Distracted Much?

That's me all over. Focus, focus, focus...DISTRACTED! Focus, focus, focus...DISTRACTED! Have you see Up? (If you haven't, you should) If you have, you remember the dogs? "SQUIRREL!"? That's me. Little known fact. Or maybe a well known one. Regardless, I can lose focus or flip and switch focus faster than anyone I know.

What was I saying?

Yes, distracted I have been. So much so that I lost touch with you blog readers for a very long time again - weeks even! And I had so much to say about so many things. Like Webs new interchangable bamboo needles. I love them. You should have some. We should ALL have some. What I love: size range, quality, adorable silk case, add-ons now available including more sizes! I've been through a few sets of interchangables; most ended up on eBay, and my kid got my Denise needles. These are keepers.

I wanted to talk about Kristin Nicholas' book Colorful Stitchery that I got in my swag bag from Twist Fair this weekend. It makes me want to pull out my embroidery needles and spend some time playing and creating and having fun making cards or pillows or stuffed animals.

I also want to talk about Potter Craft's 400 Knitting Stitches that I received as a review copy (so, dear stinking government entity that has nothing better to do than chase bloggers around, a book the publisher provided to me gratis, but am going to say nice things about anyway because I LIKE it, not because it was free, so there.). I'm a big fan of stitch dictionaries, and have a collection of the same. I have a particular fondness for the old Mon Tricot ones that I find on eBay or in the discard piles of deceased relatives. This book, an import is well done; all of the swatches are presented in a natural color so the stitches patterns are easily visible; there's no attempt to liven things up with multiple yarns and colors which is the smartest thing anyone doing one of these stitch dictionaries can, in my opinion, do. Uniformity of yarn for swatches may seem "boring" to publishers, but the ones knitters love the best are those that are uniform in their presentation; where someone's realized that less is more, that a single solid color that photographs well allows the knitter to really see what the pattern is supposed to be doing. If you're dipping your toe into the world of stitch dictionaries, this is a good jumping off point. It won't be all you ever need, but it'll make you pretty happy and keep you occupied for quite a good while.

I also want to DO things I've been meaning to do, some for years, that I just never get around to. I want to finish my husband's Dale pullover that I started in 2006. I want to knit BW's Learn to Knit Afghan, not because I want to learn to knit but because I think I need to do this. Also EZ's Almanac, which I start and stop and dip in and out of from time to time. I've probably done four or five months. And all these projects, these endless projects I've got here. On and on, piles and piles, and stacks and stacks. UFO's, things not even on needles yet.

And I want to spin, and finish this hooked rug I bought this weekend already on a frame and nearly complete and just in need of love since it's former owner apparently shuffled of this mortal coil, leaving the poor thing hanging in midair (literally), and I want to weave some dishtowels for myself because Mr. Wonderful is dawdling on them. I want to...

I want to learn to weld, and take a photography class and some fine art classes. I want to get a degree in everything or nothing at all. I want to learn how to ballroom dance, and take a country line dancing class. I want to learn to speak three languages (German, Spanish and Italian). I want to have solar panels enough to keep my lights burning all year round, and I want to replace my flush toilets with composting ones. I want to gather enough poultry processing equipment to not have to hire someone to process my birds, and I want to raise a lamb for market. I want to go back to the gun club and learn to shoot better, and I want to take up archery, too.

There's a man in my life who in 42 years never once made me feel like I couldn't do all of the above, and more. When I got into scrapes and people said I should know better his response was often "Well, no one told her she couldn't." I should have that made into a t-shirt, or maybe a tattoo. No one told me I couldn't. No one's telling me I can't. So, on we grow.