No tangible updates right now on my own knitting. The two projects I started out recently (Katharine Vest by Eunny Jang in the most recent Interweave Knits and the free Jellyfish by Iris G at MagKnits) are going less-than-swimmingly.

Let’s just say it’s a bad sign when I can’t stay focused enough to correctly follow the lace pattern during the SWATCHING phase of the Katharine Vest. I don’t think I’ve completed one successful 4×4-inch section of the darn thing yet. After a few attempts I’ve decided to supress my stubborn tendency and just let it go for a while… Need to get my hands on some stockinette. I’m completely distracted by my job right now because of the crazy long hours I’ve been working lately. However, convert my overtime into a more tangible (yarn) form and suddenly I don’t feel so worn out.

My latest lust: Hand Maiden Silk Maiden in the colorways Peridot and/or Smoke - 50% silk 50% wool, $29 for a 300 yard skein.

There is also the Handmaiden Sea Silk which is 70% silk and 30% seacell, a cellulose fiber made from seaweed. Intriguing! Here it is, also in the Peridot (but, curiously, very different tones than the top Peridot example…)

I WILL own this yarn.

So here’s something you need to know about:

Sweaters for Penguins.

Made for penguins rescued from oil spills. I checked it out on Snopes, and it’s the real deal.

Purpose (besides being cute): 1) When their feathers become coated in oil the penguins lose their ability to retain heat and be waterproof 2) Prevents the penguins from trying to clean their feathers & ingesting the oil, which is of course toxic.

The request for the public to knit the [cute] sweaters was initially sent out because of a real oil spill that occurred in Melbourne, Australia in 2000. And it wasn’t just an effort to rescue any old penguin species- oh, no. It was to rescue the Little penguin (Eudyptula minor - I kid you not), the smallest penguin breed in the world. The call went out, and knitters answered. They hoped to collect 100 [cute] sweaters, and according to the Tasmanian Conservation Trust website they now have a stockpile of 15,000, ready for future disasters.

My question is: why are the world’s penguins not CURRENTLY wearing these [cute] sweaters? I mean, really. Need I point out the stripes??? And why stop at penguins? I believe I’ve seen a giraffe or two wearing a turtleneck sweater in picture books.

It was summarized best at adorablog:

PENGUINS = CUTE
SWEATERS = CUTE
PENGUINS = TINY

By the substitution and transitive properties of adorableness,

PENGUINS + SWEATERS + TINY = CUTE X 3

CUTE!!!! (factorial factorial factorial factorial)

If you need to make your own [cute] sweater, directions can be found here. Know that I will not judge you if you choose to make an object that for all practical purposes will almost certainly never be worn by an actual penguin.

I wonder if the people I work with truly understand the extent of my weirdness… It does seem to be never ending.