Say what you mean.

I have long been haranguing my children about the importance of written communication.  You know what I mean; spelling and punctuation.  I am the first to admit that I ignore the rules on a regular basis, but my excuse (and I do feel that it is a valid one) is Poetic License.  However, were I to be filling out a job application, or writing a letter On Official Business, I would be able to push aside artistic tendencies in the name of concise, clear communication.  Srsly.  I was overjoyed this morning to read an article in our local paper about concern for the erosion of our language, and the resulting designation of an annual National Puctuation Day (today!).  Apparently this has been going on for several years and I am a latecomer to the party, but it turns out that  I  have been celebrating all along.   Its always infuriated, me that the print media in particular (those champeens of literacy) seems to have fired all the proofreaders,  and each publication seems to rely solely on it’s spellchecker to make sure we understand the message.  When the delivery distracts from the message; theres a problem.  I am saddened to think that this might just be the evolution of the language.  Generalization versus specificity.  It is not necessarily the strongest who survive, but those most adaptable to change.  Ugh.

It should not be cause for celebration when the Saskatoon Star Phoenix correctly differentiates between “its” and “it’s”.  (It’s usually about this time in my rant that Mike offers to buy me a t-shirt that says “Does anal retentive have a hyphen?” )

And yes, I do own a copy of Eats Shoots and Leaves.  So should you.

Happy National Puctuation Day.

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As I think I mentioned, we went on a little vacation last month.  We flew to Newark, caught a car to Queens, hung out with my folks for 36 hours, then got on a cruise ship with my parents, my three sisters and our husbands.  Off to Bermuda goes us.  The weather was warm (okay, stinkin’ hot.) and humid enough to put an afro on a sheltie.  Our first port day in Bermuda culminated with one of us getting a wee bit of heat stroke (but not to the point where I barfed or anything.  Just needed a cool shower and then lots of blankets because I couldn’t get warm.  It was like my internal thermostat couldn’t deal with the temperature shifts.  I mean, it has barely figured out what’s going on with menopause, and then I throw weather at it?), but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.

If you’ve ever taken a cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines, you’re familiar with the concept of “Fun Days at Sea”. (I don’t know if any other lines use the “F” word to try and convince you that it’s a good thing to be bobbing along like a cork in the ocean, but since Geoff’s tenure as a sailor, we refer to the days where you see no other vessels as “Fun” days.)  Like any card-carrying Knit-Nut, I had packed a couple of projects for the specific purpose of having Fun Days.  The first project I hauled out had been irritatingly packed without needles, which was going to make it a whole lot harder to knit, so I took out the second one.  It had needles, some Rowan Kidsilk Haze, in a sort of misty gray-blue, and I even remembered to bring the pattern. I chose it specifically because a) I love anything that Kieran Foley designs, and b)I felt that the name of the pattern (High Seas) was so appropriate that I couldn’t possibly knit anything else whilst on a cruise.  While the sea was lovely and calm, with very little swell, what I had not accounted for was the humidity.  Kidsilk Haze does not like humidity.  Or sweaty hands.  Or cruise ships.  Or any combination thereof.  Oh, sure, I could have stayed indoors on the ship where the air conditioning kept the temperature at a cool 65 degrees, but what’s the fun of that when you know your whole family is out on the poopdeck talking about whoever isn’t there to defend herself?  I’d rather be part of the solution, if you know what I mean.

So, my lovely shawl made it this far:

more of a narrow lace collar than a shawl at this point.

and no further.  I did do a little fibre-related shopping during our week in New York after the cruise, and I will share some of that experience next time.

Since I’ve been home I have been working like mad (but in a loving way) on some friendship shawls for a friend and her family who have been having a rough summer, and also on another Foley project:

Growth!

As I believe I mentioned before, this is the Teardrop Rectangular shawl, using  Fantastic Knitting (formerly Fiddlesticks) Laceweight Zephyr Wool-Silk.  I’ve been disappointed with the yarn, as there have been numerous joins in it, and being the untrusting type, I have been re-joining them all and so will have lots of ends to work in at the end of the project.The lower left hand corner has been wet and stretched a bit- I was getting anxious about blocking, but it looks like it will open nicely.  I leave this project out on the dining room table, and work a few rows here and there.  Because of the beads, I find that sitting at a table works the best for me.

Tools of the Trade

Sometimes a knitter needs a little reminder:

Oops.

In spite of not putting the beads in where the pattern specified, I still like the look of the pattern.

At least they're all in the same wrong place.

The crush on the designer is continuing unabated.   I don’t mean “I’m the Future Mrs. Justin Bieber” kind of infatuation, but a deeper, more meaningful, more adult one:  the  “I worship Kieran Foley and his genius” kind.  Sigh.

Read any good books lately?

Because I don’t have enough to fill my days.

I guess I could blog more.

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