Best Quote I heard All Day
Any pitcher who throws at a batter and deliberately tries to hit him is a communist—Alvin Dark, former baseball coach

There’s nothing like knitting at Yankee Stadium on a beautiful August Sunday.

The Yanks v. the Angels. It was quite the humdrum game. Yanks lost, 4-3.

Wind-Down
About all I feel like doing lately is spinning. So I’ve finished plying all the Romney/unknown domestic. I’m fairly pleased with the results, although the finished product is not exactly what I was hoping to get.

During this process, I learned how to spin much finer than I have been in the past. So I went back to the merino/silk/angora last night and although it’s still tricky to spin, I am much happier with my technique.

I’ve ditched the idea of spinning singles that will ply double to a fingering weight, for the time being. If I can do a DK, I’ll be more than happy.

Potential Knitty Cover Girl

Thanks to my good friend Pat Conway, who sent me this picture in an e-mail entitled “Texas Whore.” Loopy made a comment about this picture that included a reference to Laura Bush. I doubt Laura has shoes like these.

I kinda feel sorry for the poor sheep. It certainly looks long-suffering.

Would You Buy Yarn From This Woman?
Kim Salazar, of wiseNeedle fame, started a very interesting thread on Knit Flame the other day. Should a rank beginner work in a yarn shop, where presumably s/he would need to help others possibly as rank as s/he?

Despite my frequent ranting about KnitDweebs and clueless scarf-knitters, I have known a few talented beginners who most certainly were quick studies. One woman who I taught to knit years ago picked a Fair Isle cardigan as her first sweater, leapt into the project with huge enthusiasm, and made a garment that anyone would have been proud of.

If you piddle around knitting scarves forever, you don’t learn squat. Some people are just naturally gifted. A job in a yarn shop, preferably with an owner who knows something, is the perfect apprenticeship.

I had the great good fortune, when I was learning to be a grown-up knitter, of working part-time for a shop in Fort Lee, NJ, doing the finishing work and learning how to design. The owner was an impossible bitch but willing to teach me what she knew. I learned how to deal with the public, where to get them answers, and when I was in over my head.

Of course, practically all the shop sold was Cravenella, a 70% wool/30% rayon fingering weight yarn distributed by Melrose, Sunray Yarns, Plymouth, and other companies, in a zillion colors. (I don't believe it is available any longer, at least to handknitters.) And the owner did all of the designing. No pattern books, you had to buy one of hers.

It was a tremendous learning experience for me. And I like to think that I helped a lot of people, as inexperienced as I was.

It’s a fine weekend here in northwest NJ. Time to get ready for a rare (and quite handy) day at the lake.