First: a comments round-up.

Diann: please thank Mr. Ken for me. As I've said before, no objective standard of how I look, long awkward phase, teased a lot as a kid...all that. So it means something when someone tells me I look ok or better than ok.

Grace: Thanks for the confirmation on "don't fix it yourself." I figured it probably wasn't a job for the untrained. Also, my garage - thanks to the clay soils in the area and the drought - has settled and if I get the opener repaired they may have to do something to the tracks.

For now, though, manually opening and closing isn't such a big deal. Which is good, because it's one of those busy weeks where taking an afternoon off to wait on a repair person would be kind of maddening.

To the anonymous person asking about Dulaan: here is a link (the update for 2007 is as a .pdf file here). The address to send items is: The Dulaan Project, F.I.R.E., 107 N. San Francisco St., Studio 4, Flagstaff, AZ 86001.

Which reminds me: I have some of the bulky-weight wool left from my Ireland scarf that I could knit up into a hat or two. And I think when I get the Central Park Hoodie done I'm going to have a bunch of worsted-weight alpaca left over from it that I could double and knit up into some warm hats.

I have a book of mostly-bulky-weight hats that would be fun to try.


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I don't often talk about specific products on here, but I'm going to mention one today. (And standard disclaimer: this is not a flog; this is something I bought and paid for, the company's not offering any compensation, etc., etc.).

Burt's Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Cleansing Scrub.

I bought some of this a couple weeks ago and have been using it every couple of days. In the winter, I get dry skin, and if I don't exfoliate regularly, my skin looks kind of dull - and it feels bad to me, it feels tight or something. This stuff works nicely to take care of that.

And I have sensitive skin - lots and lots of things make me break out but this hasn't. (at least so far). And it smells nice. And I think the salicylic acid in it (from the willowbark) is doing something good for my skin. (isn't salicylic acid used in some anti-acne preparations? Usually my forehead is a little "spotty" but that's cleared up since I've been using it). And I think it's got some of those magic "fruit AHAs" in it that are supposed to make your skin age slower or something.

It's not CHEAP (my only real complaint), but it's pretty nice. (And it's cheaper than that tony stuff they sell from counters in the fancy department stores).

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A couple of pictures.

First, is what Wendy of Wendyknits would call "old knitted crap." (although I do not like the term "crap" used anywhere around stuff I've knit.)

I made the Cache-Coeur from Weekend Knitting well over a year ago, and although I've worn it kind of like a bedjacket over pj's when it was cold and I was reading in bed, I've never worn it outside the house before today.

I found something it works over:



I've decided that those little Spencer-type jackets require a dress that has an unbroken line across the waist - ideally, ones with either a fitted waist or an Empire waist.

I WAS going to wear a shawl over the dress today (it's COLD here and I didn't feel like wearing slacks yet again, and so that's why I chose the black knit dress), but I happened to see this in its storage bin and I put it on and decided it looked good.

And I feel better actually getting "real wear" out of something I made and hadn't used.

I also snapped a shot of the current sweater's sleeves:



They are ready for me to start the sleeve caps. I decided to leave that for a time when I was more alert so I didn't mess up the decreases.

I also did a little measuring last night and I've decided to make the 42" size (even the sleeves) of the Grecian Pullover. If the thing has even an inch of ease everywhere (which I am sure it will as it is just stockinette and not some bizarre "woven stitch"), it will fit just right. It will be close-fitting, but from examining the photo and the schematics and doing a little imagining, I don't think it would look so good loose-fitting.

I may do the sleeves first and just pin them on to see how they fit; I could always rip back and redo if I'm not happy with how they came out. But I think I'd be more likely to be unhappy doing the bigger size and having it fit like a tent.

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Except for the part about eating the whole second cake, I pretty much relate to Ted in today's Little Dee.. "Not sure if that makes me a good bear, or a pushover."