I met a future knitter today.

My car was way past due for an inspection and routine maintenance, so I drove over to the dealership this morning. They've remodeled their waiting area, which is good because it took 5 hours, and that would have been uncomfortable in the old chairs.

I knew it was going to take a while, so I brought the baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting that I started last night. As I worked, I noticed a little one- probably about two or so- walking back and forth in an arc in front of me, slowly getting closer. This is not unusual. I'm a kid magnet. After a few minutes she stopped right in front of me, watching fascinated as I worked. For a minute I thought she was going to climb right up into my lap. She wouldn't talk to me, but when I held up the knitting for her to look at she touched the needles and the yarn. Her father apologized and called her away, but she came back every time he turned away. The last time she came to see me she held the needles and moved the points against each other and then tried to wrap the yarn. Smart kid! I knew she was fascinated, but I didn't realize how closely she'd been watching until she tried to do it herself. I wonder how long she watched me before I noticed her?

I started and finished the mid-January dishcloth last night. It whipped up a lot faster than the football dishcloth. I'll break out the new digital camera and try to take some pictures tonight. I've got a boat load of other knitting project to photograph, too. Keep your fingers crossed that I can figure out how to post them!

Went to my RWA chapter meeting this morning, so I'm one step closer to meeting one of my goals for the year- attend every chapter meeting. It was a good one, too. I've come up with a few new ideas for my WIP. The one I want to finish by the end of the year.

I went to Michael's after the meeting and bought three skeins of yarn I've had my eye on- 50% off! Yay! Then I got it home and tried to knit with it. Not so yay. It's a chenille, and the yarn just doesn't slide well. It gets really tight on the needles. I'm still futzing around with it. Maybe I'll get the feel of it.

And I made grape jello.

That was my exciting day.

It's official. I've knit the world's ugliest hat. It's cold outside, so I'm wearing it anyway!

I met the new members of my critique group last night. Two guys. It will be interesting to see how the dynamic works in this group. The last group was all women. Except that we learned later that one of the members was transgendered. The interesting thing was that the transgendered person's critiques were generally different from everyone else's. More analytical. This person looked at very specific details, whereas the rest of us were more big picture oriented. Was this a "male brain" vs. "female brain" split, or just the general disposition of the individuals involved? To complicate matters, the transgendered individual has gone back to identifying as a man, but hasn't been active in the critique group since the change. Well, I guess that doesn't really complicate anything, but it does make it harder to draw conclusions about the root of the differences. The sample is too small to really draw conclusions anyway, but I do remember thinking "well that explains everything" when I was told.

I'm now working on The Family Baby Sweater for a friend's new baby. It seems to be coming along OK. It's not really obviously a sweater yet, but it doesn't NOT look like a sweater either, if that makes sense. Which it probably doesn't.

I think it's time to take my sleeping pill and go to bed.