Caps, Gowns, and More Caps

May has been a very busy month.  A major event was the daughter's graduation from college.  We are so proud of her.  Her hard work and accomplishments made it easy to look past the challenges involved in organizing her graduation party.  We survived the mixed-nuts-controversy, the panic over parking, and invitation indignation, all with our sense of humor intact.  None of it was actually anything to worry about, and as long as at least two people could keep that in mind at all times, it kept a relative calm over those who prefer to panic.  I stayed so busy keeping things flowing that I hardly had any time to socialize, and I kind of liked it that way.  

The weather jerks kept telling me about the heat, and I was starting to take it personally.  As this attitude was neither positive nor helpful, I decided that I needed to do something.  As I cannot control the weather, (not that it would be a good thing if I could) I figured that a sunhat was what I needed to put myself in a better frame of mind.   

In the past, I have looked at knitted summer hat patterns, never really found the right one, and I often freeze up when I begin to think about the millinery wire and starch.  Anyway, awhile back I thought about sewing a sunhat.  I looked at various patterns, and immediately discarded those sized for "average ladies' heads."  If that worked for me, I would have already bought one from the store.  Then there were the directions for those with more sewing experience wherein the designer throws out some guidelines, and you work out the pattern for yourself.  As my experience and skills are not there yet, my search continued.  Finally, I found a pattern that I liked, and filed it away for future reference.  Fast forward to this week, and I was ready to try.  

The pattern comes from Lorenna Buck, and I love it.  It fits, protects me from the sun, is comfortable, and I want to make more.  Even with my sub-par-sewing-skills and mistakes, it still looks pretty good.  I learned as I sewed, and think my next hat should be even better.  

With the need for air conditioning comes the need for a new hat for Harrison.  I love the pattern and the sizing options mean I could make these for everyone I know.  I seriously doubt that I will do that, but I will probably knit more of them for babies.     



            

I Wish I Liked It

I recently read The Happiness Project:  Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun.  It has some interesting parts, and as I read it, I thought about many things.  I could probably blather on about it, but I am not much of a book reviewer, and I feel very wrong recommending a book or not; it feels very naked and weird.  For example, I read We Need to Talk About Kevin, thought that, overall, it was quite a book, but cannot quite urge anyone else to read it because it is not a feel-good read, and, well, other things.  

So, if I am not going to review the book or really talk about it, why did I bring it up in the first place?  Well, this week's Ten on Tuesday topic brought it to mind.  In it, the author writes of her personal truths, commandments, and happiness theories, often in the form of lists. One such list is her Secrets of Adulthood, and these are two that I thought of when I read this week's topic.  

You can choose what you do, but you can't choose what you like to do.  

Just because something is fun for someone else, doesn't mean it's fun for you--and vice versa.  

Anyway, I do have my list of things that I wish I liked, have tried to like, but am not going to torture myself over whether I like them or not.  There are things that are optional, and those that are not, and getting bound up over whether I enjoy them is supremely unhelpful. 

Blueberries
Raw tomatoes
Exercising
Certain People
Sports
Housework
Dancing
Getting Up Early
Olives

Being Neighborly 

What with all of this happiness talk, I felt compelled to knit a little bluebird of happiness (which, by the way, is quite a challenge to photograph).  I hope to keep it perched next to me as a reminder to keep my focus where it belongs, or maybe it will flap its little wings and chase off the drama llamas. 

So Long, SuperMoon!

Perhaps it was the passing of the SuperMoon, maybe it was because a few life bits slowed to a more manageable pace, or it could be that I was just too worn down to fight it, but I finally slept.  In fact, I slept a lot; too much, it seems, as my back began to complain.  That might always be a tough balance for me, but there you go.  

I keep knitting little hats for Harrison, I am reading whenever I can (the ability to check out library books on my Kindle is a wonderful thing!), and even finding time to knit some on my Rata Lace Scarf.  This is very good, as I need this downtime to recharge before I have about 72 hours of extreme busyness.  I am choosing not to think about how close I am to that, but am glad to have done as much as can be done ahead of time already.  

I have been reveling in the good feelings of getting things done, and letting them inspire me to get more things done.  Sometimes that just means finishing a batch of laundry or a sink of dishes.  In other instances, it means getting things off in the mail like a batch of photos for my grandparents and the Kindle cover that I wove.  Of course, there are always more things I need to get in the post, but they will wait.  They have to; I have not made them yet, but I have many ideas.  In fact, I just had another pop into my head as I typed this.  I really ought to write them down before I forget.  

It was a load off my mind to get the Kindle cover in the mail, because I had been paid to make it.  Everything about it turned out better than I thought it would.  I even managed to get my sleeping nephew to show off the finished product.  I like to think that his little smile means that he will always be a joyful and cooperative model for me.