Helloooo? Anybody Home?

Best Quote I Heard All Day

I think writer's block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible. But as a writer, I believe that if you sit down at the keys long enough, sooner or later something will come out.—Roy Blount, Jr.I

Sure, something will come out. Like shit? Possibly. I've been sitting on the potty for too long now, and not much has come out.

I know. It’s been five weeks or so since last I posted. Primarily because I hit the writer’s wall, that dreaded failure of flowing words. I’m fine, in relatively good health, despite a recent bout of the flu.

It’s not just a blockage, though. It’s the six-hour daily commute, with my scant free time devoted to some mindless knitting. The state of total exhaustion as I drag my ass into my apartment—I knew it would be this way and I also knew that something in my life would suffer. It was the writing. Night after night I would think about writing but ended up with brain freeze. I didn’t even have the wherewithal to read my friends’ blogs, either.

At one point last week, I seriously thought about just dumping the blog. After all, I thought, after almost six years, what do I have left to say? Platitudes not being my strong suit, it’s often difficult to come up with interesting material. But then my Taurean stubborn streak kicked in. Fuck it, I’m not going gently into that good night.

So how to juggle? I don’t know, yet. It’s going to have to be a squeeze play on my part. But I feel rejuvenated these past few days, so I’ll let ‘er rip and see what happens. As it is, I’m partially writing this at work, something I would rather not do. However, having just gotten out a chunk of documentation, I reckon I can spend a few minutes on my own shit. And the blog is much too important to me to let it sink into the Blog Bog.

Knitting America and Cables. Oh My.

So during my hiatus, I gave myself two little presents. The first one, Knitting America, by Susan M. Strawn, is simply wonderful. I’ve been picking away at it, mostly looking at the pictures, which are just superb. The prose strikes me as a bit heavy-handed, although truthfully, I haven’t read enough of the book’s text to cement this opinion. But if you enjoyed No Idle Hands and are a Richard Rutt devotee, I highly recommend you plunk down the money for this book. To me, knitting history is fascinating, as is all history. Not everyone’s cup of tea perhaps, but a valuable book in the scope of its research.

My other gift to myself was Janet Szabo’s Cable Book, Vol. 1. Buy it. Even though many of the cables are familiar, Janet gives you options and food for thought on how to vary them. And…there is the Woven Cable, a brilliant idea that I wish I had thought up.

Wat U Bin Nidding Mar?

Well, another pair of Jarbo Raggi socks for Neal, who had better stick ‘em on his feet so I can photograph them. (Dude, you’ve gotten four pairs of socks outta me this winter. So pose.) And a pair for me. These socks work up so damned fast, I don’t even count them as projects. Actually, I never really count socks as much of anything.

I did discover the new Noro Kureyon sock yarn, which is just outstanding. It’s the Kureyon feel and look, in a standard sock yarn blend of 70% wool/30% nylon. I have the one sock done, the second on the needles.

And the other true project is Interweave Knits’ freebie, the Icelandic Lace shawl. With a pile of Morehouse laceweight hanging around, I decided that this shawl would do justice to the yarn’s space dye. Rather than do the suggested colors, I’m just letting the Morehouse do its thing. With the reverse stockinette ridges, I think the sculptured look works well with the yarn. Having seen Sheila’s version done in Anne, down at my not-so-local yarn shop, Stix-n-Stitches, I was inspired by that, although I couldn’t seem to locate my Anne in the stash. No matter.

Now, about all that unfinished shit I have lying around, like the Lavold pullover, Jenn’s Campanula, and the sizing of the Gansey socks. I dunno, maybe in a month or two. Maybe.

Latest IK

Yeah, well, there’s the Ravelry article by yours truly. Ma bought this issue and promptly told me that my article meant nothing to her. This is a woman who leaves the internet to her children. And there were a couple of nice garments. The photography seems better, although I’m beginning to change my mind about the layout. Initially, it didn’t bother me. This issue, it did, for some reason. I dunno. It’s lost its handmade ambience, I think. It’s not quite on the level of Vague Knitting—I don’t know what level it’s seeking.

Political Junkie

As Joe Klein so eloquently wrote in last week’s essay in Time magazine, there is no 12-step program for political junkies. I am one, Neal is one, MSNBC is often the channel of choice, although we do watch Faux News for a nanosecond sometimes, just to vomit slightly. (Thanks, Olbermann. For that, and for Ann “Coultergeist”.) I can’t get enough of this political season.

I’m not pleased with the choices at this point.

If Hillary gets in or McCain gets in, I fear it will be Business As Usual in DC. Something needs to change drastically, and I don’t know yet if Obama is the one to institute change, either.

Frankly, Congress is a disgrace. We need new blood there. Blood that will actually do something. I say, throw out the non-performers. And there’s plenty of them, both Democrats and Republicans. A true do-nothing, know-nothing group.

Whether you agree with me or not, here’s the one thing we should all agree on:

EVERYBODY VOTES IN ’08!

That’s Neal’s sig and we should all adopt it. Because voting is a rare and handy privilege and right.

Watch this space. I got my voice back. Hrmph. Choke. Gag.