Summer, captured, and a knitting boo boo

I saw a cute idea on Pinterest that combined a lidded jar of sand, some collected seashells and a cutout of a child at the beach. I adapted that idea and used an untrimmed photo of Colton with seashells left over from a craft project.

A few large shells help hold the photo upright and while not actually from our trip to Traverse City, they remind us of the feel of that trip...especially being barefoot...ouch, ouch, ouch! A bit of raffia tied to the dome's knob seemed appropriate to me.

In other crafting news, the second fingerless glove was theoretically done Saturday morning. I say theoretically because it doesn't exist now.

* Sigh  *

I had measured the mitt and compared it to the first one before binding off. In the late hours of Friday night, I *thought* the lengths were the same. On Saturday morning I finished the thumb and began to have doubts. I used a different bind off than I normally use, one that was recommended in the pattern. When I compared the two mitts side by side, or specifically palm to palm, I was not happy.

I have taken out a bound off edge before and returned live stitches to a needle to add more length. I tried to do this Saturday afternoon. The sewn bind off didn't want to be undone. If anyone were to ask me for advice when a sticky problem like this arises, I would tell them not to tackle this when you are upset. Upset could be in reference to the knitting project, or to something else in your life. Calmness and patience are required to undo something that doesn't want to be undone.

I didn't take my own advice.

I was mad at myself for missing the discrepancy before binding off the second mitt. I was upset over news concerning the health of two friends. Two huge reasons I should have set the project aside for awhile, but I plowed ahead, neither calmly or patiently. In frustration, I decided to cut what I thought was the tail of yarn used in binding off. I went too far. Ok.....I figured I would go a row deeper and unknit (also known as tinking {knit spelled backwards is tink} or frogging because you are ripping out rows...rip it, rip it, rip it...frog speak, right?) and eventually fix my mistake.

Holding the knitting in my left hand and attempting to cut carefully with Ginger Pocket Scissors (named for their rounded blades, safe to carry in your pocket) I cut a good sized wedge out of my left middle finger. I'd show you, but I'd be flipping you the proverbial bird, and I'm not mad at any of you, just at myself.

Now I had a snarled project with blood on it and a sore finger that was still dripping. I cut the offending knitting to bits in pique of anger that served no good other than allowing me to vent over much more than the knitting problem. I had pretty much decided to reknit the entire glove before this, and have plenty untouched yarn so it wasn't a completely uncalculated move even though it was out of character for me.

The second (third, actually) mitt is on my needles and progressing nicely. I am praying for good results for my friends who are battling cancer. The sun is shining and I am seeing the glass more than half full again. The glass isn't a drinking glass though, it is a pedestal with a dome, and has shells and the photo of my youngest love and the legs of my oldest love.

I am still getting many anonymous comments that aren't threatening or stalking, but are still annoying. I have changed my settings from anyone being able to post a comment to Registered Users, which includes those using OpenID. If this creates a problem for anyone, please let me know. If you have had a similar experience, I'd like to know what you do to fix the situation. I don't want to use verification because it is often difficult to read and annoys the heck out of me, and I assume it probably bugs many others too.

Is there a way to block all "anonymous" commenters? I hadn't wanted to go that route but that would solve 95% of my problems.