NaBloPoMo (or How We Knew She'd Finally Lost Her Mind)

I'm sure you've heard of NaNoWriMo (if you haven't, either you don't know any geeks or you live under a rock.) Well, for those of us who don't actually know 50,000 words, apparently there is "NaBloPoMo" or National Blog Posting Month. The theory is, you make one post a day, everyday, during the month of November. (Can you say Meme? I knew you could!)

Now, those of you who know me in what passes for my real life, know that I work as a Team Lead in a customer service call center for a national bookstore. We are entering the fourth quarter, where retail does more than half of their year's business. This is when call center season really heats up. This seems to be a logical and reasonable time for me to decide to post daily. Yes.

As a side note, what's wrong with June? I grant you "NaJuWriMo" sounds funny, but people do not pretend to me that "NaNoWriMo" doesn't sound silly. I certainly grant you that there could be some confusion as to whether the Ju is referencing June or July, but surely we can work that out. Why does it have to be November, which is a notoriously busy time of year even for people who don't work in a retail environment? (Yes, I know the "No" really refers to Novel, not November. Hush.) I could conceivably string together 50,000 words in June. In November, I only know two words. "Sleep" and "Coffee". That would make for a decidedly boring novel.

But I digress. Frequently, and with panache. Tune in daily! There will be thrills! Chills! Photos! An attempt at being vaguely interesting!

Since I'm going to be posting daily, I did some research on what makes a good blog post. Many agree that good photos are KEY for generating and keeping a reading audience. Never one to shirk from duty, I present you with.....

A duck! (Photo © Victor Geere)

P.S. When I initially considered doing this, I was talking to my husband about it. I referred to is as NaNoBloMo (National November Blogging Month?) Anyway, let's just say that my husband was disappointed about what that doesn't mean. If you catch my drift, and I know you do.

She's Building A Mystery

I don't know what it is about Mystery Knitalongs that grabs me. I knit the Ragnarok shawl (also known as the Mystery Shawl 2) and hated every second of it. Now, don't get me wrong, the shawl turned out beautifully — it's easily the most complicated and beautiful thing I ever knit. Then there was the Mystery Stole 3. I think that the final design is really interesting, and I don't mean that in a bad way, necessarily. But it might be more interesting than I'm really comfortable with these days. In any case, the fabric I was getting wasn't quite right, and I stalled out at the end of Clue 2. I haven't frogged it. Yet. Right now it's in time-out under my bed.

So. Mystic Waters KAL. Maybe I'm a joiner. Maybe I'm addicted to possibility. This shawl could be nearly anything. It could be the masterpiece of my knitting career. It could be an incredible learning experience. I just don't know. Cuz it's a MYSTERY, see?

Drive By

No actual pictures to share — but I did want to do a quickie update. (I know, I know, quickies are less satisfying, but sometimes that's all you have time for).

Anyway, I've been working on adding projects to my Ravelry notebook (I'm Kadollan over there too, if you want to look me up). It now looks like I'm actually a knitter. I had a lot of fun going through old photos, reading old blog posts and generally trying to recreate history. I'm not done, but I'm not in any big hurry either. One thing I've noticed — I take better pictures now.

On the man-sweater front (or, rather, the back) I'm nearly ready to start the shoulder shaping. So far I'm loving the fabric I'm getting with the Wool of the Andes. In sock news, I'm mid-way into my second pink stripedy sock. I made a deliberate decision to make the two socks fraternal and it is absolutely driving me nuts. See, I'm the littlest bit OCD, and I look for ways to challenge myself .... I'm challenged.

I am seriously considering casting on a shawl. The Mystery Stole 3 is hibernating right now, to borrow a phrase from Ravelry. I may very well frog it, as it fails utterly to turn my crank and babies, my crank needs turned. I'm considering the Swallowtail Shawl for a dear friend of mine, or the Mystic Waters Knitalong for I don't know who.