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I find the idea of a bunch of Italian grandmothers sitting around knitting this quite bizarre, and the thought of hikers "relaxing on it's belly" slightly obscene for some reason.

It seems more than one of you has noticed my lack of knitting updates lately (actually it's the lack of updates in general, but, whatever). Perhaps you all were thinking I am just a knitting poseur?? Not true, my friends, not true. I guess the truth is that I'm just not so much into the yarn when it's hot outside. And now that it's cooling off and Fall is almost here, I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!

So, Ms. Knit-Whit, blogless Nikki and I decided it would be fun to organize a monthly knit out at one of our favorite biker coffee shops Betty's Bikes and Buns. The inagural meeting of Motoknitters was last Thursday and I got a decent start on Teva Durham's Turtleneck Shrug from Scarf Style. You may recall I had actually swatched for it way last winter after picking up some Galway on sale in a yummy grape color, but it's pretty hard to stay interested in wool when it's 90 degrees outside.

I'm not entirely sure I'll even like the thing since my less than pencil thin physique isn't usually flattered by chunky knits, but it just seems like such an interesting garment that I had to give it a try.
I also have to add that I've never been thrilled with how my ribbing comes out. The last knit stitch before switching to purl is always too loose, no matter how I try and snug up the yarn and this makes for a not-so-perfect rib which bugs the crap out of perfectionist me. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them and in the mean time, I'm going to keep experimenting with different needle and yarn positions to try and even things out.

So there you go. A knitting post!
I'm going to have to get on with finishing the mate to my self-designed Color on Color mittens here pretty soon so I'll have that to show, as well as some socks (or maybe armwarmers??) from the delish Trekking in color 100 my pal Knit-Whit gave me.

So, while I've been too deep in housebuilding to take pictures or come up with anything cleverly bloggable, I was delivered into understanding about a certain something today that needs to be shared.

Piles.

Yes, piles, and not in the physically ailing sense.

It seems the need to pile is universal among males. This is news to me, and sadly, I am relieved. I say sadly because I really wouldn't wish this affliction on anyone.

Boy piles. It's actually a full-on system of organization for him. My biggest peeve is the next-to-the-bed-piles. If I am not constantly vigilant, before I know it, there will be three or four piles of clothes in various states of worn/dirty, hastily wadded...ahem...folded up, in a line next to boy's side of the bed. It makes me a little psycho, and when I'm feeling cranky or just impatient, I've been known to scoop everything up and shove it under his pillow. Like a dirty look, only more annoying.
(Now would be a good time for a photographic example, only I don't have any because I've been living on the edge and eating too much fast food, but you get it, right?)

Another pile-worthy item is mail. ( O the picture possibilities here...) I hold a strict 'deal with it immediately' policy on mail. I bring it in and it gets recycled or filed immediately. Boy not so much. If he brings in the mail, we could easily have weeks' old junk mail sitting on the table for, well....weeks. Somehow I find this insulting. Like saying thanks to the junk mailers by hosting them at my kitchen table.

As it turns out, a not insignificant amount of time and energy is being spent by myself and my female pals engaged in boy pile management. I just don't get it. How can one live in the company of piles and piles and not feel unsettled?? Tense even.

I don't know.

So Nikki...what is in the Ross drawer??