Erica’s Blog

PATTERN:  It’s a Wrap, Take #3

YARN:  Kathmandu Handpicked recycled sari silk

NEEDLES:  US size 11’s

MEASUREMENTS:  29″ wide x 56″ long, tip to tip

Today, Poppa turned 71, and Auntie turned 35, so we went up there to celebrate.  After presents and some time of general hanging out (during which I finished & modeled my wrap), we headed off to Riccardo’s for dinner.  The rest of the pictures are here.

I’ve known Bob since he was three weeks old and I was…just born.  Like I said to Ginger at the reception, Nana’s seen Bob naked.  Yupp.  Took Bob a couple of seconds to get it, then he remembered.  Bob was a newborn baby, Nana was about to have me, and she had never changed a diaper in her life.  Bob needed a change, so his mom Pat, handed him to Nana, saying, Here, you need the practice….

Great wedding.  It was an interesting mix of a very formal Episcopal cermony and some really special personal touches.  Reception was at the Mill Valley Outdoor Art Club.  This was either the third or fourth wedding reception I’ve been to there (one of them, Hubby & coordinated for our friends, Alan & Elaine).  Beautiful place, and Bob & Ginger went all-out.  It was really great to an old geezer like Bob finally get married — and to such a beautiful, sharp cookie like Ginger (Ph.D. in Education).  Many thanks to the founder of www.match.com for helping our Bob find a terrific wife!

The most touching moment of the wedding was seeing Bob’s mom Pat come walking into the church on our friend Paul’s arm (Bob’s dad/Pat’s husband Tom died a few years ago).  This was really amazing b/c most of us can’t remember how many years it’s been since we’ve seen Pat walk w/o a walker or a wheelchair.  Apparently, her doctor had misdiagnosed her mobility issues, but when she changed doctors last year, they found out she had hydrocephalus.  Having a shunt put in has revolutionized her life.  Now that she’s getting around so much better (she still uses the part of the time, but at least she’s not in the chair), she’s moved out of the assisted living place and into an apartment.  Very cool.  Anyhow, I started to cry when Pat came in.  I’m sure it was bittersweet for her b/c she — and all the rest of us — wished Tom could have been there, but she was glowing all day.

Pictures that Hubby took are here.  We had a blast hanging out with “The Group”, but I gotta tell ya, it’s a little weird seeing people in their late 60’s/early 70’s drinking too much, dancing crazy, saying weird stuff.  Aren’t they supposed to know better by that age????

Saturday.  3:38 p.m.  She sits in the front passenger seat of the car, parked in the shade, frantically knitting.   I’m on the decrease rounds, and I’m down to 41 stitches, but then there’s the six final rows and the weaving in.   The wedding starts in 22 minutes.  I might make it.  It could happen…..It ain’t gonna happen…but it will make a great story.

Disappointed, she emerges from the car and rolls the lint roller over her blouse and $8.99 black skirt to remove the multitude of silk threads sprinkled all over her like so much parmegiano reggiano.

5:20 p.m.  Again in the car, now parked around the corner from the reception, she knits.  Knitting too fast, she makes a mistake and has to tink a few rows very carefully to fix it.  Frenzy.   Panic.  I must be insane.  This has got to be the definition of obsessed or something.  She MUST finished the blasted wrap.  It is the saving grace of her outfit.  She told Zib she was going to wear it to the wedding.  She told Wendy.  She told Bobcat.  She told the groom.  She told everyone who reads her stinking blog.  She told…her MOTHER.  Must.  Finish.  Wrap.  Must.  Wear.  Wrap.

Later.  She’s sweating now from being closed in the car.  There are still severals rows plus the weaving in to finish.  She might get the knitting done, but deep in her heart she knows the truth.  She won’t get it done.  She’s opened her mouth and gotten herself into trouble once again.  She tries to find a way to rationalize wearing the wrap without weaving in the ends.  Wondering how long she’s been there, she draws her cell phone out of her purse to check the time.  6:01 p.m.  She can’t do it.  She won’t make it.  To wait any longer would be to risk getting there after the bride and groom.  People could be sitting down already.  It would be rude.  She hangs her head in shame, then wrestles the wrap back into her bag, climbs out of the car, and divests herself once again of the silk confetti.  Defeated, she walks to the reception to rejoin her husband, but before she finds him, she meets her mother.

Where is it?  Weren’t you able to finish it?

Noooo.

Well, couldn’t you just have bound it off just for tonight so you could wear it, then finished it tomorrow?

The next day, hours after finishing the wrap, as she reflects back on the insanity of the day before, she smiles when she remembers her mother’s response.  Ah yes, she tells herself, spoken like a true knitter…..