Wow, I didn’t mean to open up such a big can of worms by discussing that message. I think I’ve received more comments on that than on any knitting or pictures of Janie Sparkles! Thank you all for seeing fit to weigh in on the state of my undress.

I want to tip my hat (or needles?) to the writer of the message for sharing her thoughts and the entirety of her message (see Chickadee in the previous posts’ comments). I was conflicted how to respond initially, so I posted that confusion here. I didn’t want to create an environment of bashing. I want to apologize to her publicly, for calling into question her values and implying that it was about Christianity with my “WWyouD?”. She is a volunteer editor at ravelry, helping to create our online community, and more importantly, she’s another knitter… and I love knitters.

Hers was a request about a photo. It’s a cheeky photo (though no bum was showing) and obviously meant to provoke—a smile or a laugh. She laughed at it, much like we all may laugh at the cover of Amy Singer’s No Sheep for You (who incidentally, correct me if I’m wrong, Amy, isn’t IN LOVE with that cover). Thank you to Claire for pointing out the similarities, although that model is better lit than I was, darn flash!

To cut to the chase, the nekkid me will stay. Jess and Casey know about it (though she hasn’t responded yet to Sunday’s email.) Back in May, in an email about my designer page, Jess joked, “ps- I am sure your parents will love that your name is attached to your patterns
but the real questions is, what will they think of your avatar? haha” My intention is playful and silly, not lewd or sexualized.

What’s been great about this whole incident is seeing how much people care. I love the passion that’s in our community and our diversity. Thanks for putting your feelings out there. It’s great to know so many of you “got my back” whether it’s clothed or not. And, thank you, Chickadee, for opening my mind a bit and focusing on the positive:

I’m really looking forward to cooler temps and loads of quality knitting time. I also hope to make many new friends here and through Ravelry.

Knit to your heart’s content!

Lest you fear I’ve gone all Kum By Yah, here’s a little Southpark (consider yourself warned!):
The lesson learned from all of this? Don’t be afraid to speak your truth, and don’t be afraid to listen. Let’s not silence or squelch any opinions.

Goodness knows what’s come out of my mouth! (but nothing as bad as this—fully-clothed, non-sexual NSFW; if only I had that grace and composure!)

So, I’ve got this other photo. You know the one, me knitting in the bathtub, but without the towel? Yeah, the one with more of my flesh than you’ve ever needed to see? Silly is how I describe it, although I sarcastically called it provocative in a previous post.

I use it as my avatar on ravelry. Tonight, I received an email kindly requesting me to change that picture. While the writer states that she “hope(s) not to offend,” she continues, citing the community guidelines:

ravelry is for all ages:
No naked avatars! Naughty bits will get your avatar turned off.

My avatar is 100×100 pixels. That’s it—tiny. While nudity is implied, no bits are showing. I’ve written Jess for her opinion, but I wanted to open it up to y’all.

• Should I switch the pic to one enshrouded by a towel?
• Should I chalk up her request and opinion as an extension of her self-proclaimed values (gleaned from her profile and blog title—no links, play nice, kids).
• Should I stand my ground, by which I mean stay seated in the tub, and keep it up?

I am not flaming her. Nor do I wish anyone to contact her regarding her opinions… it is a free country and knitting is a diverse community. She and I are different ages, live in different parts of the country and have different beliefs.

Besides, she was otherwise very friendly, complimenting my messenger bag design. She admitted to laughing at the photo (which is something I’ve heard again and again from strangers on ravelry), and joked about the trend it could start of less desirable bathtub portraits.

WWyouD?

Two posts in one day?

It was not a good day, eating-wise. I had my regular breakfast (coffee, soft-boiled egg, bowl of cereal), but meetings at work didn’t let me eat lunch.

Instead, I finished off a can of Pringles, had a few handfuls of dry-roasted almonds and, one of my personal favorite snackfoods, Combos, both pretzel and cracker versions, stuffed with cheddar cheese filling.

eat crap = feel like crap
(an equation I still haven’t learned to avoid)

Luckily, I had a tasty little dinner. Grilled Ahi tuna, surrounded by a caprese salad and a tzatziki. Both sides contained organic veggies from my box. Beat that, Top Chef!

Hope you had a delicious day!

Thanks for the comment love, friends. You kids really made me smile through the frustration of having to deal with the window. Which has been replaced. My car feels whole again. Not longer hole(d).

Janie will be happy to go to work today. It was the first day in a while that she had to stay home, as evidenced by her energy and playfulness last night. She’s sleeping on the couch right now saving her strength for her adoring fans. Here’s a little present for all of you who haven’t heard a Frenchie sleep:

Last year at Walzwerk‘s anniversary party, my car was totaled by a hit-and-run. Last night was their 8th anniversary party.

I was against driving to the evening. Superstitious, I guess. I even fought about it with C. As he pointed out, we’ve driven to the restaurant many times since then. But I finally decided to drive, as we picked up a friend. We didn’t park on the same street, and, this time, we were in the middle of a block.

This year, the rear passenger-side winder was smashed. What makes it more ironic, is that where we parked, C said, “It might get broken into here,” but we still left it there. Once in the restaurant, the owner Christiane asked if we rode our bikes. C told her we drove because lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice.

It did.

Only thing stolen: a bag of blue plastic New York Times newspaper bags, aka poopy bags for Janie Sparkles. I only wish they were full of poo.

Dear friend (and knitter and swim coach and dog pal and Bibby‘s mom) Suzanne, hunter/gatherer extraordinaire, served us flour/egg-dipped/breadcrumb fried abalone last night.

The three that provided this meal were caught last weekend, with her bare hands, while free-diving north of San Francisco. And still, there were leftovers after six of us attacked this deliciousness.

Flour tortillas, lemon, fresh spinach, heirloom tomatoes and guacamole (my contribution). I passed on the horseradish tartar sauce.

We barely had room for her cardamom and ginger truffles afterwards.

As you may or may not remember, I was in Austin, TX back in March. It was nerd-SXSW, not the hip music one. The darling of the conference was Twitter, a simple web-tool for communicating the answer to one question: What are you doing?

I haven’t been in the habit of using it, but I’m trying it out a bit. (See RCNTLY: in the sidebar.) It should help with keeping y’all and my mom informed as to my going-on’s. Think if it as micro-mundane-blogging, in 140 characters or less.

Any of y’all Twitter knitters?

Look what came the other week! Five fabulous skeins of blue yarn. From Munich with love, courtesy of Taste of Germany by Ms. B of Knitters Uncensored. Thanks, Ms. B! Sogar besser als Weisswurst mit Senf (which I don’t eat, but Mr. Man thought I should say.)

It’s all I can do to keep myself from winding them all and starting socks galore, but I’m trying to be a good boy. Trying to finish the three other socks in progress right now (and the hat that needs finishing and the sweater that didn’t need to be started).

I was productive this past weekend and photographed all of my new yarn and put it into Flickr and Ravelry. Hopefully, you and me both will be seeing some of this yarn on it’s way to being something.

As I wrestle with my conflicted consumerism feelings, I ponder, “What if this is the last yarn I buy? How long would my stash last?” On sock yarn alone, I think I have a couple of years. There’s five sweater-worth’s of yarn, plus a (couple of) trunk-fuls of Crystal Palace goodies. Goodness knows, I have plenty of patterns in books, not to mention those living on the Interwebs.

It’s just an idea I’m toying with. No big declaration just yet. Ravelry is forcing me to see how much I really have, and at the same time, Flickr is showing me more yarn that I want. I blame you, HelloYarn!

Now will someone go buy this Rowan 4-ply from my favorite eBay source/dealer, so I don’t end up with it?

It’s been a few weeks since I received my copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One, but allow me to add to the chorus of people gushing about Cat Bordhi’snew book. If you already knit socks, this book will shake up your world, in the best way possible. If you don’t yet knit socks, what are you waiting for? Grab her Socks Soar on Two Needles (my first sock book), and get going!

Just reading the first chapters of this new book made me eager to dive in. That first weekend, I obsessively knit up my two sample socks (the foundations for the 8 new sockitectures) in some scrap yarn. Great teaching device and how fabulous to have so many fun-to-knit baby booties! On the other hand, it’s a slippery slope that left me jonesing to cast-on for a sock for myself.

Cat’s moved beyond knitting and writing and is also making movies illustrating some of the techniques in the book. Check out her YouTube videos. If you have time, watch the Short Row tutorial (there are two parts) showing W&T and how to conceal them. Here are my other favorites:

Left- and Right-leaning increases

Judy’s Magic cast-on, for all you toe-up sock fans:

Having met her at BMFA sock camp, I fell in love with her. She’s incredibly intelligent, savagely creative, and playfully silly. The videos give you a little glimpse of her charming personality.

Here’s Janie on Saturday, sleeping her way through what was two glorious days away from work. It’s the little things, and some fabulous people, that made this a memorable one:

• dinner every night and coffee every morning with Mr. Man;
• a fabulous afternoon with Michael (who needs to post more);
• delicious bread baked for Sunday breakfast with Lisa and Phillip;
• knitting progress on the sweater (in the foreground of the photo) and Brancusi 2.0;
• getting my yarn up-to-date in Ravelry (all sock yarn present and accounted for, Sir!)

Hope you had a good one, too!