Bumps and Loops

The scarf below is my second weaving project of any size. I used a bunch of different yarns I bought when I first started knitting. At that time, all the crazy funky yarns appealed to me. After you've been knitting for awhile, you lose the love for these yarns and start looking at fibers and different kinds of spins and plies, more than the zaniness.

So, these yarns have been languishing away in my stash.

Now, I'm aware that, as I start to get more into the weaving technicalities, I'll probably go through the same transformation in yarn tastes for weaving. For now, though, it uses up some of the things I was loathe to just throw away. I'll wear these things, even if no one else would.

It truly is fall up here, now. These were taken about 2 weeks ago on a trip through the mountains. They were all taken at the North Carolina rest stop about an hour from our house.

I recently started teaching myself to weave. I did take a class about 30 years ago in which I made a sack-like thing out of rug yarn on a big loom. This, at least, gave me the courage to figure I could learn to warp a simple rigid treadle loom.

I bought a Kromski Harp from The Woolery and spent a frustrating couple of days figuring out the warping. I, naturally, messed it up the first time and had a tangled mess to fix. Being stubborn, I wasn't about to start over. Thus, my warping job certainly was NOT optimum.

This is the result, though:




The warp is a machine knitting yarn, turquoise rayon and the weft is about four different balls and colorways of Noro Silk Garden that have been padding my stash for a couple of years. I, obviously, didn't have a pattern or plan for this scarf, but just kept changing colors and techniques as I went. I learned a lot from this.

The selvedges are very uneven and the scarf itself is a little "wonky," thanks to my lousy warping job, but I'm pleased with it. This little scarf will be a great jumping off point for some other projects.

I did get a little tiny loom to try out some smaller projects. I wove a couple of cotton washcloths on that one and am convinced a narrower loom than what I currently have is also in my future. My Harp is 32" wide.

Here's a pic of the Harp:

I'm impressed. Go Mr. Greg Kinnear! You made hundreds of knitters happy and delighted.

Are you interested in knowing what I'm talking about? Go here.

For those of you who need a little background, The Yarn Harlot writes fabulous books and blogs about knitting. She also travels around the country promoting said books and, in her travels, she always carries around a sock which she attempts to get all kinds of people to hold her sock in progress so she can take a picture of them holding said sock so she can post it on her blog. Now, Stephanie was chicken to ask him to hold her sock, but ...

I've finished three different yarns. One of them has been posted before, but without a name and the other is brand new.

This one was posted below. Its name is Moody Blues:



This one is New Riders of the Purple Sage:

This one is Foggy Mountain Boys because it reminds me of the foggy fall sky in the Appalachian Mountains:





And, here's a close up of this one:

This could have been from The Lincoln Theater in downtown Marion (my home town). It's a bit more country and western than our usual bluegrass, but it really fits right in. Now, we need them singing a spinning song.

Really, now, who really cares? Probably no one. That won't stop me from saying what I think, though.

It's obvious that I'm totally disgusted with the McCain/Ugly Betty campaign. The country can't be run on nastiness alone, and that's a lot of what I see from the McCain campaign.

Do I think Obama's perfect? Absolutely not. I doubt he DOES have the amount of diplomatic/foreign relations experience McCain has, but what do we expect? It goes without saying that McCain would be one of the officials that would be in foreign nations to discuss foreign policy and war politics. He WAS, after all, a prisoner of war and he does know, first-hand, the battles and hardships and pain and sorrow. Who else would we send?

I don't doubt for a minute that Obama would have gone, if he'd been asked. The fact is, his focus and assignments in the Senate were in a different, but equally important direction.

McCain has the experience of years and Obama has the quickness of mind.

There are things about McCain that bother me - a lot. There's the way he stands when presenting a speech or a press conference. He always seems to be reading from a script and he seems nervous. After he's done, his whole demeanor changes and as he walks off, he appears to be looking into the wings for approval. It's almost as though he's asking, "Well, handlers, did I do good?"

Some of the issues I'm concerned Obama will be pursuing are not, necessarily, comforting to me. I'm a bit afraid he'll attempt to set up lots of programs without determining if there are better ways.

The fact is, no one who is elected President can do everything he wants or promises. It's the way our government is set up. There is no monarch in this country. No one can just stand up there and say we'll give $X to these people 'cause I want to. Sure, the President has influence. That's why we elect him or her.

So, what Obama lacks in experience, he'll get. He's smart enough to surround himself with very smart people. He knows how to be conciliatory. He knows how to give. He's VERY quick minded. He'll learn and he WILL entertain other points of view.

Now, it's been said that he was showing weakness by telling McCain that he agreed with him on a number of points. I don't see it that way. I see a person who's saying that not every issue is a contentious one. He's saying, "I disagree with you on some points, but not others. I disagree with some of your solutions, but not with the issues." He's willing to look his opponent in the eye when he disagrees with him. He doesn't laugh at his opponent or look at him with anger or disdain.

I can't say the same of Mr. McCain. You could hear his disgusted snorts and laughs when Obama was speaking. He wouldn't look at him. He was dismissive of Obama. He was arrogant. He was angry and nasty.

I keep wanting to go with the hero, but I can't.

I think Obama won this debate. I don't think he won on every point. He won, in my opinion, because he was a human being who showed interest, research, desire, caring and compassion (even for his opponent).

Ah, John McCain, you are a war hero. You are a Senator. You are an "elder statesman." You just are not my kind of candidate.

The most impressive thing I found in Mr. McCain last night was the fact that this man, with the ravages of his POW experiences, and his years, was able to stand there for 90 minutes and do this. I'm younger and have never had to bear his pains and it would have been hard for me. THAT was the most impressive thing for me. And that's sad.

For years, I've been an Apple fan - since 1987. This doesn't mean I hate Windows. I liked Windows XP and I like Vista.

However - Windows can't do this:

Last week, my MacBook's hard drive failed. Before any of you Windows or Dell or HP or any other Windows-based hardware people say it, I worked in IT for a number of years and this isn't uncommon. It happens to ALL brands and out of a dozen or so PERSONALLY-OWNED Macintosh computers, this is the FIRST hardware failure I've had. Not only that, out of the dozen Macintoshes the school (where I was the IT Director) owned not one had any hardware OR software issues - ever. So, I'm not overly concerned about the hard drive failure, other than it was a bit stressful because I didn't know how well the Time Capsule would do about restoring my computer.

After all, I'd dealt with Windows System Restore (which works for awhile, but seems to become overwhelmed, after awhile). I'd dealt with after-market backup programs for Windows where, at best, I could restore the programs and documents, but always seemed to have to re-install many programs in order to make them fully functional again.

I bought a new MacBook. By the way, it was here within 4 days - from Shanghai. I plugged it in and did a few things like set the time zone and language. Next, the computer informed me it had discovered Time Capsule backups and asked if one of them was, perhaps, the one I'd like to have restored to my computer. I chose the correct one of the two and within four hours, during which I did nothing, ALL my programs were running - ALL my files were restored - ALL my preferences and settings were correct - my e-mail accounts were sending and receiving. My passwords were all intact, my favorites automatically restored. Everything. I mean everything worked perfectly.

Windows folks, you can tell me anything you want about lack of games or applications. The fact remains that, if I want, I can run Windows on my MacBook in several ways - as a virtual machine or as a dual boot - and THAT works flawlessly, too. Oh, yes, and I can run several other various operating systems, too, including Linux. So, if there are proprietary programs or (short-sighted) Windows only programs out there, I can have them, too. Since Boot Camp's free, it only costs the price of the Windows OS, and I have TWO computers for the price of one.

Macintosh rules. Eat your heart out, Windows folks, the next time your computer crashes and two days later, you're still downloading the HUNDREDS of updates you'll need.

I'll be waiting for people to tell me how expensive Macs are. I beg to differ. I got a heck of a lot of power for $1300 and a lot of hard drive space. The Time Capsule is $499, I think. Yeah, that's a lot, but it's 5 TB and it's a wireless router, too.

Yep. I like Windows just fine. I even enjoy playing with it. I even NEED it for aforesaid short-sighted Windows only programs. If I have to have only one computer, it's going to be a Mac.

I finished two items yesterday evening.

I finished this hat. It's a pattern from Jared Flood's website. I didn't block it, yet, but when done, it'll be circular until the crown, when it begins to make a square pattern around the head. It's very striking. The original was done in solid colors with stripes and I may do my next one that way. I'm hoping my son likes this one.

I also completed this yarn. It's the remainder (about 2 oz.) of a roving I bought when I was last in Florida. It's called Autumn Fire, by Gale's Art and is merino wool. It is chain plied, so is a kind of 3-ply. It's incredibly soft. In fact, I so underspun the singles that I was afraid it would fall apart when I plied it. I have about 175 yards of it. It's mostly like an aran weight.

If you think you're going to escape Fall this year think again:

I'm very glad I'm living in a country, no matter the economic status or the craziness of this election, in which I can actually say what I think.

I'm continually surprised at the idiocy of this Presidential campaign. I haven't, exactly, been silent on my views here. Today will be no exception.

What was he thinking? Again!!! Here's my idea of the thought process:

1. Oh, oh! The economy's tanking! What a wonderful opportunity to further my campaign to become the next President. Well, I don't REALLY want to be President anymore. I just wanted to see if I could get nominated. Well, I'm here, so I may as well continue.
2. Oh! I know! I'll try to show what a conscientious candidate I am by "suspending" my campaign and rushing back to Washington to "save the day." How Presidential I'll look.
3. Uh oh! I'm supposed to go on Letterman tonight. Hmmmm. I'll call him up and tell him I have to rush to Washington and won't be able to be on his show. What's that you say? Kattie Couric wants to interview me tonight during the Letterman time. OK. I'll do it. There's no way Letterman will find out I dumped him for a better date. It's OK that I'm lying to him.
4. I really don't want to debate Obama. Let's play on the "suspending" campaign idea and tell him we can't, possibly, debate until this crisis is resolved with my expert help. Oh, and let's not let him respond to my idea not to debate before announcing my decision publicly. After all, I wouldn't want to entertain any change to my plans.
5. Off to Washington. What a wonderful chance for a photo op. Let's make a last minute suggestion that's different from the proposal, all 3 pages of it, that I haven't read, admittedly, and have no idea of. Let's sit there with our Charlie Brown face and pretend I can be a champion, even though I haven't done anything outside the mainstream for about 100 years.
6. What's that you say? What do you MEAN I totally derailed the financial bailout, singlehandedly, just because I decided to throw a monkey wrench into the process at the 11th hour when a compromise and decision had been made? I couldn't do that. Just look at my innocent little face. Just see how condescending I am. See how I can fix the problems better than 99 other Senators and umpteen representatives. Only *I*, John McCain have the know how and brilliance to handle this.
7. How can David Letterman say such things about me? I was going to be a "hero" again. So what if I lied to him and left him in the lurch on national TV. So what if I bailed and took a better offer. So what if my vice-presidential selection is proving more and more that she hasn't a clue about what's going on in the world. What do you mean a state governor doesn't negotiate foreign policy with the Russians and the Canadians? What do you mean that she doesn't have any idea what Katie Couric is talking about when she interviews her? What do you mean she not only LOOKS like Ugly Betty (and we know she's NOT ugly), but she sounds like Paris Hilton? What do you mean I should have selected Ellen deGeneris for Vice President?


Carry on David Letterman. You're right on the money, in my book.

I'm so sick of the "humble" look and the arrogant attitude of John McCain. I'm so sick of the over-hyped Ugly Betty Palin.

Come on. You were a hero once, John. Why did you go and mess up our illusion that you knew what you were doing?

There have been a number of our Presidents I was less than "fond" of. I've been disappointed by aspects of their candidacies and their presidencies that I was, sometimes, amused or appalled with or disagreed with. For the most part, though, I've respected them.

There is no way on Earth I can respect you. If by some miracle you're elected, despite these shenanigans, I'll live with it. But I'll pray every night that the country survives your pig-headed (complete with lipstick), know-it-all attitude and Palin's absolute "I gotst no clue" idiocy.

This has been a fascinating week.

Jim and I bought the "Spore" game to play, thinking it looked kind of cute and a lot of fun. We'd played around with EA's Creature Creator and enjoyed making new "guys" to play with. The game seemed to be just up my alley - no macho shoot 'em ups.

I had a pretty new laptop with some upgrades and mainstream components with a bit of an upgrade in the video. I installed Spore on the machine and Spore wouldn't load. I tried reinstalling it twice, which involved removing the old version. After awhile, the game wouldn't uninstall. Yes, yes, I did all the techie things like restarting between procedures, etc. Since the game wouldn't install and run correctly, I tried to manually uninstall it. It didn't work. I tried to uninstall it with the CD. It didn't work. I tried to use the "Add/Remove Programs" from Vista's control pannel. That didn't work. Then, I tried to use Windows' System Restore to return to pre-Spore days and THAT wouldn't work. Nothing worked and the computer was hung. I spent hours reinstalling Vista as a clean install on that laptop and we sent Spore packing back to amazon.com. Bless amazon.com. There was no arguing and it was easy as could be. We, then, began reading about Spore on the Amazon site and at EA's own website. This is a game that should never have seen the light of day. It runs on only certain esoteric computers and when the installation messes up, it messes up big time!

OK. laptop fixed.

On Tuesday, I restarted my MacBook and a nice little file folder with a question mark inside started flashing. Uh oh! I worked with computers long enough to know that wasn't a good thing. Well, after about two hours of trying a zillion things, we had to accept that the hard drive was dead. I suppose we could have purchased a new hard drive for it and kept it going for awhile longer, but it was pretty worn and Jim bought me a new one.

THEN, Jim flipped on the witch for the garbage disposal - nothing. You could hear that it was getting power, but the motor wouldn't run and nothing ground up. Yuk! So, now, we need to get a new garbage disposal. That's going in today.

THEN, I started up the little robotic vacuum we have for lazy days vacuuming. It's the "new, improved" version that's not supposed to have issues with rugs and things like that. WRONG! I went to work on some things in another room for about ten minutes. When I came back Hazel (that's it's name) was stuck on a throw rug. I released her and started her up again and her little side brush wouldn't work. I opened up the bottoms and made sure everything was clean and that there was nothing wound around her little wheels. She was clean. Still no spin. So, I called the iRobot people and they were very nice. We spent about 45 minutes troubleshooting her and, now, they're sending out a new side brush assembly. Good customer service was found at iRobot.

AND, the beautiful huge mums I bought were dying, even though they were well watered and only a few days old (to me). So, we planted them in the ground for next year and doused them with Sevin dust.

AND, I received 87 crocus and iris and tulip bulbs, which I planted.

Today, I get to go get my eyes checked AND the garbage disposal is being installed AND we're getting a dump truck loan from the Town of Marion to clean out the basement.

So any of my online friends and family - if I've been missing, that's why! Along with all this, for the past week, I've been working like a banshee. I don't know why. I just have. I've been trying to get both the house and the yard ready for winter. I've planted plants and put out wildflower seeds and cut back things and weeded. I've also been learning to weave and continuing to spin and knit. I've cooked more this week than usual, too.

I'm ready for a few "down" days.

As some of you know, in the beginning, I was a gung ho Obama/Biden supporter and I couldn't stand the McCain/Palin ticket. I still don't like the McCain/Palin ticket. What's bad is, though, that I not longer like the Obama/Biden ticket.

I'm so sick of them tearing each other apart and looking like hawks for a mistake by the other. Hello, out there ... there are issues that need to be discussed. So, what ARE you about?

I want to vote for Meghan McCain. I've watched her on several interviews about her book and I'm more impressed by her than any of the candidates. She's articulate and she's not going to be walked on! Even Larry King couldn't get her to discuss the politics. When she DID discuss politics (on another show), she was balanced and made good points for BOTH sides. Maybe I'll write her name in.

The candidates for third parties are also the pits. Even if I liked one of them (Nader is the forerunner), they have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning.

Do you vote for the person you think would be the best candidate, even if you know they won't get enough votes to win (been there, done that)? Do you vote for the lesser of the evils of the forerunners? Damned if I know.

Maybe I'll write in "Gallagher for President." Oh, oh! I know! Bucky Katt for President!!!

I'm getting better. I find I have a couple ways of spinning. Sometimes, I make a concerted effort to make nice, even yarn and try to make it thin. Other times, I just spin. I see how fast I can get "reasonable" yarn. It all tends to ply up into something that's usable, if not "fine yarn."

This is pretty:

It's a generic wool mix from roving I bought in Asheville at Earthguild. I dyed it with Wilton's food color (blue) and then added some Fruit Punch Kool-Aid for the darker part. It smells good, too!


This is 100% pure merino wool top I bought at The Woolery in Murfreesboro, NC on the way to Portsmouth. It's a dream. I bought 4 oz. of it and, I think it'll make up into some nice light fingering weight yarn. I may be destined for a lace scarf of some type.

I also bought some camel hair and silk blend top in Murfreesboro. It's just as yummy as it can be. I think I'll get enough lace weight yarn to make an Ice Queen for a gift for someone.

Jim went to a conference in Portsmouth, VA last week. I got to tag along and am I ever glad I did!

The hotel was right on the Elizabeth River and right across from Norfolk. Here's a series of the photos I took from our hotel window:

There were cute little tugs



Paddleboat ferries



The Disney Magic was in drydock both day and



night. They worked on her 24 hours a day.





These cool boats were out there.



Navy boats and Coast Guard boats.



The town was full of churches and



a marina out the hallway window and



Norfolk day and night, too.


The moon was nice, too.

The town was a bit run down, but it seems to be on its way back up. The first night, we ate at a nice little Mexican restaurant. Our waiter was Irwin and he wanted to practice his English on me and I wanted to practice my Spanish on him. Good Mexican food, too.


Irwin


and the restaurant.

Following, are a group of pictures of the town:

Portsmouth Views

I'm sitting here listening to that Palin woman expounding on her wonderful virtues and trying to convince me how perfect she is to become Vice President of this country and, Heaven forbid, President. I swear. If she McCain is elected he better live through his whole term because that woman could easily drive me out of my country of citizenship.

I'm not all that traditional, but this woman is so full of herself and so-called "accomplishments," that I just can't stand to listen to her.

Today, the mail carrier brought me two bags of lambswool. They came from Deer Run Sheep Farm in West Virginia. Below, is a photo of the two bags and one of one washed lock. It's pretty darned clean, so I'll be processing it myself for spinning.

I've decided that, for the time being, I'm naming all my spun yarns for rock bands or groups. This one is, as the title says, Earth, Wind & Fire. There's just something elemental about it.

Now, I'm wondering if it would be good Fake Isle Hat material. I've nearly finished one of these for my son, John, but I don't much like the lack of contrast. I'm wondering if a young man would consider this yarn to have too much pink in it. There is some pink, but mostly it's mixed with a wine or some other color. I also wonder what solid color yarn would make a good strong contrast with it. I have just about enough of it to make a Fake Isle Hat. Comments anyone?

As I've started spinning more, I've determined it's necessary to find a way to keep track of exactly HOW some of these yarns are made. What if I spin some yarn I really like and, then, decide I need more of it? How will I remember how I made it? If it's weeks later, I'm not sure I could even remember if I did it on a wheel or a spindle. Which spindle? How big were the singles? How was it plied?

For now, I've decided to use the techniques in "Spinning Wool - Basics and Beyond" by Patsy Zawistoski. This is a nifty DVD that I got as an "extra" from The Woolery when I bought my wheel. She recommends using something like this:

I don't know if this will be adequate as time goes on. I may want to keep a bigger record, including photos of projects created with the yarn or other disposition of it. I may want to keep gauge swatches of it, in addition to the sample yarn.

For now, though, this seems to be a great system.

Here's a yarn, handspun, with a name: REO Speedwagon. One of the spinning groups on Ravelry has a monthly contest. This month's contest was for a yarn that referred to a rock group. I chose REO Speedwagon, mostly because they wrote "Dream Weaver." It's a bright variegated red with fairly evenly spaced spots of black or dark purple. It's hard to see either the variation OR the spots, but they're there.

This yarn started out as a kind of generic cream color. I spun it on a combination of hand spindles and made it 2-ply. I dyed it in an old crockpot, using Kool-Aid. First, I dyed it a kind of peach color using pink lemonade and a little cherry. Then, I added various flavors, one at a time, which made the yarn a very subtly variegated bright red. Then, I draped the middle of the skein over a wooden spoon over the crockpot and hand smeared some Wilton's green gel. This, I covered with a web paper towel, put the lid back on and "cooked" it for another couple of hours.

Not only do I think it's pretty, it smells good, too.

The Palin woman spoke at the Republican National Convention last night. She's a good speaker.

However, Mr. Biden is right. Not once, did I hear about education or health care or, even, the middle class. So what's new? That's business as usual for the Republican party over the past twenty or twenty-five years.

Obama/Biden is the way to go. I'm convinced.

As I've stated previously, I'm an Obama fan. I'll be voting for Obama. I'm glad his half-black ethnic background didn't hold him back from becoming a presidential nominee. I'll be glad that he's elected.

What bothers me is the continual comments about his being the "first black/African American" to be nominated for the presidency. No. He's not. Jesse Jackson would be the "first black/African American" nominated. Bill Cosby would be the "first black/African American" nominated - maybe.

Sorry, but mom is as caucasian as dad is black. So, how much "black blood" makes a person black? This has been going on for centuries. I'm sure, if we searched around enough, we'd find a number of our "white" politicians are "black." I'm glad it makes some people happy, though.

Fact is, I don't think this should be the overriding basis for the glee at his nomination. There's a lot more good to it, than his ethnicity. I do think it's about time someone who is so obviously of mixed ethnicity has been lauded as intelligent and worthy of pursuing this high office.

Obama is bright. He's steady and calm. He's likable. He's the best candidate for the job. THAT's why I support him, not because he's black OR white.

The picture above is from and copyright: http://www.theage.com.au/world

What's up with this, though: It seems to me that the weather casters in this country are just plain miserable when a storm becomes less than they've predicted. It seems they will NOT let it go. They spend days, weeks, building up the storm and, for good reason, issuing dire warnings of death and destruction. It does happen. I can understand the warnings and the care to be sure to insure people understand the possibilities of the storm. They don't want to be questioned about UNDERestimating the power and devastation that can come from these unbelievably beautiful and deadly forces of nature.

BUT - and here's the rub - when the storm weakens. When it's obvious it's going to be far less devastating than they've predicted and for which residents have prepared, they just don't want to let it go.

It seems, when they say the storm's not going to be the danger it could have been, they're disappointed. I know they're not disappointed on a human level, but as weather forecasters, it seems they suffer from profound need to continue to build on reality. I've heard dozens of times this morning (it's only 9 a.m. here) that "it could get worse" and "the worst may be yet to come." That is highly doubtful. The storm's over land. There's nothing to feed it, at least from a historical point.

I respect their ability to predict storms. I am glad they're cautious. I do NOT like the sensational aspects of their reporting.

I'm sorry. I apologize up front.

I never, never write about politics and rarely speak of politics. I'm not a great debater and know there's going to be debate on any comment on politics.

I just can't keep quiet on this one. I can't.

As the Presidential campaigns wended their way over these past several months, I've been swayed, from time to time, by a number of candidates: Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Guiliani, Barack Obama, John McCain. As time went on, I was often torn between Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton and John McCain. There was a fairly long period where I felt I'd be voting for McCain in the upcoming election.

After Ms. Clinton conceded to Obama, I started watching and listening more carefully. You need to remember that, going into this, McCain was the front runner in my mind.

Then came the question of remembering how many houses you own. Now, I can understand Donald Trump forgetting how many "homes" he owns. He's a real estate investor who owns so many pieces of property it takes an accountant to keep track of them. McCain doesn't and isn't. I don't much like the idea that someone who is running for office to represent the "common American" can't tell me how many homes he or she owns. I think the most "common man" in the United States owns one home. Some of us who are lucky and have managed finances well may own two. Some, who are extremely lucky, might own three - maybe four. That's pushing it, in my book, for the title of "common man."

Now, we select for our running mate a woman most of us haven't heard of who happens to be Governor of Alaska. Wow! A constituency of less than 700,000 people. It's a lot of land, but very few people. Of that less than 700,000 people, how many of them are politically active? That's, by the way, less than the population of Delaware.

I wonder how much she's been out there with her version of the disenfranchised native Americans asking them what they want or need?

But I digress. So, she's in charge of governing about 700,000 people. She's used her "veto power" to veto the Bridge to Nowhere. Good for her. I still never heard of her. She still has never dealt with the issues of a large government.

The catty side of me wants to note that she has beer can lacquered curls and dorky glasses and looks like she's going to jump out of the campaign banner and jump all over me.

That's not fair. Let's just let it go by saying there's no way she has the political experience as Joe Biden.

I think about the possibility that John McCain might not make it through his first four years of office and she might be President. Would I feel secure? Absolutely NOT!

So, Mr. McCain, despite the fact I might be able to overlook your wealth of homes (however many there may be), despite the fact it seems you are at a point in your campaign where you're trying to decide whether or not you even WANT to be President, the fact you've selected this, particular, person as your running mate kind of seals the deal for me.

Add to this the fact that Obama has never lost his cool, at least in my estimation, he's charismatic and has a lot of experience under his belt (albeit, not military) and that he will, most likely, be well received by other world leaders and seems to be holding many of the same values as mine, and you can see why I'll be voting for Barack Obama.

Oh, yes, and add to that the million dollar smile of Joe Biden and add his experience to the mix and it compounds my decision.

I can hardly wait for the Vice Presidential debates.

One thing that bothers me a lot: How can you do this to your party? Can't you see what you've done? You've taken people like me who could still be swayed and sent us packing. Whatever you say or do, now, I can't imagine this country in the hands of that woman. There were so many good men and women you could have selected that would have bolstered your ticket. You chose a rather obscure woman from a rather remote state with rather limited credentials over the likes of Rudy? Ron? even Nader, for Heaven's sake!

From my point of view, you've become the Rodney Dangerfield of politics.

To my friends and family who are staunch Republicans and who still support McCain, I respect your desire to do so. I don't think the country will fall apart with four years of McCain. I do remember the government is made up of many people, not just the President of the United States.

I just can't support it.

Do you see it? See the orange? That's Fall. It's coming. Every now and then, you see this as you drive down the highway. This happens to be a detail of the view of the trees across the street from me, heading toward the river. Soon, the whole area will be that color.

I'm getting better, but ..,

I'm still over spinning. I think part of the problem is that I keep drafting smaller and smaller. I'm using the largest whorl, but may have the take up happening too quickly. I'll have to play with that.

Here's something new I finished yesterday. It's made from off white domestic top from Earth Guild in Asheville, NC. I have a LOT of this fiber and am trying all kinds of different things with it. I'm planning on knitting ALL the yarn, no matter how it was produced, it's thickness or ply method or texture into one shawl. I'll have to play with the gauges as I go. I have 2 pounds, 2 oz. of this (minus the approx. half pound I've already spun). that should make an interesting "sampler."

This is some slightly over spun singles from some really nice and fluffy merino roving. It's very slippery and the fibers are somewhat short. This was done on a Cascade Spindles's Mt. St. Helen spindle. I love that spindle, even more than the Golding Tsunami I have. I've spun some more of this fiber and Navajo plied it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these singles, but I'm waiting until I have a similar ball (or, maybe, two).

I'm becoming slightly obsessed with spinning. Well, maybe, a LOT obsessed with spinning.

My singles are getting better. See here:

Much better than before. I love my Kromski wheel. We'll see how good the singles actually is when I ply it with another.

By the way, it's called a "singles," even when there's more than one. Why is that? I don't know. Fascinating stuff, this spinning. The parts of a wheel are interesting, too: maidens, mother-of-all, flyer, whorl, orifice, footman/men. I'm going to have to find out where all this came from.

This is lots of fun! It's interesting how the colors mix. The fabric is a little "wonky" because it's already been knitted, but it should go away when it's washed and blocked the first time.

Whether you agree with the lyrics, or not, the song is just gorgeous.



DRY YOUR EYES

Words and Music by Neil Diamond and J.R. Robertson

Dry your eyes and take your song out, it’s a newborn afternoon.

And if you can’t recall the singer you can still recall the tune.

Dry your eyes and play it slowly like you’re marching off to war;

sing it like you know he’d want it, like we sang it once before.

And from the center of the circle to the midst of the waiting crowd,

if it ever be forgotten sing it long and sing it loud and come dry your eyes.

And he taught us more about giving than we ever cared to know,

but we came to find the secret and we never let it go.

And it was more than being holy and it was less than being free,

and if you can’t recall the reason can you hear the people sing.

Right through the lightning and the thunder to the dark side of the moon,

to that distant falling angel that descended much too soon

and come dry your eyes.

Come dry your eyes.

A friend of mine, whom I have not even met in the flesh, reminded me of this song today. Gracie, thank you so much. You have no idea how much you inspire me.

I finished my Swallowtail Shawl. Nothing I've knit, so far, has given me the sense of accomplishment this has. Not only is it beautiful, a beautiful pattern, a beautiful yarn, but there were so many times I felt like just frogging (ripping it out) it and giving up, but I didn't. I'm so glad I didn't. Once I figured out a way to do the nupps (little balls) without dropping all the stitches, it was a pleasure to knit.

I really feel like I can knit almost anything, now. It'll always be a problem for me to stay focused, not distracted, and to COUNT! I'm so blasted distractible that I lose track of what I'm doing. That's NOT a good idea when you're knitting lace. Not only is it very easy to lose your place, but fixing mistakes is a lot harder.

At any rate, I'm done with this pretty thing. It's made from Jojoland Melody yarn I bought from On the Lamb in Staunton, VA.

I'm going to knit another one for a gift in emerald green. Instead of doing nupps, I'm going to use pretty beads for a little added glitz. This is partly because of the plain nature of the yarn. It's a plain emerald green merino wool. I'm actually looking forward to making this pattern a second time. That, in itself, is unusual for me. I usually knit something once and never again.

I've been spinning in circles for a couple of weeks, now. I've been trying out different yarn spinning techniques, both with my wheel and with my spindles. It's interesting what different results you can get!

Here's a photo of my final drying rack in my kitchen. Sophisticated, isn't it?

Here's a run down of the yarn created.


This yarn is made with pencil roving purchased from The Woolery when I bought my wheel. I bought a "cheese" of it. For the most part, I simply plied it together (2-ply) using a Golding Tsunami spindle. I didn't spin it first, but plied only.




This is 100% Merino that I've posted before. I tried spinning it on my smallest spindle, a Cascade Spindle's Mt. St. Helen. I plied it using the Navaho Plying technique. I've got it down, now, but you should have been around when I was totally tangled up in yarn with both hands tightly wound into the loops!




This one is my first plying attempt using the wheel and, also, my first consistent (well, sort of) spinning on the wheel. By this I mean, I didn't have to stop every 3 feet. I discovered it's hard to keep the wheel going in the opposite direction. For spinning, to make "singles," you spin with the wheel going clockwise. Then, to ply the singles together, you spin the wheel the other direction. It's odd how different that feels.




These are the same singles, but plied using a large Shacht 3" spindle.


And, finally, this is the same singles, plied using the Tsunami spindle and Navaho Plying method.


All the cream yarns are somewhat thick, although two of the skeins are about worsted weight with a few "chunks" thrown in. The merino brightly colored yarn is light worsted and the turquoise merino is somewhere between fingering and sport weight.

Oh, by the way, when this stuff dries, it smells (remarkably) like a wet sheep. Fancy that!

I have enough cream yarn to make a nice scarf for someone. It should also be a quick knit.

I'm going to continue to do the brightly colored fiber the same way and should have enough of that, soon, for a project. I'll also keep plying the turquoise roving the same way, too.

I'm not sure if I like spinning or knitting better. I think what I'll like best is knitting things from home spun yarn.

I like to rearrange furniture - without notice. I've been accused of setting up a "danger zone" whereby unsuspecting family members can trip over unexpected furniture, or fall to the ground on their tailbones, expecting a chair where none exists. Silly family members.

Well, this is what I did yesterday. It's totally different. Absolutely the only thing that's where it was in the morning is the white desk.

Please note all the cute birdhouses. They're made by patients at the state hospital where Jim works. They're all charming and they get to use part of the money for parties and part of it is to purchase more supplies. I adore these little birdhouses!

Every time I go out to Hungry Mother Park, I wonder why we don't go MORE often. It's such a beautiful place. Here are just a few photos for you.

There's something magical about some mornings in the mountains. This is one of them. There's a mist that's settled everywhere, but it's not very damp outside. The birds are ecstatic and there's a kind of unusual quiet as their backdrop.

This is what it looks like from the front porch. It's too bad the sunflowers are past their prime, but they still make a nice picture.

There's also this really cool little fellow that lives on our side porch. Every now and then, he (or she) gets industrious and builds a little web. Later in the day, it's consumed so as to conserve web materials. We managed to catch this one this morning. Jim and I both took pictures, but this one of Jim's is the best:




I'm killing myself trying to learn how to spin. This little spider had no training, has no spindle, nor a wheel. Amazing.

As I posted in an earlier post, I've been working on a Swallowtail Shawl. It's not a difficult pattern, at least until you get to the edging that gives it the name "Swallowtail." There is a stitch called a "nupp" that consists of doing 3 knit stitches with yarn overs in between them into ONE knit stitch of the previous row, THEN purling once into all FIVE of the stitches on the next row. It's a bear to get all five of those little stitches on the needle because they tend to tighten up a bit. It's also hard NOT to catch the next stitch with the five.

I learned a trick to do them and have, finally, finished three complete pairs of rows for nupps. That leaves only eight more pair.

Some time ago, I was told by a friend about a wonderful spinner named Chimera. She does mostly handspun yarns, handpainted riber and really nice artsy items. My friend had told me about a wonderful yarn she had bought and from which she'd made a hat for her son. It was a woodsy green and had little felt leaves and ladybugs in it.

I contacted Chimera, and she agreed to make me a fairly large batch of this yarn. It came today. It's beautiful and I love it. It was worth the hefty (although not so hefty for this type of thing) price tag.

She also gave me a "silk hanky." There are many ways silk cocoon fiber is readied for spinning, and this is one of them. The cocoon fibers are spread over "something." I believe Chimera dyed the fiber before sending me the hanky, but I'm not sure. In order to spin the silk into yarn, you start at the center of the hanky and begin pulling the fibers, moving to the outsides. There are several layers of fibers, and I haven't done it, yet, but it looks like it'll be a lot of fun.




I also started spinning some of my hand dyed (not by me) merino top I purchased some time ago. I'm using a spindle from Cascade Spindle Company in Washington. It's called a St. Helen and is made from wood from trees in the Mount St. Helen area. As you can see, I'm starting to get to the point that I can spin a pretty fine fiber on the spindle. This fiber should ply up around fingering weight (with the obligatory lumps). I love spinning on the spindle when I'm watching TV or movies.

This is the first reasonable yarn I've spun that's not really bulky. It's still a little thick, but at least it doesn't look like thin rope. This yardage (all 32 yards of it) was done on the spindle and plied 2-ply. I pun it, put it in a center-pull ball, plied it on the spindle, then used a niddy noddy to skein it. It was then washed in hot water with shampoo (dog shampoo, actually; it has a lovely scent), then hung to dry. The fiber was a nice plain mixed wool top. I used the ply and park method of spinning, which gave me a little more control, but by the end, I was starting to do more "free spin."

I have almost a full bobbin of the same fiber on the wheel. I'm going to finish filling that one today and will, then, spin another bobbin full. I'll ply it and wash it and see how that comes out.

This past weekend, Jim's dad turned 80. We went to Pittsburgh on Friday for his birthday party and had a great time. We went with Jim's brother Alan and his wife, Pam, and the two boys (Ethan and Nathanael) to a great Italian Restaurant for a late lunch. He sure doesn't seem like he's 80!

Afterward, we went on an impromptu weekend trip to Erie. Back in the early 1990's, we lived in Erie for seven months. I always loved it and was kind of sorry we left. At the time, we didn't have the right transportation for a place that can get 50-80 inches of snow in three or four months and it really made living there less than pleasant.

It's an interesting place. Of course, like everyone else who's been there, Presque Isle is a big draw. I've posted pictures of Presque Isle below. I even bought a camera for the purpose of taking pictures of this trip. It's a really nice little camera. I have a big Sony monster, which I love, but it's really something you have to want to use for special photographing trips. It's big and unwieldy. I bought this little guy:

One of the great features of Presque Isle is Sara's and Sally's. Sara's is an old hot dog-type stand and Sally's is an old diner. The food is wonderful and totally unhealthy. The best raspberry milkshakes in the world come from Sara's. I also had a yummy foot long hot dog and we shared a basket of very crispy, tender, greasy onion rings.

Here are the promised photos of Erie. Judge for yourself.

I've finished the back of my Central Park Hoodie for the Knit Along. This is an easy pattern and it has seemed to keep my interest. We'll see if I still think that after I do two fronts, two sleeves a hood and a band!

I love my new spinning wheel. Her name is "Libby" (short for Liberty). I "graduated" from the pencil roving to real wool "tops." Don't ask me why they're called "tops." They're long strips, about 3" wide, of soft wool fiber that's been carded and coiled up. You divide it into smaller sections and feed it to the wheel.

I can't seem to get this stuff started. It breaks over and over.

I posted on Ravelry in the Beginner Spinners thread and got the answer. I'm treadling too fast. OK. That's all well and good, but I've been trying to treadle slowly. It's hard, when you don't know what "slow" and "fast" mean with regard to spinning.

I was told the Kromski wheels, the brand I have, are so smooth that it's hard to treadle slowly. It takes practice. So, I'm sitting in front of the TV, treadling as sloooooowwwwwwlllllllyyyyyyy as possible. You CAN treadle slowly, but they're definitely right: it takes concentrated effort to learn.

I was growing parsley in my little garden. The plan was that I would harvest it and dry it for the winter.

I went out to pick it, yesterday, and found these:

They're so well camouflaged, I almost grabbed them and, ewwwwww!, squished. At first, I was a little ticked off because they were gobbling down my parsley so fast! They're pretty, though, in their wormy way.

I went inside and hunted and hunted until I could figure out what they were. Well, they're called (how strange) "parsley worms." They're the larva form of this:




I've decided I don't need home grown parsley. I'll sacrifice my herb supply to have these pretty guys around.

Someone I consider to be a true hero died today. He was only 47.

Far from the action heroes we watch on the television or on the big screen or read about in comic books and novels, this was a man. This wasn't a man who fought on the battlefield. He didn't rescue people from burning buildings or protect them from thieves and murderers.

He was a college professor. He was a man with pancreatic cancer. He had a family. He was a real person. In 2007, he gave a "Final Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University. He became an example, not only of living well, but of dying well. He gave, every day of his life and was brutally honest with his description of the ups and downs of his disease, his hopes and his dreams.

Here, you can read an excellent article about his death, written by Valerie Nelson in Los Angeles.

I never met this man. I didn't need to meet him. I could read what he wrote and watch the brave battle he fought with dignity and love and a nearly constant sense of humor.

We lost an important man today. We lost a hero. We lost a person in the world who I will miss from time to time.

My new spinning wheel arrived yesterday afternoon. I unpacked it and looked at all the parts and the rather sketchy instructions and turned around. I was just too tired last night.

This morning, I decided I could do it. So, I got out the instructions and started. Then, there were things like: assemble the "Mother of All" and install. Huh? Whassat? What do I do, now?

So, I got out the DVD that came with the wheel and figured I'd do it step by step that way. Well, that's all well and good, but they don't do the steps in the same order. Between the two, I got the thing together, but my wheel came with just long strings, not tied in any way, although both the dvd and the instruction sheet say it's already attached. Whoops! Now what!

I looked on the wonderful Internet for instructions from Kromski, or anyone else. Nothing. Nada. Nunc! So, I called The Woolery where I bought it. Now, of course, this is 9:00 a.m. and I was even surprised to find them already there. The young woman on the phone, who was very nice, said she was new and didn't know how to tie it, either, but she'd have the owner call me when he got in at 10:00. Well, at Noon, I called again and she said she was surprised and he must have gotten caught in traffic. I told her I'd hold tight, then. My suspicion was he was hungry. It's easy to get hungry in Tennessee.

Me, being me, though, couldn't just "hold tight." I kept looking and looking and looking on the Internet. Nothing on the Kromski. I found instructions for another brand of double drive wheel and thought I might be able to figure out the correct method, even though the wheel was a bit different.

Voila! It worked. The wheel works just fine and the installation of the drive band is a piece of apple cake.

So, here's a picture of my little darling. Now, to name her.

Do you know what a distaff is? Not too many people, except for spinners do.

I made one today:

What's it for? You put it on your fiber hand when spinning with a drop spindle and wrap the raw fiber, roving, etc., around it. It's made with a fiber that kind of grabs the raw fiber and keeps it out of the way of the spindle and the spinner. There are beads on it to give it just a bit of weight. Two nice side advantages of the beads are the quiet "clacking" sound it makes as the fiber is swung off and, well, it's just pretty.

I learned how to do a round 4 strand braid doing this. I made my distaff out of Noro Kureyon. It's possible, the Kureyon won't be as strong as I'd like. If it's not, I have an excuse to make another one.

I've finished spinning up the practice wool fiber that came with my drop spindle. It was a real learning experience!

Here are the three little balls of what's called "singles" I made from my wad of fiber:

This is the first attempt. It's full of slubs, thick and thin, and has both under spun and over spun sections:




Attempt 2 produced yarn that has a more consistent spin, but some of it is very thin - almost lace weight - and a lot of it's really "hard."




The final attempt, and the largest amount of yarn single, is a lot better. It's still thick and thin in places and the spin isn't totally consistent, but it's acceptable.




I'm going to take all the singles and ply (twist) them together to make one ball. I've been told it's important to knit something, anything, with your first yarn, so I think I'll make a mug cozy with it.

Here's what I'm trying to spin on the drop spindle these days:



This is from Gale's Art and is 100% hand dyed merino wool. It's not as easy to spin as the other yarn and I'm having to "reset" my methods. The colors are really nice. I could spin it as one long "single" and have the colors as they come off the roving, but I think I'll spin it thinner and ply it to see what I get.

It's amazing to watch this. When you see a skein of pretty handpainted yarn on the shelf, don't be fooled. The way it looks in the skein is nothing like what it is in a ball and, even more so, after being knit. It's a complete adventure from start to finish. It's the same with spinning. It adds a whole new depth to the knitting experience.

Now, all I need is about 20 acres for sheep, alpacas, goats, camels, yaks, llamas, angora rabbits and a spot for a bamboo grove. There are people who do this, you know. I'm not totally crazy.

A few weeks ago, I bought from my neighbor, a microwave cart for the kitchen. This meant I could move the big red cabinet into the living room for "messy stuff" storage. By moving the microwave off the kitchen counter, I got almost 3 feet of new workspace.

This kitchen, while it has quite a lot of cabinet space, most of it is really inconvenient for me because it's high. Even with the microwave off the counter, there's still very little workspace.

We bought a large kitchen cart. The thing weighed a ton in its boxes. It's a great cabinet, though. It's made by Home Styles and, as advertised, was very easy to put together, for something of its size and it's very sturdy!

Jim sat on the kitchen floor for about 2 hours on Sunday and put it together. This has enabled me to organize the kitchen a bit better, things I use most often are very easy to reach, there's a little more countertop (not to mention a space for oils, towels and paper towels) and it's easy to move. The best part of all? I have a home for my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer.

Here's a photo of the cart. I think Jim did an amazing job, don't you?

You all know Skittles the Bird, of course. He's the little genius who's been sharing our lives for the past 2 1/2 years.

Well, my birthday is tomorrow and I managed to work out an arranged marriage (I hope) for Skittles. We went to the local pet store in Rural Retreat and purchased a cute little girl (I think). For the moment, she's in a separate cage and has already started flirting with Skitty (the hussy).

I tried to get a photo of her, but the bars of the cage are interfering with a good clear image. She's mostly white, with greyish, yellowish tinting and some blue on her underside. She has HUGE eyes and is quite cute.

We are hoping for the best and that Skitty Bird will have many years of happiness with his future cagemate.

I'm taking part in two Knit Alongs that are children of two groups I belong to on Ravelry. One of them is a part of the Mosaic Maniacs group. Mosaic is a local yarn shop in Blacksburg, of which I have written before. I've made cables before, but never knit an entire cabled project. Nor, have I ever made a garment with a hood.

One of them is the Central Park Hoodie. My version is below. At first, I wasn't very happy with my yarn choice. It felt scratchy and the color looked dull. Now that a good section is complete, I like it a lot. It has the further advantage of making a hole in my yarn stash that I can fill up with a more contemporary yarn. I wanted it navy so I could hang it on the hat stand to grab when I run out the door when the weather gets cooler. I'm enjoying it so much, I may have to knit it again.

The color is more like the top version, but there are little flecks of purple and red in the yarn. Very subtle.

The other Knit Along is a Swallowtail Shawlette. I love lace knitting, but have kept my projects to simple scarves or socks. I've always had problems keeping track of the repeats and number of stitches and the number of rows and on and on and on. When a member of my other main group, Misery Knits, said she'd start a Knit Along for it, I jumped at the chance. I figured that, if I had someone to "hold my hand," I'd keep at it and do it. So far, I have.

This project contains something called "nupps." Nupps is a particular stitch sequence in which you knit three times into the stitch on the row below and add yarn overs in between. That's 5 stitches in one stitch. Then, in the next row, you have to get all 5 of those stitches on the knitting needle, without getting anything else caught up in it, and pull the yarn through all of them at once. It's a contortionist's delight.

I've knit the entire center part of this shawl and have completed my first two rows of nupps. I only have about 15 more to go. I do think I'll finish this time, though. It's so pretty I may have to knit it again, too. There's also a way of putting beads on this little thing to make it even fancier.

Mine's done in slightly heavier yarn than the one shown in the link above. I'm not totally crazy. When it's blocked (that's where you wet the yarn and stretch it out using pins or wires and let it dry to "open up" the knit, it'll be much bigger than it looks and much airier. I'll post a photo when I finish it, and finish it, I will.

We've subscribed to the Roanoke Times for about a year. Living here in Marion, for national news in printed form, we're between Bristol and Roanoke for "larger" city newspapers. We subscribe to the local News and Messenger, which is a great little newspaper for local color and information. For national news we, of course, watch the network broadcasts, read The St. Petersburg Times online, and The Roanoke Times for information about Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Recently, we received a letter from the Circulation Department of The Roanoke Times informing us that, because of the increase in gasoline prices, after July 31, we would not be receiving home delivery of our morning newspaper. Instead, The Roanoke Times, in its infinite wisdom would be mailing our papers to us. This means we would get morning news in the late afternoon except, of course, for Sundays and any national holidays. These we'd get the next day.

Well, I don't know about you, but I like to get the newspaper in the morning before I get bogged down in daily activities. Also, by the time I get Sunday and holiday papers a day late (if the mail service is really, really good), the news is old and I've heard it, seen it, read it before.

I called to tell them we would be canceling our subscription immediately. I was met with incredulity from the "customer service" representative on the phone. I'm not sure why, since a prominent member of the local community had already written to the paper expressing his disappointment at this turn of events and my neighbor next door says she's not going to continue, either. Surely I couldn't have been the first person to cancel immediately. At any rate, I told her that, yes, indeed, we figured we may as well cancel now as to wait for the end of the month.

Today, Jim wrote a letter to the paper with his feelings. Here's the body of his letter:

Dear Roanoke Times,

I am writing to you after having spent a luxurious Sunday morning sitting in my rocking chair on the shady porch of my Marion, Virginia, home reading the Sunday edition of your fine newspaper. Recently, your publication sent a letter to me indicating that you would no longer be delivering my Roanoke Times due to fuel costs. Instead, you said that the U.S. Postal Service would be delivering my daily morning newspaper each afternoon except, of course, Sundays and all federal holidays. When your Customer Service representative was notified that I wished to cancel my subscription effective immediately, she seemed somewhat incredulous as if she did not understand.

Instead of subscribing to your newspaper, I am now helping you to save money. I am also not seeing the ads of your advertisers which, perhaps, will help them save money as well since they do not have to pay their suppliers to deliver the merchandise to them. A penny saved is a penny earned. I presume this is a win for your business, since this is what you decided to do.

Fortunately, I can go several hundred yards to a convenience store to pick up a copy of the Roanoke Times whenever I want to read the hard copy, instead of picking up the news items via television, radio, or the Internet. Today, for instance, I wanted to enjoy the Times on my porch, and the coupons in the paper paid for my newspaper. This is definitely a win for me, and I thank you.

Somewhere, there is an adage that it is always less costly to keep a customer than to get a new one. It is refreshing to know that Roanoke Times is immune from this adage, since apparently you plan (somehow) on continuing to grow your business by losing subscribers. I presume the person who made this decision worked their way up in the ranks of your organization from their initial position in Customer Service.

James R. Moon, Ph.D., MBA
Licensed Clinical Psychologist (FL and VA)

This echoes my sentiments, exactly.

Is this pennywise and pound foolish?

I was thinking today that we may have the most expensive dog in Marion, VA. First of all, there aren't too many people here who would pay what we did for a dog. I think many would think we were nuts (and, perhaps, we were). I also felt a little guilty, since there are so many poor dogs in shelters that need homes.

When we bought Kelly, I was actively looking at rescue sites and considering adopting a rescue dog. Somewhere along the way, though, I became overwhelmed with nostalgia for a little toy poodle I once had named Nina. She was a cute little black toy poodle that I showed in obedience trials.

So, on a lark, I looked at poodle breeders and we found Kelly.

Kelly will be seven months old in three days. She's a well house trained pup, although she did go through a phase where she thought the back part of the basement qualified as outside. She'd poop and then bark at it like it was the offending party. At least we were notified of the transgression!

Anyway, Kelly was boarded for ten days at our local veterinarian's office. Kelly dearly loves her doctor and all the people in the office. She even went home with the vet and his wife two nights.

All seemed good until yesterday afternoon, when Kelly just suddenly squatted and peed. I mean ALL OF A SUDDEN. I took her out and, not a half hour later, it happened again. When Jim got home at 5, it happened, yet again. Now, at first, I thought it might just be excitement of being home, or she might have been in her crate at the vet's for awhile and had "stored it up."

This morning, before we could get her to the door, she peed right at Jim's feet (at least she was going to). He grabbed her up and was holding her and I took her out. While we were outside, she started walking around on just three legs and grabbing at her tummy. At any rate, she seemed sick. I called the vet and made an appointment for 3:30. I suspected a UTI.

During the day, she seemed better and I thought about canceling, but she still needed to go out to pee a LOT. And, she'd squat for a long time and only make about a tablespoonful. This is NOT normal.

I took her in and, I think they thought I was nuts, too, until we ran around behind her trying to catch a urine sample and the sample came back with 3 different kinds of crystals in the urine, one of which the vet says is "bizarre." UTI confirmed.

Also, he told me she has patellar luxation. This is where the lower leg bone comes out of the kneecap. This is on, surprise, her left hind leg, the one she was holding up this morning. He showed me how to put it back in place.

So, Kelly has a propensity for UTIs, patellar luxation, AND the weepy eyes toy poodles are prone to have and very hairy ears that poodles get that can lead to ear infections if the hair isn't cleaned out periodically. Furthermore, she retained her baby canines, another issue that toy poodles tend to have. Of all the issues toy poodles might have, it seems Kelly has them all.

Her medical bills are huge for a seven month old puppy. There's a possibility she may need surgery someday for her leg.

Do I care? NO! She's funny. She's cute. She's pretty. She's good company. She's worth it.

So, should anyone think I'm crazy. I agree. I just don't care.

Before I start this entry, let it be said that I am completely in support of designers, authors, musicians and other artists receiving due credit and any monetary appreciation due them in the creation of their art.

There's been a recent hoopla (ongoing) on a wonderful knitting/fiber site that is bordering on the ridiculous.

On Ravelry (the wonderful knitting site I mentioned), there are groups for just about any knitting or other fiber-related activity you can think of. There are groups of knitters who support Barack Obama, or who like the author Stephen King. There are groups in support of certain designers or local yarn shops. There are sites where people discuss almost anything in the world.

There are groups here, specifically, discussing copyright. That's how detailed and "drilled down" some of these discussions become.

There's a great blog post about this on another site: Fleegle's Blog - Copyright Confusion. She's funny and has discussed this issue in a much more entertaining way than I ever could. BUT, I have to get my two cents worth in. If I buy a pattern, what does the designer think I'm going to do with it? Put it in a book and admire it? Knit it for fun and entertainment and, then, rip it (frog) it? I'm, hopefully, going to knit it up. I may keep it and wear it down the street. I may give it to someone as a gift. It has occurred to me that I might knit it up and sell it, if it's something small that someone might want to purchase.

No, no, no! You may NOT give it away as a gift, unless there is specific information about the artist permanently attached to the garment. There's some question as to whether you can wear or use it without said information permanently attached. You absolutely, certainly may NOT sell it in any form, under penalty of imprisonment or death.

Well, you say, what if I take this design as a jumping off point and change it and then knit it. Oh, no! ALL iPod cozies are covered under said copyright laws. ALL v-neck, raglan sleeve sweaters knit from the bottom up are covered. Ditto for said sweaters knit from the top down. It doesn't matter that raglan sleeved v-neck sweaters have been around for centuries. It doesn't matter that any and all stitches are out there for the taking. Now, I don't think you should copy someone's design and call it your own. I wouldn't think it would be likely the same complicated Aran stitches could be put together in the exact same order and design, so I'd think doing something like that would be a copyright infringement. I think it's hard to determine exactly WHERE inspiration and piracy begin. Is it the change of 25% of the stitches? 75%? If you say 100%, no more Aran sweaters will ever be knitted.

In the case of the iPod cozy I mentioned above, there are people who think you can't look at their pattern and say, "Wow! I don't need a pattern for this. I can make up my own." If you do, they say you got the idea from them and you should have to pay for their pattern. That's nonsense! An iPod cozy is nothing but a sock foot that never made it. Or a bag that was too small. That's it. Any idiot that's been knitting for more than 2 days can knit (and, yes, even design) an iPod cozy. Again, I wouldn't think you'd copy any cutsie designs or stitch combinations to make exact copies, but ... Even changing the yarn can make it look totally different (and, sometimes, unrecognizable) as the "designer's" copy.

What it seems to me is that the "designers" want to be able to corner the market on ALL iPod cozies knit anywhere in the world. You can't knit them to sell, even if the designer doesn't want to, or have the resources to sell even one of them. The world is doomed to wishing they had iPod cozies while gazing lovingly upon the designer's pattern.

Think about it. If this kind of reasoning were carried through to every other craft or art, there'd only be ONE painting of the Eiffel Tower. There'd only be ONE home with cantilevered balconies. There's only be ONE pair of hoop earrings for crying out loud!

No, I'll never, ever knit up a designer's sweater and sell it. I might come up with my own. Elizabeth Zimmerman was a great knitter who has gone to the great yarn shop in the sky. She, once, had a TV series about knitting. She has several books (charming books with lots of life anecdotes in them) on the market. They have very generic-type patterns in them. I don't see how anyone could determine if any bottom up sweater knit in the round was, for sure, knit from her books or patterns (short of direct copies, of course). This technique isn't THAT innovative. Someone else could easily (if they were talented) come up with the idea. Does this mean these sweaters can't be sold? OK, designers - prove it.

Personally, I don't buy many patterns. I have no intention of selling anything from a book or pattern I buy. However, I do reserve the right to look at a pattern in a book and say, "I can come up with something better than that." I would hope people would give me the benefit of a doubt to believe I can knit and purl and yarn over and knit 2 together to come up with a pattern for a toe up sock that never makes it. The inspiration can't be copyrighted.

All this being said, I'm NOT going to put tags in everything I make as a gift giving "complete details" of the designer and where to buy the pattern. If I'm giving it as a gift, the person isn't likely to make one for him or herself. I WILL say it's from such and such, if I'm asked. I'm NOT going to knit 15 copies of the thing to sell. I get bored too easily. I'm NOT going to make photocopies of the pattern to give away - I'm too selfish. I bought mine. You buy yours.

Here's what I might do: I might give the pattern away, just like I might give a book away. I know you don't want me to do that. You want to sell another pattern, even if I buy it and decide I'll never knit it (it happens). I might knit it over and over again (some designers only want you to knit ONE of a design) and not buy a new pattern each time. I might even give it away as a gift. When I started knitting, I bought books at that level. I've given some of those books away to people who are starting out. Is this copyright infringement?

Like I said, I'm all for designers getting paid. I'm not going to try to bilk someone who's put time and effort into designing something out of their hard earned dollar. Designers deserve to be paid. I just don't think they deserve to be paid over and over again.

Here's my bottom line: If someone is that worried about it and, if they think their design is worth so much and that it'll be abused over and over again, the answer is simple. Charge very large sums of money for the designs. This way, no one who plans on knitting one or two of something will buy it. Only those who plan on mass marketing the finished designs will buy it.

Look at it this way: It's one way to insure your local "garden variety" knitter won't be buying your pattern with an eye to "ripping you off."

I needed a quick and easy project to feel a sense of accomplishment with the knitting. Here's the result:



It's a little neckwarmer made from Koigu Painter's Pallet Merino Wool. The colors in the real scarf are just a bit brighter and slightly greener than the photo. The thing just fits around the neck and has little loops above the heart shaped pieces. You pull one heart through the loop and it just keeps your neck warm. It should be perfect for wearing with a sweatshirt or tee, with or without a jacket to keep the neck warm.

Jim likes it a lot and, now, he wants one. I feel the pattern as it's written is too "girly" for a guy, so I'm looking for a neckwarmer designed just for a man. Barring that, I'll knit him one with just plain tabs on the ends and out of a heavier yarn with nice, dark, masculine colors.