When I was a teenager, my first car was a red, 1975 AMC Gremlin. Brand spanking new, actually, back when you could get a new car for $3,000. This car was considered, at the time, a small and wimpy vehicle. It wasn’t any glamour transportation… it had an am radio, a back seat the size of a shoebox, a front bench seat, black vinyl upholstery and a dashboard made of something a lot like cardboard. It did, however, have an automatic transmission rather than a manual stick shift, which was considered a plus at the time.

When things started going wrong, it was all the little bits inside the passenger compartment. One door could only open from the inside, one could only open from the outside. It was a good thing the front seat was a bench, because I had a one-way front seat!

In retrospect, it had a six-cylinder engine in that tiny box. The car itself was pretty heavy, and wide for a smallish car. It would plow solidly through snow with ease, though it had manual steering which was so hard to turn that my mother couldn’t drive it.

I have always loved words (you knew that already, didn’t you?) and am attracted to bumper stickers. Around the time I went to college, I was 17 years old and I found a bumper sticker for my car that said… “Don’t honk, I’m peddling as fast as I can!” It got a lot of chuckles. I’m into more meaningful stickers these days, maybe… I go for “Everyone is an Artist” now (sort of my theme of this weblog, although maybe there is someone out there who would deny the idea).

This week I have felt a little like that bumper sticker. I feel as though I’m Knitting as Fast as I can! I have stayed up until 3am twice and 2am once. I have knit in the car, in the dark, at the teahouse, waiting in line at the grocery, waiting for food to arrive at restaurants. And it just seems that no matter how simple the project seems to be, it will not be knit fast enough for me.

The good news is that my second LynnH Watercolor bag is done knitting, it is felted, the small bit of sewing is completed and the I-cord handle is drying. I think it’s actually going to be ready to show off at the Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild tonight. WooHoo!

I may even have time to pop by Little Red Schoolhouse and pick up the one they have on display right now, to show that one as well. They look very different, both because they had different colors and because one has the stockinette fabric facing out and the other has the reverse stockinette (the purl side) facing out. I’m rather fond of the second bag, myself… it has lots of hot pink and I prefer the purl bumps with variegated yarns.

Tomorrow, then, if all goes well… I will deliver the new bag (Geranium Garden Colorway) to Little Red Schoolhouse, where I got the yarn for it… and take the first one (Waterfall Colorway) to Yarn Garden in Charlotte, Michigan, where I got the yarn for it. And the bags will be home, sweet home.

Then, although I’d love to start another of the bags just for me to keep… I will be working on wristwarmers/handwarmers for the class I’m teaching on Friday night at Threadbear, one session, three hours, 6pm-9pm. Cost is $25 for the one session, and that includes a pattern but not yarn.

Wristwarmers/Handwarmers is the perfect class, for a bunch of reasons. If you have never knit more than a garter-stitch scarf, you can make something new with a beautiful multicolored yarn, and you don’t need to learn more than one new technique, a slightly different way of binding off.

If you are comfortable knitting and purling but have never knit in the round on double pointed needles, you can learn how to do that. The knitting is pretty simple, it’s relaxing rather than challenging, but when you are done you will have a low-effort, high-return project and it will finish in a jiffy. You won’t finish the whole set in three hours, but you will know everything you need.

Oh, and if you knit and have a friend who has never knit, bring them along. You can knit one version and I’ll teach your friend the basics (cast on, knit stitch, bind off) and you will both have useful, warm projects that you can wear and wear and wear.

This is the first time I have offered this class at night. I would love to see some of you folks (and your not-knitting-yet friends) this Friday. Please join me.

Photos: 1) Geranium Garden Watercolor bag fabric/colors before felting. 2) One version of my In-the-Round Wristwarmers made of Heirloom bulky brushed mohair, yum! 3) In-the-round handwarmers, knit in bulky Lamb’s Pride Worsted, less than one skein. Worn over leather gloves that block the wind, but they can be worn gloveless on warmer days or indoors.