Comfort in the Familiar

One of the side effects of being a child bride is that I have a mother-in-law in her 80s.

We rushed off on Monday to help find her an assisted living facility, a lift chair, etc. While I'm glad that we weren't there dealing with a broken hip or a car wreck, it was not the most relaxing of trips. I think I did 23 loads of laundry, the last two this morning. I know I did laundry from 7 p.m. Monday until 7 p.m. Tuesday. Except for the hours I slept, the washing machine literally ran non-stop.

I got up at 6 a.m. today to make it back to St. Louis and put in a few hours at work. I have a gig tonight in Champaign-Urbana and one Saturday in DesMoines. I haven't even looked at my calendar to see what I'm supposed to be doing next week,* although I seem to be spending the morning booking gigs into April 2008. I turned down a May date because I was booked already.

I pack knitting, of course, for each trip, but instead of arm warmers or sweaters or socks, I've knit seven preemie caps this week and cast on for the eighth. I totally get why old ladies make granny square afghan after granny square afghan, more pairs of slippers than a body could wear, ugly potholder after ugly potholder.

I could cast on and knit a preemie cap with my eyes closed, no stitch marker, no pattern in front of me. I can choose to let stitch counting take over my thoughts or I can knit mindlessly. Either way, I'm pretty sure that when it's my turn in the retirement home, I'll be cranking out these hats by the dozen. It's either that or slippers. Maybe dishrags.

No pictures of these caps, alas--the camera is at home, where I haven't been since Monday, and my cell phone is somewhere in the truck, which is getting a flat tire repaired before I hit the road to DesMoines.

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*I checked. It turns out we only have a private dance lesson to give to a bride-to-be and her beloved. I should probably be trying harder to find a summer job too.