Here we see the elusive swatch

The photo is fuzzy, because the swatch is trying to run away. Seriously. I went to get my tape measure, and when I came back, the swatch was halfway across the floor, headed for the door, trailing the yarn behind.

This is why I rarely swatch anything.

Thanksgiving

It seems to be customary for people to list what they're thankful for on Thanksgiving. While that's a swell idea, I'll pass for now. I've got a whole lot to be thankful for, especially those nifty little plastic containers they put baby food into now, but I think the whole list would just get very sappy, and I'm not the sappy type.

As usual, there were far too many pies. MIL made 4 pumkin pies, and I think 2 each of apple and cherry. There were 4 people in attendance, not counting Crabby, since he's too young for pie (much to his dismay). If there's ever an international pie shortage, MIL will be able to fix it right quick.

But that's all the complaining. Honest. Because after years and years of grumbling for various reasons, I've learned an important lesson: Thanksgiving is only as hyped-up as you make it. If you choose to view it as just another day, albeit a day with a surprising abundance of pies, you won't be disappointed by dry turkey, or too much football, or any other occurance that prevents you from living in the Norman Rockwell painting. Or rather, I won't be disappointed.

Anyway, soggy pie still beats that cabbagte soup we had one year.

For a knitting blog, there isn't much knitting yet. Sorry. I'm knitting for charity right now, and I don't like to talk about my charity knitting: just one of my quirks. Don't worry (as if anyone was); soon I'll be starting Hus-bun socks, and there will be lots to kibbitz about!

So much yarn, so little time

I'm extremely prone to take out a whole bunch of something, just to have within arm's reach. Books, for example: if a certain topic is in the back of my mind, I'll go around and gather a pile of books on that topic, put them near my chair, and flip through them idly over several weeks. Yarn too; I'm always dragging out a heap of yarn or needles or patterns or something, just so that they're nearby.

There are so any things to knit. And clearly I'm not disciplined enough to stop collecting new things before I've finished the old ones. Initially Hus-bun didn't understand my stockpile urges, but he's slowly come to accept them. And he eats spaghetti-os cold, out of the can, with a serving spoon. So we all have out little quirks.

So I took a quilting class, because I've always wanted to learn. I have this rustic image in my mind of cozy evenings spent snuggled by the fire, hand-quilting a gorgeous bedspread. Somehow in my mind, nobody spits up on the rug.

Anyway, one of the ladies hanging out at the yarn/quilt shop remarked that quiltwers seem a bit more attuned to detail than knitters. I thought that was odd: I mean, knitters can be pretty serious about perfection. Not me, of course, I'm sort of a fix-it-as-I-go sort of knitter. Which is why I'll never get to be a really great quilter: all that measuring is just too much for me. I could never live that image in my mind, like Mary from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, with her perfect little stitches.

So I'll have to live in the alternate craft world, the one where I have to put down the scarf I'm trying to knit in order to clean spit-up off the rug.

Christmas Card time

I know, most of you are thinking: "isn't it early for Christmas cards?". But 13 November is my date, the date after which I feel I can mail Christmas cards without seeming ridiculous. (to me, I mean. I'm sure other people still view this as ridiculous).

Actually, I already mailed two out, last week, but they're going overseas, so that doesn't count. And, in fact, overseas shipping, along with my almost obsessive delight in writing a personal message on each of our 50+ cards, is why I start so early.

In my younger days, we lived overseas, and we had to mail cards out in October or so to ensure that they arrived before Christmas. Seriously. The postal system was that slow, for some reason. Most kids actually didn't receive many of their Christmas gifts on Christmas, either. Almost everything was catalog-ordered (this is just before the dawn of the internet), and if your mom didn't place that order by August, you'd get the photocopy of the order sheet under the tree. The first day of school after Christmas went like this:
"What did you get?"
"I got a NES!!! But my mom didn't order in time, so we're waiting for it to come in the mail."

One time, shortly after the Gulf War, the military post office actually called the bomb squad over, and they destroyed a suspicious package, only to discover it was some kid's Christmas NES. In March.

So, see, my Christmas paranoia has basis in real-life adventures. Remember that when you get your Christmas card on Thanksgiving.

Look! A Blog!

Okay. This is very new for me, and I'm fairly techno-challenged. So until I sort things out, go here: http://knityourbitkal.blogspot.com/