This week my 20 month old daughter Ana invited me to a tea party ("momma tea!"). At the table was a teapot, a spoon, one teacup, a saucer and creamer. Also present was a big brown bear. Once I was seated, Ana handed me the creamer and poured me air from the teapot.

With an eye toward etiquette, I replaced the creamer with a teacup. I also found a cup for Mr. Bear and served us each a cuppa. Apparently insulted because I took over her job, Ana grabbed my teacup, set it angrily in front of her and gave me the creamer, again.

I then realized that in my quest to exhibit appropriate manners, I was behaving rudely. So I happily drank my tea from a creamer and chatted with my party-mates. When I pointed out to Ana that Mr. Bear had not yet been served, she took his cup and stuck it on his nose, where it remained perched for the rest of the party.

I don't know much about formal tea etiquette, but I'm pretty sure that one doesn't serve tea in a creamer and am quite certain that one never perches a teacup on a guest's nose.

The Point?

As there are rules governing the proper dispensing of tea, so are there rules for engaging in social interactions on the internet. And like my sweet Ana serving tea, in the world of cybercourse, I sometimes don't know a faux pas from a cup on the nose.

Newbies make mistakes. Some of us are unschooled in all things technical and think Sans Serifa is a mountain range in Southern California. Some of us are too friendly, too rude or in the case of yours truly, too goofy, too soon.

I hope to always hold my daughter to appropriate standards of behavior, but only according to her ability to understand what is expected. And when I'm charting new social territory, I hope that others do the same for me.

While some of you might view this as plea for gratuitous mercy...well...okay...it is.

And speaking of Goofy. I heard this great quote on a Disney cartoon ::wondering if I have to link Disney::

"I might be Goofy, but I'm not dumb." - Goofy.

Labels: From My Loins

I've been reading the blog bible and may have figured out how to post a picture directly here, from my gallery. So I'm running a tech test.

This is my Ana, a.k.a. Ana Cakes, a.k.a. "The Cakers" who will be 21 months old on July 4.




This is a sampling of my current work in progress, the Point D'esprit tunic. You can (but don't have to)see the same shot, only frighteningly bigger, at my picture gallery (see link to left).

Tis a sad day, indeed, when two washcloths can take on, and soundly whup the ass of a middle-aged, fairly experienced knitting woman (and no coward, this one, the mother of a teen and a toddler).

Having finished the back of my lacey tunic with nothing immediate to work on (had to ball up a huge sausage thangy of yarn before I could start the front ) I needed something quick to click. Recently there'd discussion, in my internet world, about knitting washcloths. I don't care much for knitting washcloths. Some ignoramus tried to teach me knitting on that diagonal YO (yawn over) beast, years ago. I still hear the howl of wolves when I see sugar n cream yarn. ::For the record, I believe that the yawn over dishrag has no business on the project docket of a beginning knitter. :: Having really enjoyed the recent, currently unavailable challenge of the lacey tunic pattern, I had a hankering to continue some delicate detail work.

I pulled out "Knitter's Stash" (Edited by Barbara Albright) and a hank of cotton and commenced to knit up a dragon scale facecloth (great exfoliant, I reckoned). After commencing and recommencing, I lost the fight, TKO, round 3. The loss due to several things, such as I couldn't keep track of the M1's, I didn't know what the pattern was supposed to look like, I couldn't easily discriminate between the knitted SSK, k2tg without a poking around the back of those tiny stitches. I forged onward, believing that after a few rows, the mystery of the pattern would reveal itself to me. It didn't.

Eventually I realized I was fussing, sweating and cursing over a dang washcloth that if completed would likely be eaten by my labrador and end up in the back yard, maybe to be eaten again (my dog eats poop). So, I let go, let God..blah blah and decided to try the Seed-Stitch striped cloth from the same book.

Although the seed-stitch stripe was definitely an easier pattern, the sequence didn't get downloaded properly into my pea brain, and I ended up having to frog after three rows. On the next try, a misplaced knit stitch caused the pattern to end up a smarmy mishmash of seed-stitch here, moss stitch there and a remnant of a ridge every where. I finally charted the pattern on graph paper (this was no longer about getting a washrag, this was war!) and successfully completed 8 rows of the pattern. At this point I noticed that my yarn was pilling and the stitches loose. I frogged with finality. I've washed my face of it.

Labels: Bag-O-Hair, When Knitting You is Hurting Me

I hope to have a link to a picture gallery soon, so there will be more to look when none of y'all continue to show up. I'll keep you posted. Please be patient. And I beg you, please, no more angry emails.

In the meantime, since no one is around, seemingly for miles, I'm fixin' to throw some wet toilet paper blobs on the bathroom ceiling. I got away with this activity for years in grade school. In college ,however, I underappreciated the power (and inherent evil) of the R.A.'s narc squad.

For dinner, I'm thinking chicken. Large breasts. Honey-dripping sauce. Hot. Off the grill. ::thinking flashing breasts might draw some attention::

Labels: NooB

One of my goals this summer is to try my hand at dyeing, using the Koolaid method a la Knitty.com koolaid. While perusing the color "chart" I imagined a colorful wide striped cardigan using four or five colors, maybe yellow, orange, green and blue. At this time I was listening to a national news channel and the topic was the upcoming holiday and the potential threat of terrorist attacks. There was also the usual discussion about how the nearly constant high alert levels have caused complacency amongst the people.

Serendipity. Why not knit a Terror Alert sweater using Koolaid colors? What a great idea for a knit-along while contributing to the collective safety of our fine country. The sweater would be striped in all the colors of the alert system. When the sweater is worn, a moveable pin or button would indicate the current threat level. If this thing catches on, maybe the big kahunas might consider changing the alert colors to Koolaid flavors. It certainly would grab the public's attention and be refreshing as well. For "Orange" I like "Mandarina Tangerina. I can't remember if I took my meds today.

Confession: In yesterday's entry I unfairly blamed my husband for distracting me during a tough pattern row in my lacey tunic sweater. After being away from the piece (the knitting, not my husband) for two days, I resumed working on it and realized that I had been knitting the right pattern in the wrong row. Sorry honey!

That's not to say he doesn't distract me. Someone needs to invent a flag system to signal loved ones when the knitter absolutely should not be approached under any circumstances (i.e. casting on for a 1001 stitch sweater, lacey rows, etc). Maybe it's time for deelly boppers to reinvent themselves.

My cat just puked on the mousepad. She'd been outside. I wonder what she's been eating. I hope to get some more bloggy things figured out over the next couple of days. I also hope the above link worked, it was my first time.

If anyone is actually reading this, you'll notice there is the ghost of a knitter's blog ring thingy somewhere. It doesn't work yet. I signed up in the wee hours this morning and forget to pay attention to what is supposed to happen next. Hopefully the universe will provide.

Labels: NooB

I'm hoping to find a site meter icon after publishing this.

Labels: NooB

I found a book on Blogging called Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content by Biz Stone. When I find out how make links, maybe I'll practice linking y'all to the blog of this seemingly very handsome, self-ascribed (tongue-in-cheek) genius. *post blogeditity: Cute Guy

I also bought the Vintage Knits (Sarah Dallas). Very yummy stuff. I've leafed through it a few times but today I was moved to purchase. Although tedious and slow moving, there is something delicious about the details in tiny knitting.

This blogging stuff has consumed my brain and most of my time. I haven't knit a stitch in two days. When I do resume work on my current project (Point D'Esprit tunic in Knitting the New Classics, Sterling/Lark) I must unknit an entire row of lace, again. When I'm knitting, my husband seems to think I'm just biding time until I can be of some personal and efficient use. Good thing I'm a patient, albeit devious woman. He's yet to realize that despite my benign presentation while knitting, I'm carrying two potentially lethal weapons.

My main reason for returning to post at this time was to perform a test post/publish to see if my comment function functions...and here I am jabbering again, to no one. Regardless of the sorry state of my constituency, I'm very excited thinking this pig might fly after all.

Labels: NooB

I'm an internet degenerate. Years ago, I knew more than enough (and more than most of my friends) about making one's way through cyberworld. I became complacant and didn't keep up. I am also a knitter who has recently discovered (and become fascinated with) the knitting subculture found on the internet. A part of this intrigue is related to knitting blogs. I've read them, I've loved them, I want one.

For the record, I am highly impulsive, with the attention span of a flea. I found this place through a link in an article written by a professional journalist. I would link the article, but...well, you'll find out in the next sentence or two why said link is not present. The article said anyone who can type can blog at blogger.com. K. So...I sign up. Yipee. I post my first message and realize there is no place for anyone to comment, there are no automatic links to make links. So you're telling me I have to know html to interact, tease and play with my readers? Neither can I place the magic button that will allow me into the sacred ring of knitbloggers? Long ago, on a Delphi board far away I once was able to make my font's dance in the most fabulous color of periwinkle. That's the only time I played the language tag game.

So, I'm off to the book store to find some books. I hope there is such a beast as "HTML for Dummies." I might also look for "Impulse Control for Monkeys: Knowing where you're going before you grab the next vine."

I also hope to find out why I have two blogs with the same title and whether or not they are a cyber-cyamese-freak-of-naycha type of thing. Can I destroy one without harming the other? Is a blog entry a living entity? Will I have Write-to-life on my tail? What's the difference between publishing and posting? I'm in over my snout.

If I can get learn how to get this place ordered as I would like, I'll be back. If it's gonna be a hugomongous pain in the butt roast, then this maiden voyage will be the last.

Marcia

Labels: NooB

I'm not really sure if this pig will fly. Blogger booted me before I was initiated, so pardon the pig poo, I'm under construction.

Labels: NooB