I've been dying to have a design in Twist Collective since the first issue came out. I submitted a design last year and promptly forgot about it until I got an email letting me know my design had been accepted. Super excited, I waited patiently for yarn to arrive in the mail, one of my favorites, Classic Elite Solstice. Knitting it in my favorite style, top-down raglan with bits of lace running down the 3/4 sleeves, picot hems and a huge, fold-over cowl, Fairfax is a great winter-to-spring pullover. Download the Fairfax pattern here.
Yes, I design a lot. The funny thing about my designs are I always associate them with what was going on when I was knitting it, or way back in BC (Before Callum) what I was watching on my computer while furiously knitting into the night. The days of late night knitting and TV watching are over (except when a major deadline is looming on the horizon) and have been replaced with feedings and diaper changes, but I still have that association.
The way you usually learn a lesson is to make the mistake once and hope to never repeat it again. For example, touching a hot stove, agreeing to babysit sextuplets alone, going against your gut or eating all the cookie dough batter before it even makes it into the oven. Or in our case, deciding to go see Santa on Christmas Eve. "What the hell were we thinking," you ask? Excellent question. We dragged our feet on whether or not to take C to see the man in red for weeks. I thought Santa might scare him, or the lines would be insane, the mall would be too hot or I'd want to find the stereo piping holiday music on repeat and beat it with a baseball bat a la Office Space. Yet Christmas Eve rolled around and I decided that you only have your first Christmas once and we better go do it.
We went to the smaller mall and thought we'd be the only idiots who waited until the last-minute. Perhaps you heard the thwak that was my head hitting the wall over and over when we got in line and were told it was a 2.5 hour wait. While C slept peacefully in his stroller most of the time, my husband called his sister and mom to come keep us company and to entertain him. I on the other hand grabbed my knitting bag and started to work. Mastering the art of standing and knitting while ridding the NYC subway for years paid off.
The Twist Collective deadline was such that my sweater had to be in the mail on December 26th in order to make it there on time. I didn't want to spend my Christmas knitting so it had to get done. 2.5 hours of knitting later and I knew I'd be able to finish it, block it and write the pattern by the appointed hour. This sweater will forever be associated with standing in line, waiting for Santa to me. And yes, I learned my lesson. We'll be in line next time on the first day he arrives.
And Callum? He was a champ through and through.
