Actual fiber. Goldfinches are in eclipse plumage.

I had a great time in California in September. Sometime I will blog it. It's warm and very different geography out there; they also have a lot more people around the Bay area than live in all of New Hampshire (and probably Maine and Vermont as well).


Meanwhile:
(Warning -- digestive oversharing)
I seen to have become gluten intolerant again. This is not surprising, but it's expensive and inconvenient. I am selling my soul to King Arthur Flour's Gluten-free mixes. They might as well have it as anyone.  My gut is also unhappy when I eat anything very fiber-y ( a _delicious_ lentil stew with potatoes and onions) more than twice in 24 hours. I would not care as much if the unhappiness did not also include a spectacular itch.


My son has also quit eating wheat, rye, barley, oats, beer. I hope my vegetarian daughter remains able to eat the stuff. Celiac vegetarians have a really hard time.


Comparing blood samples from the 1950s to the 1990s, Murray found that young people today are nearly five times as likely to have celiac disease, for reasons he and others researchers cannot explain. And it’s on the rise not only in the U.S. but also in other places where the disease was once considered rare, like Mexico and India. “We don’t know where it’s going to end,” Murray says. “Celiac disease has public health consequences.” And therefore, it has a market. New York Times


And since it has a market, there are a lot more options than there were (Such as KAF being interested in my soul, not that it didn't already have it).


Enough about that.


Since October I have been crafting for Christmas. You really can knit more if you don't do other things, like reading, or eating (or drinking alcohol. Tea is okay, though it tends to get cold.).  I cannot post pictures because there might be gifts involved.  I can say, however, that the tiny kitted things of Mochimochi Land melt the stalest heart.  I have no pictures because I keep giving elephants away. (Maybe I should make a white one?)


So for gift reasons I needed to look at Ravelry, and I finally fell through the rabbit hole. I had not understood how people wasted the hours there they described. Now I do.  I made this for myself, in the middle of something else (that involved FOUR skeins of Noro, AND I still finished it in eight days), only I haven't seen it since Thanksgiving and a trip to Boston. I think it's with a muffler. I hope it's somewhere safe. And there is this, which answers the perennial question, "What should I do with leftover sock yarn?" Actually, of course, you should put it in a bag in your sock drawer to darn with, but no. The hexipuffs will also use up any of your spare time that you've carelessly not filled making tiny mermaids, Christmas presents, or gluten-free food.


 Or beading.  You would be right if you said I have not had much time to bead if I am constantly knitting. But the social interaction at Bead-It! is so good, I just dropped by, and the quietest of the three goddesses, Sue, had made... another thing I am making as a Christmas present. But this is a really lovely book, despite having not the best directions (knitting patterns are easier to write, but they also say things like 'four stitches added,' or '94 stitches this row,' which would be a help in beading, too).

I am reading Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon. It's weird but not unreadable, particularly if you like entirely gratuitous Star Trek references.  I also read Carrie Vaughn's Discord's Apple, which would be better if it were not a one-off (I liked the conceit and the characters very much), and The Unbelievers which was a gripper but kinda grim. And Second Sight, which falls into the Guilty Pleasure category, but it was tasty and I would read more Amanda Quick. But maybe not her alter ego, Jayne Ann Krentz. I liked the Victoriana. Try not to buy any of these from Amazon. We need the other booksellers, indie and chain alike, and Amazon keeps having nasty stories told about their labor practices.

I have not reacquired my desire to garden. The bees are still foraging on warm days, which we keep having. The weather now is like October ought to be, despite the 20" of snow we got in October.