It's one thing to write for publication and it's another thing to knit.

I recently completed a colorwork piece for the Yarn Forward column I write for Yarn Market News and when I saw the layout, I found myself fixated not on the copy but on what I perceived as a wonky transition between colors.

"Mr. DeMille, Ms. Nake-id's knitting is not ready for its close up."

In point of fact, the layout looks great. (You'll find it in the upcoming March issue). More a function of Karin and the tasteful team at Soho Publishing than the cat-hair infested samples I send off.

My Olympic knitting, too, has been consumed by a package I'm doing for Knit Simple. Which has me fretting about the knitting's good looks and cat hair. Usually I'm all in a knot over submitting vibrant copy, but when an assignment involves knitting, too, I worry about loose stitches, poor seaming, mistakes--you know the general errata that comes with human fallibility.

I must admit sometimes to thinking, "If you can take 10 pounds off a model in Photoshop..."