Well, this sort of thing can always cheer me up. And, what speedy service, too! My order from Knit Pixie, which of course was jump-started with the gift certificate from my SP6. Thank you, pal!

I resisted the yarn on the site, but loved this knitting bag. It’s a surprise to me, but I’m liking turquoise more and more these days–at least as an accent color. (Like, say, in a Peacock Shawl.) The blue silk, the embroidered accents in blue and gold, wooden handles . . . how could I resist? It’s just beautiful! And a nice size for a medium project–nothing too big. Heavens, it would make a great purse, too.

You probably can’t see it in the other picture, but there’s a package of tiny, little stitch markers. Cute, but really tiny . . . smaller than I thought they’d be, actually. (If I had realized, I would have gotten medium-sized ones.) It’s silly, but I do have some beaded markers, but still, the first ones I always reach for are the plastic ones, like I’m “saving” the good ones. Isn’t that ridicuous? Like, what, I’d break them like good china if I used it on an “everyday”? Although, the markers I like best these days are the ones like big safety pins–I like that they’re sturdy, and the “head” adds just a little weight to help them stay in place, and yet they’re not heavy on the needles . . . and I think that, right there, is probably why I use them. Beads get heavy!

Hey–how is it possible that I didn’t know that Rowan had two new versions of Kidsilk Haze? Kidsilk Spray in variegated colors, and Kidsilk Night with sparkles. Who knew? (Show of hands? Anybody?) Maybe if I hadn’t let my subscription lapse? I don’t really miss it (and didn’t love the pictures I saw from the latest issue #38), but I do like their Classic collections . . . they’re . . . classy!

Tomorrow, Mom and I are going to the Peters Valley Crafts Fair at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. We went last year, too, and met my sister and niece there, and had a really nice time. I bought a skein of hand-spun, hand-dyed wool, too–back before I could spin myself. (I don’t remember–I wonder if they’ll be there again, and if they sell roving?) I bought myself a pretty silver-and-bead necklace that I loved, too. Well, still do, actually, but it’s tried to escape. I wore it to work one day last December, and took Chappy out for a walk at lunchtime, went back to work, came home . . . and realized the necklace wasn’t around my neck any more. I called the office to ask a coworker to check the parking lot where my car was. We went for another walk, as the sun was setting, to search (Chappy was thrilled). But no, nothing. I was crushed. But then, the next day . . . we were on a walk and Mom was talking about how my Grandfather had a knack for finding jewelry (like, the time my Grandmother lost her diamond ring on the beach on Martha’s Vineyard and he reached down into the sand and pulled it up). We were just saying how we wished he were there to help, when Mom glanced down and . . . there it was. (Thanks, Grandpa!) The poor thing had been run over who knows how many times, but it was mostly intact. A little scratched, to be sure, but in one piece except for the clasp. I dug out the receipt and called the girl who’d made it, who said I could mail it back to be fixed. Phew! I really like that necklace.

My mood is better today–thank you all for your concern. First, it’s Friday–thank heaven! I’m even taking two days off next week, so it’ll be a longer weekend than usual. I’m hoping to buy some apples (it’s the end of September, it’s a must). And of course, I’m relieved that Hurricane Rita has dropped to a Category 3 . . . still huge, but not quite as devastating. It’s such a shame about New Orleans, though–flooding again–but really, is anybody really surprised at that? Frankly, if the patched-together levees had held I would have been amazed. Category 3, Category 5–those levees are weak right now. I trust that they’ll have them fixed and strong for next year, but now, one month after such a devastating hurricane? How could they possibly have managed that so quickly? I think saying that “our worst fears have come true” is an exaggeration–I don’t think that NOLA’s levees breaking now is the worst–that happened a month ago when the whole city flooded. How much more damage, really, can this new flood do? It’s disappointing and a huge step backward for a hard-hit city, but is it actually worse than it was before? (And, don’t get me started on that poor bus of elderly evacuees this morning.)

Has anyone else noticed how many news people are fumbling on the names of the hurricanes? Katrina-Rita-Rina. That almost-rhyme at the end of the names, I’ve been hearing a lot of misnomers as they cover the stories. And one thing I haven’t heard about–they evacuated thousands of Katrina-people to the Houston Astrodome, and now they’re evacuating Houston . . . are those people still in the Astrodome, or have they evacuated somewhere else? One more observation–now, I think we learned a lot of things about monster-hurricane response, and evacuating smartly and safely (with pets), and how important it is to communicate . . . all the things that fell apart with Katrina. That monster is still strong enough in everyone’s memory that we’re taking Rita seriously. And therefore the response should be a lot smoother than it was after Katrina. Any bets on how many people start screaming right away that “of course Bush acted faster, it’s his own state?”

I hope everybody stays safe out there.

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Bright Side // 7 Comments »