I probably should explain....

... the women's movement rant.

It was engendered (no pun intended) by the ....ummm disgusting situation with Steeler's quarterback, Roethlisburger. Apparently, he has never been known as "Mr. Nice Guy", under the best of circumstances, but in the 'Burgh, keep your nose clean, and nobody much cares. The residents hold the "nice guy" athletes (Joe Greene, Jack Lambert (can you imagine?), Mario Lemieux, Franco Harris, Willy Starzel, way too many to name) near and dear to their hearts. But the bad eggs...meh. That is unless you turn into a really bad actor - which has a pretty low threshold in the 'Burgh -ask Plaxico and most recently Santonio. Roethlisburger is on thin, thin ice, let me tell you. That's the back story.

The other part of the context is where I currently live, a college town (which is emptying out even as we speak, it becomes almost livable for the next 75 or so days). If you live in South Bend, Ann Arbor, or Chapel Hill, I expect you know EXACTLY from whence I speak.

When the details of Roethlisburger's (hereafter referred to as "the Idiot") situation became public. I shook my head. I know those women. The underage partiers who CHOOSE (important point) to go out and binge drink. They don't care if they drink too much, and some do it systematically. Meaning--that is their intent. They go out in a posse, and drink themselves stupid. They figure as long as they are not driving they will be safe. (Here, lately, the authorities have been cracking down hard on establishments serving underage drinkers, but the overage drinkers are no smarter.)

Enter the Idiot (and others of his ilk), these women are not just easy pickin's because they are intoxicated (by choice), they literally are asking for sexual contact. And here is where the victim/participant line gets totally blurred and why this is nothing short of head shaking time. Before, a woman could be accused of leading someone on if she 1) wore short skirts; 2) tight clothing that showed her "endowments"; 3) drank too much; 4) flirted.... Everyone can probably come to some agreement that these behaviors, while not smart, and show a lack of personal respect, do not invite sexual assault, in and of themselves.

However, what to make of this?

The 20-year-old GCSU student and others in her group of sorority sisters were wearing name tags of a sexual nature—the accuser's read dtf, short for Down to F---. Witnesses said the woman was visibly intoxicated at Capital City, and one told police that the accuser had been "obsessed" with Roethlisberger's arrival in town.

Now I have no idea what really happened. And frankly, at this point, I'm too disgusted to care. You can read the SI story for yourselves and see if you can figure it out. However, envision what this DA saw in his report:

A visibly drunk student, wearing a profane invitation, and according to heresay, "obsessed" with the accused, is now claiming sexual assault. What a superb witness! I'm not a lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV, but I can hear the cross examination now....can't you? What choice did he have in the absence of physical evidence? But according to the feminist movement, this person is still a victim. Of sexual assault? Maybe...but we'll never know for sure. What we do know is that there are lots of victims of stupidity in this story.

The fun .....stuff

Some people just know how to have a good time!!

Michelle the Knitting Lady

When I sent this link to Mr. KB, all he wanted to know was how she was able to get all those tickets!! (I want to know how she got a photo op with Mario!)

That was then...this is now...

That was then...it was the mid-70's we were female, in college, and the "women's movement" was just showing the signs of coming to fruition. We were indoctrinated that we could do anything and everything....be a mom, have a career, marry a guy who could cook and do housework, and help with the kids.....nirvana awaited. (Never mind that I somehow grew up in a traditional family that didn't hold with traditional gender roles, and I never realized that I couldn't be an engineer or a veterinarian.) And I never even considered burning any piece of my underwear.

This is now...a woman of modest birth and education rises to a high political position as the governor of the largest state in the union. In that position she has a 15 billion dollar budget, control over the state national guard, and 15,000 state police. While in office, she arm wrestles big oil into providing stipends for state residents. She is a mother to 5 children, one with special needs (when she choses to continue the pregnancy). She has a hottie hubby who, probably along with nannies--let's be realistic, handles the kids when necessary. She hits the national stage, and what's the first criticism the icons of the women's movement level? Is it her policies? Is it fact based critiques of how state money was spent? Deficit spending? Nope! Women like Gloria Steinem and Sally Quinn, old guards of the women's movement, criticize her mothering of her children.

This is where the push for equality of women has brought us? Really? Haven't come too far have we ladies? Politics aside (whether one likes her or not), this is what women criticize? That she gave birth to a Down child because her personal stance is anti-abortion? Idiots.

That was then ... women were embarrassed and treated badly by authorities when they were sexually assaulted, especially when the abuser was an "acquaintance". They were blamed for leading him on, acting provocatively etc. The result was many perps were never punished. Women who were abused in this way, first by the criminal, then by the authorities, were debilitated for many years, if not forever. These kinds of scars are hard to overcome. The women's movement demanded better treatment for victims of sexual assault. Victims, but women in particular, were endowed with power to bring these criminals to justice. However, along with this power comes a responsibility, and some women didn't get the memo.

This is now... women are getting the sequence wrong. Somehow instead of understanding that one needs to respect oneself, that power is in the way one carries oneself through life (and this has nothing to do with short skirts, and ho' shoes), our younger, and probably elderly like me, women think that they have no responsibility to act like they actually respect themselves. They get snot snorting drunk and then couldn't identify an elephant in a nursery let alone someone who might have hurt them. But that's apparently OK. They willingly crawl into bed naked with someone (drunk or not), "do not say no" to the act, then decide it was rape after the fact - when the guilt sets in. (I wish I were making this up.) Our daughters have decided that it is OK to consciously act any way they want, then run to mommy and daddy judge (instead of mommy and daddy), and plead assault. Where are the strong women who make good decisions, keep control of their actions, and when they don't, take responsibility for them?

The upshot, of course, is that real, serious sexual crime, which is not as uncommon as I'd like, is tainted with this frivolous crap.

This is not popular of course. Victims advocates will find this appalling. However, because of our location, this is not an unheard of scenario. I am not talking about the woman who goes out for a few drinks, meets a guy, and gets ambushed on the walk to her apartment. I am not talking about the individual who leaves her window open on a hot night, and a lunatic crawls in her window and threatens her with a hammer. (Really happened. He's locked up for good, thanks to the victim's brave testimony.)

We, alas, have raised a generation of wimps. Where are the strong women who when they are harassed by another individual step up and tell the harasser that they're going to "rip their arm off and beat them over the head with the bloody stump", if they do not cease and desist, and in a loud enough voice to attract attention and embarrass the hell out of them? Where are they? I can not be the only one....

But we have to draw the line somewhere. Women who do not take themselves seriously, do a disservice to all the rest of us. Women who try to diminish others on their personal choices, rather than public action, do a disservice too. That's what the women's movement should have taught us.

Big fail!

The short version... believe it or not

... of my ankle....

Last week I had a business dinner at a local restaurant. Mr. KB and I drive together in the morning, I drop him off at his office, and I keep the car at mine. (I do nearly all the extraneous shopping...anyone who shops with a husband probably understands why that is so much more efficient.) Anyhoo, this dinner was later in the evening, so I drove the car up to his office, parked behind his building, in case he wanted to go home while I was at this dinner, and proceeded to walk downtown to the restaurant. And it really is down, the campus is "uphill" from the town proper. It is probably a couple blocks. I was wearing regular business attire with a dressy pair of [sensible] clog type shoes. All of a sudden I was arse over tea cups tripping over something on the sidewalk...what? Dunno. Physical Plant has asked me twice now, but it could easily have been just a sidewalk join. This was not just a trip, graceful swan that I am, I am no stranger to a trip. This was a trip and fall. A woman student saw me and came over to see if I was hurt, that's how "violent" the tumble was. I had already leaped to my feet hoping against hope that no one had seen me. I told her I was fine, and she said that she had fallen in exactly the same place the week before. I continued on the restaurant, had dinner, and about two hours later, when I got up, was in horrible pain. For the next week my foot turned all shades of bruise. Of course, this didn't stop me from wearing high heeled ho'pumps to Swan Lake on Saturday night. Yes, I'm an idiot, why do you ask?

The problem appeared to be my foot, which was still bruised as of Monday, not my ankle. I felt for awhile, that I was improving, but this week the improvement seemed to stall. So while I went in for the scheduled test, that involved walking/running, I decided to see a doc/PA, just to have this checked out. I got sent for x-rays, and lo and behold, the radiologist found an "equivocal, non-displaced, fracture, of the lateral malleolus". Translated into English that means that they THINK there is a crack on that bone that sticks out on the outside, there is a lucency, but they're not sure. Because it is non-displaced, they can treat it like a bad sprain.

So here I am with anti-inflammatories, and a brace to keep my ankle stable.

So there you have it. The pain is from spraining the ligaments and I'm hoping to ditch the brace next week.

Meanwhile, what's brewing in my head is no great revelation, but it is antithetical to everyone's thinking around here. Please lower your expectations....Austen I am not!

Maybe I can distract you with Saroyan.


Really a fun knit. This is Malabrigo Silky Merino. It is gorgeous yarn. Alas I only bought two skeins. I would have made this a tad longer had I another skein.

I have no measurements.

It has been delightful to wear on the coldish spring mornings. When the tails cross in front, they hang down in a ruffle. It is knit across the short length, end to end, so it never gets boring. There is a pattern stitch on every row.

So there...everything else here is a work in progress....and I'm terrible at documenting progress.

I Couldn't Make This Up....

Went for a diagnostic test and found a cracked ankle......which was completely unrelated to the testing. The test outcome was fine, I'm in great shape, the 15 year old disguised as a doctor told me so.

I'm just resolving the ankle issue, more to come.

I must also warn you. I am writing, in my head, an indictment of the women's movement as it relates to personal responsibility. I may have to share it or explode. Not a popular thing. Especially around these here parts.

Bad Blogger.......

.... I started this yesterday, but real life, uh, I mean my job, interrupted.

When I wrote the title I was thinking about that commercial where the woman admonishes her credit score as if it were a puppy ("Bad, bad 509."). Yeah, my brain is still coasting.

• But we finally got our taxes done and mailed (hubby is a Luddite). Besides the Post Office really needs our help.

• My personnel review, as expected, came back like a boomerang for [minor] revision. [deleted text to protect my long term employment] If you're really interested, email me for the rant. I long for the days, when I sat down with my supervisor, and she and I had a casual chat about what was good, what needed work, and where the unit was headed in the near term. Along with that there were always griping about our own supreme poo bah. Often I was given a new and usually challenging assignment. Fun times....

• I have one more med test lined up, to complete my winter of getting hit with the illness stick. This hopefully will wrap up my odyssey [fingers crossed]. I did however emerge with one overarching issue, and there is a not so simple solution...lose about 25 lbs.....There I've said it. It's not so simple because even though I'm a pretty good eater....little fast food, no soft drinks, not big on sweets (outside of sugar in my tea, and dark, fine chocolate), I am weight loss resistant. I have a bit of insulin resistance going on...yes, it is documented. I am also exercise averse....meaning outside of yoga, I hate exercise. A deep abiding hate. I find it wasted time, unless I'm going somewhere....like hiking. Oh yeah...and I'm over 50, you can figure out the rest.
  
  The bright side is I could knit smaller sizes! I don't know how I'm going to do this, but it must be done. My doctor, who is really a nice honest gentleman, simply said, yes, the weight mattered. And I'm smart enough to know this.
  
  
• But for following along this far you get a bonus.
  

MORE French Press Slippers!! Yea!! I know what you're thinking--that the flu back in January, or bad daytime TV, or both, killed brain cells. Actually, these are a Christmas gift 2010 for my Mom. So there's a method to the madness.




Details:

French Press Felted Slippers
Less than 2 skeins Lambs Pride Worsted (85 wool/15 mohair) my felting favorite. And I got them for half price at our LYS Superbowl sale.
The delightful Pistachio colorway







More details:


The button.....precious no? Bought it at JoAnn fabrics.












The soles with puffy paint hearts, which really do make them less slippery. (I know this because I jammed my too big flipper into them to check.) Yeah, not nicely drawn, but it was a bitch because the tip of the paint bottle kept catching in the wool. My mom's house has mainly hard wood floors, and if she fell and broke something because of slippers, MY slippers, my sister would murder me in my sleep.






I will soon be starting yet another pair in a wonderful goldish color. But because I don't know who they're for yet....I have several options, I'll forgo the puffy paint until I decide. Stay tuned.

I also have another finished piece that I've been wearing a lot this spring, but I'll save that for next week. Knitting has been verra slow lately. Work has been so busy, by the time I get home, grab something simple for dinner, I'm falling asleep and knitting isn't even an option.

Good news, bad news.....

Good news...

• The pneumonia cleared up completely. I didn't know how bad I was feeling until now. I'm even getting my feisty back.
  

Bad news...

• Left me with a raging sinus infection and ten MORE days of antibiotics. I do not have one cell of fauna left in my whole body.The sinus infection, however, seems to be gone.

Good news...

• After many weeks worth of angst, my personnel review is (fingers crossed) finished. (Backstory: for some reason, this office elevates a simple process to bizarre levels of busywork. It is horrifying.)

Bad news...

• Even after several go-arounds, the "fat lady" hasn't sung. The exec. dir. has to "approve" the review. This has been tricky in the past...like hitting a moving target.

Good news...

• I read a number of blogs, but don't comment on many. However, in the past month I've "won" two blog contests. I am someone who doesn't ever WIN anything. Hence my aversion to games and gambling.
  

• Thank you Zeneedle for the Sublime Kid Mohair. So very cool.
• And I just received a free pattern from Wendy Knits...her work is lovely!

To say I was stunned this morning when I was notified about the pattern is an understatement.

Bad news...

• It almost makes up for me backing into my neighbor's bumper yesterday morning. (Though I don't think my husband will agree.) Fortunately, used loosely, the only damage is to MY car. My driver's side rear bumper is pretty much toast (which means the whole bumper will need to be replaced), and the tail light is broken up. There is good news here though. The fellow who's truck I hit had virtually NO damage save a little scratch on the underside of his bumper. I left a note and he called to tell me that it didn't concern him. (Good karma points to you Ron!)

So I hope this explains, the silence here from Happy Valley. I am now hoping that my review is passed along without further comment. Then maybe I can actually concentrate on my job!!

Knitting content is languishing on my camera......maybe Monday!!

Oh yes, and Happy Easter to those who celebrate the holiday, or holy day, you pick. And Happy Passover to my Jewish friends and colleagues.

What I did this weekend....

1.) Filed and shredded documents that have been languishing.

2.) Finished, all but the felting, ANOTHER pair of French Press Felted Slippers (Christmas 2010 gift).

3.) Watched my tournament bracket get kicked to the curb...thanks a bunch Pitt and Kansas.

4.) Napped.

What I didn't do .......

1.) Watch the news (except for sports).

2.) Watch the cowards and greedy SOBs in the House pass what has to be the worst legislation in the history of the republic.

The week that will never end.....

... and here's why.

As you'all may have noticed, I rarely post about health issues here. Just generic flu and such, nothing exciting, which is really how I like it. With crappy health care on the horizon, I'm even more old skool about posting forever information on the web. However, this past week, has been, well, from hell.

Cutting to the chase...if you ever want immediate care in an ER, just write chest pain on the little intake slip; sprain your ankle, "chest pain", cut your finger, "chest pain". You go right to the head of the line, even if you're standing upright, and not in particular distress. OK, I'm only kidding. Only write chest pain if it's true, and it was for me this past Monday.

Backstory: I'd been feeling pain for about a week (yeah, don't say it), but I'm pretty savvy about heart symptoms, and this felt muscular, and was relieved (somewhat) with NSAIDs. Saturday, though, at the end of a gymnastics meet (didn't participate HAHA), might have been all those great male buns in tights, I was seeing stars. As we drove home, I mentioned to my DH that I was trying to decide whether he should take me to the ER. In typical fashion he said, "Well, we're halfway there, so decide now! Don't wait until we get home!" Men!! Yoi! (I may add here that because I've got a pretty good background in the medical arena, understand the lingo, and can even spell the hard words, he defers pretty much to me.) Anyway we went home, I took 500 mg of Motrin, and the pain eased. By Monday though, when this hadn't resolved I called our doc. Though it is a large practice with a cadre of PAs, EVERYONE was booked. The nurse finally said, just go to the ER, even though this doesn't sound like a heart issue, women get weird symptoms, so go.....So I called DH at work, and he took the afternoon off and took me to the ER where we remained for 5 hours, they poked me more times that I could count, Xrayed, CT'd and EKG'd. I rang the bell on two blood tests, and with further testing determined that I had slight pneumonia and pleurisy in my left lung. They threatened to keep me overnight, but my wonderful doctor, who has been treating us for twenty years, told them to hold off, that he'd followup.

We did followup today, and things look like they're resolving. Still going to do a minor test to make sure nothing is missed, but wants to wait for the pneumonia to clear up. Smarty boots is our doctor. If the pneumonia had been on my right side, or both sides, this would have probably been different. Leave it to me to have lung problems exactly where my heart is supposed to be.

Some interesting things. We have a small town hospital here. In the trauma center where I used to work, you had to go through a medical (ETA: left for entertainment purposes, this should be metal detector!) detector, and a guard searched your bag. Not so here. EVERYONE from the treating PA, to the RNs to the LPNs, to the volunteers, were so nice! Professional and nice. And they were busy! It was Monday, and everyone who had problems over the weekend showed up. It is spring break week, so everyone who had been holding off because of students, showed up. (An aside: When I first felt the pain, it was "State Patty's Day" here, a totally bogus excuse for students to get blasted, and I added that to my "whether I should to to the ER" calculation because they are always busy treating alcohol overdoses. It was a resounding NO!)

They have TV's attached to each ER bed. Now, had I been alone, without my iTouch and knitting, that would have been a nice option. As it was, though, we had to endure soap operas and Judge Judy, from the bed next to me. (And that woman was being treated for migraines. Does bad daytime TV contribute to migraines?) They have free wifi, so when they told me something I could look it up immediately on web md. I tried to knit, but the IV--IN MY WRIST (which is the oddest place anyone has ever installed an IV) made it uncomfortable. On the plus side, there is no evidence that I even had an IV but for a little soreness. Speaks to the skill of the RN.

On discharge I was told to use Motrin(!) if I experienced more pain. What is it they say, even a stopped watch is right twice a day.

So we're back to business as usual that means:

On the way to drop my car off for maintenance service, my DH's car, with NO prior warning, decided to quit. Yes, just quit. We had to have it towed to the garage, cancelled my service, and are awaiting the diagnosis.

I was planning to travel to a campus to deliver two presentations at a campus wide event, only to find out that their chancellor passed away yesterday, from a serious illness. They are forging ahead with the event anyway. Which is rather shocking on the surface.

Just some trivia:

My sister (30 year critical care veteran) tells me that the term is no longer ER, Emergency Room, but ED for Emergency Department. (Who knew?) And that shortness of breath which used to be abbreviated SOB, for millennia, is now SOA for "shortness of air" because some SOB was offended.

Ben Rothlisburger had better get his act together. Outside of the whether or not charges are filed, he is going to wear out his welcome in Pittsburgh. I've said it often in this space, Pittsburghers love their athletes, if they work hard and stay out of trouble. (Think blue collar esthetic.) That's why they love the hockey guys so much. You rarely see them in the news--unless they're visiting a hospital or bowling for charity. To be fair, I feel that Rothlisburger is getting roasted somewhat unfairly, at this point. He buys an expensive house in podunk GA to get out of the limelight, goes to a local watering hole, and barring charges, cannoodles with the locals. None of that is criminal. (If charges are filed -- all bets are off.) But buddy, you need to pay better attention, that's all I'm sayin'.

Wednesday General....

*1* This is the time of year that I think if I ever see another snowflake, it will be too soon (sorry Bezzie). We were just beginning to see our snow pack shrink. We still have about a foot on non-pavement areas, and the "warmish" days, like the mid-30s, encourage some melting, but keep us from having flooding runoff. The other good news is that it means we will probably have a well replenished water table, and no drought this summer, if everything else is normal. Yeah, sweet corn! Then this morning we wake to a soggy layer of snow [again] all over everything not pavement. Right now, as I type, there is a granular snow pelting down.

This is also the time of year, when after three months of constant wearing my winter gear makes me look like a homeless person. With vehicles encrusted with road grime, and just everything generally filthy, there is absolutely no way to keep anything clean. Ugh....that's all I can say.

*2* As I wrote yesterday the Penguins played the Sabres at home last night, so the two people who were the focus of the gold medal game were back together. While I'm sure many sports franchise PR departments are filled with bright people, the Penguins PR people have displayed sheer genius for years. (This in a town that has a 6 time Super Bowl team, and a [supposedly] major league baseball team, and big time college basketball, just to name a few.) From having their star players hand deliver season tickets, to having the players deliver pizza to the construction crews building their new arena, and to the students standing in line for the "cheap" seats right before the games, they never cease to grasp an opportunity to connect with the community. Last night before the game they had a short ceremony and introduced ALL the Olympians on both teams. Reserving Ryan Miller, Brooks Orpic, Marc Andre Fleury, and, of course, Crosby for last. It should not surprise anyone to hear, that the loudest, standing O was for Ryan Miller, who looked a little nonplussed by the response. Miller and Fleury were both sitting out, and were just wearing sweaters, but it was clear, that Miller was startled when he stuck his head out of the runway and only waved to the crowd as an afterthought. I thought it was pretty classy of the crowd. I also thought that Miller should enjoy it while he can. The next time the Sabres show up, there won't be any ovations......trust me.

When the winning Olympic goal was shown on the scoreboard, there was actually a scattering of boos. Not for Crosby certainly, who is loved in Pittsburgh, but for the result.

*3* As for the disposition of the Oceania sweater. I'm very temped to "experiment", but resisted, and cast on for a second Bonne Marie Ce Ce. This one in Classic Elite, All Weather Cotton (Which I can't seem to find anymore, I originally got mine from Webs almost 2 years ago). And will have long, rather than short, or 3/4 sleeves. (The Oceania sweater will have the ends sewn in, and will be "presented" to my mom. Maybe I'll wear it once or twice first, just because. She won't mind, and I'll be careful.) I cannot say enough about Bonne's patterns. They are immaculate, and I'm a chronic pattern mis-reader. I am also a big fan of her sizing. And I like her style--but that's just me.

I'm also in the final throws of Saroyan. But it's looking like I may run out of yarn before I'm done. I only had two skeins of Manos Silky Wool (about 300 yards, but I suspect less). I may have to rip back. But it is such an easy pattern to knit, it will not be a hardship. I just would have liked it a little longer...n'at.

*4* Finally, after a lull of sorts, I'm being bombarded by these (all three arrived in my junk box today):

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of winners of the NETHERLANDS ONLINE LOTTERY held on 19th February 2010.Your Company or your personal e-mail address is attached to winning number 20-01-2005-02MSW, with serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky numbers 887-13-865-37-10-81, and consequently won in the first lottery category.

**************************************************
Hello My Dear How Are You And Your Family,
From sister Mary Konate
My Dearest in Christ

My name is Mrs. Mary Konate a nationality of Kuwait . I am married to late Mr. JAMES KONATE who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year October 2003. We were married for twenty years with a child. He died after a the illness that lasted for four days.
***************************************************

From Miss.Linda Kona Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire. Good day my dear, In confidence,I have to introduce myself for I am linda kona 22 years old,I am the only child of late Mr and Mrs.Peter kona.I prayed before contacting you,please do not see my mail as embrassment as we do not know each other. I wish to request for your assistance in my efforts to see the transfer of my inherited money for investment under your care and directive,while I continue my education of there in your country.I inherited Two Million,Six Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,600,000.00) here in my name with one of the prime bank in my country and I will require your assistance in receiving the transfer of the money in your local account for investment purposes. *********************************************************************************

Seriously!! Is there anyone left on planet Earth who responds to these things?

And don't call me "my dear"!! I'm not your dear!! And I'm in a foul mood.

Showdown at ....

... high noon.

Yeah, it's been some time since I last posted. Mostly because I've been having a "time" at work. I'd love to be able to post the strum and drang here, but I'm too cognizant of the very real possibility that someone would run across this. Nothing on the innernets is private...nothing. A mantra I keep repeating to myself. Just let me say, it sucks and let to go at that.

Here's another thing that kinda sucks. My Oceania Cardigan. Why you ask? Well, the pattern sizes were cosmic in proportion. Like a medium was listed as 44 inches across the chest. Yikes!

Even though I knitted it in pieces and checked the gauge now and again, and it seemed OK-- stitched together it is 48 inches wide. Yeh, I gained 4 inches somewhere in my journey.

And take a gander at that neckline. I look like a bobblehead when I put it on. To even get to this point, I also endured all kinds of trials and tribulations. Detailed on Ravelry (the Place That Shall Not Be Named if you're Bezzie) if you'd like to bore yourself.

I would like to rip and repeat the neckband, but because the button bands were 5 stitches picked up at the top of the neckband, I'm afraid I won't know what to do with the loose and floppy stitches at the top of the button bands if I rip out the neckband. I'm thinking I could finesse it. Like put the 5 stitches on a holder and somehow knit them in with the new neckband, but dunno....any suggestions?

Here's the view of the problem area....

See to the left of the button? It so happens that red stripe is where I picked up the stitches for the button band.


Ultimately I have two choices. Give it a go, and see what happens. If the worst occurs, I'll have to reknit the neck and BOTH button bands.

Or, make it a Mother's Day gift to my mother, who would love it just as it is....I think.









Next up is the Lotus Blossom Hat from Cat Bordhi's Treasury of Magical Knitting.

(Yes--the hat is shown on a mini-basketball, and sitting on duct tape. Cut me a break.)

I don't know what goes on in Cat's brain, but it is frightening. I just couldn't get my brain around the mobius headband part, and how it could work, but damn it did. Beautifully.



I used a bulky yarn, with a similar gauge, instead of two strands of worsted, and needed less than one 165 yard skein.

To add to the fun, it is reversable. this is the "inside".


I don't know what side I like better!!

Now I'm sure that it would look even better in a semi-solid yarn, but I wanted something to blend with my Noro Scarf, and this works beautifully.

It is not a "serious" hat. It looks rather like one of those wrapped turbans one sees on elderly ladies on park benches.












As a bonus, one can bind off after the band and just have a lovely mobius headband. I'm definitely going to work up one of those. Maybe with Malabrigo.







This pattern is easy, peasy. The yarn is Ester Bitran Talinay #201 which I purchased at our LYS Super Sunday sale.

Finally, I was pretty conflicted about the gold metal hockey game. It was a great game, regardless of outcome! Ryan Miller was wonderful. But wouldn't you know...the one time I wish Crosby wouldn't score, he does. I just hope he keeps it up for the playoff run. Something you gotta understand about Pittsburgh sports, we love our players. Keep your nose clean, be a contributor, and you will always have a place in Pittsburgh's heart. Ask Plaxico. There were probably people standing in line to load the moving van when he went to NY.

And Nancy, the grading curve jokes not withstanding....that's "E" for effort. Apparently spelling isn't your strength either......

ETA (3/2): Mr. KB who is languishing at home with the flu (after getting TWO flu shots this year), tells me the Penguins are playing Buffalo tonight at the "Igloo" (Mellon Arena). So not 48 hours later it could be another Crosby/Miller dustup. ( I fully expect the Sabres to sit Miller though. He certainly deserves it. Crosby, and the other Olympians will get a hero's welcome home.)

What's a gal to do?

I've been busy.

Olympic knitting? Nah...never much of a joiner and knitting is supposed to decrease my blood pressure. If I wanted to be in the Olympics, I'd pick curling. I'd be a mean sweeper!

Olympic watching? Not so much, but the hockey is starting to attract me....which brings me to the point of this.

What's a gal to do.....

Root for Team USA? Well, here we have Bugsey Malone (former Penguin), and Brooks Orpick (current Penguin and Stanley Cup Champion) and there's that nationalistic thing happening.

But how can you not root for Sid, the beloved boy captain of the Pens, and Marc Andre and Canada? (Sid was the hero last night against the Swiss). I just knew he would be.

Then there's Russia with Geno Malkin and Gonchar.....sheesh.

The Canada-USA dust up is set for Sunday. What's a girl to do?

Just Shut Up! Thursday

Oh good grief.........please stop now.....you all are beginning to embarrass me.

Watch the video....seriously. These people should not even be allowed out without a "keeper and a shake rag". (This quote is from a very funny "coming of age" book, called Red Sky at Morning. If you can find it in your library, read it. I found a copy at a used book sale. But I digress.)

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/10/new-feminist-spin-on-tebow-ad-we-were-joking-but-not-really/

Famous Last Words.

My words were that we weren't expecting much snow. And while we didn't get what my sister and bro, to the east, got, 24+ inches, we did get 15. We were so certain that this "storm" wasn't going to live up to the billing we, and 4,500 other crazy people went to the wrestling meet on Friday night. We went to have a little toddy, and left for home about 10:30 pm. We could see that it was still snowing, however, it didn't look that "serious"....until you got on the roads.

Now, we have an interesting snow removal system around here. Meaning, it's hard to see that there is any. I often say that the town has one truck, two guys, and one shovel. It really looked that way on Friday. The roads were so bad, we couldn't see where our driveway was, and passed it up. This is not true of the smaller neighboring municipalities, so it is odd.

Saturday morning, when I looked for the paper, I only saw snow (and this was after DH shoveled the patio at 11:00pm when we got home).

I couldn't find the paper. When I called the delivery person he said that he started to deliver papers, but there was so much snow that he couldn't even get to the doors/driveways to deliver them. So he stopped. He also had the horrors of tossing a paper, having it get obscured by snow, and sucked into a snow blower.

Don't blame him a bit. So we got Saturday's and Sunday's papers together.....











This was the view out the front door. Yup, a 15 inch wall of
snow. I quickly shut the door.















That brings us to today, we have the second major snow fall in a week, and this one did not live up to the hype. We're going to end up with about 5 [more] inches, but the roads are horrible. To add insult to injury, our campus and the campus in Erie, are the ONLY TWO who are open in the whole state and everyone is ticked off. Really, ticked off. I was so looking forward to catching up on the laundry. Even a two hour delay would have helped. I lead such an exciting life.

Anyway, here are some pre and post felting photos of another pair of French Press Slippers. I think the pattern is pretty amazing. It felts down exactly right.














This pair was a mix of black and gray wool held together. The buttons are ceramic and I don't know how well they'll hold up, but we'll see.

Just because I can't let it go.....

I was embarrassed by the bru ha ha that the Women's Media Center, NOW, and other groups made about the Tebow ad. The fact that they were apoplectic about an ad that they HADN'T seen was the first hint. Then Monday when the president of NOW declared that CBS was endorsing violence against women (paraphrase), because the ad NEVER directly mentioned abortion, or even pregnancy, I realized how inconsequential these groups have REALLY become. They are now meaningless groups of fools. It worries me in a way, because there may yet come a time that they really do need to stand up for something important, and they have diminished themselves completely. On the other hand, it's gratifying to see them "outed" and for others to see what some of us have known or suspected for years. (I had this vision of a "war room" at NOW or WMC and them wringing their hands over the fact that there was nothing for them to criticize. "What can we say that won't sound stupid?" Ummm...bad choice.)

Rest in peace John Murtha. I think you had honorable intentions in the beginning. I also think you got too big for your britches. (Yeah, it's me the "racist".) Now Altoona/Johnstown need to step up and do what's right for the state and the country.

A little bit of this....

It's weird, I know. When I don't feel well, I get all kinds of creative. I mean my brain works overtime. Maybe it's because I get much needed rest. Maybe it has to do with bad daytime TV, but it never fails. Once I'm well enough to manage it, I start doing all kinds of things. Several years ago, I was home sick for several days, and I beaded enough flower broaches for a garden. I was just bangin' them out one right after another.

The first week of this year, when I wasn't hiding under my comforter, I did some knitting. Here are the results:


On the left French Press Slippers. I saw them on the Yarn Harlot blog, and they were just too cute for words. OK, not that cute, but I liked them, and I have a weird fondness for anything that's felted. (Which is why, I'll never buy a front loader machine no matter how much better they are.)

When I saw them I had the brilliant notion that I could use "waste yarn" to knit them. Goodness knows I've got loads of wool ends. Well, the best laid plans and all that. You'll notice that the "straps" are rather bumpy, that's because I used two different yarns. A planned deviation. My problem occurred when I didn't have enough of the same yarn to FINISH half of ONE toe!! So you may be able to tell that the inside of the right toe is also bumpy. That's because I had to go snag a skein of Lamb's Pride from my LYS. Sigh....best laid plans and all that. Nonetheless, they came out really well, and they're warm....really.

You knit them in "strips" and frankly when you have all these loopy loo pieces to stitch together, you're sure that these will NEVER look remotely like slippers. I shouldn't have worried. It's a great project to work on when one has a few moments. The yarn is held double (triple for the sole) and you use a #15 needle. So next Christmas....slippers for everybody!! I already have another pair (for me) ready to be felted. Probably tomorrow morning. I do my best felting in the mornings....




Number 2 on the hit parade is the Brooklyn Tweed Scarf . I used two colors of Noro Kureyon. I was an easy peasy fun knit, even when I REALLY didn't feel well. I soaked it with hair conditioner, now it smells like Pantene, spun the water out of it, then just let it dry. (I use Pantene because my hair didn't like it and I don't know what else to do with an almost full bottle.)

It's fun looking and warm and I'll be wearing it this weekend in our Nor'easter snow storm.

Looks like we're going to miss the worst of the weather again here in Central PA - only 4 - 8 inches through tomorrow. Trust me, I'm not complaining. Hope those of you to the south and east manage to make it through.....

Voice of reason....

....... and an honest assessment - thank goodness!!

Sally Jenkins - WaPo

Some things I think, I think

Just some random thoughts:

Every time I hear the country name Yemeni on the news, which is a lot lately, the exclaimation "Yumpin' Yemeni!" runs through my brain. (I have never made any claims to being normal.)

I lost interest in and respect for Arlen Specter when he bailed from his party, when it became apparent he might REALLY lose the nomination. After his little dust up with Michele Bachmann, I'm seriously wondering about his mental capabilities. I'm less concerned about the sexism aspects, but the question I have is "Arlen, what the hell are you thinking!!" I saw nothing in the exchange that should have prompted such a response, and Bachmann was clearly non-plussed (as was the radio host who was completely silent for about 45 seconds). Props to her for not flaming his ears off, which I might have been wont to do. Yet another reason to retire Arlen to his wing back chair in Philly, so he can yell at the neighborhood kids riding their bikes on his street.

If I hear one more Democratic congress person, liberal talking head, candidate or any of these other "do-not-know-it-alls" tell me that; "The public doesn't understand the (health care) bill"; " We need to explain it better."; "The public REALLY wants this bill." I'm gonna toss my cookies.

For the record--are all you thick heads listening: I have a master's degree in a science/math field; I can read and understand content that would make your little pea brains 'splode; I can write in no less than 5 computer languages; I get really ticked when I'm patronized and marginalized. I do not need any more explanations. I need to have a bill produced and posted for WEEKS before voting, so I can digest the contents--and not on Christmas Eve. I am tired of dirty tricks, secret meetings, union kick-back, big pharma deals, and all the rest of it. While I hold out NO hope that these "things" will end, I will settle for having the opportunity to actually peruse the legislation at my leisure. Which is more that most of you, including the afore-mentioned Arlen will do. I also believe, that I am not unique in the above attributes.......

I wish I could give this appropriate credit, but who said it escapes me.

This health care bill is bad because; 85% of the public is concerned about rising costs. Health care costs are rising 3 times faster than inflation; 15% are concerned about access, meaning that they do not have, or can not afford health care. Instead of concentrating on the rapidly escalating costs that concern 85% of the country, the Democratic congress with the blessing of the President, invented a convoluted, and high cost way to cover the 15%. This will eventually hurt the 85% in one way or another. If rising costs were addressed (by any number of means) it would eventually mean that more people would have access to, or could afford, quality care.

Question for White House Press Secretary Gibbs: Are you on crack? To try and explain that the Brown victory in Massachusetts was an ENDORSEMENT of Obama policies is just too bizarre to contemplate. My head is actually hurting. Crack and kool aid are a lethal combination......

Buh bye Air(head) America. You won't be missed. You will never get anywhere bashing the land that feeds you. There just aren't enough crazies and vitriol lovers to support this kind of commercial endeavor. (Al Franken, not withstanding, and my guess is that Maddow and that blow hard Olbermann are probably not long for TV if the Comcast deal goes through. Disclaimer: I know Olbermann from his ESPN days before he got booted outta there, I've never actually watched him elsewhere. )

Sometimes I just can't help myself.....

... I admit it. John Stossel is a kind of hero of mine. I'm not a Libertarian, but he's a guy after my own heart. (And as a bonus, he's pretty easy on the eyes.)

Go get'em John.

The Stimulus Works



P.S. In the interests of full disclosure, I also have a soft spot for Geraldo Rivera. Ever since he used to have that show on late at night after Carson's Tonight Show (you know, the REAL Tonight Show). I used to watch him with my father when he got home after second shift.

Clue Phone is ringing.........

Thank you Massachusetts!!

He did indeed!!!

..... and Arlen it's for you!! I'm one of those "unaffiliated" voters and we're coming for YOU!

(Party switch doesn't look like such a good move now, does it, Bucko?)

Better late, than never...

....actually, last week at this time I was pretty sure it might be never.

You see we had an "interesting" holiday week. Spent Christmas through the 27th at my mother's. She's a lovely woman, who can drive a sane person to drink in 10 minutes. We stayed a day longer than planned, because my DH's back decided he didn't like the mattress on the bed, and began to devil him. (I made him promise to visit me at Muncy, SCI for women, if I attempted murder.) Got home, and spent an uneventful 3 days, unpacking, clearing up, and doing laundry. New Years, was peaceful and snowy, but who cared? We were not driving anywhere. Took a long walk, in the cold, quiet, dark neighborhood. It was divine.

Now here's riddle.....What does it mean when you don't feel like knitting?

Sunday, after New Years, something wasn't "right" with me. I was exhausted, and didn't even feel like eating....Big clue. Monday, my last day of vacation, it was clear, I was sick, and to add insult to injury I had a fever. I just spent the last week struggling with the flu. Not H1N1--I don't think I was sick enough for that, and had few respiratory symptoms, but "something". "Something" that wasn't in the flu shot cocktail that I dutifully got back in November. I had four solid days of feeling lousy, and finally one day when my temperature stayed below 99.

Answer: You've got the flu!

So despite all the "free" time on my hands last week the only thing I knit, sporadically no less, was this:


Yes, the Brooklyn Tweed Noro Scarf. I had just finished my second Ishbel (more on that later), and just wanted something that would be mindless and entertaining. So I used the leftovers from my Wrap Me Up (plus another colorway), and cast on for this scarf. This is knit in Kureyon, so it is rough rather than soft. (He uses Silk Garden.) But a soak in hair conditioner will fix that when I'm finished I think.




It was the perfect sick bed knitting. Except for the time I was trudging from the living room up to the bedroom and discovered that I had dropped one of the skeins downstairs, and had pulled the trailing yarn after me into bed. A little like Hansel and Gretel and breadcrumbs. I had to haul my flu ridden bones out of bed to retrieve the skein, because I didn't want to be responsible for my DH falling on the yarn and breaking his leg on the stairs.


So as of today, I'm 6 days behind in my office. With the retirement of my colleague, I am responsible for more than I was before, and I'm not starting out on the right foot. So Ishbel will need to wait another day. I leave you with a few other pieces though.

First: Fetching and Calorimetry in Malabrigo worsted, Ginger Carrot.



Fetching mods: I knit 8, rather than 4 rows for the palm. The four rows were too "short" for me.

Calorimetry mods: Used a size #6 needle for a more dense fabric, and cast on 88 stitches (I just took a leap.) The 120 cast on made it too wide, and long. I could have used a little more length, but not much.







This is a close up of the antique, or maybe the correct term is "old", button on the Calorimetry.
Pretty?









Here is ONE of the three Turn A Square hats I knit for Christmas. (Yes another Brooklyn Tweed pattern, notice a theme here?)


I ended up knitting THREE of these. Though the pattern says this is for an "average" head, and Ravelry didn't seem to dispute that, I'm thinking it was for an average pumpkin head. Now, I have a larger size head, but knit to the pattern specs it was way too large. In addition, my first attempts were for my father-in-law, who has a middlin' at best hat size, and were knit in Woolease. So some acrylic. Not a lot of "give".

Mod #1: decreased the cast on to 96 stitches (multiples of 4). Much better. This is the one I gave to my FIL, not pictured. But I wanted one for hiking, and this still felt too loose. I used Lamb's Pride and Silk Garden and

Mod #2: cast on 88 stitches. that's what you see pictured here. I like the way it fits, even on MY pumpkin head.

Ursis actually looks better in it than I do.

If I knit this again, and I might, I may add 4 stitches, and use a smaller size needle for a "denser" fabric. Anyway, this is a great "stash buster" project.

And just for your amusement: right before break our staff assistant sent this to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05ZQ7WHw8Y

(Caution: "mature" language, very politically incorrect, and funny, all my favorite things.)

I was bemoaning the fact that I had once received one of these as a gift.

Then lo and behold, Christmas came:


And Santa brought my sister a snuggie knock off. We hooted with laughter.

















To add to the hilarity, it is plaid, and has two pockets. (My sister says one for her "Bud" and the other for her pack of "Marlboros".)

Thanks to Curt for being such a good sport and modeling the monstrosity.......... Notice the Yuengling Santa hat, which probably explains the willingness to model.

My mother the giver of the gift was highly insulted.


My sister thinks the cats will like it a lot.