Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape the frog pond.

I’ve been invited to a rather elegant St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl, and it stands to reason that for such an occasion I ought to wear my Imbas socks – right? Only… one of those dirty little not-so-secrets along the lines of the shoemaker’s child going barefoot: I don’t have Imbas socks. I have Imbas sock. In the breathless runup to Rhinebeck I spent so much time reworking and documenting the prototype that I never had a chance to make its mate – talk about your Second Sock Syndrome! And then there was the breathless aftermath of Rhinebeck, during which it seems like I hardly ever had a chance to lay hand to needle at all, let alone catch up with unfinished business. So now (nearly five months later! and not exactly less swamped, I might add) is the first chance I’ve had to haul the rest of that yarn out of mothballs (actually out of Jennifer’s delicious herbal moth-away blend, which adds a whole ‘nother dimension of sensual pleasure to knitting from my stash) and make up #2.

Set out blithely and was pleased to find how quickly the pattern came back to my fingers. (Also pleased/relieved to find the written pattern pretty lucid, for those places where I needed to use my own materials for a refresher.) Then compared the sock in progress to the prototype… and was SHOCKED at the difference in gauge! Some of this is probably attributable to blocking – but some of it is just me being inconsistent. Hubris must be goeth-ing before a fall again, because I seem to have been under the impression that I was immune to this common problem. Well, HA! – no I sure ain’t. I was so taken aback I thought at first I might have accidentally picked up the wrong size needle. Nope. The only other measurable difference is that I think I worked the original one with a cable needle, whereas now I’m air-cabling. Maybe I’m not adjusting enough for the slack? Maybe. But that doesn’t account for differences in the overall fit. Be all which as it may – I finally had to face the music and frog. Not back to cast-on – just couldn’t bear that, and besides I daren’t take the time. But back to almost the beginning of the cable pattern, and I will be knitting more tightly now.

No pictures. I don’t feel like humiliating myself further.

Actually, that isn’t true. I’d be totally willing to humiliate myself further, only… as usual, I forgot all about “Before” pictures until after I’d already done the frogging. So you’ll just have to take my word for it: it was bad.

Blue Stocking Update

I’m about half-way through writing up the pattern. The hard part (the fancy new heel) is still ahead, but a lot of the grunt-work is already done, so I don’t anticipate it taking too long. This will be the first pattern I’ve published for download, and I’m going to take advantage of the flexibility of the medium. I know that once I had the idea I was burning to get it on the needles in time for the 22nd… and I figure the sooner I post it the better, even if that means the initial versions are a bit piecemeal, just in case anyone else feels the same way about it that I did. So here’s the plan: the usual technique sections (my personal takes on provisional cast-on, short-rowing, etc.) will not be incorporated into this pattern – not at first, anyway. This way I can get the actual sock pattern posted that much faster, so if you already know how to do those things (or if you already have one of my other patterns on hand), you’ll be able to leap straight into the breach. Meanwhile, of course I do have those things written up, so I will reformat and post them as separate documents as soon as possible after putting up the pattern. And after THAT I will re-format the relevant portions of last night’s post on Veil Stitch into another downloadable chunk. Then eventually I will take all those pieces and meld them into one document or at least into a uniform set, suitable for framing. Or for knitting from, which is rather more the point, isn’t it.

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So here’s where we’re at.

Preliminary draft: written.

Calculations: checked, mostly.

This does NOT yet include all details of the heel shaping for the larger size, or the reverse-direction instructions for the (optionally) mirror-image second sock. (Those are next on the list, and I hope to get ‘em done tomorrow morning.)

Still, we’ve just about got a workable pattern here. Certainly something that could be cast on almost immediately, if you’re game for the piecemeal approach.

The plan, such as it is:

Initially, I’m going to distribute via e-mail. I was poking around trying to decide how I wanted to handle the download in relation to site traffic blah blah blah, and I wasn’t finding any solutions that satisfied me, and finally it hit me that I was wasting precious writing time on this picayune admin issue. So I’ve decided the fancy stuff can wait.

So – if you want a crack at the pattern in beta, as it were, e-mail me at tsocktsarina AT tsocktsarina DOT com (replacing what needs to be replaced with what it needs to be replaced with). And I’ll get a preliminary copy out to you ASAP, with updates to follow. The sock is worked toe-up, and I’m pretty sure the pattern as it stands now doesn’t contain anything “iffy” until you get to the heel. I will be knitting that part of Sock #2 no later than Sunday, and will use that opportunity to check my calculations and make corrections to anything I may have screwed up on the heel shaping (you know how it is when you’re SURE you’ve thought of everything…), also to add in anything I’ve left out about Sock #2. Also on Sunday if not sooner, I will pull together the auxiliary files (provisional cast-on, short-row shaping, etc.) into usable form.

‘Long about Monday or so, I hope to have all these loose ends pretty much tied up. With the possible exception of the Veil Stitch tutorial, for which I will probably refer you to the appropriate blog entry until I can pull that part together too.

Or… you can wait until it’s all wrapped up in one nice neat little package. Either way – drop me a note and tell me your druthers, OK?

ETA: The dye-pot must have been running overtime. Jennifer has updated her site and is listing the yarn as available!

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A Colorful Tail Tale

Ha! Score one for my aging synapses: I actually remembered that I wanted to tell you about this on St. Patrick’s Day. (You may soon wish I hadn’t. If you’re easily grossed-out, stop reading now.)

A couple of years ago I had occasion to do props for a production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” an opera with which my family has had a long and intimate association, what with my grandfather having commissioned and produced it for television, and my mother having been Menotti’s assistant on the original production, and my father having been conductor/musical director for most of NBC’s performances and productions of the piece in subsequent years… but I digress, don’t I. So anyway! among the props I put together was of course King Kaspar’s three-drawered box, the third drawer filled – “oh, little boy! oh, little boy!” – with licorice. “Black sweet licorice, black sweet licorice!” You really do have to use licorice (or at least something singer-friendly and edible that looks like it) for this, because Kaspar and Amahl both have to eat it onstage. And it has to be in pretty small pieces, because Amahl at least has to sing again shortly after he’s eaten his. I had a biggish bag of the stuff, cheap and nasty and artificially-flavored and -colored, and even after replenishing the Box for rehearsals and performances there was plenty left over. And after load-out the whole shebang lay about, as used props are apt to do, in, um, kind of a pile of, um, stuff in a corner in my house, waiting for me to get around to sorting it all out and putting it all away. And in my exhausted state, did I happen to remember that the pile included something edible which ought to be attended to in timely fashion? I did not. I guess I should consider myself lucky it wasn’t something capable of serious spoilage and smellage.

At any rate, if I was blithely oblivious of the presence of food in that quarter, someone else wasn’t – someone inquisitive, with four paws and a highly sensitive nose.

Unbeknownst to me, that someone poked about in the pile, located the source of the tantalizing new scent, and unobtrusively disposed of it in a manner befitting his species and avocations.

And a day or so later I was startled, and at first terribly alarmed, to observe… how shall I put this? Well, once I figured out what had happened and recovered from both the great relief and the hysterical laughter, I distilled my new knowledge as follows:

If you introduce licorice into one end of a dog, what is extruded at the other end on the following day will be ENTIRELY appropriate to St. Patrick’s Day. It comes out, if you’ll pardon that phrase, in I kid you not the most vibrant and uniform shade of bright Kelly green I have EVER seen in my life.

(This makes a lot of sense in light of some things I’ve recently learned from Jennifer about color theory as applied to combining dyes for green yarns. So does the fact that Luke’s present St. P’s Day output has taken on a more dignified shade of olive drab, thanks to the black charcoal tartar-control biscuits that are doing such wonders for his dental hygiene of late.)

Now – aren’t you glad I didn’t tell you about it a day or two ahead of time? Admit it: have I not saved you from a dreadful unholy temptation?

And… aren’t you glad I don’t have pictures?

Note to Blue Stocking Beta Knitters

I think I’ve e-mailed all you intrepid souls who offered to leap straight into the breach, but in case I missed anyone, herewith my apologies for not sending the pattern out today. The things I said I needed to do to it last night after I got home? The doing them wouldn’t have been a big deal – but the getting home was. I got stranded at the wrong end of several miles of ice-drift, while the files I needed languished here at home base; and the ploughs didn’t come through these parts until mighty late. As it was, the drive back was about as scary as anything I’ve ever experienced. The output of this storm wasn’t all that deep, in the event – but while it lasted it was treacherous as all-get-out, or rather as all-stay-in. And speaking of staying in, it’s a good thing my back door opens inward, or staying in is eactly what I’d be doing today, the front door being solidly barricaded by a thick layer of ice. Digressing again. I may still end up staying in today because of the impassability of the driveway. Look for something from me tomorrow if I don’t – maybe sooner if I do.

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Nope. Rather the contrary. In fact, somewhere between “nervous” and “psyched” would be closer to the mark:

I’ve just sent out the first batch of copies of Blue Stocking, Beta Version 1.0!

The pattern still isn’t quite ready for prime time, but it’s far enough along so that the intrepid beta crew should be able to cast on, knit the foot, and turn the heel, by which time I’ll have the next (or possibly even, dare I say it, the final) version in their hot little mailboxes.

Remember, anyone else who wants to jump in and play at this stage is very welcome to do so; just leave a comment or drop me a note at tsocktsarina AT tsocktsarina DOT com, and you’re on the list and will get the pattern as fast as I can send it out to you.

I have lots of other stuff to report, but I’m too tired and bleary to do so now, so will try to catch up over the next couple of days (while simultaneously knitting Blue #2, correcting the pattern, updating the stitch tutorials, and… oh, you don’t even want to hear about the rest, or maybe I’m just too fried to think about it all).

Oh – but one thing that really can’t wait, for those of you interested in the continuing saga of pet food. If you haven’t already heard about the big recall…! please go look at http://www.menufoods.com/recall right away to make sure it doesn’t affect you and your beasts. A lot of different brands fall under this heading, and there’s a whole lot of risk of renal failure out there – and renal failure is no joke.

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I need more hands, is what I need. Right now I need to be blogging, and editing pictures, and knitting, and correcting and e-mailing patterns, all at once. (Did I just hear a dirty word? Did someone mention laundry?)

Sigh.

I am somewhat behind where I hoped to be on all these things at the moment, and will probably remain behind until I figure out how to take up the slack with toes and elbows.

Sigh.

Oh – and also until I learn to grip reality as firmly as I do my needles. This is the second time in as many days that I’ve had to do a catastrophic frog on a sock (I’ll tell you about Imbas some other time…) because I was in denial about a self-perpetuating mistake. I knew that counter-clockwise pattern stitch was too tight and was distorting the whole foot, so what possessed me to keep going for several inches? One big fat frog later I can only hope I’ve learned my lesson. The problem is now corrected and… I’ve almost reached the heel, and in the process I have learned, if not necessarily the desired lesson, at least some valuable information about how the stitch behaves.

But a woman who doesn’t knit with her toes and elbows has no time to philosophize, so let’s get on with the hard data, ‘cos I’ve got inches to knit (and patterns to correct and send out!!!!) before I sleep.

Veil Stitch, Method #4

How cool is this? Pam of the comments found all my circular twiddling still overbusy and overcomplicated, so she came up with her own technique. It uses two separate moves, and at first I was dubious about that – but once get up a rhythm and danged if it doesn’t work just great. I’ve done my best to illustrate it.

You’ve worked the basic stitch but not pulled it off the left needle yet. Now bring the left needle in front of the new stitch –

and insert the left needle into the stitch from right to left,

pulling it off the right needle. Then bring the right needle around behind it and insert the right needle into the back of the stitch from left to right,

pulling it off the left needle.

You’ve now turned the new stitch the requisite 360 degrees without having to do all that twisty contorting.

Thank you, Pam!

Clarification

When I said that Half-Veil stitch does not look like Veil Stitch – well, that was true as far as it goes. But in case I didn’t make this clear, it is exactly the same stitch. That is – Half-Veil is to Veil what stockinette is to garter. In either case, working the single stitch on both sides of a flat piece is going to create a different effect from working it in the round, because you don’t get to see the purl side of it in alternate rows.

It’s going to get interesting when we start to discuss the mirror-image version of this stitch. That’s where I ran into trouble last night, and now I understand why. I need to test all the methods before I can swear that they all work exactly the same if you work the twist part counterclockwise. So far the techniques I’ve tested work just fine, but the result is a little different – a bit tighter and less elastic, with a slightly different texture.

Reason: when you twist the stitch clockwise you are going with the grain of the yarn (there will be exceptions here and there, but most commercially-spun sock yarn that I know of is plied in the same direction), increasing the tension on the twist. This is like winding a spring tighter – gives it more bounce and springiness. When you go the other way you are, in effect, partially untwisting the yarn, un-plying it, so it loses a bit of its shine and bounce and stretchiness.

Solution: Get a Bigger Hammer Needle. Yes, I’m now working the patterned portion of the counterclockwise-spin sock on #2s instead of #1s, and now it’s coming out about right.

Pattern Update

Don’t know whether tonight’s outgoing batch will include all the checked calculations I had originally hoped, but in any case a bunch will be going out tonight and I’m psyched. Response has been pretty exciting. In case you haven’t been over to the main tsite, here’s a preview of the cover (click for big):

BTW there is no (I’m going to regret saying this, aren’t I…) limit to the number of possible “beta” testers. The only reason I’m even calling it “beta” is so it’ll be obvious up front that parts of the pattern aren’t totally ready for prime time yet. Will be soon, though (and as soon as I can draw breath I will set it up properly as a download), so if you want it by all means let me know – tsocktsarina AT tsocktsarina DOT com.

And with that I leave you and scurry back to my knitting and typing. Maybe if I used my nose…?

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Never apologize, never explain.

Nevertheless, I feel a big raft of apologies coming on. And explanations. Only I don’t have time for either right now, because here we are in New York running around Representing!

Later on there will be pictures. And explanations. And maybe even apologies. But right now… I have to go yarn crawling.

Wait, there is one apology I gotta make time for: to the people who e-mailed me yesterday about the Blue Stocking pattern and didn’t get a reply. I’m sorry!!!! I’ve got all your e-mails, and I’ll get back to you by some time tomorrow, honest.

And now – off to Knitty City. And Habu. And School Products. Go ahead, hate me.

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I can’t believe it’s already Saturday, and I still haven’t posted about Thursday. And that I’m not even doing so now – not yet. Still recovering, and still catching up, and still roundiing up errant pictures. (Hint, hint, Helen…? Ple-e-e-e-e-e-eeeez…?)

But I do want to grab a second to say a couple of things.

About the Blue Stocking pattern: Many thanks to everyone who has written to me about it. (I hope I’ve answered you all, so far! If I haven’t, please do not hesitate to scold me for it.)

The question I seem to be getting most often is: “Are you still sending it out?” and the answer is, and will continue to be, a resounding YES. I am still sending it out in beta, and as soon as I can I will begin sending it out in finished form – or, as the case may be, announcing its availability for download.

The question I find myself asking most often is: “Would you prefer the beta version (now) or the finished version (in a few days)?” For anyone still planning to request the pattern – would you mind specifying that in in your e-mail? It will save me a step and enable me to send you the file that much sooner.

About the other day I do have a great deal to say, probably a great deal too much, and I will try to get the rest of it organized by tomorrow. Meanwhile… I know perfectly well what you really want, and here is a small foretaste of it. Courtesy of The Boy^TM (the most enlightened muggle I know – you should just hear him talk about waste yarn!) and his fancy camera and his fabulous photographic skillz, I give you – one simply extraordinary sweater, and the woman wearing it (over jeans, bless her) ain’t chopped liver neither.

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Sorry about the comparative meagerness of the previous Represent! report. (Note to self: quit apologizing. NOW.) I couldn’t post about this any sooner. Partly because there were too many far-flung pictures to organize. Partly because I was still just too stunned by the sheer impact of the event.

On the Eve – or, This Nearly Was Mine

See Jennifer. See Jennifer on my couch, the night before the Represent launch, with some of the hand-dyed sock yarn she brought down with her. See more of the sock yarn. This is about 1/3 of it. Sock yarn all over the place. Sock yarn on the floor. Sock yarn in my lap. Sock yarn in fabulous, amazing, glowing, glorious colors.

Many of these are not full skeins – they’re experimental dye jobs on cone remnants, each enough for a pair of toes and heels and maybe cuffs, or even a pair of short socks. They’re the material Jennifer uses to test out color ideas at full scale rather than in tiny swatches. They’re part of the Yarn Fairy’s secret hoard. And for one colorful evening they were all over my living room and I was literally buried in them. Let me tell you, it is a very lovely thing to be buried in sock yarn, even temporarily.

(It wasn’t entirely temporary, either. A few of these were actually intended for me, part of our next batch of joint projects. And I, um, snagged a few beyond those. Most of the couch-ful has now left the premises, but I assure you there is no need to feel sorry for me.)

The Country Mouse and the City Mouse

So Jennifer had never been to New York City before. I was born there, and I’ve lived there on and off for most of my life, but there were moments on Thursday when it seemed as new and strange to me as it did to her. If you had told me a few days ago, or indeed at any time in my street-smart native-New-Yorker life, that someday I would unhesitatingly pick up a perfect stranger on the subway (the IND, no less!) and invite her to spend the day with me, I would have assumed you were maybe a few stitches short of a gauge swatch if you know what I mean. But there you have it – Thursday’s New York was Not Your Mama’s New York. We hit town; we got on the subway at Penn Station, and danged if the first thing we spotted wasn’t a knitter, sporting on her needles an incipient Jaywalker in a very pretty multi-purple Koigu. Suddenly I heard someone saying, “Hey, another knitter! You going there too? Wanna come with?” And I looked around to see who this crazy foolhardy someone was… and it was me. Ol’ lifelong New-York-Poker-Face just-don’t-bother-me-and-I-won’t-bother-you… me.

This is where her picture would be, sock and all, if I had only remembered that it was my job to have the camera always at the ready for such moments. (Note to self: hone blogging reflexes.)

Hi, Heather! It was really fun meeting you.

Anyway, we all went up to the apartment of Empress Knitasha (see, there it is again: this is not normal New Yorker behavior. You do not invite somebody you’ve JUST MET on the 8th Ave. SUBWAY up to a friend’s apartment, because it is axiomatic that such a person, no matter how pleasant and charming, must be an axe murderer at best. But Thursday was not normal, and Heather was not an axe murderer, and more remarkably than that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wasn’t, and here again I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of her and her sock so I could have posted it with the caption “Heather, Not an Axe Murderer”… and hey what do you know I seem to be digressing again), where Jennifer was introduced to the phenomenon that is an old-upper-West-Side penthouse with a terrace. Knitasha’s place may be small – “but what there is, is cherce.” (And her hospitality is unparalleled. Thank you, Your Imperial Highness!)

Imagination

We had also arranged to meet customer/club-member Sue at Knitasha’s (see, there it is again: this is not normal New Yorker behavior. You do not invite somebody you’ve NEVER MET except on the INTERNET to meet you at a friend’s apartment, because it is axiomatic that such a person, no matter how pleasant and charming, must be an axe murderer at best. But Thursday was not normal, and Sue was not an axe murderer, and more remarkably than that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wasn’t, and – OK, you get the idea, don’t you) – whence we all trooped down, nattering away at an astounding rate, to Strawberry Fields, where it was wall-to-wall knitters as far as the eye could see. I saw faces I knew and heard names I knew, and sometimes I even managed to put the two together. (I also saw socks I knew, including a couple of my own on the needles of people new to me – and if you think that isn’t a big rush every time, think again!)

We saw the One Unmistakable Knitter and we performed the rituals. We held the sock. She signed our shirts. She briefly fondled the Interminable So-Called Swatch. And then she evanesced.

It was while we were all there in the park that, oddly, things shifted and began to seem more normal. It may just be that weird was the new normal, but since weird is already the old normal in New York it takes more than weird to seem weird there, if you follow me. I don’t really know whether New York was fully blanketed with Representing knitters; I do know that we found them wherever we went, and I know that they belong there, because they are made of the same stuff as New York, the stuff that announces to the world: yeah, this is me, and this is what I do and it’s real and it matters and I love it and what’s it to ya, ya wanna make somethin’ of it? Nothing could possibly be more New York than that.

Besides, it was spring and it was warm and the first drifts of Central Park daffodils were in evidence, and we all had bright colors on our feet and in our hands.

The day and the colors began to dissolve into a series of blurs. More colors, and textures, on all sides at Knitty City. Then further overload for more senses as we introduced Jennifer to a great New York institution: how you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve smelled and tasted Zabar’s?

We got as far as Habu (beautiful, fascinating, impressive, unique, and I’m still trying to figure out why it leaves me cold) but didn’t have time or stamina for School Products. (Insert snapped fingers and slapped forehead here: yes, I KNOW we really missed out. I’ve READ about the beautiful inexpensive cashmere. Several times now, thank you very much.) Made our way to FIT, where The Boy^TM was to meet us.

Main Event

What can I tell you about Stephanie and her speech that you don’t already know? Not much. Brilliant – check. Purposeful – check. Funny – check. Rabble-rousing – check. Packed house – check. Hundreds of knitters roaring in response – check. Hundreds of WIPs waving in the air – check. Standing ovation – check, check, check.

Not for nothing is this woman our standard-bearer.

Winding Down

Only a couple of odds and ends to add.

After it was all over we had a chance to speak briefly with Joe and his mother (and HOW cool was it, the way they staged his surprise appearance, not to mention the way Stephanie responded and the way she played it for the crowd? you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so you had to do both), both of whom not surprisingly were very nice indeed. Mum had custody of the Bohus, so Jen and I had an opportunity to admire and fondle it at close range. The pictures you’ve seen of it may tell you a great deal about the marvelous workmanship and the harmonious colors; but until somebody comes up with the Touch-&-Feel Plug-In there is no way I can convey the beauty of texture, the fine softness of it. That is a sweater to reconcile one to living in harsh climes; even under the heat of stage lights and nervousness it is almost impossible to imagine ever wanting to take it off. Ever.

Epilogue

A surreal thing happened in the lobby. I’m not sure how it came about that The Boy^TM had brought the whole humongous load of yarn into town with him. I knew he was bringing some of it, because Jennifer had promised to show samples to someone – but I thought… well, never mind what I thought, or how or who or what, the fact is that there the monster bag was, and we made our way to a quiet corner to haul out the samples in question. And then… I don’t know, knitters are probably pretty good at sensing the presence of yarn anyway, but I really think that there was something off-the-charts in the air at that moment. After a day of city-wide Representing and Yarn-Crawling and an evening of Harlot Excitement, somehow those senses must have been unusually heightened, sharpened by pack instinct and wound up to fever pitch, because I swear they picked up the scent of sock-yarn fumes, and the next thing I knew we were completely surrounded by yarn-seeking missiles, and a feeding frenzy was taking place. One person asked wonderingly whether we had BOUGHT all that, and someone else (um, it might have been me – I think I must have been as dizzied by the fumes as anyone else) explained that no, these were samples of Jennifer’s dye work, and that did it: suddenly wallets were out and hands were in and it was like being in the center of some kind of a wild sock-yarn vortex. Even people who had been buying yarn all day suddenly felt the need for more; it was as if the passions of the evening just HAD to find a further outlet… and this was it.

We managed to keep a small number of the sample skeins, and the yarn in our own knitting bags… but not more than that.

Sock yarn is powerful stuff, and a crowd of Harlot-inspired sock knitters is indeed a force to be reckoned with.

I wouldn’t want to be the CHOKE-ing muggle who meets any of you guys in a dark alley….

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A couple of people have asked for details of the Joe reveal. To the best of my recollection… it ran somewhat thus:

Stephanie had just started speaking, and she said something like “But before I begin…” and went on to describe how she’d been in a taxi on her way to the hotel that afternoon when her phone rang, and it was her mother-in-law calling to say she’d just landed in New York! At this point Stephanie re-enacted her own jaw-dropping surprise at that news, and then she turned toward house left to acknowledge Joe’s mother in the front row, and I got the impression she was going to ask her to stand up and be recognized, only then she went silent for a split second and her jaw dropped for real, and then she said, “wait… wha… is that…?????” and she RAN downstage right – and the house-lights being at half, when Joe got up to be hugged HARD from the edge of the stage there wasn’t the slightest room for anyone to wonder what had happened. So 800-plus knitters all got a little weepy; and then a moment or so later Stephanie made her way back to the microphone, and she said, “You know, I thought I’d seen someone here earlier who looked kind of like my husband, but I thought it was just my imagination.” Then she took a long, long look at Joe, and then, with a perfectly straight face, she said quietly: “So. All that… about going to Montreal… that was a lie, eh?” which brought down the house. Then there was a tiny pause, and then she suddenly lit up and asked him: “Hey – does this mean the dishwasher has been fixed? Now THAT would be really exciting.”

Pandemonium.

How she managed to get the speech on track after that, I don’t quite remember – just as I don’t remember what or whether he answered about the dishwasher. She was evidently so thrilled, and everyone in the place was so thrilled for her (yeah, and we were pretty thrilled for ourselves, too), that it took a few moments to recover any semblance of focus….

(Um, and speaking of being thrilled for oneself… dammit, I can’t keep being all grown-up and discreet about this any more. Does anyone need to be told how I felt when, about half-way through the speech, I suddenly registered that she was quoting me, at some length? I hope not, because I don’t think there is any way to describe it.)

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Is it just me, or is there a powerful sense of Post-Represent Letdown in the blogosphere? Well, no, not for those of you who have your Representation still to look forward to! I have to remind myself that this thing has only just begun, and its momentum is still in its infancy. Still, from where I stand, after the excitements of last week it is not easy to settle back into the – whatever this thing is that passes for the Normal Routine of my life.

Yeah – maybe it really is just me.

This will be short on pictures, because I’m on the train into the city again (for more mundane purposes than last week, of course, but it’s only fair to admit that I got enough beer and skittles then to last me some time). Let’s see. There’s more old than new – I have a backlog of blog fodder ripening from previous weeks, but that mostly requires pictures I don’t have with me, so it’ll have to ripen a little longer. Courtesy of a round-trip on the Long Island Railroad, I’m hoping to finish knitting up the second Odile today and to get the Blue Stocking pattern, if not actually FINISHED-finished, at least ready for final proofreading.

What’s that you said? Writing Blog Entry = Displacement Activity = Procrastination? Ssssshhhhhhh – you weren’t supposed to notice that. Yeah, fine-tuning, double-checking math and continuity – these are admittedly not my favorite parts of pattern-writing.

And that’s another backlog: what with all the running around of last week, all the not being able to be in several places at once, we’re a little behind on filling orders – the more so as yesterday I entered a new and unespected circle of Toner Hell. I’m here to tell you, refilling toner cartridges is a false economy. (Yeah, Helen, I know… but the time-and-aggravation vs. money equation just doesn’t hold up, not for me.) NB to anyone who is waiting – that part of the operation is up and running again, I sent out a big batch of patterns this morning and expect to be fully caught up by tomorrow, so hang in there, please accept my apologies, don’t lose hope!

Yesterday, for no readily apparent reason, it suddenly decided to be spring here, almost spilling over into summer. HOT. The cardinal who sings Schubert (I kid you not, a little snippet of the Great C Major Symphony) made his first appearance of the season, perched high in the sycamore in front of my house. The dwarf irises burst forth and the snow crocuses started to look a little tired. As for the snowdrops in the back yard – when knitters take over the world they had better be prepared to battle Galanthus Nivalis for planetary domination. Those things may look pretty and dainty and innocent but I am convinced that they have an agenda to rival ours, and the steely determination to carry it through. Not to mention the sheer numbers…!

Open bedroom window last night. Something chirping octaves outside it this morning. It begins.

With all this heat and burgeoning going on, the temptation to cast on something new and frivolous and irrelevant is almost irresistible. I consider myself heroic for not putting ANYTHING in my knitting bag this morning but the actual projects at hand. By the time I finish this I hope to have my reward – Jennifer is working on the pretty spring colorway for the next sock, and with any luck I’ll be able to cast that on about the time I put Swan Lake to bed. (OK, so I blew January, big-time. How about this: we’ll be shipping Swan Lake by the time the real swans here have their cygnets. Yeah, that works. I know, I’m so NOT thinking about this being a warm winter slipper…. Work with me here, OK?) It won’t be irrelevant, but it will be new and lovely and frivolous and very seasonal.

Works for me.

Tomorrow (after assembling and shipping out another big whack of patterns) I’ll get some of those pictures from the past couple of weeks out of moth-balls and regale you with the other wildly exciting goings-on at Tsarskoe Tsocko. Coming up: some small adventures in DIY (both Do and Dye), some yarn porn and corresponding design fantasy, and some blue-eyed-baby eye candy.

And that’s enough procrastination for one day.

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