The non-knit knitting post

I am not knitting today at work. I am giving myself a knitting break. Why you ask? I’ll tell you why-I reknit the sleeve of Celia on size four needles, hoping that would help my problem. It did. I now have the perfect number of rows per inch. Unfortunately, I now have three extra stitches per inch and effectively decreasing the width of the pattern. So I am throwing this project out for a little while. However, all my thanks goes out to Cat for being so helpful with all my issues.

So, today I am websurfing. I told myself that I would stay away from e-bay and amazon, so as not to get a full blown case of the shopping bug, with which I am already battling off from two weeks ago. So I fell back on my knitting blogs to help me through the crisis. I began to read Gumperina’s blog and began to wish again that I used the continental method of knitting (holding yarn in left hand) instead of my not-hold-the-yarn-at-all-method, which after many years of practice is surprisingly on gauge and even, but V-E-R-Y slow. And that’s when my knitblogs failed me; I wanted to knit and had no yarn. Determined to continue with my websurfing, as it is my only form of entertainment today while answering phones, I forged ahead to Williams-Sonoma.com the clearance section.

While perusing the new arrivals in clearance. I chanced upon this. At first I thought, it a table runner. But being an experienced clearance shopper (i.e. knowing that pictures can be deceiving), I read the description of “Scalloped Leaf Boutis, Double Place Mat, Rose.” Double Place Mat, eh? Looks like a short table runner turned sideways to me. Still it’s pretty AND it would look good on a shorter oval table, like mine. He, he, he. My little palms rubbed together in a grubby little way.

You see, I have been thinking of busting out my sewing machine (one of two antiquated machines I inherited) to make a needle case holder. My needles currently are floating around willy-nilly in a craftroom drawer. So the sewing bug has bitten me already. And now there’s this Double Place Mat concept that I could make awfully fast (minus the scallops). Less than 12.99 plus shipping? I don’t know, but I could make a double sided “placemat” that I could just flip over for the next season, which would be VERY handy. Plus, I could go over to my grandmother's for a weekend, take her to a fabric store and we could just have a fling! Making crafts with your grandmother never gets old. In fact, like wine, it gets better with each year. Maybe I will put it off for a little while until I have long weekend to spend with her.

Finally, just for kicks I am posting the 7 layer dessert which my grandmother gave me the recipe. Yummy! (Do not attempt to eat this dessert without a glass of milk. The consequences of such action might glue your tastebuds together.)