Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Top Seekrit Project


Finished hairband
Originally uploaded by girl_of_bats
It being several days since the recipient of the Top Seekrit Project recipificated it, I can now reveal that the Project was, in fact, this hairband.

The "pattern", such as it is, was very simple (Anna at Web Of Wool helped me figure it out).

Cast on 130 sts of 4ply yarn on 3.25mm needles.

6 rows stockinette, ending with a purl row.

Work fold line: (k2tog, yfwd) to end of row.

13 rows stockinette, ending with a purl row.

Work another fold line, (k2tog, yfwd) to end of row.

6 rows stockinette, ending with a knit row.

Cast off, embroider flowers, fold the fold lines, press, then sew the long seam along the underside of the hairband, and join the ends together.

Does anyone else find it kind of... deflating, when a month's work is condensed into seven short sentences?

I wrapped it up and sent it to my mother to look after until my sister's birthday last week. On the day itself, I phoned my sister and sung Happy Birthday at her. But she hadn't opened her presents yet (in fact I don't think she was out of bed) so I don't know if she liked it or not. Certainly she hasn't phoned, emailed, written or even texted to say thank-you... although she did text Steve to thank him for the happy-birthday text message he sent her... but then, some of you know her in Real Life. It could be that she didn't like the hairband, it could just be her being forgetful/thoughtless/rude, or it could be that I've managed to somehow upset her even from 200 miles away. Who knows.

This morning we had the first Jehovah's Witnesses since I've lived here. I opened the door and there were two women saying "hello, lovely to meet you!" and then actually trying to step up into the house. When I physically blocked them and asked who they were, they spotted that I was leaning on a walking stick. I've never seen such a look of... well, I don't know what it was. Pity? Revulsion? All remarks from that point on were addressed to the stick. Maybe they thought I was going to hit them with it. Maybe I should have done. Still, it does feel a lot more like I live here every time something like this happens. And that's nice.

Life is very steady at the moment. After the turbulence of the last twelve months or so (the benefit crap, the moving house, the new job, Christmas, the financial crisis, the further benefit crap, and any amount of nonblog Aaarg) we seem to have entered this nice, calm bay of serenity. Things are still far from perfect - money is still tight, I'm having a rough time with the illness and there's a list of things which need doing as long as my arm - but that's life. At least at the moment, everything critical is taken care of. I feel happier, more relaxed, and more fulfilled than I have done in quite some time. I think living with Steve has the curious dual benefit of being very sensible, but also very enjoyable. There are so many elements of our life together that make me disproportionately happy. One thing that gives me particular pleasure is making his lunches for him to take to work. Haute cuisine, it is not. It's basically a sandwich and a bit of fruit and some biscuits or similar. But it enables me to repay a little bit of 'looking after', and it's a simple thing, within my capabilities, that I know is appreciated, and that makes me feel good. I know it's a silly thing to blog about, but at the moment, I'm so contented, possibly more than I ever have been, and I want to kind of put that in my mental photo album to remember in the future.

9 comments:

The Goldfish said...

Well I think the hairband is lovely. And I'm glad to read that things are finally on a more even keel - goodness knows you deserve it.

Mandy said...

I love the picot edges of the hairband, such a good idea and very pretty.

How about nine months work condensed into 3 words... Its a boy!!

Not that your pregnant or anything (or even intending to be) it was just an amusement that floated through my mind.

Anonymous said...

That bit about the lunches just gave me the biggest internal "awww" of the week. Happy!

Mary said...

Thanks, everyone.

Goldfish - weirdly, I didn't get your comment through on my email, although I got mandycharlie's and jo's. It's not in my spam folder either. My end or yours?

Mandycharlie - if I am pregnant, I will blame you entirely. ;-)

Jo, if you were my boyfriend I would make you a packed lunch but alas, I fear it is never to be.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mary, I can really relate to all that, God Bless xxx !

The Goldfish said...

I have had perhaps half a dozen of comments that haven't come through to e-mail in the last few months. May be a glitch with Blogger?

Anonymous said...

Well, I appreciate the thought :-)

DD said...

Hurrah! I finally get to see the Top Seekrit Project! It's lovely. Know what you mean about the deflation.

Raven/Missy said...

I know this is an old post, but I thought you might want to know (if you don't know yet) the name of the stitch you used to make the pretty flowers. It is called the "lazy Daisy" stitch in embroidery. In counted cross stitch they consider it a "specialty stitch" since it is not the basic "X" of cross stitch. Your stitches look wonderful and the hairband is beautiful. Well Done!