Mellow Friday

Mirando helps me blog:

Geronimo, cleaning a ridiculously large paw:


Knitting: One thing I want to stress is that no one should be overly impressed by the organization evidenced in my last post. This is how it works: I get excited about getting everything organized. I think how wonderful it will be to have my next 27 knitting projects scheduled, and to know exactly where the yarn for each is located. I make spreadsheets (I heart spreadsheets), and sometimes buy organizing equipment at Target. Within a month (sometimes longer), I have yarn scattered all over the apartment, I can't decide on a knitting project, and I have no idea where the pattern for that thing I was going to make is. I get frustrated, and repeat the cycle. Yet, I am unrealistically optimistic! Every single time I go through this organizing ritual, I firmly believe that *this time*, it will all stay organized. And it's already happening! Here's the evidence:

That doesn't look like anything on my to-knit list, does it? Nope! That is a new hat for winter (I lost not one, but TWO, hats last winter). Ever since I made the Angora Baby Booties, I've been fixated on making a hat with angora trim. Suddenly inspired, I cast on for it last night. I'm calling it the Snow Queen Hat, and I'll put up the pattern next week. At least it's a quick diversion :) Last night I asked my husband, "Does this little motif look ANYTHING like snowflakes?" and he joked, "Tell me about your knitting", a reference to a big sister/babysitter trick I taught him. When a small child whose artistic skill has not caught up with her imagination presents a beautiful, but incomprehensible, work of art, I came up with saying "Tell me about your picture" when faced with an unidentifiable piece of art. Some children don't mind being asked "What's that?" but some burst into tears when you don't recognize their masterpieces (ask me how I know!). Most enjoy telling you all about their picture when prompted, though. I've decided it's okay that my "snowflake" motif is abstract. Hey, it's hard to make a snowflake with yarnovers!

Marie, this is the Indian Summer Shawl. I'm designing it myself from Cherry Tree Hill Fingering Silk in Indian Summer. I'll put up the pattern when it's done. The Thistle Leaves Scarf (and Chasing Butterflies Scarf) are from Blackberry Ridge, a neat pattern collection of seven scarves plus a sampler scarf called A Week in the Life of a Knitter's Cat. I couldn't resist the name!


Writing: Not a thing. I'm tentatively planning to have Chapter Six done next Friday.

Reading: I started Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn last night. This book is like nothing else I've ever read. Once you see the subtitle, A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable, you know you're in for something different. Mr. Dunn helpfully includes at the front definitions for Epistolary (a novel in letters), and Lipogram (writing that avoids the use of one or more letters of the alphabet). Ella and her relatives live on an island off the US coast that declared independence some time ago. Their claim to fame is as the birthplace and home of Nollop, the man who invented the pangram (using all the letters of the alphabet) "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." There is a huge statue on the island of Nollop with each of the 34 letters of his pangram inscribed on a different tile. One day, the "Z" falls down, and the elders determine that this reflects Nollop's will that the islanders stop using that letter entirely. But that's not the only letter to fall... Since the book is in letters written by islanders, the novel stops using the letter Z, and so on. It's almost too clever, but as an English nerd, I've been sucked in. I love it so far. Some might find his vocabulary show-offy and contrived, but in the context of this island nation that prizes words above all else, it rings true for me. Dunn clearly loves language and is having a blast with his wordplay, and it's infectious! I'm just at the point of Z's elimination, so it's early yet, but I can't wait to see how he deals with the loss of more letters.

Cooking: Nothing of note. I will definitely post camping recipes next week, KnitPastis! I'm pre-chopping everything this morning to get ready. Oh, and String Bean, definitely try the leek soup cold :) It might need a bit more salt.