Friday, January 12, 2007

Friday Quote Day

"Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense."
~Thomas Arnold Bennett
How's that for a cool quote for the second week of a "certain task?" Heh.

I had to start moderating comments yesterday. I guess it means I've arrived in the world of blogging when I start getting random spam comments. These were weird, though. You'd probably never have found them, as they were on posts that were several months old. At any rate, I love comments from you ... just not from those nasty spammers.

And speaking of comments, Gaby called me 'scary' yesterday! HAH! She was all worried about her grammar.

I would never criticize how you write or speak [well, except for Mr. Shrinking Knitter]. I only pointed out the lapse in usage of more than/less than because our new Speaker of the House said it and the New York Times quoted it. I probably wouldn't have even noticed it if it hadn't been drilled into me by that editor. [If you're new here, this is what I'm talking about.] And Jonathan pointed out that usage has changed over the years, as language does, so feel free to call me an old fuddy-duddy.

But not scary.

Anyway, Gaby posed this question:
Aren't human beings designed to be preoccupied about food if the supply is uncertain?
I suppose we are, or at least the Neanderthals were. Which is why they went around hunting and gathering and such. If that's all there is to it, then we have a problem of perception. Even though the freezer is stocked and the pantry is full, we must think we're about to run out, and therefore must fill up at every opportunity.

Which, if you're sittin' 'round the shanty pretty much means all day.

You don't see fat wild animals, but you do see fat domesticated ones. Maybe that means we should all get wild, eh?

Gaby also asked for 'any advice you can offer,' but I'm unclear as to whether she wants advice on giving up alcohol or becoming less preoccupied with food. So Gaby, if you're still reading, e-mail me at shrinkingknitter AT citynet DOT net and we'll talk.

Training update: I've been following the prescribed half-marathon training regimen almost to the letter. I'm still not good about doing strength-training, but the continuous running is getting easier each time I hop on the treadmill. Yesterday's mail brought the registration confirmation for the Country Music Half-Marathon, along with a training t-shirt that I couldn't resist ordering when I signed up. And I uploaded my latest running mix to iTunes yesterday – these songs are the perfect beat to keep my short legs moving.
•••
Now's the time on Sprockets where we knit! [Raise your hand if you can see Mike Myers in a black turtleneck in your mind!]

First, I finished the Snakes and Ladders Gansey! I'm going to make a little care instruction card and send it off today, to welcome an adopted child who is coming from China to Wisconsin. From what I hear about the weather there, he might not need a wool gansey in Wisconsin this winter. I hope he'll get to wear it. Actually I hope it fits! It matches the schematic for a 12-month size, and he looks small from the photo I've seen. [Fingers crossed.]
Next, I've been sorting, organizing and culling the stash. I bought two more large – excuse me, LARGE – lidded plastic tubs which are now full. That makes six, and that's just the oddballs that won't fit in the yarn closet. One entire tub is full of sock yarn. So full I could barely get the lid clicked shut. At least the next time I'm in a get-rid-of-it mood it'll all be in one place. [And why can't the get-rid-of-it mood coincide with the organize mood?]
Finally [no photo for this one], I started a beret with the leftover Patons SWS I used for the Lucy Bag a couple months ago. I. Love. This. Yarn. I didn't have enough to do the whole hat, so am mixing in some similar colors of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride to stretch it.

I'm definitely having some fitting issues with my knitting lately, and the beret is going to be too big. Fortunately it's wool and, thus, shrinkable. A woman in the knitting guild I used to belong to slightly felted a beret once and I hope mine turns out as nicely as hers did.

Wouldn't it be great if we could just jump around in a hot shower, rinse off in a cold one and come out shrunken, just like wool?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I found your site while reading through Diet girls blog & I love it (& the red jumper). As a fellow knitter, I'm looking forward to seeing some more of your stuff on your blog. Keep up the good work & good luck with your shrinking!

Moira

Lori G. said...

I'm raising my hand...touch my monkey!

Your comments about being preoccupied with food is true. It always cracks me up when we have a forecast of snow. Everyone runs to the grocery store and the carts are overpiling with "snacks." I've been guilty of doing that in the past but I've also said to myself, "Am I going to really starve? I mean, I have SOME food in the house to last a day or two."

It's not like we are in the Great Frozen Tundra where snowdrifts are measured in feet. Most of us live near the town and will get out. (Even when I was a kid and lived out in the sticks, we always had enough food for a couple of days.)

Now, the lines in the video store makes more sense...

I love the Gansy. It's so cute. And you're getting so organized which is great. I'm going to look at your music list. I bet it's fun.

denise said...

Although it would be great to be able to jump in the shower and shrink ourselves, what if the tradeoff was that no one wanted to let us next to their skin because we were too itchy!?!? :-)

You'll be happy to know that my dish cloth is coming along - to the tune of about 3 rows a night. I definitely have a tension problem and am having a hard time figuring out how to keep things a little looser and easier to work with, as I think the tight tension is making it harder on myself.

But I'm going to keep going and give it a fair chance, so I'm pushing on!

Vickie said...

I read Guideposts Magazine - have for years. I always think of you when they talk about their Knit for Kids project. I wasn't sure if you were a Guidepost's Reader - here's the link if you or other fellow knitters are interested:

http://www.dailyguideposts.com/help/knitforkids.asp

Vickie said...

A dog ethusiast was explaining to me that in dogs - it is by BREED that animals will or will not self regulate their eating/over-eating. Some breeds of dogs will literally eat non-stop if not regulated. Others eat until full and always stop by themselves. He told me examples of breeds - but can't remember. (sorry if I have said this before - I mentioned it to someone, but can't remember if it was you or not).

Have you ever read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen? Boy standed in winter by himself (near Alaska) with only an axe for resource - in that book - he says that every waking moment is filled with thoughts of food - to keep himself alive and that his observation of nature is that they are the same - full time job to get enough to eat to survive.

Anonymous said...

The sweater's beautiful and I can tell you first hand, it's c-o-l-d in WI today. Rain freezin' to the windshield cold. Sorry to hear about the spammers. I think that means you're getting popular!!!

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of jumping in water to shrink! I wanted to add to the dog weight comments - have you heard the ads for cat food tailored to human food? For example - ocean whitefish in a cilantro sauce (or some such nonsense). Obviously, marketing to cat keepers, not the cats. I am also a Buckeye fan and can hardly talk about the game yet. Love your blogs!

Jack Sprat said...

Vickie:

My beagle was a non-stopper. Twice in his life he broke into the kitchen cabinet and ate between 8 and 10 POUNDS (!!) of food (the dog weighed less than 25 pounds). If there was a crumb under a sofa cushion, he'd shred the thing to get at that morsel.

By contrast, my Dalmatian Paco shocked me the other day when I found I had spilled a piece of his kibble about 10 feet from his bowl and he just left it sitting there.

So why do I relate to the beagle .....

annie said...

The weather in Wisconsin finally took a turn for "normal", and the low tonight will be 6 degrees, so the gansey will come in handy! It's beautiful!

mehitabel said...

All you need is my early conditioning about food--being forced to eat stuff that made me gag has left me with a permanent dislike for most food. Even--especially!--chocolate. I know, I'm weird, and how did I get to be overweight if I don't even like to eat?? Gotta work on that one...