Annie Knits

Two on Tuesday: Two Ways to Deal With the Cold

Actually, I've willfully misinterpreted Carole's topic for today which is ten ways to deal with a cold.  I refuse to mention colds as there is such nastiness swirling around here and I've taken such measures to avoid it that I've got disinfectant hand cream coming out of my pores.  

Tonight I'll blog about how I deal with the cold, as in there is a huge cold front coming and it's going to get cold.  That cold.  I bet you can guess the nature of the contents of my post...

I may have blogged about the Christmas present Hubster got me last year -- 250 grams of Quiviut fiber.  I also may have blogged about spinning it into a light fingering weight 2-ply yarn.  I can't remember.

As the cold approached this fall, I thought I should finish the gloves I started out of this hand spun goodness last spring.  It didn't take long.  These suckers are soft and warm and decadent.  And they only weight 80 grams.  As such, my pair is in the works.  

I used Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns.  These gloves were knit on size 2 needles and I knit the man's large size.  Hubster likes them.

Also in the WIP finishing category is my Inspira cowl  (that's a Ravelry link).  

General Patton modeling knit wear again.  I know that the photo seems yellow, but the colors of the cowl read pretty true in this photo.  The yarn is a hand spun Spunky Eclectic colorway -- can't remember which one, but I spun it to maintain the long color repeats.  

I modified the pattern in that I decreased to give it some shoulder shaping.  I knit it on size 9 needles. 

It's rustic and thick and bright.  I kind of love it.

So, yeah, knitting is one way to deal with cold weather.  The other way?

You knew that was coming.   

I'll tell you one thing.  The way my CSA deals with the cold weather is to throw winter squash at us!  I have 2 Acorn, one Butternut, one Delicata, and a baking pumpkin.

Tonight I stuffed two kinds of winter squash with cornbread stuffing, because, to be perfectly honest, my family does not love winter squash.  It's ok as a vehicle for something else like stuffing, though. 

Cornbread Stuffed Winter Squash

• 2 winter squash, halved and seeded
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 2 large cloves garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 T butter
• 10 leaves fresh sage, chopped
• 2 T Sherry
• 6 stale corn muffins, about 2 cups (you can use bread cubes that you dry a little in the oven instead)
• 1 1/2 c chicken stock

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Sautee onion, celery, and garlic in butter until soft.  Season with salt and pepper and add sherry.  Reduce slightly.  Add sage.
3. Stir muffin crumbs and chicken stock into vegetable mixture.  Let it absorb the liquid some.
4. Spoon the stuffing into the squash cavities, mounding it up carefully.
5. Bake until squash is cooked through, about an hour.  

I served this with buffalo meatloaf that I seasoned with some of the fresh sage and yukon gold potatoes.  Stick to your ribs food, I tell you.  

There is some stuffed squash left.  I'd call that lunch.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Home again.  Here are a few more pictures of vacation fun, though, just to keep me centered.

My lack of dolphin sightings was a theme on the vacation.  Everyone but gimpy ol' me had seen them by the 2nd week, either on a boat outing or riding bikes on the beach, which I couldn't do.  Too windy.  It's hard enough on the bike paths with just one leg, and that's all I could use to pedal.  To my credit, I got up to 4 miles round trip toward the end of our stay.  I had to go hear the snapping shrimp again and that marsh was a good ways away from the house.  Yay me.  But I digress.

The whining got to Dear Husband, apparently, so he took me on a dolphin cruise.  This pod was feeding at the inlet round back of the island.  They'd push schools of fish up onto the beach and launch themselves onto the sand to eat the stranded fish.  It's a feeding strategy that apparently started here on the Kiawah river, but is now common from Florida to North Carolina -- naturalists think that the Kiawah pods teach their young, the males of which go out into the ocean and disperse when they come of age.  The behavior's been featured on a National Geographic show.  Really cool, but hard to photograph. 

This photo is kind of fuzzy, but if you look closely, you can see the baby dolphin's dorsal fin just behind his mother's.  He was born in February.  So cute.  My vacation was complete.

There was, of course, shark fishing.  These boys.  No matter how much they are enjoying themselves, they do not smile broadly enough to show their braces...  

Smile, dear daughter...  She's a little more comfortable with the process this year.  ; )

Along with us the second week were Blogless Janet and her family.  Here, her Dear Son is getting pointers from our favorite Kiawah Island naturalist/dolphin spotter/shark fisherman John.  How many scrapbooks do you think that guy's in?  A lot, I bet.

But enough about relaxing.  I've got finished knitting to show off.

Ta Da!  (Many thanks to Photographer Deborah.)  Celery re-worked.  See how the collar lies flat now?  Yay me.  Needs blocking and while I've lost 23 lbs, when I see this picture, I realize I should lose 20 more.  I'll get on that.  Either that or I should crop more selectively...

That aside, did I tell you how much I love this sweater?  The fit is good, the yarn is light, but wool so it'll work through multiple seasons.  One downfall, I guess, is that the color is so distinctive that when I wear it all the freaking time, people will notice.  Let 'em I say.  I love this sweater.  

Too bad I finished it right when the weather is about to turn hot.  Oh, well... I'll have to go to the movies.  Or somewhere where the air conditioning is cold.  Definitely.

Stats: 

Pattern:  Celery, size large

Yarn: Dyeabolical Bling Sparkly Sock, Annie colorway, 3.2 skeins.

Needles:  Size 5 US

And the Cascade baby sweater is done.  It'll be cuter when I actually sew the buttons on.  So, technically not done, I guess.  

This baby's born too, so I'll need to get on the stick.  I should mail it before my surgery.  

Statistics

Pattern:  Cascade, size 1 year

Yarn:  Berroco Vintage, leafy green color, 1.2 skeins

Needles:  size 7

This cutie took just a little more than a skein of yarn and 3 days to knit.  So cute, so fast. 

And finally, a WIP.

Rachel of Dyeabolical is doing sock blanks now.  Except she calls them something else that I can't remember.  (For the uninitiated, a blank is knit fabric that you dye and then unravel to knit something else.  Really.  The joy is in seeing how the dye job knits up in the new article.  Geeky, but fun.)  

She tossed this blank at me last night for a test knit.  I suppose I committed to socks, I can't remember, but by the time I got home, I'd cast on for a long ruffled scarf.  I'm not sure how it happened.  

This blank is knit with two strands, so you knit socks two at a time or you do what I'm doing with a scarf which is alternate rows, 2 with each strand.  Works for me. 

I'm justifying my lack of sock-knitting to myself with the idea that lots of folks knit scarves with sock yarn and Rachel's customers would love to know how this stuff knits up in a long, thin, ruffled, kerchief-shaped scarf.  Who's with me?

Another Week in Pictures

We spent last weekend at Dear Daughter's college orientation weekend.  Benedictine College is a lovely place in Atchison, Kansas on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River (the hills and Crutchie are not a good mix... more on that later).  She stayed in the dormitory while Hubster, Dear Son and I went off to explore St. Joseph.  Before we left her to her devices, we got to sit in on a sample lecture -- it was the medieval-literature guy's Holy Grail lecture -- and, boo hoo, I want to go back to college and study medieval literature!  

There was a bar-b-que and a dance and a movie in the quad.  Her class of 400 and some is the largest freshman class in their history.  The teachers and administrators we met were excellent and enthusiastic.  The key?  The president said it best in a presentation to the parents the first morning.  Benedictine has chosen to be a Catholic, liberal arts, residential college.  They focus on those so-called pillars without shame or compunction.  And while I didn't think I cared particularly about the religious nature of the place, to have them focus on it rather than take a kind of wishy washy only if you search it out approach like the other places we visited makes this place feel purposeful and right-minded.  And the liberal arts focus means that they focus on giving kids that kind of approach to life -- you learn about something and then make a decision about it.  And you're not ashamed of knowing the history of an idea and how it's viewed by others.  I like it.

The Sunday morning after we got back, this guy came for the morning while his parent's provided music for the 7:30 a.m. mass.  

We made and ate pancakes, chatted about other foods that are sticky, played the vuvuzela, played with cars, played with Transformers, played the guitar, moved all the dry dog food into the water bowl (ok, that was a lack of supervision on my part and it happens with Leo too...), ate ice cream (ok, not ice cream but frozen bananas and frozen strawberries whizzed up in my Vitamix blender which I love in an unreasonable fashion -- it's fun to get away with something once in awhile other than moving all the dog food into the water bowl of course), took pictures, read the beach book, woke up Dear Son, and played fetch with Monte.  

It was a busy morning.  There is a reason Mother Nature makes it hard for nearly-49-year-olds to acquire 2-year-olds on a full-time basis.  

What with driving all over the Midwest and all, I got a lot of stitching done on my Celery Cardigan.  I love the colors (pretty true in this picture except that you can't see the sparkly bits in the yarn) and there is not too much overt pooling.  And it fits beautifully through the arms and down the back.

I'm going to have to rip back the collar, though, I think.  It's a little lettuce leafy and it isn't supposed to be.  I'll take out a few of the corner increases and re-knit the plackets.  It's more knitting than you think, though.  Those fronts are widened by short rows and each row consists of the stitches all the way up the front, around the neck, and back down the other side.  It's ok, though... what else do I have to do right?  Lot's of time on my keester this summer.

When I'm thru working on Celery, I'll finally be able to finish this puppy.  And it's all about the kindness of strangers here. 

When I lengthened the body earlier this spring, did I think about the fact that I'd run out of yarn for the sleeves in so doing?  Run out of a long-discontinued yarn?  No, I did not.  When it happened, I kicked myself all over the place until I thought to look through people's Ravelry stashes.  Lo and behold, lots of folks have this yarn.  Most of them have only a skein though, and I needed two.  

I found someone who looked like she had two and emailed her asking if she'd like to trade for it.  She'd knit with it already but was willing to rip out what she'd knitted because it was a UFO that she wasn't pleased with and send me the yarn.  And she did!  I sent her some sock yarn in trade.  Gives you a little tear in your eye, doesn't it?  Ah, me.  The kindness of strangers.

Then, of course, I have to make a going-away-to-college afghan.  I have no idea which one yet.  Something with wavy stripes and fringe.  I'll decide this week.

And, there's another baby due in the family later this month -- half-sister's having a girl.  I'll make Cascade I think (Ravelry link).  It's a cardigan with leaves for the button band.  So cute.  

Looks like a lot of knitting, doesn't it?  I'll have time.  My hip-replacement surgery is scheduled for the 5th of July.  Put me in your good thoughts, won't you?  Then, there's the on-your-butt recovery time.  Plenty of time for knitting. 

File This One Under ...

It's about damn time!

A)  The City of St. Louis delivered my recycling dumpster this morning.  Yay me.  Now they'll collect garbage once a week, recycling once a week, and yard waste once a week.  I used to pay a local recycling company to collect my recyclables, but when my recycling day (Monday) coincided with so many holidays one year that my collections were reduced by 15% and they basically told me tough toe-nails, I quit paying them to abuse me.  Since then, my recycling has been haphazard, as in when I wanted to schlep it to the city recycling center nearby.  Not any more.  

B) Baby's birthday sweater is nearly finished.  Most of one sleeve to go and then piecing.  Today?  Maybe.  It's his actual birthday after all.  On my monitor, this yarn looks pinkish and I can't seem to get that straightened out.  It's more maroon, or claret.  I have to say that making the push to finish this sweater in this yarn has given me a repetitive stress injury to the tendon in my elbow.  Inflexible yarn plus heavy cabling equals elbow problems.  Good to know.  Ice helps and I'll be just fine.  On the bright side, my chiropractor is enjoying treating what he says is his first "knitting injury".  He's a barrel of monkeys...

Too Dumb to Live!

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png

A) Today's joke:  How many preservationists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?  Ten, one to screw in the new light bulb and nine to admire the old one... WHICH DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE!

There is an internet hoopla into which I've injected my opinion.  Surprise.  The local all-girls high school from which my daughter is soon to graduate (God willing) is gearing up to make some changes.  This institution (along with a few of its buildings) is more than 125 years old and has been educating young South St. Louis women for that long.  It was begun by an order of nuns, several of whom I count as close friends, and is their mission.  Sadly, the order is an aging one, as are many religious orders, and maintaining the school and it's physical plant has begun to be a drain on their resources.

For the last several years, stake holders at the school have spent time developing a plan to keep the school thriving ... or even open.  The plan has two phases.  The first phase is to raise several millions of dollars to fund a tuition endowment (to help low income girls attend and keep the school a viable option for our urban poor) and fund renovations to the 1957 building.  Good.  

The second phase is where the problems lie.  In that plan, the stake holders have explored tearing down one of the older buildings to make room for a performing arts center (music and theater being strengths of the school).  Let the hoopla begin.

A local blogger (whom neighbors are quoting as if he's a journalist with journalistic ethics and a journalist's passing nod to unbiased reporting) got wind of the plans and has blogged about the gloom and doom of the second phase of this plan.  He can't have actually read the whole plan because it's clear that the possible demolition of the venerable 128 year old school building is years off if it even happens.  He blogged about it anyway, though, and he's got local panties in a twist, that's for sure.  Mine included, I suppose.  

I've left comments to both of his posts, which neighbors are referring to as "articles" when they forward the links around, reminding the melee that what they're discussing so urgently and stridently is PHASE TWO of the MULTI MILLION DOLLAR PLAN which is likely at least 8 or 10 years away and could we please discuss whether or not the school WILL STAY OPEN!  

Christ in pancakes, I'm ready to kill someone.

So help me, if this tempest in a teacup impacts one bit the efforts we're making to raise money TO EDUCATE CHILDREN ... well, I don't know what I'll do.  

Anyway, hubster wants me to calm down and stay out of it.  

Hey, at least I didn't leave the preservationist joke in the comments of the blog.  Internet benevolence points to me.

An aside:  Ravelry Rubberneckers?  This post looks and sounds like Ranch Dressing.  I'm officially crazy.

... As Pigs in Mud

Yes, I know.  Monte looks pitiful there curled up in the new snow we are receiving this morning.  But look again.

This is the view I had of this snow dog after I asked if he wanted to come inside.  It's as good as "talk to the hand," don't you think?  He's still sitting right in this spot, watching the snow fall, happy as a ... well, you know.

Me?  

The February Hello Yarn Club fiber arrived Thursday.  It begged to jump on my new spinning wheel, so I obliged it.  After Adrian's recent blog post about fractal spinning and hand spun knitted socks, how could I resist?

4 ounces prepped fractally (is that a word?) and spun up on 2 bobbins ... ready to ply.  I'm getting more and more about the intentional spinning.  I suppose that happens sooner or later.  As much yarn as I've spun for the sheer joy of spinning it, without any project in mind, I've developed a little more of a sense of planning things.  Sometimes it's hard to find that perfect project for 137 yards of precious hand spun and so it just sits and gets stroked which is ok but has become increasingly dissatisfying.

Before the Hello Yarn Club fiber came, on Monday I received my Dyeabolical February club fiber.  Well, received isn't exactly an honest portrayal of events.  I fetched it.  From Rachel's office.  At the beginning of an ice storm.  Hey, it's BFL Silk, okay?   Now it's 534 yards of light dk weight BFL silk in the Chocolate, Cherries, and Wine colorway and destined to become a Baktus or a Lacy Baktus.  This stuff is yummy.  I'm a bit crazy after all... and I have a new spinning wheel and I have deadline knitting.  Can you think of any better reason to spin up hundreds of yards of club fiber yarn?  I can't.

But, back to the topic at hand.

For me?  Snow falling, hand kit socks, an ipod with a new book on it, a heavily cabled baby sweater (Remix again, Tadpoles and Tiddlers book again -- check Ravelry), and banana muffins in the oven.  

For Hubster?  Home, in his office/mancave/den with a new biography and a cup of coffee.

For the kids?  Still asleep, of course.

We're all as happy as pigs in mud.

Monday, Monday.

So far, so good.

Carpool to three different schools.  Check.

Workout.  Up to 8 pounds and 30 reps on the one arm row, even on the shoulder I injured last winter.  Yay me.  Check.

Dinner planned:  Spaghetti with bison meatballs, garlic bread, salad.  Check.

Various bookkeeping household stuff finished.  Check. 

2 loads of laundry done, not folded.  Yet.  Check

Now on to the fun part of my day.

I looked around for spindles online and found tons to chose from.  But I had a hard time settling on any of them. Most would be too heavy for what I wanted, I thought.  And not a one of them sang to me such that I was willing to wait a week or so to get it.   I'd seen a spindle made from a disc shaped bead, a chopstick, a cuphook and a grommet (hi Winterheart!), so I decided to try that.  

Pieces purchased (after trekking all over the place for painted chopsticks -- not the square ones or the plastic ones) ...

and mostly assembled.  The cuphook in the top of the thing is a bit of a problem.  I need another set of hands.  So the cuphooks that need to be screwed into the top of the spindle above the bead will have to wait until Hubster gets home from work.  And the hardware store only had two appropriately sized grommets, so I'll have to hunt for more or order them online since I have 6 beads and 12 chopsticks...

Yesterday our Ravelry spinning group met for the first time.  More than 10 of us showed up to spin and chat.  Too bad I couldn't have stayed longer (I had a sock class).  During the spin in, I n-plyed four ounces of an old Hello Yarn club colorway, Norway.

I think I'll run it through the wheel again to even it up... I was distracted by all the fun fiber and cool wheels and chat.

After I finish this stuff, of course.

This picture emphasizes the colors, which are actually much more subtle in person.  More like this.

It's kind of like the sheen on a puddle of gasoline or like engine oil on a rain puddle.  Dark but iridescent.  And it's all mine.  Unless you can talk Rachel into making you some.  Killer.

And lastly, Emilie is trying all sorts of new foods here and I'm enjoying keeping track of what she likes and doesn't like.  So I think I'll keep a running bullet list.  Just to be ornery.

• Pancakes with CSA maple syrup -- she'd never had such a thing, but asked for seconds -- something she's only done one other time.
• Chili dog -- she finished it.  She finishes everything.  Very polite. 
• Nachos with cheese sauce -- thumbs down.  French kids don't like Velveeta, I guess.
• Shish Kebob -- she'd seen them, but hadn't eaten one.  Thumbs up, I think.
• Mixed greens (turnip, spinach, radish) -- you know, southern style, sauteed with onion and bacon and white wine.  This is the only other thing she's asked for a second helping of.  My kids eat them by the plateful, but I thought my kids were weird.  Maybe the greens are just good...
• Ted Drewes mint concrete -- finished it.  Duh.
• Frosted Flakes mixed with Captain Crunch -- her concoction.  Finished it.  (**grin**)

 

On the Needles.

Oh, alright.  On the needles, off the needles, on the needles again... whatever.

This firestar/merino blend was drying in the bathroom on Sunday, was a Stephen West Boneyard Shawl-esque kerchief by Tuesday afternoon, and is now the beginnings of a flared neck warmer.  Sheesh!

Remember this?

Luckily, this stuff is perfectly happy to be knit again and again.  And is it soft?  You know my saying about wool... you're not knitting underpants, are you?  Well, this stuff is soft enough to be underpants.  It needs to be something I wrap around my neck.  No, not a noose... something looser.

I've got like 102 yards of it, so a scarf is out.  And apparently so is a kerchief knit on size nine needles -- too small to go around my neck enough times to stay.  I'd like some kind of cowl, I guess, but I haven't seen many that I like in stripes that I haven't already made ( Birch comes to mind.)  

What I should do is a Baktus kind of thing, only weigh the stuff and start the decreases once I've knit half.  No wait, a Lacy Baktus.  That's it....  No, hang on, I want some kind of cowl... See my problem?

You Say Potato, I say Xenophobic

I was listening to NPR yesterday while I was running errands, this edition of All Things Considered in fact, and it's a show I normally enjoy.  You know, interesting talk, out of the ordinary approaches to news of the day, etc.  Some one of their reporters, a woman, was interviewing a French reporter about French First Lady Carla Bruni's new album.  They played a few selections -- it's kind of jazzy, smoky music -- better, quite frankly, than I expected given the lead in.

 The NPR reporter began with a question about how the French people are taking all this.  You know, having a First Lady release a cd in which she refers to having other lovers (I think the number was 30...) and then there's something about a chrysanthemum which might or might not be a thinly veiled sexual reference.  The French reporter paused and chuckled and said that, well, this woman had greatly softened Sarkozy's image as a workaholic, and how she's poised in public, and how she's well, 40, and she's had a life and well no one resents that.

 And the NPR gal asked again whether anyone is up in arms about all of the SEX on the cd, and the French reporter chuckled again and said that the French like their women of a certain age to have a past, that it makes them interesting. 

And the NPR gal asked AGAIN if there wasn't some objection, somewhere, please, to all this?  And the French lady said no that the French are more mature about this stuff... Sheesh!  Ok?  No, they don't care already!  And a 3 minute piece on a prime drive time serious news show about a the wife of an elected European official's new cd? Really?  And we care ALOT about that why?  And it was an annoying piece about all of that to boot.  I was yelling in the car... glad I was alone.

And then, of course, on Ravelry, there's been a lovely, nasty bit about a well-known Canadian blogger who posted on Canada Day (July 1) about loving her country.  And she even prefaced the piece with a little "I know you Americans think that when I post about Canada, it's some kind of swipe about you, but this is not!  This post is about me! blah blah blah".  Which still didn't stop the vitriol.  I was appalled.    I read the thread with mounting disgust -- it was in a McCain for president group I think -- and sat on my hands.  Post after post with jealous, snarky, xenophobic, conjured nonsense.  Actually, I'll admit to reading only the first several pages of like 17.  And some of it was something about how she's a public figure so none of the Rav etiquette applies -- she likes any kind of attention, even this nastiness.  I turned off the computer and rinsed my eyes with Clorox. 

Ok, so no computer, no radio... I'll read the paper.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!  Excommunications, arrests of immigrants for working in a slaughter house (nothing about the boss!) etc.  Gadzooks, I think I'll knit.

That's better.

Filey is coming right along.  I'm on the neck decreases in the front.  The Rowan Denim is lovely to work with, even though (I know Rachel!) it's  cotton.  You can't tell but these are two 30 inch long pieces of knitting... remember how it's supposed to shrink in the wash?  Like jeans?  Let's just hope. 

Oh, wait.  That's a pattern based on an Irish sweater.  By a Brit designer, with British yarn.  Quick, I'll change the subject to something else...

Bought some Dyeabolical yarn yesterday.  It's too staid to have a name written on it's label. **grin** (And this is a better representation of the true color of Filey of which we shall not speak again.)  This yarn is Amanda's socks.  Some assembly required.  But, yikes!  This yarn's been dyed by someone of Chinese American descent, the the recipient's gone and married a Korean American!  Hang on...

We bought this small (about 5 inches tall) piece last night at a Native American Art show last night at Cahokia Mounds.  It's by an artist named Keith Yazzie Jay and he wins this adjudicated show every year.  Hubster's been wanting a Yazzie Jay piece for a few years and last night we caved.  This man throws the pots, coats them with multiple layers of colored clay and then carves down into the layers with an Exacto knife to create his designs.  And they are stunning. 

There, American enough for you?

Inclusiveness -- Bah, Humbug!

Oh, gosh, quiet down!  Not really, just in this specific situation (and possibly others). 

Awhile back there was a kerfuffle (gosh, I love it when I get to use that word in a sentence) on Ravelry about World Wide Knit in Public Day.  It wasn't my kerfuffle, and I got involved only in the capacity as a moderator of the St. Louis group when I asked the kerfuffle maker to take down the kerfuffel post and she did.  The whole thing caused sour feelings amongst a few of our St. Louis knitters and in general, resulted in soreness.  I hear the day itself was lovely, though, and that everyone played nice -- I was traveling or I'd have rubbernecked it all myself.

Jump ahead a month or so, and I've been made aware of a thread on Ravelry wherein there is a discussion about changing the date and well the whole nature of the thing next year because some people felt left out of it due to previous plans or the fact that they're not knitters.  Ahem.  You read it right.  They crochet.  Or they create some kind of other fiber craft.  Or they, ... wait for it ... scrapbook.  (Hey!  Waitaminit!  I do all those things!  This is about me too!)  So, World Wide Knit in Public Day is not about them.  And, dangit, they want it to be!  About them, that is.  (Hey!  Waitaminit!  I want it to be about me to!) 

So the discussion ensues.  Could it be World Wide Create Fiber Art in Public Day?  WWCFAP Day.  Nah, too much like WWCRAP.  What about World Wide Craft in Public day?  Now, that is WWCraP Day.  Nah, too much like the truth... Oh, what will we do with all of the lonely basement crafters?  How will they be motivated to come upstairs into the light?  Not my problem.    Really.  I knit and I'm already included in the day so I'm good, thanks.  Which brings me past all the quips and to my point, actually. 

It is in fact World Wide Knit in Public Day, but you'll not be drawn and quartered for crocheting.   Hell, most non-knitters/crocheters don't know the difference!  (Snork... didn't I tell you how I used that little bit of public ignorance to my benefit during jury duty?  Or at least planned to if asked what I was doing since knitting was expressly forbidden but crocheting was not -- hey, waitaminit!  I'm being repressed!)  And while I suppose the non-crafting public does know the difference between knitting and scrapbooking, I'll put money down on the fact that it doesn't care!

Oh, I know.  I'm being purposefully obtuse.  It's the underlying intention of the whole thing, or maybe lack thereof.  Maybe the whole thing was thought of and started by a knitter, and maybe she did leave out other fiber arts, and maybe she did it maliciously, but I bet not.  And yes, it'd be nicer to just include everyone.  But to take the fact that you're not included in something (again I'd put forth "not included in name only!") as a personal slight just means to me that you have too much time on your hands...

 And besides, knitters are always taking over things.  Like the Knitting Guild!    And the knitting shops.  Sheesh, it's like we're all ENFP's waiting to bowl over all of the quieter, more reserved fiber artists.  World Wide Knit in Public Day?  I voted to leave it just as it is and I sat on my hands rather than typing in, "Hey!  Getcher own day!"  Brownie points for me.

The Top Ten Reasons I Haven't been Blogging

10.  I have too much laundryshoppingcleaningknittinghomeworkhelpingworking to do to stop and blog.

9.  Notice that spinning isn't in number ten?  It gets a slot all to itself.  I've ordered roving from the Loopy Ewe, Hello Yarn, Funky Eclectic, and Crown Mountain Farms.  On top of the Dyeabolical rovings I have.  They all CALL me from the other room.  Can't you hear them?  spin me! no me! ply me with that other one!  we all want your attention! 

8.  Construction is ongoing.  And while the men who arrive at my house every morning at 6:30 a.m. are not holding me hostage and away from my computer, their presence messes with my routines and those of the dogs and the kids and the husband. 

7.  My knitting has been minimal -- no progress, in fact reverse progress on the second iteration of the Kauni Cardigan.  I did do an Irish Hiking scarf for me out of my handspun.  I periodically pick up an old sock and work on it.  And Cecily's lace.   But not a whole heckofalot else.

6.  It's Lent.  And while I've been busy with baking and singing for Fish Fry Fridays as in past years,  I've knit nothing for charity.  A few things for others, but nothing for the less fortunate.  I'm a bad person.  Really bad.  That's hanging over my head but... well, watch the rest of the list.

5.  It's Winter.  Like a real winter.  Which we haven't had here in St. Louis for years.  Snow and ice and snow days with kids home and wet outdoor stuff and mud on the breezeway floor.  Five snow days I think since we've started construction in January.  Not only are kids home periodically, but man alive, I'm totally unmotivated to do ANYTHING.  I've never thought of myself as someone who suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but whew!  Since the time changed on Sunday,  I've  reorganized my stash, cleaned our room and closets,  and daughter's room (no small feat -- an season's worth of books, magazines, whatever... and a fine layer of construction dust.) 

4.  I've been working.  Not a lot, just two or three days a week, but when I'm there it's BUSY.  The recession that all of the news outlets have been going on about ad nauseum (ever heard of a self fulfilling prophesy?) has not hit our yarn shop.  Or architecture for that matter (hubby's busier than he's ever been, but don't tell anyone I told you).  I think the banking industry and home builders in this country behaved abominably over the past 10 or so years, raking in record profits and loaning irresponsibly.  The situation in these two industries and the numbers tied to them, coupled with gas prices are leading to alarmist behavior in the media.  I read a piece in the Wall Street Journal saying just that.  That there are many sectors of the economy that are doing really well -- home rehab, nesting stuff, entertainment and technology for instance.  So there.

3.  I was really sick.  Like as sick as I've been in my adult life.  With the flu.  Weak as a kitten.  Still have a little upper respiratory stiff even after 4 weeks.  I did not get a flu shot.  But plenty of folks did and got it none the less.  Dear Son missed 5 days of school.  I missed singing at two Friday Fish Fries and I missed a week's worth of work.  Sick, sick, sick.

2.  I don't have a camera that works.  And I really like to put pictures up on the blog.  I'm a visual person that way.  I've tried to buy one, but one place I went was out of the cameras I wanted and anyway the guy waved me off saying there was going to be some big news/new technology in cameras.  The other place said that people who had gotten tax rebate checks had bought all the cameras I wanted.  Rrright.  Things are crazy all over.  Really.

And the number one reason I haven't been blogging?  Well,  I never bought any Mystical Creations Yarn (The first is a blog with links to some crazy customer service stuff, the second is a Ravelry specific link, sorry)  So I figured no one wanted to read or talk about anything I had to say anyway. 

Seriously, folks.  Is that some crazy stuff or what?  First, I'm really glad I never mis-dyed yarn and tried to sell it to any of you all.  'Cause you people are some crazy internet stalkers when it comes to yarn acquisition scorned.   Second, I love me a good internet car wreck.

So.  Where to now?  To talk to my contractors.  To try and buy a camera.  To choose curtains and furniture as I gave away most of the furniture that was in the front two rooms.  To work.