Random Sunday afternoon post

It is pouring rain out. Good thing I didn't water the garden when I came in, eh?

The Parental Units dropped by yesterday afternoon to help me put up some pictures on the wall. They enjoy being helpful that way, and now I have several frames up where before there were bare walls. Shiny.

I spent a good part of the two and a half hours they were here trying to keep tabs on my mother, who, while my father and I were fussing with frames, decided to re-organize my broom closet. No, I didn't ask her to. So she rummaged, fussed, and got really annoyed with me every time I tried to intervene. She decided she didn't like the way the paint cans were still in the basement (despite the fact that my place isn't finished yet), and schlepped them up the stairs and put them in the back of the closet. I practically had to hold her down so she wouldn't throw away the paint pans, which don't belong to me.

"But you don't have room for all this!"

"Mother, I cannot throw away something that doesn't belong to me."

"Why don't you put them in the shed, then?"

"Because we're going to be using them soon, and I don't want ashforestwalker to have to go on a treasure hunt for his own stuff."

My mother hasn't glared at me this much in the last year combined. I'm not sure what frustrated her so much about that broom closet, but she re-organized it to within an inch of its life, complete with loud banging and clattering as she dropped/shoved/tipped over various large things. I think I aged a year.

Overall, though, things are progressing. I still have things to hang, including one frame that I want to put over the staircase, except that I don't have a ladder that will reach that high.

I got another repeat done on the baby blanket, which is really starting to take shape now. I think it will be very pretty indeed once it's done. I'm going to take another photo and put it on Ravelry when I'm 50% done. Right now I'm about 30% done, 25% if you don't count the border.

I am a little appalled at how fast this week went by. I am never going to get everything done in time, so I guess it's time to start prioritizing. Oy. I am very excited at the prospect of WorldCon, but I think I may well be a wreck by the time it's over. I haven't had nearly enough sleep this past week, and I don't foresee that changing at all in the next seven to ten days or so. :P

In which She Doesn't Get It

So Den!Mama, who is now a supervisor, has been watching me struggle with the knitting all week, finally broke down on Friday night, the day after she'd seen me frog what had taken the better part of four days of work.

Den!Mama: "I don't understand how you can do that."

Me: *considers a tongue-in-cheek BECAUSE IT RELAXES ME! reply* "What, knitting? Well, I enjoy it, when it's going well."

Den!Mama: "But you just had to start it all over."

Me: "Yes, but I learned from my mistakes, and now it's going much more smoothly, and it looks better."

Den!Mama: "If it were me, I wouldn't bother. The baby would be getting a nice store-bought blanket. You can get really pretty ones that aren't expensive."

Me: "True, but that defeats the purpose of a hand-made gift, for me."

Den!Mama: "Yes, but then you can spend time on things you actually enjoy!"

Me: "..."

I let it drop after that. With reason, she was convinced that I somehow hate knitting (although I promise you I was good and didn't swear or curse or even yell at the knitting even when I frogged it!), or that it was too frustrating a process to be worth it. There wasn't much to say, really.