October 29, 2003
Safe and Sound in San Diego
Sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew and house are fine, if you discount the ash blanketing their neighborhood, the toxic, oxygen-depleted air, the fact that you can't see anything in broad daylight, and the fact that 300 of their neighbors' houses have been obliterated. Sigh.
Sister sent me this link to some remarkable and heartwrenching photos of her Scripps Ranch neighborhood. I think this photo of a swimming pool sitting serene and blue in the middle of all the devastation is amazing. (By now you should have figured out that I try to keep my blog on the light side, but this is an event which strikes too close to home for me to ignore. The light-heartedness will return soon, I promise, especially since I want to tell everyone I found the piece of wayward toast!)
Knitting Knews
As a diabetic, The Mysterious K is plagued with cold fingers, especially during our cold and rainy winters. Since she is a graphic designer and spends hours a day at her computer, cold fingers can be a real problem. So, how to warm up your fingers but still be able to type? Why, with "Typing Toasties," of course! Below, a (fuzzy) picture of K's Typing Toasties, one of my very first knitting projects. They were knit flat (what did I know from double-pointed needles back then?) out of a wonderfully soft slate-gray alpaca.
Now that I think about it, the Typing Toasties may well be be responsible for my becoming so deeply and so quickly enmeshed in the world of knitting. A few minutes after K put them on I could already tell that her fingers were getting warmer. I was intrigued by the thought that I had knit something that made a difference, albeit on a small scale, in someone's comfort and quality of life. From then on, I was hooked! The good news? K has lost some weight lately and the Typing Toasties have become too big for her so a new, smaller pair is on the top of my knitting list.The even better news? I have another skein of that same alpaca in my stash!
Dye Garden Dyegest
Two days ago I received a comment on the blog from, remarkably enough, the son-in-law of Judy Green, the woman who wrote "Natural Dyeing with Northwest Plants," my favorite natural dyeing book. To say the least, the book is quirky. It's small, orange, has funky little drawings, and the font makes you imagine that it was laboriously typed on an old typewriter at a formica-topped kitchen table. But it has a good karmic-y/feng-shui-y feeling about it; it's nice to just hold. From the day it arrived in the mail, K and I have been curious about its history so I emailed the commenter back with questions about the publication of the book. He then forwarded my email on to The Judy Green. What fun! Perhaps now we'll learn a little more about this little book that has helped me in so many ways over the last few months.
Thanks for the photos, Ryan. I'm so glad your family is safe and sound--pretty horrific, these fires. As for knitting, and Typing Toasties, and too large a size--maybe you could try felting K's glovelets to get them a tad smaller. Not that I want to discourage you from knitting something, but I've been really into felting lately (made 2 pairs of mittens last week--the pair for the 5-year old came out great!!!). Since the TT's are made with alpaca, they should felt. I would suggest "hand" felting them (rather than the wash machine)--you would have more control that way and things wouldn't get out of hand. (Ouch, bad pun, I know...) I enjoyed your description of making someone's life better through knitting---you (as usual) said it perfectly!!! Mary
Posted by: Mary on October 29, 2003 12:14 PMFelting the Typing Toasties...good idea, Mary! I'll give it a try.
So glad you are one of my Dear Readers!
Posted by: Ryan on October 29, 2003 12:45 PMI was thinking how fun it was to see you again at the Secret Crochet Meeting and thought I'd check in to see how the pillow is coming along... and wowza, you have a most exciting life going on here, woman.
I found the missing toast story to be Most Disturbing and will be coming by again to read The Rest of the Story.
Sweet blogging you're doing.
Welcome to the blog, Kit! When I first saw your name, I thought, is that Kit, THE Kit, MY Kit? And sure it 'nuff, it was! It was good to see you at the Secret Crochet Meeting, too!
As for the pillow, yeah, well, er, um, cough, haven't done any more on it since you saw it at the last Soiree.
Posted by: Ryan on October 30, 2003 08:34 AMThe toast! I'm anxiously awaiting The Story....
Glad your family is safe...
Snowed this morning, about 3"....made me frantic on my mitten knitting.....Must knit mittens, must knit mittens....
Got the book "Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns" and will be casting on a pair at break....See what you've started, Mizz Ryan? First, it was socks..."I'll help you" she said....bwaaahaaaahaaa, her evil plan is evident now.... ;)
Posted by: Lisa on October 30, 2003 08:57 AMEvil plan or not, I gotta tell you, Lisa, mittens come in handy! We had our first frost this morning and even though I've only finished one mitten, I wore it! Sure, one hand was cold and blue, but the other one was warm and comfy. Get to it, girl! Knit, knit, knit!!!
Posted by: Ryan on October 30, 2003 09:05 AMHi Ryan! I'm glad to hear your family is OK. I've been meaning to comment since meeting you at the aformentioned secret soiree. It was great to meet you, and the other girls as well. I hope to see you again soon!
Tami
My goodness! Soiree "gals" are popping up all over the place today! Hi, BlueRoseTami! Thanks for visiting! Although I don't often leave comments, I have been checking in on your blog regularly as well. Welcome to Mossy Cottage!
Posted by: Ryan on October 30, 2003 11:12 AMStumbled across your blog this morning - you have a nice, engaging writing style. I love the traveling with raptors post - here in MA, I sometimes travel with herons. I also like the idea of the fingerless glove-lets and now, having successfully completed my first circular mitten, I might have the nerve to try them!
Nice to meet you :)