Annie Knits: It's The End of an Era

In August of 1997, I drove my Dear Daughter to full time pre-school for the first time. I and a neighbor split time driving -- I drove mostly afternoons as I wasn't working outside the house at the time.

Yesterday, I drove two boys home from high school at 3:30. It was the last time I'll drive a scheduled carpool.

Let that sink in... carpool and school driving from August 1997 until May 2014.

My kids have always attended schools to which they had to be driven. It's a consequence of living in an urban neighborhood in our very Catholic school oriented city. Often, I was able to finagle a carpool, but when I wasn't, I drove every day, both ways. We had to explain to the French kids what a carpool even was.

We've shared driving with neighbors and folks who'd been, up until then, complete strangers. Some carpool friends we still see, some not so much.

When I mentioned that I was driving what was likely my last carpool run yesterday, most people kind of awed and ohhed and were sympathetic. I responded with suitable faux grief, I think. After all, it means that my chicks are growing up and they're not little any more and maybe they don't need me like they used to.

Outwardly, I was suitably somber. Inside there were margaritas and sombreros! Yay me. I'm not tied to 3 o'clock in the afternoon any more. I don't have to get dressed and out of the house at 6:45 a.m. any more. I don't have to wait in parking lots in storms or heat or frigid temperatures. I don't have to sit in afternoon traffic. Dobby is freeeeee!

Ahem.

With freedom comes responsibility. Now that both kids have cars, I'm assiduous about demanding details about where and when they will be driving these cars. I text and chat and generally bug them about where they're going, when they'll be home, and with whom they'll be tooling around. Without carpool bookending my days, I'll have to be attentive to getting dressed in the morning. Hee hee.

The down side might be that during all that waiting, I got quite a bit of knitting done.

Like my Chance of Showers knit along sweater. The Knit Along began this week at the shop. 10 ladies and I are knitting this Heidi Kirrmaier design, which is reminiscent of Vitamin D in shape, but gets to this shape in a whole different way.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome, actually. I used Rowan Panama in a pale aqua. Drape and shape and fit are just right.

See the radial shoulder increases? Part and parcel of the fit, I think. The shaping works really well with my shoulders.

So, if I apply the 8 hours a week I've spent driving kids during the school year to knitting sweaters instead, that gives me about 288 extra hours a year to knit. That's 3 or 4 more sweaters or 14 more pairs of socks or 28 more hats or scarves.

I may just use up my stash within my life time after all.