True to my word, I didn't immediately start another knitting project when I finished the blue sweater. I didn't read "Huck Finn," either, which was what I had in mind when I said I'd read a book before starting another knitting project. It has been in the news a couple of times, lately, and I wanted to refresh my memory.

I didn't read "Huck Finn" because BBCA ran a marathon of "Top Gear" for the Memorial Day holiday. That's my favorite show of all time, and I can't simultaneously read a classic and watch "Top Gear." Scan a magazine or a catalog, sure, but not read a serious novel.

I was going stir crazy, spending two days watching TV without the benefit of a knitting project. I've long said that knitting is a nervous twitch that yields new clothes; without my nervous twitch of knitting, it was all I could do to avoid chewing my fingernails to the quick.

Finally, it struck me: While I hadn't read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," I had read through a Hawaiian cookbook I picked up at the Astoria Bicentennial opening weekend fair last week. That's a book, and it counts.

I now have another scarf started. I don't need another scarf, and no one in Los Angeles needs another scarf. I'm going to visit a friend in Canada next week. If I finish it by then, maybe I can give it to her.