1a. The “computer cabinet” at our school does not contain any computer-related equipment (such as, say, one of those air canisters for cleaning dusty keyboards), unless you count some extension cords and sundry cables. It does, however, contain PYthon (R) Dust, a “4th generation pyrethroid insecticide and photostable piperonyl butoxide” for the control of horn flies, ticks, and lice on lactating or non-lactating cattle, sheep, and goats.

2. Birds have no taste buds. I have not done any experiments to prove the veracity of this, but my friend Barb says so and I believe her.

3. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes is a treasure trove of heart-warming geekery the likes of which I have not encountered in some time. It weighs half as much as Ada does and contains useful diagrams and algebraic formulae describing the possible ways in which Colonel Moran might have shot a wax bust of Holmes through a second-story window without also shooting out the lamp casting the shadow of the bust or hitting the ceiling rather than the far wall of the room.  Thanks for the recommendation, Katherine!

4. There are sixteen days remaining before Christmas. I’m not panicking, though, because I have not yet taken stock of the number of gifts remaining to be knitted. This is for the best, I’m sure.

- My daughter can laugh and crow like Peter Pan, she’s been to her first cyclo-cross race (not as a competitor yet; we were just cheering for Uncle Daniel), and she makes a pretty irresistible ladybug. She can also grow stinky cheese in the folds of her fat little neck, which is somewhat less appealing.

- There’s been knitting, mostly with this:

Yum. It’s Luster — 75% Bluefaced Leicester and 25% tussah silk — a yet-to-be-released yarn from A Verb for Keeping Warm and the first installment of their Pro-Verbial 2010-11 club, to which I treated myself. It came with a new pattern by Stephen West; I hardly need to tell you how exciting those are. The Luster is like nothing else I’ve knit. It’s unusually grippy on the needles (this may be partly due to the indigo dye, which doesn’t finish fixing itself until it’s been knit and stains one’s fingers a bit in the process) and its two-ply structure creates a stippled, textural fabric with a high sheen from the BFL and the silk. The result is an intriguing blend of luxe and rustic that’s a perfect expression of AVFKW’s aesthetic. It’s verby and I love it.

- There was this comical episode with a poached egg. In my most inept kitchen moment since the time I used warm tap water to make tea for my sick mother (I was five or six), I cooked breakfast for my visiting parents. Having botched the timing of the toast and the eggs, I ladled the eggs onto the plates and tried to carry them to the toaster rather than bringing the toast to the stove to await the eggs. Nothing is more slippery than a poached egg. One of them promptly flew off the plate and splattered all over the floor, whereupon I stepped right in it. Thank goodness we have dogs.

- I’ve done a fair amount of seventh-grade algebra text work during baby naps. If you like logic puzzles, you can take a crack at this one and tell me whether you think it’s any good:

Six knights gathered for a jousting tournament. Work out the ranking of the knights, the color of each man’s horse and lance, and the Order he represents.

1. Sir Palamon did better than Charles the Bald.
2. The knight who rides a gray horse carries a purple lance.
3. Charles the Bald placed two spots below Don Quixote, who was not as good as the knight on the chestnut horse.
4. The knight who rides a white horse finished just above the knight who carries a green lance.
5. The knight with the roan horse finished last.
6. The Black Prince finished higher than the knight from the Order of the Barking Deer but lower than the knight with the purple lance.
7. The knight from the Order of the White Bear rides a chestnut horse.
8. The knight from the Order of the Chafing Garter placed third, which was better than the knight with the striped lance.
9. The knight on the white horse finished two spots below the knight from the Order of the Silver Parrot.
10. The knight on the black horse (who is not The Black Prince) finished second.
11. Sir Roland carries a blue lance.
12. The knight on the bay horse finished above the knight from the Order of the Armored Codpiece but below the knight with the red lance.
13. The knight with the red lance was not the champion.
14. Sir Bedevere finished two places below the knight from the Order of the Golden Fleece.
15. The knight from the Order of the White Bear was better than the knight on the gray horse, who was better than the knight with the yellow lance.
16. The knight with the yellow lance finished behind Charles the Bald.

1. Miss Marple (or at least Julia McKenzie who’s playing her in the new Masterpiece series) is a lever knitter.

2. In Germany there is an octopus named Paul who has correctly predicted the outcome of each of his country’s World Cup matches by eating a mussel from a box labeled with the winning country’s flag. Paul is six for six, having foretold Germany’s shocking upset by Serbia earlier in the tournament and also their defeat by Spain in yesterday’s semifinal. (Keep in mind that Paul has eight tentacles and could probably open both boxes at once, but he is not greedy and apparently takes his oracular duties seriously.) I think that if America is ever to reach a World Cup semifinal we not only need to study the new German style of play but should also trade Punxsutawney Phil for a more sophisticated animal prognosticator.

3. You can make paper out of pond scum. The children who have confirmed this report that if you want to try it at home you should make sure you have good ventilation, as the paper smells rather fishy even when it’s dry. (They took this as inspiration to cut fish shapes out of it for a multi-sensory collage.) I must say the pond scum paper looks easier to work with than the thistle paper a friend and I made at a similar age.

4. Radishes are a good addition to homemade salsa. Use plenty of lime juice.

5. I don’t hate knitting cotton as much as I thought I did, at least not if it’s the right cotton. Mirasol Lachiwa is 60% cotton, 40% linen, and yet it is soft, gentle on the hands, doesn’t split at all, isn’t prone to rowing out in stockinet fabric…. I am forced to admit that knitting with it is downright PLEASING. (Occasionally there’s a little stray end of tough fiber poking out from the plies that’s rather scratchy, but these are easily pulled free.)

Actually, I was the zombie.

I just completely ran out of steam on Sunday morning and had to give over the entire afternoon to a nap, accomplishing nothing but a little feeble vacuuming. I dragged myself through an evening of marimba practice and grocery shopping and arrived home even more living-dead. Apparently Minnow is making some demands on my body right now and I just need to watch how I extend my energy. (Oh, and I was wrong about how big it is — I was reading my little journal again and apparently the baby had gained 100g, bringing its total weight to more than a pound! Which sounds like a lot until I remember it’s only got four months to put on at least five more… no wonder I need more sleep.)

Anyway, no fun photos and not as much progress as I’d hoped in any department. Except for that part where I’ve increased the size of my offspring by a skein of sock yarn in the last couple of weeks.

Hi Sarah – I’m tickled pink to have won your contest, even if by default!  That being said, I have a little proposition for you…did you happen to see the blog entry on Mason Dixon about the “Iraqi Bundles of Love”?  I really like this idea, such a simple thing to do – and who doesn’t need to clear out some space in that sewing/knitting drawer?  (or in my case, closet)  I don’t know if you have time to do this, they must mail out by next Tuesday, but if you do and you think it’s something you’d be interested in undertaking, why not include my prize in your package?

Molly rocks. I had seen the Mason Dixon link, but I was only skimming the blogs during lunch that day and didn’t go investigate the project further. The link is here.  Basically, a man who’s deployed in Iraq and has been visiting the country since 1994 is collecting all kinds of sewing, knitting, and quilting materials to put into the hands of Iraqis. The deadline is right around the corner–I’m planning to mail my bundle on Saturday–but there are great instructions on the IBOL blog and it won’t take long to pull some things from my excessive stash and package them up. It’s all going to an APO address (you have to leave a comment in the IBOL blog to get the address) in an $11.95 flat-rate box. Apparently there’s also someone in the Netherlands collecting bundles to forward from Europe. I’ll take a picture of what I’m putting in and post it here! And if you’re intrigued, consider this a nudge to do the same!

… and an impromptu celebration of my neighbor Barb’s birthday, lounging in the grass in their beautiful garden and enjoying a birthday cake I whipped up for the occasion. I went with my new favorite cake recipe, which I’d made once before exactly as written and found excellent: neither too sweet nor too time consuming. But this time, I had rhubarb, and when rhubarb is in season I’m generally of the opinion that it ought to go into anything I might bake. So Barb got Apple and Rhubarb Yogurt Cake à la Clotilde. We had (shockingly) run out of maple syrup, so I substituted 1/4 c. of Lyle’s Golden syrup* and a scant 1/2 c. of turbinado sugar. The rhubarb I chopped in 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices and tossed with about 1 Tbsp. more turbinado sugar. One medium size, long stalk was exactly right to cover the top:

I pressed the rhubarb slices gently into the batter, sprinkled (as much as one can sprinkle wet clumps) the remaining sugar in the bowl over the top, then layered the apple slices on above, sprinkled again very lightly with a bit more turbinado sugar. I neglected to take a picture of the finished cake (you can tell I’ll never make a food blogger), but I’m happy to report that it was delicious and the rhubarb added just the right pleasing tartness without making the cake soggy.

I also gave Barb a drop spindle that I’ll be teaching her how to use, in my admittedly inexpert way. She knits a bit and she’s been intrigued by the spindle since I busted one out at early morning 2006 Tour de France screenings at the bike shop where she works (her husband was the recipient of the hat I knit from the resulting fiber). She managed to acquire a heap of wool, so I’m all set to grow myself a spinning partner! Just imagine the attention we’ll probably attract, drop spindling away on one or the other of our front porches on summer evenings…

*A treat unfamiliar to far too many Americans—and you really should go read about it, as this article typifies the wonders of Wikipedia. I, for one, had no idea that the lion on the label is a) Biblical, and b) dead. I thought he was sleeping and bothered by flies. While I’m slightly stricken to be disabused of my gentler interpretation, I do love me a Peculiar Inventor story (someone remind me to Netflix that documentary about Dr. Bronner, okay? Go read the label of one of his soap bottles—ideally aloud to friends, and it’s best if you’re all a little tipsy or otherwise in a jolly mood—if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Arctic owls and Mark Spitz! All one or none!), and it looks like Mr. Abram Lyle fit the bill.

2. Rustic, simple shawls in earthy neutrals, like Terhi’s at Mustaa Villaa and Alexandra’s at Moonstitches.

3. Simple socks with just a touch of ornamentation, like Terhi’s here and here.

4. Cooking outside on the grill, even though it isn’t summer anymore. It’s right out the kitchen door under the porch overhang, so it’s just as convenient as the stove. Tonight before choir practice I’ll be tossing some Yellow Finn potatoes in olive oil, fresh rosemary and sea salt; stuffing some Anaheim and Gypsy peppers with mozzarella or Trader Joe’s beluga lentils (already cooked!) seasoned with lemon juice, toasted walnuts and some of the marjoram that’s taken over the herb bed; and dumping the lot on the grill.

5. The Japanese anemones and Joe Pye weed in my garden, which bloom faithfully from July through October.

6. Oregon apples from the farmers’ market. We favor Tsugarus, Akanes, Honeycrisps, Ambrosias, and Jonagolds in mid-October. I find the names of apples enchanting (I weep that I somehow missed the Black Gilliflower (Sheepnose) variety), and despite the luscious bounty of summer peaches and berries, they’re my favorite fruit.

7. Early-season West Wing episodes on DVD. I *heart* my fictional government.

8. David Copperfield. It’s our geekier-than-thou book club selection for December. We dig the classics.

9. My new Keen shoes from the REI sale, the only model that seems to be narrow enough for my feet. I went for the army green with orange stitching. They’re my everyday fall shoes, and I finally feel like a real Portlander now that I’ve got the Official Footwear.

10. Homemade chiya – the Nepali version of chai: Brew up a pot of black tea (I use Red Rose) with sugar to taste, slices of fresh ginger, and cardamom pods. Drink it like that for kaalo chiya (black tea) or add hot whole milk (1 part milk to 3 or 4 parts chiya is generally good, depending on the strength of your chiya) for dudh chiya. I made a big jar of kaalo chiya, removed the tea bags after they’d steeped, and have been keeping it in the refrigerator to reheat a cup whenever I want some (which isn’t quite four or five times a day, as in Nepal, but it’s been nice to have at tea time).

11. SouleMama’s blog, whence cometh the spur for this post. I’d like to be able to order a future family life out of this enticing catalog. Mine would take place on San Juan Island, but the rest – the cute and clever kids, the crafts, the walks in the woods, the little daily discoveries, the mad photography skills to capture it all – would be much the same.

1) What was I doing ten years ago?

Ten years ago I had finished my first year of college, and I was on my way to visit my friend Elisenda, who’d been an exchange student at my high school, in her hometown of Barcelona. I was shortly to become lost overnight because Elisenda and I had miscommunicated about the dates, leaving me stranded at the airport without her address or phone number or any skills in Spanish or Catalan. Fortunately a nice man called his English-speaking wife and had her explain to me how to catch a bus into the area of town where there are youth hostels, and how to buy a phone card in a tobacco shop so I could call home and panic my poor mother, who did have Elisenda’s phone number. I spent a sniffly night feeling very alone in my tiny hostel room, but all was well the next day. Barcelona and the surrounding countryside are beautiful and I intend to return one day.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

* go to the park to frisbee the dog into all-too-temporary exhaustion

* concoct some sort of interesting Indian-inflected dinner involving cauliflower, chick peas, tomato paste, garlic, and ginger

* rip out a few rows of my secret project for Pop Knits

* hand-quilt a few more flower shapes on my Bend-the-Rules Lap Quilt

* read another chapter of Elizabeth Enright’s wonderful children’s novel The Sea Is All Around, which I’m discovering far too late, and which really ought to be in print, if anyone at FSG is reading this

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Goldfish crackers, apple slices (the crisper and tarter the better), Trader Joe’s lime leaf and chili pepper peanuts, mochi wrapped in seaweed and dipped in tamari, hummus with vegetables, ants-on-a-log, chocolate digestive biscuits, toasted hazelnuts, peppercorn or herbes de provence Oregon Sublimity from Brian the Cheese Guy at the farmers’ market. Can you tell it’s getting to be tea time?

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Pay off the mortgage, build a mudroom (and a new deck before someone falls through), help out friends and family members whose dreams are out of reach, travel with my husband and family, endow scholarships everywhere I’ve studied or taught, fund projects to help make life in my communities more sustainable – environmentally and socially, and generally try to rise to the responsibilities that come with great privilege. If I happened to acquire a few more pairs of cute shoes along the way, would that make me shallow?

5) Places I have lived:

San Juan Island, WA; Portland, OR; Brunswick, ME; Balkot, Nepal; Deep Creek, Eleuthera, The Bahamas; New York, NY… and back to Portland

6) Jobs I have had:

veterinary assistant, construction crew member, admissions interviewer and overnight hosting coordinator, middle school teacher, assistant editor of children’s books, school office assistant, publications editor

Memes are like fast food for your blog. Drive on through if you feel the urge. Decide later whether you feel guilty about taking the quick and cheap route for content. Me? Nah. Once in a while won’t hurt. But I’ll have something more exciting and homemade for you next time.

I’m almost done with a secret project for Shibui, so naturally my mind has wandered to what’s next. I’ve got something in the hopper for Popknits that I’m very excited to cast on, and I’ve been mulling over possibilities for the new Casbah. The confluence of the new Interweave Knits summer issue with Megan’s post about knitting cowls with doubled sock yarn turned on a light.

Look at all the complementary sock yarn I already have in the stash! Counterclockwise from the left, that’s Socks That Rock Lightweight in Amber and Mica, Dream in Color Smooshy in Gothic Rose, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Cedar, Socks That Rock Lightweight in one of the colorways with rock names they don’t seem to offer anymore, and of course the Casbah. All mostly superwash merino. Of course, a worsted-weight wool tank top makes no sense. But what if I shortened the body of the Confectionary Tank and wore it as a vest next fall? I couldn’t help myself. I started swatching.

The design-minded among you will notice that the sidebar’s looking a little less scraggly. I owe Mr. G for this. You’ll also see there’s a link to his company website: one of the reasons I knit so much is that my partner for social activities is pouring all his energy into launching a small business. I think you can only know what an effort that requires if you’ve actually done it yourself. We certainly didn’t comprehend what we were in for when we took the decision for Mr. G to leave his job to work on SweetSpot full time. We saw a need within his family for better communication about his father’s diabetes; we saw that Adam had the skills and the passion to do something about it and to extend the project to other families in the same situation. He’d wanted to start a company of his own for years, and we thought now was probably the time to try: we don’t have kids, I have a job, we have some savings put by to cushion us for a year or two. Neither of us fully imagined the emotional drain, or the way every conversation we have would turn to the business, or the frustration of trying to bring in the support and relationships necessary to sustain a worthy one-man project. But SweetSpot is out in the world now, and if you or someone you care for lives with insulin-dependent diabetes, you might find that Mr. G’s service can help in the daily work toward wellness. It fetches, stores, and analyzes information from blood glucose monitors, and it offers a teamwork structure to make family participation simpler and more constructive. It’s free to try it out, and if you have any questions, the CEO himself will take your call in his handknit socks. How many companies can say that?

It’s been a drear few days weather-wise, and we’re all suffering a little cabin fever around here. Mr. G went to Toronto for five days, which means that Lark has been living in the car in the school parking lot and Mingus hasn’t been outdoors in two days, since I haven’t wanted to subject him to a whole day of huddling outside in the downpour by letting him take his morning constitutional before I leave for work. So it was an extra treat to come home yesterday and find these pushed through the mail slot:

Isn’t is marvelous how it’s still so exciting to get presents from the mailman, even if you’ve bought and paid for them? That’s a Schrodinger Original sock cube – just the thing for protecting my socks-in-progress from the cruel world of cat hair they’re born into. I love those little rosy brown sheep! Go check out Cathy’s shop – she has a couple more sheep cubes like mine, plus an adorable Japanese print of matryoshka dolls.

And as you see, I couldn’t resist ordering a copy of Lisa Lloyd’s new book as soon as it pubbed. I haven’t had time to read deeply yet, but I already learned a lot about the properties of different breeds’ wool. I’m sure there’s a wealth of information here to improve my spinning, and the cabled sweaters are truly succulent. I’m not casting on anything right away: the Ivy stole and a secret project for publication with Shibui demand my fidelity as their deadlines loom. But in the mean time, this title is joining the ranks of the books I leaf through late at night just for inspiration.