January 05, 2007
Don't Say I Didn't Ever Give You Anything
1. Cuzzin, Franklin, Phyllis: Buddah, not Buddha. Buddah. Like “bruddah” only no “r.” Y’all crack me up.
2. Franklin, no.
That being said, I need to send an excited shout-out and tail wag to my peep “Lisa in Oregon” who has been MIA and just popped up in Monday’s comments like a whack-a-mole, er, mole. So good to “e-see” you, Lisa! Hope all is well (raised, questioning eyebrow?). Any minute now the bloodhounds should be hauling in Stalker Angie. Any minute now. Aaaany minute now. Any. Minute. Now.
Now, two Christmas presents for all of you.
Christmas Present #1, a new knitting tool:
Looks like a regular, small Post-It yellow pad with a sticky surface on one edge, manufactured by a company whose name is the number that falls between 2 and 4 followed by the letter that falls between L and N, doesn’t it? Well, it ain’t, homies. Look:
Yes, it’s the Sticky Note That Ate New York, perfect for marking your place in knitting patterns, especially Fair Isle, lace or cable. I bought this at a local big-box office supply store (I’m all about not getting sued for copyright infringement today. I’ll get over it.). Even better, it’s the super-sticky kind which granted, will suck every last vestige of ink off your pattern, rendering it illegible and unusable but, hey, at least you won't lose your place.
Christmas Present #2, my recently discovered secret to housekeeping, especially the managing of the delight and bane of my existence, the mountain of books:
Read romance novels to the exclusion of all else.
I know, I know, a flash of pure genius, no?
Here's my thinking: A couple of years ago, a bookcase was put in our break room at work so employees could bring in books to share, trade, give away. What a great solution to my piles of books!, I thought; I’ll bring in the books I’ve finished, people will take them, and then I’ll bring in more. Three years later, however, my copies of Tristan and Isolde, Love in the Time of Cholera, The Brother’s Karamazov, The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Dante’s Inferno are still moldering on the shelves—and the piles of books continue to topple noisily over in my home, endangering all and sundry—while a plethora of romance novels have come and gone, some within minutes, some, in fact, never even having reached the shelves, thanks to some shady hallway dealings. So romance novels it is from here on out.
Any minute now Better Homes & Gardens should be calling me to set up an appointment to photograph my sparkling clean, book-free house. Any minute now. Aaaany minute now. Any. Minute. Now.
Lastly, proof that I broke out of the “condom hat” rut, my latest sock, knit with Trekking XXL, color 110. I am seriously in lust with the colors of this sock which range from a rich gold through a neon-carrot (which works, oddly) to a merlot to a kelly green, all stippled and tweedy. Yummers.
Well, I can't for the life of me figure out why Love in the Time of Cholera wasn't snapped up instantly. Sounds like a genuine page turner to me. Really. *snort*
Don't you just love Trekking XXL colors? I've got #100 on the needles now, for DH's size 14 whomper stompers. I'll be knitting on those babies for awhile! Several times I've almost picked up #110 for me, but didn't because I've got such a ridiculous amount of sock yarn already...
Posted by: Denise in Kent, WA on January 5, 2007 12:08 PMYou just work in the wrong place. Those stinky romance novels would be gathering dust in my workplace AND we would have been scrappin' over your books. I have Love in the Time of Cholera. Two of your other books I would like to have time to read. Guessing by your selections, the others would intrigue as well.
And thank you for the Christmas gifts! :-)
(Scrolling down as the sock came up it did look like it was starting out as a condom sock... but eventually it did look just like a very nice wonderful sock.) :-)
Posted by: Ewe-niss on January 5, 2007 12:26 PMLove that sock! Love it!!
I just discovered a similar "take a book, leave a book" shelf in our office, and it seems to be populated by either romance or mystery novels. Hm. I would much rather read the books you brought!
As for Stalker Angie, I've been wondering about here whereabouts, too. I'm about to get worried.
Yeah, where is Angie? I haven't seen her stalking ANYONE lately. Dang.
I think Love in the Time of Cholera is on my list of things to read - I may even have it.
Love the socks! More and more I think I might have to get me some Trekking.
Eh, you know, bad pennies will turn up from time to time. I'll catch you up via an email soon.
Trekking....mmmmmmmmmm....If I could actually *finish* a pair of socks, I'd have to get me somma dat. Mmmmm hmmmm. :)
Posted by: Lisa in Oregon on January 5, 2007 01:56 PMPut your pattern in one of those 3 ring page protector dealies, THEN use the oversized sticky page. No having to deal with ink transfer--I use this set up all the time for keeping up with what row I'm on in a pattern. Then when you're done with the pattern, back into the binder it belongs into. Which is how my patterns are arranged, neatly, logically,..........SNORT!!! Geez, I slay me! Neatly arranged??? My patterns???? My stash???? My house even???? bwahahahahahaha................oops, sorry about that.....it's been a bad day here in the office today. My supervisor should be glad that I'm not armed...............sigh.
Posted by: Nancy O. on January 5, 2007 02:15 PMFranklin, buddy, you're too short to be a size queen.
I thought cleaned out shelves were for yarn. Hmm. No wonder my phone's not ringing ;-)
Posted by: Lee Ann on January 5, 2007 02:19 PMI've talked to Stalker Angie recently. I'll point the bloodhounds in her direction for you ;)
Posted by: Christina on January 5, 2007 02:48 PMOooooooohNooooooooooh! This is the first test of my NY resolution...BUY NOTHING NEW this entire year (with the exception of health, automobile and home needs. NEEDS. That means no yarn. My normal self was planning a trip to the fav yarn store to buy this Trekking. BWAAAAAAAAH! I cannot. I canot. I cannot.....
Got any second hand I could buy? ;) Beautiful socks, so cozy and such rich warm colors.
Posted by: marianne on January 5, 2007 02:54 PMMore tales of creative misreading: for some reason, my computer wouldn't open the comments from Wednesday's post. I could figure out #1 on your post without seeing them, but #2? I concluded that Franklin must have offered to father that baby for you. Imagine that genetic background... Then I finally read the Wednesday comments.
I looooove me some sticky notes. Now I want the bigguns.
Posted by: Melinda on January 5, 2007 03:28 PMHey, not only do I have Love in the Time of Cholera, I have it in the original Spanish! ;-)
Posted by: Anne on January 5, 2007 08:23 PMWhen Love in the Time of Cholera showed up at my workplace, do you know what they did? They called the police. Because it was in October of 2001, and someone had left it sitting on top of a trash can, and well, it had Cholera in the title. So clearly it was a terrorist plot, because what better place to spread cholera than a tourist town right? So, as I'm explaining that no, it was just a very popular book by a Nobel Prize Winner, and nothing to worry about,people leave things on trash cans all the time, what does the policeman do? He throws it in the trash can!
Imagine what they would have done if it had been In Evil Hour.
Posted by: annmarie on January 6, 2007 12:05 PMYeah, Stalker Angie has been MIA for quite some time now...Does anyone know if her health is ok? Let her know we're thinking about her, huh?
And I love the socks! Great color!
Posted by: Jo on January 6, 2007 07:06 PMLuv the mega-sticky idea, particularly on the plastic sheet cover. My resolution for the year: No yarn, No clothes... Do we have to keep our resolutions all year?
Posted by: frostycactus on January 7, 2007 12:46 PMI'm blogless & didn't sign up for the Duulan 10,000 or bust campaign, but (it gets better) I just packed up my Duulan knitting done T'giving 2006 thru last night (1-7-07). Tally: 27 hats, 7 prs mittens, 2 scarves, one toddler dress, one baby sweater and one Alice Starmore Na Craga which I knitted for my 26 year old son, only for him to immediately move south where he will never wear it. Took me a year to knit! Hope someone in Mongolia loves it.
However, in the interest of full disclosure, my sister knitted one hat and one scarf in the tally. Otherwise, the rest is all moi. Hope this helps!!!
Posted by: Amy on January 8, 2007 11:12 AM