Contest, and an Egg Update

I've been reading Jennifer's blog for a while now, and have thoroughly enjoyed both her knitting and her little boy Jakob. I first saw the Debbie Bliss Alphabet Blanket on Jennifer's site, and have now made two as gifts. Anyway, she is having a contest for reaching seven hundred and seventy seven posts. What fun! Who doesn't like a contest? The prize is a gift certificate to the online yarn store of your choice. Fabulous! You've got to hurry, though. The deadline is tonight!

The rules are simple. Just post how each one of the seven deadly sins relate to your knitting. Her 777th post, 7 deadly sins - get it? Ha! Anyway the Seven Deadly Sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth. I've even cut-and-pasted the definitions from Jennifer's blog below.

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.


Now for how these relate to my knitting.

Pride I have been known to overestimate my skills a bit. I have a couple of books on knitting lace, and have yet to jump in and give it a try. Me? Knit lace? What was I thinking when I bought those books? I was seriously overestimating my ability. So why not try it anyway? Am I afraid I'll screw it up royally and then have to admit that I suck at anything other than socks and the occasional baby blanket? That's a form of pride, too, isn't it?

Envy Oh, to have the skills of one of my knitting heroes. Wendy of Wendy Knits designs some incredible socks, and knits them up lightening fast. She is truly amazing.

Gluttony Hmmm, just look at my stash of sock yarn. There is more yarn there than I could ever possibly knit even if I lived to be 100. (I'd better not live that long - I have no retirement plan, so I've gotta die young.) Anyway, I have more sock yarn than is good for any one knitter, and I'm always on the lookout for more. Need. More. Sock. Yarn.

Lust A couple of years ago I was at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (or maybe it was Stitches East) and saw some truly gorgeous, absolutely lovely Russian (maybe Italian?) lace shawls. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but that's only because all I wanted to do was wrap that gossamer goodness around me and run through a meadow of wildflowers, straight into the arms of Colin Firth. Yes, I lust after one of those shawls, not to mention Colin Firth.

Anger You don't want to be around me when I come across a mistake in a pattern. If it's so bad that I have to rip back, oh, the filthy things that come out of my mouth. Totally unbecoming anyone who was raised a good Baptist girl.

Greed See Gluttony. New sock yarn on the market? Gotta try it. Yes, even though I have sock yarn exploding from every storage bin in my craft area, it's still not enough. Need--More--Sock---Yarn.

Sloth I have been known to have a pair of socks on the needles for months...even years. One pair that I finished several weeks ago may have been my oldest UFO. I cast on those suckers in 2004. Shame on me. Another example of sloth? I've known about this contest for days now, and am just now getting around to participating. Shame, shame, shame on me.

Now for the egg update: As of Saturday morning, Ducky had ten eggs. By that afternoon there were eleven. Today, (Wednesday) there are fourteen. Yup, 14 eggs. This chicken has not laid 14 eggs in the past 6 years together. What has gotten into this bird? I didn't raise her like this!