Hoo boy, it’s been a rough week here at my house.  Either I’ve just had the weirdest cold ever, or I suddenly became acutely allergic to something that’s currently in the air in vast quantities.

The main reason I suspect it’s some kind of allergic reaction is that for most of it, my eyes have been just crazy itchy and watery.  It was so bad, when I walked into the Farmhouse for the final Friday Group class last week, about three different people took one look at me and said, "Have you been crying??" at the same time.  And according to the interwebs — which as we all know is infallible when it comes to medical advice — that particular symptom is "rare" with the common cold, but "usually" occurs with allergies.

Another reason to suspect this illness is allergic, rather than viral, is that we suddenly have very summer-y weather here, and it is entirely possible that last week, every single plant in the local universe decided it was high time to pollinate.

A final piece of circumstantial evidence is that I wasn’t actually all that sick — stuffy, but no fever, no aches.  And I remembered that the last time I got sick like this was exactly 6 months ago, on New Year’s Day, when I became really stuffy and watery-eyed — but not really all that sick…  and I was in New Zealand, where of course it was summer…  hmmmmm…

Anyway, so I’ve spent a week feeling tired and stuffy and grouchy, and being a mouth-breather.  And, while things in the neighborhood of my sinuses are much better today, I really do wish it would rain, just for a couple of hours, and wash away whatever it is that might still be around.  (After all, it is Rose Festival week here in Portland — as Sandy pointed out, having nice weather for this week is just not natural.)

What does all this have to do with knitting?  Nothing whatsoever.  I admit it.  It’s just that I don’t have a heck of a lot else to write about, and I have to write something.

So, in the interest of trying to hold your interest, maybe this is a good time to let you in on my summer plans for this website.

Basically, I have been coming to the conclusion over the past several months that I am just not Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  (After reading the above, you might be agreeing with me.)  I don’t get enough knitting done to write about every day, and I don’t seem to have an interesting Canadian life to write about either.  Sure, once in a while I can knock out a funny McPhee-worthy post — if I say it myself or someone else does — but for the most part, being an entertaining daily blog writer is simply not my forte.

I do have one though.  What my forte is, is presenting information.  Really great, clever, innovative knitting information, with an logical, engineering slant.  And there’s even some of it on here already — it’s just that you can’t find it.

This blog is not well-organized, in terms of being able to find a post on the subject of, say, bind-offs.  There actually is one on here, and it’s a good one.  But good luck trying to get to it without that link.

Despite this major drawback, a few people have managed to link to bits and pieces of my stuff — and that’s another big clue.  What people are linking to is the technical stuff, not the "what I knit today" stuff.  Hellllloooooo…  anyone else hear the clue phone ringing?

Another problem with the current setup is that it’s hard to leave a comment.  I know it is — but to fix that, I have to go through all the hassle of trying to find yet another WordPress theme, and then customize it, and all that has just not been high on my priority list.

But this summer, it will be!  After mid-June, I will not be teaching regular classes anywhere for about 3 solid months.  (I’ll still have an occasional gig over at the Knitting Bee, but the Farmhouse will be closed, and the Garden Home rec center classes don’t run in the summer.)  Perfect time to get down and dirty with the website.  I’m taking a class in Seattle at the end of June, and I am hopeful that by around September, I’ll be able to unveil a new and (let’s hope) dramatically improved TessKnits.com.

The focus of the new site will be on informational articles, rather than a blog.  (There may still be a blog part, but it will not be at the forefront.)  I expect to include many of the tutorials and handouts I’ve been using to teach my classes over the past 5 years, as well as some e-books — and of course there’s Polar Bear Patterns, which currently resides elsewhere and therefore gets badly neglected.  The happy day may come when all of these things are together in one place.

I’m excited about doing this — but it won’t matter if I manage to put together the most awesomely organized knitting website in the world, if no one else likes it.  Therefore, if you have thoughts, suggestions, comments, or strong opinions about any of this — one way or the other — please do let me know.

That is, if you can figure out how the heck to leave a comment.  (Unfortunately, you’ll have to scroll down again after you click that link.  Sigh.  I’ll put it on my to-do list.)

Now the dark clouds have rolled in, it’s gotten awfully windy, and it looks like I just might get my wish for rain — which means I have to go bring in the neurotic dog who gets all wigged out over thunderstorms, and perhaps give her some doggie Valium.

Hmmm… well, as far as I know, she’s not Canadian — but I just might have something to work with there…