It's Been a Day...

Randomly, because it's been that kind of day...

1.  I frogged The Kelly Green Hat. It was too small; it took a little digging since The Mama didn't exactly tell me the size of the Kid's head...so I had to guess based on "the average head size of a ... child." 

2.  As I started to cast on, it all went mostly swimmingly. Till I tried to join into the circle. I forgot how. Seriously, major brain goof... Had to Google it. 

3.  I've been knitting in the round on a 5-needle set of DPNs for 15 years... How in the world could I forget??

4.  I also despise the "improved Facebook interface." Why do software companies fix what ain't broke? I'm talking to YOU, Blogger!!! 

5. There's persistence... This is a weed - probably ragweed, with my luck - that's growing up THROUGH a piece of Travertine marble that's a stepping stone in our garden. Not to worry; it wasn't the "good" Travertine; it was advertised as paving stone...

Our garden is mostly done. And the upcoming 5-day heat wave is likely to kill the rest of it off. Which is fine. 

I'm ripping out the milkweed before it re-seeds. All we have are the red beetles. I had one -- ONE -- caterpillar, and rumor has it that while the beetles don't harm the caterpillars, their poop does. I've grown milkweed for 4 years now; I need to see some results in the form of Monarchs. And I saw the butterflies around. They did light on the milkweed, and I suspect that at least one of them laid eggs. But not a single one survived. 

We did, however, have more than a plethora of red beetles. And these nasty hornet-looking things, too. Which I'd never seen before. So it's time to rip it out and start over. I have to do some research to figure out how to get rid of the beetles in a way that's still safe for the caterpillars. 

The Knitting...

Well, I have Friday off, so I'm going to whack through The Kelly Green Hat. Then I'm going to make a definitive list of my COVID knitting - just for myself because I'm becoming demoralized about all the folks I see who're on their "87th pair of socks" or "14th Quarentine Shawl." 

I'm not setting myself up for competition. It's just that I've knitted a lot of small things and I need to just catalog them for myself. 

So far: 1 shawlette; 1 shawl; 4 baby hats (#5 on the way, so to speak); 1 "ear guard" which I have to re-do, larger; 5 washcloths (maybe 6?)...and I started the Long Sands Tee. That's what I want to get back to, so that's why I want to whack out The Kelly Green Hat. I have time to get two of the hats off to a Special Someone. And then I might make another one just to have in stash. 

Random Picture(s)...

Tippi says: WEAR the fluffin' mask. WASH your fluffin' paws. STAY the fluff home!!! 

Our county is under restrictions starting tomorrow because we live with morons who can't wear a mask "because it infringes on my freedom. 

Let me tell you something: I've been intubated before. TRUST me when I say that a mask? A piffle. Intubation? It hurts. 




So now, everyone's whining and moaning about how "it's the bars and restaurants that are being penalized." Well.... duh!!! It's because y'all can't wait to go out and party. Seriously - there's a bar 3 blocks from me and they set up tents in the parking lot. There is NO WAY that those tables are 6 feet apart. And even if they were? I've driven by plenty of times after teaching a later yoga class -- and I've seen the patrons all "mingling." 


Social distancing isn't that hard. Stay at least two-and-a-half elkhounds away... 

PS: No elkhounds were harmed in the masking of Tippi. The mask was on for about 5-7 seconds while I took the picture. She's such a good sport!

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The Book, The Knitting, The DNC & More...

 Oh my. So much going on. So I'm writing a book - well, a CHAPTER in a book. And it's done; this weekend, we finish the last revisions. Then it goes to the publisher and in October-ish, we have a book. A. Book. We're keeping the cover a closely guarded secret for right now. This is Volume 3 - and there I am - Pat Perrier...  

I'm so tickled to bring this to you, and as soon as it's available, I'll let you know. I have Volumes 1 and 2, and they're great resources to use during these chaotic times. Laura DiFranco has organized all of these for us and I can tell you that writing the chapter was a great experience. I've been writing since I was a kid. I've written stories, I've written articles. I've edited textbooks. I've written columns, both in the "traditional" newspaper and in the e-zine elephant journal (yes, no caps in the title). My dream has been to write a whole book. And I feel like a chapter is a good start. 

Maybe the whole book will come. I've looked here, and I've been on Blogger for 14 years. Fourteen. Years. So of course, Blogger just recently changed its format. 

The new format sucks. 

SUCKS.

And nobody will help or answer you. They've made it infinitely more difficult to blog. To select pictures. To manipulate the way the pictures work in the blog. 

Now, I'm perfectly willing to tell you that I am not the center of the Universe. Blogger (for that matter, Google, which owns the company) doesn't have to accommodate my process. Usually, I have a topic in mind. And I have pictures. I write the first paragraph, then dump all the pics in. Then write the rest. 

But now? I can't dump pics in; they don't play well with the text. Text doesn't wrap properly. You can load one picture. At a time. For a photo-heavy blog like this one, that's a major pain in the patoot. The "new" Blogger? FUBAR. F-U-B-A-R. 

*normally, "f'd up" but in my clean version: Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. Anyone in the military will know this one...

I hope that they listen to the multitude of us who've used the platform for over decades - and take it back to the "legacy" version. Don't fix what wasn't broken. 

The Knitting...

It's a baby binge. No, pets -- no announcements are imminent. Though I do have a few "parents to be" - none of them are actually related to me. 

I've done a stash into the "Oddments Bag" - which is where I keep the scraps from FOs (finished objects). So, left to right, the stripey one is Encore Worsted. The center teal one is the leftovers from The Dreaded Teal Sock (bet you thought I'd burned that yarn, didn't you??) - Trekking XL. And right, the other Encore Worsted, with a lighter yellow held double there. Not sure I'm really jazzed about that, but I like the I-cord top knot. All of these are free patterns, from Rav. The two worsted weight ones are Julie Taylor's Tegan Baby Hat, which for the striped one, I just omitted the top knot. 

The teal one is Sesia Bimbo (don't even ask, I have no idea) - Plymouth Yarn's rolled brim baby hat. 

The next one is a combo from a baby blanket I knitted where the yarn was held double - but this time, I separated them and did this rectangle hat. It's from Katinka Knits, on Ravelry, and called "Easiest Baby Hat." Truth. 

The pompoms were my idea. I finally found a pom-pom maker that works. So I'm addicted to them. But not to worry - they won't show up on anything but hats! 

And the final baby hat is a pretty obnoxious green. But that's ok. I'm sure the recipient will adore it. It's the Emergency One Day Hat, which in my case takes more than one day. This is the pattern I used for the 4 Christmas hats I knitted last year. Also free on Ravelry. 

Lest you think I'm a cheapskate, I do actually BUY patterns. I've got a few Wooly Hooligan tee shirts and a few others. They're in the line for production soon. Like Long Sands, which is set aside for a minute till I finish this hat. 

I'm enjoying whacking out these hats. A few will go to definite babies. I still have to work on that one Feather & Fan car seat blanket. And Kid #2's afghan has GOT to get finished this year. In 2020, with all the crap floating around, the Kid is GETTING that afghan this year. 

I Do More Than Knit...

Which you all knew. But here is a shot of just a few of my needlework projects. And a new mask for tomorrow's yoga training. I'm futzing with the elastic and it needs work. But it'll do for the weekend training. 

So, upper left, upper right and lower left are counted cross stitch. Lower right is crewel embroidery. 

This kind of needlework had been my main crafting for decades. Of course, BB (before bifocals)...when I could bring these small projects to work and stitch during my lunch breaks. Now, not only do I have a few that are on big stretcher bars, but I don't see well enough anymore. Not like it's fatal - just being in my 60s has changed what I can easily see in "office lighting." So I keep those home, and pull 'em out every so often and put in a few stitches. 

I couldn't resist this fabric. I went into JoAnn Fabrics SPECIFICALLY to buy pizza-themed fabric for Kid #2. More masks needed for when they go back to the classroom. Right now, that district is remote for the first quarter. But eventually, there will be a wardrobe of masks. 

I'm doing that for myself, too. Because it looks like we'll be doing this for a while. Our rate in our county is 7.9% and 8% is the threshold for going back a phase or two. Time will tell. But I'm not happy about the prospect of closing my yoga studio again. 

Ahem. Back to masks. So I saw this flamingo fabric and got a half a yard. I already had the plain muslin for the back and I did a "ring" of elastic. I need to tighten that up a bit. It has to sit kind of high on my head. But that's ok. I also bought seam binding, which I can stitch up and use as ties if I need to do that. 

They're not exactly heirlooms. And I'm still making the 3-pleat ones for a fundraiser. I believe the fabric is multiplying in the dark because the pile doesn't get shorter. But then, I need to stop shopping... 

Perception is Everything...

I love chocolate covered graham crackers. If I have a "vice," this is it. So I bought some and I didn't pay attention to the package. Normally, I don't buy Keebler - the store brand is usually good, but they didn't have any of those. 

Look. A scandal. Normally, they're about 2.5" square. 

These are not. They are tiny. They aren't "grahams" -- they're "snippets." You can see my index finger as an example of scale. What kind of trickery is this? What bamboozle is being played on unsuspecting fans of chocolate covered graham crackers?

Reminds me of sugar. Used to be, you'd buy sugar in 5-pound bags, but about 5 or 6 years ago (could be more, I'm not sure), they squidged the bags down to 4 lbs. Same price, of course... just less sugar. 

Just didn't make my day. In spite of the fact that they were, actually, pretty good. I really love the dark chocolate ones I can find at Starbucks, but I don't love the price. So, these were a good choice, because they "fixed" my craving. But still. The size. 

Size matters.

The DNC...

For the first time in a long, long time, I actually watched most of the Democratic National Convention. Full disclosure: Biden/Harris wasn't my dream team. Warren/Harris was. Or Warren/Duckworth... 

But. It is a ticket I can live with. Like you read on social media: This isn't a marriage. It's a way to get us from Point A (#MangoMussolini) to Point B (actual reality, rule of law, and progress). 

It's COVID time, so of course it wasn't IRL (in real life). So while that took away some of the energy, it substituted something better: You could actually concentrate on the platform. On the speeches. You could hear everything. 

Some highlights, in my opinion: Tammy Duckworth's speech. Just listen. And of course, Michelle Obama's speech. And Barack Obama's dire warning. It's not "over-done." It's right on target. And if you're not scared, you're not paying attention. Listen here.

Then there was the music. John Legend and Common. The Chicks. The kids singing the anthem. Jennifer Hudson. 

Joe Biden did the best job on his speech. Ever. I've heard him speak for years. But this? He nailed it. 

Kamala Harris did a good job doing what she did: introducing herself to us as a human being. A friend said, "I was afraid they'd label her An Angry Black Woman if she went after anyone." Yeah, she could have. But Barack did it for her. So she could show us that she wasn't just a prosecutor. 

And besides... She made Brett Kavanaugh cry. That's perfect. She doesn't have to prove herself as "the attacker." She's proven that with Barr and Kavanaugh. I'm good with it, and I'm anxious to watch the show over the next 70-some days. 

Please check your registration. Vote. Our democracy depends on it. Go here to do that. Takes less than a minute. Do it now; I'll wait...  

Random Picture...

So in the spirit of a new day.... This is a picture out the back door of the studio from 2017, of a beautiful rainbow. 

During the Obama years it was about Hope and Change. 

Then, it was about .... I'm not sure, but hate and discontent happened and then the rich got richer. Then xenophobia. 

Then a pandemic. And chaos. 

We need a rainbow. We, as a culture, are a rainbow - a blend of people, ideas, cultures. We need to begin to celebrate that again. We've lost it and in the process lost what was good and kind about our country. 

Let's work to get that back. 

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