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"The Bug"

While in North Carolina the three of us were discussing something serious (I can't remember the specific topic) and to lighten the mood I said something to the effect:  Sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes the bug.  It accomplished what I wanted but got me thinking about the song it came from and wanting to revisit the entire set of lyrics.  So here goes the results of that investigation.

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits wrote the song, "The Bug," in 1991 and the band released it that year as part of the On Every Street album.  It has been covered by others since then; my personal favorite was done in 1992 by Mary Chapin Carpenter with a country beat rather than a rock and roll one.   I have posted the YouTube link to Chapin Carpenter's version because all the words are there for you to review.  Some of the poignant lyrics to this post include these lines:

One step forward and it's back to go,
Sometimes you're the windshield,
Sometimes you're the bug,

Well, this last week I took steps forward and now I am back to go.  Let's begin with the happy part of the story, because as the lyrics go:

You've got to know happy and you got to know glad,
Cause you're gonna know lonely and you're gonna know sad,

I completed an entire Fiddlehead Mitten designed by Adrian Bizilia while I was in North Carolina.  In fact I have about 1/3 of the second mitten done as well.  You may remember the Fiddlehead Mittens Tena completed back in 2012.  (Want to see Tena's version, click here.)  I liked hers so well I decide to make a pair myself, even going so far as to get color selection help from my LYS.  The light gray when it was suggested was something I questioned, but now that I see it in action I really like it.  And this mitten fits my hand perfectly so it was going to be a gift to myself.  Have I whet your appetite enough?  OK, here is both the front and back of my one Fiddlehead Mitten.

The palm side - unblocked

The back - unblocked
So I know happy and glad because this Fair Isle pattern caused both.  The second mitten was only 1/3 completed because in North Carolina it became clear I would run out of the background of light gray before the second mitten was finished.

Mitten #2 so far and what is left of the light gray yarn
Now comes the lonely and sad part.  I assumed there would be a second skein of this gray waiting for me in Minneapolis, but it wasn't.  And as I thought about it more, there may very well not be a second skein at home in the Lower Mainland either.  So last night it felt like I just might be the bug in this endeavor.

One day you're a diamond and the next you're a stone

This morning after a good night's sleep I decided to stop by my LYS here in Minneapolis to see if they might have the light gray yarn.  The shop does carry that line of yarn just not my colour.  They even checked online with the manufacturer and found the light gray colour has been discontinued.

Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger
Sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're gonna lose it all.

My new background gray

So right then and there, when I could see things were not going to be easy, a new plan was cooked up.  Another pair will be made with this dark gray as the background.  (BTW be assured enough of the new yarn was purchased to insure a complete pair of mittens can be knit.) Tena's charcoal gray was so pretty, I decided to duplicate it instead.  The light grey won't be torn out just yet.  There is a slight chance of that second skein living in Port Moody or at my LYS there.  Or if I get ambitious enough I can go to Ravelry and see if anyone has that colour in their stash and is willing to part with it.  But I am not that desperate, yet.  I look at this first mitten as a practice mitten and if it has to be frogged, so be it.  The second time around everything I knit always looks better anyway.  So in the end when you are me, a Plan B had to be found.  I will complete those Fiddlehead mittens, just a bit later than planned with a charcoal background.

Everything can change in the blink of an eye
So let the good times roll before we say goodbye because
Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you're the bug

In the blink of an eye I went from being the bug to something like the windshield.  And since knitting is a process~~the process continues!
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