Today Was a Good Day

This is Sunday April 29th, the first day of the New England Needlework Association(NENA) tradeshow. Four members of the Webs contingent attended today - myself, Girl, Gail and Dena. I had a blast. I got loot. I left with my head full of information. I have been sitting here trying to sort it all into some cohesive, possibly humorous entry. Well, I quit.

Score 1:Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool, monstrous skein, 16 ounces, very red and don't remember the colorway. I have no idea what it will be. For now it just is enough to look at it, and occasionally wear it and feel warm.

Score 2: Della Q bag, adorable little thing, perfect for evenings out. I also like her Que circular storage case, but it does not have a US 10.5 slot, and I really think I'd love it much more if it had a magnetic clasp rather than the tie - but I really love it, and nearly bought one. Lucky for Mr Wonderful it was late in the day and I knew I was already over budget.

Not Score but Discovery 3: Norwegian Spirit. I love their designs. I have not seen the patterns, but the kids designs are adorable! I'd love to lay hands on their books.

Score 4: Blue Heron Rayon Metallic, color Spanish Dancer. I wanted this last year but ran short of cash. This year I just handed over my Visa. It literally - no kidding - fell into my basket. How could I leave it there after that??

Score 5: Knitwhits adorable little sock kit with the most adorable alphabet block socks ever. I just had to have the pattern!!

Score 6: Seacoast Handpainted Yarns, a little Panda Sock (Fresh greens in color) for design work and a little Superwash Sock (The Good Earth) for ME.

Score 7: a basket and a pair of scissors from I know not who. I love the basket, I have coveted them for a long time, and %5.00 for a sweet little pair of snips seemed pretty reasonable to me!

Most importantly - because I can never have enough - Score 8: 4 (MORE) skeins of Schaefer Anne, all hand selected for my personal use and wearing.
Schaefer Anne is one of my favorite yarns, I am wearing it now, and I adore it. I also loved that my Tilting at Windmills was right there, on a sock blocker for all to see. Very cool. Sorry Sibling, your Christmas gift is now reclining at a trade show. Maybe this year?! And, ummm, Other Sibling - well - I am wearing your Christmas gift - after all, how fair would that have been ? Socks for you, but not for her?? And besides, they may be famous some day soon, who knows!?

This is editing week, so I expect to be buried within the words I wrote this winter, but no longer remember. I did not even remember the names of the socks. Pretty bad!

Ikkinlala - if you're out there - email me (melissaknits@yahoo.com) and let me know how you may be found, that I may send you a skein of yarn, a hand dyed skein of sock yarn, all for you...

And the winner is......

I know, The suspense is killer, isn't it?

OK, ready???

The winner is....

IKKINLALA!!!!

Please email me (melissaknits@yahoo.com) with your mailing address to claim your prize.

The person who guessed most accurately actually did not post a comment, but was Kathy from Webs who rightly said it was Girl knitting a sweater. Since she owns a yarn store, we're not giving her anything. I mean, what could she possibly need? Free sock knitting lessons perhaps.....?

Girl Exposed -

I am very excited about this. Proud, disgustingly so really. She's KNITTING and a SWEATER! She has said that if it does not fit her she is never knitting anything ever again. So we'd all better pray, cross fingers, or do whichever voodoo that you do so well to ensure a successful outcome.

Efffective Effektiv

***CONTEST LAST CALL!***
Post a comment to this entry by 8AM EST April 27 and be entered to win a skein of hand-dyed sock yarn - all comments will be entered for the drawing, even if they are not "answers" to the picture-guessing-game!
Come back tomorrow afternoon, Friday, to see if you've won so you can email me your contact info. Oh, and I'll reveal who's knitting, and what. And maybe show you my socks. Or not. Depends on whether I can take them off or not.

This is for Micheal P who posted a comment about the Effektiv cabinets. Blogger does not send me people's emails when they show comments, so I was not able to email him directly. I promise I will put some knitting at the end.So - the shelves. I can tell you for dead certain what NOT to do. Do not attempt to hang them from their tops on the beams in your office. Mr. Wonderful and #1 Stepson tried this. The result was a destroyed cabinet and a big hole in my just-laid laminate flooring. BIG old hole. Like "put a desk over it" hole. There are, however, two hanging over my head at this moment, and they do not appear to be in a hurry to tumble down. Where possible, we used the pre-drilled - and I must say, lovely if they only lined up - holes where possible. Then we measured the wall and made sure our studs were 16 o.c. (which they are, of course, in this lovely home we now inhabit!). Mr. Wonderful marked the inside of the cabinet with a pencil at 16" o.c., and attached L-backets in those locations to the cabinet tops with little screws. Now, in each of the cabinets, one of the pre-drilled
holes did land over a stud. The L-backets are not attractive, but then I don't spend a lot of time with my head inside my cabinets. The result is effective Effektiv for my purposes. I would recommend that you replace the cute little screws that come in L-brackets packages with a longer wood screw, couple of inches would be good, for attaching to the wall. If you're sure you got a stud when putting the screws in, then their load capacity is no different than it would have been if you'd used the "nice" holes. We did contemplate some alternatives, including running a header behind them to screw them in to, but unfortunately there is no recess behind the cabinet to hide it in. This created a whole other set of issues, and we discarded it fairly early on. Having them flush to the wall was essential for me. I have considered running a wall-colored piece of 1x2 the lenght of the cabinets underneath them, screwed into studs, as insurance. I remain undecided!

What...why...what is this???? Any guesses? OK, CONTEST!!! Post a guess to the comments section, and be entered - right or wrong! - in a drawing to be held Friday for one skein of sock yarn. I will post the name of the winner who may then contact me via email with info about where to send said skein. Not sure what I'll be sending yet, but it'll be good, promise!
I don't know where this is going. I went downstairs the other day for something and saw 4 skeins of Charisma (it's all gone, so no link, sorry - just think worsted, vareigated, and I think wool and maybe mohair?) sitting there looking at me. I don't know what I'd planned for it, probably something felted? I sat down and made a quickie swatch and cast on for a . . . well. . . frankly I don't know what. A sweater for certain. For me, probably. Based on my measurements, so it'd make sense if it was for me. And...starting from the bottom. So far there's a turned hem, and some short rows in the back for my . . . booty. Other than that, no idea where we go next. "Up", I guess. I would not expect to see this as a F.O. anytime soon. I have learned that in order for me to be clear-headed and functional as a writer/designer/whatever-er, I need to have some personal knitting going at all times that is unrelated to the "work" knitting. It took me a while to figure this out. Mental Health Knitting. I also have A.D.D. when it comes to projects, I am pretty faithless and need to switch from thing to thing to thing. This could languish in a basket for a year, like Mr. Wonderful's pullover has for, ummm...two years now? But for now this amuses me in off moments when I don't want to think, just knit endless stockinette. I also made progress on my Franklin socks, though not in the original pattern. After hours of staring at it, trying them on and taking them off (another benefit of toe-up!) I decided that the pattern was lost in the yarn and useless, so I switched to K2,P2 rib right there where I was, at the beginning of the gusset increases. It's another perk of being me. I so lack the "rip it out and start over!!" gene espeically on personal projects. Work is different. Fun is FUN and I don't care if my sock gets weird around my toes. Who's gonna know? Me? My shoe? Hey, if the shoe complains, I know where to get more.

Bubbles, Floats and Summer Sun

What a beautiful day. (it's about bloody time.)
Crocus, in a hurry. I don't remember seeing it when I walked the dog this morning:









Chickens playing jacks. Tut in particular seemed enthralled by the concept. I think she could really do well at this, competitively:









Chickens did not love the whole jump rope thing. The turned their tails and ran when I took it out. I think I heard someone cluck "SNAKE!!"
Katy - tireless Katy, of goat-kissing fame - helped me get some more images of a certain pair of socks, still incognito, today. There were root beer floats involved. Also bubbles. Very fun. I even had my own bubble blowers....shown here, Eloese and Heather, colleagues of Katy's seemed not displeased to take a break on the first sunny warm Friday afternoon of the season to do some bubbling for us. By the way, a girl could get used to being the center of a bubble blowing brigade. Many, many thanks to them for their help. This was only my second root beer float, and each time I learn something new. Girl said root beer first, then ice cream. Katy said ice cream first. I think Katy's right (sorry Girl, I love you, but...) And we used a Ben and Jerry's fat-filled ice cream today. The first float kind of exploded I think because the ice cream lacked fat, which allowed the root beer to keep bubbling and bubbling endlessly while I tried desperately to keep up with the foam. Also, Katy seems convinced that sugared root beer is preferable, but I am not sure I am ready to make that leap yet. Sugar is, after all, the Devil. Everyone knows that!
I started playing with some Franklin today, which really I should probably not be doing. I am waiting for TOFUtsies from SWTC to re-knit the pink toe-ups from last week in just the right color for them to add to the pattern once it's written. I should be resting my hands. I should be writing toe-up technique. I should be....eh. Hey, it's a toe up sock. It's like...practice! It's assisting in the researching of my toe-up methodology. It's working for me. We can blame Gail. If she made the yarn less appealing, I would be stronger in the face of it. I love the colors, very brown and pink and orange. It will show better when they're done. The pattern is a little wavy bit I found in Barbara Walker, something about seaweed, darned if I remember which one now. But 60 sts, 6 st rep, US2's, very simple, just a litle something for ME. All my own. Not writing for anyone, not planning to sell to anyone, just keep all for my own. A bit of springy selfishness! I love this yarn.
Tonight on the deck there will be burgers prepared and consumed out of doors in the late spring warmth that should have been here weeks ago. I cannot wait!
Oh, Sarah - Chicken Tractor, ala Moi - this was before it's full completion, but you get the general idea. After this it got roofing and handles so we could push it around. They loved it, I loved it, all were happy, right up until something "got (some of) them" and we built this, the Grand Chickidian Resort and Spa, which later
had a huge (like it went all the way around the thing on three sides, had two doors each for human and fowl, and was divided so I could rotate them if they ate all the grass in one section) fenced yard added with poultry netting top to keep the (very) stupid guinea fowl in during bad weather. We discovered that early in spring when small tender green things were coming up in the garden we would lose everything if we did not contain the birds or keep the lettuce in cages. We did a little of both and all was well. The Grand Chickidian was lovely, with space for grain storage seperate from the birds...a plan we stuck with when we moved here. For the sublime, penultimate chicken house of all chicken houses, visit Hancock Shaker Village and see theirs. Unreal. I love it. I would copy it in a heart-beat had I the funding! By the way, this is the last weekend of their baby animals program, and anyone with time to spare looking for a fun trip should go Saturday - they will have games, activities, all sorts of baby animals, sheep shearing demos...you name it! I have to work, or I'd be there!

Amusement

This amused me.


The results of your analysis say:

You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much.
You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
You are creative, mentally active and industrious.
You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

What does your drawing say about YOU?

Snow Boot Camp

Sunday was Snow Boot Camp day at Webs. Oh, I mean SOCK Boot Camp. Very fun event with lots of TOFUtsies, freebies, food, giveaways... I was very excited about this event, because I was to be the Sock Doctor, and there would be people, and we’d start getting little ole' me used to the idea of public events. So when I got out of bed and saw nothing but white gunk falling, I was saddened. I totaled a perfectly good car on a day like yesterday. Another day in which I “had to” get to work. Back then, I ended up walking down the side of route 91, covered in coffee, dazed and confused, but with my stethoscope around my neck and my bag in my hand insistent I had to go pass meds even if I had to walk the 10 remaining miles to get there. On the ice. In the rain. In scrubs. Can you say "head injury"? My car looked like it'd been to the crusher, but I did not find that out till much later. I just pulled the bumper out of the middle of the highway - did not want anyone to get hurt if they hit it - popped it in the back seat - conveniently the door was already open - and started walking. (This experience made me a total Honda person, by the way - eat guard rail head on, spin a bit, hit it again, and still walk away??) It was not, as you can imagine, a good day. So when it rains and snows and the temperatures hover around 32, and I "have to" get to work, things can get scary in my world.That's when it's amazing to have an incredibly supportive partner who does not dismiss the little quirks of your personality, but embraces them and saves your butt. Mr. Wonderful drove me down to Boot Camp. I expected we'd leave home and drive in snow for a mile only to find the rest of the world a rainy gray mess. I was wrong. Radar be damned. God said snow, and apparently meant it. Look at my Very Cool Sign, created by Chicken Betty, aka Sarah. It says "The Sock Doctor is in", I recommend clicking on it, I LOVE it and wish the picture had been better.
SO! We arrive at Webs a bit early for the event, but a bit later than I wanted. I slipped into my old-life clothes - a lab coat and a stethoscope - grabbed a cup of decaf and headed for my table. Stations were set up in other parts of the store - one table for people just casting on with Sarah, one table for folks turning a heel with Jenna, and me for the remaining technical questions. This was an excellent idea, and really worked well. I was a little surprised at the range of questions from yarn choices, to pattern suggestions and specific problems with specific socks. It was wonderful for me, and any time I can be the
sock doctor again, I'll be there!! I love being presented with a series of interesting challenges and questions over the course of a period of time by a series of knitters. It's why I love a hopping night at drop-in! Speaking of drop-in, here's a representative sampling of the regular Tuesday morning drop-in crew, knitting madly away in their classroom, where drop-in is regularly held every Tuesday and Thursday 10am - 1pm with Pixie or Beth, and Thursday evening 5-8 with moi. Pictured here we've got Barbara, Marge, Linda and Mary. Opposite them, intently mastering a lacy sock chart is Betsy, a Thursday drop-in regular. I expect to see that sock back on Thursday night, with the cuff completed.
YES! TOFUtsies LIVES! I got a pulse, a nice steady rate while Kathy held it cradled gently in her hands awaiting the verdict - I think she already knew the outcome though. I did not, tragically, get a pulse on Rue's socks, which had to be assisted to the next plane of existence - really just returned to an earlier one. It's rare that I say, "Rip it out." Poor Rue. I did not get a picture of that sock; it would have been intrusive to snap a flash in the face of a dying thing. The important thing is that every other sock I saw was alive and well. Some may have needed a little tweaking, others needed some learning, but generally there was an awesome representation of sockishness. I saw Former Student Liz with her friend Marcy. Marcy is a member of the Rockin' Sock Club - a thing I am wholly and heartily jealous of. While other club members rested and reclined at Chicken Sock Camp (which I can't even talk about without whining), Marcy took her sock on a field trip to WEBS, which shows that her priorities are correct, and I finally got to see this blessed yarn. (photo credit: Marcy) It is nice. It's very nice. The pattern is gorgeous. I am more jealous. Marcy was also wearing her Knitiot t-shirt, a little martini glass of yarn in it - UNWIND - no I did not take a picture of Marcy's boobs. Sorry. But there's lines I just can't cross. I really wanted some STR for the book. It bums me that there is none. I am doing another pattern for the book now, one last little bit, and if I had just one skein, just one...ah, alas. Perhaps there is not time remaining to get it here and knitted, but I'd love to try.
Here's Juliet, Sarah-Marie and Kathy working diligently on their various projects:









Jenna, Sock Student Amy with her heel turned and gusset picked up, and one person who's name I don't know, but who agreed to be blogged:









Karen and Jenni at the Cash Wrap - Jenni did not wish her face to be blogged and so, eh, turned the other cheek, so to speak.









A Sea of Pink. Webs store staff gathering for our event group photo. I think maybe store staff should wear pink all the time. It certainly makes everyone noticeable.








The greatest 'tragedy' of the day was that because fewer folks attended than had registered due to the weather situation - although a good turn-out, considering - there was a vast raft of food left over, particularly the fruit and veggie variety of free food. Around here we know what to do with that sort of thing. Napoleon, Tuttaroo (not a rooster, just a forward hen), BedHead, Phyllis and Eleanor know exactly what to do when humans don't eat their veggies. It's been a long tough spring for these guys. Spoiled by their people and used to excessive liberty, the confinement to damp house makes them sad and miserable. I cheered them with my gifts. The chickens totally love Webs now. I bet they'll be knitting socks by nightfall.
Did you ever get the feeling you were being watched?Saddest thing – I left Webs and headed home with Gail in her large four-wheel drive thing that could probably climb over my house. Mr. Wonderful was to meet me in Greenfield. We would get supper (sushi for me, Chinese for them) from our all time favorite-est Chinese place, shop for some quick groceries, and head home. I ordered the wrong thing. I was in a hurry, and ordered the Greenfield Roll not the Green Mountain Roll. It was rolling in breading, coated in panko, a sea of gluten. A nightmare of gluten. A gluten tragedy. Luckily, I have to go back into town today for copies...maybe tragically I will have to stop and get lunch at New Fortune...

WHAT IS THIS??

Aside from "My personal nightmare" or "Another bad joke"?? The only benefit to this, as I see it, is that there will be a lot of knitting today. Otherwise, I am just not seeing this as useful. Or positive. Or joyful. It's APRIL. I should be lolling on the deck with my coffee, watching the chickens scratch and dig and throwing sticks for the dog. I should not be coiled around my mug at the computer questioning God's intent and trying to warm my feet. I am beginning to sense madness setting in. Yes, madness. The white, the white, the endless white...The last pile has not melted yet, and here's more. When I am old, I am going to move south. On top of the just general "uggh" feeling that accompanies More White Hell lies my neurosis about driving in cold precipitation. Today I will wonder, worry, ponder and plan and 'decide' whether or not to go to work. I will question myself, beat myself up mercilessly for mental weakness if I don't go, and regret every second behind the wheel if I do. Then there's Mr. Wonderful at work, and Girl possibly going to class, because I do not have enough to obsess about all on my own. It's awesome to be me! YIPPEE! Although born and reared in New England, I feel in my bones I was destined to live far from the blinding freezer of the north. Not that I am prone to exageration or anything. By the way, I hate the heat also. I am a temperate houseplant requiring stable temps between 50 and 80 degrees F, with occasional rain and clouds, a couple of good thunderstorms a year for fun, but mostly sun and gentle breezes. Lower and I crumble, higher and I explode.
I almost bought a lighted palm tree yesterday at BJ's. I pondered if they'd really understand if I bought it Wednesday and returned it when the snow is gone. Would I get my $129.99 back? Could I assemble it, plug it in, crank up the pellet stove, drag out my bathing suit and the tequila and fruit juice and pretend?? For now, I am going to start Malea's Artyarns P-90 suck-up gift. I have not fully overcome the fully self-imposed torments and shame of the nameless jacket that took a year. But it's done and gone, and she seemed not displeased with it, which is a good thing. Yet another life lesson for the intrepid knitter - not everything is "Sure, no problem." I need reminders of that now and then. So much ego, so little time. Check this out - life as it should be. Yarn (Regal Silk, color number 123, for the P-90) on the swift attached to the official 'winding table' (don;t you love the sound of that??), sun streaming through the windows (this was yesterday, before the white death returned), Aahhhh. Almost. The other side of the room looks a little less complete. The Lady of Shallot hangs upon the wall, here she hangs by night and day, and she has heard a whisper say a curse is on her if she stay to look down on Procrastinate-a-lot. This is a slow bit here, while we wait for a warm day to take the saw outside and finish the trim, and wait for Mr. Wonderful and I to have inspiration at roughly the same moment, and be home when that moment strikes. Generally of late when the weather is warm enough I am distracted by other things, like knitting, or gone from home entirely for groceries, work and etc, and he's been "playing with wood" which is what happens when your wife orders the senseless slaughter of 47 trees.
The Rock Star - a few notes. Although the numbers did not add up properly in a couple of spots, and the charts had a couple of minor and catchable errors, the biggest issue here was a failure on the part of the knitter (that would be me, taking it on the chin) to adequately consider the role of row gauge when blythely bouncing around saying "Yeah, I can do that, no problem". I can, after all, do "anything", right? That one small fact kept my panties in a twist on this sucker for a YEAR. I think this takes the cake as longest project thus far...oh. No. Mr. Wonderfu's sweater takes that cake, which is sad since it's not at all complicated! Well, it gets some kind of cake any way. The yarn is Royal Bamboo by Plymouth - lovely really, but be cautious of rip and re-knits. It does not withstand abuse well, similar to most yarns in the bamboo group. The plies untwist and seperate and split all to pieces. Also I believe if I had used the "right" yarn things would have progressed properly.
I can feel it, the cold chill creeping from the sliding glass door across my legs. And I can see it, falling, falling, falling, forever falling...It's so time to go get more coffee adnw atcha nice movie filmed someplace sunny. I know. We're No Angels. And Malea's P-90. Yeah. Silk can fix anything!

You've Got to be Kidding Me.

It's my own fault. We took Owen to the Veterinary Dentist yesterday for an evaluation. I thought this would solve his tooth problems by presenting us with a pre-treatment estimate that would make my own teeth hurt, but would be "ok..." if we knew it would help him to be more comfortable, and less...smelly, frankly. The estimate caps at $1789. "He's a big dog..." Horrible, right? $1800 for the teeth of an animal that derives it's primary pleasure in life from licking it's own butt. But it gets worse! I felt it necessary to share with her that Owen "hears voices". You'd have to be here and see the demonstration to understand. We thought it was pain. Not pain, says the dentist. Before she can implement the treatment plan, she wants to have him cleared by a neurologist, to rule out any disorders that might cause him to...well...cork off under anesthesia. Today I am in search of a Vet Neurologist less than 2 hours from home, and wondering if they can just 'look at him' and not demand a doggie MRI. Which I so doubt. Having just lost Kioshi I am now worried that Owen has some undiagnosed disorder and is going to die, forget about the teeth. I am equally worried that I have fallen over the edge of what I view as the ethical slippery slope of pet health care. In fact I have fallen after vowing never to succumb to the "pets as people" model of medical intervention. But modern vets leave you so little choice.
Happier things - I got my t-shirt for Sock Boot Camp, and am to be the Sock Doctor, Karen says! Pink camo. What could be better?? My toe-up Tofutsies will be done in time to wear Sunday, which I am very excited about. I love Tofutsies, but with a small whine. I got a ball that has a ton of knots. In a typical situation I'd return the ball, and would recommend returning the ball to anyone who asked me. But I refuse to, since I am so far along now, and the idea of turning back makes me a little sad. I was watching a movie and knots came along and I went by them, and it wasn't till a while later that I thought "Hey. That's a lot of knots..." The pattern and technique are my own. I found a cast-on online, and did not like the way it looked. I swore off assistance from that point. I'd rather mess it up on my own than be mad at a stranger. After I did my heel turn and gusset I picked up Charlene Schurch's book and discovered that I did it "all wrong" although I prefer "Yet Another Unique Way in Which Melissa Knits Stuff." It sounds softer than "Bad, bad cowgirl". I love the yarn itself and can see it quickly working it's way into my "favorite summer sock yarn" slot - where there is an opening currently. It's comfy and feels breezy and light on my foot. Although what I’d know of summer is a mystery, since it’s going to SNOW AGAIN!
Also completed, the Brooks Farm That Turned Out to be Socks. The yarn is Acero, the pattern is my own again, and I adore (thoroughly and completely, seriously in mad passionate love with) this yarn. Yummy to look at, with this soft shimmer of silk...think Silk Garden only softer and thinner and prettier. (Did I say that? I love SG!!) At Rhinebeck I'll be the woman with the Two Socks t-shirt and a shopping cart of Brooks Farm. Pant, pant, drool, drool. It's edible. It's heavenly. As a sock yarn I find Acero comfortable and very warm, in large part because of it's silk componant. Any New Englander worth their salt knows the value of silk underwear. Of course, we also know it's literal value, so most of us end with cotton thermals. Buy Acero instead. Knit yourself longjohns. Knit socks. Knit anything, or nothing. Just buy it to stare at on rainy days. Or SNOWY ones. What's up with that?? It's APRIL! ENOUGH! AKKK!
I love it when I get noticed. Check this out - I had not been on the deck for two minutes when I was the subject of note and comment. My own personal peanut gallery, commenting on position of the foot, color of the yarn, texture, twist...it begins with one and the next thing you know there's a whole blessed flock standing around goggle-eyed and loud-mouthed offering personal commentary and group discussion. This totally makes me feel better after last night, in which I taught the first session of a notorious and much-beloved class known as Fearless Finishing. This class was formerly taught by a woman of such incredible skill and talent as to make my own feeble attempts appear pathetic by comparison. So I am trying to not compare. I am working on changing things up, bringing my own unique little self into the mix,
while retaining all of Dori's incredible attention to detail. It's not that I am not into the details. Often I am. But more often I embrace the unique and the different and the "errors" as a part of the overall scheme of life in which we make errors, and do things differently and uniquely and learn and move on. I don't like to hear Eastern Stitch Mount referred to as "wrong". It makes me sad - and not for my own sake as I have ego integrity to withstand it, but what about the new knitter, the self-taught person who sees what we're doing and hears what we're saying and feels marginalized by words like "wrong" or “weird”? I've never been good at "good girl", never been too fond of following rules. I just can't accept the idea that there's One Right Way to knit. That’s like saying there’s only One Right Way to make love, or One Right Way to cook chicken. There’s no One Right Way to do anything.
Hey, Malea? Guess where I'm goin' right this minute? What is today? Today is TUESDAY, and TUESDAY is ROCK STAR DAY. If I do not appear by your desk by 5pm with Rock Star you may seek my remains beneath a bridge.

Naked and Exposed

***UPDATE*** This just in (from Amazon-dot-com), the Elizabeth Zimmerman DVD's. Knitting Workshop is currently in the player and it's worth every blessed penny just to hear her. It's a little like listening to myself in classes. I love love love love them. Girl loves her style also. It's like having EZ in your living room chatting over a hat about various options techniques and means and methods. LOVE it!

Not really. But it feels like it. I really do not like having my picture taken. I know I don't photograph well, and will generally duck and run if I see a camera coming. This author photo thing has become a nightmare. I went to the professionals, if one can call JC Penney professional. The small grainy B&W on the little order form did not look so bad. The finished colorized version? AWFUL! My skin looked green. Flaws in my skin that I did not know were there appeared. So last week when Jess from Storey called and said "We really need your author photograph. We're trying to put the Fall catalog together...." I wanted to barf. Last night Mr Wonderful and I went out on the deck and took a bunch of pictures. FIFTY FIVE of them. I narrowed it down to two. Two out of fifty five. Not bad. He just basically held the shutter down and figured that if he got enough eventually in ONE of them my eyes would be open and mouth would be closed - simultaneously - at least once. He got lucky. He managed it twice. So here I am, naked and exposed, both eyes open and mouth not agape or slammed shut in some snarling "knock it off honey" moment. I also deleted the twisted up "are we DONE yet??" faces, and the one down-the-wife's-blouse shot that seems obligatory when you hand a straight man a camera - that or my butt, every time. I think he deleted the butt one, wise man. The question is, do we go with these, or do we wait for this evening and pray for a glimpse of sun and try again? I am horribly overlit. These are the kind of issues that plague my nights now. Am I too overlit to work in a small 2"x2" frame in a catalog that only wholesale book buyers will read?
Ahhh, office! The floor is done, including the closet - which means all of this went back where it belongs. This was just in the nick of time in terms of my mental health. The whole clutter overwhelming my living space thing gets to me more and more as I gain longer life experience (read "get old"). Where once I could feed three teenagers out of a microwave cabinet turned kitchen for a few weeks, I now find my skin crawling at the sight of closet contents in my living room after about an hour. Cabinets are being hung slowly but surely. I feel office-ish. I am curious to know building code out of the US; specifically in Sweden. Here the standard distance between wall studs is 16 inches "on center" This means that the center of any stud is...or, shall I say "should be" as in our first house studs were inversely proportional to the consumption of beers by the builder. To wit: early in the wall, there are many studs, and few beers. As the wall progressed and the beers become more numerous the number of studs decreased dramatically, and the angle of the wall shifted well away from it's logical path. But I digress. The center of the average stud should be 16 inches from the center of it's nearest neighbor. The Effektiv wall cabinets, which I ADORE came with pre-drilled holes for hanging and a very cool bracket for leveling. 30 English inches apart. This means that they don't hit a stud. Or, one might but the next one won't. And you can't hang cabinets in drywall. Or, well, you CAN, but it might not be considered a wise choice. There was no gap between the cabinet back and the wall to allow a cleat to hang them as one might do in a kitchen application. We got creative. We're going to get more creative with the other two.
I signed up for TKGA/CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH in July. I would not have even known about this if it had not been for Persnickety emailing me, which is kind of sad since I am a member of TKGA. The mailer probably got stuck in between two catalogs I ditched or something. I am very excited. I am taking a class on beaded crochet on Thursday and one with Beth Brown-Reinsel on Twined Mittens on Friday. The endless debate in my brain over which classes to take raged on for days. It was insane. You'd think I was deciding life or death. Unfortunately I will be gone by Friday evening as I have to teach Saturday. A little sad, as I sense fun happens Saturday and Sunday when people are off of work and present en masse. Oh well. Such is life.
Also, for a true attempt at making myself insane, I signed up for an author's marketing workshop thing on the first day of Book Expo America. This inconvientantly overlaps the arrival of a Certain Very Important Person at Webs; May 30th at 6pm. This was unknown to me when I booked my hotel and paid for the conference that occurs on the 31st and requires me to be present and reasonably alert in Midtown Manhatten at 7:30am. Since neither Book Expo America nor Webs nor Ms Pearl-McPhee are likely to change their schedules for me (selfish, selfish people), I will be at Webs "until whenever" on Wednesday night, then drive to Stamford and check into a hotel, sleep for a bit and make my First Ever foray into New York, the Big Apple, The City that Never Sleeps...are you getting this? Me. A Chicken Farmer in New York. I feel like there should be a song or a small book about this. Amy, my beloved, you are in my prayers...that your husband willg raciously allow you two days of child-free vaction to show the helpless little chicken farmer the big city.
Yes, I am knitting. I am clearing my plate today and may post pics tomorrow, and also will begin my First Ever Toe-Up Sock. I have a Tofutsies Plan! I've spent hours since Saturday studying and planning these socks. Speaking of Tofutsies and a plan, everyone should come to Sock Boot Camp at Webs on April 15th from 12-4pm. There's going to be lots of fun, lots of free samples, give-aways, goodies of the food variety, all under one roof!! There will even be a Sock Doctor on hand to answer your sock questions and solve all the sock problems of the world. If you want to come, you should register at Webs and I hope to see you there!