Today I must, must, must clean the house. I will not pick up the knitting needles or sit down at the spinning wheel or read anything until I have thoroughly cleaned the kitchen, bathroom and office. I also need to clean the litter box, do two loads of laundry and make sauerkraut. My domestic duties have been severely neglected.

But the neglect has been for good causes. On Saturday I attended a peacemakers conference at my church. We had more than 100 people from the community together to brainstorm actions we can take to create a peaceful world. All agreed that defeating Bush in the election next year is of vital importance, but that won't do it alone, of course. Nearly every U.S. president in the 20th century has waged war, and indeed, the fabric of human history is stained with blood. But just because it's always been that way doesn't mean it always has to be that way.

There are actions we will take as a group, and there are actions I can take as an individual. One thing I resolved do is to defer my Christmas gifts to organizations working to create a just and sustainable world. I have links to my favorites on my website.

Now, that applies to gifts for me. I'm still knitting gifts for others. And the peace conference was a good place to knit. I made great progress on "Midnight Sun" for Leah. I've added a band of the fair isle pattern to the bottom of the skirt, and I think the colors are turning out nicely. I changed them somewhat from the original pattern, adding purple and flipping the gold and red to other spots.

I also started the second side of the "Fish", but I made scant progress on "Shannon."

And I cast on about 8 stitches for a Christmas stocking. I'm making up my own pattern as I go.