it's hip to be square

gee, i seem to be quoting musical lyrics for my titles lately. here's the latest in the square-athon. this is woolease chunky in some green. it looks sage in this pic, but it's more olive. a very fast knit. i'm on to the red garter stitch just cuz i didn't want to fool around too much.

on the home front, mark's blood pressure is down. not as low as i'd like to see (the bottom number was 84, which is better, but still a little worrying). granted he's only been on the medication for a week, so we'll see what happens. he keeps telling me he needs my doctor's phone number, so he can call and make an appointment, but when i offer it to him it's "tell me later, i don't have time right now." hmmm. well he'd better, because he didn't make an appointment with the people he's been seeing. i sense a nagging about to occur.

Knit Bits
2/6: I love the way multicolored yarns soften the edge of a piece or pick up colors from different sections and tie themt ogether harmoniously. Once i took up sock knitting, i began to use the yarns more and more. because of hte sock's samll size, the colors staged out in a pleasing and ever fascinating way. - from The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel (i own this book, and it rocks! it takes you from dyeing to spinning to actual sock construction. amazing)

2/7: The town of Andover, MA, adjudged knitting a productive substitute for "larking about," and in 1642 decreed: "The Court doe hereupon order and decree that in every towne the chosen men are to take care of such as are sett to keep cattle that they sett to some other employment withall as spinning upon the rock, knitting and weaving tape etc. that boyes and girls will be not su ffered to converse together."
- from No Idle Hands by Anne. L. Macdonald

2/8: Mittens are for fun. They should be knitted in colors that make you smile.

2/9: The alpaca is a relative of the llama and it is found mostly int he high mountains of Peru, above 14000 feet. alpaca is long-stapled (meaning it has relatively long fibers) and silky, but not as elastic as wool, which leads to more stretch of the garment over time. Many alpaca yarns are found in their natural color (there are 22 officially classified colors). - from Knitting with Novelty Yarns by Laura Militzer Bryant and Barry Klein.

2/10: One day Winnie asked "Do you think you would have any use for a few baby dolls in the clinic?" That's the church health center in memphis, TN, wehre we provide health care for the working uninsured and their children. We have 30000 patients. winnie brought out one of her dolls. "i've made these for years for all of my grandchildren, who are all now grown." the doll was incredibly cute. her husband, george, piped up, "she spends all her spare time knitting them." winnie has donated hundreds of dolls to the clinic over the years. the dolls enchant and distract our littler patients. indeed, some families iwht many children have several of her dolls. - scott morris quoted in KnitLit, edited by linda roghaar and molly wolf.