My Hyrna Hergorbar shawl isn’t cooperating. (I’m thinking the unpronouncable name is so you can mumble profanities under your breath and then claim you were just “talking” to the shawl.) I know other knitters who have made this shawl, and they didn’t seem to have any trouble. But for me? It’s NOT cooperating. Even though everything seems to be working right, that center section, between repeats, just does not come out right. I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s the chart. I ultimately got two and a half rows done last night and then left it–halfway through row number 72–unable to figure out why the center wasn’t working out correctly, and therefore unable to figure out what to do to fix it. Row number 70 was normal, I didn’t make any mistakes (that I’m aware of), but the stitch count between the two rows just doesn’t seem to be working . . . is it me? Is it the hard-to-read chart? (Which, incidentally, I enlarged as far as I could get it to go on the office copy machine–but it’s still too easy to get lost.) Or is it an error in the pattern?

I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll figure something out, but I wasn’t up to it last night. Yesterday was another fun-filled visit to the dentist for some “gum work,” (aka oral surgery). Yeah. That was fun. The novocaine–even though he gave me less than half a normal dose–didn’t wear off until around 8:30. You know, only four and a half hours after my appointment started! I really hate that. And so I wasn’t in the mood to putz around with my knitting, trying to get that shawl’s row straight.

  Hey–if you’re going to Rhinebeck–Go over to Cara‘s blog and leave her a comment. She’s organizing a blogger’s get-together on Saturday at 1:00. I know I’ll be there, and I’d love to meet YOU, too!

Now, just some random links (most of which came from the MSNBC “Clicked” page):

For example, there’s this article about how people are using blogs as buyer’s guides . . . something none of us can relate to, of course . . . I mean, gosh, have you ever read about some cool, new yarn and felt the urge to buy it yourself? No, I didn’t think so. Me, either.

Or, even better, this very cool site that gives you a way to get off pesky, endless telephone calls. It provides sound effects like doorbells, or cell-phone rings, so that you can say, “Gosh, I’ve got to go. My ride just came,” and rescue yourself right off the phone.

There’s a new cookbook in town: Julie and Julia, based on the author’s 2004 blog where she was determined to cook her way through Julia Child’s classic “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in a year–while dealing with family and a full-time job. And, oh yes, she’s not a chef. I haven’t read the book yet, but did read her blog . . . should be interesting!

Then–no matter where you come in the Evolution debate–there’s this funny little spoof from the New Yorker about how the “Intelligent Design” conversation might have gone.

Lastly, please go check out the Operation Eden blog–full of photos from Hurricane Katrina–from just before it hit, through today. Some great, devastating shots in there.

And,please don’t forget that those people still need help! Please do continue to donate and registering your donation with Give a Little. Their count is over $92,000 now. Wouldn’t you love to see it reach $100,000? I know I would!

Your IQ Is 135

Your Logical Intelligence is Below AverageYour Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Is it silly that it’s bugging me which of the logic questions I got wrong to get a “below average” in that category? Logic is usually one of my strong points, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out which question should be answered differently to raise that score…

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Friday // 4 Comments »

So . . .back to work today. You know, usually, a day or so off doesn’t really make that much of a difference in my work load, but today was insane. Four different clients completely revamping their renewal series, all on the same day . . . Crazy That’s almost a week’s worth of work, boom, all at once. Sheesh.

Chappy, of course, was sulking this morning as I got ready to go to work–Monday mornings are hard enough, but when they come on a Wednesday after a four-day weekend? Unfair!

I still don’t have anything interesting to show you, knitting-wise. Of the three projects I’m working through–while they are moving on apace–none are actually showing any real progress. I’m making progress, you understand, but it just doesn’t show in photos.

I have been getting some spinning done, though. Not a lot–some weeks, the only time I spin is while watching “Medium” on tv. (Don’t ask; I don’t know why it seems such a good combo, but it works for me, so we’re going to just leave that alone.) Still, I’ve got my two bobbins filled with orange corriedale, and one bobbin filled with the wine-colored corriedale. I’ve started my second red bobbin, and the plan is to ply the two colors together.

Now, socks. Check out Claudia‘s new pair. Not only are they lovely, but they made me think of my nephew. Blue and Orange are NY Mets colors, folks, and my nephew and brother-in-law are huge fans. And then, Cindy posted pictures of her very first pair of socks . . . She keeps apologizing for them. Go tell her they’re not that bad, would you? It’s just wrong to be both proud of and apologetic for your first pair of socks!

If you haven’t yet, you must call Stephanie’s toll-free number (877- SOS-KNIT, toll free in Canada and the US) and listen to her helpful suggestions for getting through Holiday Knitting. It’s absolutely hilarious.

I made Mom stop dead in her tracks on our walk with Chappy this afternoon. She had just asked, “Where do . . . ” when she got her tongue tangled or something and ended the question with “bluh bluh bluh?” I smiled, said, “I don’t know where I want to go for dinner for my birthday this year,” and kept right on walking, while she came to a complete stop, flabbergasted. “How did you know what I was going to ask??” she wanted to know.

Darn it. I keep telling her not to think so loudly.

Incidentally, speaking of dogs–if you’re a dog owner, have you heard about the new strain of the doggie-flu going around? Apparently it’s a new strain and it’s deadly . . . scary! Be careful with your pooches!

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Grindstone // 5 Comments »

I ended up going grocery shopping this morning. An unusual thing. It’s one of Mom’s chores, but her arm and shoulder were really sore this morning, and I did have the day off from work, so I asked if she wanted me to come along to push the cart. She thought about it for a minute, and then said yes.

So, I finished eating my breakfast and ran upstairs to brush my teeth and get my shoes, and then the phone rang. Our annual “check the heater” appointment was supposed to be this afternoon, but . . . surprise! . . . they’d be there in 10 minutes. Um . . . okay . . . I offered to go for her (Mom hates grocery shopping, so this should have been an easy sell), but no, there were things she just knew to regularly buy, she should be there . . but just then, Dad came home from his errands and had enough time before he had to leave for golf that he could babysit the heating fellow.

Good. We left, stopped at the post office so I could get my “Three-Cornered” shawl book into the mail back to Schoolhouse Press (since they sent me a nice, fresh, undamaged copy). Then, on to the grocery store. Halfway through the aisles, my phone rings. It’s Dad. There’s a problem so that the heating guy is going to be longer than planned, but Dad has to leave . . . now. Okay . . . Mom and I wheel our cart up to an employee and ask her to put it aside for us, we’ll be back. Then we drove back to the house, just in time to find Dad pulling out of the driveway (after giving me a moment of worry when I didn’t see my car in the driveway–which he’d moved to get his car around the heating truck).

So. Mom stayed home with the heating guy. Dad left for golf. And I took the shopping list and headed back to the grocery store. I retrieved our cart and finished the shopping. And I was doing fine, being responsible. Not tempted by the potato chips or the cookies or the bakery section . . . but then, I had to pick up ice cream for Dad.

Now, you have to understand. I almost never eat ice cream. I like ice cream. The smooth, creaminess of it. What’s not to love? Except I try to keep my consumption of dairy products down to a reasonable minimum for the sake of my allergies. Milk is a mucus product, and may contribute to bodily mucus . . . or not. There’s a difference of opinions there, and it’s not really that important, but it’s the reason I try to minimize unnecessary dairy products like cheese and ice cream. (Did wonders for my waistline when I started this too, incidentally.) Anyway . . . there sits one of my favorites. An ice cream I haven’t had in ages. A couple years, even. Starbuck’s Java Chip.

Usually, it helps that the smallest size it comes in is quart-size. That’s too much ice cream for me to eat by myself, and since it’s not one of the low-fat versions, Mom won’t eat it (or much of it), and Dad doesn’t like coffee . . . and so my better nature usually wins out and I resist the temptation. It will be wasted, it’s naughty, I shouldn’t eat it, I should get one that the parents like, too . . .

But . . . I guess I’m just weak.

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Weak // 4 Comments »

We live near an old, historic farm. It belongs to the town now (and some of it has been turned into soccer fields), but the old buildings are still standing–and being renovated–and part of it is rented by an actual farmer. The corn in the summer is particularly good.

This past weekend, they had a money-raising festival. We didn’t get to go (assembling hundreds of filing cabinets, you’ll remember), but this morning, Mom and I were driving by the crew cleaning up, and saw this.

What? Can’t you see it?

  Now, I don’t know what kind of animals are in there, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to pet any of them!

My day today? Much calmer than yesterday! I took the day off from work, you’ll remember and got to sleep in this morning, which felt so good after all that hard work over the weekend. Mom and I drove down to our favorite apple farm to buy some apples–but I was so disappointed. No Macouns at all–they are my absolute favorites–and the Honeycrisps were really picked over. I must remind myself that this farm does all sorts of autumnal things like hay rides and apple-picking, has a corn-maze . . . and their supply is obviously pretty picked over by Mondays. Disappointing. She got some of their fresh doughnuts–which she loves–and some pumpkins–which she also loves; we brought Dad home a rhubarb pie (his fav) . . . but no Macouns for me. Just not fair, darn it! Though we did get some of their cider (the best fresh apple cider around, I think).

Nothing exciting to report about knitting. Plugging away at my shawl. Plugging away at my Union Square. And I even managed a couple rows on the pair of socks that have been languishing in my knitting bag since July and are barely past the toes. (Terrible, I know.)

I had picked up some yarn on Saturday for a Christmas gift, but it turns out there isn’t enough yardage. The pattern said one skein of each of two colors, but the skein it was talking about was a lot bigger than the skeins I bought–and the shop only had one skein of one of the colors and since the colors are mandated by powers outside my control, there was no choice . . . So, like any good internet-loving knitter, I ordered more yarn via the web. Cascade 220 superwash, on sale from Little Bits, which I’ve heard about but haven’t actually tried. Then I’ll have to decide what to do with the two, different-colored skeins of Dale of Norway yarn that I’ll probably never actually use . . . But that’s a problem for another day.

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Petting Zoo // 1 Comment »

It’s a glass is half full/half empty kind of day. At least, it averages out that way–my glass today is chock full of productivity but completely empty of any energy (grin).

Let’s see, today I:

8:30 Got out of bed. (Harder than you might think, but I was still tired from yesterday, and so . . . an accomplishment.)

9:00 Went downstairs and, even before making coffee, mixed up bread dough. It’s been months since I made any–not since we got our new kitchen counters in May–and I had a lot of things planned for today and couldn’t afford delaying. Oh yes, started a load of laundry.

9:30 Cooked and sat down to eat breakfast. (Two eggs on toast–a heavier breakfast than usual, but again, planning ahead. I needed my energy. Fed Chappy.

10:00 Went upstairs to brush my teeth. While in the bathroom, cleaned the sinks, cleaned the counter, cleaned the bathtub, cleaned the toilet. Also watered the plants.

10:30 Mixed up an applesauce cake. I promised Dad I’d bake something for him this week since he was nice enough to take my car in to get its headlight fixed the other day. Took a 15-minute break to finish the cup of coffee I’d poured (luckily, into a thermal-mug) when I ate my breakfast.

11:00 While cake was in the oven, went out in the garage to start assembling furniture. What, hadn’t I mentioned? We’re replacing the desk and computer desk with three filing cabinets topped with one, long counter top. Except, they required assembly. If you look at the picture, imagine that three-drawer unit broken down into its individual pieces . . . five piece for each draw, a top, sides, back for the unit, the rails on the side for each drawer, the handles, the multitude of screws . . . Ugh.

I covered the garage floor with a huge, plastic tarp, and started pulling piece after piece out of the box, while Mom sat on the garage steps and Chappy sat in the kitchen doorway watching everything. Every once in a while, “Oh, I need scissors to get into this box of parts.” “Could you maybe get me something to sit on? This cement floor is really hard.” “Why wouldn’t they say that I need a hammer?” And Mom would nicely go get me whatever it was I needed. Like, checking to make sure the cake wasn’t burning.

11:30 The cable-guy came to replace our cable-tv boxes. (Yes, on a Sunday!) Thank heaven–now we can watch West Wing tonight. He came in through the garage and asked me how I was as he followed Mom into the kitchen. I said, sitting there surrounded by thousands of pieces of desk, “Oh, just peachy.” An expression he obviously had never heard before because he smiled and said “I’m oranges,” and headed inside.

12:15. Uh-oh. The piece that’s supposed to attach the front of the drawers doesn’t fit the holes pre-drilled. That’s weird–everything’s been so well manufactured up until now. But . . . clearly . . . the wrong size. Mom grabbed (well, not literally) one of our handy neighbors who offered to drill the hole larger for me. Very helpful. We offered him some freshly-baked applesauce cake later, once it was cool.

12:45 Finally get the drawers assembled and slide them into the cabinet and . . . uh-oh . . . why don’t the two smaller drawers fit properly? A dim bulb lit over my head as I realized . . . what I’d done was assemble the drawers backwards–the front was the back and the back was the front. That’s why the holes weren’t the right size and, apparently, they’re positioned just a little differently from front to back . . . Well, for now, it’ll do. They close (mostly) and I’ve got two more of these things to put together. This floor’s getting awfully hard, though . . .

1:00 Pause for lunch and a pet for Chappy, who’s been very good about not entering the garage . . . well, okay, he came running in after the “orange” cable guy had left, to make sure I was okay . . . and there was that one other time when he just came down out of curiosity . . . but really, he was very good.

1:20 Back out to the garage to start the second filing cabinet. Ask Mom to slide my car down the driveway so that it’s blocking Dad’s garage when he gets home, so he won’t automatically pull into the garage and run over me and the assembly line. The second cabinet goes a lot more smoothly. I paid close attention to the fronts and backs as I assembled the drawers and the only mistake was screwing the drawer tracks on upside down on one of the drawers. Mom nicely puts my [forgotten] laundry in the dryer.

2:30 Take a break between cabinets to get the bread dough (you thought I’d forgotten it, didn’t you?) shaped into loaves. While doing that, Dad comes in and makes some comment about the construction site in the garage, collects the papers and heads into the family room (now, with a functioning cable-box) to watch some sporting event or other. I put the loaves into the microwave to rise . . . what? . . . it’s the perfect place. You bring a mug of water to a boil, first, and then put the dough in there–warm, moist, draft-free, and off the countertop. It’s perfect. Anyway, back to the garage.

3:00 By now, my back is tired, my legs are tired from kneeling, the skin on my knees is complaining (despite the jeans and the folded blanket I’m sitting on). The drill isn’t screwing screws as successfully as before . . . on closer inspection, the drill bit is being eaten away by these screws . . . the tip of the phillips-head bit is reduced to a pinpoint. Luckily, it’s still successfully getting the screws in for me, but it can’t quite get them as tight as I want . . . the last few pieces are a little . . . loose. Not so much that the units are going to fall apart, but the drawer fronts (the last pieces to screw on) are going to need tightening.

4:00 Finally! Done. Exhausted. Hands shaking. Need tea. Put kettle on to boil, preheat oven for the bread. While waiting, cut a piece of cake for the neighbor, put on a disposable plate that Mom found for me, and head out the door . . . oops . . . go back to get my car key so I can move the car on my way back. Deliver the cake. Happy neighbor. Back home. Move car away from garage door. Inside. Put bread in oven. Pour water into mug for tea. (Yes, remembered the teabag.)

4:10 Ah . . . sitting down. On furniture. A book. Chappy (relieved to be in the same room as me).

4:30 Bring empty teamug into kitchen. Check on bread in oven. Getting close, but not ready . . . not enough time to go do something else . . . Go into the garage to try moving the completed filing cabinets out of the way of Dad’s car.

4:32:57 Uh-oh. As I slid the first cabinet–the one with the badly-fitting top drawers–the top drawer slid open and pitched to the ground, breaking the drawer-pull which was made from silver-painted plastic. Cheap stuff that can’t stand an impact on a cement floor. Argh! Oh no! No way to replace that . . . And now the drawers aren’t going to match . . . Being calm, told Mom. Then went and got blue painter’s tape to tape all the drawers closed.

5:00 Go upstairs to check my e-mail for the first time all day. . . . Except . . . just as I reach the top of the stairs, my sister calls–my niece is having trouble with her social studies homework (one of her least favorite subjects, but one of the ones I like). Spend the next 15 minutes browsing the ‘Net for information about types of propaganda and suggesting examples she could use.

5:30 Dinner. By now, Mom’s as exhausted as I am

5:50 What do you mean, all my e-mails to my sister have been returned as spam???? Talk to my sister on the phone, tell her the site I went to and dictate my suggestions so they can find the information themselves since I clearly can’t send them links. (And, since they use dial-up, they can’t look at the sites while on the phone, either.) Do a quick check of my own e-mails. Realize my post from last night never got uploaded–post that to my blog.

6:30 Go to take my shower and decide to take a quick bath instead . . . my legs feel like they’re about 30 years older than they were on Friday, between yesterday’s standing and today’s kneeling.

7:15 Downstairs. Make some tea. Have a piece of cake. Go into the family room to watch West Wing’s season premiere

8:00 Pull out my knitting to try to regain the ground lost with Friday night’s frogging session.

8:40 What happened to the cable?? They just fixed that! Don’t they know one of my favorite shows is on?? Show blinks back on just in time for the 8:45 commercial. (Really needed to see that!)

9:00 Turn on Desperate Housewive’s season premiere

9:01 My brother-in-law calls to try to figure out why my e-mails are bouncing back. Thank heaven for the time-slip feature on the DVD recorder. Pause the show, to talk to Mike, basically saying that I don’t know why their system is refusing my mail.

9:10 Restart the show . . . at least now we can fast-forward through commercials.

10:00 Come upstairs. Bring Chappy in to say goodnight to his Grandpa. Check my e-mail. Write this while playing CNN in the background.

Next . . . go brush my teeth, crawl into bed–a bonus night for Chappy because I’m taking tomorrow off from work. (See? I knew I was going to need a day off after this weekend!) Phew!

• Tags: Baking, Knitting/Spinning, Reading, Uncategorized • Permalink:So, so tired… // 5 Comments »

Boy, the new additions to my closet these days . . .

Mom and I went to the craft show today and met my sister and niece. Beautiful, perfect weather. Sunny, mid-seventies for temperature, really lovely. We all had a good time. (I didn’t take any pictures, though–there was a sign at the ticket booth forbidding audio and video recorders, and while I didn’t expect there to be a problem taking a snapshot of my family members outside, I figured it was better not to risk it). And we all bought pretty things that we may not exactly have needed.

Like, say a hat. A nice, two-toned, polar-fleece hat, with a snazzy little pin with reds and grays. (A pin which, really, could probably be duplicated from any number of different yarns in my stash . .. something to think about . . . )

Or, maybe, a snazzy, yellow straw hat with a taupe ribbon band, with a few crystal beads for good measure?

And then, who doesn’t love earrings? Silver drop earrings that are unique without being too weird to wear? (Having longish, curly hair is great for this–you can push the polite, earring envelope a lot further when most people aren’t going to get a good look at your earrings anyway.) From two different vendors, both of whom I’ve bought jewelry from in the past. In fact, the “cage” earrings on the right, with the black pearls are from the person who sold me that runaway necklace I mentioned last night. The other ones from a craftsperson who made one of my absolute favorite pair of earrings. Isn’t it nice to find a person whose work you like, and then be lucky enough to keep finding them at craft shows so you can buy more?? (grin)

Really, though, I’m going to be good now and stop buying things for a while. I think my Visa card is going to go into shock, and it needs time to recover before Rhinebeck!

Ooh . . . as a bonus, while looking at so many beautiful things by so many talented people–jewelry, pottery, glass, furniture . . . things I could never make in a million years . . . I got two compliments on my Flower Basket Shawl, which I wore today. One was from a glassmaker who makes beads for necklaces and earrings. (Mom bought one of her necklaces.) She asked if I’d bought it at the fair and I said I’d made it. Her reply was “Oh, I could never do that.” Um, you work with burning hot, melted glass, and, you find yarn intimidating?? The other was from another shopper, but the conversation was almost exactly the same.

I suppose that when you’re involved in a craft yourself, and know how to do it, it seems easy–like reading or knowing how to program your VCR . . . once you’ve learned something, and have a grasp of how and why it works, you have a hard time conceiving that other people couldn’t grasp the same thing. (If I can do it, so can you!) Except, of course, it’s not always that easy. And there are skill factors to consider–you can know how to knit but not yet be an expert . . . but, still, knitting is not as intimidating as blowing glass. You have to work really, really hard to injure yourself knitting, but glass-blowing, black-smithing . . . these are dangerous!

Knitting, as we all know, is only dangerous to your peace of mind. It’s soothing, to be sure. Happy, relaxing, creative. And then there are the times when nothing works. Or, say . . . purely hypothetically . . . you misread a chart on your lace knitting while talking on the phone and end up spending the next hour and a half trying to salvage and then frogging back four rows of knitting so that you end up behind your starting point of that knitting session, and have a tangle of Zephyr yarn all over your bedroom floor that your dog wants to play with.

Purely hypothetically, of course. It’s not like anything like that happened to me last night. Oh no. I wouldn’t want you to think that!

Come to think of it, maybe risking glass-blowing burns doesn’t sound so scary, after all.

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Crafty as a Fox // 5 Comments »

Well, this sort of thing can always cheer me up. And, what speedy service, too! My order from Knit Pixie, which of course was jump-started with the gift certificate from my SP6. Thank you, pal!

I resisted the yarn on the site, but loved this knitting bag. It’s a surprise to me, but I’m liking turquoise more and more these days–at least as an accent color. (Like, say, in a Peacock Shawl.) The blue silk, the embroidered accents in blue and gold, wooden handles . . . how could I resist? It’s just beautiful! And a nice size for a medium project–nothing too big. Heavens, it would make a great purse, too.

You probably can’t see it in the other picture, but there’s a package of tiny, little stitch markers. Cute, but really tiny . . . smaller than I thought they’d be, actually. (If I had realized, I would have gotten medium-sized ones.) It’s silly, but I do have some beaded markers, but still, the first ones I always reach for are the plastic ones, like I’m “saving” the good ones. Isn’t that ridicuous? Like, what, I’d break them like good china if I used it on an “everyday”? Although, the markers I like best these days are the ones like big safety pins–I like that they’re sturdy, and the “head” adds just a little weight to help them stay in place, and yet they’re not heavy on the needles . . . and I think that, right there, is probably why I use them. Beads get heavy!

Hey–how is it possible that I didn’t know that Rowan had two new versions of Kidsilk Haze? Kidsilk Spray in variegated colors, and Kidsilk Night with sparkles. Who knew? (Show of hands? Anybody?) Maybe if I hadn’t let my subscription lapse? I don’t really miss it (and didn’t love the pictures I saw from the latest issue #38), but I do like their Classic collections . . . they’re . . . classy!

Tomorrow, Mom and I are going to the Peters Valley Crafts Fair at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. We went last year, too, and met my sister and niece there, and had a really nice time. I bought a skein of hand-spun, hand-dyed wool, too–back before I could spin myself. (I don’t remember–I wonder if they’ll be there again, and if they sell roving?) I bought myself a pretty silver-and-bead necklace that I loved, too. Well, still do, actually, but it’s tried to escape. I wore it to work one day last December, and took Chappy out for a walk at lunchtime, went back to work, came home . . . and realized the necklace wasn’t around my neck any more. I called the office to ask a coworker to check the parking lot where my car was. We went for another walk, as the sun was setting, to search (Chappy was thrilled). But no, nothing. I was crushed. But then, the next day . . . we were on a walk and Mom was talking about how my Grandfather had a knack for finding jewelry (like, the time my Grandmother lost her diamond ring on the beach on Martha’s Vineyard and he reached down into the sand and pulled it up). We were just saying how we wished he were there to help, when Mom glanced down and . . . there it was. (Thanks, Grandpa!) The poor thing had been run over who knows how many times, but it was mostly intact. A little scratched, to be sure, but in one piece except for the clasp. I dug out the receipt and called the girl who’d made it, who said I could mail it back to be fixed. Phew! I really like that necklace.

My mood is better today–thank you all for your concern. First, it’s Friday–thank heaven! I’m even taking two days off next week, so it’ll be a longer weekend than usual. I’m hoping to buy some apples (it’s the end of September, it’s a must). And of course, I’m relieved that Hurricane Rita has dropped to a Category 3 . . . still huge, but not quite as devastating. It’s such a shame about New Orleans, though–flooding again–but really, is anybody really surprised at that? Frankly, if the patched-together levees had held I would have been amazed. Category 3, Category 5–those levees are weak right now. I trust that they’ll have them fixed and strong for next year, but now, one month after such a devastating hurricane? How could they possibly have managed that so quickly? I think saying that “our worst fears have come true” is an exaggeration–I don’t think that NOLA’s levees breaking now is the worst–that happened a month ago when the whole city flooded. How much more damage, really, can this new flood do? It’s disappointing and a huge step backward for a hard-hit city, but is it actually worse than it was before? (And, don’t get me started on that poor bus of elderly evacuees this morning.)

Has anyone else noticed how many news people are fumbling on the names of the hurricanes? Katrina-Rita-Rina. That almost-rhyme at the end of the names, I’ve been hearing a lot of misnomers as they cover the stories. And one thing I haven’t heard about–they evacuated thousands of Katrina-people to the Houston Astrodome, and now they’re evacuating Houston . . . are those people still in the Astrodome, or have they evacuated somewhere else? One more observation–now, I think we learned a lot of things about monster-hurricane response, and evacuating smartly and safely (with pets), and how important it is to communicate . . . all the things that fell apart with Katrina. That monster is still strong enough in everyone’s memory that we’re taking Rita seriously. And therefore the response should be a lot smoother than it was after Katrina. Any bets on how many people start screaming right away that “of course Bush acted faster, it’s his own state?”

I hope everybody stays safe out there.

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Bright Side // 7 Comments »

I’ve probably made it clear over these last months that I’m generally a pretty happy, content, easy-going kind of person. An optimist. Which makes my state of mind the last few days unusual. Part of it is my own fault. I’ve been watching the news. Gloom and doom everywhere you look. Last night, between 7:00 and 9:00, they had three major news stories–Hurricane Rita, which had just been upgraded to the 3rd worst hurricane ever on record, and had winds of 175 mph; a big tornado sighted heading towards downtown Minneapolis; and an airplane trying to make an emergency landing because of faulty landing gear. The news anchors didn’t know which way to go, they were trying to cover so much, so many different stories at once. And not a one of them was good news.

Though, thank heaven that plane landed safely! Pretty impressive to watch, too. And, thankfully, Rita has been downgraded to a category 4 storm–still huge, still a monster, but at least a little better. Except, of course, it’s heading north–closer to Louisiana all the time. This is better for Galveston. (I’m sure my cousin–who’s safely evacuated to Austin–is relieved.) It’s worse for Houston. But it’s worst for New Orleans and the other places on the west side of Louisiana, who are still trying to put the pieces back together after Katrina. Let’s think–which would be worse? For this hurricane to decimate an untouched piece of coast that’s standing strong but may be reduced to the condition of the Mississippi coast? Or for the hurricane to hit the areas that have already been reduced to rubble and, well, ruin the clean-up, but not really do any more damage? Um . . . they sound about equally bad to me! The only blessing is that people have learned some hard lessons from Katrina and are paying attention to the evacuation orders, thinking ahead, planning for the worst (and with a whole, new benchmark for “worst”).

Is there any good news? The evacuation in Texas has turned the interstates into parking lots. Gas prices are probably going to skyrocket again. And another monster storm is about to hit a whole new section of the Gulf coast with devastation. What fun!

Still–there’s this article about a bill that would let people bring their pets with them when they evacuate. Not surprisingly, I’m all for that. A lot of people stayed behind during Katrina because of their pets, and, well, I entirely understand. I have a hard time leaving Chappy to go to work in the morning–how could I possibly desert him with a massive, life-threatening storm barrelling toward us?

And–you want to see something silly? How about this article about a giant, pink bunny rabbit. And I do mean giant.

Or, for a little fun, this site will tell you what song was Number One on the charts when you were born. (Well, from 1952 and later–if born earlier, the site suggests picking your “life theme song” by selecting your 18th birthday.) For the record, on the US charts on my birthday: “Poor Side of Town” by Johnny River. On the UK charts: “Reach Out I’ll Be There” by the Four Tops. Oh, and my life theme song would be “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)” by Billy Ocean. I’m sure you’re all as fascinated as I am.

  But my best reason to smile? Chappy, of course. Last night, after I finally came upstairs and stopped watching the news, I had some . . . disagreements . . . with my computer. I was trying to draw a schematic of my Christmas Tree hat for my Knitty submission, but Illustrator wasn’t cooperating, and on top of my general feeling of stress, well, I was getting frustrated. Muttering “What? What!” under my breath . . . and sometimes not so much under my breath . . . and then my submission to Knitty wouldn’t go through–it bounced back as a bad e-mail address (even though I clicked on the mail link on the site).

But every time I’d get really frustrated, Chappy would wake up, climb out of his crate, and come over to give me a hug. Literally–front paws on my shoulders, tail wagging, and a “Don’t be sad, Mom!” look on his face . . . and really, after five or six of these hugs, you really can’t help but smile . . . especially when he finally lies down right next to you to save himself the trip for the next burst of frustration! (Which helped, too, because he was right there, in petting range–much more soothing.) But that’s Chappy for you–he can always make me smile.

My e-mail to Knitty, incidentally, is still bouncing back “Service Unavailable.” I can’t get logged into the Knitty Coffeehouse to try to post a question, because it won’t recognize my password–even when I asked for a “I forgot my password” replacement (even though I was using the same password I had been and it was working fine a few days ago). And when they sent me an e-mail with my “new” password, that still won’t work. So now I can’t reach the Submissions e-mail OR the message boards where I’d at least be able to post a “Help!” message. Does anyone else think that this is maybe a sign and I should just give up on the idea of trying to get this pattern into Knitty? And maybe should just publish it to a PDF myself?

And, darn it, I finished “The Yarn Harlot,” too . . . it was such a nice [mostly] happy book! All my other, current books are a lot more serious and portentious. So, to what did I turn? P.G. Wodehouse. Bertie Wooster. Jeeves. In “Jeeves in the Morning.” If light and funny is what you’re looking for, he’s got it. (Silly, fluffy, classic British comedy. A joy.)

• Tags: Chappy, General, Weather • Permalink:Gloom and Doom // 9 Comments »

This really should be the last stash-enhancement you see for a while. Six balls of Jaggerspun Zephyr in White and Admiral. And some Interlacements silk roving in Mountain Jewel from The Knitter.com. I haven’t tried spinning 100% silk yet and am actually a little afraid, but it was so pretty, I thought I’d add it to my stash, anyway.

But, seriously, I don’t plan on buying any more yarn until Rhinebeck. Plans have been known to go awry, of course. (Gee, there should be some, pithy sort of aphorism about that, don’t you think? Like, “Best laid plans of mice and men often go agly?” Something like that?) But really, I think I’ve added enough to my stash for now. But yes, I do plan on buying more at Rhinebeck, so don’t even try to talk me out of it!

We had some very cute, unexpected visitors at the office this morning. That’s 2-year old Jimmy, with his twin siblings, Didi and Andy, who’ll be six months old in a couple weeks. Cute, cute little kids!

And speaking of cute, here’s a cute little game link, if you’re bored. Grow. Click on the 10 items around the edge to add to the game–when you add them in a specific sequence, you win. And it’s fun getting there. (Although I’ll admit that after a number of tries, I did a google search to find a couple hints.) It’s cute, and those little, faceless people are really quite industrious! Or, how about these: Games for the Brain. I’m really inept at computer games, but I enjoy vocabulary games–and these are kind of fun.

Oh, and Sandy? Here’s what my sky looked like today! Clear, blue, and beautiful. I took this in the backyard after work.

I still have my fingers crossed over Hurricane Rita, now a Category 5, heading for Texas. I don’t want it to hit Louisiana/Mississippi again, like Katrina did, but I don’t want it walloping Texas, either! I’ve got a cousin who lives in Galveston, too . . . I just hope there was a really fast learning curve after Katrina, and that people are actually prepared for this one. It does sound like people are taking the evacuations seriously. (Especially in Galveston, since they know all about devastating storms there.) I’m glad to hear that they’re letting people bring their pets, this time! Because, seriously, a lot of people stayed during Katrina to be with their pets. I think I’m going to go make another donation to Mercy Corps . . . I think they’re going to need it.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning, Sky, Uncategorized • Permalink:When you Can’t Think of a Good Title. // 3 Comments »

Deb tagged me for this meme:

Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five some other people to do the same.

Here’s my quote:

“His patience while waiting is impressive, and he’s pretty good about giving up his prizes, though he may run around the dining room table a few times before he’s willing to concede.”

The original post? Here. I was talking about how Chappy had stolen a ball of yarn. (Hmm. I had a haircut that day, too. Not bad.)

Who will I tag? Let’s see: Snow. Risa. Amelia. Jacqueline. Lizzy B.

• Tags: General • Permalink:Meme // 1 Comment »

Well, what a nifty day. (Okay, I can’t help it. I like the word “nifty.”)

First, I got a $10 gift certificate to Knit Pixie from my SP6, and just ordered myself some adorable stitch markers and a tote bag . . . not that I needed another bag to carry my knitting in, but . . . well, really, you know, um, it was a gift.

Then, I got another knitting book in the mail. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “What, Deb, another knitting book?” But, be serious. I think we’ve already covered my lack of self-control where book-buying is concerned.

Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. The subtitle is “Knitting Year-Round for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Winter Solstice,” so I think that pretty much covers everything. (Except maybe Kwanzaa?) But let’s face it, almost everyone celebrates something around December, and a lot of people get cold around that time of year . . . Yes, I know, people live in California, too, where it’s balmy all year, or Australia where the seasons are reversed from here . . . You’re supposed to be working with me here!

The point is, it’s a pattern book, which is actually the kind I usually try to avoid . . . Mostly because I usually end up making none of them and then feel I’ve wasted my money, no matter how beautiful the patterns.

  Yet this has some beautiful patterns.

The cover pattern of hood and matching gloves, for instance. Beautiful and practical, yet not boring.

Or, these beautiful, over-the-knee socks. Plain and simple in the front, but with this lovely line of eyelets up the back.

Or this sweet, Saint Lucia’s crown, harking back to Scandinavian Christmases (and which would look great just as a centerpiece on a table, too). Then there are the ballet-like slippers, the knitted votive candle-holders, the baby’s hat that looks like a chocolate kiss . . . some really pretty things!

And as evidence that I have been knitting, here’s the beginning of my unpronouncable shawl. I’m up to row #40. Exciting, huh? Copper-colored Jaggerspun Zephyr. (The yarn I started doing a stole in a month ago but decided it wasn’t right, somehow. This was probably what that yarn was waiting for.

And, if you’re interested in knitting lace. . . . Check out the EZasPi Yahoo group. Starting Sept 24th, they’re having a Shetland Lace workshop, taught by Liz Lovick. There’s even going to be a contest of some kind.

(I know. Snow is probably going to blame me for this, somehow, too….)

Oh, and I’m also saying prayers tonight for the Gulf Coast . . . Hurricane Rita, heading towards Texas and picking up steam. Oh no. Please, not another big one. Not this year. Not this soon after and so close to Katrina.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink: // 3 Comments »

  Look at the lovely selection of Cherry Tree Hill yarn that just arrived from Little Bits today–and, on sale, nonetheless! They’re going to stop carrying the line, so their remaining inventory is on sale, so, really, what choice did I have?

From left to right, this is two skeins of Possum Lace (40% merino, 40% possum, 20% sillk) in Green Mountain Madness–a yarn which I understand is being discontinued. One skein of Cascade Fingering (100% silk) in Tropical Storm–the sheen to this yarn is just beautiful. And then, three skeins of sock yarn, in Wild Cherry, Indian Summer (with shimmer!), and Tropical Storm.

Pretty nice, huh? So far, I’ve only used the Cherry Tree Supersock yarn (in the Martha’s Vineyard colorway–anyone surprised?) and loved the way it worked and how the socks came out, so I’m looking forward to using the line again.

  I also got an order from Shutterfly today. It’s my preferred site for getting prints of digital photos. I like the prices (that prepay option is great), but they also have all sorts of fun things you can get, too–like mousepads, mugs and such. And notecards. Did I mention the notecards? I like them so much–though I wish they were a little bigger–but they were having a sale, and so I bought myself four sets. They’ll last me quite a while, but I’m very happy with them. I like that they make any note I send that much more personal–even if the person who gets it doesn’t realize that I took the photos, I do, and how cool is that? Best stationery ever.

We’re getting closer to Rhinebeck, and I’m getting more and more excited. And I’m prepared, too. I’ve already said that I’d like to get together with as many bloggers as possible, because I’m so looking forward to putting voices and faces to the blogs I read. But now I’m really ready. I wanted to make it as easy for any of you to spot me as possible, and short of carrying a banner that says “Chappysmom” or something like that (and really, I need to keep my hands available for carrying shopping bags), don’t you think this is just about perfect? (Boy, it was smart of me to name my dog and my blog after what’s ultimately a tourist spot, huh?)

And, you folks did go to despair.com like I told you to, didn’t you? Because it really is good for a laugh!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Mmm . . . Cherry Tree // 7 Comments »

Has anybody else seen the Geico commercial with the kids at the spelling bee, trying to spell this word? (Funny, no?) Anyone else wondered what it means? It means “the estimation of something as worthless,” and is usually used only as an example of a very long word, sometimes held to be the longest. The Oxford English Dictionary labels it “humorous” and gives the following citations for it:

I loved him for nothing so much as his floccinaucinihilipilification of money.
–William Shenstone, Letters

They must be taken with an air of contempt, a floccinaucinihilipilification of all that can gratify the outward man.
–Sir Walter Scott, Journal

So, I thought I’d just give you some humorous yet worthless items for today.

First, my favorite: Did you know that the “Frownie” is trademarked?

But the international outcry of rage and sorrow was too much even Despair to handle. Hundreds of emails from countries all around the globe have poured in, begging us to reconsider our controversial decision. Even a member of the perpetually cheerful citizenry of America’s happiest metropolis, New York, took time to register a dignified complaint through our voicemail. Behind each outcry in every tongue, the same sentiment. An impassioned entreaty to us, that we reconsider our plans to ban the beloved symbol from the Internet.

More importantly, though, you must visit the despair.com website. You know those motivational posters, the ones with some really lovely photography and some pithy blurb underneath about goals, dreams, hard work, or some such thing? We’ll all seen them. But this place, well, they do DEmotivational posters, and they are simply hilarious. And you can get them in calendars, mugs, sticky pads, notecards . . . but the entire site is just one laugh after another. The commentary, the photos . . . they even sell Valentine’s Day candy for pessimists. Now, I’m a bona fide optimist, but this site? Hilarious. Not to mention a gold-mine for potential office-grab-bag gifts come December, so don’t say I didn’t give you any good ideas when you’re trying to find something unique for your boss!

Then there’s the time-waster, pie-eating game.

Better, my favorite site for daily word games. (Dictionary Devil is my favorite)

Dave Barry on low gas prices.

A stress test for the new iPod Nano . . . it takes a lot to kill that little thing!

And, to throw in a “serious” one:

A nice article on CNN’s Anderson Cooper, whose Hurricane Katrina coverage has been excellent, I think. Who here knew he was Gloria Vanderbilt’s son?

Lastly, drop by Rose‘s. She just literally lost her best friend.

• Tags: General • Permalink:Floccinaucinihilipilification // 1 Comment »

  But I’ve been busy all day and I have yet to pick up my knitting.

See first, I moved all of my cookbooks. All these years, they’ve lived in my bedroom closet, but I’ve wanted to get them onto the same floor as the kitchen (so I wouldn’t have to carry the books and recipes up and down the stairs whenever I want to bake something). Except Mom–who’s been awfully gracious about bookcase-encroachment–had drawn the line at putting a bookcase downstairs. However, we have this huge, old computer desk in the family room . . . It dates back to college, when I got my first computer, and Dad went out and bought this so I’d have someplace to put it, sweetly picking out a roll-top model because I’ve always liked roll-top desks. (It’s not his fault that it’s really kind of . . . large. Huge, even, and kind of unsightly in its lower half. But he was being thoughtful, so. . . it’s been in the family room ever since. (Partly, I’m sure, because it’s too darn heavy for any of us to move!)

Anyway, it’s been a catch-all for the last 19 years or so. Old video tapes, old coffee-table books, old dog toys, old computers. (You can’t see it, but my original laptop computer is still in there–the one I got for graduation in 1989. It’s rather dinosaur-like, and I haven’t even turned it on in years, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.) But ultimately, the desk isn’t being used for anything . . . so, I decided I was going to convert it to cookbook storage and thereby free up two more bookshelves in my closet for knitting books and magazines (which, needless to say, have been overflowing their alloted shelves). One of the desk shelves is still miscellaneous stuff, and there are still things like computers and video tapes behind the rows of books, but, here they are–mere steps away from the kitchen at last.

Which isn’t to say I haven’t done anything with yarn and knitting books. Oh no. I’ve moved them, too. I moved all the knitting and craft books and supplies out of the closet. (Well, everything in the bottom half–the bins of yarn on the closet shelf didn’t move today–a girl can only do so much!) I switched the two bookcases from one side of the closet to the other. One is a 3-shelf case filled with fiction, the other a 2-shelf case better suited to the size of knitting books, and I wanted the craft books to be on the same side of the closet as the actual yarn. So, I switched those. Then moved the overflowing magazines. Then realized that the basket I keep stray pattern booklets and such wouldn’t fit on the floor on the yarn side anymore, since the 2-shelf case is deeper than the other one–so now that’s on the “wrong” side of the closet . . . but since it’s the one the magazines are on now and they’re kind of glorified pattern leaflets, that’s okay. Except now I have to put the quilt rack (which lives in the closet) in front of the knitting books . . . unless I can come up with a way to store my down comforter and two handmade quilts in the trunk that’s moving into the office . . . why does down have to be so bulky? I managed to fit all my spinning wheel accessories into one box, too (which is to the right, and out of the picture).

The rest of the library is coming along. I’ve got most of the books on the new cases shelved at least close to how they need to be. The fiction is done and alphabetized, the grammar and writing books are categorized. The poetry, folktales, travel, how-to, science, math, and religion sections are pretty much done, as are the comedy/comics/children’s books (all on one shelf). It’s the history/biography/social sciences sections that need sorting. That’s about 9 out of the 12 new shelves that need to be completely reshuffled. Kind of intimidating, really. I mean, easy after all the rest, and yet . . . it’s so close to being done, is there really any harm in letting that reorganizing slide? At least for another week?

Of course, next weekend, I have to tackle the yarn, which has been getting kind of unruly. I was thinking of buying a bunch of those mesh laundry bags–the kind you use for delicates–to start storing my yarn in. I’ve got the collection in storage cubes, which mostly works fine, but inevitably, stray balls try to attack me when I reach up there for anything, and I think it would be better for all of us if the yarn was a little better contained–but still able to breathe and be seen. So . . . yarn in mesh bags that will then be collected in the storage cubes on top of the closet . . . that’ll work, right?

I never did clean the bathroom as I planned. And the only vacuuming I did was piles of Chappy fur that have migrated into the closet. (Hey, how often do you vacuum your closets?) Those, I really had no choice. Once I’d moved those bookcases and seen the dust-puppies wandering around in there, I had to clean them up. We got Chappy out for a walk around the block, too, and I’ve been reading my way through Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books in my spare moments.

And, oh yes, I baked a cake, too. A “Grandma Cake,” so called because it’s the cake my grandmother used to make for our birthdays, and it was the one cake that everybody loved. (I remember, she’d bring it on a plate, covered by an old butter-cookie tin–it’s never been a tall cake.) I may not have been foresighted enough to get her pound cake recipe, but this one, I’ve got! It’s forever known in my family as Grandma Cake. (She, incidentally, always frosted the sides, but I was too tired.) It’s a simple little butter cake recipe, and yet wholly unique in that, for one, it pretty much doesn’t rise at all, and yet it’s not heavy too eat. And the chocolate frosting? Unlike any other recipe I’ve ever eaten, and not one I’ve ever seen anywhere else, either, and so it remains one of the few secret recipes I’ve got. (So, sorry, no, I can’t tell you.) Anyway, though, it would have been her 100th birthday yesterday, and so I baked her a cake! The cake. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is my favorite, but this is one by which all others are measured in this house.

If you’re at all curious at a better look at some of my books, here’s a picture of the craft-section and the cookbooks, and now, I’ve got to go get my laundry out of the dryer before it (gasp!) requires ironing!

• Tags: Baking, General, Reading • Permalink:I Don’t Want to Complain // 2 Comments »

Really. It’s entirely her fault. She dragged me to Target this morning to opine on a small desk she wanted to buy. She dragged me to Office Depot to look at filing cabinets. And then she dragged me to brand new DSW to look at shoes.

I successfully made it through the entire store once without finding anything I wanted to buy. But she still wasn’t ready to leave. So, I kept wandering the aisles, and then these pretty, green shoes caught my eye. Well, nothing better to do, I’ll try them on. Hmm…remarkably comfortable, and the color’s nice, and I don’t have any green shoes, and they are kind of pretty . . . well, what harm in carrying them around the store a bit? They’re the only pair in my size, and it’s better to play it safe. What, Mom? Still looking? Fine . . . I’ll just wander up this aisle . . . ooh, those Timberland sneakers are nice, and I’m really not happy with the clunky pair I have. (I don’t wear sneakers very often at all, just for walks with Chappy, and so one pair lasts me a long time . . . hence the really clunky, out of date ones that were in my closet.) Gee, these are comfortable. Nice looking, too (even though I liked the gold-brown-yellow pair next to these a little better, but these will coordinate great with jeans). And, anyway, by the time Mom was ready to leave the store (with nothing, I might add), I was carrying two shoe boxes around with me.

Really, it’s entirely her fault. I would have left the store empty-handed if it hadn’t been for her slower browsing-speed, but no. I ended up buying two pair of shoes that I didn’t really need and she bought nothing. Is that fair?

And now I’m going to have to buy a pretty green outfit to go with those shoes, too . . . (grin) (Darn, more shopping!)

  My parents went to the 70th birthday party of one of their oldest friends last night. They’ve known Martie and Jerry since before any of them were married. Jerry–the birthday boy–is a huge television fan. Mom got him a selection of DVDs, and then my sister made this great gift bag, to look like a TV–attenna and all. (She even used film-container lids for the knobs–wasn’t that clever?) Mom still thought it needed something, though, and joked about the 70s Show, since Jerry just turned 70, which I thought was a great idea. So I got a copy of the logo online and made a little graphic (including horizontal “static” which you can’t really see in this picture). Aren’t we all remarkably clever?

I got almost no knitting done last night, at all, despite having the house to myself. First, I decided to stop stalling and start moving some of those books around . . . so I shuffled, carried, lugged books around the room for about two hours. By the time I was done, I was too tired to cook anything interesting for my supper (and Chappy was looking particularly pathetic since it was over an hour past his suppertime), so I made scrambled eggs on toast for my supper. By now, it was about 7:00 and I really wanted to do a deep-conditioning treatment for my hair, so I put the stuff on my hair and then went back and moved more books for half an hour, and then took a nice, hot bath. A rare thing for me–I’m a shower girl and usually get bored after about 10 minutes in a bathtub. I lasted for about half an hour, which is pretty remarkable and then went downstairs to make some tea and then to sit and knit in front of the television.

Except the knitting wasn’t cooperating. I started that unpronouncable shawl from the Three-Cornered shawl book. (Hey, they’re sending me a new copy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look at this one in the meantime, right?) Except, I was tired and my eyes didn’t want to concentrate on the chart, and well, I didn’t make it past row number 6. At 9:00 I came upstairs, planning to write a blog entry (since I hadn’t been near my computer since I’d gotten home from work), and had just pulled it up when the phone rang–Cindy with a question about finishing her second sock. (It’s official, she has a pair of socks now–she’s so excited!) And then of course, we chatted for a while, and by the time I hung up the phone . . . well, too late for blogging now, too! In other words, despite moving hundreds of books last night, I don’t feel like I got anything done at all. Is that silly, or what?

I hope everyone has a great weekend! My plans for the rest of it? Well, I already cleaned out some old shoes to make room for the new ones, but my other closet–the one with all the yarn, the knitting books, the craft books, the cook books . . . that could really use some TLC, and so could the closet in the office, now that the shelves in the room aren’t overflowing, the books in the closet deserve some attention, too . . . I tell you, closets can be hard work!

Maybe I’ll just curl up with The Yarn Harlot instead . . . I’m actually enjoying it more than her “At Knit’s End.” As much as I enjoyed that one, I adore the way Stephanie tells a story, and this book is just one hilarious anecdote after the next–even more fun!

Hey, one thing I’ve noticed lately? Since the hurricane, almost every store, every website I’ve visited has a link of some kind to encourage people to make donations. Which is great. But one notable exception? tvguide.com. I use the site almost daily (love the Ask Matt and Ask Ausiello columns), and it hasn’t had a word, not a link, not a button, not a mention of the hurricane at all. Why not, I wonder?

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:I Blame My Mother // 1 Comment »

No, not like you’d think. I was at work today, as usual, but there were a couple “family” kind of connections on television, of all places. First, Mom and I were watching the Today show while making breakfast this morning, and they were doing a story on Delta and Northwest airlines declaring bankruptcy, and one of the people they stopped in the Atlanta airport for an opinion? My cousin Nancy! Technically, my cousin’s wife, since I’m not actually related to her, but . . . wow! That was a surprise. I haven’t even seen her in person in years, and there she was, on national television. If Mom hadn’t caught the name, I would have had no idea.

And then at lunch, Mom said she and Chappy had HGTV on this morning while folding towels, and the house whoever-it-was was working on had two dogs . . . a Lab and a Boykin Spaniel. Not exactly a breed you see every day (unless you read my blog every day, but that’s different any way). And that, of course, was a relative of Chappy’s (somehow).

Boy, oh boy, two “family” kind of mentions on tv in one day.

I heard back from Meg at Schoolhouse Press and they’re going to exchange my copy of the Three-Cornered Shawl book, which is a relief. I’m sure you’re all as excited as I am to hear that. (grin) I also got to work on my Union Square Market Pullover last night for the first time in a while. (It’s not the sweater’s fault, but I’m starting to feel that I’ll never get it done . . . but I DO keep hiving off to do other things, so, if anything, the sweater should be the one feeling frustrated.) There wasn’t anything worth watching on TV at 8:00, so we put in an episode of Due South (anybody else remember that one?) and chuckled along with Fraser and Ray while I knitted. Nice!

The night before I’d finished my third Christmas Tree hat, in white, which I can’t show you. The pattern’s just about ready to submit to Knitty, but I need to get some good photos to go along with it. Mom tried snapping some for me yesterday, but none of them are what I want them to be. Either too much background, or not enough, or the angle was bad, or the model (ahem) was blinking at the wrong nanosecond . . . and anyway, she doesn’t know what kind of images I have in my head. (Which, considering how often we seem to read each other’s thoughts is really kind of strange. Maybe I should give her some knitting magazines to study . . . you know, for how NOT to pose a knitting model!) But anyway, we need to try again.

I’m still waiting for my SP6 assignment. I got an e-mail from my “group” leader on Sunday, saying I’d get my assignment the next day, but . . . still not yet. I’ll give it another day before I start to worry (grin).

Ooh, and I just got my 1000th Comment (just now, as I was typing), from Snow, a person who’s not only a fabulous knitter (I’ve seen photos), but who can make even an awful divorce sound funnily entertaining. Now, I mentioned a couple days ago that I was approaching this exciting moment . . . Really, think about it, one thousand people have thought enough of my blog to take the time to let me know. That’s pretty amazing, don’t you think? I mean, I’ve only been blogging since January . . . But, I’m digressing . . . I mentioned it and said that I wondered who the 1000th person would be, but what I didn’t say was that I was planning on offering a prize to whoever it turned out to be. But I was, and I am! Three skeins of Rowan’s KidSilk Haze (aka Crack) in a really lovely color whose name I can’t remember (grin) It’s a beautiful plummy color and is, in fact, the same yarn as I made my Birch out of last summer. Congratulations, Snow!

And please, don’t forget the folks that need your help–don’t forget to Give a Little!

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Family Day // 5 Comments »

Well, finally, my “Three-Cornered and Long Shawls” book came today–the Icelandic version with illustrations, and the black-and-white translation. I’m glad it’s finally here–I’ve been looking forward to it for months, and was starting to worry that it was never going to arrive. (Two and a half weeks from Wisconsin to New Jersey still seems kind of excessive, but it’s here.)

It’s a pattern book, of course, and only 78 pages long, so it’s not really impressive to look at, but what matters is on the inside. Twenty-eight patterns, and some of these shawls are absolutely lovely. Including, especially, the Hyrna Herborgar that seems beloved of the blogging world these days. (Susan, for example, is making one. And Risa has one in her photo album of FOs. I’ve seen one somewhere else recently, too, but can’t remember where.) It’s a safe bet that that’s probably going to be my first project from the book.

  What I’m not happy about is the condition in which it arrived. It’s a paperback book with a spiral binding (excellent for any pattern book, but of course, I’ll be using the English translation which is all of 16 pages held together by a couple staples). It was shipped in a pretty flimsy envelope–one of those ones that’s a little thicker than plain paper and has shredded paper fiber between two layers? Not nearly as cushioned as bubble-envelopes. The envelope wasn’t sealed shut–it was just stapled through at the end–right through the catalog enclosed in the envelope, though luckily not through the book. There were two staples when it arrived; I don’t know how many it left Wisconsin with. But of course, the staples were fairly widely separated and so basically, the envelope was open to dust and such on its travels, and so it’s kind of gritty. And, of course, there wasn’t much protection, and so my poor book got pretty battered. The bottom corner is crumpled, and the entire book has a crease through across the middle, as if somebody stepped on it and ground their heel (shod, no doubt in wood) into it. Or piled several heavy packages on top and lifted the entire pile, bending the envelope at the bottom. At only 78 pages, the poor book didn’t stand a chance.

The reason this is so frustrating is that this wasn’t a cheap book. It’s a newly republished print of a relatively rare book, plus a separate, English translation, that together cost $45 (before the shipping). For that kind of money, is it too much to ask that it arrive in good condition? From the patterns I’d seen, I thought it was worth the cost, but . . . I take good care of my books and almost my entire library is in excellent shape–no tears, no wrinkles, very few cracked bindings. This book already looks old. I’m unhappy with the shape the book is in. I like the book, but am upset about its condition. I’ll send the folks at Schoolhouse an e-mail, but really don’t know what to expect. Frankly, though, the poor shape of the book, and the slightly gritty feel to the pages from the open envelope has dampened my enthusiasm. I’m not used to having to wash my hands after flipping through a brand-new book, and I’m not looking forward to shelving it alongside my other knitting books, right next to my yarn.

On the plus side of mail-order, though. . . . I showed you yesterday the copy of Paul McCartney’s newest CD which arrived yesterday. I’d completely forgotten that yesterday was actually its release date. Kudos to Amazon.com! I played it in the car on my way to work this morning and . . . well, there’s been a Lexus commercial lately with a song “Fine Line” playing, and I’ve been thinking to myself all week that it sounded like Paul, but I didn’t recognize the song, so figured I was wrong . . . Wrong! I was right! It was Macca. It’s the single from this album, and the first track on the CD. I put it in the stereo this morning and immediately got all excited. “That’s that song!” And then spent the rest of the drive to work trying to figure out what the commercial had been for . . . (I know now that it was Lexus. One, because I did a Google search to find out and, two, there’s a big Lexus tie-in with this album and Paul’s latest tour.)

But the other thing is that I work with two people (both named Jim, coincidentally) who are huge Beatles fans, and by extension, huge Paul McCartney fans. I mentioned in passing to Jimmy that I had my copy and he got all excited. “Would you like to look at the liner notes?” I asked him. Oh yes, he would, very much. So, I went back to the car and got the jewel case. While he flipped through, he commented that he was going to have to wait until Christmas for his copy because money’s tight (they have a two-year old and a pair of 5-month old twins). “Well, would you maybe like a copy?” The words weren’t even out of my mouth and he was saying yes. So . . . back to the car to eject the CD from my stereo, and a not long after, he had his copy playing on his computer’s CD drive. A little while later, the other Jim stopped by. “Jim! Guess what I’ve got? Debbie gave me a copy of Paul’s new album!” “Wow, that’s out already? I’d pay big money for that.” . . . You can see what’s coming, right? Yep. A little while later, a copy of a copy was in his hands. (No actual money changed hands.) And no, I don’t feel badly about this–both of these men are going to buy copies of their own at some point–this is just letting them listen a little sooner. So soon, in fact, that Jimmy was on his third listen by the end of the day, and I hadn’t even gotten through the entire album once. Not really fair, but . . . he’s got three little kids clamoring for attention when he gets home, I suppose I don’t begrudge him the relative-peace of office listening time. (Not that it’s exactly peaceful–he could have a revolving door at his office, there are so many people stopping by all day long!)

Ooh! And, I’m so excited. I stopped by Stephanie’s blog today, and . . . she’s going to be at Rhinebeck that Saturday afternoon. Yay! I told Mom that we are not leaving without my getting a chance to say hello, and I left Stephanie a comment saying how happy I was, and that it’s so rare that I get an excuse to carry both yarn and books in my purse these days.

I also bought a pattern today–Wendy’s “Not So Shrunken Cardigan.” I liked it yesterday when she posted it, and decided to get a copy. I’m not sure when I’ll make it, exactly, but I like it!

And . . . check out this story about a pod of dolphins swept out of their Mississippi oceanarium, and found in the Gulf by their trainers. A sweet story! Or, how about this article about the security risks of Google Earth’s satellite imagery? Am I the only one who thinks that the lawsuits over the Pledge of Allegiance are ridiculous?

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:Mail Order // 6 Comments »

  And here I was, afraid I wouldn’t have anything to blog about tonight. But look! A delivery from Amazon, just in the nick of time!

That’s Alterknits, a book of some very unique patterns that I’ve barely had a chance to flip through yet. A copy of Occasion by Harry Connick Jr and Wynton Marsalis–all instrumental. It’s playing right now, very mellow. Also Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, the newest album by Paul McCartney, which has been getting some really good reviews. He apparently leaves the comfort zone he’s been coasting in for a while, and I’m looking forward to hearing it. That’ll be tomorrow, in the car

And, what’s that other item? A book called Yarn Harlot?? Hmm . . . who would buy such a thing??

Well, only just about everybody!!

That one I’m starting tonight, and I’m very excited about it, too. Especially after Saturday’s disappointment. Thank you, Stephanie! I haven’t even started reading, and I’m enjoying bookbookbook2 already!

Now, about this whole pressure-to-blog thing . . . Now, I know some of us have, at some point or another, mentioned that they felt pressured to blog by the ravening horde of readers out here in the internet. But . . . I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve never felt this kind of pressure.

And, lest we forget, there are still victims of Hurricane Katrina out there who need our help. Just because things are getting better doesn’t mean it’s good!

• Tags: General, Reading • Permalink:Blogging // 2 Comments »

Julie tagged me, so here goes:

ten years ago: I was a single woman living in New Jersey

five years ago: I was a single woman living in New Jersey with a dog named Katy

one year ago: I was a single woman living in New Jersey with a dog named Chappy

(Who says things don’t change??)

five snacks:
———————————–
Homemade cake, when available
Mint-flavored Oreos
Fruit–especially Macoun or Honeycrisp apples, when they’re in season
Hershey’s kisses (one or two a day)
Popcorn (the real stuff, not the microwave kind)

five songs I know all the words to:
————————————————
Almost anything by the Beatles
Almost anything by Harry Connick Jr
Almost anything by the Proclaimers
Almost anything by George & Ira Gershwin
Almost anything from any number of Broadway shows (Ragtime, 1776, Scarlet Pimpernel, Phantom of the Opera, How to Succeed in Business without really Trying, Guys & Dolls, Beauty & the Beast, The Producers…)

five things I would do with $100 million:
——————————————-
Buy my parents a house
Buy my sister a house
Give my niece & nephew money for college
Buy myself a small place on Martha’s Vineyard
And then, oh yeah, charity is good . . .

five places to run away to:
———————————–
Martha’s Vineyard
England
New Zealand (I’ve heard!)
Wales (beautiful)
New England

five things I would never wear:
———————————-
Fur (although I admit I have a pair of fur-lined mittens . . . I’m sorry)
Bikini
Poncho (well, if I were freezing, maybe, but it would have to be cold!)
Anything too skimpy
Mis-matched patterns (or, really, I’ll just mostly avoid patterns altogether)

five favorite tv shows:
—————————-
West Wing (in its heyday)
Gilmore Girls
Veronica Mars
Quantum Leap (gone, but not forgotten)
All the others are also gone . . .

five biggest joys:
—————————————-
Chappy
Spending the day with my Mom (aka my best friend)
Curling up with a new book by a favorite author (ahhh!)
Coming home at the end of the work day
Getting the chance to chat with my friends–rarer than it should be!

favorite toys:
—————————————–
My computer
My library (not really a toy but very diverting!)
Chappy (again, not strictly a toy, but great fun to play with)
My spinning wheel
My new camera(s)

five people I’ll pass this on to:
——————————————
I’m just going to leave this open–please take it if you want to play! (I’ve seen it around a bunch of blogs lately and am not sure who’s got it and who doesn’t …)

• Tags: Uncategorized • Permalink:I’ve Been Tagged! // 4 Comments »

It should come as no surprise to any of you that I occasionally have an, um, storage problem with my library. (With 2,681 books and counting, it’s bound to be an issue from time to time.) I’ve got two small cases in my bedroom, two more in my bedroom closet. I’ve taken over the family linen closet. I took over the closet in the office (which used to be the guest room)–filled it with big shelves, each full of books. I’ve got a short bookcase in the office, and two tall ones. And, oh yes, four cardboard boxes (the half-ream size) in the closet, and five under-the-bed boxes under the table in the office. . . . I think that’s everything. That is, unless you count the milkcrate full of children’s picture books I kept around for my niece and nephew when they were little. Or the few writing aids on my desk in my bedroom. But really . . . for 2600+ books, that’s really not bad. (Really, it’s not!)

But . . . still, I’m gaining on the 2700-mark and things have been . . . sagging. Over-flowing the shelves. Piles on the floor. Piles on the chair. Piles on top of the bookcases. And, you have to realize, I’m a neat person. Almost obsessively organized. This has been frustrating me for months. The only saving grace has been that the piles have been in the office, at the other end of the house, so I at least didn’t have to look at them every day.

This weekend, though, things got better. We got two, brand-new, tall (six-shelf!) bookcases for the office. I’m almost giddy. They were dropped off by friends of my parents on Saturday. (They needed bookcases themselves and have a mini-van and were making a trip to Ikea, and were nice enough to pick up ours at the same time. Wasn’t that sweet of them?) Then, Sunday, I put together the bookcases. (Yes, all by myself. I’m not the handiest person, but I’m good at assembing pre-manufactured furniture–especially bookcases. I’ve had lots of practice.)

And then (this was the fun part) I moved the existing bookcases to make room for them. I moved a small bookcases of my mother’s out of the way . . . Hey, this was about my library! . . . and then slid the two, large, full bookcases down the wall to fill in the space it took up. I moved all the book-boxes out from under the table and then moved it flush with the cases, and then moved the new cases into the corner. Whoops. Need a couple more inches. Went back to the door and moved everything down two more inches. Ah . . . they just fit! Except . . . well . . . the door doesn’t quite open all the way anymore, and the electric outlet in the corner can’t be reached. Hmmm . . . Well, what if we turn the table so the short end is against the wall? Pulled the book boxes out again (why I put them back before we were sure, I don’t know). Pulled the table away from the wall and pivoted it . . . moved all four bookcases toward the center. Phew! That’s going to have to work, because I’m not moving those heavy, heavy cases again! (You should all be proud of me for being able to move them at all, really. And you’ll be reassured to know that, while a little stiff today, no serious aches, pains, or muscle spasms . . . knock on wood!)

After all of that, though, I was much too tired to start moving the books around, too. If you haven’t had the experience of moving large quantities of books, you may not realize how exhausting that can be. Try this: Next time you’re near an office-supply store, try lifting a box full of paper. Pretty heavy, huh? Now try moving it up and down, holding it only on the sides as you try to slide it onto a shelf. Trying to move books by the anything other than the covers can cause knit-stopping paper cuts! And then repeat about 50 times, all while reciting the Gettysburg Address in your head to mimic the effort required to do all this physical lifting while mentally alphabetizing, sorting, grading the books on the shelf. Any way, you’ll see why I was too tired to actually do the books yesterday, too.

And then, of course, after moving the books, I’ll have to bring in the computer and reassign every single one in the database to its new physical location . . . that’ll be fun, too! (Although, at least it won’t require lots of lifting.) And since I have the catalog sorted by topic, as long as, say, all the history books are on one shelf, it won’t be that hard to make the changes . . . still. Kind of tedious. Right now, of course, the room is still a mess. (You can’t see the pile of stuff on the floor behind the table.) But, I don’t care. This was the one, big step towards being organized again and I’m so excited!

Do you know, it just occurred to me the other day–school has started, and that means it’s the “anniversary” of meeting my dearest and oldest friend, Dawn. I don’t know the exact date, but it was the first day of school for third grade for me, second grade for her–so I was 8, she was 7. That’s thirty years ago, people. I really can’t believe it’s that long. We didn’t get to be best friends until junior high school–about five years later. (1981, the summer after John Lennon was killed, when our Beatles obsession sprang out of thin air and took over our music preferences through high school.) We haven’t lived in the same state since college, except for the occasional visit home to her parents, who still live around the corner from me, but she’s still my oldest friend. This is the friend I drove back to the airport last month. I assume she made it home safely because I didn’t hear of any crashes, but I haven’t heard from her since she left. Sadly, that’s not unusual–once she’s in California, she may as well be on another planet for the number of times she calls or writes–but the instant we’re in each others’ company again, it doesn’t matter. We could have been apart for a week, instead of a year, for all the difference it makes. Instant, best-friend contact. Our 30th anniversary (sniffle).

And then, my other best friend . . . a johnny-come-lately compared to Dawn . . . Cindy and I have only been friends for about 15 years this autumn. Practically a flash in the pan. We actually knew each other in high school–sort of. Her “group” and my “group” overlapped just enough that we knew of each other, though we never really sat down and had a conversation. Then one day, a year or two after college (she graduated with Dawn, not me), we were suddenly working in the same place. For about a week, we’d sort of look at each other in the hallway, “Do I know you?” until we finally actually said something and realized that we did. And we’ve been friends ever since. (And, she of course, knows Dawn as well–as you can see from this 2000 photo. It’s a silly picture, but fun! And you can see why I always feel so short….) Cindy actually still lives in the same state as I do, and is Mom to Chappy’s best friend, Horatio (and big-sister Princess, the greyhound). She’s been in Sweden for the last week on vacation, having just closed her store in Boonton last month, and I can’t wait to hear how her sock-knitting went when she was 3000 miles away from her teacher (me). I’m trying to convince her to come along to Rhinebeck next month, too . . . if you’re going, drop her a comment encouraging her to come along, would you?

Now, I don’t have anything of a fibery nature to show you, although I have been knitting, I promise you. I even brought knitting to the dentist’s office the other day, and they were very impressed when I told them I’d spun the yarn myself. I might even bring my spindle next time, to show off . . . I mean, I have to have something to look forward to with all these dentist visits, don’t I? I read in somebody’s blog, months ago (too long to remember whose) a comment about you know you’re starting to get older when a “bad checkup” doesn’t just mean cavities anymore, but root canals and crowns and temporary caps and all that much more fun, much more painful, much more expensive stuff. Well, guess what? Apparently, I’m getting older . . . (Really, you hear it all the time, but please, please take care of your teeth and gums while you can!)

I’m still waiting for my Three Cornered and Long Shawls from Schoolhouse Press. I pre-ordered it months ago. (April? May?), knowing it was back-ordered until late summer, but it still hasn’t come. Other people have gotten theirs, and my order was processed on 8/31, but . . . still no book. I wrote last week to ask if there was a tracking number, but was told it was shipped book rate, and shouldn’t start worrying for another 5-7 days . . . I know book rate is slow, but three weeks?? From Wisconsin to New Jersey? It’s not that far! And meantime, I’m hearing about the beautiful shawls, and seeing other peoples’ progress and . . . sigh. Really, how can I complain about a book?

Incidentally, Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls is going to be on Ellen tomorrow, Tuesday. I’ve seen her other visits and, well, I don’t know if she’s always so . . . flighty . . . but she is darn entertaining on this show (and on G.G., too). Luckily for me, even though it’s a morning show, a local cable station airs Ellen at 4:00 in the afternoon, so I can usually catch most of the interviews . . . I’m looking forward to this one. If she does as well as the other times, she’ll be hilarious to watch. Both she’s, that is–I think Ellen does a fun interview.

And, also incidentally, I’m approaching a big, blogging milestone–1000 comments. I wouldn’t tell you how close, but it’s coming up . . . who will be the 1000th person to leave me a comment??

• Tags: Family, Friends, General, Reading • Permalink:Travelling Library // 3 Comments »

It’s September 11th, of course. Four years since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

We live about 30-35 miles from New York city. At lunchtime on that day, Mom and I walked up the street and over the hill, and took this picture–that huge plume of smoke on the horizon? The one that, by dinner stretched far, far to the right, well out of the bounds of this photo? The one that’s bigger than any of the clouds in the sky? That’s where the World Trade Center used to stand. When the light was right in the morning, or when they were lit at night, we could see the towers clearly. All the smaller buildings were–and are–mere smudges on the horizon, but the WTC stood tall.

I bring this up today for two reasons. One, because I don’t think we as a country can afford to forget that attack. It’s so easy to get caught up with the political quagmire of the war in Iraq, and forget that we at least started all of this for a reason. A good reason. Should we have invaded Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban who helped formulate that attack? Yes, I think that was entirely the right thing to do. Should we have invaded Iraq? No, I don’t think so. But the point is that we were attacked and it was horrible; it was huge; and we can never, ever forget that. Nor can we forget that our proudest moments that September came when we as a country pulled together. For a few weeks, a few months, political parties didn’t matter. Instead, we did what we had to do to help the people, the cities, the country.

But the second reason–we’re obviously facing another huge catastrophe down in Louisiana and Mississippi. This one, there’s no one to blame for the disaster itself, of course, but the blame game following this crisis nevertheless is going on and on and on. City government wasn’t talking to State government which wasn’t talking to Federal government, which wasn’t talking to anyone. Red Cross wasn’t talking to FEMA which wasn’t talking to the Coast Guard. Human rescuers weren’t talking to Pet rescuers. No coordination of effort, which means some things were duplicated, and some actions never happened at all. But everyone was talking to the Press to tell about how hard they were working. It’s getting better now, of course, but really, it’s been almost two weeks–could it really have gotten worse? I’m appalled at what I’ve heard about FEMA (and that debit card idea that they decided they couldn’t handle because they didn’t have enough people? Don’t get me started.)

However, I am proud of the way the American people have handled this. Personal donations to charities like the Red Cross have broken all records. People have opened their houses to those who lost their homes. Schools all around the country have opened arms to displaced students. Food, water, clothing, diapers, afghans, backpacks of school supplies . . . all of these and lots more have been donated to help. Volunteers are wading through that muck in New Orleans, looking for lost pets. And the stories out of Baton Rouge and Houston? Wow. Those cities (and many others) are going above and beyond to squeeze in thousands upon thousands of suddenly homeless people.

There is no question that all sorts of things were not done, or were done incorrectly during this crisis. We need to fix that; we cannot afford to ever let this happen again. I mean, sure, geographically this hurricane was huge–I heard that the devastated area is the size of Great Britain. How DO you fix that all at once? You just can’t. There are going to be logistical nightmares and failures, because on a scale like that, it’s simply not possible to do everything right. But it seems like we really should have managed to do more, on a governmental level. What’s the point of having a department for Federal emergencies that can’t handle emergencies? We have to fix that.

What really grieves me, though, is that–on just about every official level–this seems to be tearing us apart. Everyone seems to be so involved in spreading the blame, pointing fingers, that even though so many individuals are giving time and money and homespace to help, there are more who are taking this opportunity to say, “It’s all their fault,” and pointing fingers, instead of asking, “How do we fix it?”

And now, on the anniversary of the greatest attack on our country in recent memory, and barely two weeks after the worst natural disaster of our country, it seems to me that we need to learn from both of these disasters. As individuals, we obviously know how to pitch in and help one another. This is twice in four years that we’ve proved that. However, we also clearly need to have a direction to point our anger when these things happen (heaven forbid), because otherwise, that rage blows up in our face. As if the disaster itself wasn’t horrific enough. As if we can afford to splinter off into bitter groups so busy placing blame that we never do anything to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We need a strong leader to help us focus–we had that on 9/11/01–both Rudy Giuliani and (yes) Pres. Bush did a great job of getting people to work together. For Katrina, though, nobody filled that role, and in that void, we instead have a whirlpool of hatred and anger.

And–let’s not forget this–we have good neighbors. Yes, a lot of people in the world wondered why we, the richest country on the planet, could possibly need help–but for the most part, when we really needed help, it was offered, willingly, generously, from other countries, even many of the ones that hate us.

What does all this mean? You’ve got me. It just seems to me that one disaster we handled wonderfully, and one we handled disastrously. They were completely different kinds of disasters, of course, with different requirements and different difficulties. But since the one comes so close to the anniversary of the other, there are parallels that you can’t help but make.

Even though it’s too late to save the people who died in either one–I could wish that we would allow our common grief in Katrina’s wake to pull us together, rather than to plow deeper chasms between us. I think if there’s any one lesson, it’s that in both catastrophes, we saw the best of humanity–its caring, its generosity, its willingness to help, to share. I don’t think the people who offered their spare rooms, or who are donating hours of their time at the local Red Cross bothered to stop and ask “Are they Democrats?” “Are they Republicans?” “Are they White?” before they jumped in to help. Why should the rest of us? What’s the point of pointing fingers? We are all humans. We all failed the people of the Gulf coast in this disaster–because, let’s not forget, “we ARE the people” of the government, no matter who we voted for. And yet, we also all selflessly helped–regardless of personal politics, race, or class. Isn’t that all that really matters?

• Tags: Uncategorized • Permalink:National Disasters // 7 Comments »

This has really been a lovely day (another one). Perfect weather, again, about which I’m still feeling obscurely guilty. But, what can you do?

Mom and I took Chappy (aka Drool-Face) to the park today. He’s been asking to go all week. (“Park! Park! Park park park!“) Then, he was so excited to be there, he just drooled . . . and then covered himself in drool every time he shook his head.

This habit of his, I’ll tell you, came as quite a shock to me in the beginning. None of our other dogs ever drooled this much. Don’t even get me started on the amount of drool he used to emit in the car . . . he used to get carsick . . . and, well . . . rivers. But that, at least, had a reason. So does a mouth-watering reaction to food. But drool just out of sheer excitement at being at the park? Who knew? I try to carry paper towels with me for this kind of thing . . . I don’t like drooly kids (I accept that it happens, but that’s what bibs are for, and you at least try to stay on top of it), and I don’t want my dog covered with it either. Naturally, though, I always forget to actually bring the towel with me . . . it’s usually back in the car, and so Chappy happily meanders through the park, looking like, well, this.

After our lovely (if wet) walk through the park, we went to Wightman Farms for some apples.

And some pie. (They have really good home-style pies).

And, oh yeah, some doughnuts, which Mom particularly loves.

Unfortunately, it’s still a little early in the season for my favorite apples (Macouns and Honeycrisps), but I did get some Ginger Golds, so I’m happy. I love really good, really crisp apples in the fall.

And you should have seen all the pumpkins they had already. I mean it’s only September 10th. (I bet you didn’t know they grew with faces here in New Jersey.)

After Wightmans, I told Mom and Chappy I wanted to make one stop–Barnes & Noble, to see if they had Stephanie’s bookbookbook2. I looked on the shelf, and didn’t see it, but since somebody had left her a Comment about finding a copy yesterday, I asked. (Something I almost never do in bookstores, since I’m usually pretty good at finding what I need.) They had two copies in stock . . . but couldn’t find either of them. The fellow helping looked, and asked around, in case somebody had shelved them in the wrong place, but . . . nope. Nowhere to be found. I mean, if they hadn’t had the books at all yet, well, fine, but they had them in the inventory. Sheesh. So . . . no extra yarn-harlot-ness for me this weekend. Disappointing!

Now, you hear me talk about Chappy all the time. (All the time, I know.) You even hear me mention my dear, departed Katy, his predecessor.

But you rarely ever hear me talk about the dogs we had before. Partly because they were the family’s dogs, not my dogs. There were two of them, both miniature dachshunds–Muppy, who we got when I was 11, and Jilly, who lived to be almost 15 and a half. Today would have been her 21st birthday.

We got her when I was 17 and she was 8 months old, about a year after we lost Muppy. We were actually going to get a puppy, but her breeder tricked us–she let us meet Jilly first, before we ever saw the litter of puppies. (Sneaky!) By the time we made it into the next room, Jilly had worked her wiles. A good thing for her, too, since the first full day we had her, when Dad and Patty went to work and I headed off to school, my mother almost had a break down, Jilly reminded her so much of Muppy. (She really didn’t want another dog, I might add, but Dad and I ganged up on her.) I got home from school and said, “How’s the puppy??” and Mom almost burst into tears . . . she went upstairs and shut the door (rare, rare thing), and I spent the afternoon running up and down the stairs from my mother, who wanted nothing to do with the dog, and poor Jilly who was still so confused and scared and uncertain . . . it wasn’t a good day. But then, a day or so later, Mom was vacuuming and realized she didn’t know where Jilly was . . . the poor thing had been so terrified at the vacuum, she squeezed herself behind the toilet and just shook . . . Mom felt so terrible, and cuddled her to calm her down, and I think that pretty much did it. After that first week, Mom loved her as much as the rest of us did . . . it was just getting through the first week that was hard!

What can I tell you about Jilly? She was sweet and lovable, of course, but a little neurotic at times. She hated the car, because she was convinced that it would always go to the vet. She went more often than she should have–generally healthy, but periodontal disease (lots of tooth extractions). She ate baby food for almost her entire life–Cheese & Macaroni was her favorite flavor. She thought she was a little girl, or at least acted as if she did. She loved to get dressed up–if we tied a bow around her neck (as in this photo, taken on my sister’s wedding day), she’d preen with it . . . right until it started tickling her ears. She wore perfume–would roll on the carpet whenever any of us would spritz ourselves with it. She loved to flowers–never ate them, but would sniff every, single one of a bouquet. She loved dolls–we could have our dolls “pet” her and she would lean in to the pets as if they were just really small humans . . . but stuffed animals, she would treat like, well, animals. She loved tea–preferably with milk, no sugar–and I always gave her the last mouthful when I had a mug. (Her nose was perfectly shaped for reaching down to the bottom of the cup.) She did bark quite a lot, being a dachshund, but she was such a sweetie to have around. I feel guilty sometimes that I don’t think about her as much since my Boykin Spaniels have come into my life, but that doesn’t mean I love her any the less!

Anyway, in honor of Jilly, today’s links for Katrina Aid are for the pets: Noah’s Wish, ASPCA, the Humane Society.

• Tags: Chappy, Family, Katy, Jilly, Muppy, Weather • Permalink:Quite a Satisfactory Saturday // 1 Comment »

And another Friday comes ’round again. At least things are looking a little less bleak than they did last week, though still far from good down South. They’re thinking that the death toll in NOLA may not be as bad as they’d feared, which is a huge relief, if true. I mean, it’s still awful whether 5,000 people died or 10,000 people, but still, I’d opt for the smaller number any day.

Still, at least some people are home who weren’t before. Or at least, they’re closer. The first planeload of National Guardsmen from Louisiana came home from Iraq today–though it wasn’t the homecoming they’d hoped. Some lost family members to the hurricane; some lost their homes; some have their families scattered around the country; some no longer have jobs. (Although I think I heard that the Army was offering an extra year’s employment, if they want it, until they can get on their feet again?)

On the plus side, though, this soldier from Mississippi found out that his family was safe because he saw his niece in an ad from the American Red Cross, asking for aid. That’s a great story, isn’t it?

And, Margene and Susan’s Give a Little site has raised over $77,000 for the American Red Cross and other charities. Seventy-seven thousand dollars! From knitters like you and me! Wow.

Read Annie’s post from yesterday, too. She’s thinking of diverting some of the John Glick Memorial Afghan Squares to this project. I can’t imagine anyone would object to that, and what a nice head-start she’s got!

Now, to head off on a different tangent, Juno posted an interesting link today: The Birthday Calculator. So, here are some interesting things about me:

As of right now:
You are 2,026 weeks old.
You are 14,187 days old.
You are 340,506 hours old.
You are 20,430,384 minutes old.
You are 1,225,823,069 seconds old.
There are 58 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 39 candles on it.

Those 39 candles produce 39 BTU’s,
or 9,828 calories of heat (that’s only 9.8280 food Calories!) .
You can boil 4.46 US ounces of water with that many candles. (I think this is my favorite of these statistics!)

And, who knew there was such a thing as a Birth Tree? (Show of hands? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) I didn’t, but apparently mine is a Walnut tree: Unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egoistic, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often admired, ingenious strategist, very jealous and passionate, no compromises.

I don’t know, I don’t think that sounds particularly good . . .

Oh, and according to this site, there are 107 days until Christmas . . . so you’d better get hopping on that shopping! If, of course, you celebrate Christmas. I do, and it’s my favorite holiday. And for the record, yes, I have started my Christmas shopping.

No, really.

Honest!

I always start my Christmas shopping early, and give myself a deadline of Thanksgiving for the shopping, and I’ll give you my reasons. (1) I like to think about what to get each loved one, and by starting early, I have the time to find just the right gift–rather than making a mad dash to the mall at the last minute and grabbing the first thing I see; (2) Starting months early spreads the cost out, instead of it coming in one lump sum at the beginning of January; (3) By finishing by Thanksgiving, I can enjoy the month of December–carols, gift-wrapping, family . . . it’s not crazy and hectic. (Well, except for Stollen Weekend, but I’m not thinking about that right now!)

• Tags: General • Permalink:Getting Better All the Time // 4 Comments »

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

————-I suppose if you put it that way, I’m a yarn snob–though I prefer the term “connoisseur.” Natural fibers (though some small amounts of manmade blended in can be fine). Soft is one of the main criteria—I like it soft against my skin! Oh, and generally speaking, I hate knitting with cotton. Wool and silk are the favorites. Cashmere would be lovely. Alpaca can be really nice . . .

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
————-I spin, though am not an expert by any means. It’s great fun, though! I’ve been known to crochet, but not recently.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

————-Not really, but I’m very sensitive to scents—they trigger sinus headaches in the blink of an eye.

4. How long have you been knitting?
————-Not counting the endless garter-stitch squares when I was little? My entire adult life, since college, around 1988.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
————-I do have an Amazon wish list, and it’s linked on my blog.

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
————-See note above about scents (grin). Only the subtlest of fragrances, fruity rather than flowery or musky. And please, don’t send me any candles. They’re nice enough, but I have no place to put them and never have a chance to use them.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

————-Well, I do like chocolate, but I’m a purist. Really not a big fan of hard candy.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
————-I’ve been focusing on knitting and spinning lately, but I also quilt, embroider, and crochet. And reading. There’s always the reading! (Not that that’s a craft, really, more like a way of life.)

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
—————I like music with a good melody and good harmony—looooove good harmony! But no, no MP3 player. Beatles. Showtunes. Harry Connick Jr. Neville Bros. Paul Simon. George Gershwin…

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?
—————I like warm, autumn colors—oranges, golds, reds. Also greens and blues. I like really saturated colors, not pastels.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
—————I’m single, but still live with my folks, and have a wonderful dog named Chappy, for whom I named my entire blog.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
—————Um, happiness? World peace? Really, being happy, with a healthy family is about it. I’m content, though I really would like to get my novel published.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
—————-Soft, wooly ones. Cashmerino, is lovely, silk. Anything that feels great in my fingers.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
—————-Cotton. Can’t stand it (except for Rowan Calmer, which is nice and springy). Don’t like eyelash at all, or anything too “novelty.” Some texture is okay, but I like knitting with the basics.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
—————-Lace! Shawls! I’m starting to think of colorwork again, though… or maybe cables….

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
—————-Sweaters, mostly. Shawls a lot lately. Socks.

17. What are you knitting right now?
—————-A sweater, a hat, a pair of socks, some lace.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
—————-They’re not evil, but I’ve never made one and can’t imagine ever wanting too.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
—————-Circular!!

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
—————-Addi Turbos, though I’d love to try some circular, ebony lace needles, but they are hard, hard, hard to come by.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
—————Yes. Though I haven’t yet tried any elaborate patterns–been quite content with the basic, toe-up sock. Don’t really like self-striping yarns, though–but variegated ones are nice.

22. How did you learn to knit?
—————Books, pretty much. A neighbor taught me garter stitch when I was little, but I learned purl and continental knitting (my preferred method) on my own. Nothing is as good as a great reference book (unless, I suppose, you have an extremely knowledgeable person handy).

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

—————Only a couple months—the Union Square Market sweater I’m working on.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
—————I don’t have one . . . well, I mean, Chappy is my favorite animal, of course, but cartoon characters? I haven’t had a favorite since my crush on Mickey Mouse when I was about 4.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
—————Christmas. And my birthday (not that that’s actually a holiday for anyone else, but I like to pretend it is).

26. Is there anything that you collect?
—————No, though I accumulate books almost as easily as I breathe. But that’s practically a functioning library, not exactly a “collection.”

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
—————All I need, that’s for sure! Vogue Knitting, Knitters, Interweave Knits. Oh, and Spin Off.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
————–A couple out of print ones that are rarer than gold. Principles of Knitting by June Hemmins Hiatt, and Spinning for Softness and Speed by Paula Simmons. . . both hard to find, rare, expensive books. Also Here be Wyverns by Nancie Spies. Most current books I pretty much buy when I see them . . . I have serious problems restraining myself in bookstores!

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven’t bought for one reason or another??

————–I like the Fiddlesticks Lotus Blossom shawl, that I just haven’t gotten around to buying yet, but otherwise . . . nothing specific.

[Read more →]

• Tags: Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Secret Pal 6 Questionnaire // 3 Comments »

I think I may have shot myself in the foot with my Christmas Tree hat. (Sounds like I’ve got a splinter of tinsel in my foot, doesn’t it?) I was reading Knitty’s submission guidelines today and it says, “Submissions must be new — not previously shown in any form in another mag or on your website, blog or livejournal. Once your pattern is published in Knitty, you may include a picture of your design on your website with a link to the Knitty website.” Why didn’t someone tell me! (grin) If I remove the pictures from my blog, can I still submit the pattern? Would they know? (Maybe, maybe not) Would they care?? (Probably) Well . . . darn! If I’d read the guidelines before, I would never have posted the pictures, but now that I have, I can’t go back in time . . .

You know, I’ve noticed I’m getting a lot more hits on my blog from people doing internet searches for the various charities or blogs I’ve mentioned this week, which I think is pretty interesting. I wonder how surprised they are when they find themselves at a knitting blog? And–this I thought was interesting–apparently there’s a restaurant called Chappy’s Seafood in Mississippi, and people looking for it have found their way here (which, considering the name of the blog is really quite understandable). But, now that Chappy knows there’s a restaurant out there with his name, he’s very concerned about how well they weathered the storm . . . and wants to know if they do doggie-bags.

For Katrina, read this harrowing account of this man’s escape from the city.

Or how about this article from the BBC, with lots of comments varying from “why should we help them?” to “of course we’ll help; they’ve helped us.” That just disturbs me on so many levels. Yes, we’re the richest country in the world; yes, we should have the resources needed without the help of poorer countries (which, of course, by definition is everyone else) . . . except that, as one commenter points out, nobody has enough rations on hand for this many people, in one place, all at once. And anyway, my understanding is that we haven’t actually asked for help (or, so far as I know, officially accepted any, either)–but isn’t it the neighborly thing to do? Even Fidel Castro offered some help. Besides, the American Red Cross asking for aid is not the same thing as the U.S. government asking–it’s technically a private organization, but one which tries to do good all over the world.

Today’s link for Katrina Aid: The Network for Good–because it gives you lots of options!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Sigh. // 7 Comments »

I just thought I’d mention . . . today would have been Katy’s sixth birthday.

It’s a little weird because, of course, six is such a young age for a dog, and yet she’s been gone four years . . . and so for her, it sounds old.

She’ll always be a puppy to me.

Katy
September 7, 1999 – May 12, 2001

• Tags: Family, Katy, Jilly, Muppy • Permalink:Sixth // 6 Comments »

I added a new button to my sidebar yesterday–for Rhinebeck. I’m definitely going, and I’m dragging along my best-friend/non-knitting mother, with the promise that she’ll get to meet some very nice bloggers. So we knit-bloggers really need to arrange some sort of meeting place on Saturday, say around 1:00. I want faces to go with all of these names, and, you don’t want me to have lied to my mother, do you?

And let’s not forget this gem–a new book from Stephanie! (And, is it wrong of me to wish another book-tour on her that would bring her to Rhinebeck on October 15th?)

Incidentally, I bet you didn’t know that I’m a rebel.

I wore white shoes today. The Day after Labor Day.

I know, they say the rule is dead, but there are still die-hards out there, and I figure I was risking people throwing red dye on my shoes or something, if I offended anyone by my carefree, taking-a risk wearing of white.

We made it home safely, though, you’ll be pleased to know.

In the “new to me” category–I finally got to see the Medium pilot episode last night. I started watching last season about the third episode, and missed when the repeated the pilot at the beginning of the summer–I was afraid I’d never see it, but to my relief, they aired it last night, so now I understand why Alison likes that crusty Texas Ranger so much, and will better be able to appreciate the season finale repeat next week. Phew!

Here’s an interesting site: a News Consumption Meter. We people really do like our headlines! Or, how about this wonderful open letter to the country from the residents of South Louisiana? Or this “Why do people live there?” map. How about this very amusing “Most Clueless Man” post?

Today’s Katrina Aid link du jour: The all-new Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. I read somebody today who commented that the world must be coming to an end for those two to get together on anything, but the friendship between Former Pres. Bush and Pres. Clinton is actually fairly long-standing. Or at least, the respect the two have for each other is. When Mom and I had a chance to hear Bill Clinton speak in April, one of the things he said was that there is a danger in demonizing your political opponent, that just because you disagree doesn’t mean you can’t work together. And anyway, I tend to think that the things that bring us together (like, yes, this Katrina tragedy) are stronger than the things that pull us apart.

[Soapbox Alert] I think that the government–all levels–failed the people in New Orleans (well, the other hard-hit areas, too, but especially the city of NOLA), but I don’t think that the President or the govenors or the mayors did anything less than their best to try to help–it just wasn’t good enough. It’s one thing to point fingers and assign guilt once the people have been taken care of, but smug though I often find our President, I think he’s a well-meaning human being like most of the rest of us, and wouldn’t have let it happened if he could have stopped it. Nor could his father. Or Bill Clinton. Or Ronald Reagan. I can’t think of a recent President of any party that I believe could have handled a catastrophic disaster of this magnitude, that hit with this speed, with no infrastructure, and almost no communications . . . Washington, maybe, or Lincoln. Either of the Roosevelts. But really, could Jimmy Carter have managed this? Gerald Ford? Johnson? Eisenhower? Kennedy? Or how about John Kerry? Doesn’t matter where you are on the political spectrum, this was just a disaster, plain and simple, and one which was handled very badly indeed–not through uncaring, not through ill-intent, but just through human incompetence. It’s just a crime that so many people had to die because of it.

Okay . . . I’m really sorry. I’ll really try not to get this political again! I’m a registered Independent and can usually see both the Left and Right spectrum from where I sit and am pretty mellow on most issues. I’ve just been reading a lot of really angry (justifiably angry) commentary blaming the current administration for not caring. I believe that they do care (whether they were shoe-shopping or on vacation or not), they just did a bad job at a really bad time. But if a hurricane this size had come along at any other time, under any other adminstration, would we really have been able to handle it better? I’m just saying . . . trying to be a voice of reason. (Dangerous, I know, but !)

So, to temper that semi-political rant, here’s an encouraging article about Mardi Gras, and the prediction (which I happen to agree with) that come Mardi Gras in February, there will be some kind of celebrating going on in New Orleans.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:New, All New // 6 Comments »

And then there were two. Two Christmas Tree hats, that is. And you know, these are the only two in existence. (Sure, there are other patterns out there for other so-called Christmas Tree hats, but let’s face it, they’re not this cute. You’ll just have to trust me on this one.)

Now, I offered to donate my cute, brand-new, almost one-of-a-kind hat to Margene and Susan’s Give a Little campaign. They’ve got over $56,000 so far!

Next up–a white one with green “trees” to test the wintery mountain idea for those who like the hat but don’t want to wear a tree on their heads (grin).

Here’s my Katrina Aid link of the day . . . speaking of DOUBLE: Via the Ellen TV show. Ellen DeGeneres grew up right outside New Orleans, and her talk show started its third season today, with an appeal for help. She told how her 81-year old aunt has lost everything–and that they haven’t even heard from her yet. And also that Warner Brothers was donating $500,000 with an offer that they would match every additional dollar (up to another $500,000) she raised through her show. So–if you visit the American Red Cross site through the link from www.ellentv.com, not only can you make a much-needed donation, but rest secure in the knowledge that whatever you donate will be doubled . . . and help people like Ellen’s aunt.

An article on evacuees/refugees looking for work. It’s a sobering thought–so many formerly-employed people who now have nothing. Also, of course, the news about abandoned pets just breaks my heart (and scares the bejeezus out of Chappy). It’s incredible to think of the scope of this disaster, though. Even once the people in NOLA get food and water and medical care, and the people who have no homes get shelter . . . there are literally thousands of kids who need to be enrolled in school . . . somewhere . . . and parents who need to find jobs, and homes, and an income. And in the efforts to get these people aid as quickly as possible, they are being dispersed around the country in huge numbers–to hundreds of miles away from what had been their homes. Not just those who, say, had family in New York and are moving in with them for a while, but the ones being evacuated to shelters in Arizona. Even if they want to go back, and they have something to go back TO, how are they going to get there? Travel’s not cheap! And, the colleges that are offering class space to displaced Tulane and other university students . . . that’s wonderful, but didn’t those kids all pay for their semester’s tuition, room, and board already somewhere else? The ripple effect–not even counting the gas prices–is going to be huge.

Now–a couple books I think are interesting. Rising Tide by John M. Barry–an absolutely fascinating look at the devastating 1927 Mississippi flood, which includes a good look at the levee system, its faults, its strengths, and New Orleans’ particular vulnerability. And then there’s Isaac’s Storm, about the 1900 Galvaston hurricane which was the worst storm ever in terms of loss of life (though I’m so afraid that’s been topped this time around . . . heaven forbid). Or the Great Hurricane: 1938. Or the scientific rather than historical Hurricane Watch. The danger of reading about historical storms and death, though, is that there’s the danger of anesthetizing us to the real-world life-and-death disaster going on right now. Sort of like watching a movie about terrorists right around 9/11/2001 . . . you can’t afford to let the real-world impact lessen when it’s so vital to send real aid. If you let the victims become just faceless numbers, like the ones in the books (who would, in any case, have been long-dead by now, anyway), it lets you think you can get off without doing anything to help–they’re just images on tv, after all. Like special effects in a disaster movie . . . but they’re real. And it’s happening right now.

Look at this list, too, on Amazon of records by “local” people who are donating to relief efforts. Harry Connick Jr. Aaron Neville. Tim McGraw. Wynton Marsalis, and others. I know there are two songs I’ve had in my head this week–Harry Connick Jr’s version of “More than I Miss New Orleans,” and Aaron Neville’s “Louisiana 1927.” These folks are doing a lot themselves and they have great music. I figure they deserve a little back.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:Seeing Double // 4 Comments »

We’re having a wonderful day, today. My sister and her family came down for a visit–the first one since July–and we had a really nice time. The weather is perfect, for starters–so perfect, I’m almost feeling guilty about it, what with the post-Katrina situation down south. Mike, Tyler, and Chappy played a lot and right now, Chappy is completely exhausted, but in a really good way. (And he’s going to be so excited when he finds out he can sleep on the bed tonight, since it’s a three day weekend.) Mom made a lasagne and salad, I made lemon meringue pie. Everything tasted good. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood (though my sister was fighting a headache). Just, a really nice visit. I even did some more work on my second Christmas Tree Hat.

But, yes, I periodically thought about those folks down on the Gulf, not knowing when they might again have a day like this, with family, good food, good weather, a good home…

So, some more links for you:

This couple was lucky enough to have their wedding, though not the way they’d planned it. They had planned to be married just as the hurricane hit, carried pretty much nothing but their wedding license out of New Orleans, but were married yesterday in a shelter in Mississippi–with a donated wedding dress, tuxedo, cake, flowers . . . It’s so good to hear some good news . . . and that people are really going out of their way to be kind to these survivors.

Apparently, the word “refugee” is demeaning now, according to Jesse Jackson and Bruce Gordon. They are, he says, “Citizens displaced by a disaster.” Um, isn’t that pretty much what “refugee” means?

Some sobering numbers (from AOL news):

• 220,000=Hurricane refugees (er, citizens displaced by disaster) believed to be camped out in Texas
• 27.4=Percentage of people below the poverty line in New Orleans before the storm hit
• 80= Percentage of New Orleans underwater
• 54,000=Number of US military personnel committed to provide relief to hurricane survivors
• $10.5 Billion=Amount of disaster aid approved by Congress and Pres. Bush.
• 100,000=Homeland Security estimate of how many hurricane victims received help by Saturday.

Meanwhile, we’ve got evacuated-citizens spread all around the country . . . which only makes sense if you think about it. Just New Orleans alone–you can’t take the entire population of a major city and put it all in one place.

And now, there’s a newly-named Tropical Storm Maria . . . let’s hope she’s nothing like her big sister.

  The Katrina Aid link for today: Network for Good.

Incidentally, Interdicter is still going strong, holed up in their office in downtown New Orleans. The blog is fascinating, even with its occasional military jargon (or maybe that’s part of the appeal?) Be sure to check out the webcam. SciGuy from Houston remains an interesting one to read these days, as well. And MetroBlogging/New Orleans, too. And let’s not forget our fellow-knitter, Rachel!

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Perfect Sunday . . . for Some // 2 Comments »

I got my final package from my SP5 today–Sarah (who, in turn, is one of the hostesses for SP6). It’s so nice to have a name to place with the packages. That’s some Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Cranberry, a very pretty color indeed. Also, some very interesting little balls of Chocolates Britt chocolate-covered fruit . . . a brand I’d never heard of before. Thank you, Sarah. This has been fun.

My SP5 recipient, by the way, was Paula. And, thanks Rox, for organizing the whole thing.

My mail carrier, Sandy, though, says I’m getting too many packages. My SP5 package, the yarn I got yesterday, an order of baking supplies from King Arthur Flour and then these hair products. A large bottle of Elucence Moisture Balance shampoo and conditioner (since Mom and I both use the shampoo), also some Elucence deep conditioner, Devacurl‘s Angel hair gel, and bottles of Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream and Aloeba conditioner. You’ll notice, though, that that bottle of conditioner is only about 2/3 full. I sent an e-mail to Naturallycurly.com to ask if I could return it for a full one, and they offered to send me a replacement bottle, free of charge. Isn’t that nice of them? Not only do they have some of the best products around, and the most informative hair-care message boards, but their customer service is just wonderful. I highly recommend them. (And, you don’t need to have curly hair for all the products–the Elucence shampoo and conditioner are just wonderful.)

And, for Katrina: I’m delighted to see that New York and New Jersey have sent caravans of help southward. They say that they gave us so much help after 9/11, it’s the least we can do, and it’s great to see.

Here’s a really great idea for aid: DoSomething.com. Their “Got your back” idea is to donate backpacks–fully supplied with school supplies–for displaced school kids. Isn’t that nice? Something solid that might help all those kids feel a little more cared for.

My Donation du Jour: Habitat for Humanity. Remember, please give all you can! I’ve been making small donations every day, because it makes me feel like I’m doing something, and it will all add up. Susan and Margene and their Give a Little group have over $31,000! Wow!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning, Uncategorized • Permalink:Secrets Revealed // 2 Comments »

Well, I’m all ready to make a snow-covered mountain hat (aka a Christmas tree hat in white). And, you know me, I like to be prepared, so I’ve got three different kinds of yarn there–Elsbeth Lavold’s Silky Wool (which I’ve wanted to try), Rowan’s 4-ply Cashsoft (which I’m so enjoying on my Union Square Market Pullover), and Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock (which certainly worked for the other two hats). I like choices, and I’m sure I can come up with something else to do with the two I don’t pick.

The yarn is more off-white than pure white . . . a winter white, if you will . . . but that seems reasonably appropriate. Is it obvious that I’m smitten with this little pattern of mine??

My webring neighbor, Moze, had some very interesting comments on the social contract between a government and its citizens today. She starts with, “Reading blogs and email lists over the last few days I’ve been astounded to read how many people are horrified by the looting and the reports of crime coming out of New Orleans. The tales of rapes and abductions in the Superdome are shocking, of firing at rescue helicopters are disturbing, but what I don’t understand is why people are surprised this is all happening. Do people on the internet, as a group, suspect people of being noble and selfless?” and goes on from there with her reasoning. Like I said, very interesting, if somewhat sobering. Please take a look and read her post.

This week notwithstanding, I rarely comment on political issues, despite my poli-sci degree, but I’ll just say the discussions I’ve been reading this week are fascinating. (You know, as an intellectual exercise, when you disregard the human suffering.) I think so many people–especially those outside the U.S.A. don’t realize that we are primarily an optimistic people. We’ve got it written down, right there at the beginning of the nation, “We hold these truths that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable lights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That’s an optimistic statement (yes, again, disregard the lack of women’s rights and, oh yeah, slavery), and it’s right there in black and white. We want to believe in the purity of human nature, no matter how often we’re proven wrong–by terrorists, or looters, or criminals in general. I think that’s one of the reasons we’re such big fans of the whole “democracy” thing–we believe that people as a group will choose to do good rather than evil. It’s just always so disappointing when we’re proved wrong. It’s not a large number of people causing havoc in New Orleans–just a few bad ones, causing trouble for the rest of them, when they’re already suffering under greater troubles than they ever deserved.

  Don’t forget to help all you can! Margene and Susan’s “Give a Little” is already tallying $15,432–and they just started yesterday! You knit-bloggers are just amazing.

I’m grateful it’s finally Friday. Be safe, everyone, over this long weekend.

Added: Did anyone watch the benefit concert fundraiser tonight on NBC, with Harry Connick Jr, Winston Marsalis, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Aaron Neville? Here‘s an MSNBC blog with covers the details. I was glad to hear some upbeat tunes, in addition to more serious ones. And I agree with Mike Miller that I could have watched Harry Connick Jr and Winston Marsalis all night. But, my the impassioned rant by Kanye West (whom I have never heard of before). Clearly off prompter, and when he accused the President of hating black people? Just a quick glimpse of the shock on Mike Myers’ face before they quickly cut away to someone else. Whew! Boy, that live television–it’ll get you every time.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Finally Friday // 5 Comments »

First, the life and death stuff.

  You did all know that today is Hurricane Katrina Blog Relief Day, didn’t you? And not just knitting bloggers, either! See who else is participating here for flood aid. Margene and Susan had excellent timing!

Okay–the looting in New Orleans. Now, I entirely understand that desperate, starving, normally-honest people would steal food, water, and diapers; and so far as I’m concerned, they are more than welcome to them. It’s a survival thing, and . . . well, sure. I understand. You’re trying to stay alive, keep your kids alive, but would normally never do it. Got it. Do what you have to do.

But what kind of people would not only steal anything they can carry (though, where they expect to put anything is beyond me), but would fire guns at rescue helicopters? What kind of sick animal do you have to be to do such a thing? (I say “animal” because that surely isn’t a human thing to do.) Sure, let’s shoot at the people who are trying to evacuate the people from the hospital. Yeah, that will be fun.

Yesterday is the first time I’ve heard anything about reactions or offers of help from the rest of the world. Does that surprise anyone else? And it just makes me sick that the Islam extremists are so happy about this–all this suffering, pain, and disaster, and we can’t blame them for a bit of it. They must be just tickled. But it’s sick that they’re calling it “Corporal Katrina” and claiming her for a soldier in their jihad. Yay . . . death and suffering! Let’s celebrate! Ugh.

And of course, the celebrities are getting involved….

Now for other, normal matters….

I’ve started my second Christmas Tree hat, and this time, am keeping notes. The yarn for this one is still Lorna’s Laces, in the color “Forest.” It’s full of variegated blues, greens and browns and I was a little skeptical, but am very happy with the way the colors are falling. I found beads in my collection that I like quite a bit, although I’m not going to have enough for the whole hat–so I’m inserting some in another color every once in a while.

And yes, I do plan on submitting it to Knitty, though I have no idea if they’ll want it or not. But it’s cute and I’m proud of it, so . . . why not.

Speaking of patterns, look at Marnie‘s very cool scarf in the new Magknits, not at all a fashion crime.

I got a couple comments on yesterday’s entry about gas prices and mileage, saying that too many people consider their cars as necessities rather than luxuries . . . which can certainly be true . . . except that in this country–if you live outside a major city (well, one that’s not underwater)–they are necessities. I live in a nice, suburban area, but it’s 3 miles to the nearest grocery store–and all uphill to come home–making that impractical for anything heavier than a loaf of bread. About the only thing remotely in walking distance is the 1.5 mile (one way) walk for coffee. My sister, just over the border into Pennsylvania, is at least 5 miles to the nearest bus route, and about a 30 minutes’ drive from the grocery store or from the kids’ schools. Her car is absolutely necessary. And our area is jam-packed compared to, say, Texas or Montana. They don’t call them wide-open spaces for nothing!

Let me make clear–just in case “tone of voice” isn’t coming through properly–I’m not disagreeing with those commenters. Using your car for trips of a mile or less is wasteful, and if you have a good public transport system like that in New York or Chicago it’s definitely more practical than trying to drive a car. If I’m not mistaken, those commenters all live in Europe, where the public transportation system is unparallelled–and they should be proud of it. I’m just pointing out that we’re a big, open country and you can really only walk so far.

And anyway, a jump of 50-cents or more in 24-hours is insane. (And, for heavens sake, they were as high as $6/gallon in Georgia today! Now that’s a useful combination of price gauging and driver-panic.) The price hikes just this week are just crazy.

Our house was very confused this morning–the actual house itself. When I woke up, there were no lights in my room. No clock. No running ceiling fan. So, I figured our power had gone out . . . again. But when I opened my door . . . there were my parents, lights on, watching television in their bedroom. Um, huh? Turns out, some things were working, some weren’t. No power in any of the bathrooms or my room. The ceiling lights in the kitchen were working, but none of the outlets. The stove clock was working, but the stove wasn’t (or not at full power). No television in the family room, but the garage doors worked. Weird! We have a temporary fix, courtesy of the electric company, but they’re going to have to do something more permanent . . . and it’s possible that they might have to cut through our brand-new driveway. Uh-oh!

But . . . I’m not complaining. At all. I’m not complaining about anything this week. I’m just glad to have my house, my family . . .

God bless, everyone.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Katrina Blog Relief Day // 3 Comments »

It took about a day longer than I thought it would, but knit-bloggers have come through as they always do.

I’m talking about Margene and Susan, who are hosting a charity drive for the victims of Katrina.

Just make a donation to the American Red Cross (or call 1-800-435-7669) and then send an e-mail to givealittle at gmail dot com to let Margene and Susan know, and to be entered for an actual reward for your generosity.

How can you beat a deal like that?

• Tags: Uncategorized • Permalink:KnitAid // 3 Comments »

Here’s my reading list for the month of August. Twenty-seven books–and it would probably have been more, except my concentration has been on the television news this week, rather than on my reading.

1. GAME OF KINGS by Dorothy Dunnett (541 p)
2. QUEEN’S PLAY by Dorothy Dunnett (432 p)
3. DISORDERLY KNIGHTS by Dorothy Dunnett (503 p)
4. PAWN IN FRANKINCENSE by Dorothy Dunnett (486 p)
5. RINGED CASTLE by Dorothy Dunnett (521 p)
6. CHECKMATE by Dorothy Dunnett (581 p)—The Lymond Chronicles, a historical fiction series of 6 books. Amazingly good, complex, challenging, and just really, really good. It’s my third reading of the entire series in less than two years. It’s that good.
7. KNITTING OVER THE EDGE by Nicki Epstein (391 p)—more knitting edging patterns, one of which I’ve already used. Great collection.
8. IDIOT’S GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY by Roger Woodson. The title pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?
9. THE BIG OVER EASY by Jasper Fforde (383 p)—The latest from the man who’s imagination brought us Thursday Next. This—which was actually his first book, and so predates T.N.—tells the story of the murder of Humpty Dumpty, as investigated by Jack Spratt and Mary mary (who’s not as contrary as you might think). I admit I enjoy the T.N. books more, but this was amusing, though I feel like I should have studied up on some of my nursery rhymes beforehand.
10. THE TRUTH-TELLER’S TALE by Sharon Shinn (276 p)—a YA book to accompany last year’s “Secret Keeper.” What can I say? She’s a wonderful author, and I love her. I liked this one better than the last one, too.
11. THE HAWK’S GRAY FEATHER by Patricia Kennealy (381 p)
12. THE OAK ABOVE THE KINGS by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison (388 p)
13. HEDGE OF MIST by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison (460 p)—One of the most creative re-tellings of the story of King Arthur you’ll ever want to read. It takes place in her sci-fi world of Keltia (founded in Earth’s 6^th century by interstellar refugees from Ireland). (Yeah, I know, it sounds weird.) It’s sci-fi, but with a fantasy feel, and in one of the neatest sci-fi universes.
14. TEACH YOURSELF PHOTOGRAPHY by Lee Frost (146 p). Again, pretty self-explanatory.
15. THE TROLL’S GRINDSTONE by Elizabeth Boyer (342 p)
16. THE CURSE OF SLAGFID by Elizabeth Boyer (341 p)
17. THE DRAGON’S CARBUNCLE by Elizabeth Boyer (311)
18. THE LORD OF CHAOS by Elizabeth Boyer (312 p). A fantasy quartet I’ve had in the closet since college. She was one of my favorite authors when I was in high school—fantasy in a Skandinavian-type world, and a sense of fun. This is the only distinct series of hers (that I know of), the other books were stand-alones, but I always loved them. (“The Elves and the Otterskin” will always be my favorite.) It was good to revisit these.
19. THE HOUSE BETWEEN THE WORLDS by Marion Zimmer Bradley (244 p). This was actually the first book of MZB’s that I ever read, and while it’s not my favorite, I’m grateful for it’s springboarding me into her Darkover series. It’s a little to otherworldly-fairy for me—I’ve never really liked those alternate-world of fairies with changlings and such, but this was enjoyable enough. A college professor at Berkeley participates in a drug-trial for a street drug that is supposed to heighten psi-powers like E.S.P. An okay book.
20. AMERICAN GOTHIC by Steven Biel (172 p). The story of America’s most famous painting—the man, the woman, the pitchfork, all in front of a white house. An interesting enough story, I suppose, but the book wasn’t exactly gripping.
21. BELLWETHER by Connie Willis (247 p). What a hoot. Take a sociologist studing the origins of fads, put her at a company with a scientist studying chaos theory, a completely inept office assistant, and mix it all with Connie Willis’ unique way of looking at the world . . . thoroughly enjoyable.
22. THE MAGIC AND THE HEALING by Nick O’Donohoe (324 p)
23. UNDER THE HEALING SIGN by Nick O’Donohoe (337 p)
24. HEALING OF THE CROSSROADS by Nick O’Donohoe (321 p). Another series for the month. Fantasy that kicks off from a modern Virginia veterinary college, whose students suddenly find themselves practising medicine on unicorns, griffins, werewolves, centaurs . . . some delightful spots, but also some dark ones.
25. A BIG STORM KNOCKED IT OVER by Laurie Colwin (259 p). A delightful book from a wonderful author that I wish were still around. This is my second favorite of hers. It’s not an exciting book, but a happy, gentle, serene exploration of Jane Louise’s life as it changes as she gets married and has a child. Just . . . pleasant. Perfect for this last week.
26. FIFTY ACRES AND A POODLE by Jeanne Marie Laskas (252 p). An entirely enjoyable book about one woman’s desire to move to a farm—even though she’s lived in the city her entire life. Sweet and comforting.
27. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS by Rafe Esquith (210 p). A book about an extraordinary school teacher from LA. Not a normal book for me since I have neither children nor am I a teacher, but it was good. He sounds like an amazing man.

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:August Reading // 3 Comments »