the yarn we make OWNS the yarn we buy

Also I want to make sweet sweet love to the Verizon network specialist. 

My Internet went bye-bye Sunday night and unusually, it was not a problem with the Mac Time Capsule thingy, which is a clever idea but an imperfect technology and takes a little time off every once in a while, but with the FiOS router which lost it's IP address. Or something.  I was describing this to someone last night and I said iSp which makes me feel retroactively dumb, but there's no way to correct that without looking like a tool, so I shall have to just soldier on.

Tech A got a little forest-for-the-trees about the presence of the secondary Mac router which no-ma'am-we-cannot-provide-support-for, and obviously the failure of the Mac unit to communicate with the Verizon base-station is not our problem.  No matter that I pointed out that a) it had never had a problem in the previous 6 months of my FiOS relationship and b) it was the VERIZON router that was failing to be seen wirelessly, not the Mac router, which was, by the way, disconnected and unplugged and no longer involved IN ANY WAY, please imagine it to be in Tahiti enjoying a pleasant rest, and yet the Verizon router was still not working, let us focus on that please.

He was a Mac hater and once he exhausted the 2 steps on his script had nothing to add except to explain to me that he found the Mac upgrades difficult.  To which I said, I would be sure to take that into account the next time I buy a computer, but it was rather late to do anything about it NOW.  Could we focus on the moment?

Fortunately he recognized the moment I was about to go from Forgive me, can you tell me what comes next now?  to WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CANNOT OFFER ANOTHER SOLUTION YOU MISERABLE SON OF AN ACRYLIC AFGHAN and passed me up the line to Tech 2, a network specialist, who helped me change my encryption, which had mysteriously reset itself and got me back on line in 40 seconds, at which point I professed my love and elevated him to the status of god.

I get antsy when deprived of email.  I am however, trying to spend less time on line.  Someone said something on Facebook the other day that struck a cord:   Am I going to get where I want in life spending 6 hours a day on Ravelry?
Now, I do not spend 6 hours a day on Ravelry, but I have been, if you add it all up, a little more involved with the ether than is strictly useful, or even healthy, for the last little while.  It is so easy to get distracted and read fascinating things and chat with friends and flirt with boys and look at Facebook and scan patterns and order shoes and cruise how-tos on any possible subject until suddenly, it's bedtime and you've been on your ass all evening and how did that happen? 

Life's Rich Pageant includes many things that are outside the magic box and this is good to remember.

In other news:

So, new president last week.  That was cool.  I am keeping the counter in the sidebar for a little while, I like seeing it at zero hour.  And I have added the White House Blog to the sidebar.  Someone asked me why I didn't blog the Inauguration/transition.  Truth is, I didn't have much to say:  It was a good show, I'm a fan, Dick Cheney in a wheelchair was noteworthy but in the end a bit unsatisfying (I would have liked it maybe if the earth had opened and Satan had come to collect his soul personally, but then, I only believe in Satan as a metaphor anyway). The speech was good, I got a bit choked up watching our new president's face assume the office - it was nice to see a political figure who takes that seriously, who has some gravitas.  I enjoyed watching the previous president's face while Obama indicted his entire philosophy of governance.   I was glad that there didn't seem to be anyone with a gun, I was on edge for the worst possible thing all the time.  And for sure, this is a remarkable moment in marking progress in race relations.  But only a moment. 

And nothing's fixed in a moment.  Racism and sexism still haunt this nation, and there is much work to be done to repair the errors of the past and build a nation we can all breathe in.   He's made a start I approve of.  It IS nice not to flinch with shame when the news comes on.   I really liked that that was the tone he took, no more easy solutions. Or non-solutions.

In a very positive way, I say....we'll see. 

Been losing yarn recently - the gorgeous gray Shetland I spun several years ago eludes me - I am trying to lay my hands on it so I can finish the last bag of locks and make a determination as to what I can do with it.  (Also I had a house guest this weekend I wanted to show it to).  No where to be found.

2 skeins, dk-ish to light worsted weight 2 ply, a bit sheepy smelling, answers to the name Freedom?  Seen it?

Also I made a thoroughly awesome and somewhat sparkly skein of fat fluffy yarn at SOAR.  Well I began it at SOAR in Maggie Casey's excellent retreat session, and finished it over Christmas (yay for remembering a new technique for several inert months.  Can't find my notes either).  Can I find it?  No.  I took it to the office for a daylight picture a month ago.  It's not at work any more.  It is in none of the usual places.  SUPER bulky but light and airy.  Natural gray with streaks of blue firestar.  Yarn I made the way it is ON PURPOSE.  And pretty.

 
It WAS going to be a hat.   A really, really good one.  The fiber was from Morro.  Sob.

I'm obsessed with gray yarn right now. 

The only knitting going on is slow progress on an old sweater.  Somehow I have made up my mind I need to finish it before I go on and lord, it bores me.  It's blue.  My favorite blue, mind you. 

Took this months ago when lady bugs were in season.  So it is even a LUCKY blue sweater now.  Not that you could tell by my progress. 

I want gray.  Or cashmere. Or new.  Or all three.  Or two of the three. 

I know, I know, start something.  But the thing I detest most about myself recently is the not finishing a damn rubbishing thing.  So it's a struggle for my soul now, not just a sweater.  Rassenfracking transitional stages.  Fucking evolution of the self.  Dammit.

I spun this weekend, that was cool. 

As the good doctor said to me recently, really, I am great.  I know how it might look from far away, but I am.  There are half written posts littering the place, posts that might even be good and worth reading, posts with books, and racism and growth and steam curled around cooking pots and books and lost skills and respecting history, but me, I have been as settled as the wind for a while and nothing is finished.  I might have mentioned it?

(I know the title makes no sense, I started out intending to write about the spinning.  Everything in the fullness of time, my poppets)

Comments

[ellen]

The Giant Time Sucking Internet - my problem exactly. The trouble is that it CAN feel like you may be doing something useful - learning about the internal workings of camels or atomic bombs, or the government of Pakistan, but what you are reading about has and will have nothing to do with your actual life, which is passing by unnoticed.

[lanea]

The yarn, particularly handspun, should not be able to just walk off like that. It's not fair, or, you know, sensible. Since yarn clearly does not seem ambulatory in its natural state. Hmmmmph.

[twinsetellen]

What a photo - such a color combination with that ladybug and your sweater.

[Nell]

Love that ladybug photo. Just keep knitting... The projects will get done.

[mel]

I like seeing your counter at "0" too - Whenever I visited before the inauguration it was a reassuring sight.

Yes, far too much time online, though I feel like I'm making progress in that area, in bits and pieces anyway. No matter how much time I spend on Rav or Flickr or the blogs or email I can't seem to keep up with it all as well as I'd like, so I'm trying to make the time a little more productive anyway - only the blogs & photos & correspondences that I enjoy or that mean something to me. Not so much Ravelry. I have enough projects to keep me busy & happy for awhile and the temptation for others may only make me overwhelmed or dissatisfied or both. Not healthy. That little leechblocker thingie you posted about awhile back is helpful. I haven't lost any evenings lately to random surfing. But I did lose this a.m. Dammit.

[Charlene]

You know, this grey thing? Just this morning I was looking at the dye job on the sweater I'm wearing (too blue from a distance, almost pleasingly green close-up) and pondering the other mistaken (but lovely) green dye job I've done in the recent past, and thinking fondly of a silvered green, a grey with a hint of green, something like lamb's ears with not hairy, and a touch darker. Mmmm, grey, sigh.

I do hope you find your lovely yarns.

And I'm so with you on the new administration. I LOVE that he's smart and pro-science, pro-information, pro-intellect and cautious and articulate. What a refreshing change. And yes, we'll see.

[donna lee]

I don't turn the computer on at home for days at a time because I have a computer in front of my face at work and it's nice to not have one in front of my face at night. I listen to books on my mp3 player and play with the spinning wheel or knit. Lovely way to spend the evening.

"Not all those who wander are lost"-Tolkien from the Fellowship of the Ring

[Jocelyn]

Ooh, so much in one lovely post. Loved the Cheney fantasy; it's one I've had myself (in technicolor, complete with red horned beasts...). I have loved being able to listen to our nation's president over this last week; I don't agree with everything he says, but so far I agree with the attitude with which he approaches his job, and that's huge. As for not finishing things, I'm in the middle of the same sort of struggle with the last two books I've read/am reading. They're boring me to tears, they're not capturing my imagination, and I keep plowing through, even though I have suggested to myself several times that as I am reading them FOR FUN, this kind of slogging attitude is perhaps counter to my purpose. Now, if I were reading them to better myself in any way, that might be different...

[tina]

"... to build a nation we can all breathe in ..." -- I like that. Change we can breathe in. Yeah, breathing is good. Listening to the old guard's hyperventilating these days is good fun too, but it can also keep one on the box for ass-numbingly long.

Always a treat to find a new post of yours. Thanks.

[Marji]

I'm so glad I was not drinking anything when I got to the Dick Cheney hopes. My feelings exactly.

It WAS a good speech, wasn't it? The relief is amazing.

[Kath]

I'd give Tech A major credit for recognizing that it was time to forward you on to someone who actually COULD help you, because truly that never happens to me. I generally have to push forward all the way through the point of head spinning around and steam coming out my ears and specifically request (through gritted teeth) a supervisor.

But considering the guest list at the inauguration, if there was going to be any sort of smiting there were probably even better choices than Cheney readily available.

[Lynn]

I checked and I don't have your missing yarn. Now, would you check your place for me, just in case all those missing hours in a day are hiding out there? Thanks!

[=Tamar]

Insubordiknit is having an Unloved Object swap. Just saying.

[Lizbon]

I love titles that make no sense. Nice to see you here again, darling, though please don't mistake that sentiment for not understanding that one needs to bow out of blogging for breaks now and then.

[Marin]

Even though it's curretly MIA, possibly because you took it to the office, the v. pretty picture of the blue firestar yarn is worth some hassle. It's a loverly picture.

Also? I feel if you used the proper voice, "...son of an acrylic afghan" would be recognisable as the most reprehensible piece of sludge from the bottom of you shoe... even to a non-knitter.

[evalyn]

"All who wander are not lost" I dont' know who said that, Willie Nelson maybe, or Buddah. At any rate, I like it, it fits so many of my life stages. Also, finishing projects does not always mean binding off the finished knitting. It might mean saying goodbye to something you once loved, maybe still love, but just don't . . . you know? any more. I'm happy to hear that the going to the grey side is not just me. Love it, suits me, feels good. Maybe grey is the color of wandering.

Juno: so good to hear from you.

[Cathy]

Re: Obama. I have to learn to stop lunging for the 'off' button on the radio when my local NPR guy says 'And now, the president's weekly address'. Eight years of trauma induced by listening to that other guy is harder to get over than I had suspected.

And,sheesh. I consider ANY knitting miraculous at this point. And spinning too? Way beyond my powers. I just knitted a hat for the 9 year old boy (which he adores), and feel that I am due some sort of prize. Pitiful, really.

[Tsarina of Tsocks]

The grey obsession! I thought it was just me! I actually had to respond to Steph's question the other day that my winter things match purely by chance because I seem to be addicted to certain shades of grey.

And having beautiful grey handspun totally compounds the felony. Especially when you made it the way it is ON PURPOSE. I so hear you - ask me how I know. :)

(And no, dammit, I still haven't fixed my stupid e-mail thing WRT typepad. Off to try again.)

[Laura J]

Hey babe! Neil Gaiman won the Newbery Medal!

[kmkat]

"...a little more involved with the ether than is strictly useful, or even healthy..." Me, too, and I made a similar resolution not to be so; in my case, I resolved not to play Solitaire whilst listening to iTunes. There are far better ways to relax, some of them involving yarn.

Speaking of yarn, that light-as-air, fluffy gray stuff? Perhaps it floated away. Have you checked your ceiling? I hope you don't have any of those big exhaust fans in your ceiling like were in the origianl Willy Wonka movie. That would be tragic.

[Wendelene]

I have a problem, every time I hear "President Obama" on a newscast, I get this great big grin on my face. I thought after the first couple days the novelty would wear off, but so far it still makes me all tingly. It's going to be a long hard slog, but damn it feels good to be heading back in the right direction!