I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t have anything monumental to share, and nothing is urgent or difficult or strange, or at least no more so than usual. But I haven’t had time to post, and I can’t figure out how that happened. Could it be that I am busy?

I tell everyone that this is the quiet time of year at work. We’re in between summer and the holidays, so there aren’t many people around, and those who are here seem quieter and less … insistent.

This hasn’t turned out to be a quiet time for me, though. I have so many things to get to that had to be abandoned during the summer that it may as well be summer. I don’t have the desire to put in the kind of hours I do in the summer, though, so at this slower (but healthier) pace the work seems to take forever.

It’s a good thing that Rhinebeck is just a few days away, then! I need a break. More than two and a half days would be nice, but I’ll take these for now. Judy and the Remarkable R’s and I are planning to load up and head out on Friday afternoon, the minute the girls’ school lets out.

We’re going to rumble up the island, and cross those bridges, and roar into the Eveready Diner parking lot in time to grab dinner before we check in at the motel. We’re going to spend the drive in fidgety anticipation of all we’ll see and do (and eat, I guess) all weekend.

We’ll hope to run into Ms. Clara, whose new book is hitting the shelves on Tuesday. The Knitter’s Book of Yarn is so amazing that the minute I got my preview copy the other day, I wrote an embarrassing post on KR. I almost wish I’d waited.

Part of my daily job is talking about books, and publishers want me to talk about them, and to that end they send me copies so I can read them, and then they hope that I’ll gush and praise and … sell books. This is a little different for me, since I know Clara and I’m excited for her, and KR is like a big room full of my friends.

I might have gushed and praised a little prematurely, since only a handful of people will get to have a copy before Tuesday. It might have been a little like being told you can have a treat, but it’s locked in the cabinet and only a few have the key, but oh yes, the treat is in there all right, and it’s a doozy, too bad you can’t see how great it is yet. That doesn’t seem fair.

This book will have been worth the wait, I promise.


There has been lots of knitting going on. I took this picture of a slightly damp blue Hedgerow sock so you can see what happens when you knit the pattern on smaller needles. Yes, the sock really is smaller, just as I predicted. I used 2.25mm needles for the leg, and 2.0mm needles for the heel flap and foot.

PhotoStylist R has very narrow feet, so she’s getting this pair. SockModel R has regular feet, so the originals fit her perfectly. I also decided to go with a longer leg and a regular shaped toe on the blue pair, because I think they’ll fit their intended feet better. See? You can do whatever you need to do with a sock pattern to make it fit or feel better, or suit your knitting style. That’s the beauty of knitting.

I finished the Ripple baby blanket and gave it to my friend at work. She loved it, and I was very pleased with how it turned out. But did I take a final picture? No, that would have been sensible!

My diagonal ribbed scarf is off the needles, too. Gee, it only took a year! It was my carry-around knitting most of the time. I’ll post a photo after it’s washed and blocked. I liked working with the Brooks Farm Acero yarn, which I got at Rhinebeck last year.

I have a confession. I’ve lured a knitter over to the other side. I drove Rho up the island today, to Rumpelstiltskin Yarns in Sayville, where she purchased – on her own, without any poking or prodding – an Ashford Joy wheel. We took it right to her house and put everything together, and by the time I left she was on her way. I’ve been getting these sweet little emails since then – first she treadled for a while, then she made yarn, and then she ordered a couple of Patsy Zawistoski DVD’s. I think we’ve got her, don’t you?