Germ Of An Idea

Or maybe it’s just a brain full of germs? I’m sitting here feeling really sorry for myself today because I have a “code in da dose” and I feel rotten! I have been disgustingly healthy for a long time (apart from occasional migraines) so I’m definitely not happy about being sick during the holidays. Plus I’m so afraid my new grandson will be born (due in one week!) while I’m still sick and I’ll have to stand far away wearing a face mask and surgical gloves. Phooey. I want to hold him! If I had gotten sick a couple of weeks ago it wouldn’t be such a big deal because I’d be all better by now. Timing is everything, eh?

Meanwhile I’m just sitting around knitting and reading and thinking bad thoughts about cold germs. Good thing I don’t shop for Christmas presents and it’s not my turn to cook the turkey or I’d be forcing myself out in the cold and crazy city with all the other last-minute types. They can get themselves all stressed out without me. All I have to do is make some organic shortbread (promised my birth mom) and some butter tarts (promised T-Man) to bring to my daughter’s place on Monday as my contribution. I bought the tart shells since I’m totally pastry challenged and the rest is a cinch. I used to make tons of fancy cookies but now that I eat low-carb I don’t want the leftovers around because I will eat them and then regret it when I get a tummy ache and insomnia after. Nothing like being on a diet that reminds you physically when you screw up. I can eat a little bit of sweet or floury things once in awhile but that’s it.

So while I’ve been sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I’ve been surfing. Have you seen how many great online magazines there are, with new ones appearing all the time? One that I was reading yesterday is the Crochet Insider. (Don’t forget to see the one back issue in the archives too.) Some interesting food for thought in the interviews with some well-known designers and authors, including opinions that conflict with each other, and relevant if you crochet or knit or hopefully both. I loved the conversation with my friend Kim Werker, editor of Crochet Me (see my sidebar for link) and author of 2 books on crochet for beginners. When she talks about taking a beginner crochet class herself where she totally clicked with it — that was my class! By the second lesson she was hooking away like she’d been doing it for years and years and the rest is history. She ended up making kind of a career out of it! Pretty impressive, not of my teaching skills, but of her own innate ability to get it. I’m so proud of her.

Another on-line magazine on a whole other subject is CQMagOnline. Crazy quilting is a branch of art quilting combined with embroidery, beadwork and other embellishments. There are some good how-to’s, interviews, and reviews. Don’t forget to check out the extensive archives too — it goes back 2 years. Some of this stuff is a bit (OK, a LOT!) too sweet for my taste but the techniques are adaptable to other types of art quilting, surface design and jewelry making. And it’s a good example of a magazine that I wouldn’t buy if it was printed on paper, but I did enjoy reading it online. I could pick and choose those articles that appealed to me and leave the rest.

I’ve just turned the heels on both of the Forest Socks. I can’t get a good photo in what passes for daylight around here. I have to wait a bit until I feel well enough to go outside and it isn’t raining. Otherwise these dark green socks just look, well, dark. But really they have a whole range of subtle colours in them. Yet another reason why I love dyeing my own yarns! OK enough of the whining and whingeing. I’m going to turn on a good podcast and knit some on my Swallowtail shawl.