A few random things for Wednesday:

Just when I said I wanted to finish some of my many projects before starting something new, I come up with what I think is a somewhat-clever idea for a sock.

So I wrote it out and will hang onto it until I decide it's time to start something new. That will also give me a chance to decide if I want to use a solid color or something like a marled color for the sock. (It's a fairly simple knit-purl pattern that would get lost in a "busy" yarn)

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The new Interweave Crochet came the other day. I didn't have time to look at it until last night. I have to say, I think this magazine is getting better and better - there were a lot of projects in this one that I liked. (And they stick to the "old" Interweave format of having photograph, description/introduction, and pattern all together, instead of having an "advertising spread" of all the photographs and then sticking the patterns in the back the way Interweave Knits does now. I prefer the "old" format for some reason.)

You can see most of the patterns here. I particularly like the Stepping Stones cardigan, and Pretty Little Dolman (though I'm not sure at all that one would work with my body type; still, you have to like a sweater that bases its main measurement on the "high waist" rather than the bustline or something).

And I like the Stone City Scarf - that may be where my unwanted-for-socks ball of Kureyon Socks goes to. Not that I NEED another scarf, but....

My favorite, though, is the "Road to Bruges" scarf...which is constructed to look like Bruges lace. (I think I'd do it out of a cream, though, to capture a more traditional "lace" feel). One thing that alarms me a bit is that they warn you on the pattern "don't twist the ribbon you've crocheted while putting the scarf together" which sounds a bit too much like "Don't cross the streams" for my comfort. (It would be bad.)

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CGHill linked this the other day.

However, in light of some of the stuff I said last week, I have to observe that this is the kind of news story that makes me sort of angry. I couldn't quite explain WHY it made me angry, but I knew that lines like:

"Taking your clothes off before you eat, to make you feel self-conscious about every fattening mouthful, is one option,"

did.

Well, I figured it out last night. Any diet plan that is encouraging you to hate yourself in the service of losing weight is not psychologically healthy.

Even allowing for hyperbole on the part of the news-writer: not psychologically healthy.

What good would it be to say you had lost 20 pounds, but also your self-esteem and sense of self-love, as well. (And don't tell me you'd get it back after losing those 20 pounds. Once you start disliking the skin you're in, it's hard to stop. Trust me on this.)

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Oh, and Aimee: I'm not apolitical. I have my opinions on things but I don't tend to share them because it seems that politics, and related topics, have become such an ugly game these days. I actually know people who broke off friendships upon learning their "friend" was voting differently from them. Which is a sad and puzzling thing, but that's how life goes.

I also tend to think that the solutions to most of our problems will be more complex than what gets promoted in the soundbite world of today, and usually simple solutions to complex problems don't work. (I think H.L. Mencken or someone like that said much the same 70 or so years ago.)

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Back working on the Bird's Nest Shawl. I remember now why I kind of put this to one side - each row is something like 340 stitches so it takes a really long time to complete even one row. Oh well. Journey of a thousand miles an all that.

I'm also back to working on the quilt - that kind of got pushed aside when I was sick, and in the crazy-busy week last week. (This week is still busy, just less crazy.)