akabini

Okay, so let me get this straight:

• Ford is declaring one of its worst quarters ever.
• America is already so laden with cars that vehicles now outnumber licensed drivers. (And I read somewhere that if they were all to hit the road at the same time, they wouldn't all fit on the roads). (Seriously.)

And at the same time,

• We have some of the cheapest postage in the world.
(Which means we can get bombarded with 41 POUNDS of junk mail each year, none of which we want, but which gets sent out at the expense of trees and fossil fuels and ... don't get me started. Do something about it here.)
• The Postal Service just upped postage by A PENNY. A flippin' PENNY. We're all scrambling to the Post Office to get those ONE PENNY stamps, or another roll of 42-cent-ers … cumulatively, the worker time it's taken is not inconsiderable. Really.
• Postal Service delivery vehicles drive the same route, day after day, around town – how much mileage do you think they run in a day? Can't be more than 100 miles, don'tcha think? And mostly on town roads, with speed limits of 25-35 mph.

Can you see where I'm going here?

Can you imagine the PR coup Ford would reap if it got on the stick and could announce in a few months that it's working with the Postal Service to phase in PLUG-IN ELECTRIC MAIL DELIVERY VEHICLES to replace their fleet of gas-using trucks? (Just found the statistic: the Postal Service operates a fleet of 212,000 vans and trucks, including big semis, to be sure but...)

Henry would be proud, I think.
Pardon me while I send them a memo.

Those who would take over the earth
And shape it to their will
Never, I notice, succeed.
The earth is like a vessel so sacred
That at the mere approach of the profane
It is marred
And when they reach out their fingers
It is gone.
For a time in the world some
Force themselves ahead
And some are left behind,
For a time in the world some make a great noise
And some are held silent,
For a time in the world some are puffed fat
And some are kept hungry,
For a time in the world some push aboard
And some are tipped out;
At no time in the world will a person who is sane
Over-reach himself,
Over-spend himself,
Over-rate himself.

- Lao Tzu

See the pretty? See the pretty?

Pattern:  Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Fair Isle Yoke Sweater," Woolgathering leaflet #1 (reprinted in The Opinionated Knitter and a few other places)
Yarn: Jamieson Shetland Double Knitting "Dark Navy" (16? skeins) as MC,
with "Ginger," "Cherry," "Nighthawk," and "Rosemary" CCs (1 skein each)
Needles: 3mm/US 2-1/2, Suzanne's rosewoods in 32" circular

Sleeves? Who needs sleeves with this much pretty?*
I must say I was dubious about the back neck short-rowing she has you do, which means that the ribbing in the back neck is deeper than the front. Thought it would look hokey, but it does make this sweater (which will remain a pullover) sit quite nicely on the body.

* No, of course there will be sleeves! I pulled a total bonehead maneuver when I started – and simply assumed that there would be more Dark Navy Jamieson DK ON THIS CONTINENT that I could get my hands on with some speed. But no, I need to wait til it comes off the boat in few weeks or months. Sigh.

And now that the body's done, and I had such a lovely weekend working on the yoke (yes, it knit up in a weekend! during a weekend-long birthday tiki bash! with wine and gin!)...

Here comes Number 2!

So, in the space of one day,

• we have a wild, loud, girls' lunch at a local eatery celebrating our friend MB, she of the Best Rack Soon to Be East of the Rockies, and also my launch into summer (away from weekly Circles at Churchmouse, alas)...

and

• I have a great cell phone conversation with BG, she of the Best Rebirth in Her Forties Ever...

and I realize:
I have both of these (all of these, if you count all the gals around the wild lunch table today) girlfriends because of?
Knitting.

Chalk that up to the power of knitting - to create bonds of friendship that really do transcend time and place.
BG has been here, then gone to other parts – further south and more Red than here – only to relocate to a great place. And thanks to BG, there's threadingwater, and and and...

MB is off to another adventure, but I didn't bust out into tears today because I know that she'll be back, in part to check on her 'baby' in college, but also to check in at Churchmouse and pick up more projects... and to have a girls' night with me and KarenJo and Mickey and all those other great knitting buddies.

So as I celebrate the coming of summer, and my version of summer vacation (which somehow, weirdly, includes mileage and roadwork and fartleks?), I'm grateful for the power of knitting to hold us all together, even as we swirl apart to enjoy our own separate stuff.

Thanks, crew.
See you soon.
 

After posting yesterday, I realized that it sounded a bit too "oh-poor-me-little-suburban-American-white-girl-my-expensive-toys-don't-work-right."

Have no fear - the knitting content and the goofy running commentary will resume asap.

And just this very moment? It's 9:30 am, and beautifully sunny, which means it's getting warmer out there by the second and I really really don't like running when it's hot.
And I knew that when I sit down at the computer to check e-mail and read blogs, that's one step in a direction away from running this morning... and this afternoon it'll just be hotter.

So here I go.
See you out there.
(p.s. We're up to 60 minutes and about 5 miles now!)