful colors. That was a real wake-up call for me - I've frequently found patterns for sweaters and thought I'd like to knit them in a different color combination. It was never as easy as I thought it would be, and now I know why. She had every Jameson color except Sky for us to sample, and we swatched right there to examine hue and value before winding off yarn to take home and swatch in our individual pattern. I'm swatching for Rosemarkie since I'm still a newbie at Fair Isle, so I'll share my swatches here.

My mom arrived at the shop at 6:30 to take us home for dinner. My dad cooked a great meal and my mom had made a pie - it was quite lovely of them and we all had a nice time. Naomi met my dad for the first time, and commented to me how lucky I am to still have them. She's right. And I'm lucky they live close enough to visit.

Time passed quickly and we suddenly needed to catch our ferry back to Seattle. My dad drove us to the dock, and in getting out of his car, I dropped my purse upside down. I grabbed it and we dashed as we heard the last call for walk-on passengers. We made the ferry, sat down to catch our breaths, then I thought I'd call George to tell him when I'd be home. But I couldn't find my cell phone. I called my dad, who went back to check the sidewalk where I dropped my handbag, and the taxi driver waiting for a fare asked him what he was looking for. When he told her, she said a young guy had picked something up, then she heard him telling the buddy picking him up that he had found a cell phone. Then the two guys left.

I was contemplative during the entire ferry ride, the drive back to my bruised car, and the drive home from Naomi's. I planned to call and cancel my cell phone service and wondered what my lesson was meant to be. Ultimately, I agreed with Naomi that I really need to get more sleep (so I don't make so many dumb mistakes is what I think, not what she said). I feel like there's so much I want to do that I just don't have time for, and somehow, the idea of staying up feels like I'm getting a little more of life... until I have to get up and function in my job and other parts of the real world.

When I walked in the door at home, George told me that a guy, Nate, had called and has my cell phone. He'll be coming to Seattle tomorrow for a ball game and will leave the phone at the ferry lost and found. I tried calling him to make more secure arrangements, but he didn't answer at the number he gave George. So I'll go to the Seattle ferry terminal tomorrow in hopes of getting my phone. And meanwhile, I think I'll go get some sleep.