I appear to be one of the tiny minority of knit-bloggers who are not one their way to Rhinebeck today. Never has my Google Reader been so devoid of knitting content. Sad state of affairs, my friends, so I'm throwing together a lackluster post so that you have something to read. Can you feel the love?

It's payday, so I ordered 6 balls of Gloss in Pumpkin in anticipation of the Winter '06 Interweave Knits. It's for the Arctic Diamonds Stole that I am very stoked about. If you've visited the "In the Queue" album, you know that I already have the ingredients for several very lovely shawls and wraps, but I really like this one. I'm even going to break my rule of always waiting a season for the errata to be published before I start a project. I have confidence in my ability to know where a pattern is going and in the blessed internet if something isn't turning out right.

I'm giving up on the Arches and Columns scarf. If you remember back almost two years, this was my first lace attempt and was chosen as my London knitting project. The pattern was easy, but I just wasn't paying enough attention and there would be several unsightly holes if I ever got to the point of blocking it. The yarn was cheap, so I don't feel badly about throwing the whole thing into the trash. I'll probably try again, with the same yarn, on another date. A later date. After everything else that I want to try.

I forgot to show you something that I bought at Stitches last summer. I think this was meant to be a shawl pin, but I'm going to make stitch markers out of them. Notice how the mama is knitting.

And I have another roomie who has not displayed the least bit of jealousy over all the fame that her sibling has been getting lately. She's been sleeping through it. This is Maggie (named for Marguerite Duras, the writer) and she's much less energetic and much more whiney than Mitsy (named for Mitsy Gaynor, if I never told you) and has the amazing talent of reminding me when I'm forgetting something as I leave in the morning. Left the cell phone on the charger? Maggie meows at me at the front door. Forgetting my lunch? Meoooow. Bills that have to go in the mailbox? Meeeooooowww. On the days I'm not forgetting anything? She's asleep on the couch. I have no idea how she knows, but it's a skill that I appreciate very much.