etc.

Totally inspired by this.

How is everyone? It’s Saturday morning and I’m nursing my first cup of tea and dreaming of crawling right back into bed. Instead, I’m confronted with mounds of laundry (of this magnitude), other related house-cleaning, a piece of exercise equipment that needs to be built, taxes to file, and an article to write. What better time to blog?

Here are some things:

• Hey, knitters: ever had a yarn emergency while traveling? Or perhaps a stash crisis that required immediate remedying? Non-knitters are likely scoffing at this line of questioning, but the knitters? They know what I’m saying. Well I just learned of KnitMap (via infodoodads, which BTW, is a nice little example of my librarian & knitting worlds colliding). I do hardly any planning before traveling anymore, so I often find myself in a new province/state/town wondering where the nearest yarn shop is for a bit of, you know, browsing. How awesome is it that I can now pop over to KnitMap for the necessary coordinates? I am beside myself, people.
• You might know Moni for her inspiring knitting tales and other excellent commentary (I particularly enjoy her often scathing political commentary!) on her blog Blatherskite. Well, she went and made my day today! Thank you so much, Moni! I’m looking forward to doling out my own “Blog of Distinction” awards, but not today. I need to spread out the goodness.
• I’m knitting a pair of socks with this yarn, and boy howdy, it’s a good time. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed working with the Cherry Tree Hill until my sister reminded me that I made her a pair out of it a couple of years ago. I’ve decided that handpainted sock yarn is my favourite type of yarn ever.
• Our local transit union is on strike. Not much more to say about that.
• If you read not martha you’ll know that she recently ran a contest (one of many — her blog is full of contest-goodness!) for some reusable shopping bags from Delight.com. Well, guess who won a set? Once again, beside myself. To-day is turning out to be rather brilliant.

I hope your day turns out to be brilliant, too.

More spring flowers. Can you stand it?

It hasn’t taken me a week to come up with this final 20. I’ve been in the throes of conference prep and my to-do lists have tended to be far more short-term and pedestrian, that’s all. You know, “work on presentation, do laundry, pack an umbrella, water plants”, that sort of thing. And, while I’m still working on that mundane list, what better means of procrastination than to finish up this list?

100 Things to do before I go (81-100)

81. Live smaller
82. Learn to crochet
83. Play with a baby tiger
84. Get better at returning phone calls
85. Hand paint my own homespun yarn
86. Learn to fly
87. Live a whole year buying only what we need
88. Write a million dollar cheque to a charity
89. Go on safari in Africa
90. Knit shawls for all the women I know & love
91. Farm
92. Mardi Gras in New Orleans
93. Sky dive
94. Participate in a protest
95. Make a quilt for every bed in the house (+ a few to spare)
96. Climb a glacier
97. Blow glass
98. Draw more
99. Build a tree house
100. Raise a child