Stranded

And I don't mean knitting.

I'm traveling – scratch that, trying to get from Point A to Point B to Point C and back again, but my flight was canceled. But only after we sat on the tarmac for four hours. Now it's well past midnight and I'm at the airport with a planeload of angry people, one hapless gate agent, and three policemen. The gate agent has just announced there will be no vouchers for anything. All the airport vendors and transportation have shut down for the night. Gah.

On the bright side, before I left I had the forethought to upload photos of the Kureyon felted mug I made for Melissa, my Knit One, Tea Too swap pal. (My mobile gadgets can manage blog posts, but not photo uploads.) Here it is before f-f-felting, with a bit of crochet cotton around the top to help the rim felt evenly.



Here it is after. I love how the Kureyon felted down to look like stoneware.



The mug is a modification of Jane's brilliant felted teacup and saucer pattern. She also has patterns for a felted bowl and a felted teapot!

I'm becoming incoherent, so will respond to blog comments and email when I'm back at Point A. Hope your weekend is happy!

First Week in October

Roundabout Exit 151 (and in many other communities), the first week of October is a celebration of the Latin adage mens sana in corpore sano [a sound mind in a sound body] with Banned Books Week and iWalk.

Banned Books Week 2007, September 29-October 6, is sponsored by the American Library Association. Their list of the most frequently challenged books is instructive reading all by itself, as are the suggestions on ways to celebrate the freedom to read. No surprise, most involve reading (including blog reading).

My local public library is a Carnegie grant library, one of 1,689 in the U.S. (and 828 elsewhere). Even though it was basically charity, there was little stinting inside or out – the original copper roof was finally replaced in kind this summer. The trees have grown up around the building, so it's hard to get a good photo this time of year, but notice the copper penny color on top versus the 90-year-old patina on the window mullions.



More important than the bricks and mortar outside are the treasures inside – books, newspapers, periodicals, media, computers with Internet access – all freely available to patrons. When the library was built in 1914, the concept of free public lending and open stacks was considered daring, even dangerous. Judging from contemporary U.S. controversies as disparate as evolution, climate change, net neutrality, AIDS education, and HPV vaccination, there would seem to be plenty of would-be thought police with any number of agendas who still think so. In a global context, freedom to read is even more precious. It's no coincidence that dictators everywhere first seek to suppress, censor, ban, and burn books.

   

Thinking globally, October 3 is iWalk 2007, International Walk [and Bike] to School Day, which in the U.S. is sponsored by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. iWalk is a full month in some parts of the world, where the emphasis is on encouraging school enrollment. Roundabout prosperous Exit 151, the emphasis of the day is on reducing childhood obesity, reducing traffic congestion and speed, reducing fossil fuel emissions, and reducing stress! See who's walking in New Jersey, in the U.S., and globally.

Fall Bounty

Today was summer-hot, yet the autumn equinox has come and gone and with it the end of Summer of Socks. I've been trying to upload my wrap up post, but Blogger ate it. (Sigh. I'll keep trying.) In the meantime this will have to suffice. It's the yarn prize for the SOS Design Contest.



It truly is prize yarn. I literally gasped when I received the package! From left to right:

Perchance to Knit 80/20 Merino/Cashmere in colorway Raspberry Mouse (with coordinating jeweled stitch marker!);

Yarn Botanika Radiance (Superwash Merino and Tencel) from One Planet Yarn & Fiber;

Tausendschon Handgefärbte Sockenwolle (75% Superwash wool, 25% polyamid) in colorway Flecktarn;

and from Wool Girl,

Union Center Knits Whatnot Sock (75% Superwash wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Fishy (with a stitch marker, labels, and smooch stickers), and

Miss Babs Superwash Sock & Baby (100% wool) in colorway Purples II.

MY SnB can attest to how many longing sighs I expend over indie sock yarn! This yarn will be loveloveloved.

My humble thanks go to judges Jessica, Wendy, and Lisa, to the generous sponsors, to Risa, whose crazy computer skillz facilitated pattern publication, to gentle readers for their kind words about Meadowlands Socks, and to Cat Bordhi, whose New Pathways gave me the brainwave for the pattern. If I haven't emailed you to express individual thanks, it's only because I don't have your email addy.

Meanwhile, fruit has started falling off my neighbor's persimmon tree. They're charming little things, the native wild persimmon, not an exotic cultivated variety. Here's one of the windfalls with my LiveStrong wristband for scale.



I'm not sure they're fully ripe yet, but not to worry...



... there's plenty more.

Proof of Sock

The occasion for a second post in one day is proof of sock. As promised, I delayed this Sockapalooza 4 post until there was acknowledgement of receipt from my downstream pal. A month later it can be told that my original pal was Nun in Barcelona. Here's the socks I sent her.



With the socks come two narratives. I've already blogged about the fossil rainforest that inspired their design. But I also picked the stitch patterns – peacock tail for the cuff, fern leaf for the leg, and moss stitch for the heel – because way back when Sockapalooza started, Nun had just finished a Kiri Shawl (which uses fern leaf) and was starting a Peacock Feathers Shawl, and because the URL of her blog, punto de arroz, translates to rice stitch, more commonly known in English as moss stitch. The socks are pal-specific. And because knitters can, they also have mirror-image star toes.

   

I'm told there are similar socks out there, notably the toe-up Elfine's Socks by Anna Bell. The similarities are there, but these happen to owe more to Ann's vintage stockings and really were knit with Nun in mind. I hope she enjoys them in good health!

TV Production

Last night I watched an inordinate amount of TV and pretty much finished the body of the f-f-felted backpack. It currently measures 10"L X 7"W X 14"H (25 X 17 X 35 cm). Gotta love those Noro stripes.



I'm particularly happy with the way Linda Cyr's short row eyelets turned out. I wouldn't use the technique for buttonholes, but they're nice openings for the I-cord drawstring.



All that remains is to knit that interminable I-cord drawstring. Must watch more television!