Hello Again

Sorry for the long absence, the time sure is flying around here this summer. Plus, as many of you are experiencing also, it's been uncomfortably hot. My house doesn't have air conditioning, so that combined with just finishing the Rusted Root (I promise there's a proper post coming about it with pretty pictures and everything, but I need to find a place where it can dry after a good blocking; something that will take at least a couple of days given the humidity) led me to a quite a few days in a row without any knitting at all!

It's cooled off a bit around here and I'm working on a couple of smaller things, namely Back to School for my sister, who, incidentally, is going off to college for the first time.



I made a whole bunch of washcloths last summer (the perfect summer knitting project, I think), spurred on by Ann and Kay and their love of the ballband warshcloth. While they advocate using them for dishes and in place of paper towels, I found I used them more as facial clothes, which I think is what these are meant for. Anyway, I really liked using mine while at school, so hopefully my sister will enjoy these while she's so far away from home.

I've also been inspired by both some birthday yarn and the new Interweave Knits magazine, which I picked up yesterday. There are some beautiful projects in that one! I'm so excited to see the direction that Eunny is going to take the magazine. Below is the birthday stash (clockwise from top): some Trekking XXL, Malabrigo laceweight (which I think might be the exact same color Wendy has just whipped a pattern together for - score!), some Cascade Ecological Wool, and then some Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk for Wendy's Somewhat Cowl. Just looking at it all makes me excited for all the fall knitting in my future.


And speaking of Wendy (twice now), I loved her post today about the use of the term "muggle" to speak of a non-knitter or someone who doesn't "believe" in knitting the way some knitters do. I think this is mostly being made popular by the Yarn Harlot, but I think it's a bit disturbing. Creating a name for a group of people seems to also create a us versus them mentality, that I don't think is helpful to bringing more people to the craft or bringing acceptance to people that knit (especially in public). While I know it started out of good fun, I find it very judgmental and condescending, implying that knitting is the best hobby for everyone, regardless of personal preference. I've also seen this happen with vegetarians judging the food choices of those around them, and since I'm a vegetarian a lot of people have expected me to yell at them for eating meat. They seem surprised when I say that I've made their choice and they've made theirs, so why get all upset about it? In a way, I think this whole muggle thing is sort of the same way. There is so much pulling people apart these days that this needless labeling doesn't do any good, and I believe actually does some harm. I sure wouldn't want to be treated like a "muggle" by someone, no matter what the activity was. I don't really understand extreme fandom, or people who love manga comics, or people who love cats more than anything, and that's cool. We don't all have to be the same. We just have to respect each other.