Oh, and the Interweave Winter preview is up!

Check it out! Pay special attention to the socks. I am a bit disappointed at how they photographed, and I'm hoping that the photo in the print issue is better. The variegation of the yarn was very subtle, but it looks wild in the preview pic. Also the dark color makes the cable pattern a bit hard to see. I think little things like this will continue to get better as Eunny gets her feet under her. I can't imagine how hard it must be to come in and be responsible for editing this giant magazine without ever having done it before. It kind of boggles the mind!

Also be sure to check out Connie's lovely Henley Perfected. Gorgeous!!!

So. Cal. Burning

I'm sure you all have been following news of the crazy wildfires that are torching southern California right now. It makes me happier than ever that we don't live down there anymore. I've been worried about Yarnhog since I heard how hard San Diego has been getting hit (and I know she's been narrowly missed by fires before), but from her blog it looks like they're hanging in so far. The fires outside of LA have been burning in the Santa Clarita valley near our old house, and I'm hoping that our old neighbors and acquaintances in that area are all safe. Now one of those fires is moving westward towards the Condor preserve - so far they haven't been affected, but it sure would be ashamed if this is the thing that finally wipes them out!

I watched about half of An Inconvenient Truth the other day, and it seems like these fires are just hammering the point even further home. If it weren't for the terrible drought that the San Diego area has been suffering for the past couple years, perhaps the impact of these fires wouldn't be quite so severe. Yes, I'm a hard-boiled Democrat and Gore fan, but regardless, global climate change shouldn't be a political issue - it should be a "we-want-the-human-species-to-survive" issue. There are many otherwise-conservative Christians (including the Pope) who have become extremely concerned about the environment, which makes sense since humans are supposed to be stewards of the Earth, not users-and-abusers of it. I just have to continue to hold out hope that people will be smart enough to stay one step ahead of our propensity for destruction and figure out how to fix these things before it wipes the human race off the planet. We will surely be the instruments of our own destruction if we're not careful. There is so much love and goodness in people - I try to convince myself that we will be able to rally before it's too late. I try not to spend too much time fearing for my children's future.

I also started listening to Barbara Kingsolver's glorious new book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, on my iPod in the car (I got it in digital format from Audible). The audio version is read by the author, who has a wonderful, velvety voice. I am thoroughly enjoying it (the first chapter was all about asparagus), but she also raises many concerning points about the food we eat and the whole crazy chain of food production and transportation in this country. On one hand, it's depressing to think about how horribly off-course we've gotten as a culture. On the other hand, it feels like it's good to continue educating myself and hopefully motivating myself to start doing things differently. This morning I listened to the section where she talks about heirloom vegetables vs. genetically-modified and hybrid varieties. We usually buy seeds from Target or the hardware store, but this year I'm going to plan ahead and order some heirloom seeds from a reputable catalog. She talks about how 90% of the vegetable seeds are controlled by a single big company, and that the number of species we have to choose from are greatly reduced from what was available even a decade ago. Also, many of these varieties are hybrids that can only be grown once. You can't take the seeds of these plants and get the same veggies the next year because the hybrid genes don't play nicely together when it comes to normal reproduction. It's nuts!

Anyway, I didn't mean for this post to get off on a long, incomprehensible tangent. I think it's time to go do some knitting now. I'm making a pair of socks out of Classic Elite's new Alpaca Sox yarn, and it is so fabulous. I might have a new favorite sock yarn on my hands!

Bleccchhhh....

I'm sick. Again. I think I might've gotten it from my cat, who spent a cold, wet night outside and has been sneezing little cat sneezes ever since. Or I could've gotten it from Tricia at Dublin Bay (she was out with laryngitis a good portion of last week, poor thing!), or Shannon at Twisted (who got her cold from Emily, the other owner of Twisted), or the kids, or any number of other sick people who seem to be milling around these days. I just hope that I don't pass it on to Bill, because I am totally and completely miserable! I think I've taken too much cold medication in my lifetime because it doesn't seem to work at all anymore. My homeopathic potions aren't working, either. I even cracked out the Neti pot, but my nose was so stuffed up on one side that I couldn't get any water through and had to give it up before I drowned myself.

So today I had to miss both work and a friend's baby shower that I had been looking forward to for weeks. Tomorrow we were supposed to go to a potluck dinner at the same friend's house, but I don't think I'll be healthy enough to do that, either. I hate being sick! I'm feeling so lousy, I don't even want to knit (but sadly, I have to, since I've got deadlines screaming in my direction). I know, poor me, right?

Last Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch out on Sauvie Island, which is a little patch of land where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers converge that is famous for its agriculture. We also go strawberry, raspberry and blueberry picking out there at various times of the year (if we don't decide to take the easy way out and buy it from the drive-up farm stand instead). After waiting in a very long line of cars to get in, we headed straight for the corn maze called "The Maize". How clever.



The corn maze was great fun and, fortunately, not too hard. The kids loved running around in the really tall corn, pointing out all the ears that had fallen on the ground.



After lunch, we took a hayride out to the giant pumpkin patch. There were lots of pumpkins, many of which were rotten, broken and otherwise kind of disgusting. It sure was pretty, though!



Isn't he cute?



Each of the kids picked out their own pumpkin and then we walked back. Owen was just about asleep when we got back to the car - you can tell how sleepy he is in this picture (he's holding the pumpkin Bill helped him pick out).



After a long day of fun on the farm (I hear there's a new term for this - "agritainment"), we headed back to Portland and got stuck in one of the island's infamous traffic jams. It took us about an hour to get over the bridge. I couldn't help but think about what a huge hassle this time of year must be for the residents - there's only one way off that island that doesn't involve a boat (or swimming)...

Well, that's about all I can handle for now. Time to go lay on the couch a feel sorry for myself while watching Overboard. This will round out an awesome day of sick movie-watching which included Best In Show, Waiting for Guffman and Bill's all-time favorite made-for-TV movie, Frequent Flyer with Melrose Place alum (and Heather Locklear beau) Jack Wagner. We wonder if Heather makes fun of him for making this movie. Regardless, it was a total score to find it on DVD for $1. Now if we could just find our other favorite cheesy TV movie, The Colony...

Ravelry group & additional pattern availability

Well, I hope you all enjoyed Donna's stop on her blog book tour - it was a fun interview! I've got another book review up my sleeve in the next week or so, so stay tuned.

I don't have much to say today, but I wanted to tell you about a couple of things. First, I started a Ravelry group for people knitting my patterns - it's a place to ask questions, give feedback, etc. in a more interactive way than is possible on the blog or via e-mail. If you're on the Rav, you can get to it here. PS - Ravelry invites have sped way up since they got their new servers installed, so if you haven't gotten on the list yet because it seemed hopeless, know that there is indeed hope for all.

Next, I dropped off a binder with my complete pattern line yesterday at Close Knit along with the Snowflake Sock sample, so you can pick up any of my patterns there if you're in the 'hood. Also, Dublin Bay has all of my patterns available (hard-copy) for online order for those of you not in PDX who might want to order the Feather Lace Shawl pattern and the Seasilk to go with it all in one swoop.

Speaking of petting the Handmaiden (that's my phrase of the week now), Yvonne stopped by the shop yesterday and I most helpfully showed her the new Handmaiden Cashmere Silk laceweight. This stuff is like beyond soft - it's almost TOO soft for the poor brain to comprehend. It's amazing that they managed to make cashmere even softer by blending it with silk, but they did. Yvonne carried a skein of it around for a good long time and just couldn't bring herself to put it down. She totally petted the Handmaiden (in fact, she's probably petting it right now)!

I also got to finally meet my shop co-worker Sharon yesterday. We were supposed to work together a long time ago, but events conspired and shifts changed around so that we didn't manage to get together until yesterday. I hadn't realized that this is the same Sharon who joined my Beginning Knit Designers webring a year ago. I remember her sending a very nice e-mail to me (which I probably neglected to respond to, since I'm so very bad that way), but I never made the connection that this was the same Sharon! Back then she was designing adorable little dog sweaters, but now she's moved on to handdyed yarn and stitch markers. Go check out her Etsy shop! It was lovely to finally connect with my new partner-in-crime...I mean, co-worker!

I'll leave you with a picture of our porch's pride and joy.



These two gorgeous pumpkins were volunteers in our front garden. As in, last year Bill chucked our rotten pumpkins off the porch into the garden and the plants that produced these beauties grew from their seeds. That's my kind of gardening - the do-nothing kind! Today we're planning to head to the pumpkin patch/corn maze for a little fall fun before the rains settle in for good.

Ethnic Knitting Discovery - a chat w/ the author

Here it is, my interview with Donna Druchunas, author of the awesome new book Ethnic Knitting Discovery.



We've got some great Q&A with the author along with some general information on the book at the end. Donna is midway through a blog book tour so if you find this post interesting and informative and want to learn more, check the listing of other blogs on the tour. There are some good ones there!

Without further ado, here's the interview!

Your publisher is a small independent press. How did you hook up with Nomad Press and work with them on this book and your last one, Arctic Lace?

I met Deb by accident on the internet. When I was working on my first book, The Knitted Rug, I was having trouble shrinking the history section to the length my publisher wanted. I was poking around on the internet one day (a favorite procrastination tactic of mine), when I stumbled onto Deb's website and noticed that she 1) published knitting books and 2) coached writers. So I shot off an email to her right away. She was able to help me with my chapter, and we kept in touch after that. When I told her about my idea for Arctic Lace, she was interested immediately. And the rest is history, as they say. We enjoy working together (most of the time, sometimes I'm crabby).... and I think we make a great team. Now we've done Arctic Lace and the new book, Ethnic Knitting Discovery. I love the process and end the results!

This is your third book (and I know you're currently working on a fourth since I'm designing a sweater for it). What inspires your book ideas and how do you go about taking a flash of inspiration to something that a publisher wants to take on?

Actually you're designing a sweater for what will ultimately be my 6th or 7th book. I can't even believe I'm saying that but it's true! I have a lot of stuff in the pipeline and it's been a really busy few years for me. Next year I'm taking it slower.

I have a whole file full of book ideas--enough to keep me busy for my whole life.

Everything inspires me: other knitting books, projects my grandmother made, items I see on the web or in museums. I am especially interested in exploring historical knitting techniques from around the world, but I guess that's obvious. I love the new kitschy, punk, and fashionista stuff that's out there today, but it's not a direction that my work is going in. I prefer to look to the past for inspiration, even though I love everything modern and futuristic, too.

Are there any particular knitting authors/designers who have influenced your style (either knitting or writing)?

Not consciously. I try to write the way I talk, so if you have met me, you can hear my voice when you read my words. I don't know how successful I am but that's my goal. Of course, when I write a book, I also try to be more succinct than when I talk or write for a blog! I do tend to ramble sometimes.

That said, I've always been impressed by Meg Swansen's work. And, obviously, Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and Deb Robson was a huge influence in the development of Ethnic Knitting Discovery. Other than that, I'm very inspired by the anonymous designers of the past and present. There are some wonderful knitters who sell mittens and socks in the tourist market in Vilnius, Lithuania, for example, and no-one will ever know their names.

Which project in the book was your favorite to write about? Your least favorite?

I love the little story from the Netherlands about the little old woman who lived in a shoe. No, wait, she lived in a windmill and she kept knitting and knitting and knitting until her tiny home was full. Then she would rip out the knitting and start over again. I found that story in an old magazine in the collection at our local historical museum when I was doing research for my first book. I love looking at old books and magazines.

I don't really have a least favorite project. I only chose things that I like. :-)

How long did it take you to complete the book?

That depends. I actually wrote this book fairly quickly, perhaps in a month or two. But getting the ideas together, and figuring out what I wanted to write about, and how much information I could include took a long time. I spent several months working on the table of contents and trying different outlines, and thinking about how much material I could realistically include in a book like this. I tend to lean toward the more and bigger side of the equation, but in these books my editor and I agreed that less is better. We wanted to be able to provide a lot of detail about each technique and each type of sweater construction, so we had to limit the options.

It also took a lot of time to work out the details for the spreadsheets, and the production time was pretty long because there are so many different illustrations. My editor wrote about developing the illustrations on her stop on the blog tour. Actually, she got carried away and wrote 5 fascinating posts on the topic!

She did get carried away! Anyone wanting to learn more about the book-publishing process should go read these posts - they are amazing! Now, can you share a brief overview of your book-writing process from concept to completion?

Wow, that's a lot of information to fit into a short space. I think that's a topic for another book.

I would definitely buy that book! In the section of Ethnic Knitting Discovery on the Andes, you describe the Andean style of knitting (where the yarn is tensioned around the neck). I've seen this done but I've never had the courage to actually try it. Do you use this technique and, if so, for what kinds of projects?

So far I've only used this technique to make a couple of small projects, but I'm planning to spin some natural colored wool for a sweater that I want to knit with this technique.

Finally, what in the world are you knitting in this author photo on the back cover of the book with those gigantic needles?



For my first book, The Knitted Rug, I did a lot of knitting with size 17 and 19 needles, but I never found any needles this huge! These are actually made out of wooden dowels, and they're used for knitting rugs with about 20 strands of yarn held together, or fat strips of fabric.

I found them in England when I was teaching at Woolfest last summer. They were being sold by fiber artist Ingrid Wagner. I wanted to buy a pair but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to bring them home on the plane, so I bought a shorter pair, about 2 feet long, that I could mail home in a tube. I haven't made anything with them yet, but I do want to make a runner for my hallway using strips of polar fleece fabric.

Thanks for that very informative interview, Donna! It was great fun being part of the blog book tour for Ethnic Knitting Discovery, and I hope the book is a great success. Following is some general information on the book, provided by Donna. Also, if you are interested in seeing some very cute sweaters made using the techniques in this book, check out the new issue of Holiday Gifts from Interweave Press. This magazine includes a pattern for Big and Little Ski Sweaters along with an article on designing your own Norwegian-style sweaters.

Now, here's the book info, and thanks for stopping by!

Donna Druchunas presents traditional knitting designs and techniques from across the globe in step-by-step fashion. She begins with what ethnic knitting is, what you don’t need to know, and color tips. For each geographic location, she offers brief knitting-specific history, instructions for key techniques, and a handful of versatile patterns (texture or color). A small introductory project lets the reader practice new skills, which are then applied to the knitting of individually
designed pullover sweaters.

Features:
Four skill-building small projects and eight sweater projects, each with worksheets geared to three levels of knitting experience—suitable for self-study or group workshops. First of a set of three books introducing traditional knitting techniques in a graduated fashion.

Skills covered include:
• knitting patterns back-and-forth and in the round
• working from charts
• steeks
• puntas
• stitch-and-cut armholes
• centering patterns
• managing repeats
• welts
• half-gussets
• Andean-style purling

Audience:
Knitters, beginning to intermediate. “What is really nice is the three levels of detail in pattern presentation, which makes it a great book for people transitioning from magazine-style patterns to rule-of-thumb approaches. . . . It took me a little bit of time to understand how subtly masterful it is. . . .” —an advance reader

Endorsements:
“This carefully crafted book will invigorate today’s growing community of highly intelligent knitters who are eager to learn and fly solo like those who preceded them.” —Cat Bordhi, author of New Pathways for Sock Knitters and many other titles

“The twelve projects are all based on ethnic designs proven by the test of time. With this book in hand, one need not fear getting lost!” —Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, author of Knitting in the Old Way and many other titles

“Whether you are a timid beginner or a seasoned knitter, you’ll find instructions that fill your needs and inspiration to fill your hours of knitting pleasure.” —Beth Brown-Reinsel, author of Knitting Ganseys

Socks & Yarn

We've got both here today, folks! First, the socks. I finally received my Sockapalooza 4 socks this week from Rebecca. They came all the way from Canada, which is not quick these days thanks to the increased border security. Since my legs are dreadfully hairy right now, I'm going to let my plastic foot do the modeling...



They are the Wyvern pattern by Marnie Maclean. I wasn't so sure how the ribbed sole would feel, but it's just fine and the ribbed short-row heel looks muy coolioso.



They look a bit rough because they were immediately put on and worn about town.

I also finished the Snowflake Sock sample for Close Knit. Here are a few views of the finished product (I couldn't get the toe to look right because plastic foot, lovely as she is, doesn't have human-shaped toes on her):







I ended up finishing this sock in just TWO DAYS. I love that very mysterious (and counter-intuitive) tendency of stranded colorwork to go so much faster than regular knitting. Makes me think I should knit a pair for myself! Too bad I've got about thirty more projects to design for TNNA in January (okay, I'm exaggerating, but it sure feels that way), not to mention a very tight-deadline project for next year's Color Style book from Pam Allen/Ann Budd and a sweater for an upcoming book from Donna Druchunas. Speaking of Donna, don't forget to stop by tomorrow for the blog book tour for Ethnic Knitting Discovery. I've got a great interview with Donna lined up and ready to go.

Finally, the yarn. I had to buy some sample yarn for various designs last week, so I decided to finally give in and buy two skeins of Handmaiden that have been taunting me ever since I started working at Dublin Bay.



The brown skein is the wonderful Camelspin (70% silk, 30% camel) in Mineral. The bluish skein is Great Big Sea (50% silk, 30% wool, 20% Seacell) in Glacier. They are both totally scrumptious. The brains behind Handmaiden and her mom, the genius behind Fleece Artist, came to the shop last Monday. They were supposed to be there on Tuesday when I was working and I was so excited to meet them, but plans changed at the last minute and I was stuck at home with a sleeping boy while they were visiting the shop. They brought a giant bag of yarn with them and Tricia bought it all (using the excuse that she didn't want them to have to drag it all home - um, sure thing, hon, you keep telling yourself that...) so there are some great new yarns in the shop that can't be gotten anywhere else. The ladies left me a lovely skein of a new Fleece Artist sock yarn to play with - yay! So much yarn, so little time...

I'm working Dublin Bay's KnitFlix in a couple of weeks (their knit/movie night) and I invited my knitting mommy group to come join me by telling them they could come "pet the Handmaiden". That's great if you know what Handmaiden I'm talking about, but if not, one could wonder what exactly we'd be up to...

Snowflake Socks

I'm working up a sample of the Snowflake Socks that I designed for Interweave Knits Fall '07 for the class I'm teaching at Close Knit, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to give some hints to those of you working the pattern. I've got guidance on how to increase the size and also some tips for working the gusset and heel flap. They are general directions and not specifics to avoid any copyright troubles, and the sizing suggestions haven't been tested, so take them with a grain of salt (and let me know if I made any grievous errors so I can fix them).

I'm using Louet Gems Sport in a dark purple and light grey, and it is turning out just lovely. Here it is, graciously modeled by my little plastic foot:



And the back view:



I've seen a few comments floating around from folks who want to resize the pattern to fit a larger foot. The best way to do this would be to add additional stripes on the sides of the leg. Add eight stitches to the cast-on to increase the finished foot size to 8.25" (which would be the right size for 9-9.5" feet) and then repeat the first couple stitches of the chart an additional two times on each side of the pattern. For example, right now the stripes are W-B-W (white-blue-white) on either side of the leg, and this is represented on the chart with sts 1 & 2 as B-W and stitch 28 as W. You'd modify so that the stripes would be W-B-W-B-W-B-W on either side of the leg so the chart would change to cover 32 sts and you'd knit sts 1-4 as B-W-B-W, work sts 3-27 of the chart as written over sts 5-29 on the needles, then work W-B-W at the end.

When you get to the heel, you'd work it over 33 sts. When turning the heel, k17 on Row 1 to get to the correct spot (I think - I haven't tested this, so take these instructions as guidance and not as gold). To center the heel turn, you just want to make sure that there are an equal number of unworked side stitches on either side of the center heel stitches after you've worked rows 1 & 2. If they're uneven, then you need to either change the number of stitches you knit on row 1 or the number of stitches you purl on row 2 to even it out. When you're done, you should have an odd number of stitches left on the heel needle. Work the gusset and foot taking the extra stripes into account (they should flow pretty easily). When you get to the toe, you'll have to deal with the eight extra stitches so end the foot part a little shorter (the extra decreases will add just under an inch in length) and divide the sts so there are an even # on each needle. You'll do a decrease round and then two even rounds just like for the toe as written, but you'll start out with a k7 instead of a k5 at the end of each needle. Then, do a k6 on the next decrease round, work two rounds even, and you'll be set to work the rest of the toe instructions as written.

If you need to make an even bigger size, you can add another eight stitches and more stripes to the sides, following the example above to deal with the extra stitches.

Now, for the gusset and heel flap tips. First, if you have a high instep or are having trouble getting the sock to fit over your heel, you can easily add additional rows to the heel flap. Just make sure you add them in multiples of two to make the striping pattern work out (ie 16 chain sts on each edge, 18 chain sts, etc.). When you're picking up sts along the sides of the heel, make sure you end with a MC stripe. Also, to make the join between the gusset and the instep even tidier and make the stripes line up, I picked up a couple extra stitches in the join on this sock:



As you can see, this transition is smoother than the one on the original sock pictured in the magazine. After picking up one stitch in each of the edge chain stitches, I then picked up stitches inside the loop of each of the bottom stitches of the two side stripes, keeping the colors in pattern.

This isn't actually at the gusset since I've already knit past that point, but this picture shows where to stick the needle - I'm going inside the stitch to pick up, not between the stitches like you would for a make 1.



By doing this in each of those side stripes that come down into that corner, you can make the transition nearly invisible. If you've picked up extra stitches along the heel flap, you'll simply work additional decrease rounds until you have the correct number of stitches for the sole.

The toe that I used is an adaptation of one of the toes from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks and it kind of swirls around the toe (I thought it was a good match for the snowflake theme). A standard round toe can easily be done instead, but it won't be nearly as fun!

I hope you find these tips helpful (and if you're in the Portland area and want additional guidance, sign up for my class at Close Knit and we'll talk about all this stuff in detail as well as learning two-handed stranding for the colorwork). Happy Snowflake Sock knitting!

What?!?

Three posts in two days? What the heck is going on? You know what - it's all the great comments I've been getting that have got me reinspired. I know I really don't deserve ANY comments at all since I'm absolutely dreadful about commenting back, but I really appreciate each and every one (and it's good to know that people are actually reading what I write - it definitely motivates me).

Today I'm writing because the new Holiday Gifts issue just came out. You can see the preview here (and scroll down to see the Sweetheart Socks if you want to know why this is a big deal for me). Not only that, but when I went to Twisted last night to teach, I got to see the hard-copy issue and not only are the socks in there, but the scarf I designed for Classic Elite is on the back cover! The pink cable-and-lace Lush scarf? That's mine! That was a nice surprise. The other nice thing about the new magazine coming out is that I know I'll soon be getting my designer's copy in the mail along with a check (even though I did the design work about six months ago, we don't get paid until the issue comes out).

This helps to make up for the fact that the sweaters I'm trying to design for the January TNNA aren't cooperating. I was using the Craft Yarn Council sizing standards, adding in standard ease (since I hate things that are too tight), and they're turning out way too big. I'd be curious to know what you all think of their measurements and whether they seem too big or just right to you... Another sample that I just seamed together is waaaay too low in the neck - I wasn't intending for it to require something to be worn underneath it but the way it's falling right now, it would definitely need something to avoid showing off the sternum like a Hollywood starlet at the Oscars... Sigh...back to the drawing board! The good news is that the lace tunic that I seamed together last night is perfect. One out of four ain't bad, eh?

It's a constant learning process and one of the most important things about being a designer is learning not to fear ripping. More often than not, things just don't work out right the first time. Or the second. Sometimes things don't ever work out until drastic changes are made. Sometimes the yarn just won't cooperate, but another yarn works fabulously for what I have in mind. These are all things I'm continuing to explore and discover, and the more I learn the more I realize I don't know!

Gosh I've gotten philosophical lately. On a totally unrelated note, we got three eggs yesterday. That means our late layer has finally gotten busy! Yahoo! Needless to say, we had omelets for dinner. Yum!

Blog Book Tour Announcement

I wanted to let you all know that I'm going to be hosting author Donna Druchunas for a stop on her blog book tour on Saturday, Oct. 13. Her new book, Ethnic Knitting Discovery, is coming out in November and I will be interviewing her about the process of writing the book. It's a great book - very much in the tradition of Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Knitting in the Old Way but focusing on designing your own ethnic knits in the styles of the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the Andes.

Visit Donna's blog to see where else she's going to be stopping on her tour.

I am thankful.

I was listening to Fresh Air today on NPR (my usual program when driving to pick Sydney up from school), and Teri was interviewing Tom Parker-Bowles (Camilla's son) about his new book, The Year of Eating Dangerously. The book sounds interesting enough (although it's not even going to make my list since there are so many things I'd rather read), but it was when the inevitable question about Camilla and Charles came up that he said something I found very interesting and charming. Teri asked if it was hard for him to have the media going after his mother and his family. His response was that actually, no, it wasn't hard. He and his sister discussed it and decided that their feeling was that they've had a charmed life and a wonderful upbringing. They could've been born in the slums, or abused, or lost their parents. They count themselves lucky for everything they have and don't feel sorry for themselves over some negative media attention.

I was floored by this attitude. This seems like such a refreshing attitude from a "child of privilege". Now, I know nothing about this guy (other than whose son he is), so he could just be blowing smoke, but it's so different from the whining that a lot of celebrities seem to do about how difficult their fame is. Yes, the paparazzi is relentless, but without them people like Paris Hilton would not be household names.

It also made me think hard about my own life and attitudes. Why do I feel like the world's going to end when my kids are being their strong-minded, willful little selves? They are both healthy, happy (mostly), good (occasionally) kids. Our family has a nice house to live in, clothes to wear, good food to eat. I'm very fortunate that I'm married to someone I love madly and who is successful enough to allow me to pursue my passion instead of packing the kids off to daycare every morning so I can work all day at an office job that I hate in order to pay the bills each month. I'm so very lucky to have in-laws that I adore and who are very involved in their grandchildren's lives - I can work at a yarn shop thanks to their free childcare services. And yet I still find plenty of opportunities to complain.

What is it about human nature that makes us so prone to negativity? Or is it just me? Is there truly a personality type that only sees the glass half-empty? Was I born this way, or did I develop some kind of mental defect that prevents me from seeing and enjoying everything good about my life? I'd sure like to know the secret, if there is one, to flipping that glass around so it's half full... Maybe the key is to seek out little tidbits, like that thrown out by Parker-Bowles, that make me stop and step outside of myself for a bit. It's always good to get a little perspective on things.

Not that everything's always a black cloud around here - it's just that I spend a lot of time ticked off because the kids are screaming and fighting (and won't listen to a thing I say), Bill left his dirty dishes on the kitchen counter that I spent the morning cleaning, and the living room floor is impossible to walk on without crushing dozens of Cheerios into the carpet. In the big scheme of things, a little bit of Cheerio dust just isn't that big of a deal.