I am so skilled!

No, really I am.

I finished two dishcloths today. The first one was another attempt on the Bamboo stitch variation cloth that I frogged earlier. I didn't find it anywhere near as annoying as I did the first time around, though it's still more intricate than I like. I did manage to finish it but it look sorta...funny. The bottom is all wiggly and not even at all. I have *no* idea what happened!! I also had to tink and redo a couple of row several times, as I was apparently spacing out while knitting it and doing things like forgetting the YOs! Oops. Ah well.

Then I decided to finish off some Crystal Palace chenille that I had (I think it's the "baby" colorway) and whip out a diagonal washcloth (you can see where this is going, can't you?). I miscalculated on how much yarn I had left, and ran out, so now I have a penta-cloth. This yarn is lovely but it does not rip out well at all, and I just am so over this ball of yarn and needed it to be knit into something! It actually doesn't matter at all because it's for me, and I'll use it and love it. It's nice and wide, and the flat side sits nicely on your wrist, so maybe I'll pretend it's a feature, not a bug. HEY! Maybe it'll become a trend!!

I'm out of handmade washcloths because when my mom was visiting to take care of the boys while I had jury duty, she told me how much she loved the cloth I had made for her for Christmas and in a fit of gratitude I gave her every cloth I've made for myself. I want to churn out a bunch of cloths, since I want to stop using sponges and switch over to using handmade dishcloths for my dishes. I think I need to put my sock obsession on hold for now and focus on things that I can actually finish.

I'll post pictures when I'm not about to go to bed. I gotta take a picture of the blanket-in-progress too, it is so beautiful, it's almost enough to make me have another baby (except I just know I'd have another boy and it's really more of a girly blanket so someone I know has to have a baby girl soon).

Have I mentioned lately how profoundly grateful I am for the place that knitting holds in my life? It's a hobby that I feel I have some skill at, but so much to learn, so many ways to grow. It allows me to spend time doing something productive yet enjoyable, and perhaps the greatest gift it gives to me is it helps me quiet my mind. The spiritual practice I am most drawn to, and have been for years, is Buddhism, but I am so not there yet. I'd love to have a serious meditation and yoga practice. Maybe someday. Knitting is really quite meditative for me. I have so many blessings in my life, I am so lucky.