Housekeeping!

"They had lived through a world with such changes as we have never seen and they had remained themselves." Ruth Harkness on pandas

A few notes:

I actually have been knitting, though I've not mentioned it much. I broke ground on Christmas gift knitting last week, but I won't be showing any of it. Not a bit, not before Dec 26. I realize I could post finished items and there's only a teeny, tiny chance someone might look at it and say "Why that's exactly what I asked Neighbor for!" or "I'm the only person I know who would wear that color!" Teeny-weeny-tiny chance. Still. I'm not taking any. I'm a terrible secret-keeper and at the first phone call or email I'd give.
Innocent caller: "Hey Neighbor it's me, just wanted to see how you are"-
Me: "Yes, that scarf is yours, alright! Are you happy now? For heaven's sake, stop pressuring me!"
Or something like that.

Also, I still recall clearly, only a few years ago, ordering a book for Pops Knitter (Buster's Diaries) for Christmas. The book was out of print (it no longer is and it's up there on my list of great doggie tales) so I ordered it through a seller on Amazon. I ordered it December 5th and my receipt email told me the book would come from Alaska and arrive no later than New Year's Eve. Which I found awfully confusing as I ORDERED IT DEC 5th. I mentioned this to my dear spouse in a very heated voice, and he replied, mildly, "What, is it coming by way of Iditarod?" Even as I type those words I can't help laughing. So of course I told Pops Knitter this story. To which he inquired, innocently, "Oh and what did you order?" and I said something along the lines of, "Oh, nothing- not much- just a- a little- er- nothing, alright?" Like a Southern Baptist preacher caught with a hip flask- I can't explain myself.
However, so you're not entirely yarn deprived, here are a couple of shots. The first: My HP Scarf


The second: My Yarn Stash

Ya'll it's taking over the planet. Something must be done. At first it was just my blue-and-white flower bag that held all my knitting goods. Then my bn'w bag and a couple of pink bags, touting the logo of my LYS. Now there's my bn'w bag, carrier bags from three different yarn stores, the big blue tote (embroidered, beautifully, I might add with my initials- a gift from Mum Knitter), and a stack of pattern books. Something must be done.

Other news: I'm reading a fantastic book, The Lady and the Panda about the first person, Ruth Harkness, to capture a live panda and bring him to a zoo (though I'll say now, for anyone who might have a "thing" against zoos, I'm almost positive, she returned the panda back to the wild- I'll keep you posted- ha!- "posted"- geddit?).

I lurv pandas- they are my favorite animal, outside of dogs, and for a long time I nursed the idea of keeping one in the backyard (remember the lunatic part of the last post- Still True!). I don't think that's ever going to pan out, but I have seen pandas, in person, at the Atlanta Zoo, and I hope to make it to Washington D.C. while the pandas are still there and San Diego, if they still have them. They do, don't they?

Anyway, I'm a panda fanatic, and you can blame Mum Knitter who bought me the most beautiful panda stuffed animal when I was eight for, ironically, Christmas, and who I cleverly named Panda, and who I still have, on my bed right now, but who has a rather massive hole in him that Mum's already sewn up once but has split back open (That sentence was almost Faulknerian it was so long, the only difference being at no point did it make a single observation that might, in any way, benefit the reader.). He seems too fragile to sew closed again (he's old; I don't know if he'd make it through another surgery) so I'm hoping to find a tiny sweater pattern I could knit for him to wear, to keep all his stuffing inside... Just noticed, I've really lost the thread this time. Hmm. Ah. Point is, the book (Lady and the Panda, remember?) is highly entertaining and I'll post on it when I finish.

Anything else... Yes! One last bit of housecleaning to mention. I no longer like Hubelicious. Not the man, mind you, the name. It doesn't work for me at all and I feel my spelling of said name was abhorrent. (I remember when CNN ran a line that read "Beyonce no longer cares for the term 'bootilicous'." Honey, I know exactly how you feel.) I've played around with a few different titles. I could use his real name, but that, to me, would be dull and I still cling to my FBI-esque "the less you know, the better for you" attitude.

I've considered Mr. Knitter in the tradition of great bloggers PeaSoup and LazyCow who call their husbands, respectively, Mr. Soup and Mr. Cow. But they're both a little older, with children, and Australian, so they, I feel, can pull off the Jane Austen attitude. I'd just be a phony.

Darling spouse said Hubster is fine with him, but I feel that doesn't quite express his greatness, after the Birthday Trip Heard 'Round the World, but playing on that theme, I've finally hit on one that works. Ahem (again, drum roll, please) the Spouse formerly known as Hubelicious will now be called... Hubba-Hubster. Ta-done!

And in honor of the change here are a few more shots by Hubba-Hubster entitled, by me, his Cool Assistant: Vacation Installation, Part Three. The first shot is my favorite.
Ahem.