...was written the day he didn't call the cops. The day he did nothing. The day he let the report go to the president of Penn State and be diluted to "horsing around."
And the grad assistant??? Please. You had to call your dad? Why? To engineer a cushy deal for yourself, since in essence you never left the "Mother Ship." That grad assistant, as everyone knows, is Mike McQueary. Who is now the Big Cheese. Really.
And the judge who let Jerry Sandusky WALK WITHOUT BAIL? She worked with him on the "Second Mile" charity, which is basically "bait" for low-income kids to feed Sandusky's habit. The judge needs to be disbarred.
McQueary needs to be fired.
Penn State needs to do more than remove Paterno's name from the trophy.
A clean house is necessary. In order for Penn State's football program to get back to its former glory, a clean house is necessary.
That also means taking all those Penn State athletes who said, "Yeah, we knew what was going on but we didn't know what to do," -- and telling them, "What you do is learn to be an adult, and step up, and speak out."
College is where you learn to be an adult. Being an adult means that your moral compass should already point somewhere near "North" and that you know the difference between right and wrong. And that you are capable and willing to speak up when you see wrong.
I would kick my kid's butt down the street if he called me to ask what to do in this situation. And he knows that.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday, November 07, 2011
Weapons of Bunny Destruction and Mutant Carrots...
No, really. It does make sense.
I had finished my student worker's scarf for Christmas. Now to just figure out what to get for the male student worker!! I don't know if I have time to knit him something, and being as he's not my kid, who'll wear just about anything I knit, I have to be a bit choosy. Here's her scarf: It's the Painted Zig Zag scarf from Lion Brand Yarn, and it's out of my stash, a rogue skein of Homespun in colorway "Windsor." I wrote a review. Here's the Reader's Digest version: Great pattern, sucky yarn.
I used to adore Homespun. Great quality. Glorious colors. Wore like crazy, and didn't "feel" acrylic. Somewhere along the line, the quality dropped. I had gotten skeins where the middle part was "unkinked" and in two separate pieces, requiring a couple of cuts and a knot to get it back together, and a friend said she got a good yard in one skein that was white. Which would've been fine - except her skein was green. In this scarf (which you can't see because I hid it), there's a blob of white. In the middle.
So, now that I can't work on my mom's cowl for a bit due to home-made noodles, (yes, there's a story), I figured I'd put it down for a bit and continue to deconstruct White Chocolate Bunny. See, this is what I'm doing for another 3 or 4 rows. Picking out yarn that's "near-roving" because there's literally no twist in it. So it's felted itself as I've gone along. Urggggggghhhhh! Hence the stork scissors. Gotta nip the fuzzies to get the stitches apart. It's a good thing this is strictly ornamental. I have high hopes for Milk Chocolate Bunny because he's an alpaca blend, so I figure he may give me less trouble. Love the Debbie Stoller yarn here, just frogging it is a pain. At least I have till January. Even though I have to start a baby blanket somewhere in here soon.
And wristers for Kid #1's girlfriend. And wristers for both kids. The ones for Girlfriend will be some sort of chunky yarn...gotta ask Kid #1 what her favorite color is. If I'm lucky, I can do the fingerless mitts for her.
So, the noodle story, and I promise, clarification of "Mutant Carrots." I decided yesterday to make Cabbage and Noodles, which we hadn't had in a while. Except that I forgot the egg noodles at the store. Didn't care to go back. Wanted a day where I wasn't running hither, thither and yon. So I thought, "I have eggs, flour and oil - I can MAKE noodles." Which, by the way, I have done, so I'm not a total nutjob here.
Got my stuff together. Made the dough. Had a slight panic when my "volcano" of eggs and flour over-ran its banks. But I did get the dough to cooperate. Ten minutes of kneading stiff noodle dough counts as an upper-body workout, by the way.
Of course, I do have a pasta maker, a Kitchen Aid mixer AND a food processor. But I also have two hands. And a rolling pin. Several in fact.
I chose wrong. I chose the "French" rolling pin, the birch one with the tapered ends. I love that rolling pin. The birch is a nice warm wood, and it's well-balanced. But I forgot something extremely significant. The screw in my thumb. As I rolled the dough out, the rolling pin came right up against where the screw and the joint were. And after Batch #2 (you split the ball of dough into 4 parts), my left hand was throbbing. I was getting cranky.
So I changed to the marble rolling pin, with handles. I don't like it as much, but since it weighs a good 8 lbs., it made rolling the dough go lots faster. I made about 2 lbs. of lovely hand-cut wide egg noodles, and yes, it was definitely worth it.
In the meantime, Hubby was deconstructing the garden. Time to get all the tomato vines out, pull up all the carrots and get all the (still green) tomatoes in for ripening under newspaper. They won't taste "sun-ripened" but since I'm using them for sauce, it won't necessarily matter. I'd have preferred sun, but Mother Nature gave us what she did.
I let the dough rest for the standard 15 minutes. In that space of time, Hubby dumped a sink full of carrots in the kitchen. My job was to scrub them off and get them into a bag for the fridge after they drain. We grew several varieties including some purple heirloom carrots. As I was chugging through them, I came upon The Mutant Carrots. At first I thought, "Good Lord, I hope this isn't alive!" But after a wash-up, this is what it looks like:
As you can see, we have one carrot getting cozy with another one. I told Hubby to thin them out more!
Some of the carrots will go straight to the juicer; others may end up in a salad or in my lunch with some hummus. Hubby thinks we're crazy because home-grown carrots taste soooooooooo good. He says, "It's just a carrot."
No, it's not. It's a miracle of Nature, doesn't taste a BIT like the cellophane wrapped orange things you buy, and each of them (obviously, see above) has attitude! I took some "artsy" shots of this for our literary/art magazine competition -- I thought about texturizing the shots in PhotoShop, but again...don't want to mess with Mother Nature.
Anyway, that was my weekend. My thumb is still sore (I managed about 10 rows on the cowl today and the thumb is still a bit cranky), I'm futzing with fuzzy yarn, and I have to figure out once I get to my stitch marker what row I think I'm on. And I spent an hour re-sewing buttons on a sweater I bought because quality control has left the building!
Oh, and ONE side of my large desk drawer fell off the track. Is it a full moon??
 |
| Painted Zig Zag Scarf |
I used to adore Homespun. Great quality. Glorious colors. Wore like crazy, and didn't "feel" acrylic. Somewhere along the line, the quality dropped. I had gotten skeins where the middle part was "unkinked" and in two separate pieces, requiring a couple of cuts and a knot to get it back together, and a friend said she got a good yard in one skein that was white. Which would've been fine - except her skein was green. In this scarf (which you can't see because I hid it), there's a blob of white. In the middle.
And wristers for Kid #1's girlfriend. And wristers for both kids. The ones for Girlfriend will be some sort of chunky yarn...gotta ask Kid #1 what her favorite color is. If I'm lucky, I can do the fingerless mitts for her.
So, the noodle story, and I promise, clarification of "Mutant Carrots." I decided yesterday to make Cabbage and Noodles, which we hadn't had in a while. Except that I forgot the egg noodles at the store. Didn't care to go back. Wanted a day where I wasn't running hither, thither and yon. So I thought, "I have eggs, flour and oil - I can MAKE noodles." Which, by the way, I have done, so I'm not a total nutjob here.
Got my stuff together. Made the dough. Had a slight panic when my "volcano" of eggs and flour over-ran its banks. But I did get the dough to cooperate. Ten minutes of kneading stiff noodle dough counts as an upper-body workout, by the way.
Of course, I do have a pasta maker, a Kitchen Aid mixer AND a food processor. But I also have two hands. And a rolling pin. Several in fact.
I chose wrong. I chose the "French" rolling pin, the birch one with the tapered ends. I love that rolling pin. The birch is a nice warm wood, and it's well-balanced. But I forgot something extremely significant. The screw in my thumb. As I rolled the dough out, the rolling pin came right up against where the screw and the joint were. And after Batch #2 (you split the ball of dough into 4 parts), my left hand was throbbing. I was getting cranky.
So I changed to the marble rolling pin, with handles. I don't like it as much, but since it weighs a good 8 lbs., it made rolling the dough go lots faster. I made about 2 lbs. of lovely hand-cut wide egg noodles, and yes, it was definitely worth it.
In the meantime, Hubby was deconstructing the garden. Time to get all the tomato vines out, pull up all the carrots and get all the (still green) tomatoes in for ripening under newspaper. They won't taste "sun-ripened" but since I'm using them for sauce, it won't necessarily matter. I'd have preferred sun, but Mother Nature gave us what she did.
I let the dough rest for the standard 15 minutes. In that space of time, Hubby dumped a sink full of carrots in the kitchen. My job was to scrub them off and get them into a bag for the fridge after they drain. We grew several varieties including some purple heirloom carrots. As I was chugging through them, I came upon The Mutant Carrots. At first I thought, "Good Lord, I hope this isn't alive!" But after a wash-up, this is what it looks like:
 |
| Mutant Carrots |
Some of the carrots will go straight to the juicer; others may end up in a salad or in my lunch with some hummus. Hubby thinks we're crazy because home-grown carrots taste soooooooooo good. He says, "It's just a carrot."
No, it's not. It's a miracle of Nature, doesn't taste a BIT like the cellophane wrapped orange things you buy, and each of them (obviously, see above) has attitude! I took some "artsy" shots of this for our literary/art magazine competition -- I thought about texturizing the shots in PhotoShop, but again...don't want to mess with Mother Nature.
Anyway, that was my weekend. My thumb is still sore (I managed about 10 rows on the cowl today and the thumb is still a bit cranky), I'm futzing with fuzzy yarn, and I have to figure out once I get to my stitch marker what row I think I'm on. And I spent an hour re-sewing buttons on a sweater I bought because quality control has left the building!
Oh, and ONE side of my large desk drawer fell off the track. Is it a full moon??
Monday, October 31, 2011
Of Eggs, Frustration and the Time Change...
See if you can follow me here, because today I'm all over the place. Following are pictures of my eggs. The pysanky aren't working out. Out of a dozen eggs, I got two. TWO.... (sigh) But anyway, I'm rushing to complete some Christmas stuff, which also may include some wristers for the kids, if I can keep my needles clicking.
Here are the eggs:
As you can see, I've got 5 of them done already. The two "pastel" ones are actually from the SAME end-of-ball of sock yarn. I put out the call for leftovers from my sock-knitting friends, and they helped me out with some lovely scraps.
It looks like I'll get a baker's dozen easily. I have till the middle of January to get this done.
So, the frustration part? Well, that's a multi-faceted problem.
1. I'm frustrated because I'm eating myself into a hole today. I'm really, really trying to lose weight. It doesn't help that some of my meds have "weight gain" as a side effect. It doesn't help that I'm in my 50s and have a job that's not very active. But somehow, this weather or hormones, or insomnia, or stress...whatever it is - it's activated my "tape worm" and I've been eating like crazy today. I've written it all down, as painful as it is. And I've journaled the frustration. I've just gotta move on.
2. Can the Republicans get any crazier? Can we just finally break the news that Herman Cain is NOT running for president - he's just auditioning for the Fox Crazy-Train? And speaking of Crazy-Train.... one of Batty Bachmann's longtime allies is dumping her and accusing her of "dodging questions." Really? Just how long did it take you to figure that out? Bachmann needs to realize that Karma has very sharp teeth.
3. I really need to get some sleep!!! We even got a Sleep Number bed, which in a lot of ways has proved to be very nice. But the hot flashes??? Oy. I could do without those.
4. I screwed up the White Chocolate Bunny.... her head is twisted because I increased where I wasn't supposed to. And yarn that's "nearly roving" is a pain in the sit-bones to pick out. She's gotta get done. Luckily, I think I'm about 4 rows from being back where I need to be.
The time change is coming up on November 6. Can't we petition to just not do it? What's the worst that could happen? The entire system goes up for grabs? I doubt it. There've been years where we've ignored it and frankly, I'm thinking the energy savings aren't worth it. And since they've moved it from where it's been for what? Fifty years? The dates are all discombobulated. My car's GPS says I have to change the time. I keep telling her that she has to wait...
Yeesh. I'm gonna go read the Yarn Harlot. She always puts a smile on my face!
 |
| Eggs from Sock Yarn Scraps |
As you can see, I've got 5 of them done already. The two "pastel" ones are actually from the SAME end-of-ball of sock yarn. I put out the call for leftovers from my sock-knitting friends, and they helped me out with some lovely scraps.
It looks like I'll get a baker's dozen easily. I have till the middle of January to get this done.
So, the frustration part? Well, that's a multi-faceted problem.
1. I'm frustrated because I'm eating myself into a hole today. I'm really, really trying to lose weight. It doesn't help that some of my meds have "weight gain" as a side effect. It doesn't help that I'm in my 50s and have a job that's not very active. But somehow, this weather or hormones, or insomnia, or stress...whatever it is - it's activated my "tape worm" and I've been eating like crazy today. I've written it all down, as painful as it is. And I've journaled the frustration. I've just gotta move on.
2. Can the Republicans get any crazier? Can we just finally break the news that Herman Cain is NOT running for president - he's just auditioning for the Fox Crazy-Train? And speaking of Crazy-Train.... one of Batty Bachmann's longtime allies is dumping her and accusing her of "dodging questions." Really? Just how long did it take you to figure that out? Bachmann needs to realize that Karma has very sharp teeth.
3. I really need to get some sleep!!! We even got a Sleep Number bed, which in a lot of ways has proved to be very nice. But the hot flashes??? Oy. I could do without those.
4. I screwed up the White Chocolate Bunny.... her head is twisted because I increased where I wasn't supposed to. And yarn that's "nearly roving" is a pain in the sit-bones to pick out. She's gotta get done. Luckily, I think I'm about 4 rows from being back where I need to be.
The time change is coming up on November 6. Can't we petition to just not do it? What's the worst that could happen? The entire system goes up for grabs? I doubt it. There've been years where we've ignored it and frankly, I'm thinking the energy savings aren't worth it. And since they've moved it from where it's been for what? Fifty years? The dates are all discombobulated. My car's GPS says I have to change the time. I keep telling her that she has to wait...
Yeesh. I'm gonna go read the Yarn Harlot. She always puts a smile on my face!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
What Bugs Me: Wednesday
There are just some things that bug the living daylights out of me. And some days I just have to get this off my chest.
1. "WE" never get pregnant. It's been women lo these many millenia. Men don't get pregnant. Men CONTRIBUTE to the process. But WE never get pregnant. Please stop using that cutesy phrase. It's annoying and biologically impossible.
2. President Obama has had a remarkable run on his "terrorist" agenda. He got bin Laden. He got Al Awlaki. He got Ghaddafi. Yet Republicans still insist he's "soft on terror." Wake up and smell the coffee, people! The rest of America can see this, even the blind Teabaggie folks. They just don't want to admit it.
3. The troops are being withdrawn on request. This is how it was always planned. THEY would tell US when they were ready. And apparently, they're ready. This is not a "monumental fail." This is the agreement. Apparently, Rick Perry and the rest of 'em don't get that Obama wants to ... stick to the agreement - go figure.
4. Who cares what Lindsey Lohan does?
5. There's not enough time to knit.
1. "WE" never get pregnant. It's been women lo these many millenia. Men don't get pregnant. Men CONTRIBUTE to the process. But WE never get pregnant. Please stop using that cutesy phrase. It's annoying and biologically impossible.
2. President Obama has had a remarkable run on his "terrorist" agenda. He got bin Laden. He got Al Awlaki. He got Ghaddafi. Yet Republicans still insist he's "soft on terror." Wake up and smell the coffee, people! The rest of America can see this, even the blind Teabaggie folks. They just don't want to admit it.
3. The troops are being withdrawn on request. This is how it was always planned. THEY would tell US when they were ready. And apparently, they're ready. This is not a "monumental fail." This is the agreement. Apparently, Rick Perry and the rest of 'em don't get that Obama wants to ... stick to the agreement - go figure.
4. Who cares what Lindsey Lohan does?
5. There's not enough time to knit.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
That Man is an Idiot.
I have not watched any of the Republican circus acts... Oh, sorry, I mean "debates." For one, I've had a really busy work cycle (and yes, I *am* glad I have a job!) and for another, I have only one television. It was my Grandma's.
For the snarky among you, yes, it's a color set. And yes, it works fine, thanks.
Anyway. If I watched the clown-show, I'd toss a shoe through the TV set. And I don't want to have to buy another one. This one works nicely, so I see no need to buy another.
I do, however, look at the internet, and I found the following story about Pizza-Guy Cain. I seriously think this man is an idiot, and I'm going to tell you why.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/herman-cain-unemployed_n_1018798.html
Mind you, this is the same kind of crowd that cheered the execution record of Rick Perry, said that it was ok for an uninsured person to just die, and who booed an active member of the military because he is gay...
However, I have a pepperoni to pick with the Pizza Guy. Actually, two of them. Here we go. I have 2 kids. Kid #1 is in his late 20s. He's in the trades. He's now (thankfully) employed full time, but he spent nearly 2 years in my basement because his former company laid him off due to a slow-down in the auto industry. THE AUTO INDUSTRY slow-down (just in case you didn't get it the first time you read it).
According to Pizza Guy, it's MY KID'S fault that he spent 2 years in my basement looking for work. Because, in Cain's World, "if you're unemployed, it's YOUR fault."
And here's my other beef...er, pepperoni... Kid #2 has recently graduated from college with an education degree. We live in Illinois. If you've followed the news at all, you realize that yet another of our idiot-governors (I think it's a job requirement, but I digress) brought the state to financial collapse and has been indicted and faces jail time. So the state's broke; taxes are high enough, thanks; corporations are leaving Illinois like rats off a sinking ship. Schools are NOT hiring.
According to Pizza Guy, it's MY KID'S fault that he can't find a job in a state where they aren't hiring teachers. Because, in Cain's World, "if you're unemployed, it's YOUR fault."
That man is an idiot. There's this thing in the real world called "The Market." And there's this other thing in the real world called "The Government." And when The Market PURCHASES The Government, thanks to Citizens United and SCOTUS, then things go totally screwy and the "Job Creators" do create jobs. Overseas.
Those jobs are jobs that US citizens used to do. But they don't now, because The Market found that their shareholders and CEOs get bigger checks if they ship the work overseas, making the US a place where we don't make anything anymore. Except for very rich CEOs and very big businesses which don't pay taxes here in the US.
And the people who do "service jobs" are now the fundamental evildoers in our society. That would be the teachers, nurses, firefighters, cops... you know - those who educate you, heal you and help you when you're in a jam. The people who are the backbone of a viable society. The people that the rich don't see.
Can you see the argument? Can you see that if you continue to blame people - the average person who's a worker-bee, not a CEO, not a stockholder, not a lobbyist or politician - but a real working person - you are a flaming idiot? You are blaming the wrong person - the wrong people - and you look stupid.
Pizza Guy is the latest clapper to ring the Republican Tea Party bell. Reason flies out the window just so he can be "the guy" that "the base" likes. Doesn't seem to matter that his arguments hold water just about as well as one of his pizzas.
For the snarky among you, yes, it's a color set. And yes, it works fine, thanks.
Anyway. If I watched the clown-show, I'd toss a shoe through the TV set. And I don't want to have to buy another one. This one works nicely, so I see no need to buy another.
I do, however, look at the internet, and I found the following story about Pizza-Guy Cain. I seriously think this man is an idiot, and I'm going to tell you why.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/herman-cain-unemployed_n_1018798.html
Mind you, this is the same kind of crowd that cheered the execution record of Rick Perry, said that it was ok for an uninsured person to just die, and who booed an active member of the military because he is gay...
However, I have a pepperoni to pick with the Pizza Guy. Actually, two of them. Here we go. I have 2 kids. Kid #1 is in his late 20s. He's in the trades. He's now (thankfully) employed full time, but he spent nearly 2 years in my basement because his former company laid him off due to a slow-down in the auto industry. THE AUTO INDUSTRY slow-down (just in case you didn't get it the first time you read it).
According to Pizza Guy, it's MY KID'S fault that he spent 2 years in my basement looking for work. Because, in Cain's World, "if you're unemployed, it's YOUR fault."
And here's my other beef...er, pepperoni... Kid #2 has recently graduated from college with an education degree. We live in Illinois. If you've followed the news at all, you realize that yet another of our idiot-governors (I think it's a job requirement, but I digress) brought the state to financial collapse and has been indicted and faces jail time. So the state's broke; taxes are high enough, thanks; corporations are leaving Illinois like rats off a sinking ship. Schools are NOT hiring.
According to Pizza Guy, it's MY KID'S fault that he can't find a job in a state where they aren't hiring teachers. Because, in Cain's World, "if you're unemployed, it's YOUR fault."
That man is an idiot. There's this thing in the real world called "The Market." And there's this other thing in the real world called "The Government." And when The Market PURCHASES The Government, thanks to Citizens United and SCOTUS, then things go totally screwy and the "Job Creators" do create jobs. Overseas.
Those jobs are jobs that US citizens used to do. But they don't now, because The Market found that their shareholders and CEOs get bigger checks if they ship the work overseas, making the US a place where we don't make anything anymore. Except for very rich CEOs and very big businesses which don't pay taxes here in the US.
And the people who do "service jobs" are now the fundamental evildoers in our society. That would be the teachers, nurses, firefighters, cops... you know - those who educate you, heal you and help you when you're in a jam. The people who are the backbone of a viable society. The people that the rich don't see.
Can you see the argument? Can you see that if you continue to blame people - the average person who's a worker-bee, not a CEO, not a stockholder, not a lobbyist or politician - but a real working person - you are a flaming idiot? You are blaming the wrong person - the wrong people - and you look stupid.
Pizza Guy is the latest clapper to ring the Republican Tea Party bell. Reason flies out the window just so he can be "the guy" that "the base" likes. Doesn't seem to matter that his arguments hold water just about as well as one of his pizzas.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
On Knitted Eggs and Too Much Time...
So the pysanky are not going well. I mean, they're not living up to what I'd like and so far, it doesn't look like they'll make the contest.
I looked up an egg pattern. Go to www.purlbee.com and search for it. They have adorable patterns, and also yummy yarns. Dream a bit...
I started Egg 1...luckily, I have friends who have "end bits" of sock yarn, and heck, at $16/ball, I'm happy to have the ends to work with. What would you do with them anyway? Knit rugs for doll houses? Not much demand for that.
Come to think of it, there's probably not much demand for knitted Easter eggs, either. Maybe only on my own little planet. Here's the first half of the first egg. You can see it tucked there next to the end bit of a ball of navy self-patterning sock yarn. And you can also see the gorgeous Kollage square DPNs I'm using.
I'm really liking them. I'm not too jazzed about picking up stitches, since the size 3s feel like toothpicks to me! The eggs are knitted in halves; you do the bottom half first and then pick up the stitches to complete the top half. They go quickly. As you can see, it's an itty-bitty thing, compared to socks. But then again, an egg isn't so big either!
So we're sitting at the LYS yesterday and they're asking me how the egg is coming along; I finished the first half (after having fiber-withdrawal all week because of an insanely busy schedule) at the shop and proceeded to pick up the stitches. Which I did wrong and did backwards. Frog, frog, frog.
Then we all got loopy. Talked about how if you just did the top half (see here), you could make a little "hat" for a softboiled egg, which would keep it warm till you ate it. Of course, then we talked about putting a pom-pom on it - because every good hat has a pom-pom on it. Then we talked about having egg holders with feet. That way, the egg has some character.
Beading; ribbing; little ear flaps. We were definitely stretching it. We had wayyyyyyy too much time to think about all this stuff! But it was funny to bounce the ideas around as 2 of our Friday Group looked at us as if we had just slipped one stitch too many! Maybe we had. As we chatted, we talked about the LYS owner, and she's doing remarkably well. She's recovering from lung cancer surgery, and the PET scan looks clean. We're all amazed at the power of prayer, and frankly - how lucky she is!
So here's a shot of the "scale" of the egg. Yes, it'll fit your average egg. When I get home today, I'll measure it on an egg in my fridge.
As you can see, that's my hand. Holding a square DPN. They were on sale at Patternworks (www.patternworks.com if you're interested). I bought some clearance yak yarn, too - making myself a cowl that I also found on the Purl Bee site.
The square needles are easy to hold, the stitches don't slip (well the first few I picked up did, but I have a very strange technique for doing that, so I wasn't shocked), and for such small - for me - needles, they are comfortable to use. I can easily see myself doing socks on these. They do come in a set of 5, but this project only needs 4 of them.
I have about 4 "ends" and they're all self-patterning, so I think I can get 7 eggs out of this yarn. The navy reminds me of the traditional pysanky, often dyed black, deep red or dark blue as the final color. There's an "Easter"-ish end bit, a red/pink/glittery bit, and a "Southwestern" type colorway. They'll be different!
And for what it's worth, the white chocolate bunny? We're up to the neck. Everything's coming along. This week, I'll probably give the pysanky one more chance. I have some smaller kitska (the apparatus you use to put the wax on) and I think that'll help refine the designs. One of these days, if they're good enough, I'll post a picture of them. So far, not so much.
I'll stick with knitting my eggs for how.
I looked up an egg pattern. Go to www.purlbee.com and search for it. They have adorable patterns, and also yummy yarns. Dream a bit...
I started Egg 1...luckily, I have friends who have "end bits" of sock yarn, and heck, at $16/ball, I'm happy to have the ends to work with. What would you do with them anyway? Knit rugs for doll houses? Not much demand for that.
I'm really liking them. I'm not too jazzed about picking up stitches, since the size 3s feel like toothpicks to me! The eggs are knitted in halves; you do the bottom half first and then pick up the stitches to complete the top half. They go quickly. As you can see, it's an itty-bitty thing, compared to socks. But then again, an egg isn't so big either!
So we're sitting at the LYS yesterday and they're asking me how the egg is coming along; I finished the first half (after having fiber-withdrawal all week because of an insanely busy schedule) at the shop and proceeded to pick up the stitches. Which I did wrong and did backwards. Frog, frog, frog.
 |
| Egg hat? |
Beading; ribbing; little ear flaps. We were definitely stretching it. We had wayyyyyyy too much time to think about all this stuff! But it was funny to bounce the ideas around as 2 of our Friday Group looked at us as if we had just slipped one stitch too many! Maybe we had. As we chatted, we talked about the LYS owner, and she's doing remarkably well. She's recovering from lung cancer surgery, and the PET scan looks clean. We're all amazed at the power of prayer, and frankly - how lucky she is!
 |
| Kollage Square DPNs |
As you can see, that's my hand. Holding a square DPN. They were on sale at Patternworks (www.patternworks.com if you're interested). I bought some clearance yak yarn, too - making myself a cowl that I also found on the Purl Bee site.
The square needles are easy to hold, the stitches don't slip (well the first few I picked up did, but I have a very strange technique for doing that, so I wasn't shocked), and for such small - for me - needles, they are comfortable to use. I can easily see myself doing socks on these. They do come in a set of 5, but this project only needs 4 of them.
I have about 4 "ends" and they're all self-patterning, so I think I can get 7 eggs out of this yarn. The navy reminds me of the traditional pysanky, often dyed black, deep red or dark blue as the final color. There's an "Easter"-ish end bit, a red/pink/glittery bit, and a "Southwestern" type colorway. They'll be different!
And for what it's worth, the white chocolate bunny? We're up to the neck. Everything's coming along. This week, I'll probably give the pysanky one more chance. I have some smaller kitska (the apparatus you use to put the wax on) and I think that'll help refine the designs. One of these days, if they're good enough, I'll post a picture of them. So far, not so much.
I'll stick with knitting my eggs for how.
Monday, October 03, 2011
What Project List??
I'll admit it. I'm an anal-retentive planner. I like lists. While I don't always FINISH (or start?) what's on the list, having the list makes me feel secure.
And I had a list. Now blown slightly sideways by a request of my mom's. She called me and said, "I have this picture - and I need to know if you can knit this because I need a scarf."
"What about the scarf I made you for Christmas last year?" I asked.
"It doesn't match my coat."
Ok. Well, she wasn't sure what yarn she wanted, but "I don't want wool - it itches." So I told her to come to the LYS and she could feel the yarn and figure out what she wanted. Only caveat was that "I don't do mohair" because if you've ever knitted with that and had a mistake, you will know exactly what I mean. It's expensive. Lovely. A bugger to take apart if you've made a mistake. And anyway, it can itch. I'm not spending that kind of money and time if "it itches" and the scarf never gets worn!
She came to the shop and talked to her friend. They went around and petted the yarn. I looked at the picture. It's from a catalog - where you can buy this thing. It's sort of a cowl, but not really. It's crocheted in cotton. And it's holey. As in "how does this thing possibly keep your neck warm??" holey.
After they cruised the shop, she picked this:
It's wool. Seriously, can you believe this? I was laughing because she told her friend, "I don't do wool - it itches."
Her friend said, "That's because you've only seen crappy wool."
This is Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash - find it at www.cascadeyarns.com and check out color number 817, dye lot 6974. It's a gorgeous creamy white that has "snow" tones not some of the "cream-to-beige" tones you can sometimes see. The yarn is 100% superwash and has a lovely hand to it. It was around $10 at the LYS (I got the only ball without a price tag on it!) and it's 220 yards - wayyyyyyyy long enough to do this.
So click on the picture and see what I've done. The original pattern was in a double-crochet. I didn't like it. I'm doing something called "Urchin Stitch" using a size N crochet hook.
The "Urchin Stitch" is from The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery by Mildred Graves Ryan. It's old. Like, older than Kid #1... so we're talking a book that's nearly 30 years old and still something I reference when I want to look up a stitch for a project.
The Urchin Stitch is super-easy. Google it and see what you can find, since I don't want the copyright police coming after me. It's a no-brain, crochet while you wait, crochet while you're bored, almost don't have to look at it kind of pattern.
The original cowl had a button. My mom says she has a button, so I'll just crochet along, wedging this in between the White Chocolate Bunny, the blueberry tee shirt (that almost has one side done and I was planning to wear yet this fall), and the baby afghan I have to start for a March baby. And the knitted Easter eggs I'm trying to get to just in case the pysanky don't work out! And I still have "wristers" that the kids want me to make, since they both have really long arms, and these wristers can be an "addition" to the gloves (why don't they make mens' gloves with longer wrists?).
It'll all get done. It'll all get done. It'll all get done.
And I had a list. Now blown slightly sideways by a request of my mom's. She called me and said, "I have this picture - and I need to know if you can knit this because I need a scarf."
"What about the scarf I made you for Christmas last year?" I asked.
"It doesn't match my coat."
Ok. Well, she wasn't sure what yarn she wanted, but "I don't want wool - it itches." So I told her to come to the LYS and she could feel the yarn and figure out what she wanted. Only caveat was that "I don't do mohair" because if you've ever knitted with that and had a mistake, you will know exactly what I mean. It's expensive. Lovely. A bugger to take apart if you've made a mistake. And anyway, it can itch. I'm not spending that kind of money and time if "it itches" and the scarf never gets worn!
She came to the shop and talked to her friend. They went around and petted the yarn. I looked at the picture. It's from a catalog - where you can buy this thing. It's sort of a cowl, but not really. It's crocheted in cotton. And it's holey. As in "how does this thing possibly keep your neck warm??" holey.
 |
| Start of the crochet sorta-cowl |
It's wool. Seriously, can you believe this? I was laughing because she told her friend, "I don't do wool - it itches."
Her friend said, "That's because you've only seen crappy wool."
This is Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash - find it at www.cascadeyarns.com and check out color number 817, dye lot 6974. It's a gorgeous creamy white that has "snow" tones not some of the "cream-to-beige" tones you can sometimes see. The yarn is 100% superwash and has a lovely hand to it. It was around $10 at the LYS (I got the only ball without a price tag on it!) and it's 220 yards - wayyyyyyyy long enough to do this.
So click on the picture and see what I've done. The original pattern was in a double-crochet. I didn't like it. I'm doing something called "Urchin Stitch" using a size N crochet hook.
The "Urchin Stitch" is from The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery by Mildred Graves Ryan. It's old. Like, older than Kid #1... so we're talking a book that's nearly 30 years old and still something I reference when I want to look up a stitch for a project.
The Urchin Stitch is super-easy. Google it and see what you can find, since I don't want the copyright police coming after me. It's a no-brain, crochet while you wait, crochet while you're bored, almost don't have to look at it kind of pattern.
The original cowl had a button. My mom says she has a button, so I'll just crochet along, wedging this in between the White Chocolate Bunny, the blueberry tee shirt (that almost has one side done and I was planning to wear yet this fall), and the baby afghan I have to start for a March baby. And the knitted Easter eggs I'm trying to get to just in case the pysanky don't work out! And I still have "wristers" that the kids want me to make, since they both have really long arms, and these wristers can be an "addition" to the gloves (why don't they make mens' gloves with longer wrists?).
It'll all get done. It'll all get done. It'll all get done.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Bunnies!
Bunnies, you say? What???
Ok, so there's this contest we have at work. If you create something (music, art, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc.) you can enter it to have it judged and if they like it, you get published in the Magazine. The BIG PRIZES get money.
I won last year, but I got a certificate. So this year, I wracked my brain and I came up with something unique.
Y'all know I knit. So I figured that since the theme this year was "food" I could knit food! But not just any food. No cupcakes, no lobsters, no wedding cakes, no hamburgers. And if you think I'm kidding, just go search for "knitted lobster" or any of the other things I just mentioned. Knitted pizza? Seriously. But no thanks.
I found a "chocolate bunny" to knit. Here's where I found him: Blah, Blah, Blahhhg: Knitted Chocolate Easter Bunny Pattern. http://ax174.blogspot.com/2006/04/chococlate-bunny-pattern.html - and yes, I spelled it exactly how the link looks on my paper.
I thought about the bunnies I have received. And I always liked the white chocolate bunnies the best. But I know there are 3 kinds of chocolate: dark, milk, and white. The foodies will tell you that "white chocolate" isn't really chocolate since there's no cocoa in it. But that's ok. Here are the yarns I picked:
At about 11 o'clock, the "milk" chocolate is Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends, color 16013, "Earth." It's leftover from a prayer shawl we did for a friend, and it's a blend. It's 65% acrylic, 30% nylon and a mere 5% cashmere. Not sure how they get "Cashmere" right up there at the front of the name, but it doesn't matter. The yarn will make a nice "milk chocolate" bunny.
At about 2 o'clock, the "dark" chocolate is Bernat Satin, color 04013, Mocha. This is a lovely 100% acrylic, and right below the hank, you see the bottom of the dark chocolate bunny. Size 6 DPNs.
At about 8 o'clock, you will see Stitch Nation (Debbie Stoller) "Full O' Sheep" which is a gorgeous 100% Peruvian wool that is almost "roving" in texture. The color, coincidentally, is "Little Lamb." I bought this just because it was on sale. But it's really a stunning yarn. It's so soft that it makes Cascade feel rough. Take a look at these shots. You'll see that there's barely any twist to this.
The pattern calls for using needles smaller than the yarn label indicates, so that it's a tight fiber. Look at this close-up shot; you'll see that this white bunny will be plenty tight!
I've just started the white one; and I have to tell you that though I am no speed-knitter, this little stinker works up quite quickly. I did the dark chocolate one in just a few days. With the texture of this yarn, though, I may go a little slower so I don't pierce the fiber with the needles. Once you get the stitches picked up, you just knit. You're in the round so it's all a lovely Stockinette Stitch without even having to think.
There's some shaping in the form of making the body and then tapering the ears, but seriously, there is NO SEAM on this bunny after you graft the ears. I used a Kitchener stitch for that, but if you've got a better grafting technique, by all means: go for it! The instructions just say: graft ears together.
So. The accessories. If you check out the pattern (and no, I don't know if the link is still alive), you will see that the creator recommends embroidering the eyes. I could certainly see this if you were going to give this as a baby toy.
Since I'm using it as a strictly decorative item, here's what my bunny looks like. Isn't he cute?? I used some old shirt buttons I had, and then some lilac sheer ribbon, since I remember my bunnies coming with a bow.
Here's a hint: Start stuffing WELL before the pattern tells you because the neck is really, really narrow. I started right about his belly button.
And here's another hint: I used about 1/2" of pony beads at the very bottom. That gives him a little stability, because you bounce him lightly to make sure his bottom is flat, and with the beads, he stands right up.
So for the white chocolate bunny, I might just use regular snaps...no sewing! The eyes don't need to be embroidered or tightened down, because the bunnies will be sitting on a doily.
The other thing I'm thinking of adding: about 7 pysanky, Ukrainian Easter Eggs. See here for more information on those lovelies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka
For the record, no. Mine aren't that pretty. And if I can't make them look like I've done them actually with HANDS instead of FEET, then I may skip that part. Heck, I can always KNIT Easter eggs!
Ok, so there's this contest we have at work. If you create something (music, art, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc.) you can enter it to have it judged and if they like it, you get published in the Magazine. The BIG PRIZES get money.
I won last year, but I got a certificate. So this year, I wracked my brain and I came up with something unique.
Y'all know I knit. So I figured that since the theme this year was "food" I could knit food! But not just any food. No cupcakes, no lobsters, no wedding cakes, no hamburgers. And if you think I'm kidding, just go search for "knitted lobster" or any of the other things I just mentioned. Knitted pizza? Seriously. But no thanks.
I found a "chocolate bunny" to knit. Here's where I found him: Blah, Blah, Blahhhg: Knitted Chocolate Easter Bunny Pattern. http://ax174.blogspot.com/2006/04/chococlate-bunny-pattern.html - and yes, I spelled it exactly how the link looks on my paper.
I thought about the bunnies I have received. And I always liked the white chocolate bunnies the best. But I know there are 3 kinds of chocolate: dark, milk, and white. The foodies will tell you that "white chocolate" isn't really chocolate since there's no cocoa in it. But that's ok. Here are the yarns I picked:
 |
| Bunny yarn |
At about 2 o'clock, the "dark" chocolate is Bernat Satin, color 04013, Mocha. This is a lovely 100% acrylic, and right below the hank, you see the bottom of the dark chocolate bunny. Size 6 DPNs.
The pattern calls for using needles smaller than the yarn label indicates, so that it's a tight fiber. Look at this close-up shot; you'll see that this white bunny will be plenty tight!
 |
| Check out the ply here! |
There's some shaping in the form of making the body and then tapering the ears, but seriously, there is NO SEAM on this bunny after you graft the ears. I used a Kitchener stitch for that, but if you've got a better grafting technique, by all means: go for it! The instructions just say: graft ears together.
So. The accessories. If you check out the pattern (and no, I don't know if the link is still alive), you will see that the creator recommends embroidering the eyes. I could certainly see this if you were going to give this as a baby toy.
Here's a hint: Start stuffing WELL before the pattern tells you because the neck is really, really narrow. I started right about his belly button.
And here's another hint: I used about 1/2" of pony beads at the very bottom. That gives him a little stability, because you bounce him lightly to make sure his bottom is flat, and with the beads, he stands right up.
So for the white chocolate bunny, I might just use regular snaps...no sewing! The eyes don't need to be embroidered or tightened down, because the bunnies will be sitting on a doily.
The other thing I'm thinking of adding: about 7 pysanky, Ukrainian Easter Eggs. See here for more information on those lovelies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka
For the record, no. Mine aren't that pretty. And if I can't make them look like I've done them actually with HANDS instead of FEET, then I may skip that part. Heck, I can always KNIT Easter eggs!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Violation of "fairness" or pre-emptive "screening" to avoid hurt feelings?
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Facts Sometimes Hurt...
So at the revival meeting for St. Ronald of Reagan the other night (otherwise known as one of the first Republican candidate debates), the various Republican candidates were trying to "make like Ronnie" and prove who could out-Gipper the Gipper.
Let's see -- most of the chatter actually seemed to be at cross purposes because you can't channel the Gipper AND claim loyalty to the tea party, which is actually a very small percentage of the Republican party. And "real" Republicans are now - or should be - trying to pour oil on the tea to calm the zealots down. If they ever want to win something, it won't be on the attributes of the screaming wing-nuts. Just because they're noisy doesn't mean they're great in numbers. Luckily, most people are more moderate - we hope!
The Chicago Tribune, never a liberal bastion of journalism (at least in my memory) had an interesting article on September 7, entitled Revisionism at odds with reality. Go figure, the Repubs are re-writing the Gospel of St. Ron...
Here are the facts in the actual Gospel, all of which have been overlooked as the various candidates jockey for position and attempt to re-write history to fit their own purposes:
1. Reagan approved several tax increases to deal with a huge budget deficit. Haven't we been told repeatedly that tax increases don't "create jobs"? And that the only way to balance the budget is to CUT taxes? Hmmmmmm. Math, anyone?
2. Reagan repeatedly boosted the nation's debt limit which is quite the 'no-no' for this current crop of legislators.
3. Reagan signed an amnesty law aiding millions (yes, MILLIONS) of illegal immigrants and you know how Republicans feel about "illegals." Particularly the brown ones.
4. Reagan oversaw an increase in the size and spending of the federal government which is also "against the rules" because any good Republican knows that "big government is bad." Which makes you wonder why Rick Perry is asking for FEDERAL aid for the Texas wildfires. I thought that the poor and unfortunate were supposed to "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" when they had troubles, and not look to the big government to help 'em out. How's that workin' for ya, Rick??
5. Reagan, as governor of California, enacted the largest (at the time) state tax increase in American history. Almost makes Pat Quinn in Illinois look like a piker.
6. Reagan signed into law one of the most permissive abortion laws of any state. And we all know that to Republicans, a fetus is important. A child? Not so much. But God Save the Fetus!!
The article goes on to state, "Reagan's willingness to compromise also has fallen badly out of favor in a Republican Party fired by its give-no-quarter ranks of tea party loyalists."
I would like to think that, since in his favor he was rather a pragmatist, he wouldn't have fallen prey to the tea party blathering. The final quote in the article says it all:
"I don't think...you should cherry-pick history."
Kinda sums up the entire Republican strategy, doesn't it?
Let's see -- most of the chatter actually seemed to be at cross purposes because you can't channel the Gipper AND claim loyalty to the tea party, which is actually a very small percentage of the Republican party. And "real" Republicans are now - or should be - trying to pour oil on the tea to calm the zealots down. If they ever want to win something, it won't be on the attributes of the screaming wing-nuts. Just because they're noisy doesn't mean they're great in numbers. Luckily, most people are more moderate - we hope!
The Chicago Tribune, never a liberal bastion of journalism (at least in my memory) had an interesting article on September 7, entitled Revisionism at odds with reality. Go figure, the Repubs are re-writing the Gospel of St. Ron...
Here are the facts in the actual Gospel, all of which have been overlooked as the various candidates jockey for position and attempt to re-write history to fit their own purposes:
1. Reagan approved several tax increases to deal with a huge budget deficit. Haven't we been told repeatedly that tax increases don't "create jobs"? And that the only way to balance the budget is to CUT taxes? Hmmmmmm. Math, anyone?
2. Reagan repeatedly boosted the nation's debt limit which is quite the 'no-no' for this current crop of legislators.
3. Reagan signed an amnesty law aiding millions (yes, MILLIONS) of illegal immigrants and you know how Republicans feel about "illegals." Particularly the brown ones.
4. Reagan oversaw an increase in the size and spending of the federal government which is also "against the rules" because any good Republican knows that "big government is bad." Which makes you wonder why Rick Perry is asking for FEDERAL aid for the Texas wildfires. I thought that the poor and unfortunate were supposed to "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" when they had troubles, and not look to the big government to help 'em out. How's that workin' for ya, Rick??
5. Reagan, as governor of California, enacted the largest (at the time) state tax increase in American history. Almost makes Pat Quinn in Illinois look like a piker.
6. Reagan signed into law one of the most permissive abortion laws of any state. And we all know that to Republicans, a fetus is important. A child? Not so much. But God Save the Fetus!!
The article goes on to state, "Reagan's willingness to compromise also has fallen badly out of favor in a Republican Party fired by its give-no-quarter ranks of tea party loyalists."
I would like to think that, since in his favor he was rather a pragmatist, he wouldn't have fallen prey to the tea party blathering. The final quote in the article says it all:
"I don't think...you should cherry-pick history."
Kinda sums up the entire Republican strategy, doesn't it?
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Here's the Lap Robe...
Ok, remember a few posts back where I showed my pillow for my LYS owner? Well, I saw the finished lap robe.
So it's a bit bigger than a lap robe. The person who put it together went a little crazy with the crocheted border. And she put one square in backwards. It had a cable - it was easy to see but apparently, she missed it. Oh well - there's not much anyone can do about it.
Here's a picture of it:
As you can see, it's quite extravagant. The entire thing is in Cascade superwash wool. I love that the white and cream blocks anchor the entire blanket. I'm not sure that the cream was a good idea to do the connecting and border, but I can say, if you click on the picture, the detail in the border really pops in that color.
I love the top right square with the "sweater in the square" theme. And the grey one in the middle is fun, with its abstract design.
Each square rather reflects the person who knitted it.
They're giving it to her in the next 10 days or so, and I'll probably miss that - but I took the picture before it was blocked, just so we could print the thing and have the photo on the "picture board" in the shop.
This throw is the essence of "crazy" because while everyone picked from 2 main pattern books, there was no organizing of the squares - it's not like everyone said, "Well, let's all do cable variations." The squares are the representation of the knitter's ability and that's what's cool about it.
As a reminder, here's a shot of my pillow. I understand that one or two others are making pillows, which is a great idea.
The pillows can be under her arm if she's having an IV treatment; they can be at the small of her back, or under her knees if she wants.
And EVERYTHING is washable!
When you think about this, the warmth of the objects is magnified by the affection with which they were knitted. We didn't have them "blessed" like you would a traditional prayer shawl or afghan, but I think that the "blessings" accrued in the knitting and organization of the project.
Often, when a group of women have been together a while, things get so comfy that we can get ourselves into pickles without realizing it. That just happened at the shop, at a time when we should all be pulling together.
This project was an example of the pulling together. We don't always get along: we're human! And there are spats: disagreements, political stuff (which really shouldn't be discussed when you've got sharp sticks and scissors!), family squabbles that create strong opinions.
But we set that all aside. We had a 2-week window to get the project done. And we did it.
That's a blessing indeed.
So it's a bit bigger than a lap robe. The person who put it together went a little crazy with the crocheted border. And she put one square in backwards. It had a cable - it was easy to see but apparently, she missed it. Oh well - there's not much anyone can do about it.
 |
| Completed chemo throw |
As you can see, it's quite extravagant. The entire thing is in Cascade superwash wool. I love that the white and cream blocks anchor the entire blanket. I'm not sure that the cream was a good idea to do the connecting and border, but I can say, if you click on the picture, the detail in the border really pops in that color.
I love the top right square with the "sweater in the square" theme. And the grey one in the middle is fun, with its abstract design.
Each square rather reflects the person who knitted it.
They're giving it to her in the next 10 days or so, and I'll probably miss that - but I took the picture before it was blocked, just so we could print the thing and have the photo on the "picture board" in the shop.
This throw is the essence of "crazy" because while everyone picked from 2 main pattern books, there was no organizing of the squares - it's not like everyone said, "Well, let's all do cable variations." The squares are the representation of the knitter's ability and that's what's cool about it.
 |
| The pillow |
The pillows can be under her arm if she's having an IV treatment; they can be at the small of her back, or under her knees if she wants.
And EVERYTHING is washable!
When you think about this, the warmth of the objects is magnified by the affection with which they were knitted. We didn't have them "blessed" like you would a traditional prayer shawl or afghan, but I think that the "blessings" accrued in the knitting and organization of the project.
Often, when a group of women have been together a while, things get so comfy that we can get ourselves into pickles without realizing it. That just happened at the shop, at a time when we should all be pulling together.
This project was an example of the pulling together. We don't always get along: we're human! And there are spats: disagreements, political stuff (which really shouldn't be discussed when you've got sharp sticks and scissors!), family squabbles that create strong opinions.
But we set that all aside. We had a 2-week window to get the project done. And we did it.
That's a blessing indeed.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Not Quite There...
...but close.
I'm talking about US District Judge Sam Sparks, who struck down a key provision in Texas' new law requiring doctors to perform sonograms before abortions, ruling that the measure "violates the free speech rights of both doctors and patients."
Well. Almost good. He didn't strike down the provision ENTIRELY. So doctors apparently are still required to do the sonograms. However, Judge Sparks has determined that the doctors are not required to abide by the provision that they must describe the image to the patients and requiring the women to hear the descriptions.
OK, first off. That's barbaric. And please don't come back and tell me "abortion is barbaric." Having a baby you don't WANT is barbaric. Having to listen to a doctor describe the images on a sonongram while you're laying there waiting for the perfectly legal procedure to begin? It's like a doctor telling you the exact procedure he or she will perform to take out your appendix, which is swollen and ready to burst, and when it bursts, it will spill toxic juices into your core, and those juices will affect every single organ in your body, and the entire system will be slowly and painfully poisoned. And often, there's not much they can do about it once it's burst, in spite of all the medical advances. Sometimes, even in 2011, you still die of a burst appendix.
There's "informed consent" and then there's "deliberate cruelty" - and Texas has followed too many states into the "deliberate cruelty" area when they try to overturn Roe v. Wade, which is the law of the land.
While an unwanted pregnancy isn't toxic, the woman who makes the decision to have the abortion has already gone through enough grief. She has made a difficult decision and doesn't need to be badgered by a doctor, when said doctor is performing a perfectly legal medical procedure.
So, if I get Botox, is the doctor going to make me look at pictures of botched Botox jobs? Will the doctor describe in excruciating detail what could happen if he or she didn't do her job correctly?
If I have any other perfectly legal medical procedure, I am required to sign a waiver that indicates that I have been advised of everything that could go wrong. And I've had enough surgeries to know that being knocked out could cause problems; the surgery could be complicated; the surgery could affect other things such as (in the case of my hand surgeries) future mobility, etc. All of that I know.
But the Texas law, like those other state laws that have been coming quickly across the nation, seeks to do something else. It seeks to reduce women to second-class citizenship. It seeks to deprive us of control of our own bodies. It seeks to render us "permanently labeled" and the label resembles Hester Prynne's scarlet letter.
Sparks wrote that forcing doctors to discuss the sonograms "compels physicians to advance an ideological agenda with which they may not agree..." Well, happy day. Someone finally has figured out that not everyone sees the issue of abortion in the same way the right wing uber-nut jobs do.
It is a perfectly legal procedure. Period. It's the law of the land. And part of the Texas law that is the most distasteful (actually, ALL of it is distasteful)? In order to get out of having to listen to your doctor, you would sign a piece of paper saying your pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, or that the fetus had a "irreversible abnormality."
And this paper is part of your permanent medical record. Nice, huh? Let's just call any woman who desires a perfectly legal medical procedure a slut, a whore, or any other pejorative word that demeans her own ability to make decisions about her own body.
Of course Rick Perry is very mad. The state of Texas is appealing. Perry says that "every live lost to abortion is a tragedy." Ok, where's your solution? Where's your support for the woman, who may have a child who is irreversibly damaged? (It happens -- look at the conjoined twins in Chicago recently who were born to a 20-year-old single mother -- and who lived 18 months in a hospital, at a cost of millions of dollars.) What about the woman who's had a child and is unable to support it?
Under Perry's logic, that woman should just "pull herself up and make it work" because of course he HAS no solution. There's no strong plan out there by any of the right wing uber-nut jobs to help a woman once the "fetus" is a "baby."
After it's born, they want nothing to do with the woman who had a child out of the holy state of wedlock (if that's the case). And if she's had more children than she and her husband can support because they can't get or can't afford birth control? Well, that would be THEIR problem. Not the state's. The state which is gradually stripping women of all of their human rights. The state where, if Republicans have their way, you'd have no social support system. No food stamps; no welfare; no heating assistance (it does get cold in Texas); no housing subsidies.
This is the state with the governor who wanted to secede from the Union. If this is how he plans to run the country? Go ahead and secede. We don't want you here. And women certainly don't want you in the White House. Women with brains, that is.
I'm talking about US District Judge Sam Sparks, who struck down a key provision in Texas' new law requiring doctors to perform sonograms before abortions, ruling that the measure "violates the free speech rights of both doctors and patients."
Well. Almost good. He didn't strike down the provision ENTIRELY. So doctors apparently are still required to do the sonograms. However, Judge Sparks has determined that the doctors are not required to abide by the provision that they must describe the image to the patients and requiring the women to hear the descriptions.
OK, first off. That's barbaric. And please don't come back and tell me "abortion is barbaric." Having a baby you don't WANT is barbaric. Having to listen to a doctor describe the images on a sonongram while you're laying there waiting for the perfectly legal procedure to begin? It's like a doctor telling you the exact procedure he or she will perform to take out your appendix, which is swollen and ready to burst, and when it bursts, it will spill toxic juices into your core, and those juices will affect every single organ in your body, and the entire system will be slowly and painfully poisoned. And often, there's not much they can do about it once it's burst, in spite of all the medical advances. Sometimes, even in 2011, you still die of a burst appendix.
There's "informed consent" and then there's "deliberate cruelty" - and Texas has followed too many states into the "deliberate cruelty" area when they try to overturn Roe v. Wade, which is the law of the land.
While an unwanted pregnancy isn't toxic, the woman who makes the decision to have the abortion has already gone through enough grief. She has made a difficult decision and doesn't need to be badgered by a doctor, when said doctor is performing a perfectly legal medical procedure.
So, if I get Botox, is the doctor going to make me look at pictures of botched Botox jobs? Will the doctor describe in excruciating detail what could happen if he or she didn't do her job correctly?
If I have any other perfectly legal medical procedure, I am required to sign a waiver that indicates that I have been advised of everything that could go wrong. And I've had enough surgeries to know that being knocked out could cause problems; the surgery could be complicated; the surgery could affect other things such as (in the case of my hand surgeries) future mobility, etc. All of that I know.
But the Texas law, like those other state laws that have been coming quickly across the nation, seeks to do something else. It seeks to reduce women to second-class citizenship. It seeks to deprive us of control of our own bodies. It seeks to render us "permanently labeled" and the label resembles Hester Prynne's scarlet letter.
Sparks wrote that forcing doctors to discuss the sonograms "compels physicians to advance an ideological agenda with which they may not agree..." Well, happy day. Someone finally has figured out that not everyone sees the issue of abortion in the same way the right wing uber-nut jobs do.
It is a perfectly legal procedure. Period. It's the law of the land. And part of the Texas law that is the most distasteful (actually, ALL of it is distasteful)? In order to get out of having to listen to your doctor, you would sign a piece of paper saying your pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, or that the fetus had a "irreversible abnormality."
And this paper is part of your permanent medical record. Nice, huh? Let's just call any woman who desires a perfectly legal medical procedure a slut, a whore, or any other pejorative word that demeans her own ability to make decisions about her own body.
Of course Rick Perry is very mad. The state of Texas is appealing. Perry says that "every live lost to abortion is a tragedy." Ok, where's your solution? Where's your support for the woman, who may have a child who is irreversibly damaged? (It happens -- look at the conjoined twins in Chicago recently who were born to a 20-year-old single mother -- and who lived 18 months in a hospital, at a cost of millions of dollars.) What about the woman who's had a child and is unable to support it?
Under Perry's logic, that woman should just "pull herself up and make it work" because of course he HAS no solution. There's no strong plan out there by any of the right wing uber-nut jobs to help a woman once the "fetus" is a "baby."
After it's born, they want nothing to do with the woman who had a child out of the holy state of wedlock (if that's the case). And if she's had more children than she and her husband can support because they can't get or can't afford birth control? Well, that would be THEIR problem. Not the state's. The state which is gradually stripping women of all of their human rights. The state where, if Republicans have their way, you'd have no social support system. No food stamps; no welfare; no heating assistance (it does get cold in Texas); no housing subsidies.
This is the state with the governor who wanted to secede from the Union. If this is how he plans to run the country? Go ahead and secede. We don't want you here. And women certainly don't want you in the White House. Women with brains, that is.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
I Write About Knitting Because...
...at the moment, it's easier than writing about politics and how screwed up this country is.
Scary Perry, Batty Bachmann, people going off on Obama for a vacation (he's taken less vacation than Shrub, by the way. Look it up.), and an economy where the rich WANT to pay more taxes and the Republicans think that "job creators" deserve tax breaks while people at poverty level "need to pay their fair share..."
That's why I'm writing about knitting. Sometimes, you need to bury your head in your stash and look at the fact that you are able to afford this hobby and you have the ability to create something beautiful with sticks and string.
Which is what I think I'm doing right now. I'm knitting another project, and this one has a reasonable chance of getting done in time for me to wear it in late summer! It's a pattern from Knit One Crochet Too called Tee for Two, pattern number 1652. If you can get your LYS to order it, please do! It's for "advanced beginners" and it's a lovely little tee shirt. Please order from your LYS so that they can stay in business and be your local yarn COMMUNITY. It's kind of like the bookstores. I love my online bookstore, and I have ordered yarn from a number of online retailers.
But I wouldn't give up my LYS for anything; even though she doesn't have the "vast and unlimited stock" of an online store, we have a community, and as a small-business owner in our larger community, she deserves our support.
I'm doing it in the Ty Dy cotton. See here: it's called "Blueberry" and it's 100% cotton. The label says hand wash, but there are about 4 gals at the LYS who've made this and one does toss hers in the wash machine.
I figure that I have a gentle cycle, so even if I do that part, I can put it on a drying rack to dry.
You can see the luscious colors I've got here. The cotton has several colorways and this pattern takes advantage of the way the colors lay out.
One of the gals (the one who tosses hers in the wash) has altered this design to give her 3/4 length sleeves. I'm adding a few inches to the sleeve, but that's only because my office is always cold! You knit the front and back panels, then pick up stitches on either side and stitch the sides and sleeves. Seaming up the side and you're done.
Here's a shot of the front panel; I have about 3 rows to finish it. You can see that the bottom has that big whack of pale blue on it. I'm thinking of breaking open another ball and starting the back panel with that same big swath of blue.
Yes, that's a little nit-picky. But when the rest of the world seems like it's going down the Big Crapper, it's nice to think that at least my knitting is something I can control!
Click on the photo to enlarge it; it rolls because it's all stockinette stitch, but once you pick up the stitches, you see the whole thing lay much nicer.
I was looking at the design, and it called for a cable cast on; well, I lengthened it. It's a cropped shirt, and there's NOTHING on my belly that needs to see the light of day, thank you!! So I added 2" to the bottom. That necessitated me using a long-tail cast on because it's more elastic than the cable cast on. So, as I was looking at the cable cast-on directions in my knitting reference book, I noted that the author said, "when I use long tail, I make my first row a purl row so that the cast-on edge lays flatter."
Well. Okey-dokey. I did that. And you know what? It doesn't curl nearly as bad as my stockinette hat did! Look at the bottom of that photo: it's darned-near flat!
Reading. Gotta love it! Had I not been dithering about that cast-on, I'd have missed that portion of the book and I probably would've been muttering about the "%&$* rolled edge" as I went on.
Of course, picking up and knitting the sides? That forces the front and back panels to lay flatter anyway, because the sides are knitted long-wise. The whole thing is very "painterly" and is a sweater that's easily 3-season-wear. And I can seriously think about making it in Ty Dy wool, or in a more autumnal colorway. Or even my favorite Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton - where I could use solids and take advantage of the texture of the yarn itself and that gorgeous sheen that this yarn has.
Please patronize your local yarn stores. Please knit. It's very calming. In a nerve-wracking environment, knitting is like mental yoga. It's something we can hang onto, it creates garments and useful things. And it keeps us centered.
Scary Perry, Batty Bachmann, people going off on Obama for a vacation (he's taken less vacation than Shrub, by the way. Look it up.), and an economy where the rich WANT to pay more taxes and the Republicans think that "job creators" deserve tax breaks while people at poverty level "need to pay their fair share..."
That's why I'm writing about knitting. Sometimes, you need to bury your head in your stash and look at the fact that you are able to afford this hobby and you have the ability to create something beautiful with sticks and string.
Which is what I think I'm doing right now. I'm knitting another project, and this one has a reasonable chance of getting done in time for me to wear it in late summer! It's a pattern from Knit One Crochet Too called Tee for Two, pattern number 1652. If you can get your LYS to order it, please do! It's for "advanced beginners" and it's a lovely little tee shirt. Please order from your LYS so that they can stay in business and be your local yarn COMMUNITY. It's kind of like the bookstores. I love my online bookstore, and I have ordered yarn from a number of online retailers.
But I wouldn't give up my LYS for anything; even though she doesn't have the "vast and unlimited stock" of an online store, we have a community, and as a small-business owner in our larger community, she deserves our support.
 |
| Color 631, Lot 187 |
I figure that I have a gentle cycle, so even if I do that part, I can put it on a drying rack to dry.
You can see the luscious colors I've got here. The cotton has several colorways and this pattern takes advantage of the way the colors lay out.
One of the gals (the one who tosses hers in the wash) has altered this design to give her 3/4 length sleeves. I'm adding a few inches to the sleeve, but that's only because my office is always cold! You knit the front and back panels, then pick up stitches on either side and stitch the sides and sleeves. Seaming up the side and you're done.
 |
| Front panel |
Yes, that's a little nit-picky. But when the rest of the world seems like it's going down the Big Crapper, it's nice to think that at least my knitting is something I can control!
Click on the photo to enlarge it; it rolls because it's all stockinette stitch, but once you pick up the stitches, you see the whole thing lay much nicer.
I was looking at the design, and it called for a cable cast on; well, I lengthened it. It's a cropped shirt, and there's NOTHING on my belly that needs to see the light of day, thank you!! So I added 2" to the bottom. That necessitated me using a long-tail cast on because it's more elastic than the cable cast on. So, as I was looking at the cable cast-on directions in my knitting reference book, I noted that the author said, "when I use long tail, I make my first row a purl row so that the cast-on edge lays flatter."
Well. Okey-dokey. I did that. And you know what? It doesn't curl nearly as bad as my stockinette hat did! Look at the bottom of that photo: it's darned-near flat!
Reading. Gotta love it! Had I not been dithering about that cast-on, I'd have missed that portion of the book and I probably would've been muttering about the "%&$* rolled edge" as I went on.
Of course, picking up and knitting the sides? That forces the front and back panels to lay flatter anyway, because the sides are knitted long-wise. The whole thing is very "painterly" and is a sweater that's easily 3-season-wear. And I can seriously think about making it in Ty Dy wool, or in a more autumnal colorway. Or even my favorite Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton - where I could use solids and take advantage of the texture of the yarn itself and that gorgeous sheen that this yarn has.
Please patronize your local yarn stores. Please knit. It's very calming. In a nerve-wracking environment, knitting is like mental yoga. It's something we can hang onto, it creates garments and useful things. And it keeps us centered.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Making of a Pillow...
I can't remember who I've told what, so I'll start from the beginning.
Unfortunately, our LYS owner (LYS = Local Yarn Store for the un-knitterly crowd) was diagnosed with a melanoma that had spread. She had originally sought treatment for what she was told was a sinus infection.
The sinus infection got so bad that she was losing feeling on her left side...never a good sign! So they rushed her to the ER with "the worst headache ever" and they found 2 brain tumors, plus a spot on her lung (she's a smoker).
The brain tumors were taken out and they're not really worrying about the spot on the lung now, because there were actually FOUR brain tumors, but two were quite small and they thought they could zap them with radiation.
That has not turned out to be the case. Soooooooooooo. To help her out, those of us in the LYS community at her shop have all been pitching in to do what we can. Some are working in the shop; others come in to provide a bathroom break for those manning the register, or to sit with folks and help newbies, etc.
And to honor our friend, we had the great idea to make a lap robe for her. She didn't want a full afghan. There were already 12 knitters for the squares, taken from a "Great American Afghan" book (I can't cite the source because I don't have the book). Anyway, some of us thought we'd make pillows. Just little 12" squares for her to use at chemo or at home when her neck ached or she needed back support.
We are all using Cascade 22o superwash wool. Here's what I started:
As you can see, it's 2 balls. The actual squares take 1 ball, but I figured for a pillow, you do need 2 sides! I'd rather have a knitted pillow than put a knitted piece in a fabric frame. My sewing skills aren't that fantastic.
We all mostly chose different colors and I think it'll be stunning when it's done. If I can get a picture of it, I'll post it later on.
My pillow is a simple one. Double moss stitch, one of my favorite 'basic' stitches because it's got lots of texture, makes an interesting swath of stitching and looks much more complex than it really is! It's a 4-row repeat and I got the pillow finished in about a month, which may be long, but hey - I work for a living!!
I started it on the semi-circular needles, but quickly switched to circulars, just to keep control of it. If you click on the picture, you can see that the stitches look as if they're going diagonally, and almost like mini-cables.
This was a very fast pattern, and I really like the eggplant color. She likes earthy tones, so this will fit right in.
I made an "envelope" - I decided at the point pictured here that I wasn't willing to struggle with sewing all 4 sides together, or having to figure out how to crochet it all. It blocked out beautifully and I did a 27" long piece of fabric.
I bought a 12" square pillow form from the local craft store; it's washable if needed, and of course the yarn is as well. I wrapped it with a 4 or 5" flap on it and then used a mattress stitch to close it.
Not the knitting mattress stitch; the crewel work mattress stitch, otherwise known as a buttonhole stitch if you've ever done hand-sewn buttonholes. I have. Only because I couldn't ever figure out the buttonhole attachment on my sewing machine.
The mattress stitch in crewel and hand sewing resembles a backward "L" and you come up at the bottom, hold onto the thread, then stick the needle in at the top and catch the bottom of the L on the way down. It's complex - Google it, but I can tell you that once you get it, you really get a rhythym going and it's quite easy to master.
Clicking on the top picture will give you a good idea of the color of the yarn, too. I think that the pictures were a little dark, but that was depending on where I took them.
I just fluffed it up and didn't bother stitching down the flap - it's long enough and it won't come apart. Here's the completed pillow: As you can see, the pillow form showed through a bit, but when you're looking at it without a flash attachment, it looks just fine.
If I wanted to be fancy, I could've made a pillow form cover out of purple fabric and THEN put the envelope over it. But that's a little more than I wanted to do. Besides, we want to give her the ensemble this week, and we all needed to get our act together!
Here's a final shot of the double moss stitch up close. If you have a chance, add this stitch to your arsenal. It's lovely and easy. And it's something that you can use for cuffs, a sweater band, a scarf -- just a great and great-looking utility stitch that can be used in many ways.
One thing I've learned from this: If you have someone who maybe doesn't want or need a shawl, a pillow is a great idea. Whether for someone seriously ill who may be having treatment or maybe even as a baby gift for a nursing mom: it's an idea somewhat out of the box, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Unfortunately, our LYS owner (LYS = Local Yarn Store for the un-knitterly crowd) was diagnosed with a melanoma that had spread. She had originally sought treatment for what she was told was a sinus infection.
The sinus infection got so bad that she was losing feeling on her left side...never a good sign! So they rushed her to the ER with "the worst headache ever" and they found 2 brain tumors, plus a spot on her lung (she's a smoker).
The brain tumors were taken out and they're not really worrying about the spot on the lung now, because there were actually FOUR brain tumors, but two were quite small and they thought they could zap them with radiation.
That has not turned out to be the case. Soooooooooooo. To help her out, those of us in the LYS community at her shop have all been pitching in to do what we can. Some are working in the shop; others come in to provide a bathroom break for those manning the register, or to sit with folks and help newbies, etc.
And to honor our friend, we had the great idea to make a lap robe for her. She didn't want a full afghan. There were already 12 knitters for the squares, taken from a "Great American Afghan" book (I can't cite the source because I don't have the book). Anyway, some of us thought we'd make pillows. Just little 12" squares for her to use at chemo or at home when her neck ached or she needed back support.
 |
| Eggplant Cascade |
As you can see, it's 2 balls. The actual squares take 1 ball, but I figured for a pillow, you do need 2 sides! I'd rather have a knitted pillow than put a knitted piece in a fabric frame. My sewing skills aren't that fantastic.
We all mostly chose different colors and I think it'll be stunning when it's done. If I can get a picture of it, I'll post it later on.
My pillow is a simple one. Double moss stitch, one of my favorite 'basic' stitches because it's got lots of texture, makes an interesting swath of stitching and looks much more complex than it really is! It's a 4-row repeat and I got the pillow finished in about a month, which may be long, but hey - I work for a living!!
 |
| Double Moss Stitch |
This was a very fast pattern, and I really like the eggplant color. She likes earthy tones, so this will fit right in.
I made an "envelope" - I decided at the point pictured here that I wasn't willing to struggle with sewing all 4 sides together, or having to figure out how to crochet it all. It blocked out beautifully and I did a 27" long piece of fabric.
I bought a 12" square pillow form from the local craft store; it's washable if needed, and of course the yarn is as well. I wrapped it with a 4 or 5" flap on it and then used a mattress stitch to close it.
 |
| Mattress Stitch to sew up sides |
The mattress stitch in crewel and hand sewing resembles a backward "L" and you come up at the bottom, hold onto the thread, then stick the needle in at the top and catch the bottom of the L on the way down. It's complex - Google it, but I can tell you that once you get it, you really get a rhythym going and it's quite easy to master.
Clicking on the top picture will give you a good idea of the color of the yarn, too. I think that the pictures were a little dark, but that was depending on where I took them.
If I wanted to be fancy, I could've made a pillow form cover out of purple fabric and THEN put the envelope over it. But that's a little more than I wanted to do. Besides, we want to give her the ensemble this week, and we all needed to get our act together!
Here's a final shot of the double moss stitch up close. If you have a chance, add this stitch to your arsenal. It's lovely and easy. And it's something that you can use for cuffs, a sweater band, a scarf -- just a great and great-looking utility stitch that can be used in many ways.
One thing I've learned from this: If you have someone who maybe doesn't want or need a shawl, a pillow is a great idea. Whether for someone seriously ill who may be having treatment or maybe even as a baby gift for a nursing mom: it's an idea somewhat out of the box, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Just a Small Question...
As Batty Bachmann gloats over her win in the Iowa Straw Poll (which poll, remember, gave us Pat Buchanan and other luminaries of the GOP)...
She blathers on and on (and on and on and on and on and on ...) about her expertise and "post graduate work" as a tax attorney and has a proposal to put America in a "globally competitive" position by lowering corporate taxes to an all-time low - "to help create jobs."
So, my question is this: Create jobs? OK. Tell me WHERE you plan to create those jobs?
Here in the US or overseas where corporations can pay less, pay no benefits, and better yet, PAY NO TAXES HERE?
If the jobs are not created HERE, our economy won't prosper. That's a bottom line you don't need a law degree (or postgraduate work...) to figure out.
She blathers on and on (and on and on and on and on and on ...) about her expertise and "post graduate work" as a tax attorney and has a proposal to put America in a "globally competitive" position by lowering corporate taxes to an all-time low - "to help create jobs."
So, my question is this: Create jobs? OK. Tell me WHERE you plan to create those jobs?
Here in the US or overseas where corporations can pay less, pay no benefits, and better yet, PAY NO TAXES HERE?
If the jobs are not created HERE, our economy won't prosper. That's a bottom line you don't need a law degree (or postgraduate work...) to figure out.
Monday, August 01, 2011
IS it a good compromise...
...if everyone hates it?
Maybe. Whether or not it is, the Democrats have a rough row to hoe: they really need to knuckle down and get this message:
It's the jobs, stupid!!
NOTHING will fix this crisis until people are employed. Nothing. Period.
Here are some quotes you might want to think about:
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." --Abraham Lincoln
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman
Honest Abe, the Last Great Republican (actually, at this moment, Barry Goldwater is a flaming liberal in some Republicans' and Tea Partiers' eyes...) - had it right. The Republican party of today is being ruled (and/or ruined) by the Baggies. Either they're screwing us totally by their honest opinion that this country is in the toilet, or they're screwing us because of their monumental stupidity and willful ignorance.
Either way, the ultimate end of this equation is that we're screwed.
Obama has dropped his requirement that deficit reduction includes some revenue increases. Now, I'm no economist, and no math major, but I like to think I have common sense. And common sense tells you that if your expenses outpace your income, you're screwed.
If you don't include revenue increases -- the dreaded "T" word in the Baggies' vocabulary -- you won't be able to balance anything. And besides, the balanced budget has NOTHING to do with the budget deficit. Tossing in that constitutional amendment thing is insane. The budget is fundamentally unbalanced, and with our economic system, it always will be.
The President put Medicare on the table in order to avoid triggers. So.... the Baggies that are holding signs saying, "Get your government hands out of my Medicare" are screwed. But do you wonder if they realize that??
Even the Chicago Tribune, an admitedly right-wing newspaper, (honestly, if I didn't hate the Sun-Times as much, I'd switch to a paper with more left-leaning chops) is indicating that "...history shows ... enforcement mechanism don't always work." So. All this talk about a Super Congress pretty much gags me. The regular Congress can't get its act together. What makes anyone think that a "Super Congress" will get anything done?
Under this deal on the table, this special "bipartisan" (cough, gag, yark) panel will recommend steps to reduce the deficit. Any logjams by the panel or rejection of its recommendations by Congress will trigger a round of spending cuts.
Spending. Cuts. Again - here's the math. You have a family and your annual income is $100,000. So you have a budget. You have certain fixed expenses: mortgage, transport, utilities. Say that those expenses come to about $70,000. $100,000 - $70,000 = $30,000. Say you have kids you're putting through college, a vacation home, and credit cards. That amounts to $40,000. $30,000 - $40,000 = ($10,000). That's called a deficit. Say you could have "revenue" in the form of additional income from a renter that would equal $15,000 per year. ($10,000) + $15,000 = $5,000 --- you would GAIN $5,000 from that revenue increase.
Taxes. Increase the stinkin' taxes. Don't holler at me that we are "taxed enough already." Yes, what's left of the middle class is taxed enough already. But those folks making $250,000 or more? Not so much. But wait -- there's hope.
Look here: http://blogs.forbes.com/leonardburman/2011/06/07/some-millionaires-want-to-pay-more-tax/
And here: http://www.workingamerica.org/blog/2011/04/14/patriotic-millionaires-want-to-pay-more-taxes/
There are actually people who feel that we should let the Bush tax credits expire. And those people are in the bracket that'd benefit from keeping those credits alive. And they say it's not fair. For the sake of the country. So who's more patriotic? The Baggies that don't get the concept that Medicare is a government program? And those who use the word "entitlement" as a swear word, who don't get the concept that yes, we are "entitled" to these things because we pay for them. Or these folks who do make more than I'll ever see in my lifetime, who say that the nation shouldn't get its funding from the most vulnerable.
Here's another thing: Those corporations who aren't paying any tax? (Yes, you read that correctly.) So if they're "tax-averse" since they have flocks of corporate tax lawyers combing the flawed tax codes for loopholes you could drive a herd of yaks through... Make a fee. This "head-count fee" is imposed for the benefits WE lose when THEY ship jobs overseas. The benefits of having the corporate deductions taken out of paychecks of US EMPLOYEES - those are the backbone of our economy. And it's logical: If you have a job, you spend money. If you don't have a job, you don't spend money because you don't have any.
Jeff Imelt, Obama's Jobs Czar (an irony of epic proportions) has just indicated that GE (the company he heads) will be shipping hundreds of jobs overseas. Nice job, Jeff. That gives me a nice warm fuzzy.
See the print above in red? IT'S THE JOBS, STUPID. We can't recover unless three things happen: we get jobs back here so we're able to spend money and start taxing more equitably.
Economists are also saying that the US figures debt incorrectly. The government bundles bondholder debt with intragovernmental debt. Bondholder debt is owed to outside bondholders: individuals, pension plans (!), foreign governments. Intragovernmental debt includes the obligations of the Treasury Department to some trust funds: basically what we owe ourselves. This is basically counting internal AND external debt in one lump, which is something that makes for fuzzy figuring. Public debt is the more important of the two: those outside bondholders hold 2/3 of the total US debt. Yep. TWO-THIRDS.
And one-third of the US debt is owed to our own citizens: IOUs to Social Security, Medicare, pension plans for federal workers and military personnel.
We won't be broke on August 3. Period. But this crisis in a tea pot does point out that there's a huge problem. It's only an "entitlement crisis" if we let it happen. Pay the IOUs to those most vulnerable --- it is our money, after all. We gave it to the US to hold in trust for when we needed it - when we are old and need the help the most.
Pay us back. Stop taking our money. Raise the taxes on those who can afford it, and the businesses who skip town without a conscience. That will help go a long way. It's not the sexiest solution but it does make sense.
Maybe. Whether or not it is, the Democrats have a rough row to hoe: they really need to knuckle down and get this message:
It's the jobs, stupid!!
NOTHING will fix this crisis until people are employed. Nothing. Period.
Here are some quotes you might want to think about:
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." --Abraham Lincoln
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman
Honest Abe, the Last Great Republican (actually, at this moment, Barry Goldwater is a flaming liberal in some Republicans' and Tea Partiers' eyes...) - had it right. The Republican party of today is being ruled (and/or ruined) by the Baggies. Either they're screwing us totally by their honest opinion that this country is in the toilet, or they're screwing us because of their monumental stupidity and willful ignorance.
Either way, the ultimate end of this equation is that we're screwed.
Obama has dropped his requirement that deficit reduction includes some revenue increases. Now, I'm no economist, and no math major, but I like to think I have common sense. And common sense tells you that if your expenses outpace your income, you're screwed.
If you don't include revenue increases -- the dreaded "T" word in the Baggies' vocabulary -- you won't be able to balance anything. And besides, the balanced budget has NOTHING to do with the budget deficit. Tossing in that constitutional amendment thing is insane. The budget is fundamentally unbalanced, and with our economic system, it always will be.
The President put Medicare on the table in order to avoid triggers. So.... the Baggies that are holding signs saying, "Get your government hands out of my Medicare" are screwed. But do you wonder if they realize that??
Even the Chicago Tribune, an admitedly right-wing newspaper, (honestly, if I didn't hate the Sun-Times as much, I'd switch to a paper with more left-leaning chops) is indicating that "...history shows ... enforcement mechanism don't always work." So. All this talk about a Super Congress pretty much gags me. The regular Congress can't get its act together. What makes anyone think that a "Super Congress" will get anything done?
Under this deal on the table, this special "bipartisan" (cough, gag, yark) panel will recommend steps to reduce the deficit. Any logjams by the panel or rejection of its recommendations by Congress will trigger a round of spending cuts.
Spending. Cuts. Again - here's the math. You have a family and your annual income is $100,000. So you have a budget. You have certain fixed expenses: mortgage, transport, utilities. Say that those expenses come to about $70,000. $100,000 - $70,000 = $30,000. Say you have kids you're putting through college, a vacation home, and credit cards. That amounts to $40,000. $30,000 - $40,000 = ($10,000). That's called a deficit. Say you could have "revenue" in the form of additional income from a renter that would equal $15,000 per year. ($10,000) + $15,000 = $5,000 --- you would GAIN $5,000 from that revenue increase.
Taxes. Increase the stinkin' taxes. Don't holler at me that we are "taxed enough already." Yes, what's left of the middle class is taxed enough already. But those folks making $250,000 or more? Not so much. But wait -- there's hope.
Look here: http://blogs.forbes.com/leonardburman/2011/06/07/some-millionaires-want-to-pay-more-tax/
And here: http://www.workingamerica.org/blog/2011/04/14/patriotic-millionaires-want-to-pay-more-taxes/
There are actually people who feel that we should let the Bush tax credits expire. And those people are in the bracket that'd benefit from keeping those credits alive. And they say it's not fair. For the sake of the country. So who's more patriotic? The Baggies that don't get the concept that Medicare is a government program? And those who use the word "entitlement" as a swear word, who don't get the concept that yes, we are "entitled" to these things because we pay for them. Or these folks who do make more than I'll ever see in my lifetime, who say that the nation shouldn't get its funding from the most vulnerable.
Here's another thing: Those corporations who aren't paying any tax? (Yes, you read that correctly.) So if they're "tax-averse" since they have flocks of corporate tax lawyers combing the flawed tax codes for loopholes you could drive a herd of yaks through... Make a fee. This "head-count fee" is imposed for the benefits WE lose when THEY ship jobs overseas. The benefits of having the corporate deductions taken out of paychecks of US EMPLOYEES - those are the backbone of our economy. And it's logical: If you have a job, you spend money. If you don't have a job, you don't spend money because you don't have any.
Jeff Imelt, Obama's Jobs Czar (an irony of epic proportions) has just indicated that GE (the company he heads) will be shipping hundreds of jobs overseas. Nice job, Jeff. That gives me a nice warm fuzzy.
See the print above in red? IT'S THE JOBS, STUPID. We can't recover unless three things happen: we get jobs back here so we're able to spend money and start taxing more equitably.
Economists are also saying that the US figures debt incorrectly. The government bundles bondholder debt with intragovernmental debt. Bondholder debt is owed to outside bondholders: individuals, pension plans (!), foreign governments. Intragovernmental debt includes the obligations of the Treasury Department to some trust funds: basically what we owe ourselves. This is basically counting internal AND external debt in one lump, which is something that makes for fuzzy figuring. Public debt is the more important of the two: those outside bondholders hold 2/3 of the total US debt. Yep. TWO-THIRDS.
And one-third of the US debt is owed to our own citizens: IOUs to Social Security, Medicare, pension plans for federal workers and military personnel.
We won't be broke on August 3. Period. But this crisis in a tea pot does point out that there's a huge problem. It's only an "entitlement crisis" if we let it happen. Pay the IOUs to those most vulnerable --- it is our money, after all. We gave it to the US to hold in trust for when we needed it - when we are old and need the help the most.
Pay us back. Stop taking our money. Raise the taxes on those who can afford it, and the businesses who skip town without a conscience. That will help go a long way. It's not the sexiest solution but it does make sense.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Normally, I wouldn't side...
...with Michele Bachmann if I was offered anything in the world. In the galaxy, even.
And I don't agree with her goons roughing up reporters. That's just not cool.
However, the other thing that's not cool is to make a big deal out of this migraine story. You see, I've got migraines. I'm in my 50s and I have had them since my 20s. I've gone through every therapy (aside from surgery and Botox) that has been available, including some pretty heavy-duty narcotics.
Properly treated, migraines can have very little impact on your life. It sounds as if she's got the proper treatment. Heck, her health care is probably head-and-shoulders above most normal humans, so I'm sure she's got top doctors looking at her meds and what she needs to do.
That being said, stories telling of her missing work and missing votes are stories I can truly relate to. I've called my boss a couple of times (not many, thank God, because my migraines are about 90% controlled), and said, "I'm leaving now, while I can still see. I have a migraine."
And she gets it. Here's a picture of my migraines. Often, I'm awakened at 3 a.m. It starts with a "feeling" that something is "off." And it gets worse. All of a sudden, I get a stabbing pain over my right temple. Think Sweeney Todd with an ice-pick and having a VERY bad day. Then, it begins to affect the vision in my right eye. Often, that vision turns into a tunnel, and I literally can't open my eyelid.
If I have one that starts during the day, it starts with an aura. I wear glasses and have done so since 3rd grade; during the beginning of a migraine, my vision becomes hyper-acute. Like, I can see in super-3-D and everything is sort of leaping AT me. This is called "migraine with aura" and it's got the grand distinction of carrying a significantly higher stroke risk.
Then I become (in either the early a.m. headache or during the day headache) hyper-sensitive to sound. I want EVERYONE to just shut up. I want no birds tweeting, no leaves rustling, no footfalls anywhere within 100 yards of wherever I am.
It's so bad that when I'm lying on the couch, the kids come in, take one look, and say, "Oh-oh - migraine!" --- softly, though. Because they know I'll hurt them if they disturb me. Or at least open my left eye, the right one being perma-fused shut, and glare at them.
I want lots of ice - around my neck and around my head. I want lots of darkness. I want nobody to touch me. At. All. At some point, if I can manage it, I crawl onto the floor and lay face-up while my husband uses a massage technique that literally stretches my neck; the traction seems to help, and I don't know why. I'm only grateful that it does.
Then the nausea starts. It comes in rolls. If I manage to throw up, frankly, I feel better, but often I can't because I can't eat or drink. Picture yourself on the worst roller coaster of your life... up and down and up and down and up and down. That's what my stomach is doing, and often I end up with dry heaves. Not fun.
I take a daily medication to keep them quiet, but occasionally, I do have break-through headaches. They can occur because of triggers: strong scents; stress; certain foods; weather; hormones; lack of sleep (and hey, I'm in my early 50s - guess what my sleep is like??). They can last from 2 hours to 3 days. Three. Days.
It took me a decade to get a doctor who understood and who could prescribe me something that wouldn't knock me out for days or hours. Particularly after I had kids, I really couldn't have a 3-day headache - I needed to function. I have honestly had doctors who said, with straight faces, "This is all in your head." I've been accused of malingering. Trying to avoid work. Being a baby. Believe me, when the bells of Notre Dame and the National Cathedral are going off in your head? You're not trying to avoid anything. Except the stuff going on in your head.
But you can't shut it off. You have to endure it, and I use "endure" deliberately. It's an endurance test to make it through a migraine. I'm blessed if it only lasts a couple of hours. I have often said to people, "You know, I'd just love a 'take 2 aspirin headache' one of these days." I don't get those. I get migraines.
I have a medication that I take at the first sign of the headaches, but I can't take it unless I'm home because it knocks me out. My friend has a similar one, and it doesn't affect her that way. I'm not so lucky. If I don't take this at the right time, however, the migraine goes on to its own conclusion and there is nothing that will stop it. And one of the odd side effects of this medication is that after I take it, I get seriously cold and my blood pressure tanks. Yeah, that's something to keep in mind, because I bet that's never happened to anyone who's popped a couple of aspirins for a "regular" headache. Migraine is a very complicated ailment, and it's something that the medical community is only now taking seriously.
I've heard that people say they want to kill themselves. I know what that feels like because I've often felt, "Hey, the best thing that could happen is that this kills me. Just so it's over."
Migraine treatment has come a long way. Bachmann's staffers have said that they've often closed doors and shut lights off. I can feel for her. I don't agree with anything she says, other than her remarks on migraines. Properly treated, they don't have to take over your life, but often you have no control over what a migraine does. If you want more information about migraines, check out this website: http://www.americanmigrainefoundation.org/ or this one, for another viewpoint: http://www.migraineresearchfoundation.org/ -- you can educate yourself on how bad these headaches really are, how many people suffer from them, and what's being done in medicine to help those who suffer from this condition.
This story is a minor distraction. She'll have to disclose her medical records as the process goes forward. We need to be paying attention to the weird stuff she is saying; the contradictions with "get rid of government programs" versus "my husband's therapy practice takes Medicare patients;" the contradiction of the farm subsidies she disclosed on paper but denies on tape.
Get past the headaches she has and look at the headaches she could cause if she's elected.
And I don't agree with her goons roughing up reporters. That's just not cool.
However, the other thing that's not cool is to make a big deal out of this migraine story. You see, I've got migraines. I'm in my 50s and I have had them since my 20s. I've gone through every therapy (aside from surgery and Botox) that has been available, including some pretty heavy-duty narcotics.
Properly treated, migraines can have very little impact on your life. It sounds as if she's got the proper treatment. Heck, her health care is probably head-and-shoulders above most normal humans, so I'm sure she's got top doctors looking at her meds and what she needs to do.
That being said, stories telling of her missing work and missing votes are stories I can truly relate to. I've called my boss a couple of times (not many, thank God, because my migraines are about 90% controlled), and said, "I'm leaving now, while I can still see. I have a migraine."
And she gets it. Here's a picture of my migraines. Often, I'm awakened at 3 a.m. It starts with a "feeling" that something is "off." And it gets worse. All of a sudden, I get a stabbing pain over my right temple. Think Sweeney Todd with an ice-pick and having a VERY bad day. Then, it begins to affect the vision in my right eye. Often, that vision turns into a tunnel, and I literally can't open my eyelid.
If I have one that starts during the day, it starts with an aura. I wear glasses and have done so since 3rd grade; during the beginning of a migraine, my vision becomes hyper-acute. Like, I can see in super-3-D and everything is sort of leaping AT me. This is called "migraine with aura" and it's got the grand distinction of carrying a significantly higher stroke risk.
Then I become (in either the early a.m. headache or during the day headache) hyper-sensitive to sound. I want EVERYONE to just shut up. I want no birds tweeting, no leaves rustling, no footfalls anywhere within 100 yards of wherever I am.
It's so bad that when I'm lying on the couch, the kids come in, take one look, and say, "Oh-oh - migraine!" --- softly, though. Because they know I'll hurt them if they disturb me. Or at least open my left eye, the right one being perma-fused shut, and glare at them.
I want lots of ice - around my neck and around my head. I want lots of darkness. I want nobody to touch me. At. All. At some point, if I can manage it, I crawl onto the floor and lay face-up while my husband uses a massage technique that literally stretches my neck; the traction seems to help, and I don't know why. I'm only grateful that it does.
Then the nausea starts. It comes in rolls. If I manage to throw up, frankly, I feel better, but often I can't because I can't eat or drink. Picture yourself on the worst roller coaster of your life... up and down and up and down and up and down. That's what my stomach is doing, and often I end up with dry heaves. Not fun.
I take a daily medication to keep them quiet, but occasionally, I do have break-through headaches. They can occur because of triggers: strong scents; stress; certain foods; weather; hormones; lack of sleep (and hey, I'm in my early 50s - guess what my sleep is like??). They can last from 2 hours to 3 days. Three. Days.
It took me a decade to get a doctor who understood and who could prescribe me something that wouldn't knock me out for days or hours. Particularly after I had kids, I really couldn't have a 3-day headache - I needed to function. I have honestly had doctors who said, with straight faces, "This is all in your head." I've been accused of malingering. Trying to avoid work. Being a baby. Believe me, when the bells of Notre Dame and the National Cathedral are going off in your head? You're not trying to avoid anything. Except the stuff going on in your head.
But you can't shut it off. You have to endure it, and I use "endure" deliberately. It's an endurance test to make it through a migraine. I'm blessed if it only lasts a couple of hours. I have often said to people, "You know, I'd just love a 'take 2 aspirin headache' one of these days." I don't get those. I get migraines.
I have a medication that I take at the first sign of the headaches, but I can't take it unless I'm home because it knocks me out. My friend has a similar one, and it doesn't affect her that way. I'm not so lucky. If I don't take this at the right time, however, the migraine goes on to its own conclusion and there is nothing that will stop it. And one of the odd side effects of this medication is that after I take it, I get seriously cold and my blood pressure tanks. Yeah, that's something to keep in mind, because I bet that's never happened to anyone who's popped a couple of aspirins for a "regular" headache. Migraine is a very complicated ailment, and it's something that the medical community is only now taking seriously.
I've heard that people say they want to kill themselves. I know what that feels like because I've often felt, "Hey, the best thing that could happen is that this kills me. Just so it's over."
Migraine treatment has come a long way. Bachmann's staffers have said that they've often closed doors and shut lights off. I can feel for her. I don't agree with anything she says, other than her remarks on migraines. Properly treated, they don't have to take over your life, but often you have no control over what a migraine does. If you want more information about migraines, check out this website: http://www.americanmigrainefoundation.org/ or this one, for another viewpoint: http://www.migraineresearchfoundation.org/ -- you can educate yourself on how bad these headaches really are, how many people suffer from them, and what's being done in medicine to help those who suffer from this condition.
This story is a minor distraction. She'll have to disclose her medical records as the process goes forward. We need to be paying attention to the weird stuff she is saying; the contradictions with "get rid of government programs" versus "my husband's therapy practice takes Medicare patients;" the contradiction of the farm subsidies she disclosed on paper but denies on tape.
Get past the headaches she has and look at the headaches she could cause if she's elected.
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