Let’s be honest, I look like Cousin It here.  This picture was taken last year right before I cut it off and donated it to Locks of Love.  At the time we apparently had no clue how to use the camera!  [TG for the yarnographers group over on Ravelry who have set me on a better path]  But it will have to do as it is the only picture we have of me with long hair in digital form.  Actually, Scott and GardenerX knew me back in the day when my hair was longer than this.   

Scott - hope you enjoy this blast from the past.  However, if Hub looks at this and gets all wistful and wants me to grow my hair long again, I am blaming you 

Is there anything better than getting new yarn?  Why yes, yes there is - winning new yarn.  A few weeks ago Courtney of the Yarntootin blog held a contest for her blorthday or blog anniversary.  Courtney’s Five hour baby sweater is one of my favorite patterns.

Anyway, I entered the contest and won a skein of Twisted Fiber Arts in the Ravelry colorway.  It is lovely.  I have to say that winning the yarn and then getting it in the mail was very exciting. 

So what am I going to do with it?  I am not sure but at the moment I am more than happy to pet and admire it.

Yesterday while I was on the train I realized that a whole new sub-category of crazy has developed from the perennial favorite category of “crazy person who talks to him or her self in public”  Ever since the advent of headphones combined with radios there has been a small portion of the crazy person category who would sing or hum along aggressively to whatever music they were listening to or pretending to listen to.  This type of crazy use to be an anomaly.  However, I have encountered so many of them in recent months that I have realized that the “crazy person with mp3 player singing” has become a full-fledged crazy person sub-category. 

Usually members of this category are lone males in their twenties wearing earphones who rock back and forth while doing some combination of singing and/or humming.  It is the rocking, whether gentle or aggressive, that indicates to me that these people qualify as “crazy people.”  A long time ago I saw a documentary about severely neglected children.  Many of the children would rock back and forth as a way of soothing themselves.  Now I get to experience this behaviour first hand. 

While on the train yesterday working on some Fuzzy Feet (yeah, I know, I know but they are a great portable project), a guy sat down next to me and turned out to be a “crazy person with mp3 player singing.”  The volume of his singing/humming and the aggressiveness of his rocking kept changing throughout the trip.  He was very annoying, to say the least.  I was greatly tempted to politely ask him if he could lower his voice but then I realized that he was a crazy person and that I would be violating one of the cardinal rules of public transportation.  This rule is “Leave the crazy person ALONE.”   

Anyone offended by this post should stop their whining and just admit that they would never willingly sit by the ”crazy person” on a bus, train or plane.

The package from Amazon turned out to be a book from a very nice friend.  No it was not a knitting book.  I have not gotten a new knitting book since I picked up the most recent Yarn Harlot book at the signing.  The library has not added anything interesting to their collection recently.  I am seriously jonesing for a new knitting book.  But you know I just do not need one.  Anyway, to make matters worse, the local bookstore appears to have hired someone who knows about knitting and crochet because that section has suddenly improved enormously.  I was in there last week and there were at least six books that needed to be added to my collection.  Normally there is nothing I want.  I nearly fell over with joy.  Hub had to drag me out of there.  

I got my hair cut shorter.  My hair is just wavy enough so it is not straight but not wavy enough to actually be curly.  In the past I kept it long to pull out the wave and make it more manageable.  However, now in these more enlightened times my hair dresser and I are trying to work with what my Mamma (and Poppa) gave me.  Until I get a bit more skilled with managing this new style, I have super fluffy hair.  A friend kindly said to me,   “Oh, wow, uh, your hair is very, uh, full.”  Which I think can be interpreted best as “OMG you look like a bobble head.”  I also learned that if I have a lot of product in my hair and fall asleep on the couch, when I wake up my hair will stand straight up.  Back in my Goth wannabe days this would have been very useful information.  Now, not so much.        

Yesterday and today I got to do one of my favorite things - KIP (on the pattern whose name shall not be mentioned, oh, you know, Fuzzy Feet).  Every once in a while I will be over on Ravelry and come across some comment or thread about someone reluctant to KIP because people will look at them or something.   The only people who ever look at me when I am knitting on the train or wherever, are either interested in it or completely bored.  This is one of the benefits of living in an urban area-in order to draw attention to yourself you need to do something totally outrageous and knitting just does not cut it as outrageous.

On Friday I came home and found a post-it from UPS indicating that I had missed delivery of a package from Amazon.  I am not waiting for anything from Amazon.  Hub has not ordered anything recently.  It is not my birthday.  It is not Hub’s birthday.  Heck, it is not even the cat’s birthday.  There are no gift giving holidays looming on the horizon. 

I am always roaming around Amazon and the Internet looking at knitting books, digital cameras, and, until a few days ago, GPSs.  The GPS recently arrived so that is now off the list.  Okay, so I am a wee bit afraid that I ordered something or somethings in my sleep.  This would not be a completely shocking development for me as I can seem to hold complete conversations while being sound asleep.  Hub has learned this to his detriment.  Anyway, if I did order something while in an unconscious state, it will be interesting to see if my unconscious self has good taste.

Today I got a GPS.  As I have no sense of direction, these things were invented for people like me.  It is loaded with “Points of Interest” [POI] so you can find things like restaurants and gas stations along your route.  How awesome would it be if one of the “POI” categories was “Yarn Store.” Actually, how dangerous would that be?  But oh so useful.

The other day I went to check out the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef on display at the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center.  The point of it is to raise awareness about the damage the coral reefs of the world are sustaining.  So why crochet?  According to an article published by Time Out New York, mathematicians thought that hyperbolic geometry could not be reproduced.  But then in 1997 Cornell researcher Daina Taimina discovered that it could be reproduced in crochet.   I have to say that is just brillant.  Go Daina!

The project is sponsored by the Institute for Figuring.  The reef on display at the Winter Garden was crocheted by people from Chicago,  the NYC Crochet Guild, and the Harlem Knitting Circle.  According to the  IFF’s web site, people can still contribute models.  I really have to learn how to crochet because I would love to contribute.  It would be so cool to have some of your handiwork displayed in a museum or other public place, other than on my head.

It should be noted that the listings for the display in Time Out New York’s Around Town section describe it as “massive.”  Based on this I assumed it would take up all of the display areas in the Winter Garden.  It actually takes up about a third of the available display area.  However, when you consider the number of crocheted items and the amount of time that went into the display, it definately is “massive.”

The display runs through August 31st.  Other than the fact that it is a really interesting display, you might want to go so you can run into some other fibery type people.  Hub and I met two lovely ladies while we were there.    We talked about yarn stores, digital cameras,the Bronx, Peter Cooper Village, and podcasts.  It was so nice to meet and chat with them.  

For anyone who has not been exploring the joys of knitting podcasts, you can start at ITunes.  Or with my favorite podcast, Stash and Burn.

Hub gets all the credit for the photos.  Thanks Hub!

Um, well no.  But apparently a local newspaper does not realize this.  A friend sent me a link to this article about Bernard Harris, the first African American to walk in space.  The headline is “Walked on moon in ‘91, now inspires kids.”  

I am not sure what upsets me more, that a newspaper could get this so wrong or that Mr. Harris’  achievement is being misrepresented.

If you think that I have been neglecting this blog, you should see the amount of laundry that has piled up.  Anyway, it has been a rough  character building few weeks.

Earlier this week I spent a few hours in a doctor’s office.  He is a really good doctor and at this point I know that  a visit to his office will often mean a very long wait.  Apparently I am not the only one who knows this because getting the first appointment for the day for him means a wait of many weeks.   

Of course, I put this time to good use and worked on, surprise, surprise a Fuzzy Feet slipper.  I have considered renaming this blog “Fuzzy Feet and Occassionally Knitting Something Else.”  All I have to do is graft the toe, which I still can’t do without instructions.  Once I finish this slipper’s mate I am swearing off Fuzzy Feet for awhile.  No, really.  I swear, as this blog is my witness, no more Fuzzy Feet.  It is a fun and portable pattern but I think it is time to finally make some actual socks.

The Stash

Originally uploaded by fairgirl

I know I have a small stash and I like it that way. But looking at that picture makes even me think ,”Damn, that’s small!”