Sneaky knits

 My grandmother taught me to knit and crochet when I was five. I remember sitting next to her as she patiently taught me to make the stitches, hold the wool, hold the needles, what to do when you drop a stitch. She only taught me plain and purl and how to make blanket squares. Then she started me on the crochet hook. She's made baby blankets for all of her grandchildren, and great grandchildren over the years, always using Paton's Bluebell wool, always edging them in black. Being a Libran, everything was always perfect as she worked her papery hands through these basic patterns. My grandmother never made anything fancy, but her stitching and needlework were immaculate. One of her granny blankets has pride of place on my couch. 

Over the years, I've kept up these skills. When my friends were having babies, they all received a baby blanket, crocheted not from squares but on one round. Normally they'd fit happily over a single bed.  They're the same as the blanket I have on my bed now, the one I made in my teens under which the cat now sleeps. I've made jumpers and cardigans and hats. I like keeping my hands busy. I remember my grandfather calling me a lazy bones for watching so much television. Knitting and crochet are productive use of my television time. 

Fast forward 30 odd years. I have a proper job which is currently being done from my lounge room, where you find my desk. I also find myself in a lot of very boring, mostly pointless meetings. 

The boring and pointless meetings are different from the productive ones, which are the ones where I find myself driving the computer, gleaning information, updating documents and finishing off stuff. No, the boring, pointless meetings (also known as WOFTAMs - "Waste of F%cking Time and Money.") are the ones where you are forced to listen in, but can't really work on other stuff in the background as you know you may be called upon to comment, or there is five minutes on the agenda when you need to be across the information. I go to a few of these.

So I've taken up sneaky knitting again. 

Now, next to my computer sits a ball of wool and a pair of knitting needles. A knitting pattern sits under my note pad. When I have to go to a WOFTAM, out comes the wool and the needles. This sneaky knitting makes the meeting go faster, and you feel like you're achieving something in the 4-8 hours of boring meetings a week. 

What made me feel a bit better was being in my last meeting and somebody saying, 'Sorry, I missed that, I was just folding the laundry."

And all of my team will have a new hat by the end of September the way things are going. Bonus. 

Today's song: 

Enchanted Map Cards: Talisman

Archetype Card: Gossip

Cards Against Humanity: Liberals... good to the last drop.