The Weekend of Firsts:

A short one right now, but I just had to post something!

Saturday, I went fishing for the first time (that I know of), and have to say . . . it's actually kind of fun. It wasn't the tournament - just practice fishing.

Being around water is always relaxing to me so even though I never did catch anything I still enjoyed spending the time throwing lures into the water. One of my lures was a 'wacky rig'. Nothing in the water was interested in wacky ANYTHING, lol.

We went to Costa's Twin Lakes, off Globe Drive. Just down the road from your patch of land ZubieJen! If you've never gone, GO! Pack up the kidlets, the Hub and some poles. It's so neat. There are tons of places to hang out and fish around the bodies of water. You can bring your own food/drink and it's all of $7.00 a person for as many hours as you want.

I have loads of pictures (surprised?) and The Mike even took a few of me fishing. Wait until you see the difference in our picture-taking skills. His of me are aweful and I don't mean in that 'oh, I hate having my picture taken' self-conscious way. More in the vein of 'don't bother focusing or making sure your subject is entirely in the shot' kind of way.

Early on Saturday, I helped with the City's annual "Kid Fishing Derby" day at Murry Park. The Success Bass Club (pretends) to help out. OOOOOHH MAAAAN do I have a rant for another day. I'll just let y'all know I had a melt-down of epic proportions and demanded we leave before the event was even over. It wasn't the kids that sent me over the edge in any way.

My other first? KITCHENER people. The dreaded yet awed kitchener stitch!

After I posted about knitting this sock in de-damn-licious Lisa Souza pure (feltable) merino and how only other fiber enthusiasts would really understand the care needed for all that hard work, you guys chimed in and really got me thinking.

When I first started it, my mindset was 'it's for me so *good enough* is good enough'. Once I started imagining actually giving it away, all of a sudden I took pride in it's potential perfection. Yes. I know that we all know that us knitters/crocheters/etc. don't demand perfection of others like we do of ourselves. If I k2tog in the wrong spot somewhere, none of y'all would throw this back at me or laugh at me or not still enjoy it.

Doesn't matter. When I look at something like KnittingSuzanne's green cabled sweater, all I see is perfection. She might possibly see the one (if there is one, I'm presuming) mis-stitch and think that is all others see also. I thought about this alot while I knit this sock. Gotta say though. This sock actually is almost 'perfect' lol. I really paid attention.

Then I started thinking about the concept of *my* knitting not being worthy as a gift to someone who is a much more talented knitter/crafter. Again, I *know* that's not true. You all wrote that you'd LOVE something hand-knit from a person because of what you know it truly represents.

So, my perfect sock was finally at the end of it's completion and I kept mulling over the gift idea.

Then I faced my fears head-on and pulled out the Vogue Knitting Dictionary (whatever that gigantic Vogue book is called) and looked up "kitchener stitch" in the index. It ain't there y'all. Luckily, in my panic-ridden flipping through, I found the "grafting" section (duh) and set to work.

I had 13 stitches each on two needles. It took three starts, and alot of sighing, but it's done. About the last 7 stitches (on each needle) it finally felt like I was doing it right.

So. My first kitchener ain't pretty, but it's alllllll mine. In the end I decided I want to keep this pair as a reminder of my knitting beginnings. This is the first pair with no discernable laddering. YAY! The first pair as close to having been done from a pattern as I'm mentally capable. The first pair I continued the k1,slip1 pattern through the heel turn and along the entire bottom (thanks to KnittingSuzanne showing me that idea on her sock she took on Thursday to Visalia) and the first sock that I did the kitchener stitch all by my onesies! The mate will be better just by practice alone.

Up next? Catching a damn fish and mastering the Kitchener.

KnittingSuzanne - have a GREAT week! I'm so excited for you!
Jollyewe - See you Saturday!
ZubieJen - Are you going on Saturday?
EllenBloom - I look forward to reading more of your activities! You're invited this Saturday too, in case you don't already have something more fabulous than a Bakersfield meetup to go to, lol.

(pictures to follow later - gotta make myself go to bed so I can get through tomorrow's slog of a day)