Why I must watch TV

In the spirit of National No TV Week, I decided not to watch tv. That means no reality or comedies or dramas, just the occasional news.

Last night began as a typical night...walk dog, read paper, cook dinner, clean-up kitchen, make mental list of things to do around house, sit down with knitting.

Note the make mental list of things to do around the house. On last nights list were: get toilet paper from upstairs storage, fill shampoo bottle, call mother, look for rabies vaccination certificate, fix lunch for tomorrow, vaccum large spot of hair where B scratched his back on the carpet. You know, typical things you do every night.

Well, guess when I usually do all those things.....DURING COMMERCIALS! And I had no commercials last night. I just sat and knitted and knitted and knitted. Now I did get up once to let B in from the patio, refill my tea and go to the bathroom.

But then I went outside with him.

And there we sat. Me knitting away in the cool night air, B chasing a really big beetle around until he killed it and not understanding why I couldn't bring it back to life and finally settling down on my lap and napping. When I saw my neighbors light go out I thought ...hmm, wonder what time it is.... 11:22. I'm usually in bed by 11:00.

Therefore, there is a reason for me to watch TV...to get things done and to get to bed on time!

But on the bright side...I did start the Leaves and Berries hat by Marilyn Mebach of Rabbit Tree Farm. (When I spoke with Marilyn last year at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival she did not have a web site. I found the site I linked to via a google search.)

I'm doing a practice hat with Sirdar fingering yarn before knitting with the cashmere/silk that came with the kit. It's knit on US #1 needles. It's knit in 2 parts. The Crown starts out with 8 stitches divided on double points. After 4 tries, I abandoned the double points in favor of knitting it straight and then seeming. It's only 25 or so rows. Then the Brim is knit straight and grafted onto the Crown. I think knitting the Crown straight will make the grafting easier.

Another change I made (and Margaret suggests it on the pattern) is to leave off the "berries". I did knit them and thought "If I were a baby I wouldn't want them on the back of my head". So off they came. So I guess my hat is now "Leaves".

Tonights plan is to do all the mental list stuff BEFORE I begin to knit. Note I said PLAN......



If you're interested in the pattern, Marilyn Mebach email as listed on the pattern is: ogoat@nauticom.net