We Stand With Arizona, and Against Illegal Immigration - Petition - Sign this petition here - Signature page - GoPetition

We Stand With Arizona, and Against Illegal Immigration - Petition - Sign this petition here - Signature page - GoPetition

April socks

Well, here are my April socks. As with all self patterning yarn, getting the two socks to match exactly is extremely difficult. Usually I settle for just getting the color bands in the same order, although sometimes I just let them be different and have people wondering what I was doing in my sock drawer that morning.
This pair caused me to start the second sock over twice because the swirly patterns were so fancy or loud or garish or whatever, I figured no one would ever wear them if I didn't at least get them to almost match. Except for one band, I think I did pretty well, but I almost drove myself nuts getting that second sock. In fact, I think it's safe to say that I nearly had a case of terminal SSS

Tea Parties

Spent a couple of hours on Thursday evening in Laishley Park in Punta Gorda, FL, exercising my constitutional right to make my opinions heard. We had about 1200 people there through the evening, and it was a very lively, well behaved group. We even had a few folks who were of a different opinion, complete with signs, which is fine. Nobody bothered anybody else.

I hear and read a great deal about the anger of the tea party crowd, and the nation in general, but in all honesty, I didn't think that was the predominating emotion. Yes there is anger and frustration - and not just among conservatives - but the tone of the proceedings was positive. The Contract from America was introduced and most of us signed it. There was prayer, patriotic music and a sense of "this is what Americans do when they disagree with the government".

We were priviliged to hear from several candidates for governer, who may or may not ever speak to a larger audience. They were treated cordially and spoke from the heart. My personal favorite was a candidate who was born in Cuba and has seen the worst that government can bring to it's people. He encouraged people to teach their children about the Constitution and the Bible. I couldn't agree more.

I've posted the 2 pics I took, plus several I recieved from my son, who attended the Tea Party in Diablo Stadium in Arizona. They had about 7000 there, but then this is a much smaller area.

For all the criticism leveled at the Tea Party activists and the Obama administration - the two sides in all of this - there is a positive. The American people are dusting off the Constitution and reading it. That can only be a good thing. An informed public is much more likely to seek solutions that are true to American values than an ignorant public. Good people can disagree on how to go about many things, but God help us if we base our decisions on anything other than the foundation our Founders - who often disagreed with one another - gave us. For myself, I remain an unapologetic conservative.

Wow it's the middle of April

Well, it's already April 14th and I haven't posted my March socks yet. My excuse is that it's been a busy time. We had an exceptionally rainy month down here in Sunny Florida, although it was nothing like the MidAtlantic and my home turf of New England. This is one Connecticut Husky praying for the folks in Rhode Island.

This is normally our dry season and frankly the rain helps me to remember just why cold and rainy is awful, and warm and rainy feels so good. But it was an excellent excuse to catch up on reading and knit up a pair of LOUD socks. Definitely cheers ya up.

I recieved a few very positive comments about my quilt. Thanks for that. It was clearly a one shot project. I don't think I'll ever do it again, but in the process I created a family heirloom - I hope.

So now I am working on my April socks - 3/4 done - and a gift for a friend. One thing I have learned about self-patterning sock yarn: It is nearly impossible to get the socks to match perfectly. The bands of color, yes, but the little swirly stuff, no. Usually I don't even bother trying except to get the bands in the same order. But my current project has forced me to restart twice to get the decorative parts at least close, because it's such a riot of color that it would look like a train wreck any other way and I'd be embarrassed - they are a gift. Anyway, hope to have them done and posted in a couple of days.

Tomorrow night I will be in Punta Gorda for the Tax Day Tea Party, as well as to support the Florida teachers in their fight to have SB 6 vetoed. As a former teacher, I really feel it's unfair to base teacher pay and advancement on student tests. We have all had bad classes, uncooperative students and parents who fight us every step of the way. Enough said. Hopefully I'll have a few pictures to post from all of this

I mentioned this on the outdoor knitting group on Ravelry, so I thought I'd post a picture. I made this the year my son was born. Every stitch by hand. I actually had very little idea what I was doing. A few well placed questions to friends who were quilters saved my bacon. It is now 28 years old, and on it's way to becoming a family heirloom. I've been told I should sign it. Guess it ought to go in the will, too, huh? Anyway, I'm very proud of this.

Reflections on Ikniterod

Well, I finished. Probably the last into the barn, but I finished. I think this is my 6th pair of socks in 2010. Scary.

I have learned the following:

1. Black socks, even with gray and white flecks or stripes, are not particularly inspiring. It's very hard to keep going for long periods of time. It becomes harder and harder to see the stitches clearly after a certain point in the evening. I don't think I will be knitting black socks again, especially where deadlines come into play.

2. My husband's feet are larger than mine. I knew that going in, but I thought I'd do a pair for him first and then start on another pair for me. He only has one other pair. I at this point have about a dozen. However, larger pairs naturally involve more stitches and rows, so they take longer. Again, not a good idea where deadlines are involved.

3. I will never contemplate knee socks for any sort of athletic endeavor that doesn't last at least a month. That leaves me with the World Cup, although I find it very difficult to knit through soccer matches.

4. In the future, I think I will confine my competitive urges to wild, loud colors for either me or people with smaller feet than I have.

5. Now I can return to my other hobby of yelling at the antics of the US Government as it tries to spend all my money.

One week later

I just checked the Iditarod website and discovered that the halfway point has been reached. That puts me way behind. I'm just past the halfway point of the first sock. There are several good reasons for this, not the least of which is that I tend to knit slowly.

The second is that the socks are black with grey running through the pattern - very nice actually, and the yarn feels great, but it's hard to stay inspired working with mostly black. Did I mention that these are for my husband, who is sort of a vanilla kind of guy, especially where socks are concerned?

But the real reason for my slow down is the fact that since I discovered Ravelry, I have found that several of the groups on there have caught my interest. Two of them involve literary series that I enjoy, and I have taken on a reread. One of these series - Diana Gabaldon's Outlander - is up to 7 volumes of 800-900 pages each. The other is Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. There are at present 12 volumes in that and they are all at least 750 pages long. Then there's work, house, husband, beagles, church and keeping up with my family via phone, text and facebook. I'm lobbying for a slowdown in the earth's rotation so that the days become about 30 hours long. But I'd probably decide to sleep for the extra time. Oh, well.

Anyway, I am this far at this point.