Uncharacteristically Quiet

Happy Thursday...time for Random Wednesday!

So, for once in my life, I'm not being loud.  It's not because I've suddenly seen the light or anything.  I have laryngitis.  It doesn't matter how hard I try, or how much I want to yell about something.  I simply cannot.  The best I can do is a weak and rather painful croak.  The kids think it's hilarious, and I know mamarhys is secretly smiling to herself.  Well, way to shut me up, huh?  Can't stop me blogging, though.

• Thanksgiving is at my house in two weeks.  Last year I planned like a maniac, but it was all still a big rush.  I should probably be planning this year, but I have a big presentation on Monday, and frankly I can't really talk turkey until I'm past that.  Well, I ordered the turkey.  That's the best I can do.
• HEN is back.  She looks great, though I'm abashed to say that I have not spun on her yet.  Last night I spent a long time talking to a friend who is about to give birth and is in that place where she's taking stock of her life and really needed to have an HDR ("heavy, deep, and real," it's an acronym we made up for her, nuff said) conversation.  I didn't even knit.  The night before I went to bed at 7 because of this virus that has settled in my voicebox.  But anyway, she's back and she's beautiful and based on a few turns she's much quieter and looks like she's ready to rumble.  Soon, my pretty...  She has new leathers, a little grease in the right places, some tightening up, a little correct assembly (yeah, not my specialty), and looking good.  Welcome home, HEN.
• I've been thinking about weaving.  Because in my tiny home, we totally need a loom.  But I really want to try it, and there's a great weaving community around here.  And I've heard you can weave with handspun singles.  And it's fast.  And a whole new way to play with fiber.  Cool.  I have been asked to wait until we do the addition on the house.  So of course I'm now on the job calling architects.  Anyone know a good architect in Western Mass. who won't be insulted when he sees our poky little house?
• I cast on for some F&F socks with some lovely koigu I was gifted with a few months ago.  I love the yarn, but it's pooling.  I thought F&F was supposed to be the anti-pooling yarn.  Sigh.  Oh well, I'll consider it a design feature and move on. Still, working with that silky merino and the colors--oh the colors!  Who cares how they line up!
• I almost forgot to tell you about the visit from the Mafia!  The FemiKnit Mafia came to Noho this past weekend, complete with her mother and son (aka Little Man).  Little Man is scary-smart--the two-year-old is reading numbers and letters, I'm like, "dude!", and he is devastatingly handsome and very, very well-behaved and flexible.  And did I mention two years old?  What's that about?  Mom has an appreciation for beautifully colored yarn, and the Mafia is fun and interesting and just one of those people you feel like you already know.  She's coming back without family units next week and we'll talk more. We also have a firm commitment to mock the designs in the Vogue Knitting I bought on our yarn crawl together.  Because why else would you buy Vogue Knitting?  Oh yeah, there is always the one sane pattern in every issue.  I've yet to make one though.
• Oh, Minh's other TV recommendation is Postcards from Buster.  (His tastes are nothing if not eclectic.)  The kids an I just started watching it, and it's totally awesome, all about life in different communities across North America.  Usually I put the TV on when I really need to do something, like take a shower or cook dinner, but I just want to sit and watch this one.  Oh, and Buster even has a blog.  No RSS feed, though.
• Well, gotta go to work.  I just have to hope nobody wants to talk to me on the phone, because I'm going to sound like an emphysema patient or something.  Email, baby, email.

Comments

[JoVE]

Sorry to hear about the voice. I feel for you. That silent mocking thing is particularly annoying. And what's with the weaving? Have you been secretly hanging out over at the Curmudgeon? If not, maybe go read some of her recent stuff. She got a loom a couple of months ago.

[PumpkinMama]

Aargh - I too have the virus that makes me sound like a half dead frog with the worst hangover ever. Not pretty, especially when I've had scores of meeting where I must talk all week. Oh, and PumpkinBoy is a huge Buster fan as well, a very cool kid show. Hope you feel better soon.

[Isela]

We love watching Buster at our house, I believe it teaches them about other cultures and what other kids are doing.

Hope you get feeling better ;).

[Norma]

Oh, gah! I hate the viruses that choose really horrible places to settle, like the larynx. Damn those viruses.

Do you have a steamer? They work wonders.

[Carole]

Hannah has had this same virus. The other day she announced that she was losing her voice and Dale and I started cheering. You can call me a terrible mother but just wait until your kids are 13. You will cheer for laryngitis, too.

[Kathy]

Postcards from Buster is a crowd favorite around here. And guess what came home with me the other day from my knitting group -- Julie's drop spindle and some little baggies of fleece. It's begun . . .

[Steph]

Last time I had laryngitis I had to defend myself to my board of directors. It was not pretty. Though I came away relatively unscathed.

It is a cruel punishment for bitchy and loud women like myself.

Hope yours clears up soon and the family doesn't take too much pleasure in your enforced silence.

[Cara]

You mean you don't sound sexy? ;-) You sound relaxed. Even though I'm sure you're crazy, you sound a bit relaxed. Hope you really are. Feel better soon!

[Christina]

Cate- New reader here. I took a fiber arts class last semester, and while we had the full-on takes-up-a-whole-room looms, we all started with a rigid heddle table loom from Ashford. See here: http://www.ashford.co.nz/weaving/weaving-frameset.htm

It is easy to learn the basics, like getting your heddle set up (it is so much easier just doing 40 versus 400!) and you can lean it against a wall when you're done.

[Kat with a K]

I hope you feel better soon! And I hope the stuff I sent is coming in handy...

Did you manage to miss all the hoopla earlier this year about Buster not being allowed to visit kids with two moms? There was quite the discussion of it in my library school classes...

[Jen (yup, another one)]

Kat beat me to it, but I will add a mini-review of the "infamous lesbian Buster episode". It's great - Buster goes to Vermont to learn about what life is like there in the fall. They go maple sugaring, they see a dairy, they have a bonfire. And oh, yeah, the kids from the families shown in the episode happen to have two moms. Totally incidental to the show but to the right-wingers, you would have thought that it was a hot'n'heavy porno or gay recruiting hour.

But seriously, if you can get your hands on a videotape of the episode, your kids would probably love it, for the general Buster-ness, the geography, and the two mom families.

[Cassie]

Weaving, huh? I'll stop cackling. In a little while. Tomorrow, maybe.

[Sneaksleep]

Oh oh. Weaving? I'm scared! What if you like it so much that you wax poetic about it on your blog and then tempt the rest of us to join you in yet *another* fiber addiction? Anyway, if you do get a loom, you'd better invite me to see it. (You're an easy day trip, or even half-day trip, from me. Heck, I was up in your neck of the woods on Sunday. I would have warned you so we could connect, but it was a totally last-minute decision. No, I'm not stalking you, I swear.)

[The Feminist Mafia]

aww...shucks.
Lookin' forward to next week's visit.

[Lee Ann]

A loom.

How am I going to resist this? You're going to make it look even more fun than I've been thinking for years it must be...

Sigh.

Feel better, sweetie. I'm sorry you're ill.

[Katy]

I love Postcards From Buster...but my 5yo, not so much. Sigh.
Hope you are feeling better soon!

[Risa]

I hope the voice is better soon!

Weaving faster? Hmm. Surely not the dressing the loom. EEEWWW. Last time I tried it, I was tied to the damn thing for 8 hours. Now you know why my loom is tucked neatly in the corner.

Dude is scary. Two?? Reading? Mine 2yo's are barely stringing two words together, let alone reading. Oy.

Hope you're better soon!

[Kate]

I actually have a loom - the Toika Liisa. If you go look in Webs, they'll have one in the weaving room. Unfortunatly, I just took it down to make room for my new quilting frame. I'm not a terrific weaver, but I've got the basics down.

If you're really serious about this, talk to me. I can help you figure out what you want to buy. Check out the Housecleaning Pages (http://homepages.together.net/~kbruce/kbbloom.html) for an idea of prices for used looms.