Here is my rather sad confession:

In spite of loving the purpose of the magazine, I feel myself slipping as a believer. The last issue of Interweave Crochet struck me as barely inspiring and now the new issue has left me with only really liking one of the designs offered, and that one design is a pair of socks. There is another design that I don't dislike, but I would never wear it and I don't know anyone who would. So, I'm in that precarious position where I'm not sure that I believe in the choices made by the magazine and might therefore not buy this issue. And this is the exact reason I never got around to ordering a subscription. What's the point in owning a magazine I don't really like anymore? It's sort of like what happened to Jane after a couple of years, which is another reason why I've never gotten around to Bust (I'm afraid that once I commit, it will abandon me).

Which leads me to something bigger:

It's not that I'm falling out of love with Ravelry, it's that I'm falling out of love with the forums. I love the purpose of the forums, but with the various battles, various cliques, and general lack of relevance to me and mine, I just can't stay there for very long. But then, I go through this falling out of love bit quite often, so clearly my attention span is wanting. And yet, I continue to update my projects. Ravelry is becoming my record. It will be my source of what I've actually done over the course of time when my sister taunts me with how many books she has read.

And something cheery:

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is an absolutely lovely movie. And I'm not saying this because I love Ciaran Hinds and Less Pace or because I think Frances McDormand and Amy Adams are fabulous, or because Mark Strong is convincing me that he is rather attractive. I say this is all objectivity. If I could go and see a movie right now, it would be that movie.

It finally happened. While my sister has just finished her ninth book, I just finished reading my first book this year, which was half-cheating because I read quite a bit of it last year. Which of course leads to my confession: I am terrible about finishing books. I have at least ten books that I started reading last year that remain unfinished reads. And because I am who I am, I have excuses:

1) Yarn-related activities.
2) Work.
3) Travel.
4) Movies.
5) Baking.

However, I am professing it now. I plan on reading a Jane Austen novel a year. I'd say all of them, but it turns out that crocheting takes up so much of my time that I rarely get to set my eyes on other things while working on a crocheted object (and on the off-chance that I'm knitting, I never do anything else).

And now, to buy more Smooshy. It's dead gorgeous.

complaints upon complaints

I've been wondering since I first heard of Knitting Daily if it was in fact daily. And today, I can honestly report that it isn't. I could complain about how crochet is ignored, but I'm used to being part of a weird and ignored group (I still think it has a lot to do with how most of us aren't clinging to patterns to create). So, my complaint rests on the misnomer, the use of a mildly catchy and uninspired name. The use of "daily" is a promise. If it only comes out three times a week, it's only daily on three of seven days, which means that the title is a lie. And while I can handle creative decisions and the like, it's a boring lie.

My next issue isn't with Sandi, because she seems like a cool lady. My issue isn't even with Interweave Press. It's just that that "daily" newsletter is damned boring. I read the headline and delete it. Really, I do. I admit to looking at the gallery for the next Interweave Knit's designs, but even those bore me. I'm not asking for a wild and witty commentary on everything, but I am asking for an appropriate use of my time. I might be madly in love with David Mitchell (comic, not author), and therefore madly in love with a good sense of humor, but I'm not asking anyone to have been a member of Cambridge Footlights and the writing partner of Robert Webb (although, if you know David Mitchell, drop me a line because we'd be perfect for each other, seriously). I'm asking for information or proper rants. You know, I view the Yarn Harlot as my Knitting Daily. I'm not even much of a knitter, but the thing is, I get what she says. She says things that are true to people even outside of a yarn love fest. So, we differ on our favorite crafts, the truth is I am sure we'd be able to have a fun and informed conversation.

Perhaps the problem with the daily is that it isn't really anything. I've yet to learn from it (and I'm a new-ish knitter). I've yet to be inspired by it (which is probably difficult as I think the Dada movement was the cat's meow). My measurements are difficult enough to require extra thought when it comes to the use of patterns, so the galleries mean nothing to me (plus, I believe that bottom-up design is dangerous, I know it's common, but so are bad drivers).

And so, I think I can finally admit that Knitting Daily and I are breaking up, and now I'll just go back to doubting its creation and name. And I still believe that if you are going to name a show "Knitting Daily TV", it should damn well be daily. No other organization would get away with not naming a show correctly, why should they? Not to mention, the various crocheting and knitting shows out there tend to annoy me more than help me. I end up listening to people and realizing how stunted their senses of humor are or how uninspired they are. All people listed in my list on the left are not included in this claim, because I love them (I don't even hold the fact that they don't know me against them). But I want to learn and be inspired, and it feels like so few in our craft world can meet that requirement.

However, those Vintage Socks, although so not my style, I am mesmerized by them, because you know, someone sat down and came up with the idea and the method of creation, and that's damned impressive, damned inspiring.

On the crochet front: Yarn orgies this weekend in Santa Clara. (I just wish Stitches West would include things that aren't knitting-related, because deep down, I really don't believe that all of those classes are worthy of classes.)

The best day of the year will be next Friday all because BBC America is finally yielding to my needs and not forcing Hotel Babylon or Footballers' Wives on me. Instead, That Mitchell and Webb Look. David Mitchell and Robert Webb make my day every time. Just watch Peep Show, pure brilliance.

I had been thinking about this for a while, but I'm thinking that I need to make a crochet binder of little swatches of different stitch patterns so that I know what they really look like (as opposed to what they look in a picture). Because some things look cool in the book, but never look as cool when I try them, and vice versa. And then, I can never remember what stitch dictionary the little swatches floating around came from.

In other words, I need to get organized.

they're not even sure it's a baby

You know, I love David Lynch, and more than the next girl. I'm even fairly certain that I understand Inland Empire, which is almost verboten for the Lynch fan. But Eraserhead is not only not a movie to crochet to, but 27 minutes in and all I'm seeing is just weird ass shit. And it's weird enough to make me a vegetarian. It also makes me wonder where Lynch grew up. Twin Peaks is one thing, Inland Empire another, Dune even further off the Lynch track, but Eraserhead just makes me wonder. I am committed to it, though. It will be finished by tomorrow night.

What was the curse-d baby blanket...

I'd just like to say that in spite of my moans and groans, I do love this blanket. I love this blanket more than I could have ever expected. The bright colors, the insanity of all of these colors together, and knowing that my friends will appreciate it. There's an intense high with knowing that all of your effort, all of your cursing at ends that need to be secured, will be acknowledged and appreciated.

And now to finish seaming so that photographs can be taken this afternoon.