Best Quote I Heard All Day
If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions? --Scott Adams

Stupid people ask stupid questions because they are too lazy to look anything up. Stupidity and sloth: Perfect together. And for those who wish to search for something here, please use the new Google search tool I've added to the blog. Just scroll down to the bottom. You can do that, right? Without e-mailing me? Sure.

All of this reminds me--it's time to unpack my knitting books so I can practice what I preach.

Fighting Stupidity
If anyone should get the Darwin Award this year, it should be Dubya, that cyclist par excellence. Unfortunately, he's still with us, floating along in his own little world, oblivious and protected from bad things.

MoveOn is urging everyone to attend or host a vigil tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. for Cindy Sheehan, the mother who refuses to go away. I'm beginning to think that it's time to become a serious activist. It's all fine to whine about how awful he is. Let's start making public noise. You can find a vigil near you via the MoveOn search engine.

You know it's bad when the op-ed people start calling him a liar in print. And Clinton was impeached for dropping his drawers and lying about it? Please.

Visitor From Another Planet
Not to be clique-ish (although I suspect we are to some degree) but the Steeking Cosa Nostra--me, Joe, Kathy, Carol S., Lisa, Liza and Selma--tries to get together at least a few times a year. This past Saturday, it was just me and Selma in Rhinebeck, NY. The rest were either on vacation, selling a house, guesthosting the other's blog, incognito, or in England.

It was fucking hot. The thermometer on the bank in Rhinebeck read 105. I believed it to be true.

But we had a great time together, dragging my Johnny thither and yon. Mostly thither to Morehouse, where I bought two laceweight quad skeins for a design project

and one to augment the Estonian scarf. (Note to Selma: It really doesn't match--too much pink. I'll add it to my collection of little laceweight skeins.) Selma was knitting some Priscilla G-R socks from an old IK that I really liked. In green, of course. I do remember the issue. But it's in the big box of knitting mags in the garage.

Fiberatin'
As I wrote Loopy last night, "Gulp."

Halcyon now has my order for the Schacht Mighty Wolf loom. And the neccessary accoutrements.

Scary? Yeah. Not only because of the financial investment but because weaving is not easy stuff to learn.

Nonetheless, I feel oddly compelled to push myself in a new direction. If I'm not challenged, I'm bored. And there's nothing worse than boredom in my world.

Halcyon just called me and it will be 6-8 weeks before I get the loom (just in time for Rhinebeck, no doubt). Possibly sooner but no promises. That's fine. I'm doing preliminary reading anyway. And Loopy has been generous with her advice and information and has saved my ass in advance with her caveats.

Weaving is the logical segue from knitting and spinning, in my opinion. I'd rather create my own fabric than use manufactured stuff. It's the "make something from nothing" syndrome. That's what it's all about.

Finding mill ends for weaving is going to be tough. There used to be a great mill ends warehouse, Frances Yarns, nearby in Denville, but that's gone now. I don't know if Silk City Fibers in Paterson still exists. Any of my NJ readers know? It used to be open only on the first Saturday of every month. The Stanley Woolen Mill and the Bernat Mill in Uxbridge, MA, where I bought coned mill ends years ago, seem to have been gentrified and converted into shops.

Time to stop my morning writing and start working on the house again. I bought this fountain last weekend.

To knit outside and listen to water is possibly the most rare and handy (and relaxing) thing anyone can do.