After my last knitting disaster and interactions with the nasty knitting store ladies, I was a tad discouraged about continuing my newfound hobby. I almost followed Steve’s suggestion of taking up butter sculpting as my new hobby. But one day, I was at a business meeting, and overheard two colleagues talking about getting a knitting circle together. A knitting circle, at least to us, really just meant an excuse for a bunch of women to gather together over snacks and some spiked hot cider to chat and knit. So we did — and it was such a success that we’re planning on doing it on a regular basis. None of us are particularly advanced knitters — but, we’re helping each other learn (I learned how to make a stripe on the new scarf I’m knitting), and ultimately we may invite some women who have a bit more knitting experience so we can branch out to something other than scarves. You can see pictures from the knitting circle here.

As for my first project, I haven’t sucessfully done much with it, although it makes a lovely schmatta. I did make a scarf that I actually wear:
(here’s a closeup of the yarn, which I think is really funky, so you can actually see the colors). My next scarf is made of a lime-green mohair yarn, which I purchased at Knit New York (where the folks were very nice to me and not condescending), along with Stitch ‘N Bitch, a great, basic, hip chick’s guide to knitting (because I’m so hip). My friend who taught me to make a stripe had this soft, textured, multicolored yarn that had the exact same shade of lime-green in it, so she donated it to the cause. It looks great so far, and I’m back on the knitting bandwagon again.

I went for sake with some of my self-defense buddies last week. Given how we know each other (we’re all instructors in the program), we tend to have some fairly bizarre dinner-table conversations. “So, if I paid you, would you jump me when I’m walking home late one night? I want to see how I’d react when I’m carrying groceries and wearing my big winter coat.” “Um, sure.” At one point during dinner, one of the women got up to go to the ladies room. She came back raving about the toilet. I, of course, had to go see it for myself. There it was, in all its glory.

The Washlet C100, complete with its own control console. From the console, you could select several bidet options (either front or back spray, as indicated by the diagrams) with varying degrees of water pressure, and you could turn the heated seat on or off to suit your preference. My friend decided she needed one in her house. You can learn more about the Washlet C100 at the company’s website — you can even watch a video to get a closer glimpse of its many features. Needless to say, the guys were jealous — the men’s room had no such luxury. Them’s the breaks, boys. If we, as women, have to learn how to defend ourselves in our daily lives, the perks the Washlet offers us are the least we deserve.

Okay . . . which one of you dorks took Yoda?