blogs and things

I ran across this quote today:

"We are living too fast!" is the useless note of alarm sounded from press, and pulpit, and lecture-room; echoed in a thousand homes, in various accents of regret and dismay; most fearfully by the rattling clods upon the coffin-lid, that hides forever the care-worn face of wife and mother, who has been trampled to death by the press of iron-footed cares. Is not this haste begotten by waste?"

It's from Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea, by Marion Harland (pen name), Mary Virginia Terhune, New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1875. Wonder what she'd think of things today?

Someone on the sockknitters list asked what people liked to see on blogs. The overwhelming response seemed to be knitting content only, with lots of pictures. Well, I can't write that kind of blog, I'm afraid, but in the interests of playing along, here's my current "thought project" (akin to Einsteins "thought experiments," only far less elegant!).

I love the colors in this yarn, and it occured to me that it would look great with beads. I'm already calling them my Sari Socks because the colors remind me of a beautiful silk sari. I'm thinking of adding beads to one of these two patterns:

Diamond Waffle Socks - the intersections of the diamonds seem natural places to put beads.

Queen of Cups - I'd have to try this as a swatch, but it seems to me that between the lively colors of the yarn, the depth of color of the beads, and the graceful swirls of the lace, you might get something approximating the feel of a beautiful sari. I'd have to experiment to see where to place the beads. Maybe on the vertical twisted stitches?

I'm quite sure I'd just pour all the beads into a bowl and string them at random. I might try the crochet-hook techinque of attaching the beads, too.

But meanwhile I have to report that I turned the heel on the 2nd basketweave sock last night, that I've cast on for the 2nd Spring Lace sock, and that I'm halfway down the leg of the 2nd Flickering Flames sock (which needs a new name, since as it turns out, it doesn't resemble flickering flames at all once it's on). Taking the dogs out twice a day means I can spend between an hour and two hours, depending on how distracted I get by the garden, working on the basketweave sock and it's on size 1 needles I think, which seem gigantic compared to the double-zeros I'm using for the Spring Lace socks, so it's going very fast. I try to do a complete 12-round pattern on the FF sock every night before bed and have only 3 more to go before I reach the heel. That is SUCH beautiful yarn; I wish I could find the label for it so I could recommend the dyer. The Spring Lace socks go a little more slowly because I'm using such fine needles, but it also goes fast because it's in the living room where I can grab it and work one or two rows in spare moments, and because the lace pattern makes it interesting.

Pictures later.