Blog365: Day 28

This morning I did a little homework and then spent a couple hours working the book fair at Annabelle's school. At first I wasn't going to volunteer this time around (see my New Year's resolution to say no more often), but I really like working the book fair. So much so that I'm doing it again tomorrow.

I also cast on for my new scarf project. I LOVE the way that wool feels in my hands and definitely want to do a sweater after I finish the scarf.

K1P1

I've got knitting on the brain lately. I am really close to finishing up my most recent pair of socks. All that remains is to graft the toe closed and weave in the loose ends. And, of course, to take a picture of them!

I'm in the mood to do something a little different. I spent an hour and a half in the yarn shop yesterday while Annabelle was at her Broadway bootcamp. I was desperately seeking inspiration, but I'm just so darn picky. I knew I wanted to do either color work or cables, but I just wasn't finding anything that I loved.

I was intrigued by the Mission Falls 1824 Wool, and was contemplating doing a Lopi-style sweater (like the one I made in Germany) out of that. That was going to take a lot of math though, as Lopi and 1824 are nothing like each other gaugewise.

Finally, one of the salesladies pointed me in the direction of some Mission Falls pattern books. I wound up deciding on this scarf, only mine will be black and a kind of taupey color:



I figure it's the perfect way to test drive that yarn, plus a scarf doesn't take a lot of mental energy, thus making it the perfect project to take up time during swim meets and practices. Can't wait to cast on tomorrow!

Blog365: Day 11

At the risk of turning this into a knitting blog (not that there's anything wrong with that), I finished my sock at a board meeting this morning, so yay for me. I cast on for the second one this afternoon and hope to get a lot done at tomorrow's swim meet.

I haven't gone political on the blog in quite a while, but I have been laughing all day over this:



DailyKos is encouraging Michigan Dems to cast a vote for Romney in the Republican primary. Kos says:

Okay, so, I know - you must think I'm nuts to suggest that anyone ever vote Republican. But this situation is special. As it happens, the Michigan Democratic primary is uncontested. Barack Obama and John Edwards aren't even on the ballot. So that means even if you're a Hillary Clinton supporter, there's no need to vote for her - she's running unopposed.

But the Republican primary is hotly contested. And Michigan law lets anyone - including independents AND Democrats - vote in the Republican primary. This means there's a great opportunity, as we say above, for us to make mischief!

So why should Dems and indies vote Romney? After his victory in New Hampshire, the press has declared John McCain the Republican front- runner. Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee, who won in Iowa, looks poised to do well in South Carolina, which hosts the next primary after Michigan.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney desperately needs to win Michigan in order to keep his campaign afloat. And the more Republican candidates who are fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for the Democratic candidates, of course! In other words, we want Mitt to stay in the race, and to do that, we need him to win in Michigan.

Apparently some people didn't understand the reasoning, so Kos posted a second part to make 4 main points: "(1) This isn't a pro-Romney effort . . . (2) The Democratic race is irrelevant . . . (3) You can't bring a spork to a gun battle . . . [and] (4) Open primaries are stupid."

"You can't bring a spork to a gun battle." Cracks me right up!

I know I said I wasn't feeling "socky" . . .

. . . but check this out:



This sock has all but knit itself. I've gotten down past the gusset in what feels like no time at all. All that remains are 20 or so rounds of straight knitting and then the toe decreases.

Of course then I'll need to make the dreaded second sock. We'll see how long that takes me.

Knitwit

I finally finished the pair of socks I have been working on since forever. Kind of ironic, as they are a chunkier sock yarn than I typically work with and thus should knit up FASTER. Oh, well, I'm pleased with how they turned out:



I started another pair of socks a little while ago, but I'm just not in a very "socky" mood, which is why it took me so long to finish the last pair. It's nice yarn, but my heart just isn't in it:



What I'm really in the mood to knit is a sweater. I want to do another Lopi sweater kind of like the one I made when we were moving to Germany. I want to knit in the round and have lots of fancy colors, but I want to work with something finer and less scratchy than Lopi. This means that I need to get out there and see what's available and do a whole lot of math to decide what size pattern to make and what size needles to use and how many skeins of yarn to buy, and I just don't have the energy.

So it's more socks for now. After this pair, I'll only have enough yarn left from our last trip to Germany for one more pair, so I'll have to figure something out.