Lucky number 13

I’ve always found 13 to be a good-luck number. Good things happen to me on Friday the 13th, I’m always happy to stay on the 13th floor of a hotel, and I didn’t run out of yarn on FO 13 for 2010 after all.

It was a near thing.

This morning, I finished knitting sleeve 2 of the blue WIP, a Baby Einstein (Albert?) sweater for my MAT’s coworker’s unborn son, and stitched up the two shoulder/sleeve seams with the yarn tails. Looking at the three almost-footlong strands of yarn I had left from earlier sections of the sweater, I fretted that I would have to crack open my backup skein of yarn (the one you all know I went and bought after I logged off my last post) just to sew on the three buttons and make closure loops.

I know it seems silly to fret about a thing like that. After all, that’s what I bought the thing for, right? But it just seems wasteful to start a whole new skein just to sew on three buttons and to crochet button loops for them. Even when I know I can use the rest of the barely touched skein to make a baby hat and mitts and booties, especially if I make them several sizes smaller than the sweater, which is about a 12-month size (I think).

In fact, that’s a great idea. That way the li’l tyke will have the hat, etc., to wear while he’s still a fresh-from-the-mom baby (which make sense in a gift to a newborn, I know) and will have another handknit to wear next fall/winter. (Like a two-fer gift, doncha see.)

Still, the thought of starting that virgin skein just because I hadn’t planned ahead sufficiently, well, it irked me.

I decided to use what I had for as long as I could.

I used the three not-quite-one-foot-long sections to attach the buttons and quickly snapped a photo with the camera on my new phone. (As you will see below, it’s clearly not an iPhone, or surely the photo quality would be much better.)

Buttons found at my LYS when I bought the backup skein

I was pulling out the backup skein when something blue in my supplies caught my eye. I sorted through some assorted yarn scraps in my knitting tool kit and saw a couple more pieces (about 2 feet long each) of this yarn. And after digging, I found a third. I was saved!

I decided to make simple button loops by doubling the yarn from a fold and crocheting the doubled yarn (on a Boye size I hook) into 12-stitch chains. I folded the chains into loops and used the tails to secure them to the front right buttonband. Here’s another craptastic picture, this one showing a bit more detail of one of the buttons post-loop:

I love these buttons!

I apologize for the poor picture quality. Once I have a decent camera at hand, I will take a better photo and post it. Promise.

So, except for weaving in the button-loop ends, a task I shall attend to forthwith, FO 13 for 2010 is done. And the third skein remains intact.

Whew!

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The amazocam has gone missing, thus the use of the cellphone camera above. I think one of the men in the house left the van unlocked while the camera was in it, thinking surely no one would have the cojones to burglarize the car while it was parked right in front of the house. Surely not.

I have, on a couple of occasions recently, walked out to the van and found it unlocked. On none of those occasions had I been the last one in the vehicle. Sometimes not for hours.

Both my fellas deny any occasions on which they have not locked the van, which is not possible, really, given that I have “caught” the BC14 leaving it unlocked in the past and castigated him roundly then. It’s something I am downright anal about, working where I work and knowing what I know about crime rates in the area.

I have left my camera bag in the van for short stretches, when I was in-n-out of the house or work or a store, to avoid carrying it with me every moment. At those times, I doublecheck to make sure all the doors are locked and the windows are all the way up. And I make sure the camera bag itself is always out of sight, so as not to tempt a bad guy into smashing a car window and ripping me off. After all, most thieves/burglars are opportunists, in that they would rather find a vehicle with an unlocked door or open window than have to “break” into one. Some even think their victims are just getting what they deserve if they’re stupid enough to leave the car unsecured, like “What did you expect, dumbass?” or “That’ll teach ya.”

The fact remains that the camera bag is gone and with it, the amazocam. It’s not in the house. It’s not in the van. It’s not at work. The last time I remember having it in my hand was when I put it in the car, so I would have it handy while driving, ’cause you just never know when you’re going to need to document something critical, like a suspect fleeing the scene of a crime right in front of you (it could happen!) or a cool/funny/weird bumpersticker, right?

So, until we “find” the camera or I get another one or borrow the hub’s, these photos are the best I can do for now.

And while the camera loss/theft isn’t lucky, at least it didn’t happen on the 13th of the month.

Although it did happen while I was working on FO 13 and after I had knit my 13th charity “square” of the year.

Pure coincidence, surely.

Now pardon me, I have six ends to weave in and some salt to toss over my shoulder. (Hey, whatever it takes.)

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And if you’re reading this in a location that’s holding elections and have not yet done your civic duty, get off your duff and go vote. It’s the right (and left, in my case) thing to do and you’ll feel better afterward.

Promise.

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