Next up on the needles and other ramblings on a sad day

Whew! Now that Christmas gifts are out of the way, it's all about ME again. I don't mind knitting an occasional gift for a friend or loved one, or even something that I know I'm going to donate to a charity, but there is something wickedly delicious about knitting for myself. I've been pining over this sweater for months now and I'm finally getting down to business.

It's called "Lea" and it's a cropped mock turtleneck from Jamieson's #2 collection. I tried taking a picture of the pattern to post here, but it really didn't do the sweater justice (small picture, wrong color, too far away. etc. etc). So, you'll just have to trust me on this one. It really is awesome. And since this is a contemporary twist on "traditional" Aran knitting, I'm finding that the pattern has some very challenging and unique details.

For example, the entire front and back of the sweater is in what I'm calling a leaf pattern. You can barely see the beginning of it on the left side of the picture above the moss stitch border. But what's really cool is that there is a thick double cable winding up both side seams. The way the get this affect without a giant seam running right up the middle of the cables is to knit the cable onto the right side of the back of the sweater and on the left side of the front of the sweater, so when you sew it together, the cables run right up the middle, but the seams (which you don't notice anyway) are off-center. The sleeves are mostly moss stitch, with the same double-cable running up the middle. The cable continues from the shoulder of the sleeve up to the neckline (a strap, I believe they called it). So the shoulder "seams" are not where you'd expect them to be, because the beautiful cable is there.

The neatest detail though is the neckline. It's a mock turtleneck. It's a cable that's knit separately and sewn on at the end. But what's interesting is that you knit the neck piece twice the required width. One half is the cable and the other half is straight stockinette. When it's done, you fold it in half and sew it onto the sweater. For those of you who sew, it's actually knitting a self facing on the turtleneck so that when you look at the inside, instead of seeing the back of the cable pattern, you see a nice, clean, neat strip of stockinette stitches. Cool, huh?

On a sadder note, I'd planned to do some work on my book tonight, but it's been a very sad day. One of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life (seriously!) was killed in a tragic car accident early this morning. We think she had a stroke while driving to work. She ran through red light into an intersection and hit a State Trooper that was rushing to another accident or crime scene or something. The cars collided with such force that the trooper's car rolled three times. Witnesses at the scene said that she was slumped over the wheel before the accident according, but that she was going close to 60 mph. Last I heard, the trooper will be okay. I'm thankful for that. I can only hope that she was gone before the accident and that she didn't suffer. My heart goes out to her family and her many friends. She was truly an angel and will be sorely missed.

I'm not in the mood to work on my book tonight. I need to be in a positive and uplifting mood for that, and I've been either crying or on the verge of tears all day. So instead, I've fixed a cup of hot tea and I'm going to curl up in my knitting chair and do the one thing that's sure to make me feel better... knit.

Tim McGraw sings a wonderful country song that's popular right now. It's called "Live Like You Were Dying". It's a great song and it is so true. Days like today remind me of how much time I spend getting all worked up over things that are so insignificant in the big scheme of things. I'm constantly telling my husband that I hate going to bed angry or leave for work in the morning without saying "I love you", because you just never know. I think he thinks I'm a sap when I say that, but I really believe it. And... I keep telling myself that there are things I want to do, and places I want to see while I still can... and it's about time to start doing them.

If I were to really take Tim's advice, here's 10 things that I'd do before I die:

1. Go on another cruise - a long one - maybe through the Caribbean.
2. Publish a book and make enough $ to fund my retirement.
3. Have a big closet full of sweaters that I've knit.
4. Buy a baby grand piano and play the heck out of it.
5. Write letters to a few people from my past and tell them what they really meant to me.
6. Buy a house by the ocean, sea, lake, river, pond - even a little house would be okay, as long as it had a water view.
7. Visit the Mediterranean, especially Italy and/or Greece.
8. Donate a lot of money to charity - maybe fund a foundation of some sort.
9. Rent a villa somewhere warm and wonderful for a week and take my closest girlfriends on a vacation - like a week-long pajama party.
10. And the last thing I want to do just before I die is to go to sleep, quietly, and just not wake up.

Okay, enough. I'm gonna go knit. Take care. Be safe. Go hug someone and tell them that you love them. Even if they don't say it back.