FInally I can show Dani what real cold is like.  We’re supposed to have a high tomorrow of -2 F and a low of -6 F.  It’s not often below zero in the Ohio River Valley, especially not this far south.  Next time he claims it’s “sooo coooold” when it’s 60 degrees, I’ll be able to remind him what cold really feels like.  Hehe.

FInally working on the Straboy sweater I started last year for Cody.  I have one sleeve done and have made progress on the second.  Then they get attached to the portion of the body I’ve finished and I’ll work up the yoke.  I love the Donegal tweed I got at This is Knit in Dublin.  The shipping wasn’t nearly as expensive as I thought it would be.  It’s 4 kilos of yarn.  😀  Dani calls it “the passenger” because when I put it in the passenger seat of my car, the car starts complaining that the passenger is not wearing a seatbelt.  Maybe my car is very fond of yarn too?

I got it yesterday!  We didn’t expect it to be here before Xmas but it’s here!  It’s the yarn winder to end all yarn winders.  (Pardon the cliché.)

It’s the hand-cranked yarn winder from Nancy’s Knitnacks.  When I was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, one of the shops, Lettuce Knit, had a wooden yarn winder with a nice large crank that made winding yarn look a LOT easier.  I begged them to tell me where to buy it and they told me.  I ordered one as soon as I got home and told my hubby “Thanks for my Christmas present!”  (Believe it or not, it kind of worked!)  The website said there were no guarantees for delivery before the 25th so I figured I’d be waiting until January.  But it came in yesterday, December 23rd, and I’ve winding yarn like it’s my new hobby instead of knitting.  Whew. 

Here is what it looks like: http://www.ballwinders.nancysknitknacks.com/  (And no, I’m not getting anything from Nancy’s Knit Knacks for posting this.)

Okay.  I’m such a knitting fan boy.  Just the mention of a member of what Vogue Knitting calls “the knitterati” and I turn into a 16-year-old girl.  It’s not a nice look on a 48-year-old balding fat man.  It took two knitting retreats before I truly stopped looking at Franklin Habit like he was a movie star.  Now I’ve met Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and I think I’m doing a bit better at treating a knitting celebrity like any other knitter while acknowledging her accomplishments.  Just kidding.  I’m gushing like a teenager again.  

The Yarn Harlot spoke at Indiana Univeristy-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Indiana tonight.  She spoke from the heart about how important it is for us knitters to take ourselves and our art seriously.  The rolling of the eyes and the reducing knitting to some “cute hobby” we get from the media and other non-knitters is sometimes our own fault.  It’s important for us to embrace what we do for what it is – art.  Even if we didn’t design a pattern, having knitted it is still an accomplishment to be proud of!  We should never let someone reduce us to a joke.  We can joke about knitting and have a good time doing it, but the next time some TV reporter says something like, “Why do you think knitting is back in style?” we  must look her in the eye and explain, “It never went away, cupcake!”  

I hope she expands this idea and reminds us how important it is in her next book.  If it’s not important to us individually, we should at least be ready to speak up for our fellow knitters.  We are not “cute” and we are not archaic.  We are artists.