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to-do list blogging #6
Shawls, ponchos, capelets: 8
Made by other people: 3
Made by me: 1
Boughten: 4
Problem: They are very very warm and take up a very very lot of space.
Pairs of slippers: 8.5
Made by me: 3
Made by other people for me: 2
Boughten: 3.5
Problem: Slippers are what you make if you really want to make socks but are too chicken for socks.
Gloves: 10 pairs, + 6 unmatched. Nearly all boughten, fingers are hard.
(Likely the matches are in the car or the hall closet.)
Problem: I need different ones for different purposes! Small for sticking in pockets for emergencies, leather for driving, fingerless and warm for working inside, fingerless and sturdy for berry-picking, fingerless convertible for walking with cameras/sketchbooks, fully waterproof for snowmen, delicate for visiting the Radch, etc. And they have to match, so I need enough pairs of each to ensure finding a matched pair when I need to. Which I never can.
Ridiculously large and fluffy fleece-y sweater-y things (subcat: not suitable for work wear): 12
Problem: They are very warm and comfy but are ridiculously large and fluffy. 12 of them fill an entire x-large rubbermaid tub. They would fill half a dresser by themselves. They defeat vacuum bags.
Matched pairs of socks: 14
Unmatched socks: 29
Problem: This ratio will improve once laundry has been done. Although not too much, since I've been carrying some in the unmatched socks bag since high school. I consider it an altar to Anoia.
Scarves: 20
Made by me: 11
Made by other people: 3
Boughten: 6
Problem: Scarves are really easy. And a theoretically useful way to try a new technique. And I have these size 50 (US) knitting needles, which means if I just want to keep my neck warm it's historically been faster to just knit one than to find one in the closet. (With size 50 needles you can make a functional keyhole scarf with some scrap bulky yarn and about 6x18 stitches.)
Empty (non-disposable) bags: 34
Problem: I think they breed?
Hats (squashable only, non squashable are elsewhere): 52
Made by other people: 10
Made by me: 14
Boughten: 28
Problem: When you become known as the Hat Lady, people give you hats. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also, I like making hats, but I never use, like, patterns, when making hats, so the hats I make are always comfy but slightly off-kilter, so I usually can't give them to other people.
Also, in theory, I lose hats a lot so I need lots. Although now that I'm not using public transit as much, I am gaining them a lot faster than I'm losing them.
And I'm calling that the Top Bunk job done, although there's still stuff to be tucked away, it's waiting on the last big tidying job (behind the couch) before I get there.
Today I also tagged along to the bingo game Mom runs every month at the nursing home. I think the five-ish years since I started this job is the longest I've ever been without going in my entire life: even in college I managed once or twice in the summers.
Going back reminded me really hard of just how important I think it is - to expose people, but especially small children - to people with all kinds of disabilities in environments where it's unremarkable. Like, what I do there is help the people play, which can mean anything from playing for them while they nap, to placing pieces where they point, or pointing so they can place pieces where I point, to repeating numbers more loudly, to just chatting and teaching them the house rules, to carefully watching which numbers have been called while they place markers at random while muttering nonsense and get angry if you try to help them, and anything in between, or sometimes several different ones as their capabilities change from minute to minute. And of course the first step is sitting down and negotiating how much help they need, except that's the second step, because the first step is politely figuring out how, and to what extent, they can communicate those things to you, when they may not even understand why they're having difficulty.
And it's something I never really thought of as a skill because I just did it every month from the time I was old enough to walk, until I started running into situations where I met people who clearly had no idea how to interact or be helpful in that situation, and didn't even understand just how many skills and abilities are necessary for sitting in a room with 35 other people, hearing a number read, matching that to a printed number, and placing a checker on the matching number. It's a lot, and that's not even getting into everything involved in "understanding the rules" or "choosing a prize".
So anyway, not that y'all DW people are the ones who need to hear this, but make an effort to hang out with friendly people who can't interact with the world the same ways you do, and if you know any kids, bring them along. It's good for you.
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Could you donate the wonky hats and scraves to someplace with people who might not have family to make them things? Someone could really love a handmade hat. Maybe at the nursing home, even.
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...would the givers of hats notice that you had given some away?
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(It is nice to give things away if I know they're going to be used and appreciated! Unfortunately I have spent enough time on the "go through the boxes of donations" side of the equation that I have a pretty good sense of what's going to be used and appreciated and what's going to make the volunteers eyeroll and toss it. A large part of that job is to be the person willing to throw away the stuff the donor is to soft-hearted for - which is a fine service! But doesn't help if you're both the donor and the volunteer...)
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Basically, you can assume that if there's anywhere that wants a thing donated, I have already winnowed out all the things of that sort that they need in previous cleanouts, my mom is like a local reference encyclopedia of where to donate junk. :D
And I love all the non-wonky handknits that other people have given me so those have to stay. :P One of them is my magic hat that can actually cause people to pull over to the side of the road just to tell me it made them smile for the first time all day! One of them is my pink pussy hat, and one of them is my science march hat! No, they have to all stay.
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(Also I think we are possibly all understating what I mean by wonky; I don't mean "messed up the cabling pattern slightly" or "a little bit lopsided", those I could pass on probably, I mean "three foot long nightcap made of tapestry yarn" and "is a non-orientable surface" and "is a copy of an archaeological find except done with neon funfur".)
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