Continental knitting

Continental philosophy always gave me a headache in graduate school, but continental knitting is one technique that I've been wanting to learn for a while. From what I hear, it's pretty efficient and can get your stitches moving fast; plus, it's a good idea to know more than one way to knit so you don't get any repetitive stress injuries and have to get your own Phantom.

From the Craftsanity podcast comes this great demo on continental knitting. I'm looking forward to giving it a try when I'm able to knit again!

SP10 questionnaire

1. What are your favorite yarns to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely not like?

I love working with natural fibers, particularly wool. They have a certain "coziness" that most synthetics just can't match.

I've had a longstanding prejudice against acrylic, but then my SP10, Lynnette, introduced me to Touch Me. Wow, that is some nice stuff. So now I don't think that all acrylic is evil--just most of it. :)

2. What do you use to store your needles?

My Denise needles (obtained last summer) have miraculously managed to stay in their case when they aren't being used. So far, I haven't lost any of the parts (knock on wood!).

My straight needles are in a beautiful cloth roll-up case that my friend Gina gave me.

My double-pointed needles and my circular needles live in a handmade, felted-wool roll-up case from Nepal, given to me by my good friend Beth.

3. How long have you been knitting, and how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate, or advanced?

I've been knitting for three years. A woman I worked with at the time helped me pick out the needles and yarn for my first project (a scarf, of course!), cast on for me, and showed me the knit stitch. Three skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky later, I looked up binding off in a book (The Knit Stitch, by Sally Melville) and since then have relied mostly on books and the Internet--and occasionally on knit-knowledgeable friends--for learning other techniques.

If you don't count finishing (seaming is the bane of my existence), then I think I'm an intermediate knitter. But if seaming is included . . . .well, then let's say beginner-intermediate. Yeah, that sounds about right.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I do! You can look me up on Amazon.

5. What's your favorite scent (for candles, bath products, etc.)?

I'm a big fan of woodsy smells, such as cedar and sage. And I love the Karma line (and pretty much any soap) from Lush. Vanilla, lavender, and citrus are sometimes nice, too. Floral scents are hit or miss: some are fabulous (I'm a longtime fan of the Body Shop's dewberry), but most are just too cloying for me.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Hello? Does good cheese smell bad? Is Tom Baker the best Doctor Who ever? Are ninjas and pirates cool? Is Joss Whedon a genius?

The answer is yes, yes, yes! Dark chocolate is up there for me, with pretty much every other kind of chocolate (other than white) a close second. Caramel is lovely, too. Most hard candy doesn't thrill me, and as a vegetarian I avoid gummi-anything and marshmallows (both of which contain gelatin).

7. What other crafts or do-it-yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

Spinning--'fraid not. One day, perhaps, but not today.

I'm craft-minded but don't actually pursue a lot of regular DIY projects. When I'm not tending to Life Responsibilities or knitting, I'm often working on my photography.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)?

Keen on (among others): Jane Siberry (now Issa), U2, The Pogues, Argentine tango music (the danceable stuff, not so much Astor Piazzolla's concert pieces), Tom Lehrer, Eddi Reader, Bach's Magnificat, Poi Dog Pondering (before they moved to Chicago), Philip Glass, Anonymous 4, Daniel Lanois, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Kronos Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald, Dar Williams, Emmylou Harris, big band swing

Not keen on: rap, heavy metal, country

MP3s: no problem!

9. What are your favorite colors? Any colors you just can't stand?

I love muted earthy colors--browns, greens, blues, plums, grays. I also like black, robin's egg blue, and red.

Pastels have never thrilled me. And white . . . well, I have no objection to it as a color, but I never manage to keep it pristine, so I've sort of given up on it.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

One husband (who crochets!). One daughter (who will be two years old on May 6). Two cats--one of which is my daughter's best friend, personal maid (i.e., cleaning up the floor under the high chair at mealtime), and favorite huggable purring pillow with claws.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens, or ponchos?

Yes, yes, yes, no. (But not because I am anti-poncho--I just haven't gotten around to making one for myself yet!)

12. What are your favorite items to knit?

I love to knit sweaters (see here, here, and here) and hats for my daughter. She's still small, so the objects are finished relatively fast (ah, completion satisfaction!), and I get to experiment with color, shapes, techniques, etc. (I like knitting hats in general, actually.)

I've recently ventured into the land of sock knitting, thanks to a friend who's been teaching me and the other members of our local knitting group her fabulous toe-up sock technique.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I have a few projects in progress:

• A sweater for me. (One sleeve to go.)
  


• Baby sweaters for three different friends who are having babies this summer.
  


• A pair of socks. (I started them at the toes and am up to the gussets now.
  

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Yes! (Who wouldn't?)

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, or plastic?

I like both straight and circular needles. Wood is far and away my favorite material for needles, with metal a distant second and most plastic not even rating consideration.

I do love my Denise needles, but every once in a while I reach for some bamboo ones instead, just because the warmth of wood is incomparable. Haven't tried needles made from birch, rosewood, or other woods yet, but I bet they are sublime.

16. Do you own a yarn winder or swift?

Neither, alas, though I am seriously considering building a swift...

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

The sweater I'm making for myself (see #13 above) is about a year and a half old.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

I like Christmas the best--not because of the gift giving or any religious meaning. There's just something so lovely about a light- and food-filled celebration in the middle of winter, when it's dark and cold out. (If I lived in the Southern Hemisphere, I'd probably like a different holiday more . . . something in June or July, I guess.)

19. Is there anything that you collect?

I currently have about two hundred refrigerator magnets from all over the world. I started collecting them years ago while traveling around the USA: they're cheap (don't make a big dent in the travel funds!), they're small (don't take up much room!), and they're everywhere. I still buy them wherever I go and occasionally get additions from my brother or friends, who sometimes pick one up for me if they go somewhere interesting. I like 'em as kitschy and as tacky as possible.

20. Any books, yarns, needles, or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Books I'd love to add to my knitting library include:

• Knitted Flowers, by Nicky Epstein


• Knitting Workshop, by Elizabeth Zimmerman
  
• One Skein, by Leigh Radford


• Wrap Style, by Pam Allen and Ann Budd


• Rowan Babies, by Kim Hargreaves


• Pipsqueaks, by Kim Hargreaves

As far as yarns go, I'd love to try some of the yarns made out of nonwool and noncotton natural fibers. I recently received some soy yarn that I'm going to put on needles as soon as I can knit again, and I'd really like to try some of the other alternative-fiber yarns out there, such as bamboo, corn, and seaweed.

I'm also eager to try linen yarn and the yarn made from recycled silk saris, both of which look like a lot of fun.

I currently subscribe to Interweave Knits, which I adore (even though the patterns tend to call for outrageously expensive yarn).

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Intarsia, baby! I got my first taste of it last spring when I made the Anouk pinafore, and I'm eager to try more. I've even bought some bobbins in anticipation of my next intarsia project.

I'd also like to try fairisle knitting, though I'm not sure I can carry strands of yarn all over the place without winding up with the Tangle From Hell.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I'm a newbie sock knitter. See #12 above.

My shoe size is US 7.5.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)

May 8.

Oh, the things we take for granted

A few of my friends started 2007 by going on self-imposed yarn diets. "No more yarn purchases until my obscenely huge stash is gone!" they declared. (For some reason I cannot comprehend, though, "except for sock yarn" is often a corollary to these vows of yarn poverty. I guess I'm not enough of a sock knitter--yet--to obsess over sock yarn in this manner.)

I began 2007 thinking I would get a head start on my holiday knitting (yeah, it hasn't happened yet) and F lots of UFOs. I've actually made some decent progress on some UFOs (more on that another time), but as of this morning my knitting has been derailed for a while. Behold my new fashion accessory: a splint.

I've been having intermittent discomfort in my left wrist, right around where the base of the thumb meets it, since last fall. It kept sort-of going away, so I didn't worry about much. Last week, though, a few days of "Oh my dog, it hurts when I just think about moving it" pain prompted me to call my doctor, who referred me to a local hand center, where--you guessed it--they specialize in hand and wrist stuff.

My appointment was this morning, and the doctor (who I think really does know his stuff but has the most brusque, rushed bedside manner I've seen in a long time) quickly diagnosed tendonitis. Specifically, I have DeQuervain's tenosynovitis, and in my case (in most, actually) it is caused by picking up a baby in a way that puts strain on the wrist. There are three possible treatments for this: a splint, a steroid infection at the site, and the surgery. I'm far from needed surgery for this (whew!), and I decided to give the splint a try for a month before getting a shot.

So I spent an hour in the physical therapy lab down the hall, where they custom-made a split for me out of some really neat heat-sensitive plastic that they molded into shape. (I have to keep it away from heat--including hot water and car dashboards on summer days--or else it could lose its shape.) It sort of looks like I have a Phantom of the Opera mask wrapped around my thumb and covering my palm and forearm.

I also got all sorts of instructions in the Care and Feeding of the Splint and lots of suggestions for how to stop hurting myself (e.g., pick up the baby in different ways). Sadly, these also included a very strong recommendation against knitting (which is, after all, a repetitive motion involving the hands)--at least for a couple of weeks. If all goes well, I should be okay within a month. If not, well, then I call the doctor and make an appointment for an injection.

In the few hours since I've been wearing this thing, I've been quite astonished by how much it limits my mobility. (I wonder if, over the past few months, I've been constantly aggravating the tendon, even when it didn't hurt and I was trying to move my wrist in other ways.) Typing up this post, for example, is taking forever. And trying to slice bananas for Sylvia's lunch today was a trip: I had to hold the knife in my right hand (because the Phantom prevents me from holding it in my left), and I swear it looked like I was doing some drunken slicing or something. Yes, I am that left-dominant. The only thing I can do well with my right hand is use a pair of regular scissors. Before I left the house this morning, I tried brushing my teeth with my right hand (because my left was hurting) and I nearly put my eye out with the toothbrush.

Should be an interesting next few weeks...

More on the scrotum scandal

(Hmmm. I wonder just how many Google keyword searches are going to lead to this post.)

Neil Gaiman agrees with me about the banning of the latest Newbery Medal winner. I especially like the link he provided to a list of youth literature--most of it "classic" stuff that few librarians would dislike--that contains the offending word.

People do indeed suck. Fortunately, there are people like Neil Gaiman to offset them a bit.

For the "People suck" files

I just read this article in The New York Times about this year's winner of the Newbery Medal (the uber-prestigious award for children's literature), Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky. A big controversy is brewing about one work in this book. From the NYT article:

The book’s heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

Apparently, many librarians find the inclusion of this word appalling enough to ban the book from their shelves. Excuse me? Librarians? Aren't they the ones who are supposed to champion the spread of knowledge and literature and all that other stuff? In banned-book cases, I general expect the people throwing hissy fits over this sort of thing to be outraged parents. But in this case, it seems that several librarians are deciding on their own--not because they're being pressured by parents or school boards--to ban the book.

One of these librarians interviewed for the article said that he didn't want teachers to have to explain the word. Um, hello? That's what teachers do--they teach. Oh wait, I'm sorry--I was confused. These days most teachers just make their students memorize stuff in preparation for cookie-cutter standardized tests, right? (Sigh.) Would the world come to an end if we actually expected--and encouraged--teachers and students to engage each other in the classroom? And trusted them enough to do this without micromanaging the whole process?

Another librarian banned the book so she wouldn't get angry phone calls from parents. Oh, great--so she's caving before anyone has actually complained. That bothers me tremendously.

We're not talking about porn or obscenity. This book is targeted to pre-adolescents. At that age, they're growing up and learning about their bodies--and they need to learn what the parts are. I'm not talking about giving an extended sex-ed lesson in a book for ten-year-olds. This is the "official," clinical term for a body part. Good grief.

/end rant

(The title of the post is what my husband said when I told him about the article.)

A (long-)finished object

I ran some errands today, one of which was to my local post office to mail a birthday package to a friend who lives on the other side of the planet (in another hemisphere, even!). Her birthday isn't until next month, but planning in advance lets me avoid the outrageous airmail costs and send stuff by surface mail (which, almost always arrives within two weeks anyway, even though the official estimate is "six to eight weeks"). Among the various items I enclosed was the shawl, which I knit for her some time ago and just haven't been organized enough to send. It's my first--and only, so far--shawl, and I knit it of a synthetic suede yarn that was a lot of fun to work with. In my effort to get as much mileage as possible from the yarn, I started new skeins mid-row--not, as it turns out, the best idea with this yarn, whose woven-in ends are difficult to conceal. So it's not the most polished-looking shawl (in the future, I'll incorporate the ends into the fringe), but I think it looks--and feels--quite nice!

The yarn...and some tech talk

 

Well, Blogger is still acting weird and not letting me upload photos. But I found a workaround that enabled me to post a photo of the lovely card and yummy yarn that JD sent me: I used the "Blog This!" button in Picasa. Not my favorite option, 'cause it does odd things to the layout and automatically inserts a Picasa link in my post (a link that you won't see here, since I manually deleted it), but it will do for now.

But let me tell you, it is awfully nice to be reunited with my pal Picasa. Since I switched to a Mac last fall, I've been missing it. For the most past, I think the Mac design and OS are vastly superior to what you get on a Windows machine (and this is coming from someone who was a hardcore Windows user until last fall). I'm really quite impressed with almost everything about the Mac...except iPhoto (the photo-management program), which, quite honestly, sucks worse than a Hoover. Well, maybe it's not that bad, but it's nowhere in the same league as Picasa. Since Google hasn't yet developed Picasa for the Mac, I was stuck with iPhoto.

But over the last few days I've installed Parallels, which lets me dual-boot my Mac as a Windows machine. So now I can have OSX and Windows XP running at the same time. I needed Windows XP in order to run two very important applications: the Microsoft Office Suite* (I already own a license for the PC version and was not at all inclined to throw down several hundred dollars to get a Mac version) and Picasa. Hello, old friend!

*I've been using OpenOffice, which is a great product and an endeavor I wholeheartedly support. (Free! Open source! Multiplatform! Multilingual!) I also use Google Docs and Spreadsheets--formerly Writely--another great (and free!) product. Unfortunately, neither of those applications is completely compatible with the bizarre macros and documents used by one of my Microsoft-loving clients, so the Dark Side chalks up another win as I'm forced to use Microsoft Office. Urgh.

22.7 hours

That's how long this Japanese origami artist spent--nonstop (except for a break to eat)--creating an amazing phoenix from one 70cm x 70cm pieces of paper. From what I can see here, it doesn't look like he used any water or scissors here. This is way better than the sand art (which was pretty neat, too).

Lessen your environmental impact

Recycling, using fluorescent light bulbs, watering your lawn with gray water...there are lots of little things you can do to tread more lightly on the earth. Knitters can use recycled yarn or yarns made from materials that already have a low environmental impact and are quickly renewable (e.g., soy, corn). There's yet another way fiber enthusiasts can be a little nicer to the planet: by using green cell foam for needle felting.

Needle felting (which I have yet to try, I admit--though I've read enough about it to get the gist of it) involves stabbing fabric with tiny needles in order to get wool or roving that's on top of the fabric to stick to the fabric. Hmmm. That's an explanation just off the top of my head, and it doesn't seem very clear. Go here instead and read about how to do it.

The fabric to be stabbed is placed on a foam pad so you don't damage any surfaces while jabbing it with a needle. Most foam pads are made of polyurethane foam, which is a byproduct of the petroleum industry. The folks at Sticky Wicket Crafts, however, have found a vegetable-based foam to use in their pads--and they aren't more expensive than most conventional foam pads. No petroleum byproducts! Happy happy planet! Hooray!

P.S. If you want to make your own needle felting tool and like to play with power tools, check out this tutorial.

Yarn-related tidbits

I've come across lots of interesting stuff while cruising in the information superhighway over the past few weeks. (Thank goodness Al Gore invented the Internet! Whatever would I do without it?) Rather than try to think of something postworthy to say about each and every one, I'll just list them all here and let you make of them what you will.

I'm not a crocheter, but this project has me half-tempted to learn that craft. It's a bag/box shaped like one of those Japanese stone garden statues (of which I have one in my backyard). The author of this pattern filled her box (which she calls a castle bag) with crocheted fairy-tale figures, though I bet amigurumi (look here for a list of free patterns) would be equally at home here.

Check out Cat Bordhi's (yes, she of the Moebius scarf fame) instructions for knitting a treehouse.

This week's Craft: Pattern Podcast is for the Isabeau Purse, a cute little lace thing that uses only about one skein (~120 yards) of yarn and is the right size for carrying a wallet and cell phone.

Have a skein of Koigu that's burning a hole in your stash box? This beret from the Purl Bee might be just the ticket, then.

I don't own any books in Barbara Walker's Treasure of Knitting Pattern series. (Gasp! Does that mean I'm not a real knitter? This reminds me of the time in graduate school when a colleague told me I wasn't a real anthropologist because I didn't have any maps on my office walls.) Here's a just-started online project whose goal is to compile color photographs of all the stitch patterns in those books. They're looking for volunteers to create swatches and send in their photos, so if you're interested head on over there!

I live nowhere near Santa Clara, where Stitches West 2007 will be taking place later this month. Hearing about this knitting-focused train ride to Stitches West makes me a bit jealous of those who do (like my SP9--how lucky!). What fun!

Here is designer Benjamin Cho's take on the knit dress, as unveiled at his Fall 2007 runway show this week in New York. The use of knitting needles here is kind of neat. But those disembodied hands? Kind of creepy.

From BBC news comes this article about how a women's hospital in Liverpool is using knitted breasts to help teach new mothers how to breastfeed and express milk. This is a great solution for cash-strapped programs that can't afford more lifelike (and incredibly expensive) model breasts. In the article a hospital rep says that more knitters are needed, but no contact information is provided (and I couldn't find any information at the hospital's website).

More gratitude

Last fall, a very generous fellow knitter-blogger, JD, sent me her extra copies of two issues of Interweave Knits. Since then, I've been following her blogs (and she's been chiming here from time to time, too) and admiring her fabulous FOs. In December, she posted in her non-knitting blog a "guess how many holiday cards I'll send out this year" contest. I hazarded a guess of 111 (which turned out to be about double the final tally), but as the only entrant I won. I had completely forgotten about this contest--and wasn't actually expecting to receive a material prize for it--but Monday's mail brought a surprise for me: a box from JD with this lovely card and three skeins of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a beautiful red.

A few comments:

• I love love love Baby Cashmerino! I used it for Sylvia's brown cardigan (which has already made one trip through the wash and come out quite nicely) and very much enjoyed working with it. I think I may use these three skeins for something for myself...
• JD joked about being her holiday card to me being a bit late...but my own cards aren't going out in the mail until tomorrow. I like to think of them as Chinese New Year cards this time around.
• I'm a few days late in posting my thank-you about this because my Internet connection has been intermittent since Monday. (Comcast blames the super-cold weather we're having here.) Funny how not having access to e-mail and Google Reader has been jarring...it's easy to forget how much I use them. It's sort of like when the power goes out and you find yourself flipping light switches out of habit when you enter a room.
• Alas, Blogger is misbehaving (again) and won't let me post photos. That's probably a good thing, because if you saw this yarn you'd likely start drooling with envy all over your keyboard, and that's no good for the hardware.
  

Thanks, again JD!

A big thank-you to my SP9

Now that I've completed that editing assignment, it's time for me to tell you all about the amazing package I received from my SP9 a few days ago. Fortunately, Blogger decided to behave today and let me actually upload some photos. Ever since Google made everyone switch to the "new" Blogger a week or so ago, lots of people have been having all sorts of problems with their blogs. Grrrrr. How is it that one day Blogger works just fine, then the next day it acts all weird, then the day after that it's working again? I mean, it seems like it's not broken, but hiccuping or something. I wonder sometimes if some sadist who sits in a windowless room at Google has the job of pushing the "let's screw with people's heads" button that makes Blogger work intermittently. But I digress...

As I mentioned the other day, last Wednesday's mail brought a heavy box of goodies from my SP9, Lynette. She sent me a note a few days earlier telling me to expect it, but I was quite taken aback by its contents, since she'd already been so generous with the first package she sent to me a few days before Christmas. Anyway, as soon as this second box arrived, I opened it up (camera in hand, of course!) as Sylvia and Jan looked on. First, there was a layer of yarn: one dark-gray (color 64) skein of Cascade Yarns Pastaza, which is 50% llama and 50% wool (and feels so incredibly soft); and one skein of Noro Big Kureyon in color 20 (brown-gray-stone). I adore both of these colorways and am already brainstorming for ways to combine them (perhaps in a pattern from Hip Knit Hats that Lynette sent me...).

As if these two skeins of yarn weren't enough fun already, imagine my glee at discovering four skeins of Patons SWS (in the Natural Navy colorway) in the box. This stuff is 70% wool and 30% soy, and I have been itching to get my hands on some of it ever since I first heard of it. I'm really looking forward to working with this yarn, but I haven't even begun to think about what I'll do with it...any suggestions?

What's that, you say? Not enough yarn in the box? Apparently, Lynette thought so, too, because underneath that top layer of yarn she tucked away two more balls of knittable goodness. The first, a ball of Muench Touch Me Due (the "Due" variety is a more tonal version of the regular Touch Me) in copper and gold tones. Now, I should mention here that Lynette and I have chatted a bit about my aversion to acrylic/synthetic yarns. She said there were some pretty good ones out there, and I said I hadn't run across many of them yet. Well, this yarn definitely falls in the "Okay, so it's synthetic...by OH MY DOG it is pretty nice stuff!" category. I may never knit up this ball of yarn. Maybe I'll just keep it in my knitting bag so I can pull it out and stroke it ever once in a while, as though it's a cat that doesn't purr (or throw up on the kitchen floor after eating the Mighty Bites that Sylvia dropped on the floor).

The second ball of yarn at the bottom of the box was something entirely unexpected. All of the yarn Lynette sent me was fabulous stuff, but this ball takes the award for Most Unusual Yarn I Have Ever Seen in My Life. It is called Fique, and according to the distributer (check out their site for an amazing collection of unusual yarns), it is a "very sturdy and unusual pineapple fiber from South America, grown in Andean mountains. It is hand-made. Perfect for weaving mats, window covering or knitting & crocheting hats, bags, etc." What am I going to do with this stuff? I have no idea! But I will have fun experimenting with it! My hunch is that it will end up as an accent on a hat or maybe a scarf...

Last, but certainly not least, the bottom of the box was covered with non-knittables: a package of German-made Sniff tissues in a fun floral print, a packet of citrus-scented Soak no-rinse wool wash, a big tin of lemon verbena (yum) hand salve from Bonny Doon Farm (just what my winter-dry hands need!), and a bar of Santander dark chocolate--which, I'm amazed to report, actually survived the weekend here without getting eaten by me!--from Colombia. Lying at the very bottom of the box, hidden by all of the other treasures contained therein, was a copy of the new edition of Knitter's Companion, which I have already consulted about half a dozen times in the past few days.

Thanks, Lynette, for being such a great secret pal! I feel thoroughly spoiled and will very much enjoy working my way through the yarn and other goodies that you sent. And although I'm sure you didn't plan it, you may be pleased to know that you gave gifts to the rest of my family, too. Sylvia had a blast with the heart-shaped post-it notes that you used to label everything--she especially enjoyed putting them on her dad. And Jan...well, he enjoyed making Sylvia happy by letting her cover him with those post-its. So thanks again from all of us!

Nuns on the run

Now here's a story that I never, ever imagined I would be reading today. It's about nuns who are on the lam because their knitting got out of hand. I swear I am not making this up.

The end of SP9

The Secret Pal 9 exchange officially ended yesterday. For me, it ended with a bang: I received a second package from my secret pal!

Unfortunately, I'm under a work deadline and don't have time to post about the package right now. (I'm editing mathematical copy. Yes, it is mind-numbingly dull. No, my eyes haven't started bleeding yet...but check back after the weekend to see if there's been any change on that.) I took loads of photos and have a big post planned--I'm hoping to get to it within a couple of days.

For now, though, I'll just say "Thank you!" to Lynnette, who did a fabulous job spoiling me (and has a terrifically clever name for her blog)!