A shrug and a smile

Ahah!  Bet you thought I haven’t been knitting, since I’ve been blogging about everything but that.  You would be wrong.  When writing days are the longest, I need my knitting the most.

I’m shrugging – no, not doing the bobbing thing with the shoulders, but knitting a shrug.  Remember, I mentioned it in my blog on instant gratification?  I even posted a picture there of the yarn I was going to use.

Why do I blog?

Let me make one thing clear.  I don’t blog to express a political opinion.  As a novelist, my taking a stand on anything political or religious is disastrous.  When I talked here last week about civil discourse, it was to vent not about what we say but how we say it.

So there you go – one reason why I blog.  I blog to vent about something, be it civil discourse, airport security, or plastic bags.

But there are other reasons.  I mean, it’s not like I’m sitting around with nothing to do.  I have to put blogging on my calendar, or else it gets lost in the shuffle of the daily writing, in this case, of Sweet Salt Air.

Where does the dock go in winter?

We were at the lake last weekend, looking out our windows at the winterness of it all.  Winterness?  Try bleakness.  There isn’t much snow this year, and the lake hasn’t frozen thickly.  Local officials actually had to modify the rules for the annual ice fishing derby weekend, because the ice wasn’t thick enough to support the stores and restaurants, trucks and buses that occupy the frozen bay during this event.  Typically, the ice is 18” thick by now.

Instant gratification

What does it for you?  Is it a scoop of peanut butter straight from the jar at nine at night?  A pithy few words shouted at the driver who cuts you off?  For me, it’s a quick knitting project.

Downtime

I did nothing last weekend.  Nothing.  And it was hard.  I am fully serious when I say that.  I’m not used to doing nothing.  I kept jumping up,ready to do laundry or pay bills or check email or blog.  For me, doing is a visceral thing.

What is a stash?

My dictionary defines a stash as “a secret store of something,” and when it comes to yarn, that’s pretty accurate.  Knitters hoard.  They buy yarn they have no business buying, then they bring it home and put it in a place where no one will see it.  They have paper bags stuffed with yarn, closets stuffed with yarn, trunks stuffed with yarn.  Me, I have bins in my basement, neatly stacked and out of my husband’s keen sight.  Other yarn I store in the open in huge (two gallon) glass jars.  Since these are for decoration, no one questions them.  I stuff in another skein, then another until the lids won’t close.

The best and worst of 2011

Christmas was barely done when the media began rating 2011.  Best movie of 2011, best health news of 2011, best business moment, best style trend … you name it, there’s a list.  This was pretty much what inspired my survey this week – the one I post every Tuesday on my Facebook page.  “My 2011?” it read.  “I’d give it a 9 out of 10.  SPEEDY BD SURVEY #85 asks, how about you?  What’s your rating for 2011?”

A knitter never sleeps, but she dreams

I’m so bad when it comes to afterwork, like weaving in ends and making pompoms.  So I had six hats, all done but in need of finishing before I could send them off for the holiday.  After procrastinating much of last weekend, I ran out of time.  I had to mail them, or they’d never arrive on time!

The Patriots played Sunday.  What better time could there be?  I’m an avid fan, but I can’t bear to watch the game in progress.  Hey, I read the ending of books first, because I can’t stand suspense.  If you could tell me the outcome of a game, I could watch.  Since you can’t, I don’t.

Life’s little surprises

I love unexpected pleasures.  Some hit me in the face, others are more subtle.  But each is a joy.

Take this blog.  I set out today to give an early December update of I write, I knit, I live.  And then, tucked into each paragraph, came a little surprise, turning what might have been just another blog into something really fun.

Shopping for the holidays

I’m not thinking about Christmas catalogues, free shipping offers or Black Friday hours.  I’m still on Thanksgiving, and it has to do with food.  I’ve been poring through cookbooks, clipping recipes from the paper, and making lists.  The troops are descending next Wednesday morning, and they’re all staying here, so Thanksgiving dinner isn’t the only meal I’ll be making.  I have to keep bellies filled for four days, and my shopping list keeps growing. There are the unusual suspects – fruit, salad makings, cold cuts, bread, eggs.  There are also a bunch of staples we don’t usually buy: