My nearest and dearest would probably universally agree that I am easily distracted by bright shiny objects. (Don’t look over at the list of UFOs! That’s not really there. It’s a figment of your imagination.)

But take a look at this bag! I got to see this very bag up close and personal last night, and it is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. See those bright, shiny disks on the front? Those are pennies, gentle reader. It’s like your favorite pair of penny loafers, only much, much better. And the construction is so cool! The ends fold in all by themselves at just the right angle. And the handle is wrapped with leather!

This beauty is the brain child of Portland’s own Marta McCall. I know you’ve seen her designs in places like Interweave Knits. Now Marta’s patterns are available directly via her own company: TinkkniT.com

Marta’s patterns come complete with sourcing information for the materials used, so you, yourself, gentle reader, can exactly duplicate this marvelous bag or any of her other great designs. How cool is that? I hate it when I find a pattern I love only to read that the yarn was hand-spun by 100-year-old artisans high in the Andes who used only alpaca wool gathered from where it had caught on twigs during the spring molt and then twisted using a secret process handed down from master to apprentice since the time of the Incas and the yarn is then washed in herbs grown only above 10,000 ft and the designer made a special trip by llama to purchase the yarn and that no more is available because, don’t you know, it takes 100 years to gather enough wool. Yeah. What do you substitute for that?

None of that with Marta’s patterns. If you want to substitute, of course you can. But if not, Marta makes sure that the material will be available through the source before including it in the pattern and releasing it into the wild. Thank you Marta!

Everyone… go over to TinkkniT.com and check out the very, very cool products. I’m really taken by the Cheery O’s Pillow… and the Felted Purls… and the Shibori Scarf… and the Urban Wrapper…

Must… be… strong…

Thank you to those of you who comments to let me know that I’m not the only one having… shall we say challenges… with the Jaywalker pattern. It’s always good to know I’m not alone.

#1 Son is in Baltimore today, I think. I have three sets of conflicting tour dates for the Northeast. He’s been pretty good about calling me every couple of days. He hasn’t quite got the time-zone thing down yet, and called early yesterday to let me know:

• The weird noise the van was making went away when the part in question broke. The mechanic said they didn’t really need it anyway.
• Yes, the van was leaking gas, but they wrapped the hose with duct tape so it only leaked a little, the van didn’t blow up and the hose has been fixed now.
• He met a girl in Austin, he’s been talking to her every day, and she might come to Portland to visit.

That conversation woke me up, all right! The last time I visited my colorist, she said I’m almost completely gray now. Keep beaming those good-weather thoughts towards the Northeast.