I'm here! I'm really here.

Haley (the Knitomatic goddess) declared: "you need a blog". I’ve been contemplating it for a while. God knows I’m narcissistic enough and the verbal diarrhea flows, but I don’t know that I have the time and inclination to generate this crap on a regular basis, at least not enough to be posting new entries at reasonable intervals. So if I have a blog, I will feel obligated about the care and feeding of the blog and/or guilty about neglecting the blog and really, do I need another thing to feel that way about? My life has two speeds: full go and stop. I’m much too busy with gigs and stuff, then I flatline: Nothing. Nada. Zip... Then I'm way too busy again… and so on and so on. Still, my own blog became a more and more intriguing notion (cf. narcissistic) and so here I am. Haley - it's all your fault.

Oh, did I mention that I knit? And I am (as you may have guessed) a sock-a-holic. I knit my very first sock just a few short weeks ago (Wendy J.'s toe-up wrap&turn short-row toes and heels) and as I finished turning the toe I was filled with glee! My inner child did the Snoopy-dance, complete with feet whirling and ears twirling. What is it about this simple mundane object that is so deeply and profoundly satisfying for knitters?

I do have varying knitterly tastes. I am rather partial to lace patterned cotton tops and sleek tunic pullovers. My first (unaborted) cardi is on the needles now: Knit and Tonic Wendy B's "Something Red" (only mine's more of a purple grapey colour). And I am planning a lace shawl in the not too distant future, pattern undecided (the shortlist is down to about 20).

And then there's the beautiful Simple Knitted Bodice(Steph aka Glampyre design, from StitchDiva). Ah, the very lovely SKB. I swoon with desire. It's a perfect style: this baby gives boyish figures curves and gives curvy figures a nice sleek shape. I am far on the Rubenesque side of scale, and this design is exactly the sort of thing for zaftig bodaceous babes like me!

I've been scoping out the KAL and craftster forums on this pattern, looking over other knitters' online shoulders for inspiration and guidance because this pattern is so gorgeous I don't want to mess it up. And apparently it's a bit of a yarn pig (even aside from the exorbitant cost of the recommended Tilli Thomas pure silk yarn). Since I need to be a little fibre-frugal, yarn substitution is the way for me. Bamboo has a lovely drape and sheen so it will mimic the silk at a better price. I'm using SWTC bamboo in "purplexed", a variegated rich purple/wine/magenta colourway. To add some irridescent dazzle to the lace bits, I'm just planning to carry along a strand of SWTC shimmer in "blush." (sorry, I am way too lazy to do all this AND start stringing them beads by hand). So I'm now working up a prelim version in some fuschia stash cotton. Then it's on to the purplicious bamboo. I also have some gorgeous Fleece Artist Kidsilk 2-ply on order in the "cosmic dawn" colourway (charcoal with magenta and turquoise and gold and green). I think it will make a terrific winter version of SKB if I can get the gauge.

I was up (and knitting) until dawn (yes, the one with the sun coming up and the birds and squirrels and all that) a couple of nights ago. For some bizarre reason my body clock is going around the world or something. I’m staying awake later and later into the night every day, and asleep much of the day. And I am having the most amazing vivid andentertaining (weird) dreams! I really should write this stuff down. It's better than most of the stuff in movies or TV-land.

On Wednesday my personal body-clock skidded over the Greenwich mean time line: I woke up mid-afternoon, puttered around for a couple of hours then wandered over to S&B at Knitomatic. I got home around 10:00 pm and we had a late supper, watched some TV (we love the new sitcom "Til Death" with Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher) and eventually crawled into bed at 2:30 am. After lying there wide awake for nearly an hour I gave up and came back downstairs so I wouldn't disturb my DH (aka -the lightest sleeper on Earth). I read and surfed and knit until 7:30 Thursday morning.

It’s almost like jet lag, only I never got to go anywhere fun on the plane! Fortunately, the cycle seems to be shifting further and further into the next day, so eventually I should catch up to local time again. Or (gulp) will I be in some strange science fiction scenario where I’m a day behind/ahead of everyone else?… And the DH is keeping a wary eye on my teeth (I am of Romanian descent). I showed him where I keep the jumbo Size 15 bamboo needles, just in case. He may start sleeping with them under his pillow.

Of course, if my sleep cycle stays f----d up, then blogging will give me something to do in the pre-dawn wee hours of the night.

Well, dinner's been getting cold so I really should go. Before I sign off: apologies for the lack of linkage and pictorial content. I will look into the former and edit this post tomorrow. The latter will sadly await funding for a digital camera.

But: I'm here! I'm finally here.