Voicemail from my son:

"So, you didn't turn up on my doorstep with a duffel bag and a half-empty bottle of wine, so I'm guessing you didn't quit your job yesterday."

Isn't it touching when a son knows his mother so well? I've already threatened him with invading Asheville (or Hendersonville, I'm easy) if I move anywhere. He's braced for it. I hope he gets the erstwhile guest room painted, under threat of Mother Invasion. Last time I was there it was a work in progress, and I don't think much progress has been made since. He is my kid, he needs a deadline.

Pictures tomorrow, I promise. Really. I finished a really boring but pretty scarf from a lovely handpainted mohair blend I bought at MDS&W two years ago, even though I really don't care for mohair. Looks good, makes me itch. Love the scarf, won't be wearing it much in less than really cold climates where I won't notice the itch because my skin will be so miserable anyway.

I have to live in the South. It's not the heat, it's the humidity. I need that humidity. A few days of cold and dry and I mutate into a reptile. I don't think I could live north of the Mason-Dixon line without full body immersion in a vat of olive oil.

I also started a crocheted cotton bag that desperately needs beads to make it not just a boring tan rag. I have started this bag twice so far, and third time's the charm - I've figured out that the base needs to be bigger and in single crochet, then a few rows of half double crochet, then the body (where I will introduce cheap but charming wooden beads) might be double crochet, or might continue in HDC, depending on how the beads work with the stitch.

Years ago, when my now 23 year old daughter was probably in middle school, I crocheted this great neutral "hobo bag" from a Lion Brand pattern, and didn't use their cotton, because it stretches too much. I used a nice cream mercerized cotton from somewhere. It was almost as firm as linen, and the bag could hold a horse and not stretch. It was great. Girlchild "borrowed" that bag and it's over 10 years and I never got it back. I'm sure she still has it, I thought I caught a glimpse of it after she moved in, but her room frightens me so I'm not going in after it.

So I want to use this boring tan mercerized cotton on a cone from Elann to make another, sort of, because I lost the pattern but a big floppy crocheted bag is hardly rocket science. Except that I miscalculated the size of the base and need to rip it back, and the HDC base was too open so I want to do it in single crochet and then introduce textures and beads in the upper part. Otherwise, it's a piece of cake. Uh-huh.

I find freehand creation is so much easier in crochet, maybe because I have been crocheting since I was plunked in front of Romper Room with a hook and a skein of acrylic, or maybe because I'm a one foot in front of the other kind of girl and crochet is one stitch in front of the other. Crochet doesn't require as much advance calculation if you know the principles of making a circle or a square, you can design as you go along. Unless you miscalculate how long it will take for the flat circle's sides to start cupping upward when you stop increasing and end up with a bag base smaller than you wanted. Ripp....