So Busy...So Important

Yes...if you could stop with all the camera flashes for a second, I'll breathlessly tell you all I've been doing. Along with my regular knitting and spinning (and irregular blogging about it, of course), I also had to fly to my client site last night and then take an early morning call to be interviewed by Swedish National Public Radio.

International Knit Fame
Every once in a while, a friend really will say something that will indicate that they envy my life, and I always think of something a wise person told me years ago, that helps me when I feel envious of someone or something:

"Don't compare your insides to someone else's outsides."

Don't get me wrong, I really like my life, but like everyone else it has it's wearisome aspects.

I really did fly to my client site for the week but what I didn't mention is that I had to leave my house after dinner last night to make a 9:15 flight to Alabama, which was delayed for 2 hours, getting me into my Birmingham hotel at 12:30 am (thank goodness they're in a different time zone at least, so I could get 6 hours of sleep before my radio interview!). Jet-setting really isn't what it used to be.

I really was interviewed by someone from Swedish Radio. Lovisa Lamm will be airing a five-part series on knitting and other fiber arts sometime in December, and was very interested in the Men's Knitting Retreats...it was a delight to speak with her. When I googled her name and translated one of the Swedish pages about her radio programs, she did a series on how to survive using street smarts, including the following topics:

Så blir du din egen polis (How to become your own police)
Så överlever du som soldat (How to survive as a soldier)
kurs: Så blir du strippa (Course: How to become a stripper)
Jeanette: Så lyckades jag ta mig ur en gruppvåldtäkt (Jeanette: So I managed to get me out of a gang rape)
kurs: Så slår du ner en våldtäktsman (Course: How to turn down a rapist)

Hopefully the knitting programs will be a bit more sedate...I'll make sure to send out a link when it gets aired at the end of the year.

Current Knitting
I've been working on three projects since last I blogged. I ripped out the lace ribbing at the end of the Mini Mochi scarf, so I can add some more center repeats. I started a new lace project that I have to see if it pans out before I blog about it. And, I got more done on the Expedition Pullover...:





You can see I've finished the first sleeve, and I've started the second, and I've also added the buttons, which I thought were PERFECT for Todd's masterpiece of a design. The buttons are from Nature Buttons and they're lightweight, recycled ceramic buttons with a great mottled gray glaze on them. The color and the shape are exactly what this sweater needed.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Regarding my latest spindling project, Wendelene asks, "Do you find it hard to keep your plys the same weight when you spin them on different spindles? I've bought several spindles over the years, and just can't seem to get the hang of them."

I'm surprised to read this. If anything, my spindling is a bit more even than my wheel spinning...I've always felt like I had a bit more control using drop-spindles than when I used my wheel. It's a little easier for me when I spin any fiber as thin as it allows...especially when the fiber is as evenly carded as this roving is. My only complaint with spindling is it takes me longer to get a similar result as the wheel, but I am truly enjoying both my latest spindles.

Pam writes, "The pink Chibi thing is just disturbing on several levels. Cheap plastic needle case selling for HOW MUCH(!!) because it happens to be pink?? And people were actually paying?"

Actually, the Chibi craze was an artificially created fad by someone on the KnitFlame list who wrote up some excellent eBay offerings and KnitList postings that gave the original color pink Chibi an amazing amount of snob appeal...she made it sound like you weren't a real knitter if you didn't have one in the original pink. What she didn't mention, was that they are still making pink ones...it was really a very clever demonstration of how you can bullshit some folks.