LMN

LMN, or proof positive that the Laws of Thermodynamics can be mocked for a time, but never actually broken. While all manner of spinning and felting and parading around has been going on, my entries for the ABC-along (also laundry, dishes, mowing, weeding, etc.) have been neglected. Oops. Catching up now.

L is for lemonade. It's the summer elixir of life – there's nothing like a cool glass of lemonade on a hot day. Not to mention it's a mighty engine of commerce. Every summer there are dozens of little lemonade stands run by tiny entrepreneurs roundabout Exit 151. These wannabee tycoons do a brisk business parting homebound bus and train commuters from their pocket change. I like mine very lemony, not too sweet, with lots of ice.

L is for little pink socks. I do love a sock that is little and pink (including the Little Pink Sock of Mutts fame) and it would seem that I am not alone.

L is for lavender, one of my favorite fragrances and colors. I'd like to grow some, although from what I've seen of Provence and its pale chalky soil, I suspect the plants won't like the red clay roundabout Exit 151.

And L is for linen and lambswool and llama and Lyocell.

M is for maps. Maps merge form and function, practicality and frivolity, accuracy and imperfection, mathematics and politics, utility and beauty, mystery and mastery, representation and abstraction. It's no wonder that mapping models are called projections. I heart maps. Among my many favorites are these new NJ bike tour maps, spread on an ancient Rand-McNally Road Atlas.

M is for modular knitting. I'm blithely indifferent to the various methods – modular, cellular, multidirectional, or domino – each has merits and drawbacks. Of more interest, I'm currently swatching for a doozie of a project, one of those things that looks like a shapeless mass for the longest time. It's delightful to me, although at the moment incomprehensible to anyone else. More on this in a bit.

M is for a-mazing. While I was slowly pondering making my first yarn into a mosaic cap, someone at Knitty went ahead and put together a pattern! It's fibery synchronicity!

And M is for mohair and merino and microfiber.

N is for New Jersey. (I've borrowed Cara's Knitting Olympics button because it's just so wonderful.) Well, the state is open again, after a six-day budget impasse between the legislature and the governor that furloughed almost 100,000 employees (more than half in the private sector) and shut down state offices, state parks, state beaches, the DMV, the state casino regulators and, therefore, the casinos (gasp!) and after flooding along the Delaware River that, among other things, inundated the state capital and merited federal disaster area status (and federal bucks) for New York and Pennsylvania. What? Whadduya mean no one noticed??

N is for nostepinne (or, if you please, nøstepinde) and niddy-noddy. Their virtues are many, but I prefer a ball winder and a skein winder.

And N is for nettle, said to be similar to linen, and nylon.

See the rest of my ABCs.

Categories: {ABC-along}