Hackers and other Hell Hounds...

My Gmail account was hacked yesterday. I can assure you I am not stranded in London bruised from a mugging or desperate for cash. I spent the entire day answering the phone and responding to frantic emails from people wondering if I was alright. I was searching for the bright side to all of this when my town manager found it. She was mighty impressed by how many people sprang to, ready to bail me out. I was, too. It speaks to the quality of the people with whom I hang out!

So, thank you for worrying about me and please, NEVER trust pleas for money over the internet.

Who is Joe Fisher?

So, there's this knitting farmer down in Winterport. He knits great stuff but is KNOWN around here for his, hmm, what should I call them? Dr. Who monsters? Sea critters? Garlic? All of the above? We honestly have no idea what that man will bring in next. He designed a gorgeous entrelac yoke sweater and brought it to us sloshing in a bucket. Needed help blocking. His teeny, little mom came in wearing the Christmas sweater he knit for himself (Joe is Bunyanesque).

Gauge?!! He signed up for Cheryl's Bohus hat class and then SUFFERED at my counter when I made him knit a swatch. Two rows is plenty! Joe learns, though. He's planning Meg Swansen's Christmas sweater this year and will be spinning and dyeing the yarn for it from his Icelandic sheep. And making a really big gauge swatch. In pattern. Right, Joe?

So, who is Joe Fisher?

One of the reasons I love my job.

Um Ya Ya!

We're back from St. Olaf College and our daughter Betsy's graduation. If you see her around town wish her Um Ya Ya!

Another Example of the Importance of Small Things...

Times are tough. Life is complicated. And I have found the balm that eases the stress on my soul. Swallow your coffee before reading on... self-striping sock yarn! I'm on my third pair in 9 days! I amaze all beholders! Why this sea change in a woman known to rant about the dullness of sock knitting? Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age, but I don't think so. I wanted a thrill in my knitting since my life didn't seem to have any and now that life is tossing thrills out faster than I can bat at them I want my knitting to feel languid and calming. Of course, there is the heady excitement when the color changes! What's that all about? I can see it coming. I know it's in the pipeline and yet I'm still shocked when it arrives on my needles! I'm such a baby, but I'm a baby with a new toy and I'm luvin' it!

KnitKnitPurlPurlKnitKnitPurlPurl, TEAL! KnitKnitPurlPurlKnitKnitPurlPurl, BURGUNDY! .......aaaaaahhhhh.

Callinectus snowzuponus...

...also known as The Rare Maine Snow Crab. The inspiration for this bad boy was an embroidery challenge presented at the annual crewel retreat I attend in Chincoteague, Virginia. We were given a line drawing of a blue crab and told to go at it. Naturally, most of us waited until four days before the next retreat to start the thing. My older, more dignified colleagues were referring to the beast as That f-ing Crab. We all thought he would be a quickie, but we underestimated the little crusty. I attacked him with three types of buttonhole stitches - elongated, eyelets and the household variety - and a billion french knots, but something was missing. I was drinking port one evening and throwing baleful glances at the now hated bugger when it came to me. Mittens! Icy froth! The Maine Snow Crab was born! If you've never sat tipsy in your favorite chair on a cold night and calculated the gauge for crab mittens, well, Honey, you've never lived! I was so dang tickled with myself! Our crabby adventure will be featured in the next issue of Needle Arts magazine, so stay tuned. Bad Boy is headed for the Big Time!

For Larry

I will spend today embroidering handkerchiefs for my cousin. Her husband, Larry, was killed Tuesday while riding his bicycle. He was 43, father to two daughters, ages 3 & 7, the youngest of seven sons. I made up my mind yesterday, while I was driving home from Baltimore, to embroider hankies for his widow. Larry was not a jewelry kind of guy, but he designed a charm for himself that incorporated the letter "L" and the number "7" and wore it on a chain around his neck. I will stitch that and my prayers for her and the children into each hankie. What else can I do?

Wake up!

Why do we knit what we knit? I suspect knitters are split between those who want to make a specific thing and those who like the rhythm of stitches moving on needles. May I rudely suggest that while both of these "reasons" are okey doke both are LACKING INSPIRATION. Oh, I hear many of you heaving a sigh - she wants me to WORK and all I want is to RELAX. Well, open your brain flaps for a moment and THINK about this. You can be an ARTIST. You can DESIGN. And that means you can put something of yourself into what you do. Here's how it works. Look about you and really notice what your favorite things look like. Do you love a gravy boat your grandmother gave you? If so, why? Does it have a spray of roses in a pretty shade of pink? What if your next pair of socks were the exact pink of those gravy boat roses? If you were to make a pair of pink socks that match grandma's gravy boat roses I PROMISE you will NEVER put them on without remembering your grandma. And that one small difference will ELEVATE the mundane. And that is ART.