Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hacking Away

This has been (continues to be) the nastiest cold I've had in some time. For a while I lost all interest in food, knitting, or the new garden catalogs (!). Even stranger, the severe calorie restriction did not seem to trigger ketosis, familiar from intentional fasts. Could it be the severe restriction of activity, the nutrition content of phlegm (euw), muscle-wasting, or something else?

Carioca

Whatever it may be, I managed to totter over to the Post Office to get this skein of Carioca in the mail to Sue, my first de-stash of the year.

For NaSpiMoMo, I finally plied and finished the STR Wensleydale started in November. It's uneven and DH pronounced it scratchy – not a best effort, but it's good enough, I like it, and it's my first FO of 2008.

STR Wensleydale

The roving had the most beautiful sheen to it, which the yarn retains [g]. I drove myself bonkers trying to keep its color sequence intact too – now I know better. Without resorting to chained plying, I lack the necessary skill. I'm not going to fret about it, which simplifies Sheep 2 Shoe-type projects.

Not a political endorsement, just fact: in the days between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary,Vote my inbox exploded with anonymous emails smearing Barack Obama, but no one else. The sensational fear-mongering and lies are sorry stuff. I happen to belong to the same denomination as the senator and know the ones trashing his church distort Christian theology in very odd ways (rather like pretending the Eucharist involves cannibalism). Smear emails can be forwarded to the Obama campaign at watchdog@barackobama.com.

Also in my inbox, the flyer for the Smiley's sale, January 14-21. This is where one of the most magnificent knitters I know, Greg's grandmother, who makes each of her 24 children and grandchildren a colorwork pullover for Christmas, stocks up. There are incomparable bargains to be had, but it's not for the faint of heart!

8 comments:

Bezzie said...

I belong to the churck of "Whatever flips your cookie." When will people learn that smear campaigns are useless? Has that ever changed one's mind? And if it has, well maybe you don't want their vote anyway.

Kim said...

Hope you are feeling better. Mercifully my inbox hasn't been flooded with any smeat campaign e-mails, just the usual penis enlargement e-mails. Oy vey!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Ina, feel better!

Anonymous said...

Very pretty yarn and I hope you feel better soon!

Kristen said...

Hope the worst of the nasty cold is over.
I'll try not to be disappointed that the Smiley's sale is only in-store and not online, since I am trying to knit from the stash only at the moment.

Lisa said...

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Nancy said...

Hope you're doing better today...see you at soon at SnB!

Jessica said...

I do hope you start feeling better soon! Love the handspun! :) And there was something akin to what you were describing forwarded to a list that I'm on about Obama. It's a sad state of affairs this country is in I'm afraid.