• Cruise to Alaska with JC Briar and me aboard a Craft Cruise scheduled for September 6-13, 2009! We promise it will be full of knitting and great fun!

September 29, 2008: Excuse Me, Please

We went to town yesterday afternoon—DD#1 had a meeting for a biology project she's doing with three other students, so DD#2 and I dropped her off and went to Costco. I won't tell you what I said to the husband when I got home because it wasn't very flattering to my fellow shoppers. I get so tired of trying to get my errands done in the midst of a bunch of totally inconsiderate people. Why is it necessary to take your husband and four kids to Costco to shop? One person is shopping and the other five are in the way (especially the little ones running loose). Why must you leave your cart in the middle of the aisle while you sample some free food? No one else can get through. Do you always shop by dragging your cart behind you with one hand (at glacial speed no less), taking up the entire aisle so that five other shoppers are forced to follow you? I lost count of the number of times I said, "Excuse me, please."

The icing on the cake was the traffic circle I had to navigate when I left the store. I pulled in and began going around, and at the next entrance to the circle, a woman pulled in right in front of me! I honked my horn and I think I scared the living daylights out of her. Perhaps that will teach her to look before she almost hits someone.

I am liking more and more my self-imposed schedule of only two trips to town per week. The hermit lifestyle has much to recommend it.

I should have slept in today. Ever since I woke up, all I've accomplished is putting out a series of little spot fires—things that require some input from me. Not all of them (hardly any of them, actually) are of my making. And I have not yet reached the bottom of the pile of stuff on my desk. It's 11:00 a.m. and I don't think I am going to get to work on Cables 2 as I had planned.

I'm supposed to sub for the music teacher tomorrow but it's going to be a light schedule. The 5th and 6th grades are going to Glacier Park, so I won't have 6th grade for music class nor will I have beginning band (the 5th graders) at the end of the day. I'll take some piano music with me to practice while I have down time. And DD#1 has a marching band preview and chili feed tomorrow night.

And now the cranky designer is going to go knit and watch the House marathon I taped on Saturday.

September 28, 2008: On The Shores of Flathead Lake

I think this is a beautiful spot for a wedding:

It's on days like this that I have to pinch myself because I can't believe I live here.

The wedding was very nice. The bride had to walk down rather a steep gravel hill to get to the altar, and I had to giggle when I saw she was wearing a pair of Justin Ropers under her dress. They didn't exactly match the dress, but definitely better to be practical than fashionable and risk a broken neck from pitching oneself down a hill at one's wedding.

The pork turned out very well and there was plenty of food for everyone. At each place setting was a pint of homemade peach jam made by the bride's mother. The dinner discussion at our table centered around the recent sighting of a bobcat in the neighborhood and whether it's the bobcat or a coyote that is responsible for picking off our pastor's chickens this past week. We did lots of laughing and visiting and then we came home.

Today is Sunday, so that must mean that it's another opportunity for the Browns to lose a football game. We play Cincinnati—it'll be a battle for the bottom of the division. At least I can knit.

September 27, 2008: This Little Piggy

A friend of ours from church is getting married today. I have to say that weddings out here are completely different than the ones we went to on the east coast. They are almost always held outside, weather permitting (in eight years of being a member there, I've never been to a wedding AT our church). And all the friends make and bring the food.

One of the things you learn quickly when you become part of a community like the one we live in is how to cook efficiently for huge groups of people. A couple of years ago I began making a version of BBQ pork sandwiches whenever I had to cook for church. It's a ridiculously easy recipe: buy pork loins at Costco, cook them overnight in a slow oven, put them in a roaster (they fall apart in the process), and dump BBQ sauce on them. Onions are optional. Voila! BBQ pork. Everyone thinks I spend hours slaving over it.

The bride asked me a few months ago if I would make the BBQ pork for her wedding. Her mother had already bought 60 pounds of pork—all I had to do was cook it for them. So for the past two nights I've put pork loins to cook in the oven. The house smells wonderful (although I am sure it's driving the dogs nuts). The menu for the reception is BBQ pork sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans, and salad, and the weather is supposed to be perfect for the ceremony this afternoon.

The husband is going to the shooting range this morning, so last night he took the girls to town with him to buy ammo and visit the bookstore. I stayed home because I wanted to finish the second sleeve of the gray mohair sweater (yes, it's going very slowly) and pick up for the body (it's a top-down design). I sat and knitted and watched Stargate Atlantis on the Sci-Fi channel. Good times.

And a few more last-of-the-season gardening pics for you. Here are some of the echinacea:

And the calendulas (one of my favorite flowers):

And one of the butternut squash. I have a bunch that are this size; I am hoping they will ripen before it gets really cold. I do love butternut squash soup with a little ginger in it.

We're supposed to have a few more days of really nice weather this week. Maybe I'll get lucky. It would only be fair—to balance out the snowstorm we got on June 10.

September 25, 2008: How Do I Find the Time?

Debbie, you commented the other day on how you don't know how I get it all done. It's funny—while I was in Portland, one of the students (Carson) in my classes asked me the same thing. And a few days ago ChrissyG had a funny blog post about how she spends her day (see the September 17 entry).

So here is a "typical" day at home. Note that I only have about three of these days a week; the other two are spent in town doing other stuff, and I try to take the weekends off, or at least only work for a few hours on Saturday morning.

4:30 to 5:00 a.m. I wake up. Whether it's the former or latter depends a lot on how Chester is feeling that day. I don't have much trouble waking up—it's usually just a matter of opening my eyes and getting out of bed (the husband hates that—he requires copious amounts of coffee just to get his eyelids open).

5:00 to 6:00 a.m. Drink coffee, read my e-mail, Ravelry, the news, check Bloglines, respond to e-mails from the day before, print out orders, and just generally wander around the web.

6:00 to 7:00 a.m. Make myself presentable. Between showering and taming my head of frizz with a hairdryer and flatiron, this does usually take an hour.

7:00 to 7:30 a.m. Eat breakfast, talk to DD#2, then take her out to the bus.

7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. If the house is a disaster, I will spend this time cleaning, vacuuming, and straightening up. I try to tidy up anyway before I start working, so I can enjoy a full day of a clean house before everyone else comes home and destroys all my hard work. Yes, I enjoy pushing the same rock up the same hill every single day.

If the house is relatively clean, I'll fill orders or start working on book stuff or construction company stuff. In any case, I always try to start "working" at 9:00 a.m. Work can include a lot of things—on Wednesday it was working on the ribbed cables section of Cables 2. I also re-ordered some stationery with updated graphics, handled some construction company business, and wrote two scarf patterns.

Noon. Break for some lunch and a quick check of CNBC.

12:30 to 4:00 p.m. On Wednesday, I spent this time knitting. I don't always knit for this amount of time in the afternoon (sometimes I am working on the book or newsletter or patterns), but I could tell that my brain didn't want to do any more work on the book, so I decided to spend the time knitting and watching the Congressional hearings. It was punctuated by a couple of loads of laundry, a visit from UPS, a trip out to the woodshed to fill the woodbox, and some meal prep (walking down to the freezer to get some ground beef out to thaw).

4:00 p.m. The girls get home, and I am usually working on getting dinner ready.

5:30 to 8:30 p.m. It's back to my chair for some knitting, especially if I didn't get any done during the day. I am not a fast knitter, so I love these blocks of time when I can get a lot of work done.

8:30 p.m. Off to bed where I read for half an hour or so and watch "House Hunters" with DD#2 before falling asleep.

That's it. Pretty boring, huh? What really throws a wrench in the works is meetings in the evening, which I attempt to avoid like the plague. I'm not worth much after about 7:00 p.m. anyway, and I don't like giving up my evening knitting time. I always keep a project with me for knitting at odd moments. Our minister's Sunday School class this quarter is watching videos that he's collected on various topics, so I get an hour's worth of knitting done there every week.

I can't even begin to express how I feel about the whole financial system meltdown, so I am not ever going to go there today except to say that we—as a country—ought to be embarrassed by the behavior of many of our leaders, on both sides.

September 24, 2008: Ribbed Cables vs. Cabled Ribbing

Today we'll talk about knitting, not the mess our country is in.

One of the decisions I made while working on Cables 2 was to NOT include a chapter on reversible cables. Instead, those cables stitch patterns which are reversible are included in the chapters where they belong according to the structure of the stitch pattern. For instance, reversible Brioche rib cables will be in the chapter on tuck-stitch cables. Reversible garter-stitch cable patterns will be in the chapter on textured cable stitches. They will be identified as reversible within the contexts of those chapters.

Part of the reason for that decision was that I wanted to deal solely with ribbed cables and cabled ribbing in their own chapter. Many—but not all—of these cables are reversible, and I see a distinction between ribbed cables and cabled ribbing. Lily Chin has done much of the writing and designing with ribbed cables—or what she calls "ribbles"—in recent years. I have the greatest admiration for Lily and am proud to call her my friend, but I am going to part ways with her on the topic of ribbed cables and cabled ribbing. Maybe I am splitting hairs, but it's my book and I get to do it the way I want to. <VBG>

This is one of the last "big" chapters I have to tackle (cables and lace being the other one). Knowing what you want to say and being able to say it coherently aren't always the same thing.

I worked on the chapter Monday and got most of the ribbed cables section of it done. Today I will work on the cabled ribbing portion of the chapter. The cables and lace chapter still needs a fair bit of work and there are one or two small chapters that need to be done, but I am starting to feel like I've made the summit and I am on the descent on the other side.

I talked to the people at the production company yesterday and the DVD is close to being done. It's my schedule that is holding things up at the moment—we need another hour of studio time to add a few things and re-tape one technique, and I just haven't had a good block of time to devote to that. I'll be over there Friday finishing it up.

DD#2 came home yesterday and reported that she talked to the teacher about her homework paper and they were able to come to a mutually-satisfactory resolution. The husband had a long day yesterday but he came home happy that a new concrete technique he tried turned out very well. I made a pot of pasta e fagioli for dinner in an attempt to use up some tomatoes (nope, not even close) and the last of the zucchini.

I had to see the chiropractor yesterday. Ever since I got back from Portland I've been having problems with my neck and shoulders (most likely from trying to sleep in a coach seat for 8 hours). There is one muscle that has a tendency to freeze up, and when it does, my whole neck and head area suffer. I tried all sorts of remedies—hot rice bags, muscle balm, massage by the husband—but nothing helped. I finally took some Advil which relaxed the muscle, but I don't want to have to keep taking Advil all the time. The chiropractor adjusted my neck yesterday which made a huge difference. I have to remember to do my neck stretching exercises, though, to keep that muscle from seizing up.

I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamed that we were visiting my sister and I had my current project with me—the gray mohair cabled sweater. For some reason there was a big flood and the bag with my knitting got washed downriver. I remember insisting that we had to get a boat to go look for it. I don't think we ever did find it.

That tells me I need to finish that sweater before something happens to it.

I leave you with the last of the flower pics—the hollyhocks. They are quite promiscuous and have seeded themselves all over the garden.

September 23, 2008: The Old-Fashioned Concept of Personal Responsibility

Warning: Rant ahead.

I'm watching the Congressional hearings on the $700 billion bailout plan (or "rescue plan," as the spin doctors have christened it). If this thing passes and allows the CEOs of those irresponsible corporations to make out like bandits, this country is in much worse shape than I thought.

DD#2 came home from school quite upset yesterday, after an incident involving a homework paper and what she felt was an unfair mark. We talked about possible approaches to the problem, but she was so upset that I finally said, "Would it help if I talked to the teacher about it?"

She looked at me and blurted out, "You can't always be solving my problems for me!"

You have to remember that this is an 11 year-old kid. But by making that statement, she did something that a huge number of adults are incapable of doing. She took responsibilty for the situation and said she would figure it out.

If only Wall Street could do the same thing.

We have created an entire country of people who believe that someone else should solve their problems. Get in over your head because you're living beyond your means? Declare bankruptcy and leave someone else holding the bag. Own a Wall Street firm and make a lot of bad business investments? The federal government will come to your rescue. Father a couple of kids? Disappear and let their mother go on welfare to support them.

My husband owns a construction company. If he makes a bad business decision, no one is going to step in and make it all better. And yet if a huge Wall Street firm screws up, guess who is going to be asked to pony up some of the money to bail them out?—that's right, my husband.

About twelve years ago we rented our old mobile home to a young couple who had just moved here from California. The guy lost his job a few months later when he tried to get a Montana driver's license and the state of California found him—he had a kid in Pennsylvania, two kids in California, and he wasn't paying child support on any of them. To top it off, his girlfriend was pregnant.

I was pregnant with DD#2. The husband and I have always paid our own health insurance premiums. This woman came over one day and was extolling the virtues of Medicaid, which had paid all her medical bills, as well as for a dental exam and a vision exam. The husband and I had to pay for all of that out-of-pocket, while our tax dollars paid for this woman to get all of that for free. And because the guy had lost his job, they skipped out paying us rent for two months before we finally kicked them out. Yeah, America is a great place—here you can be rewarded for being a deadbeat.

We need to bring back the concept of personal responsibility, where every single one of us accepts responsibility for his or her actions. That would do far more than a $700 billion bailout to improve the situation in this country. I'm sick and tired of being asked to be responsible for the people who refuse to behave like responsible adults.

Get a clue. Listen to my 11 year-old kid.

September 22, 2008: There Is Always Next Year

On the one hand, it's nice that my life is so stable that the worst thing that happened to me this week is that my football team is 0-3, but on the other hand, my football team is 0-3.

I've been watching the Browns since the early 80s, when their shots at the Super Bowl were continually thwarted by the Denver Broncos. Here is a really bad picture of my cousin Lynnette and me (I'm the dark-haired yelling one), all decked out and watching a playoff game in my parents' family room (the date on the back is December 1986). If you look closely to my right, you can see my father in his recliner, holding his head in his hands.

I loved those years, when we had a chance to go all the way and we'd come home from church (after praying for a win, of course) and EVERYONE in my family—aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents—would gather at our house and we'd scream and yell and eat ourselves silly. Michael Stanley sang songs about our town and our football team and Lynnette had a poster of #17—Brian Sipe—on the wall of her bedroom. Those were the days.

I'd love to feel that way about my football team again. The other day I went to pick the husband's computer up from the place where I have my computers repaired (it needed a new hard drive). When I walked in, the owner and one of his employees were talking about their respective football teams. He walked by me and casually commented, "At least we're not Browns fans." I said (rather indignantly), "I am a Browns fan!" and he laughed and said, "I know." (It's a small town, what can I say?—everyone knows what team I cheer for.)

It doesn't help that I am married to a Steelers fan. Oh, the irony.

I've gotten really good at saying, "There is always next year," but I don't usually have to trot that phrase out until about mid-November. How sad is it that my team is 0-3 after going 0-4 in the preseason? Can they even win a game? I was all set to see them go to the playoffs this year and maybe even the Super Bowl. I was going to paint my face for the games and order a big inflatable Browns player to put in the front yard. But if they don't get it together and soon, I may have to find a new team to cheer for.

September 20, 2008: What's The Release Date Again?

Enough people asked me in Portland when Cables 2 was coming out that I was starting to feel embarrassed that I hadn't worked on it much this summer (nothing like your fan base to hold you accountable). JC Briar is also working on a book, so while we were driving around last week, we had a few discussions about what it's like to be a knitting designer self-publishing a book. We have remarkably similar perspectives.

JC said she's struggling with the problem of what topics to include and what to leave out. I went through that with Cables 1. It's less of a problem with Cables 2, because the list of topics I want to cover is pretty well-defined, and what's not covered in Cables 2 will get put in Cables 3. The problem is how much of each topic to cover—I want to put in enough examples, but not so many that the book becomes redundant.

Another problem we self-publishing knitting designers have has to do with motivation. There was many a discussion about schedules around the dinner tables in Portland, with various author/publishers offering to provide reality checks to other author-publishers ( if we're busy telling other people to get their book done, it'll take the focus off of ours—good plan!).

Before I went to Portland, I revised the handouts for a couple of my cabling classes. I wanted to incorporate some of the material from Cables 2, but in order to do that, I had to make the editorial changes JC sent back in the first edit. The first edit was back in the spring. The book sat on my desk all summer because I hadn't had a chance to make any of JC's suggested changes.

So I began going through the book—and making the changes wasn't all that onerous. In fact, I began to feel a bit jazzed about getting back to work on it. Alas, I had to divert some of that energy into teaching, so the book got put aside again.

I spent most of today working on it. I am glad I decided to use some of the material in my classes, because it clarified the location of a couple of techniques within the book—each now has its own chapter instead of being combined wth the other technique in one chapter, and it makes much more sense.

I've still got three big chapters that need a lot of work, but I am pleased with the progress I am making. If I can knuckle-down next month, I think I can get most of the writing and the knitting done, and all that will be left will be a big marathon week of photo shoots at my kitchen table.

At least that's the plan.

September 19, 2008: Sheep Are Fabulous Because They Grow Wool

I have a new favorite yarn—Rowan Purelife Bluefaced Leicester. It just came out so, I feel relatively confident in saying how much I like it without worrying that poof!—it will disappear, never to be seen again (my nickname is "yarn killer" for a reason). This stuff arrived at Camas Creek the day before I left for Portland. I wouldn't even let Melanie take it out of the bags and put it on the shelf—I set it aside in the storage area with my name on a sticky note.

Bluefaced Leicester is one of my favorite fibers for both spinning and knitting. I was so unhappy when Berroco discontinued its Bluefaced Leicester and Wensleydale breed-specific yarns in favor of a whole bunch of novelty yarns. Somehow an Aran knit in eyelash yarn just doesn't look as nice as one knit in BFL, you know?

Rowan's version of this yarn looks to me like the quintessential Aran sweater yarn, and as an added bonus, it smells like sheep (if you're like me and that kind of thing excites you). The other yarns in that line—Black Welsh, Jacob, and even Suffolk (traditionally a meat sheep, not a wool sheep) are equally stunning. I can even cope with the fact that the BFL only comes in a natural cream color; that's how much I love this yarn.

I woke up this morning and realized that I need to have the Winter issue of the newsletter laid out and ready to go to my tech editor in a few short weeks (like two). Production of the Summer issue dragged on for such a long time that I didn't have the break between issues that I usually get. I have a sweater out for test-knitting that is scheduled for this issue, and the gray mohair one on my needles is half-finished. As soon as I get the second sleeve done I can get back to the body and it should go quickly (it's a top-down design). I've also got a pair of mittens ready to go. If anyone has a topic they'd like me to tackle in a technical article, let me know.

I spent some time organizing the yarn collection yesterday. I had to create a new storage bin for WIPs (works in progress). I don't usually have more than two projects going at a time, but for some reason I have five WIPs at the moment. I think that's because a couple of them are at points in their construction where they don't lend themselves well to being mindless "knitting-in-meetings" projects. For instance, I know that I will be sitting for a while before the football game starts tonight, so I am wondering what project I could take that doesn't require a cable needle, counting, measuring, or careful protection of delicate yarn. Hmmm. I think I may have to cast on for a baby blanket or a scarf to take with me.

[Yes, I know how to cable without a cable needle, but my current projects all feature cables that DO require needles—it's hard to cross three stitches in a specific sequence in a thin, sticky mohair yarn without relying on a cable needle to help manage some of them.]

In other news . . . DD#1 made her first solo drive to town yesterday. She called to let us know she got there and she said it went pretty well except for having to follow a very slow truck. She's also helping out at the daycare run by our church after school and she likes it a lot. She's got a busy social and academic life this year.

My FIL was here this week (he left yesterday), and he and I sat and watched the financial debacle on CNBC every day this week (I also knit). On one level, it's been a thorough education on how our financial markets work; on another, it's an incredibly sad comment on human behavior—this is a situation of our own making and much of it stems from rampant greed. I am reminded of James Madison who said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." We don't need to worry about terrorists hurting us—we're quite capable of destroying ourselves, thank you very much.

I'm glad I have my knitting.

September 16, 2008: A Bit More From Portland

A few other interesting things happened while I was in Portland. On Friday, a woman came into my class just before the afternoon session began and asked, "Do you remember me?" Turns out it was a woman I knew from church back when DD#1 was two years old. She lives in Portland now, found out I was teaching, and came over during her lunch hour to say hello. She's also a knitter and wanted to take classes, but couldn't get off work—but she took the time to come say hello. How cool is that?

I got to carry this very cool bag around, courtesy of Claudia at the Yarn Sisters:

I happened to be at Camas Creek when Claudia brought some Namaste bags for Melanie to consider carrying. This particular bag has been discontinued, but Melanie has several in stock at Camas Creek, so you can still snag one from her (call 406-755-YARN—the bag isn't listed on the website yet). It made a fabulous combination purse/knitting bag. I got lots of comments on it.

And now, some answers to your comments:

Susan, about the small classes. . . the way these conferences are structured, teachers get paid based upon how many students register for their classes. I have mixed feelings about that. If teachers want to make the maximum amount of money from an event like this, they will cram as many students as they possibly can into their classes. Some teachers can teach their material to a room full of 30+ students. I can't. So I take a self-imposed pay cut because I don't want more than a certain number of students in my classes (I prefer 20, but I'll take 25 if I have to.)

Teachers also get a room allowance and travel allowance, but the travel allowance has not kept up with the rising cost of airline tickets. There were a number of teachers at this conference who actually lost money—their classes were small, so they got paid the least amount for teaching, and they had to cover the difference between the airline tickets and the travel allowance they received. It's kind of sad when teachers come to a conference like this and hope they'll break even.

I did okay—my classes were of reasonable size and my train ticket didn't cost that much, so I did better than just break even. But it makes me wonder if/how things will change in the future: will teachers get a bigger travel allowance? Will the teaching compensation model change? Will there even be knitting conferences? Time will tell.

Debbie, Carson is wearing the Happy Husband Aran from the Fall 2004 issue of the newsletter.

Heather, the Winter 2003 issue has a pattern for a Celtic knot pillow and an article on working those patterns. The techniques will be covered when I get to Cables 3.

September 15, 2008: So Much Fun I Forgot to Call Home

I got back this morning (on the train) from the Fall Knit & Crochet Show in Portland, OR. I have not had that much fun with my knitting in a long time. I was having so much fun that I actually forgot to call home and see what was going on. Oops. No worries—they survived.

I got to Portland last Wednesday morning. I ate a quick sandwich and then the lovely Angela from KnitPicks picked me up in her car (we connected despite the fact that I was in the north parking lot instead of the south parking lot where I was supposed to be). She took me to the KnitPicks offices in Vancouver, WA, where I was treated to a tour and then did some videotaping with Kelly Petkun. (I forgot to take pictures despite the fact that I had my camera with me.)

When I got back, I was able to check into the hotel. Lily Chin (my roomie) and I did a quick tour of the neighborhood; the Convention Center is actually four blocks from the Doubletree, so we needed to do some planning on how to get class materials to and fro. Thankfully Portland has a great light rail system, and the Doubletree Hotel dispenses chocolate chip cookies whenever a guest asks for one, for that extra burst of energy.

JC Briar picked me up Thursday morning and we hit half a dozen of the yarn stores and one fabric store before getting lunch at a terrific Japanese restaurant. Portland has the most amazing restaurants. I let JC pick where to eat because I was overwhelmed by the choices. I had some tasty dish with tofu in it. Yum. You can't go wrong with tofu. After lunch we went to Powells, where I scored big time. They have a huge sci-fi section and I was able to locate some books by F.M. Busby. (Doreen, I know you remember introducing me to that series.) I am so excited to read those books again. I also got a couple of stitch dictionaries from the 70's and a trashy romance novel for some bedtime reading.

I have to say that being with JC was wonderful and I hated for the day to end. I was describing my visit with her to one of my students, who commented, "It was like meeting an old friend for the first time, hmmm?" Exactly. We ate dinner at a Lebanese restaurant and I had a plateful of hummus, tabouleh, falafel, and some lentils and rice that I would love to be able to make at home.

I taught an all-day class Friday on making Celtic knot cables. The class numbers were low for most of the teachers, and a few even had classes cancelled due to insufficient enrollment. I had mixed feelings about that. One the one hand, I know that poor attendance will make it less likely that TKGA will have another show in Portland, but on the other, I much prefer classes with fewer than 20 students. I had 16, 13, and 11 in each of my three classes. And all of the students were interested and engaged in the material. As I walked through the market Sunday afternoon, a number of vendors told me that students were commenting on how good my classes were. I think the students had a lot to do with that.

On Friday night a group of us (Chrissy Gardiner, Cat Bordhi, Judy Becker, myself, and a woman named Leslie whose last name escapes me) ate dinner at a tiny hole-in-the wall Italian restaurant. I had the most delicious meal of salad (new potatoes, fresh green beans, cauliflower, and a pesto dressing) and ravioli (three kinds, including a butternut squash ravioli). Cat sketched the plan for a sock on one of the napkins and it's such a fascinating design that I told her I think she's cured my dislike of socks.

Some students really stand out at these events and the winner this trip was Carson Demers, of California. Bless his heart, he convinced his partner that they needed to come to Portland on vacation and he signed up for every single one of my classes. It was such a pleasure to have him there. He had some trouble putting down one of my sweaters after the Aran design class on Saturday, so I asked him if he wanted to wear it to the banquet. It really looked stunning on him. I got a picture:

Carson is going to do some designing with cables so you'll probably get to see some of his work in some upcoming issues of Twists and Turns.

The banquet was lovely; three women received their Master Knitting certification and they called Margaret Fisher and me up to the podium to join them during the pinning ceremony (Margaret and I are both Master Knitters). Here is Margaret showing us all her new SELF-PUBLISHED book, Seven Things That Can Make or Break a Sweater (it's fabulous—I got a signed copy).

At the banquet we all received complimentary KnitLite knitting needles. Some of us (Judy Becker) found very creative uses for them.

I found out that Bev Galeskas is coming back to Kalispell at the end of October, and Chrissy Gardiner wants to come over for a visit before the end of the year. Joan Schrouder also said she'd love to come over and teach.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend. I can't wait until the next time. Now I need to get back to my knitting.

September 9, 2008: The Fiber Trends Trunk Show

I got to Camas Creek Yarn about 1 p.m. Sunday. Bev Galeskas had a wonderful selection of yarns and patterns with her trunk show and I really hoped local knitters would come to check it out, which they did. Traffic in the store was steady all afternoon—in fact, I think some of the knitters would have stayed long past the 4 p.m. store closing if they could have.

Fiber Trends is the US distributor for Naturally Yarns of New Zealand. I've been using these yarns off and on for the past 7 or 8 years (amazingly enough, during the years when Kalispell didn't have a yarn store, the local Ben Franklin store carried them). There are some yarns in this line which I like a lot, including the Perendale and a new one called Harmony. Bev gave me a skein of the Harmony to play with, so I sat and visited with some of the customers and knitted up a swatch of a cable pattern I designed for Cables 2. I love the way it looks in that yarn.

[As usual, I forgot my camera. I really need to figure out a way to keep it with me for these occasions.]

After the trunk show, Melanie, Kara (another designer who works at Camas Creek), Bev and I went out to dinner. It was really nice to be able to "talk shop" with Bev. She's been in this business long enough that she's got a good perspective on where knitting has been and where it is going. The food was good, the company was wonderful, and it was a great day.

Today I finish up packing. I feel like I am taking everything but the kitchen sink with me on this trip. Normally when I teach I ship a couple of boxes of supplies ahead of time. This time I am just taking everything with me (Amtrak doesn't charge for luggage).

My trip knitting is a sweater for DD#2. She designed it—I am simply knitting it for her. She picked out the yarn, told me what features she wanted ("garder stitch [sic], a braid cable, bobbles, and my pick of buttons" was what the instructions said). I got it started yesterday. The yarn is fairly chunky so I may be able to get the whole thing done on this trip.

An interesting thing happened: I wore the Artyarns scarf on Sunday and while it didn't bother me to have it on, the husband noticed yesterday that I had a rash around my neck where the scarf had been sitting. It's got a strand of metallic thread in it, and I wonder if that's what irritated my skin. As far as I know, I am not allergic to silk or mohair.

I'll report back next week. I am not taking my computer with me. I like to be unplugged so I can concentrate on teaching.

September 7, 2008: Define "Moderation"

I love America. We have lots of corporations and lobbying groups with big propaganda advertising budgets for producing commercials like this one for high fructose corn syrup.

I saw the popsicle commercial for the first time yesterday, the one in which the girl offers the guy a popsicle, and he says, "No thanks, it has high fructose corn syrup in it," and she responds, "High fructose corn syrup is fine in moderation."

Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!?! How can we consume it "in moderation" if it's in EVERYTHING on the shelves at the grocery store? I used to consider the dairy lobby the gold standard for misleading the American public (I don't happen to think milk is as good for you as they claim it is), but after seeing that commercial, I have to say that the corn lobby has now outdone them by reaching a new low.

HFCS must be the next "bad food" target—much as trans fats have been recently—and the corn lobby is trying to do some proactive damage control. And they're counting on the fact that the American public is collectively stupid enough to buy what they are selling.

Unbelievable.

I made the last of the zucchini bread this weekend; the zucchini plant has a few baby zukes on it but they look like they got hit with a mild frost. Now I am trying to sneak tomatoes into everything, and shortly we shall be bombarded with butternut squash (why did I think I needed three of those plants?). You can bet there is no HFCS in what I cook.

Tomorrow I need to pick out my outfits for Portland. I'm really conflicted about this—I don't like to wear my handknits when I teach because I just get too darn hot (I move around a lot). However, these events are supposed to be a showcase for designer talent. I did manage to put together an outfit for Saturday night's fashion show and banquet. I bought some Artyarns Beaded Rhapsody at Camas Creek Yarn the other day, and knocked out a scarf. The colorway is gold and silver—I have a pair of slinky black pants and a silver top, and I think the scarf will be the perfect accent.

And I can tell I am getting old—now I have to lay out each of my outfits and make a list of what I am wearing each day so I don't accidentally wear Friday's top with Wednesday's pants.

September 6, 2008: Line Drying

My friend Margaret Fisher thinks it's funny that I talk about things like my new vacuum cleaner on my blog, so I am sure she'll get a kick out of this post. (She has a new knitting book—go check it out.)

Here is something that makes me very happy:

It's a clothesline in my laundry room. The husband and I have been married for 18 years, and in all that time I have never managed to have a clothesline. I would put one up—a few days later it would disappear (the husband denies this, but my mother will back me up on it). The husband has this thing about mowing the grass with no impediments, which apparently includes things like clotheslines slung between trees.

However, the older my girls get, the more high-maintenance their clothing becomes. They have several items that really need to be line-dried. I searched and searched and finally found this very nice retractable clothesline. I presented it to the husband and said I would like it hung up in the laundry room. And so he installed it. I have used it just about every day this week. I love it. I also love the fact that he built me a house with 8' ceilings, so the clothes aren't really in the way when they are drying.

Margaret, I'll see you in a few days in Portland.

Tomorrow is the Fiber Trends trunk show and meet-and-greet with Bev Galeskas at Camas Creek. I am so excited! It will be fun to see Bev again. There is a new Camas Creek forum on Ravelry, if you'd like to check it out.

I did get some rather distressing news yesterday: my friend and fellow designer Dawn Brocco has been diagnosed with a pretty serious illness. You can read about it on her blog. Dawn has been a pillar of the designing community for many years and this was really the last thing she (or anyone else, for that matter) needed. If you have a moment, stop by and post a comment on her blog. I know she'll appreciate it.

September 5, 2008: Suitcases Everywhere

DD#1 has an IB (international Baccalaureate) retreat this weekend. She's been packing for days, and to say she's excited is an understatement.

Our high school has the only IB program in the whole state of Montana. The teachers and the school have worked incredibly hard to implement it and their efforts have paid off in spades. My friend Susan's older daughter graduated from the program last year and entered college with enough credits for sophomore standing.

The IB coordinator also happens to be DD#1's pre-calculus teacher—Mrs. S. The kid adores her. Math isn't her favorite subject, but this teacher is inspiring her to put in the extra effort. Mrs. S. reminds me of a certain teacher I had for physics (hi Doreen!). I think it will be a fun retreat.

I have two suitcases open on the floor—the big one (it's huge; I never take it when I fly) has all my sweaters, swatches, and other teaching supplies. The other one will hold my clothing. I hope it will all fit. I'm pretty low-maintenance (you should travel with my sister), but I still have more stuff than I thought I would.

The one thing I am wishing for is a pair of earrings I can wear without my ears getting red and irritated. Ever since I had chemo I am so allergic to metal that I can barely stand to wear my watch and wedding ring. They come off the minute I get home. My older daugher doesn't have this problem, but my younger daughter—the one I had after I had chemo—does. It doesn't matter what kind of metal, either. I've tried them all, with no success. It only takes about five minutes of wearing a pair for my earlobes to itch and start bleeding.

I found these titanium earrings which look like they might work. I plan to order some, but I wish I had thought about it in time to have them before I go to Portland. If I have time to look on Monday, I might check at the jewelry store at the mall and see if they have any.

And as if I didn't have enough to be excited about, JC Briar is picking me up next Thursday to do a yarn store crawl of Portland, with a stop at Powells and lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant. Hooray! JC and I have worked together for four or five years now and we've never met. We decided we probably should have some face time before we teach on this cruise together next September. It's going to be so much fun!

We need some pictures. Here is one of a rainbow from last week:

It was pretty stunning.

September 4, 2008: Doomed From the Start

I think I got the digital distribution issues under control. I hope. About half of you got the newsletter with no problem, and half didn't. It may be a problem with the file size, although I didn't do anything different with this issue than I did with the Summer issue.

And as if that weren't enough of a problem, I dropped the hard copies off at the bulk mail office yesterday, and when I got home there was a message on the machine for me from the man in charge there.

I've been doing bulk mailings in some capacity or another for almost 20 years. I know my way around the system, and one of the things I've learned is that it pays to become friends with the people who run the bulk mail office. The bulk mail office in Kalispell used to be run by a very nice guy named Dave. Dave knew bulk mail backwards and forwards. Any time I had a question, I asked Dave and he would explain things to me. It was upon his recommendation that I began having a professional mailing service in town prepare the mailing labels for my newsletter. This company has the $2000 piece of software that checks addresses and spits out barcoded mailing labels—labels which speed delivery of the newsletter and save money because the newsletters qualify for machine sorting.

Every three months for the past two years, I've taken a disk to the mailing service company. A few days later they would call me to come pick up my mailing labels, all nicely verified and barcoded. I then took the newsletters to the post office, wrote a check, chatted with Dave about how cold it is in Montana, and that was that.

Yesterday I took the newsletters to the post office, introduced myself to John, who has taken over for Dave (who retired to sunnier climes), and wrote a check. However —as John informed me when I got home and called him back—the auditor happened to be visiting yesterday, and he determined that the barcodes on the mailing labels were too small to run through the machines. "But," I pointed out, "that mailing company has been making up those labels for two years and I've never had a problem." Well, apparently now that John is in charge, I have a problem. My choice was to wait and have them send a few of the newsletters to the mother ship (in Billings) to have THEM decide if the barcodes are too small, or go ahead and pay the extra money to have them sent via the non-automated method. You all have waited too long as it is, so I just ponied up the extra cash and had them send the newsletters. I called the nice people at the mailing company (who tell me that they are becoming very well acquainted with John), and we'll get it straightened out next time.

On top of all of that, our microwave died the other night. It's the second time in three years—same brand (Sharp), same microwave. Apparently Sharp microwave ovens come with a built-in self-destruct timer. I bought a new one yesterday (different brand). Here's hoping the planets realign themselves soon. I could use the break.

There is some knitting going on, but mostly I'm just eating chocolate.

September 3, 2008: Sigh (Again)

I sent the Fall issue of the newsletter this morning. When I opened my mailing program, it notified me there was an update. I installed the update. I created the mailing—imported the e-mail addresses, included a note about the problem I had last time with the Comcast addresses, and attched the file. I was given the option of including the file within the message or attaching it (as an attachment, obviously <G>). It's a 24-page newsletter—I chose the option of attaching it.

I finished the setup, then sent a test message to myself. It came through fine with the file attached. I went ahead and sent the mailing to all the subscribers. All of a sudden I began getting e-mails from people who had gotten the message with no attachment.

Sigh.

I'm doing the best I can, really, but if some ISPs on the other end decide to strip off the attachments, there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. I am going to check into some other mailing programs. In the meantime, if you got the message but not the file, a thousand apologies (again)—please e-mail me and I'll send you the file a different way. I just hope I don't have to do that for everyone—it kind of defeats the purpose of having a mailing program to do that for you.

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