Sleep-Deprived

A possibly incoherent post since I’m seriously tired today. I went to my weavers’ guild meeting last night and didn’t get home until 10:30pm. Which might not be late for Some People but it is the middle of the freakin’ night for me. For whatever reason I also woke up along with T-Man at 5:00 am. Guess it was because I had to pee and then couldn’t get back to sleep after. I almost did but some a&&wipe’s car alarm went off and that was it for my hopes for a little more snoozing. I do not function well on less than 9 hours. 6.5 does not equal 9 – just saying.

The meeting’s program was Colleen Miller, owner of Button Button (warning: wins Most Minimal Website award). This is a little shop in Vancouver’s Gastown that carries a fabulous selection of…you guessed it…buttons. Most are in the “collectibles” category rather than the practical and are exceptionally pricey. Makes for a fabulously fun browse though. And it’s hard to leave without at least one gotta-have. Anyway, her slide lecture was on the history of buttons. Did you know that folks invented buttons thousands of years before they invented the buttonhole? Seems impossible to believe but they were used purely for decoration long before they became functional. Of course buttons can be both at the same time!

So what did earlier people fasten their clothes with, you ask? Pins and belts and later lacing and hooks. When clothing became more tight-fitting, buttons started to be used for fastening but mainly on men’s clothing. They were such popinjays! Buttons for women came much later. My favourite quote of the evening: “Women are right; men are left-over!” helps you remember which way our clothes button up. Now you’ll never forget, right? Or is that left?

Colleen also mentioned how buttons bind generations of women together. As a personal example, a long time ago right after we were first married I inherited T-Man’s granny’s button collection. She never let a piece of clothing go to the rag pile without removing every button first. I think that was pretty common for people who lived through two world wars and the Great Depression. Although many of these were plain shirt buttons, some were mother-of-pearl and others were quite old and interesting. I remember making a little pillow with a bunch of different buttons out of the collection when Milady Daughter was a baby (securely sewn on, of course) because she loved to point to buttons and say “buh-uh”. I like to think it helped encourage her very early speech development. Anyhow, I still carry on the habit of cutting off, collecting and reusing the buttons when a garment is worn out. Though come to think of it, less garments these days actually have buttons! Zippers are common (sometimes even in places where one might not actually need a fastener!) and velcro is taking over for buttons, snaps and shoelaces especially on children’s garments.

Well I don’t think we’re in danger of losing buttons entirely but manufacturers are tending to use the cheapest and most boring buttons for garments. In the past they were little works of art utilising any material (bone, horn, metal, glass, wood, shell, thread, cloth, plastic) and technique (carving, painting, glassblowing, metalwork, moulding, polishing, stitching) you can think of – and a lot more that might not occur to you. This incredible craftsmanship reached a pinnacle in the 1700’s. Since the 20th Century and mass-production they’ve gone quickly downhill into purely utilitarian items. These days they’re mostly made in China out of polyester, acrylic or nylon. In retaliation, I make it a priority to seek out more interesting buttons for my projects especially when I only need one, two or three of them. Occasionally I’ve spent much more for the buttons than for the yarn or fabric! Sometimes I make them myself. Polymer clay holds up pretty well if you wash it gently in cool water and air dry. (Too much heat makes it brittle.) I’ve also painted old wooden buttons that were too blah. Just goes along with the DIY theme.

So now I’d better get going and get something done before I fall asleep. T-Man has gone in to work today so I guess I can chase down the plethora of dustbunnies with the vacuum without disturbing him. I’ve had the vacuum sitting out for the whole week and never finished even the main floor. Not that I’ve been resting on my laurels. Au contraire. I’ve been a busy beaver. I’ve only got one more cupboard to sort in my study before I can consider that room done. Then on to the studio where there’s 2 more bookcases and a selection of piles to sort through: ironing, mending, yarn, papers, stuff that just hasn’t gotten put away properly. Not too bad. I might finish the top floor by next week, at least down to a reasonable depth of clean. After that I sort out my dye studio.

Uh-oh. My eyes are starting to droop. Work or nap. Nap or… zzzzzz…

A Woman’s Work Is Never Done

I’ve discovered a few interesting things this week. One is that I’m still more upset about my mom’s passing than I thought. I know this because I can’t stop cleaning. I do that when I’m upset or angry or both. Another thing I’ve discovered is that you have to make a really big mess in order to do the kind of deep cleaning and reorganising that I’m currently engaged in. In other words, the place looks like H.E.Double-hockey-sticks. Except in a few corners where I’ve actually finished. This is hard work!

Another insight I’ve found is that I have an awful lot of UFOs lurking around that I’ve completely forgotten about. These are invariably beading projects that lost momentum when something didn’t go right or I just lost the enthusiasm. I’m kind of over beading at the moment – except including them occasionally in my knitting. My evidence for this is that I haven’t been wearing much jewelry at all lately. Even worse is I’ve totally stopped buying beading publications and only picked up a few larger seed beads and the components for stitch markers. I don’t even feel compelled to go into the one bead shop that I can walk to from my house! (Yes, I’m feeling ok. Not even any dizziness or fever.) This has all been good for my budget. OK, I lied. More than likely that it has just been redirected to other things. Unfortunately it’s not good for depleting my overly-large bead stash or the UFOs that sit in boxes forlornly. I’m not ready to get rid of anything yet though. I’m sure the love will come back eventually. If not, beads don’t usually get stale or go bad while they’re waiting. A little tarnish on the findings maybe. But I can polish that out.

The last and most important thing is that it has been made abundantly clear to me that it’s impossible to ever finish cleaning! One part is done, another gets messed up. Clean that up and another area needs help. Fix that you’re back to the first spot again. Food gets cooked; dishes get dirtied. Clothes get worn; they get soiled. Even areas of your home you rarely enter still get dusty and covered in spider webs. Round and around and on and on. No wonder I only worry about the surface mess most of the time until I have a big urge like the one I’ve got at the moment. Probably also the reason why I found things that have waited to get sorted out for a very long time. Like, say, 10 years?

The good thing is that there are only the two of us here now. No kids or pets. And one of us is gone 9 hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week. Of course that means that a larger percentage of the dirt accumulation is…ahem, mine. But since I do most of the cleaning too, I guess that works out alright. T-Man does more of the yard work and home maintenance stuff while I do more of the inside chores including cooking and laundry. We have a balance that works for us. Neither of us are neat-freaks or big slobs. Somewhere in the middle perhaps. Like I said: balance.

Meanwhile I have to go bake some cookies for the weavers’ guild meeting this evening. With any luck they’ll eat them all and there won’t be any to bring home. And yes, it’s raining. Good thing I have a ride.

Colour My World

It’s so dark here these days that I must have colour to brighten things up. Something Jane Thornley said in her article in this week’s Ravelry newsletter got me thinking. As I’ve said before, I rarely buy indie dyers’ yarns because I have dyes and I know how to use them. However, I’ve had a flash of insight on why they are so popular. A couple of reasons actually. One is what I call the Collector’s Impulse. The Internet and Ravelry have made it much too easy to see what other people are buying, showing off their purchases, naming names and linking their faves. The dyers respond by making intriguingly named limited-edition colour combos and “clubs” which raises the excitement. I must have that too! Squeeee!!! Yarn budget be damned. The fact that most of the indie-dyed yarn is sock yarn just makes it that much more desirable. Or sometimes lace yarn, same thing.

The other big factor I believe is the colour range available. It’s just too exciting to resist! Far beyond the 5 or 10 or even 30 different colours that manufacturers create for a line or a season, indie dyers can have any colour they want. And a whole lot more. When yarns are dipped or painted, there are overlapping areas where colours blend and mingle and those are just the best colours! The ones that you didn’t expect, rich and complex and mysterious. Commercial dyeing techniques can’t achieve the same effects no matter how hard they try.

Not only the colours themselves but the way they are applied makes hand-dyed yarns unique. Think of random speckled yarns (a specialty of Koigu), delicate semi-solids, 5 or 10 or even 30 different colours on the same skein. Subtle, bright or totally eye-dazzling – pick your faves. And hoard them because you’ll never see exactly this yarn ever again. Special. Precious. Gotta have it.

The stash just grows and grows. Of course actually using the yarn is another thing altogether! Most people buy one skein of a colourway at a time. Or maybe two more-or-less matching ones. Not enough for a sweater or a large scarf but enough for a small project. Hence another reason for the overwhelming popularity of accessories!

Which brings me to the new Interweave Knits Accessories publication. I haven’t seen it in the store yet but I looked at the preview page and…sigh. I already own most of the patterns. They have taken them from past issues of IK, KnitScene and some of their books. It’s a pretty pricey magazine as well so I think I’ll pass on it. It irritates me to inadvertently buy the same pattern twice, never mind a whole fat magazine full of reprints. Maybe OK for those who didn’t pick up the issues the first time or who have enough money to justify buying it just to have them all in one place. I was anticipating this magazine hoping for a bunch of new patterns so I’m kind of disappointed now. Fine. I have enough patterns to keep me knitting for about 150 lifetimes anyway.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I got a lot of washing done yesterday. I scrubbed the hall closet and washed about 6-gajillion loads of laundry. The basement looks like a clothes bomb went off in it and the living room is still piled high with sorted heaps. I was super careful when climbing on a step-ladder to reach the high shelves but then unfortunately fell down later when I was making the bed. I have a bruise on my behind and a few stiff muscles today. Bleh.

How does one fall whilst making the bed, you ask? Not easy but I managed. If you recall our bed is a weird home-built wooden box with the sides cut in a curve so we can get in and out. (Yes, it’s very comfy. Why do you think we haven’t replaced it?) I was standing inside on the base holding up the mattress trying to attach a recalcitrant suspender on my too-big fitted sheet. My Birkie caught when I shifted my feet (yes, I should have taken them off) and instead of falling on the mattress I fell off onto the floor, hitting the semi-padded corner of the trunk on the way down and finally landing on a pile of pillows. The soft final landing didn’t help the fact that I’d connected hard on the way down. Ouch. And to top it off, later in the evening I knocked a pole that was holding up a banner on the wall and it landed on my head. Didn’t leave a bruise but left me thinking I should have stayed in bed. Oh wait…that’s not a safe place either.

So it’s back to work today putting everything back in the closet. Feels wrong somehow when it’s all cleaned out to not carry on and paint but we’re not quite ready for that yet. At least I know there’s no bugs in the woolies and it’s all washed and fresh. Bonus, I found 2 vintage handspun sweaters, one mine and one T-Man’s, that don’t fit so they can be unravelled and the yarn reused for something else.

Speaking of T, here’s his Movember moustache so far:

At least he’s not growing a mullet too. I can hardly wait until December!

Don’t Throw Your Junk In My Backyard

My backyard’s full! Truthfully, there’s actually less out there now that we spent all Saturday raking leaves and bagging them up. That was the one day this weekend it didn’t rain, in the afternoon anyhow. The walnut leaves go in the city’s leaf pickup and the rest can go in the compost. 11 bags full so far! And we’re not quite done – all the leaves haven’t fallen yet.

After I unburied it from the leafy drifts, I harvested yet more produce from the veggie garden. Aren’t you impressed? It’s mid-November already! I got broccoli, lettuce, mizuna, mache (corn salad), green onions, parsley and a couple of leeks. Most of the veggies in Saturday’s supper were home-grown, including some little tomatoes that ripened in the kitchen. Yum!

I do have junk though. Mostly inside rather than outside. What is it with the cleaning bug I’ve gotten lately? It’s not spring! Not that I clean in spring or anything but you know, tradition and all. As I mentioned, I spent a goodly part of last week reorganising my bookshelves (5 down, 3 to go) but yesterday I made T-Man pull out everything from the front hall closet. He sorted a few of his things out to give to salvage and some for garbage. Of course I don’t do it for him because he’s in charge of his own stuff! The rest is up to me since I obviously have more stuff in there than he does. Then while I went off to knit with my buddies, he vacuumed out the dirt, sand (from Utah and Oregon, I bet!), assorted lint and spider droppings. Now it’s my turn: sort my junk…er, precious things and then wash out the closet with TSP. We’re eventually going to repaint the entry hall but since we don’t have any paint yet, everything is going to have to go back in for now. But not until it all gets a good wash, especially the woolies (hats, mitts, scarves etc.) so they’ll be ready for winter weather. Never mind – it’s cold enough for me already. Wet too.

Right now we’re in the middle of a Pineapple Express, the very wet and relatively warm winter storms that we get sometimes in winter. There are areas this morning where there’s no power and lots of flooding in low-lying areas near the rivers. Luckily we’re on a slight slope and near the centre of the city so rarely lose power. In the past we’ve had problems with the cold room under the front stairs filling up with water but not if the gutters are clean so the water doesn’t puddle on the ground but goes down the drains. T-Man mucked them out recently so we’re good. I’m happy I don’t need to go anywhere today anyway!

I’m a bit disappointed that I can’t photograph anything, both because it’s too dark and because of Secret Projects that will remain unbloggable for several more weeks. If I get a pic of T’s Movember moustache though, I’ll definitely share it! It’s quite amusing. He looks so 1970’s – except for the silver instead of black like he used to be back then. Is the end of the month coming soon, please? I’m praying he doesn’t decide he likes it and wants to keep it. Yikes.

Are You Tired of Crochet Yet?

Hope not because here’s some more! Or, if you’re bored, just skip this one. My feelings won’t be hurt. Anywho, I bought myself a couple of birthday presents – since my birthday was spent in quarantine due to the flu and I didn’t get to celebrate at all. First up, I got the new Denise crochet hook set. This is similar to the knitting needle set but with 12 crochet hook heads: US sizes F/5-19 (3.75-15mm). 7 cords: two each of 3" and 5" and one each of 9", 12" and 16. There are two extenders and 4 end buttons. Luckily the case fits neatly along with the original one in my felted Denise bag that I made from a pattern by Cat Bordhi. (PDF here.)

Please note that these are not your regular crochet hooks! Though they apparently can be used that way, they’re not particularly well-suited. They are actually for Tunisian/afghan crochet or double-ended crochet. (There’s lots of links to this latter type of crochet in an old post of mine here. And no, you don’t really have to buy more matching hooks, just switch the hook from one end to the other.) Plus they also have lots of uses for knitting in picking up stitches, casting on and binding off. You can combine any of the parts with the needle set so the possibilities are endless. The manufacturers include a beginner Tunisian crochet insert and challenge people to come up with some innovative combinations of knit and crochet using their sets. At least this new set might be an incentive for more people to learn how to do Tunisian crochet. One can never master too many techniques! I’m sure I’ll be playing with it in future to see what I can come up with.

I also got two new books. Quelle suprise! The first was one I mentioned recently: 

Crochet in Color by Kathy Merrick is really a nice book with patterns that include charts and diagrams where needed. Of course whether you agree with me depends on your personal taste! As I mentioned before, I covet the yellow sweater, though maybe in a more subdued colour. And perhaps in handspun? I love the several scarves and wraps that are in here too, most making use of motifs in a fresh and (of course) colourful way. I don’t know about using the recommended yarns however unless you are very rich or own a yarn store. For instance a couple of items use Koigu at the rate of 9 to 11 different-coloured skeins. Or 5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. And there are more in this vein. A little rich for my blood, though the results are lovely indeed. But then I have dyes and I know how to use them! Nobody said you had to use the same yarns that Kathy did.

The other book I got – because of course I needed to make the minimum for free delivery:

This one from the Harmony Guides series has lots of shapes and sizes of motifs, some of them quite different, including both written directions and symbols. However it’s really hard to find what you’re looking for because they are in no discernable order! I would have liked some categorising, say small fill motifs vs large elaborate ones or squares vs circles, stars etc. Even numbering them might have helped. But they are all mixed up and given rather arbitrary names. This means that to find anything you have to page through the book repeatedly which of course means getting seriously sidetracked every time. Also the motifs are photographed so they look relatively the same size so it’s hard to tell what size each one might turn out when worked up. Especially if you wanted to combine them in the same piece. Swatching, as always, is mandatory. This book is a good addition to my expanding crochet dictionary collection and now I’m seriously going to consider the other 2 crochet Harmony Guides: Basic Crochet Stitches and Crochet Edgings & Trims. But since I’ve been a wee bit greedy in the book department lately, they will have to wait.

But there’s more! I also got the 4th issue of the British crochet magazine “Inside Crochet”. I bought the 3rd one awhile back and, if I want them, the first 2 issues which are out of print are available in electronic form for a discount. They are pricey little darlings though! Nearly twice the price of North American mags. And 6 times per year. Yikes. What got me this time was a couple of the articles: one on dyeing with mushrooms and another by Shannon Okey on crocheting with handspun energised singles. And some cute crochet patterns to boot. This is a very excellent magazine that feels like a cross between Interweave Crochet and Spin-Off.

At first I was put off by the instructions which are, as you might expect, in British crochet terms. It’s a nice reversal of the frustration they must feel reading North American publications, doncha think? Also there are no schematics which I’ve come to rely on for a truer representation of the sizing and fit as well as the construction. However they do have the garment photographed flat as well as on the model which is helpful and the sidebar includes garment and body measurements, expected fit and what size the model is wearing. There are charts and diagrams where appropriate and adequate space is given for instructions, tips and special stitches. The ads are not jarring and the photography is clear and styling is attractive and reasonably uncluttered. I’d give it 4 out of 5 crochet hooks up, only quibbling on the price and frequency of publication which makes it a difficult choice to decide purchase on a regular basis. I might not be able to help myself though.

Hey, I also actually got a real birthday present that I didn’t buy for myself! It’s a lovely ball of recycled sari silk yarn, purchased for me by my mother-in-law (aka Nana) when she was on a trip to Cannon Beach, OR. Isn’t it pretty?

No idea what I will make but I just love that it’s all hand-wound into a ball and it’s so colourful and hairy – and heavy! Oh and Nana included a couple of bars of yummy dark chocolate too which I suppose I will have to share with her darling son, T-Man. He gave me soulful eyes when I unwrapped it. Cute. Speaking of T, the Movember moustache is growing, along with the accompanying beard. He says his Mo doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up so he’s not going to prune it until it decides. My vote is for “shaved off” but I can wait until December 1st. It’s nearly past the worst of the prickly stage now. Nearly.

Vintage VK

Further to my sorting and cleaning efforts, I was rearranging my bookshelves and found a couple of magazine files of vintage magazines. No, I didn’t buy these on eBay or anything – I actually bought them myself and saved them all these years. I never throw out a good craft magazine! You never know what goodies you’ll find in them later.

In the oldest one I could find, a Vogue Knitting dated 1969 (really! I was all of 18 then), I noticed several interesting things. The first to immediately strike me is that many of the sweaters could be knitted and worn today without much in the way of adjustment. The look was long and lean with a little boho attitude.

Totally in style 40 years later. But then this is an earlier incarnation of Vogue Knitting we’re talking about. Always cutting edge. Or the current fashions are even more retro than I remembered!

The real differences from today’s knitting magazines are in the photography and the pattern writing. There’s a colour section but the vast majority of the magazine is in highly contrasting black and white. Kind of challenges the theory that colour is the most important factor in choosing a pattern to knit, huh? Poor knitters back then had to imagine the garment in whatever yarn colours they purchased before they started knitting. Also the instructions are rather cursory, sizes are not in inches but in the equivalent of sewing pattern sizing (8, 10, 12 etc. with a table of standard body measurements at the beginning of the mag), and there are no schematics or charts. How then do you make a garment that really fits you without a lot of math and trial-and-error? It’s difficult enough with all the information we have to work with in most patterns published today.

I’m glad that modern knitters have demanded more space be allotted for the details that helps us to make a successful garment. Unfortunately not every single piece of information can be included and each magazine does it differently, but it’s certainly better than in the “olden days”. Recently I’ve noticed that there are more items knitted in the round instead of flat pieces and there are many more patterns for the accessories (socks, mitts, hats, scarves etc.) that we all love to make. But where are the knitted trousers? There were several in that old VK! How ‘bout these?

Alright, maybe not such a good idea. However I do have a craving to knit me a pair of tights. Maybe these ones? No, these ones! Oops. I’ve just succumbed to impulse and bought the PDF. I love instant gratification! And check out the designer. Phoenix Bess is only a teenager but…holy cow! What a wunderkind! Or maybe she has a lot of encouragement?

Whew! Where was I? Oh yeah. Even if the fit or details need to be altered to work today, there’s always lots of interesting ideas in these old magazines. Budding designers take note. But you can’t have my copies.

Hey! I’m supposed to be reorganising my books. Not reading everything first! Back to work, damselfly.

Spam? Not-A-Lot

I don’t get too much spam these days because my ISP is pretty good at filtering out most of the usual run-of-the-mill stuff. But I got this one today and it totally cracked me up:

Hallo,

My name is Elena, I'm 32 years and I writing you from Russia. I work in municipal bibliotheca and I can use  computer afterwards I finish work if possible. Our situation is very difficulty and I decided to write you this message in despair.

I have little daughter Anghelina, she is 8 years old, her father leaved us and we inhabit with my mother.

As effect of serios crisis lately my mother lost job (the shop  where she worked was  ruined) and our situation became dreadful.

Prices for gas and electricity are very expensive in our region and we can not use it to heat our home  anylonger.

The winter arriving and weather is very cold here already. We are much distressed and we have not experience how to do.

The only possibility for us to heat our home is to use transportable wood-firing oven which supply with heat with burning wood (fire). We have sufficiency wood in our region and this oven will be heating  our house complete all winter with minimal cost.

We urgently in need of this oven, but we cannot buy it in our local shop because it price 8136 ruble (equivalent of 191 Euro) and we can not to collect too much money.

May be you own any old  portable wood burning oven and if you finished to use it, we will be very grateful  if you can gift it for us and prepare delivery of this oven to our adress (170 km from Moscow). This ovens can be different , they can be made from cast iron and weight 100 - 150kg.

I desire to have your answer soon.

Elena.
Russia

All spelling errors intact. I mean really! Aside from the fact that she doesn’t know me from a hole in the ice (nor I her) and gives me no real contact information outside of an email address, this is not a practical request. How would I mail a wood stove (one that was just hanging around unused) to Russia from the west coast of Canada? The postage alone would be more than the thing was worth! I’m guessing she would prefer money to…ahem, purchase her own stove? Assuming that any of this is true which of course it very likely isn’t. This is a very interesting variation on the old Nigerian Scam. You’d think everyone with an email address would be blinking alarm bells if they received something like this but obviously there’s a sucker born every minute. Otherwise why on earth would anyone continue to try this type of solicitation? It’s all beyond me.

And yes, I do happen to have a wood stove that’s not currently being used. It sits in my fireplace and just needs some paper, kindling and wood and its ready to go. We haven’t been using it because we don’t spend much time in the living/dining room these days and it seems pointless to heat the area we aren’t currently inhabiting. Though I’m sure the urge will hit as the days get darker and the weather gets more foul. I don’t think that’s quite what our “Elena” is after however, do you? Now if she said she needed some wool to knit herself and her family some mittens and hats, I might be more willing to negotiate.

Speaking of foul weather, it’s been pretty soggy around here. Today there’s also a nice wind to whip the rain and wet leaves at you and try to turn your umbrella inside out. I was already out and about in it getting some groceries to tide us over until we can do a better stocking-up. T-Man went back to work today for the first time in a week and it seems too quiet in here. Not to worry though, the grandbeasties are due later and that should liven things up some! We aren’t in quarantine anymore. Yay!

Not much else is new or at least blogable (is that a word?). I’m kind of stuck in a state where I have a bunch of projects started and no fire to work on them. It’s like wallowing in molasses. I have many more on the backburner but I don’t dare start anything new until something gets completed first. I don’t like having too many UFOs because then a certain portion of them will never get done. I lose momentum on a project after awhile – unless I have a deadline.

I know why these current projects are stalling. They are all things that I need to concentrate on. No mind-wandering allowed! No reading or even listening to anything that needs to be followed closely. I can work in silence or leave the radio on or put on one of the more “babbling” type of podcasts. It needs to be something I can tune in and out and not mind if I miss something. This level of concentration is only comfortable for an hour or two before I need a break. So it takes a very long time to finish anything. And with 3 or 4 of this type of project going at once it takes even longer. I know I profess to be a process-oriented person, but sometimes I need an end. Before it gets stale.

On top of the crafty molasses sticking to me, I’ve got to get started on some cleaning and organising that I’ve been promising since last spring. Then it was much too hot. Now it’s not. But it’s rather too humid for painting. Luckily I have lots of sorting and stuff to do before I can think about painting anything. As long as I have good lighting it doesn’t matter if it’s cold and wet and dark. That’s our usual winter around here and I really don’t mind it.

ETA:  I wrote this complete post yesterday and then forgot to actually post it. Instead of rewriting it to get my tenses straight, I thought I would just publish it a day late. I plead that I got sidetracked by cute small children!

Crochet Redux

Further to my last post on crochet, here’s a recent interview with Kathy Merrick, author of the book “Crochet in Color”. The yellow sweater I like so much is here! I will also say that Kathy’s Boteh Scarf from Interweave Crochet is the pattern that recently got me back into crochet so I’m already a fan. I just broke down and ordered the book after I read Dora Ohrenstein’s review. I couldn’t help it – it was calling to me!

Speaking of books, I’m going to check out Dora’s own book “Creating Crochet Fabric” when it comes out from Lark Books. So did you check out the rest of this Crochet Insider issue? Don’t miss a listen to Dora’s funky song and “Just Crochet It Away”. Earworm alert! The refrain sticks in your mind. Or at least mine.

I was thinking about something that Kathy Merrick said in her interview: that she both knits and crochets but since there are so many incredibly talented knit designers, she has been focusing on crochet instead. It’s an area where there is plenty of room for designers who can show quality and updated style. Oh yes, please! Take crochet out of the Bizarre Bazaar. (Do not get me started on the abominations they put on poor defenceless infants, OK?)

So what else have I been doing since I couldn’t go play with my Spectrum Study Group buddies yesterday? Knitting/crocheting and reading. Nothing exciting. But I’m getting closer to finishing one project about which I cannot blog. It would be nice to complete something for a change.

Today is going to be much more exciting. I get to do a huge pile of neglected dishes, change the towels and bed sheets, and do the laundry. Whoo-hoo!! So exciting. The weather is very changeable: one minute it’s dumping down rain and the next minute the sun is out. If you haul an umbrella with you, you’ll be guaranteed not to need it. Same goes for sunglasses. The leaves that are still left around are sure pretty though. My favourite colours are the ones you can’t describe. Or replicate. Something between greeny-red and reddish-green – but not brown.