Good News, Everyone!

The NY Times ran an article this morning on the benefits, drawbacks, and myths surrounding coffee and coffee consumption. According to recent studies, and contrary to popular consensus, it seems coffee is not a diuretic at the normal strength (won't make you pee any faster than an equally amount of water, won't give you pancreatic cancer or heart disease, and, most importantly for us ladyfolk, has only a slight reduction in calcium absorption (that can be offset with milk), and no effect on calcium absorption. Of course, it will also make you rich, famous and beautiful - as any grad student can tell you- but, you already knew that. There does still seem to be a small temporary rise in blood pressure when caffeine is consumed, but that this does not necessarily correspond to the development of hypertension.

I generally stick to one, giant, 16-20 oz cup of coffee a day, with tea (caffeine or not, doesn't matter) in the afternoon and evening. I can get up without it, but why would I want to? I love the warm, bitter taste that warms me up and gets me going a little bit faster.

And in knitting news (non-knitters can stop reading here):

I finished my second blocking of Rogue and she looks a lot better. My camera died before I got pics, but after the 1st blocking the right side had dried wider than the left and the shape was all out of whack. After using warm water in to cold water with ice (sort of leaning towards felting), and a better blocking layout, I was able to scrunch some of my stitches back. This is the first sweater for which I actually swatched and watched the swatches, so I was really disappointed to see my final product do something so funky and different from my swatches (which got a bit tighter with blocking, not looser). I'm going to sew in the correct zipper tonight at my weekly crafting session with Beetlegirl, and then sew up the hem. Hopefully at that point Rogue will be a finished object.

The progress bars are a new addition to my blog and I'll have to keep up with them. I finished my 2nd Calorimetry this weekend (I love this pattern), and cast-on my "so called scarf" on Sunday. Both are made with Rio de la Plata yarns, which my local yarn shop will no longer be carrying and were selling at 40% off. I'm knitting the scarf with the idea of giving it to L, but in case he doesn't like it it will be a gift for my mom's husband. I'm still making progress on Tempting, and I think I'm just going to do neckline decreases rather then add the Tempting II yoke. I may also just add the ribbon but add it with a velcro fasten rather then a bow. I'm a little nervous about the fit at the top, but I guess I'll deal with it when I get there. I'm also being tempted with Tubey and Cherie Amour... Anyone else constantly looking for the next project when you've barely even started the one you're working on?