I'm knitting a sweater. With dark navy blue wool from Norway. My mom insists that it looks black to her, but she's wrong. It's very, very dark blue.

The back is finished, the front about halfway there, and after that I'll just have to do the sleeves and sew the whole thing together. It's exciting. I've done hats before, and a couple of baby sweaters, and an adult cardigan that didn't really come out very well. So this is by far the coolest thing I've ever made. It's Irish knitting, with cables and interlocking diamond patterns.

My mom taught me to knit when I was a kid, and I'm enormously grateful. Nobody my age really knits anymore, which is too bad because it's actually very cool. The process is sort of like what I imagine meditation to be. Once you get the hang of it, you just put your brain on autopilot and cruise up and down the rows. My subconscious mind works out all sorts of stuff when I knit. Like what, you ask? I have no idea; that's why it's called the SUBconscious.