( s e c r e t • l e n t i l )

There just aren’t enough knitting action shots in the world.

But Carina just sent some. Here she is knitting in her very green back yard of which I am eternally jealous. She’s wearing her Secret Lentil hand warmers and holding the glompod clutch which is stuffed full of yarn.

Over on my side of the country we’re getting a big wet nonstop dump of snow today. Schools are closed, the trees are covered. I’m inside sipping hot chai but thinking about boots and shovels and getting to the studio.

I spent so many years trying to get out of things I didn’t want to do – going to school, to other jobs – and just waiting waiting for a snow day or even a sick day to get out of the drudgery.  But this morning I saw my niece’s post on facebook – she was looking forward to talking about a novel in class and working on an art project but she’s snowed in. Oh! I guess not everyone hated that, ha ha.

It’s still new to me to like what I’m doing. To like it in the real deep way where I’m not even secretly hoping for the day off. Where I’m not showing up every day but inside the I Want To Quit clock is ticking and I know this gig won’t last long.  I think I’d like a snow day but then I sit here for a few minutes and my brain gets engaged with what needs to happen today – shipping, listing some new pieces, re-arranging the studio, maybe even sewing a bit – and I’m surprised that I’d rather find some socks and see if I can dig out and get there.

I’m building a theory about how the moment we have an imaginary endgame – pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, winning lottery ticket, prince on white horse, hoping someone pulls the fire alarm so we can stand out in the parking lot instead of working for 20 minutes, etc. – that as soon as we have switched to wishing we were somewhere else we lessen our ability to be engaged with what needs to happen right in front of us. We begin to wait for life instead of living it. No i didn’t invent this idea. But the more I think about it the more I think those imaginary fairy tale distractions hurt us. They cause real immediate harm. I’d love to ramble about it more but I have to go to work. Want to go to work.

glompod? is that you, boy?

There’s a word for it.
Words don’t mean a thing.
There’s a name for it.
Names make all the difference in the world. – David Byrne

A friend, who shall remain nameless for her protection, lives in one of our country’s liberal hubs. I am jealous of the good restaurants she has access to, and the good shoes for sale, but mostly I marvel at her stories of the uptightness necessary to keep a place liberal. There are more rules there than at your average military encampment, but many of them are unwritten. It would prompt me to misbehave mightily, I fear.

It’s better to visit once in a while, but mostly I just listen to her tales. The latest involved a woman who has eschewed a name, settling on a sound in its place. I don’t know her reasoning, but it sure seems like it would just muck a lot of things up. Your attempt at becoming egoless, for instance, could make you bitter after you’ve explained it for the 12 thousandth time. I picture a sort of karmic “Wuh’s on first” routine.

This is all to say: here is a sneak peak at a new bag I’m making. It needs a name. The good news is that I enjoy naming things. For some reason I want to call it Glompod, but that seems a bit gloomy.  But it’s kind of a pod you glom on to. I promise I’ll make a choice though, and not name it “That sigh that you sound when someone is slow at the register in front of you.”