Double Helix

MASW /one

Our hero, making Gotham safe for ...

... lunch.

Now that you mention it ...

Dorothy, Emily, thanks for making me feel less awkward.

kitty kitty kitty

Lovely, but not for me.  Knitting really grabbed me after my daughter was born in January of 2003, in large part because I started knitting with other people.  I discovered that lots of knitters live with cats, which limits my social experience because my allergies are significant.  Last night at Circles I posed the question of why there seems to be such a strong correlation between yarn and cat stewardship.  Rebecca (I love librarians) pointed out that the US Census collects information on this.  Considering these numbers, it still seems that houses with yarn are more likely to have cats.  I sense a survey coming on.

excitement

Thursday

Every day, I forget at least one thing at home.  Thursday, it was the camera.  I took the early afternoon to run errands and assemble a small care package for the Yarn Harlot.  If you were on the road, wouldn't you want an emergency supply of chocolate, a measuring tape, and other sundries?  I took the M2 shutte from Longwood to Harvard Square, and popped into Woolcott for the measuring tape. Doncha know, I ended up with two skeins of Colinette Isis on sale, for a grand total of $27.

Three possibilties for this:

• make shawl for self
• make shawl for sister
• give yarn to sister

Hearing the Harlot in her own voice was fantastic.  She really hit her stride after ten minutes or so.  Deftly, she told stories of her knitting life and experiences with muggles, and wove in pieces of Knitting Rules.  Now, when I read those passages, I will hear it in her voice and with her intonation and pacing.  Disinclined to queue after the talk, I continued to sit and knit with Krista (Lyssa had already taken off for class).  Finally it dawned on me that since the Masons were booting us out of the hall at 6:30, I might miss my chance to greet the Harlot, give her the care package, and ask her to sign my book.  Holy crap! I was lucky, though.

Afterwards, Krista and I enjoyed the lovely night air, walking from Porter Square to Harvard Square and stopping for dinner along the way.  I must admit, before the book signing, I was nervous and excited about meeting new knitters.  However, I just stuck close to my homegirls and merely waved at Alison and Lisa B.  I did say hello to Grupmerina, and discovered that she has been knitting - get this - not quite two years.  How great is that?  I saw Kellee, Ms.  JKC, and Ariel, but I don't think they saw me.  Danielle Miller came over and chatted me up.  I just adore her, and I'll write more about that conversation later.

Friday

The Harlot gave me a shout out!  (My new nom-de-guerre should be Ms. Zee/Zed, or simply Ms. Z, with the pronunciation functioning as a shibboleth.)  Additionally, Alice, a visiting German student, approached me and asked her to cultivate a knitting addiction; at least this is what I heard.

Saturday

Husband, PeachPit, Alice (not pictured) and I attended the Gore Place Sheep Shearing Festival.  We had the good fortune to meet Femiknit Mafia and some of her family (not her wife, though, who's out of town). It was delightful to make their acquaintance, especially FM herself. I also met Dharia at her spinning wheel, and my husband realized the situation was going to deteriorate since she and I had moved on to discussing ubiquitin and the proteasome.   He gave me two choices:  stop talking or surrender the picnic lunch. Also, I had the pleasure of seeing Danielle twice in one week.

I saw Janet Blowney a number of times, including at the Mostly Merino booth.  Janet introduced me to Margaret Wilson, and I spent a lot of time letting the beauty of her yarn and her designs engulf me.

The yarn itself is mostly merino (you guessed, I'm sure) mixed with some mohair.  The result is a lovely fiber that has the most incredibly inviting texture when knit up.  It was impossible to resist; I bought a shawl kit (yarn shown). Also, there are 30 colors in the palette that Margaret makes, and they work wonderfully together.  Circles is hosting a field trip on June 10, 2006, to Margaret's farm.  I plan to be on the minibus.

After the festival, I took Alice down to meet Allison and Judy at Circles, and get her started with a project.  (I've seen Allison teach, and recognized that Alice would be much better off getting the first lesson from her.)  Alice is on her way with a hat project in Groovy Green Wonderful Wool.

Sunday

No knitting news yet.  It's the Bard's birthday, though, and he would like to insult you in honor of the occasion.

gorillas

Have you noticed that blogging is somewhat in opposition with living? Before I had a child (Jaunary 2003), the only camera that I owned wasn't particularly great and certainly wasn't digital. My idea of travel pictures was, and to some extent still is, to shake down museum gift shops for postcards of works visited. My rationale was that to use a camera was to interpose a distance between the self and experience, and to sculpt memory too strongly. I still believe this, though I'll probably take a camera on the next big trip, if only to capture my daughter frolicking in the world. It is for this reason that I took the camera to the zoo. I did not intend to post non-knitting life, but here it is.