“Selbucozy” bottle cozy from The Sow’s Ear - Day 5

Looking toward the ending rows...in more ways than one...

If I’d just done the can cozy, I’d be binding off now.  Instead, I decided to include the lovely tapered “collar” that turns this into a bottle cozy.  I love decrease segments, because they just go faster and faster as you head on down the final lap.

I’ve been doing a lot of knitting away from home--mostly sitting with an ailing elderly relative--and it’s wonderful how portable this project can be, even with its complicated pattern.  There is something delightfuly soothing about being occupied in situations that require patience.  More than once on my eldercare adventures this week, I have given thanks for my knitting.

And not just for my knitting now.  I am thankful that someday, when I am old and frail, I will have my knitting to keep me company rather than old TV reruns or worse yet, nothing at all.  Funny thing is, I don’t think I’ll even have to be knitting.  As long as I think I am knitting, I’ll be happy.  

If I loose most of my motor skills--or even most of my marbles--I still think I’ll take joy from having yarn and needles in my hand.  My husband and I joked that if I am really far gone, if someone just does a few rows for me when I fall asleep (removes my tangles and errors as he or she goes) and then slips it back in my hands, I’ll probably be happy.  My muscles will knit, or come close to knitting, or perhaps only immitate the joy of knitting, even when my brain loses the capacity.

Of course, I remain optimistic such measures will never be called for.  Knitting keeps me continually learning, continually curious, and those feel like mental vitamins to keep my brain cells nimble longer.

I always joked that knitting is my “drug of choice,” but lately, I’ve discovered how deep the truth of that statement runs.

“Selbucozy” bottle cozy from The Sow’s Ear - Day 4

Lives are not at stake here...

The nice thing about this pattern is that it comes in two parts--one for just a can cozy, the other with an additional top collar to grace your bottle of suds.  We drink our brew in bottles around here, so now I’m heading into the top part of the pattern.  It should go much faster, seeing as I start decreasing in a few rows.

My only fault with this pattern--and I can’t even say it’s a fault of the pattern when you get right down to it--is that mistakes show up clearly.  You can see where I’ve botched it.  I tried once to go down and pick up the stitch--essentially to swap it out for the other color carried behind it--but it ended up being more noticable in the fix than the original mistake.  And of course I don’t find my mistakes until I’m five or six rows up, demanding an hour’s worth of ripouts and restitches.  I’ve never been a perfectionist, so I’m just not willing to invest that kind of time if it’s not a glaring error.  

This does not speak well of my character, I know that.   Lives, however, are not at stake here.  This is knitting.  This is supposed to be fun.

A friend joked that after the second beer, no one will notice the error anyway.  If the point is to keep my bottle cozy, the goal will still be accomplished.  It’s like our wedding photographer told us on our wedding day, “If you end the day as Mr. and Mrs., then the goal that matters most is accomplished--everything else is just details.”

When I think of it, some of our most treasured wedding photographs are the “outtakes.”

Good advice in life--and in knitting.

“Selbucozy” bottle cozy from The Sow’s Ear - Day 2

Hello, Hiya!

So, after a dozen rows of two-handed color work on double pointed needles, I was looking for a way to simplify things--especially since I had plane travel in my schedule.  So I decided to swap out my dpn’s for the unique 9-inch circular needle that Hiya-Hiya makes.  

Mostly used for socks, it was just the right size to take down the point count on this project from eight to two.  I checked with the folks at The Sow’s Ear, and while no one had ever done the Selbucozy on a 9-inch circ, she didn’t seem to think there was any reason why it wouldn’t work.  Am I willing to trailblaze in the world of knitting?  Absolutely--although I don’t think this swap counts as anything close to a ground-breaking technique.

I’m delighted with the results.  While I admit the needle is a bit tricky to wield at first, and I’d never use it to cast on or do the first ten rows or so, once a project is well underway it’s a useful simplification.  I do recommend, however, that you make sure you have a pair of point protectors to keep your work intact in between knitting sessions--stitches tend to slip off these with a bit too much ease.

Like most small projects, the fast results is highly satisfying.  When I’m in the middle of a book, my deadline always feel a thousand days (and hence daily word-counts) away.  It’s nice to meet small goals with pleasant ease.  Yea, knitting!

“Selbucozy” bottle cozy from The Sow’s Ear - Day 1

It gets me thinkin'...

Travel knitting is a finely tuned art.  When contemplating air travel, I like to make sure my projects are small and engaging.  Not a good place for endless rows of large-scale garter stitch.  Socks, mitts, hats, certain scarves, and other such small-scale projects are perfect travel knitting.

You get this.  You understand the importance of slating your cue of projects in just the right order.  Unlike my engineer husband, you completely recognize the sanity in my taking 30 minutes and a calendar to decide the order of three pending projects to be sure I’d be tackling the right one at the right point in my travel calendar.  You find it normal that I needed to have these vital issues settled before I packed my suitcase.  Clothes?  You can make that up as you go along.  Knitting?  You gotta have the right project.  And, if you truly a fanatic, you gotta have a spare project just in case you finish your primary project.  Because you never, ever want to get caught without knitting.

Hands up if you’ve ever actually finished the primary project and actually tackled the “in case” project.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Nope, not me either.

It was with great satisfaction of foresight, then, that I cast on the Nordic delight that is the Selbucozy from The Sow's Ear.  A color-work bottle cozy designed to add a spash of panache to your bottle of beer.  A sock for your suds, if you will.  I'm a wordsmith by trade; I could go on--but I’ll spare you.

Now, I am not a beer drinker, but my husband and now-21-year-old-so-I-can-admit-it-in-public daughter are, so they may have to fight over this one.  Still, it’s black and white--one my favorite color combos, so perhaps I will discover a beverage in a suitable bottle to employ this charming project.

Two-handed color work on double pointed needles!  That’s the brain surgery of knitting.  They say you should tax your brain a bit beyond its capabilities every now and then to keep it nimble and stave off dimmentia.  I think I’ve got that covered with this one.