Left Behind In An Electronic World

I don't know how everyone else keeps up, but I used to be in the vanguard when it came to current events, and now I'm at least two days behind.

Ask A Teen
If you want to know what's really going on in the world, or how to change the ringtone on your cell phone, just ask a teenager. There was a story of a fourteen year old girl who was abducted and sexually molested by an adult male. She got away by asking him if she could play games on his cell phone, and then used text messaging to get help and be rescued.

It's nice to see an example of how texting was a useful life skill for a teenager.

But with all the videos on YouTube and all the news sites and Blackberry communications and cell phone alerts and politically-inclined knitting blogs (okay, there aren't many of those), it's just impossible to keep up with what's fresh and what's stale as day-old bread.

Fresh News or Stale News?,
Did folks know that another Kaffe knitting book is coming out at the beginning of next month? It's called Kaffe Knits Again, and it appears to be 24 of his designs "updated for today's knitter," which I hope means using currently available yarns.

I'd like to say that Kaffe has returned to sanity, and given up all the quilting nonsense to return to knitting, but there is also a quilting book being released and available for pre-order (actually, there's an excellent offer to buy both on pre-release for under US$40 on Amazon).



Current Knitting/Crocheting
I've added a total of only three stars to the tablecloth so far this week, but not their corresponding filler stars.



I'm able to get a lot more done when I'm home than when I'm travelling, but this project is an extremely convenient project to carry with me. It's light, I don't need to carry a pattern anymore, it only requires one very small crochet hook and I can stop anywhere in the middle of a star and pick it up without having to figure out where I am.

Great travel project all in all.

I also decided to start working on another pair of socks. There was a sock in The Knitting Man(ual) that I wanted to try, and also a special heel that I read about, and I'm trying to do a combination of both those things.



I'll let you know if it turns out.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Regarding my recently spun chunky alpaca yarn, Elaine asks, "What do you plan to do with it?"

I'm not sure, it will depend on how much yardage I end up with. I would love to be able to make a simple, comfortable man's cardigan...it's the perfect color...but I doubt I'll have enough. Still, I might combine it with some other yarn to end up making a cardigan from it.

Dutch Jan writes, "Everytime after reading your entry I think: The house from that Man must be HUGE considering the amazing amounts of Books, yarns, fleece, knitting needles etc. etc. etc. etc. he is writing about."

Actually, all of my knitting/crocheting/spinning/weaving, etc. books, pamphlets and magazines are pretty much contained in one normal size book case. My yarn and roving take up two normal size clothes closets (guests in my house have to compete for hangar space), and my knitting tools (except for knitting machines) are pretty much restricted to a relatively small side table with shelf next to my television chair. We live in a three-story townhouse that isn't very large, but we could always use more room for craft supplies, no?

Fredda writes, "Thanks for the pics...I'll definitely spend more time with our animal friends (the four-legged ones) next month at Rhinebeck."

I'm looking forward to seeing Fredda. It's been a while since I've been in her neck of the woods, and since she sends me checks each month (for my pattern sales on The Knitting Vault), it's always nice to see her. Look for my designs under the designer name, DoublePointed.