Incommunicado

That's been me since last week, I realize. Suffice it to say that it was a somewhat crappy week, and though I'm sure I could have written a novella about it, I chose to just write it in my head, so as not to insult or depress anyone.

But I've decided to try and think of the good/neat things, and that it would be worth it to share those. Thinking of them will be useful, but "writing them down" will be good for me, I'm sure of it. And lest you think I'm going to become Little Mary Sunshine, talking about goodness and light all of the time, please keep in mind that I have been cynical for as long as I can remember, and see no reason to stop now.

So here, in random order, are the things over the past week that are worth writing about.

1. Eunny Jang was named the new editor of Interweave Knits. Which I think is interesting, because her blog is both interesting and fascinating to me, because she not only has a lot to share, but the patterns she has designed are pretty cool, even if not something I am ready or interested in knitting. (Yes, that sentence is too long. I'm too lazy to break it up. Deal with it.) IK is one of my favorite knitting/craft magazines, and I will be curious to see what she brings to it.

2. My sock is making slow but steady progress, as is the Shamrock Shawl. I've only had to rip back twice in the last week on a row in the shawl, and then it was a result of missing a stitch in the count. Which is progress, since when I started it, I had to nearly always do the lace rows four or five times over.

3. My friend Lisa drove in from the 'burbs on Sunday to spend the day, and we had a blast. We had lunch, then walked around town, mainly window-shopping and people-watching, while maintaining our high opinions of ourselves as infinitely more attractive, witty, and fun than anyone we passed. Kinda like Snarky Soup for the Soul.

4. Sebastian spent the weekend, and I amused myself torturing him. (Don't worry, he can give it as much as he can take it.)

5. Doughboy came home! And though I didn't see him yet, I'm glad he has returned, after about a month of visiting his grandmother in suburban Virginia. I'm sure he enjoyed being spoiled, and barking at deer in her backyard, but I missed him.

6. My niece confirmed that she and her husband will be coming again for Easter, which is fun in general, but also means our tradition of Easter eggs with themes in poor taste (which of course we think are just hi-larious) will continue! We all look forward to this as one of the highlights of the year. Hopefully, I will be able to get some photos to post here, for everyone to enjoy. Or be appalled by, but either way, it's all good.

7. Tim brought me a copy of a new (to me at least) book, The Natural Knitter: How to Choose, Use, and Knit Natural Fibers from Alpaca to Yak, by Barbara Albright. I haven't had a chance to give it a good look, but the dust jacket has yarn and animals on it, so I know I'll at least like that ...

8. I am through with work for this week, since I am taking tomorrow through Friday as vacation days, with no particular plans. Ahhhhh ...

9. Cake. Marble cake. With chocolate fudge frosting.

10. My stitches came out without any problem, and you can hardly tell that I even had any. Not that I was worried about being disfigured or anything, but I was curious as to how noticeable it would be. And of course, my doctor is a laff riot - when he took off the bandage, and was removing the stitches, he said, "Oh. I guess my hand wasn't as steady as I thought it was." Then he had to sit down and laugh. Nothing like surgical humor to get you through ...

OK, there are probably other things, but I think ten is a nice round number. And I do feel somewhat better, as it was fun to think of them, and also I like to write, so I got to do some writing. Which I think is the real reason I enjoy this blog. I feel like I can write, and people can read it or not. (Not my problem if they don't recognize brilliance when it's staring them in the face. Geez.)

And, not to end in a downer fashion (a la Debbie Downer), but I feel it's only fair to give a little bit of time to the opposing view.

1. The time change is stupid, and it sucks, and I'm betting that there's not going to be that much energy saved as a result of it.

2. I really don't care what Donald Trump thinks about anyone or anything. Ditto for Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Cruise, etc.

3. Yes, supermodels are too thin. Yes, many girls and young women have eating disorders or poor self-esteem. But if you pick up a copy of Vogue, what do you think you're going to see? It's not a self-help publication. Would I like to see people who look more normal and diverse in fashion magazines? I guess. But I've never cared that much what the models actually look like.

So ... did you like incommunicado better????