Survival Skills

Who says you need to be a Boy Scout to be resourceful? Ok, I probably couldn't find my way out of the woods using the sun as my compass. I also could not build a fire, or open a can with my teeth to save my life. Changing a tire is equally as doubtful. But, in a pinch, I can make stitchholders out of cocktail picks.

Knitting like a mad woman on a cocktail night at the pool (yes, the pool has an open bar), I just could not stop until I had finished my niece's cutie patootie pink dress (can you believe it's from Knitters?????).

There was no time to spare - it was July, and she's constantly growing, Growing, GROWING. As you may recall, I started a Wallabee for her awhile back, in a mix of Carol's Black Bunny in a rainbow colorway, and Koigu - but, alas, she had already outgrown it before I got around to finishing. That was not going to happen this time - no rum and coke was going to stop me, not a white sangria, or a lite beer.

In the back of my mind, I knew that if I did get that finishitis thing that I've been known to get when it comes to kid's clothes, it could always just end up being a long top . . . and then a cropped top . . . but, no, I was determined. I was going to finish it while it was still a dress. So, when I got to the top, and had to knit one side at a time, the fact that I didn't have my tools with me was not going to stop me. I checked out the available gear at the bar - cocktail stirrers - nah, too slick, no friction to secure the stitches. A plastic straw - too long - no scissors. And then, someone ordered a martini - huh, the olives stay on, why not stitches. And the cocktail pick was reborn as a stitchholder. I was free to knit the second side of the dress, and then the back.

And to think, I learned this very important survival skill having never earned one Brownie badge, and most importantly, never having sold a box of Girl Scout cookies.