Best Quote I Heard All Day
It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately.--A.A. Milne

And today it's 45 degrees F. After several frigid days of sub-30 weather.

My friends in Oz may laugh. Or perhaps regale us with stories about their summer.

Trudging Away
Maybe I'm bored with knitting because I'm knitting boring crap. Nine days to go and I've managed to complete one Touch Me scraf (with ends yet to be woven in and the whole magilla washed):

And a half a sock

After knitting socks for too many years, I've come to the conclusion that the sock yarn I most enjoy knitting is Trekking XXL. I've done the rest and while I enjoy the colorways of Opal, Trekking is a much more pleasant yarn with which to knit.

Most important, though--I'm sick of knitting socks. The words "socks" and "stimulus" do not go hand in hand.

Drecky Little Knitted Things
While decorating the tree the other day, Corinne pulled this out of her ornament box:

I admit to making this for her about 15 years ago when she still lived at home. So that would be, um, around 1990. I couldn't believe she still had it.

We put it on the tree, along with this gem:

I remember making this. Probably circa 1995, right after I made my first pair of socks. Note the unKitchenered toe and the gaping hole at the gusset. Everyone has to start somewhere. But it's on the tree, despite (or perhaps because) of its flaws.

IK Out
I got my issue the other day and while I wasn't ecstatic, there were two terrific jackets, a very good interview with Veronik Avery, one of my favorite designers, and yet another article revisiting shortrowing. Always a good idea, since people don't seem to understand it's simply making wedges. I grant you, my own mother has trouble understanding shortrowing. But if you think of doorstop shapes or pie pieces, the concept becomes easier to grasp.

I really liked the Pearl Buck swing jacket by Kate Gilbert; however, the shape isn't for me. And looking at the knit-in front bands in the picture, I noticed that they appeared to be curling back. When I gave the directions a quick skim, it appeared that there are no facings to help tame that curling. Hmmm. A caveat for this one, perhaps.

The other one that I liked a lot was the Di Gilpin Winter Star Jacket. Now that one I would make.

I looked at Knitter's No. 81 on the newsstand. The less said, the better. The X-men manage to raise the bar for obnoxious, ugly garbage with each issue. Even VK's Glam Slam issue was better than this--barely.

When it comes right down to it, the only fiber publications that I read these days come from Interweave. The rest are junk.

From SnitU
A letter from a disgruntled Knitter's reader threatening to cancel her subscription unless the magazine got better (that actually got past Antie Gail's censorious eyeball) included a very good link to Garnstudio Drops free patterns. The writer complained that she saw more unique designs on this free web site than she does in most of the mags. She's right. There are some very nice designs on this site, particularly kids' knits.

Even their ponchos look better designed than the ones I've seen in the magazines. Which is not saying much, I realize.

The New Poncho
Watch out. Pompoms are back. Ted wrote me the other day to tell me he had read someone on the GLBT-knit list talking about pompoms being the next knitting fad. I believe this to be true since A) IK had a ghastly pompom Christmas tree pattern and B) it's all about 1975 redux.

First person who designs a pompom poncho wins the Christmas Crap-along, whether it's seasonal or not.

Speaking of Which
One week to the Christmas Crap-along deadline. Entries have been coming in and I have to say, it's going to be a very tough contest to judge. What brilliant crap! Inspired.

I should be so inspired. Although I've already knit my rare and handy Christmas crap ornaments back in the '90s, when I should have known better.