Mosey on down

Blogging twice in one week. Something must be going on! Oh but something is…

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know that I was dumped in a rather unbelievable way. It’s nice when people use the words “heartbreaking” and “inhumane” to describe my ordeal. However, out of it all came a time for me to do a lot of soul searching and a lot of thinking about who I am and what I do. I’ve come up with a list of things that I want to be able to describe myself as in the process.

And “knitter” is one of them.

I had found this pattern (Mosey Legwarmers in the Spring 2008 Issue of Knitty) while daydreaming at my desk and reading blogs. It looked altogether too complicated as I hadn’t knit in ages. My Grandma C. had spent some time teaching me and my Grandma A. knitted and crocheted up a storm. My Mom is also a crocheter and my Great Aunt and my Lang Amma were good with the needles and hooks as well.

And then the OC Transpo Great Strike of 2008 began.

You see, I lived downtown. However, the difficulty I had getting out of bed to go to work was amplified that I had to cross a river to get there. And in the cold of winter? I wasn’t really motivated to walk. Even if it was good exercise.

Thankfully a new colleague D. had arrived and she had a car and offered a ride. I helped to pay her parking, but the better part was that we became fast friends/accomplices during the neverending strike. I had been throwing the idea around about making her something to thank her, but generally became exhausted when thinking about how hard knitting or crocheting seemed to be and gave up. But then one day for some reason I showed her the pattern for the Mosey legwarmers and I knew I had to make them for her. She offered to pay for the wool and I thought I was getting a really good deal. But as I’ve quickly come to learn, it’s not the cost of the wool that matters in the grand scheme of determining something’s value: it’s the number of woman hours.

I started making these leggings the first weekend in March and I traded the cost of gas for a trip to Toronto with D. I felt good about it, but little did I know that I’d not give her the leggings for nine more months. You see, the weekend after that I met Him. And though the endless bus rides to and from Toronto would allow me to have some time to work on my project, I was happily distracted by getting to know Him. It wasn’t until I sat down over this past Christmas at home and really concentrate that I was able to finish them. The pom poms are seriously my favourite part.

I didn’t have much time between getting back to Ottawa and packing to go to Toronto, so I wasn’t able to take any photos of the leg warmers on my own, as I wanted the lovely D. to model for me! Thankfully she was able to take some photos for me and as you can see: the legwarmers aren’t half as divine as she is.