Just a quick note because I'm doing this on the QT at work.

First of all, thank you so much, every one of you, for your birthday wishes and your comments on my essay. They were much appreciated. Yesterday was great--my coworkers gave me flowers and a card, took me out to lunch and then later John took me to see the Yankees v. Tampa Bay (the Yanks won, of course).

I have decided to extend the Tell a Fib Contest to April 30th, so that I can have the time to finish reading through them all and then give the top 10 to the Wolvies. It's just amazing how many people have entered. I lost track several days ago but the response was great.

I will post the winner's name on May 2, along with a .pdf containing all the entries. As I said before, if you do not want your name attached to your Fib in the .pdf, please let me know.

OK, time to start work. It's been a busy week here in the land of fractured English.

Best Quote I Heard All Day
I'm not going to be caught around here for any fool celebration. To hell with birthdays!--Norman Rockwell

I generally don't care much for Knit Lit, as it's known. I don't buy those books, I find them endlessly boring and yet--one day a year or two ago, I sat down to write and a story came out. I don't know why or where it came from.

It's called April 25 and I'm publishing it for the first time. A few people have read it and I was hoping to record it for Brenda Dayne's podcast but I couldn't, for two reasons. First, I can't seem to get the recording software to run properly and second, I have a very difficult time reading it aloud. If you read it, you will understand.

This is arguably the most personal piece I have ever written and I doubt I will ever write one like it again.

Because I don't wear my heart on my sleeve, as a rule.

But when you're 56 today, you do say "fuck it."

Best Quote I Heard All Day
All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.--Oscar Wilde

I knew when I started the Tell a Fib contest that I might be the recipient of genuinely felt poetry.

At last quick count, I would say that there are more than 100 entries. Clearly, I am not going to ask the Wolvies to read through all of them. So I will screen it down to the top 10 and then let them do their work. Yes, I know. I recused myself from voting. However, I do want to keep my friends. So it's my contest and I can change the rules. Whenever.

I have decided that once the winner is determined on the 27th, I will put all of the submitted Fibs into a .pdf file and put it up on the sidebar for everyone to read. If you don't want your name attached to your entry, let me know. If I can't identify the entrant, they will be the ubiquitous Anonymous.

Thank you all for your entries and your birthday wishes, although my birthday is actually this Tuesday. And of course, I will be working all day the 25th, deciphering Slovenian English and then off to Yankee Stadium to see the Yanks hopefully blast Tampa Bay.

Look for a special birthday post on Tuesday. You might be surprised.

Of Things Fibrous
Why am I thinking "fibroid tumor"? Because my entire house is a fibroid tumor. I love my daughter for being circumspect about the amount of fiber crap in every room except her bedroom (and Liz's, I guess) and her bathroom.

To add to the mix, WEBS is having a nice sale, particularly as pertains to their weaving yarns, so I decided that I needed these three cones of 10/2 perle cotton for a TBD project.

Oddly, while the magenta and blueberry colors are true in the photograph, the seemingly spring green is actually a medium-dark olive. Go figure.

Loop advised me that if I wanted to get an idea of how they would look woven, I should twist a strand of each.

The olive shows up in this picture as true. I like the mixture.

In the meanwhile, this weekend is going to be shit weather so I'll be sleying and hopefully threading the loom, finally. For stupid towels. Jesus.

Spin-Off Review and a Squint at Interweave Crochet
What a fucking great issue. If you spin (Franklin, this is for you), you need this issue. Excellent article on Navajo plying, although I don't understand why they called it "Plying Chained Singles" unless they were afraid of hordes of spindle-wielding Indians invading their editorial offices. Everyone calls it Navajo plying, for God's sake. This article is available on their website as a .pdf, by the way.

There is also a very good article on spinning sock yarn. Interesting article about using active singles to their advantage in zig-zag knitting patterns. The whole issue was a big improvement over the past few. Loop and I were afraid Spin-Off was going off-kilter.

It's nice to be able to say something nice about a fiber magazine for a change.

But let me not disappoint. On the other hand, their Crochet special, Kathy's designs exempted, sucked the big one.

Come on, Interweave. You're making me really hate crochet when you publish garbage like that. If you're smart, you'll have Merrick do her own magazine. She's the only reason I buy it, and not because she's my friend, either. There is no doubt in my mind that she is the best crochet designer out there, bar none. Kathy understands how to combine yarn and half-double like no one else.

Yarn Containers
Every day I schlep my rather large black knitting bag on the train so that I always have my Linus blanket with me--this is how I often view my knitting.

It is true. I am an inveterate buyer of yarn carriers and containers. I can no more resist an attractive bag than I can beautiful yarn. As a result, I have way too many bags. At this point, I've become an expert in what makes a good yarn carrier/container and what doesn't.

And it came to me that since knitters will buy anything that has "Knitting" or "Yarn" on them, it would be an easy buck to come up with a totebag idea that could be marketed in CafePress or perhaps even, dare I say, in Patternworks' catalog.

Yes. You'll buy this.

The Yarnster is the ultimate in knitting storage, with convenient wheels when you're the Knitter-On-The-Go! Its sturdily built body, painted in a hip WM Forest Green, features a detachable pull-cord for those days when you need to take it all with you.

Husbands and significant others, this is the premier gift for that fiber-wracked person in your life. Something that says, "Your hobby is special to me."

Have a good weekend, all. I'm off to see if my rare and handy loom is still on speaking terms with me.