Why can't I stop talking to myself?

Every day I swear that I will not write about politics. There is simply nothing new. But maybe that's the problem, I can't believe that so many people just don't learn from experience. I've even stopped reading a few blogs that I used to actually like, because they sound like "jabber chambers" of the ill informed.

Here's the bottom line:

HHS mandate, NOT about birth control, not about Catholicism, it's about the separation of church and state....remember that? Oh, right that's only when some group doesn't want to see a menorah or creche on the lawn of a public building. If you don't believe me read the FIRST Amendment to the Constitution. THE FIRST, it even comes before Freedom of Speech.

And one more thing before I leave the subject of the Constitution. It is NOT a living document, like your ill-informed history teacher told you in high school. It is a foundational document. Like the foundation of your house supports the structure, it supports all the laws of this country. And much like the foundation of your house, if you want to put that addition on your home your foundation has to be able to support it, or it needs to be reinforced. The Constitution CAN be changed, but, it is a long difficult process and correctly so.

Many of these jabberers are so ill informed about Catholicism in particular, and religion in general, I feel like I've stumbled into a Klan meeting. They seem to have forgotten, or there's that ill informed thing again, that the Klan had a knot in their knickers about Catholics in addition to African Americans. But these are mostly liberals - so the discussions are always civil, right? Right?

No one wants to stop anyone from using or obtaining birth control. In fact, in some of these cases I insist!

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A pallet cleanser:

My Liesel Scarf....well, not mine any more:

Off it went yesterday. It took about a skein and a half of Silky Wool. It turned out longer than I expected, but then so do all my scarves. More to twist and wind. It's an easy knit, but it has ten rows, that I could not seem to memorize, and I forgot YOs too many times to count.

And I'm not much of a joiner, but a friend gave me two balls of Zauberbal sock for Christmas. I was casting about for a project for the yarn, and lo and behold I found Wingspan! And someone had already done it up in MY Zauberbal color "Tropical Fish". So I was off. It's a remarkably fun knit. And I love the Tropical Fish colorway.

Apparently, thanks to Wendy Knits, a lot of people have caught on to Wingspan now - but whatever. 

Thank goodness for something else to occupy my brain. Sigh.

Things that make you go hummmmm?

Keep your distance, I accidentally had onions on my salad at lunch and they've put me in a feisty mood.

What's going on with the people one sees pushing empty baby strollers on the street? Today I saw a young woman, pushing a stroller with a fleece blankie, but no baby. I nearly wanted to ask if she forgot her child in the car? I can't seem to find an explanation, though there is probably something logical that I'm missing.

I have no qualms with someone expressing likes and dislikes about political candidates on policy matters, but let's get one thing clear. Disliking/berating someone for espousing a particular personal belief, regardless of  what it might be, and as long as it isn't illegal, is bigotry - pure, simple, and unadulterated. Might as well start cutting eye holes in a sheet.

I've mentioned parking issues before, and here's another. Some time ago, I arrived at my building to find there was only ONE usable parking space left (they have designated several that are too narrow, against walls, with exhaust fans sticking out, I don't need the hassle). Unfortunately, it was next to someone who apparently couldn't be bothered to put his vehicle in the space straight. What's up with this? It is way too easy to bang other people getting in and out of this place. Why make it harder? I grumbled about having to fuss around to get into the empty space, thought about leaving a note, didn't, then forgot about it the rest of the day. I left the office late and rode down on the elevator with someone whom I didn't know. We exchanged pleasantry's as people in elevators in these here parts are wont to do. When we get down to the lot, I find that he is the idiot who can't park. I breathe a sigh of relief that I didn't leave a note, but not so fast. He holds up a yellow Post-It and says to me "Someone left me a note!"  "Oh?", even though I know what's coming. "It says learn how to park asshole! How rude!" I simply smile, and shake my head. "Nice!", he says, clearly miffed. Inside, I think, so learn how to park. Outside I say "Probably someone who had some damage done to their car here. Have a good night." The bottom line....he hasn't learned yet. Sigh.

I am recovering from two, count'em, two root canals, done at the same time (they were on the same side). Props to the endodontist and assistant who made it as uneventful as such an experience can be. In fact I got a floor show along with the dental work. For the bulk of the time they were working they played "name that tune" or "name that group" to the piped in music (satellite radio I think). While that might not inspire confidence in some it was actually quite reassuring to me. But then I've never been normal.

And Happy Leap Day. 

Junk mail Thursday

Every now and again, I review some of the spam mail and phishing that land in my junk mail box. Because important documents land in my junk mail (Sorry Dr. Erickson!), despite my best efforts I have to peruse it every day. Penn State has a "grey mail" screen that sends messages to junk if the screen even guesses that it might be junk. Lately though I've been finding what is clearly garbage in my "in" box. It's a mystery.

Here are some of the latest offerings:

"FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION"
SPAM:SPAM: Advise To Contact

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL ADVICE FROM THE FBI FOREIGN REMITTANCE/TELEGRAPHIC DEPT., IT HAS COME TO OUR NOTICE THAT THE C.B.N (CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA) HAS RELEASED The paper work of 100,500,000.00 U.S DOLLARS INTO BANK OF AMERICA which was been handled by GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. and your name was included as the BENEFICIARY,BY INHERITANCE MEANS.

There, of course, is a link for me to "send" my signature. Somebody needs to tell this asshat that there is no FBI FOREIGN....FBI only deals with US crime.  Also, some lawyer lackey would have been sent to my abode with paperwork if this were remotely true.

From: "Loterias del Estado"
Subject: Award Notification

With only a PDF attachment .......huh? Yeah, I'm clicking on that right quick!

From: "UniversitiesNews.com Editorial"
Subject: News Portal for Universities Worldwide - UniversitiesNews.com

This one got through to my in box probably because of the word universities.

But here's the fun part:

We are pleased to inform you about our News Portal for Universities Worldwide. www.universitiesnews.com

UniversitiesNews.com has been online for more than 1 year and has been continuously updating news related to education fraternity. It will be wrong to say that this site is the best but yes, we can say It is no less. 

You're the best? That's why no one has ever hear of you.


And my favorite:

From: "Karen"
Subject: I WILL HELP OK

HELLO MY NAME IS KAREN SHAW I LIVE IN NEW YORK, I LOST MY HUSBAND AND THREE KIDS IN FATAL ACCIDENT IN 2005. SINCE THEN I COULD NOT GAIN MYSELF. HOWEVER, I WILL LOVE TO HELP PEOPLE IN NEED AND THE BUSINESS MAN AND WOMAN WHO NEED LOAN AND ALSO NEED MONEY FOR BUSINESS.

IF YOU NEED MY HELP PLEASE CONTACT ME I WILL HELP YOU FINANCIALLY.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU

KAREN 

Karen, please do us all a favor and go gain yourself.

There's more!

I spent the weekend + one day, catching up and then doing whatever I wanted. I actually got to knit on three out of the four projects I listed last week. 

I knit a inch or two on the Kauni sweater, tendonitis or no. Then I moved forward a bit on the Parcheesi blanket. Because the sweater looks nearly the same, here's an updated progress photo of the Parcheesi blanket.

I estimate that this will be about 60x48 inches and am now contemplating whether to to knit a couple or three log cabin squares to make it wider. I still need to finish the connectors. I can then see how much yarn I have left I suppose.

It's a nice project when you just want some mindless knitting.









Next is my Gothic tam all washed and blocked and everything. I think I like it. I can tell you that Romi's pattern is immaculate. Any difficulties I encountered were completely of my own doing. No surprise there.

I'll wear it and see how it feels. I do like that I won't get the dreaded hat head!

This is a better photo of the color. I don't know what's going on with the flash. I had the same problem with my Cable Crossings. It was way too dark rather than a lovely natural white.








And even though I swore (bad language and everything) that I wouldn't start anything else -that I'd work on DH's green Earl Grey socks, I lied. But there's a story. Isn't there always?

A number of years ago...maybe five, I sent a relative a Liesel Scarf for Christmas made with a silk wool blend. I don't think she ever actually thanked me, but I'll be charitable and assume she may have told me thank you when we spoke on Christmas day. (Not getting a "thank you" would not be out of the norm.) We stopped exchanging gifts soon afterward (no animosity, just pragmatism), and I, of course, did not make her anything else. Recently, it came to my attention, through a meddling mutual relative, that said relative lost her scarf and was sick about it. Apparently, she wore the scarf all the time, loved it, and upon changing jobs may have left it on a parking shuttle. I never knew. The person who passed the information along to me, this is the meddling part, strongly hinted that maybe I should consider replacing said scarf. I was pretty adamant that since I didn't know that the scarf was so well loved all this time, then maybe I wasn't open to putting in all that work again for, probably, little appreciation.

Well, you've guessed right. I bought some Elsbeth Lavold wool/silk (20% discount at my LYS), and I'm working another. As I'm knitting, it is apparent that it will not have the same hand as the original (Knit Picks, Gloss), but it is nice in it's own way. It is also a different, tonal blue, as opposed to a lavender. I may not love the result, but I can't actually remember what the last one felt like. So I've decided that I'm simply forging ahead, and will send the replacement as soon as it's done. I can't tell you how passive aggressive this is making me feel.  (I have no wish to discuss this further with this relative, she is integral to our family, and I have no real issue with her. And this is personal on my end - I have a real problem with people who do not even recognize that you sent them something, let alone handwork, and it seems to be more common than not these days.)

(A case in point: Out of the blue I received a small calendar from a friend. I received it on December 24th. It was a complete surprise. As soon as I had access to email (probably the 28th), I dropped her a line told her I received it, and that I was going to enjoy it. In the meantime, I worked up a pair of knitted earrings for her and mailed them with a short note of thanks for thinking of me. About 10 days later (as I was wondering if they had made it), she texted me just to let me know that: 1) she got them; 2) liked them; 3) was hoping to find time to send a REAL thank you, but then just gave up because she wanted me to know that she appreciated them. We subsequently exchanged several emails. This, especially now, is perfectly acceptable.)  So, is it me?

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Through all the recent angst and trauma I knit on... and on....and on. Nothing big. I haven't touched my Kauni sweater in months. My right elbow tendonitis is acting up again, and I'm slightly wary of making it worse.  That being said, I have no less that FOUR, count'em FOUR projects "on the needles". This is not my typical MO.

Here they are, oldest to youngest:

1. Kauni Sweater
2. Parcheesi blanket
3. Earl Grey socks (in green)
4. Gothic Tam

This is more than I've had in progress in a long time. Before the socks and tam were cast on though, I finished these.

Another Cable Crossings hat.

I love the result of this pattern, but let me warn you, the cabling-- is as fiddly as it gets.The look is worth it in my estimation. If you look on my Rav page, you'll see that Sarah, the designer, recommends that you repeat the first and second repeats of cables twice, making the hat deeper and more comfortable if you want to maintain your ears without frost bite. This is way more comfortable. It is knit in Foxfire Designs Flock Sock in natural. Love this yarn. I only needed one and a bit of a second skein--for the full hat and a deeper brim.









This is the Cabled Neck Cozy by Kate Lemmers.

This is done with a bulky Katia yarn in an acrylic/wool/alpaca blend. I made it specifically for running/walking in the cold. The buttons are really useful in case I want to loosen it, or unbutton it completely.

It's a fast, easy pattern (the same one I gave to my mother-in-law), but it is not clear to me where to place the buttons. So I've done it differently the two times I've made it.















Finally, in progress, the Gothic Tam. It's going really fast.

I'm using Foxfire Designs, Upland Wool and Alpaca in the Ikat colorway. It is knitting up really nicely. I hope it blocks out well.

I've never knit a tam before, but I got a new eggplant color coat for Christmas, and think it will make the color "pop". My head will certainly will.

I don't even know if a "slouchy tam" will be nice on me. If it isn't, I have a sister.




So that's the progress report. You really don't want to hear the rest of what's going on here. Srsly.

Welcome...

... to the new normal. Again. Every time I say what ELSE can happen, I find out. And it is never good. I cannot describe what it feels like for an entire community to be hit in the belly over and over. This new normal sucks. Really sucks. And I fear it is only just beginning.

Paterno was a good man, some will tell you great. He put his money and actions where his mouth was. He was smart, sarcastic, competitive, and meant what he said. He was also "untouchable"... until November. I won't rehash, or take back, what I've already written. I still think it's valid. However, he built something here that will not be replaced, and should be acknowledged. Many times I've attended sessions and meetings in the high tech auditorium and reading rooms in the Paterno Library. It is gorgeous. Many students are benefiting from the Paterno Fellowships, in Liberal Arts. My spidey sense tells me that there will be a cancer wing with the Paterno name on it at the medical center in the near future. (A wing is already under construction.) And most certainly the new Penn State Catholic Center and Chapel, also under construction with a large gift already from the Paternos, will be similarly titled. And this does not account for all their contributions to Special Olympics, THON, etc. There is no other athletic coach in history who has contributed this much for the greater good outside his/her sport. None.

So I fervently wish that the coach who, by all accounts went the "extra mile" for his players, staff, students and university, had also gone the extra mile back in 2002. Realistically, I understand why he probably didn't. One just wants to put something so heinous away from themselves as fast as possible. Do the appropriate thing and move on, fast - but it wasn't enough. The beleaguered board of trustees, did the right thing, in a ham fisted way. I can't blame them either, considering the circumstances of that week. 

 I have one memory of running into him, many years ago, after a football game. He was walking home from the locker rooms. DH and I just said "Hi, Coach", he said, "Howya' doin'?" No biggie, and I hadn't thought of it in years, until you start hearing the stories of the students who were thrilled when he barked at them "Get to class!", when they greeted him.

So the era ends. We knew it would. I wish the circumstances were different.

RIP

End of an Era