And Blah, Blah, Blah...

Argh…I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just don’t feel write-y for some reason. I noticed that the blog posts started slowing when I got the new job, working with people I enjoy and can goof around with a bit. That might be part of it, though I’m not sure why – maybe I’m talking too much during the day and using up all my words. I’m not even posting much on Readerville any more. I just don’t feel I have anything interesting to say. (Which the rest of this post might prove.)

This week though I’ve been feeling sort of grumpy…and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Post birthday let-down? Post-election let-down? Pre-Christmas blahs? (I am so not ready for Christmas. Not just in the sense of “Oh, my God, I have no gifts for anyone and no ideas for anyone and I hate to shop!” but also in the psychological sense. Heck, I’m not ready for it to be Thanksgiving yet, much less Christmas.)

And then there’s the Wollmeise situation. Which is just so supremely silly that I can’t believe I am taking up time even thinking about it. I think I’ve mentioned before that The Loopy Ewe gets yarns from this German dyer, Claudia, whose yarn is called Wollmeise. The yarn is wildly popular…sells out in minutes, both at The Loopy Ewe and on Claudia’s own website. And you never know when it is going to be put up for sale at the Ewe. As anyone who reads this blog for more than a week knows, I certainly don’t suffer from a lack of sock yarn. It’s not as though I can’t find other yarn at The Loopy Ewe or a dozen other sites. But this elusive Wollmeise has gotten under my skin. And I’m a little mad at myself – no, I’m actually very annoyed with myself – for letting it get to me. It’s like a popular hysteria…and I’d like to think that I’m less susceptible than most people to fads. But obviously not because, damn, here I am, annoyed about the Wollmeise!

Loopy Ewe customers knew there was going to be a Wollmeise posting sometime this week and Tuesday evening I was sitting at the computer and checking Loopy Ewe’s site every fifteen or twenty minutes. And I still managed to miss it! It came and went between two of my site checks. I only knew about it because I checked in on Ravelry and saw people talking about what they had gotten.

And even though I’ve read comments from some people saying that they don’t even like the yarn all the much…and even though there are other dyers I love whose colors are drop dead gorgeous…and even though there’s like a one-in-a-million chance that I would be on The Loopy Ewe site at just the right time and be decisive enough to choose a skein before it was bought out from under me…and even though I can sort of hear my mother laughing at me for wanting something just because everyone else does (her view would be that if everyone else wanted it, that would be enough of a reason not to)…even though I know all that….there’s still this dissatisfaction, this sense of missing out on something.

And yes, I know there’s a thread on Ravelry where you can beg for some of this yarn from those lucky enough to get it but I’m not going to do that. I mean, I know I don’t need this yarn.

And you know, as I write about it here, I realize it isn’t even really the elusive yarn itself that’s really bothering me. It’s the situation…the sheer improbability of ever being at the right place at the right time. And the fact that people are swooping in and buying up multiple skeins, multiple times when they don’t really need it and then sort of crowing about it. And yes, many of them are generous enough to then offer the skeins up on Ravelry. But then why did they need to buy them in the first place? So they could play Lady Gracious? Because they, too, were swept up in the hysteria? Do they realize that if they held back that there would be more yarn for the rest of us? I dunno. It’s a weird phenomenon.

See? Supremely silly.

And I hereby resolve to put it out of my mind. So….

I am almost finished the yellow clown socks. They are actually going to be too small for me, I discovered. How clever of me. Anyway, I asked one of my co-workers, with smaller feet than I, if she might wear them and she allowed as how she would, at home. So she’ll get the clown socks.

The orange scarf is chugging along still. I’m just about through my second ball of yarn. It would be going faster if I…you know…actually worked on it.

And I need to start Rachel’s sweater. Perhaps when she’s home next week (yay!) I can double check her measurements and actually start. I am so afraid that I will somehow screw it up and I want it to be perfect.

And I need to seam baby Alexandra’s sweater. That poor thing has been sort of abandoned. I may try to take that up The Black Sheep on Saturday and sit for a bit and seam in good company.

And Rachel wants me to knit a Jayne hat, in shades of green, for a friend of hers.

And I am already thinking about what socks I want to make next. I'm thinking something in a solider color with some stitch interest.

Current Reading

I read the latest Dalziel and Pascoe book, The Price of Butcher’s Meat. It was…okay. I mean, a mediocre Dalziel and Pascoe book is better than most books. But it wasn’t up to the quality of the last one. And there were irritating sections written all in italics (when the recuperating Dalziel was talking into a mini-recorder) and sections written as lengthy emails, complete with misspellings (though, thankfully, no lol speech).

And I read a good YA book called Tunnels. Pretty creepy, with a very well-realized world existing under London. There’s a sequel coming out in 2009 that I’ll be looking for.

And right now I’m reading Hannah Tinti’s The Good Thief. It’s very Dickensian. I’m enjoying it a lot.

Whew! I guess I found some of my words!

Ah! Weekends

I managed to get through Friday with no problems. I was the only one in (my boss had the day off, my co-worker was in D.C. at a roundtable, the other co-worker is easing back into work after maternity leave and is only in two days a week). As a fairly new employee in the branch, I was a little nervous about handling anything that might come up, but it was a quiet day. The only calls we got, I was able to handle.

And I found out that I have quite a bit of use-or-lose leave to use up by the end of the year! This was a shocker, because I haven't had use-or-lose since before Rachel was born. I should have realized this sooner, so I may end up losing some if I can't schedule it all. (And wouldn't you know it...I'd have leave I have to use when I'm in a job I actually enjoy? I know, I know...there are bigger problems.)

So I had a nice quiet weekend. Relaxing but not a lot to blog about. In fact, come to think of it, except to bring the mail in on Saturday I haven't left the house since I got home on Friday evening.

There was lots of snoozing and reading and knitting and napping and knitting and games on the computer and sleeping. My kind of weekend, lazy sod that I am.

Oh, and in the mail on Saturday, there was some yarn. (Who's surprised?)


Araucania in lovely shades of blue.


Indie Dyer in Cactus Flower.


Brooklyn Handspun in Under the Sea.


And another Brooklyn Handspun in Perfect Day.

And yeah, those two last ones look very similar in person. It almost looks as though the second one was dyed in the same dyepot but after most of the colors had been exhausted.

And one of these skeins was free, so it isn't quite as bad as it looks.

It's cold and blustery here today. We really should go out to the grocery store, but we don't actually have to...wanna bet whether or not we make it out?

Gotta Love That United States Postal Service!

Kaethe got her socks!

Wonderful Wednesday!

I was hoping that when I got home today I would find a package from Amazon, and indeed I did. I was eager to get this because I had ordered the second season of The Last Detective, an amusing and well-done English mystery series, which stars Peter Davison, who also played the younger of the Farnon brothers in the James Herriot series. Mr. Pointy Sticks and I both enjoy them. And yes, that box was on the front porch. But so was another package!

You see, some time ago, Kris at Red Dog Knits put out a call for help. She wanted to knit her twin boys the Fishie Blanket but she needed help knitting fish in order to get it done in time for the boys second birthday. So I sent her some fish. The pattern was addictive. I wrote about them here.

And Kris sent out a thank you present! Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits.


I actually spent some time looking at this book on the day when I bought the Lucinda Guy book but reluctantly decided against it because it looked as though most of the designs are meant for someone thinner and younger than I. But looking through it this evening, I'm thinking there are some things I could see myself in and there is great information about altering patterns to suit you and about designing your own sweaters. So thank you very much, Kris! This was far too generous a gift just for knitting some fish!

But even more special....I got a thank-you drawing by the boys.


Awwww. How cute is that? I'm going to put it up on my wall. (I just love watching the adventures of Scrappy and Gangles. They are two cute kids.)

Current Reading

I haven't mentioned much of what I'm reading lately. In fact, I forgot to add to the list (until this evening), or even mention, a really good book I read recently. Karen Maitland's Company of Liars will keep you entertained and make you very happy you didn't live in England in 1348. It's been raining for months, food is running out, and the plague has hit the country. Through this sodden, cold landscape a party of travelers bands together to try to stay one step ahead of the plague, safe from the marauders on the roads, and to find somewhere safe to settle. Like Chaucer's pilgrims, these travelers also tell each other stories. And then they start dying...not from the plague, but by murder. Great fun to read about...not so much fun to be there.

Another book I just finished and enjoyed was Diana Wynne Jones' House of Many Ways. I've come late to Wynne Jones. I tried reading one or two of her books years and years ago...pre-Rachel...but they just didn't grab me. Rachel loves her books and has for years. And I now see why. This book was lots of fun.

Nicky Epstein's Signature Scarves

I start this little review with two caveats:

The first is that, like Gilda Radner, "I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch. " So I tend to laugh at high fashion far more often than I lust for it. So I am not the best edge of cutting trends or stylish quirks.

Second, I in no way mean disrespect to Ms. Epstein. She's probably forgotten more about knitting than I know and I love her edging books. (You know, Knitting Beyond the Edge, Knitting Through the Edge, Knitting Over the Edge, Knitting Above the Edge...although only two of those are actually real.)

But really, this book --


just gives me a gigantic WTF sort of feeling. I was going to start off with a little rant about the cover scarf, but I realized that really a lot of the reason I don't care for this one is the colors that are used. I just don't go for those 70's appliance colors. But done in shades of blues with maybe some circles in a bright yellow or pink....well, it might be sort of interesting. Unusual.

But then there are things like this:


Now really...I don't know about any of you other knitters, but the idea of spending hours working on a scarf only to felt it and let my five year old cut out shapes with nail scissors...well, I can't say I like it.

And there's Hot Wheels, based on an old afghan pattern of Ms. Epstein's grandmother.


I'm sorry...nostalgia cannot excuse this mess.


Tumors, anyone? There's actually another shibori scarf in this book called Classic Shibori which is even more tumorous...so much so that it sort of creeps me out to look at it. I know, I know, shibori is an art form. And some stuff can be cool. I think, for me, a little goes a long way though.


"Hey, lady! Autumn just threw up on your scarf!"

And here's another autumnal one...but really...do you want to spend time kntting pretty leaves only to felt them into oblivion?

I think this scarf might be eating the model...


Actually, most of the scarves are really heavy looking. Some of them even fasten in the front to mimic the look of a vest. But there are some (few) nice scarves. Tudor Lace, for example,is pretty.


Another interesting one is Celtic Glory. It's modular, so I suppose that you could enlarge it for a shawl that might be pretty.


And there are design ideas in here that might come in handy. Nicky is nothing if not inventive.

But this....no, this is just wrong!