I guess that I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. But then again, so has everyone else. Where are we lately? Well, we're on Twitter, and Facebook (okay, I'm not on Facebook) and Ravelry, and Flickr, and, and, and. The population of Blogland seems to be falling.

Maybe it's because I tend to tweet about whatever suits me at the moment, but I've been pretty good about keeping this blog mostly about knitting. Maybe I subconsciously want to blog about that crazy guy I saw on the train last night. Maybe I'll start doing that, when the spirit moves me.

Whatever. I'm still good for the occasional post or two. To tell the truth I haven't been knitting all that much. I can't even use the wedding-planning excuse, because most of my tasks are done. Yes, I wrote "my." There's someone else involved with this wedding who still has a slightly longer to-do list. But that's not my problem.

The lack of blogging and noticeable knitting product hasn't stopped others from encouraging my efforts. To wit:

Yup! It's a label, a clothing label. Five hundred labels to be completely accurate. I'm supposed to sew one of these things into each and every one of my FOs (that's finished object). At the rate that I am producing FOs, it's going to be a very, very long time before I get to the bottom of that box. Oy! Maybe I should add some yarn to the wedding registry.

I never thought that I was worthy of my own clothing label. Sven's parents, apparently, thought differently. These labels were, I'm happy to write, my birthday present, and they were a complete surprise. They arrived one Friday afternoon via FexEx.

Actually, FedEx misdelivered them to a building down the street, and picking up this package was a bit of an adventure. After a bit of scrambling around lower Manhattan, I finally had the package in my hands. "What is this?" I thought. I noticed the customs labels. I knew that it was from Germany, and I had a pretty good idea that I was from Sven's parents. That part was easy. After all, how many people do I know in Germany who would send me a package?

So, I had better get knitting!

Hi, remember me?

I'm telling you, if you want lots of time to do stuff around the house DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, move to New York City. It's not like I'm even partaking in very much that the city has to offer. Sure, yeah, there's German class (the term is over, and I decided that I'm taking a term-long break), there's Spiders, there's Prospect Park two blocks from chez Subway Knitter (although one wonders if this should become Subway Knitter Haus), there's the gym (but lots of places have gyms), there's the theater (where I was an audience member), there's dancing class (swing), and there's all the other daily-life stuff that get in the way of a productive knitting life.

But others are more fortunate in the fiber-time department. So, before attending the above-mentioned play I hopped a cab from the East Village (where I was attending a benefit concert). Stepping into the cab I noticed this:

Headrest covers crocheted in Colombian-inspired colors! How homey! I immediately recognized that they were homemade, and asked the driver about them. "My wife made them," he said.

Apparently, some people--like the cabdriver's wife--have more time for yarn than I do. Maybe they live in Yonkers.

At this point, I do not need another hobby to occupy my time. As it is, I'm trying to keep up with my knitting and find some time to learn how to crochet. My sewing has fallen away. I find this unfortunate, but not surprising. I'm not sure why the days seem shorter in NYC, but they do.

I won't admit to enjoying sewing as much as I enjoy knitting, but I do enjoy the ability to make things which I wouldn't normally find in a store (or if I did find them, they would cost the earth). Via Twitter yesterday, I noticed that the fine peeps over at Purl SoHo have released a new sewing book. "Ho hum," I said. "Who needs a sewing book?" I do, apparently, because I want to make everything in it!

(Photo snagged from Purl Soho's website, but saved to my own server.)

Heather Ross has written Weekend Sewing. I have no idea if the projects in the book can actually be accomplished in a weekend. In my experience a three-hour skirt usually takes the better part of two days for me to complete. No matter.

I'm just linking to the post in The Purl Bee about this fantastic book.

It's all I can do to restrain myself from clicking over to Amazon (okay, I did add it to my Wish List) then signing out on a "site visit" in the Garment District for the rest of the afternoon. It's very, very tempting. At this point, the last thing that I need is yet another project.

A bee, I tell you! A bee! There has been so much knitting around here that I haven't had time to sit down and blog about it. There have been the usual suspects: the Sophie Shawl is growing, and I'm slowly moving along with Claudette.

In the midst of this, I'm also working on a baby project for a coworker's son, born two weeks ago. It's my usual striped baby sweater. This time I'm knitting it in Lion Brand WoolEase. Some of you, I know, are cringing at the mere mention of an acrylic yarn. Subway Knitter ain't no yarn snob, and she will not stick a high-maintenance garment on new parents.

Of course, valuable blogging time has been sucked up by other matters:

Yes, we had to take some time out on Monday to celebrate Rosenmontag at Loreley. We drank a few beers and watched a rebroadcast of the Rosenmontag parade in Cologne. You need to do all this in costume because...well...that's what you do. Notice my costume? I'm a bee!

What's a great thing about living in New York? You can be wearing a bee wig (complete with glittery antennae) on the subway, start to knit, and nobody thinks anything of it. Then, some guy in a crazy hat starts taking your photograph, and nobody bats an eyelash:

Kölle Alaaf!

It's been a while. I didn't intend for that last post of gloom and doom to stay on top as long as it did. Life got in the way of blogging. I guess that's a good thing. It shows me that I'm not wasting this place known as New York City.

Life may have gotten in the way of blogging, but it most certainly has not gotten in the way of knitting. I've been busy as a bee with that.

Today, however, I'm thinking that it's nice and cozy to be inside and wrapped up in some cashmere:

This is the Invisibility Cloak from Charmed Knits. And when I say that it's THE cloak, I mean just that. It's the same item! I knit the sample for the photo shoot.

The yarn is some HipKnits Laceweight Cashmere. It's luscious stuff, and proves what we already know about the fiber: cashmere is soft, light, and oh-so-warm.

I heart NY! I heart Cashmere!