This has been too long coming. This is something that has been weighing on my mind. I get to a point in my life of not-writing and I go back into writing, I make myself write again. I return again to writing to fulfill a long-held desire to BE A WRITER, to WRITE and come to terms with this urge.

And every time I start writing again, I quickly get to a point where I need to go deeper into Writing, to become writing doing writing. I need to become a vessel, without ego. I have been journaling, reflecting and thinking through my days so far, but I need to break away from this self-awareness.

There's more inside. It's not good or bad. Judgment gets in the way at this stage, so I haven't reread anything from this latest batch of writing (except this little piece). Not good or bad, just more, so much more; there's more to be uncovered, unearthed, discovered.

I need to take my time and let myself fall into the physical act of writing, to let go of judgment. I feel the need to get lost in my writing in order to keep going for the long term. I need to go deeper to internalize the rhythm and inject writing into my pulse, my breath, my waking and sleeping, and my walking through the world.

I can't be the first person who noticed this, but I got some holiday stamps today. The new holiday design is called "Holiday Knits', little Christmas sweater pictures.

(from the USPS website, used without permission)

I don't condone those busy, crazy, jingly sweaters, but I thought these were a cute idea for stamps, at least.

I'm still adjusting to actually being here in Portland. The weather is grey and cold and not very much like the sunny Bay Area we left behind. I'm a native, I should stop my whining. I walked to the post office this afternoon in the rain to send off some stash yarn to a woman in Beaverton who contacted me via Ravelry.

She wanted to swap the yarn I had left over from Trellis for something our of her stash. I get to get rid of leftovers and get some cool new sock yarn! Win-win for me, I think. I love being able to rid of leftovers. Finding some little project that uses up those remaining bits is very satisfying.

Anyway, I had put off going to the post office all morning when it was partly sunny--had to catch up with my feed reader, had to download the new Stash and Burn--and then when I finally had had lunch and gotten dressed, it's raining. Mope. Frowny face. I had wanted to knit while I was walking (Christmas knitting, you know), but it's hard to do that while holding an umbrella.

Anyhow, I am enjoying the flip side of this cold, wet weather: being cozy and warm at home. This is a heart-warming photo from this last week, the Thanksgiving pies.

This is my new blog!

We're now in Portland, which is something we've talked about for a long time. We decided to move at the end of August, and we moved in here October 11. It's been fun to explore Portland together. Powell's was first stop on the list, but we've also gone to the Saturday Market and a couple of yarn stores (of course). The weather is cool and mostly sunny, so wool socks and sweaters are in major rotation and I am really motivated to knit.

I started a cabled sweater, but I need to check my gauge before I continue. I just knit up one ball of yarn for part of a sleeve. I am going to wash it and block it so that I can see how it fits so far.

This from a Dale of Norway pattern booklet with mostly Aran-style patterns. Book NR 144, copyright 2004. The design I'm working on is called "Pullover 14403", and I'm using Dale of Norway's Heilo yarn, just pure new wool in Barn Red color 4137.

While we were on vacation in Oregon, I wanted a "vacation project". This is Shedir (pdf download) from the Knitty Fall 2004 surprise.

I had some leftover Rowan RYC Cashsoft Baby DK from a baby sweater,so I thought this would we a good use for it.

I cast on during our flight to Portland, but I left my pattern on the plane! Fortunately I had saved the pdf to our laptop, so I could still see the pattern and keep knitting.

• Pattern: Shedir (pdf download)

• Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Baby DK in color 802 Limone, a little more than one ball

• Needles size 3 circular and dpns

I did most of the cabling without a cable needle. There is one row in which you cable and decrease at the same time which was easier with a cable needle, but 1 row out of 40-odd rows with cabling is not too bad.

I did all 5 repeats before decreasing, because I have a large head. This fits just fine over all my hair and massive skull. I will make this hat again!

Sweet smelling roses

Sockapalooza Socks!

My socks are here at last. I got an email earlier in the week from my sock pal letting me know that they were on the way. Unfortunately, I don't have a blog address for her -- but Anita from Georgia, thank you! They fit great!

(edited to add: Anita's Blog! ) Anita sent some wonderful goodies, too.

Besides the socks, I got some very nice stitch markers, little hearts and leaves. The yarn is dyed by Anita's friend. It's superwash merino, bamboo (!), and nylon. Shiny and soft, in great colors--blue, purple, charcoal and green. I am really excited to make some socks with it! Thanks again, Anita!

I have some projects on the needles that I can't blog about. I can talk about the vest I'm making, though. The front will have diamond color patterns, but the back is just plain, and that is the part I'm making first. I present plain stockinette:

Can you stand the excitement? It's going fast, when I actually work on it. The nice thing about the vest is that after the front and back are done, you're 95% finished! All that remains is the edging on the neck and armholes.

I am spending so much time on Ravelry, I think it's cutting into my knitting time. Oh, that and Pokemon. Yes, actually I am serious. It's fun because Walker and I can trade and help each other out. I have actually won the game. heh.

I need to send out my Sockapalooza socks to my pal. I want to get a little package together. It's too bad she is sort of local, because nothing I can send is going to be very exotic. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Of course, that means that hopefully my socks shoud be coming from my pal, whomever that may be. It looks like a lot of people aren't done knitting yet! I had an easy time deciding on the pattern for my pal, and the yarn clinched the deal.

Guess who's excited about the Simpsons movie?

(This is from the Simpsons movie site, where you can make your own avatar. It is a Flash site, just FYI.)

I know this doesn't look that much like me. I don't have an overbite, in fact my "shapely" face is one of my distinguishing features. I look more like Japanese manga characters than anyone in Springfield.

I have wanted to post about knitting I've been doing, but it seems like I've mostly been untangling yarn and ripping out projects (insert frowny face). I don't have any pictures of the carnage, so I'll spare you the details. Let it suffice to say that 400+ yards of sock yarn is too much to mess with when you're in a hurry.

It's Independence Day, and I have the day off. I finished a little knitting project.

Just a humble dishcloth. I made dishcloths when I was a beginning knitter without much money. I could handle the simple knit-and-purl patterns, the small projects that didn't involve shaping. I could afford $1.29 for new yarn.

I can make more advanced, more glamorous projects. I have a stash filled with silks, mohair, and oodles of fancy sock yarns. But this is a palate cleanser, a meditation. Not only do I want to knit wonderful wraps and sweaters and all of Cookie's sock patterns, I want to remember the simple joy of knitting for the sake of knitting. And the freedom to choose!

• Pattern: Garterlac Dishcloth from Criminy Jickets. I found this pattern on Ravelry

• Yarn: Lily Sugar n' Cream. I don't know what the colorway is called, but this is old yarn.

• Needles: Size 7 straight

It's truly a wonderful feeling to complete a project, especially when you have a deadline, and it's for someone else. These are straight off the needles. I finished the second sock last night, saw that there was still some daylight, and took them outside for photos.

• Pattern: Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

• Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock! in Turqua

• Needles: Size 0 double pointed

• Adjustments: Worked over 72 stitches, as opposed to 63. I like the firmer fabric I got with size 0 needles.

I really enjoyed the pattern, it was easy to memorize after a few repeats on the first sock. I want to make this pattern again for myself, which is not something I want to do very often.