That’s the angle AI “artists” and “authors” never get. They’re selling tap water next to a drinking fountain. Even if I loved AI stuff, why would I pay them when I can generate just what I like for cheap?

Monma's "Into the Mist" sweater update: the yoke is done, and I'm progressing on the body. I have a gnawing anxiety that the 20 balls of yarn won't be enough. I mean, this thing is huge.

We got to talking about The Princess Bride tonight, debating whether or not we had an actual copy of the movie list somewhere in the clutter. I told him about four of us freshman dorm-mates taking turns reading the book aloud. There's a bit about a deleted kissing scene. Goldman says that his

Pray you once more, Is not your father grown incapable Of reasonable affairs? Is he not stupid With age and alt’ring rheums? Can he speak? Hear? Know man from man? Dispute his own estate? Lies he not bed-rid? And again does nothing But what he did being childish?

"Amber fragrances, perfumery's cheek-to-cheek dance, have been exploring the edges of the same mattonella since the 1920s."

The Baby Llama just isn't working out. It makes a fabric that looks halfway felted, which is not a great look. @gsnorgathon.bsky.social reminded me of the sunk cost fallacy. I'll be ripping this out today and looking for a replacement yarn. Bleh.

Front 242.

I don't know how many times I've played this since yesterday. It's so lovely. It's my favorite song about dead musicians (not that those are necessarily thick on the ground. But it goes up against New Order's "In a Lonely Place" and comes out the winner.)

I'm gonna start knitting the Sakura Jacket. Never mind the two projects I started last week, or the three sweaters languishing in pieces in a box. This pattern is going to be majorly challenging, and I might come in here to cry from time to time.

Speaking of trains, Amtrak is offering the US Rail Pass for nearly 50% off through tomorrow. We are pondering....

On my side table this morning: entrelac swatch in mineral green, a ball of Lang Baby Llama in purple, and a cake of Isager Alpaca 2 in purple. I swatched last night with the latter two held together for Monma's Sakura Jacket. This yarn is sooooft.

This sounds like my ideal life.

The beginning of Monma's "Into the Mist" massively oversized sweater.

I have spent a productive late morning updating my stash in Ravelry. My adorable niece sent all fingering weight, which is my preferred weight. A lot of the yarn is merino from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise, a company I've never encountered before. And there are some skeins of cashmere, which feel lovely.

It's funny that one of the things people learn as very small children is "you get better at doing the thing by doing the thing." Everyone learns this as a small kid, it is very obviously completely true. And using genAI manages to instantly make people forget it, and start arguing about it.

I have spent a productive morning unsubscribing from every company that wants to sell me something, except for Interweave Knits (patterns) and Penzeys.

On my internal radio: "Nightshift" by the Commodores. Because I am wide awake at zero thirty.

Old person to youngs: If at a certain point in your life people from long in your past start reaching out to you, like calling and texting and emailing you even though you haven't had anything to do with them for years, ANSWER THEM. It may be their last chance to talk with you. They may know it.

It's more utter yarn insanity! I hadn't realized until she mentioned it yesterday that my niece had sent me *two* boxes. This one is huge! It's enough to make me try my hand at designing.

Me: "Fuck you! Fuck you!" @gsnorgathon.bsky.social: "Moth?" He knows me well.

Short, shameful confession: I haven't written any fiction since 12/21.

Dear Knitters, I hand-washed one of my BIG Big Wool swatches and this happened. It's all stretched out and has completely lost its loft. Is there any way to revive it? Is there any way to avoid this in future?

A tale of three swatches. The gray and the pink swatches are knit in Rowan BIG Big Wool - the pink on US19 needles and the gray on US50. For comparison, the mineral-green swatch is worsted weight yarn knit with US7 needles. The oversized sweater pattern calls for the US50, but the fabric is loose.

I'm swatching the Rowan BIG Big Wool with the knitting nunchucks. A) the needles are heavy, b) my tension is all over the place, and c) I am being incredibly awkward with them. Practice makes perfect, or at least adequate.

Next up: a gift of yarn from my adorable niece! She has a friend who used to own a yarn shop. When said friend went out of business, she gave my niece boxes of yarn. Now my niece is sharing in that bounty. The colors match my olive-green embroidered dress. So excited to work with these!

The Bunny Bowl of New Arrivals has certainly been busy this morning! First up, via Etsy, the biggest commercial knitting needles, US50. @gsnorgathon.bsky.social calls them my knitting nunchucks.

Because I am a fucking freak, I only just now noticed that my Medicare bill is quarterly. I'm tired of living my life in a nearly constant state of alarm.

Very few knitters love to weave in yarn tails. It is a tedious, time-consuming task that we have to do at the moment when we want to start wearing our new project the most. tenrowsaday.com/tail-free-ya... #knitting #yarn #handmade #crafts #fiberarts #diy #beginnerknitter #art #textiles #crochet

25 years ago today, a delivery truck clipped the corner of the 1909 Pioneer Square pergola and brought the whole structure down.

Speaking of bees, we went down to Williams Sonoma today to look at the bee china. It was utterly charming. Being in Williams Sonoma is like being in a museum. Everything gleams. There are so many alluring, beautiful shapes and textures and colors. Each object is precious in its way.

If I didn't feel fairly certain that attempting this kind of color work would make me scream, cry, and throw up, possibly simultaneously, I would knit these mittens in a canned heartbeat.

Warning: Reports indicate immigration checkpoints along major interstates in Oklahoma, with Interstate 40 most impacted.

Throwback Thursday: My father the hitman.

Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. Mary Oliver (“Sometimes,” from Red Bird)

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness

Stop scrolling and post two characters that bring you happiness

The year before he died, my dad said to me "I want to run and jump and skip and play, but I can't." I think about that from time to time. I think I understand how he felt.

It turns out that my ferritin levels are super low, so I need to have five once-a-week iron infusions at the hospital. This should help with some of my weird symptoms (that scientists don't want you to know about!!!)

There's a peach and strawberry pie in the oven, and @gsnorgathon.bsky.social is mixing up his wonderful Irish soda bread. To top that off, we have lovely jams from @desolina.bsky.social to put on the soda bread. Idyllic.

While @gsnorgathon.bsky.social was off getting his haaaaar cut, I spent a nice, LOUD time with my adorable German punk granddaughter and her band. If they came to town, I *would* spatula my hermit ass out the door to see them, and that's saying a lot.

In other news, damn it, Williams Sonoma has got bee plates.

We have raccoons under the enclosed back porch once again. Talk radio is blaring by the crawlspace door. Raccoons hate that as much as I do.

The frozen shrimp slit open the bottom of their Ziploc bag and escaped onto the floor.

Another story idea.

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. It looks messy here because it's all bunched up, but I've got the proper basket weave happening. I'm treating this swatch the way I'll treat the actual project, which is to say, if I mess up, I rip back and do it over again.

Lawrence of Arabia

Acorn Street, my local yarn store, is offering me 15% off during my birthday week. It's a conspiracy, I tell you.

We took a 21-minute walk around three blocks in the neighborhood, and had peach/strawberry pie afterwards. My pies may be ugly, but they're utterly delicious.

This is the most glamorous piece of bakeware I've ever seen, and for that price it damn well better be.

This morning's excitement: using the reusable coffee filters from REI. We used to buy our bulk Melitta coffee filters from Amaz*n. Now we will give them no more money, and we'll be generating less waste.