Sockin' Along

I think it was Mark Twain who said something like "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." (Yes, I know I'm paraphrasing.)

If Mark had been a blogger (and if I know anything about him, it's that he would he would have loved blogging!), he would undoubtedly have been reported dead once or twice when he missed a blog entry. Given that even ten years ago, we'd never even heard the word "blog," it's amazing that so many people can get so cranky when you stop blogging.

Actually, I shouldn't be amazed. We've become such a culture of immediacy that we need our news right now--on our phones, on our computers, via Twitter or CNN via Twitter. People think if there's no blog, there must be no life. Soon there will be someone offering a Twitter-After-Death service, sort of a eulogy in 140 characters or less, to let your Followers know they better start following someone else:

"George won’t be Tweeting today. He died early this morning peacefully surrounded by his most valued social networking tools and his IPhone."*

Or, in Haiku, a communication mechanism with its own constraints:

George won't tweet today.

Please post this news on Facebook.

Hush, now, George, for good.

Anyway, I'm not dead. But for me, blogging requires that my head be in the write (he he, that was unintentional, but funny) space.

And space-wise, things haven't been right or write for a few weeks. And, yes, I'm trying to pull myself together to get back into the proper space.

In the meantime, what have I been doing? Well, working as usual. The high point of last week was being challenged by one of the kids I work with, who said, "you're an old lady, aren't you?" Well, yes, actually, I am. Now what are you gonna do about it?

And knitting. Sock knitting, and baby knitting. No, I realize you can't actually knit a baby, and I wouldn't if I could. I'm quite pleased to be out of the baby production phase of my life. If you could just roll up a baby and stick it in your sock drawer with all the other babies you've knit, taking it out on that cold, crisp day that seems to warrant a baby to keep your feet warm, that would be one thing. But instead, you need to actually deal with the baby. So, no babies, thank you.

But it seems all the nieces and cousins ARE doing babies so I'm knitting FOR babies. Not what I do best, but I'm working on it. More later.

And I've been shuttling back and forth between Atlanta and Charlotte. And yes, my daughter's much better now, and thank you very much for asking. One of the side benefits of the shuttle was finding two new yarn shops in Charlotte.

One of them is The Fibre Studio at Yarns to Dye For, downtown. OMG! The owner is actually a dyer and her yarns are actually beautiful if not to die for. I fell in love with one of her colors called Tequila Sunrise and would have bought it in every weight if I could have. Great store! Tiny, mind you, and only a few high-quality brands plus the shop yarn. Not the place to go if you have a specific yarn in mind and won't put up with substitutes, or if you feel like swinging a cat or a pug around wildly, but otherwise, wonderful!

And, closer to DD#1's house, The Yarn Shop by Rainy Day Creations in Pineville. Pineville is a funky little town on the southeast side of Charlotte and The Yarn Shop is almost invisible among the antique shops and railroad depot restaurants, but well worth a visit. Very, very friendly staff and a good selection of yarns and books.

Okay, enough of an update. More news and photos of finished and not-so-finished objects to come.

Stand by. I'm not dead. Or anywhere close. (That I know of.)

*Yes, that's exactly 140 characters, including spaces. And yup, I've heard that Twitter is going to an expanded model with more characters (230? can't remember) but I kinda like the old, compressed, squatty format.