Best Quote I Heard All Day

Maybe you've taken some...drugs...which gave you many pretty colors. That freak you out and make you want to die!--Georg Festrunk

Yes, that's me yesterday. Awash in the green of our office. Lime green walls. Lime green carpeting. And a puce kitchen.

Here's Randy, our VP of Sales. I promised him I wouldn't put his face out in public, although he's really cute and a fine Southern gentleman. But the green is a bit much. We all look quite ill during the day.

Ganze Familie
Having left my camera cable at work, maroon that I am, I'm relegated to some pictures that I took on Sunday, when we had Ma's birthday barbecue.

Liz could have a future as the last clown out of the VW bug. I'm not quite sure what the point of these motorized bikes are, other than to cause severe injury, but it belongs to the kid next door. So he can smash his brains out, not her.

Mammy working on her latest Lavold and opening a present simultaneously (I told ya she's good for 84), daughter Jenn looking drugged, and Ian shoving his gut out. What a family.

Coffee Socks
I have to agree with Joe--I'm liking these Kaffe Fassett socks just fine, although he finished his and I'm working mine cuff-down. I would have a picture but it's not happening tonight. Thursday. I must say, I am pleased with the striping, which I thought I would not be. Just shows to go ya that sometimes you just have to knit shit up.

Knitting as Hula Hoop
I thought the comments about knitting popularity were quite interesting. I've seen trends in needlework come and go throughout the years but never such a spike as we've seen recently with knitting.

I do not see crochet having the same impact as knitting has had, for several reasons. First of all, there are few good crochet designers out there. Second, crochet is not as versatile as knitting, in my opinion. Yeah, you can make nice crocheted garments, to a point. But I find crochet to be limiting, simply because of the nature of the different stitch constructions. Unless you work in very fine yarns/threads, crochet inevitably ends up looking clunky.

Felting/fulling? No. I see it as the flavor of the week but as far as any sustained public interest, I'd give it a year, tops. I think that it's a worthwhile adjunctive skill and one that has a lot of potential but I don't see it elevated to the same level as knitting.

Spinning has certainly become more popular, no doubt about it. There seem to be far more spinners out there than there were when I started eight years ago. This may be an illusion, since back then, there were no blogs and nobody was writing regularly about spinning on the internet. I don't think so, though. In fact, blogs may have contributed to its increased popularity.

The core needlearts, knitting, quilting, and sewing, will always have a large group of devotees, particularly quilting. These three crafts have remained constant for a long time. The others have waxed and will wane. Those of us who remember the macrame and crewel crazes of the '70s know this.

As someone who also embroiders, I would love to see a renaissance in that discipline. No matter where the trends go, just give me them sticks and some wool. That's all I need to feel rare and handy.