Why I Love Golden Gate Transit

Commute Routes 54 and 56 make two big loops through Novato in opposite directions. I catch the 56 because it's more convenient for my schedule in the mornings and makes fewer stops after it picks me up than the 54 does. Most mornings, I drop C at day care and then go over to San Marin Drive and pick up the last 56 into the City.

This morning as I stood there for some time idly wondering exactly how late the bus was going to be, the 54 went by on its loop in the opposite direction and the driver honked at those of us standing waiting for the 56. He waved us over and as we clomped aboard his bus, he said that the driver of the 56 had called in sick and GGT had cancelled the run. Since it was the last 56 run for the morning, we all would have ended up having to drive in (and paying a fortune to park). But bless his heart, he did the entire loop honking at everybody on the opposite side of the street, picking us all up and making sure we all got to work pretty much on time this morning.

I promise not to whine about my commute for at least a month.

Unity

So I wake up this morning to an unusual exhibition of unity: Maggie and Max are lying side by side on top of me, their furry little faces inches from my own. Maggie's sweet face says "that's ok - take your time. I know you love me and will acknowledge me in the fullness of time." Max ooches closer and closer till his fuzzy little face is right up next to mine. And then he bites my cheek.

The Knitting Olympics

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, writes my all-time favorite blog. Even when she's not writing about knitting, yarn, and related topics she's extremely funny and clever and, I think, worth reading every day. (Her books are equally entertaining and I recommend them highly as well.)

Stephanie is hosting The Knitting Olympics - and yours truly has joined the ranks of Olympic Knitters. I find it noteworthy that Knitting Olympians outnumber actual Olympic Athletes with some 4000 knitters and something like 2400 athletes.

So I'm knitting a clapotis in Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb (silk and wool) yarn in the Gold Hill colorway. It's a belated Christmas/birthday present for K, who holds the distinction of having actually been born during the Winter Olympics the year they were held here in California, in Squaw Valley. How appropriate is that? Plus, she didn't get a knitting Christmas gift this year because I ran out of steam at the end.

I got off to a bad start Friday night when I got to the third stitch of the clapotis and realized that in spite of having nearly two years of knitting under my belt, the task of purling into the front and back of a stitch was something I hadn't had to do before and I couldn't figure it out by reading my two knitting reference books. I'm a visual learner and couldn't follow the written instructions. Sad, really.

So Saturday morning I hopped down to visit Warren & in about 30 seconds he set me straight. I cast on yesterday afternoon and have been happily knitting away (and watching the Olympics) ever since. I'm almost through half of the first of the three skeins of yarn in this pattern so am feeling reasonably confident that I may actually be able to finish by the time the Olympic flame is extinguished. Of course, that assumes that I won't get seduced by any of the fifteen other projects I currently have in the works, including two pair of really excellent socks and a very cute little cotton hat that I'm making as a store sample for Warren. So much yarn, so little time.

Next weekend is Stitches West and the yarn market there is what I think of as Nirvana for knitters. We'll be going down Saturday morning, spending the night and coming back Sunday afternoon. Last year M was out of town that weekend and I made C drive down with me both days. Never mind that he had a fever and felt like crap. (Although, in my defense, I did pay him to go the second day - $2/hr, door to door.) Awesome, awesome stuff and a number of you got Christmas presents last year made from yarn picked up there. I think of it as a stash-enhancement exercise. Maybe I can get M to show me how to post pictures and in a future post I can share my finds.