What I've been up to....

It's the last day of February, and it's windy and sunny and warmer. Spring may have arrived!  I've been trying for two days to use a utility embedded now in Google through their buyout (sometime ago) of Picasa, and it's not working. Maybe I'll finally just toss Picasa for good.

We started tearing down the "Wall of Boxes" that separated the great room into living room side and studio side, and look what DH found out I had in one of the boxes.  I was as shocked  perplexed as he was.

I still want to order other sweater yarn that matches his, except for color, but I can get at least two sweaters for us out of this load.  Yippie!  See, Rho, the humbug is almost gone.  Whew!  Happy surprises and a dust allergy have stopped me for the moment!

 R, this is your sweater.  Obviously Mama didn't figure out that Noro has a mind of it's own.  That's the back you knit, and the one that I should have tried to match.  I will be doing my d*mnedest to match the two fronts!  But it's going to be very pretty.  I don't have a big love for Noro, expensive and spun like beginner's yarn- heck I could do that!- but it is very soft.

This yarn reminds me of the contest for weavers some years ago, where they were to make their best fabric and an interesting one - "unusual" being the key word here.  They all lost out to the one gal who swept up her studio floor, spun all the sweepings and wove the winning entry.  

Onward....

While DH and I were poking around in various faux walls and forgotten drawers, we found my mother's little garden saw.  This is one of the things I saved from oblivion, and something I think I actually remember her using on the fruit trees; when mother died, we went through her things.  I also have her buck saw.  I remember her using that, sawing away at bigger roots and with a Pall Mall hanging from her lips.  She was a smoker but that's not what killed her.  She died mostly of a broken heart, and if it were in my power, I would do a switcheroo; I'd bring her back and send Psycho dad into eternal oblivion.

Next up is news on "The Sock"... I've been gritting my teeth and attempting to force myself to cast on the mate, fearing a really bad case of Second Sock Syndrome was occurring.  Happily, there was an intervention.  The ONE thing in sad sock's favor is that DH defended it, saying that it looked like a Christmas stocking to him.  God Bless that man!  Now, when I cast on, I will think of elves wearing them in a workshop at the North Pole.  

Have fun with your knitting, and with your rabble rousing!  I'm with you all out there fighting the two faced mutant dragons that all just hatched. 

Salon, on the Wisconsin Eye Opening Primer on Taking back our Country

 Tea Party, go fish...

This is Joan Walsh at Salon, and not afraid to tell the truth.

What the world needs more of...

A friend sent this link this AM, and it's so wonderful, I want to share it.   The world needs more Music! 



Thank you T!


All you little monsters out there, here's one for you:

Scrappy sock one and Sad Tort Report.

Here it is, the beginner's experiment in Scrappy socks.  The dog wanted to get into the middle of  the Kitchener toe off, so I had some rather sharp words for him.   I have forgiven him but only just!  Please forgive the bad crumb laden table cloth picture.  The only place with natural light was the dining room.

Weather Report:  Rainbow today in the SLEET, yes, we got sleet...

It's raining and the wind is really gusting.  The weather doesn't allow for outside shots.  It's raining and the wind is whipping things around outside.

I'm really not happy about this sock but I will make another asap so the brain doesn't forget how some of it was done.  I tried to"gussy" it up with two yarns knit into patterns in one place but it came out as half a black line.  It's time to go drool over the thrifty knitters socks in Ravelry.   (edited to add a much better picture.)  The gussets are awful because of the type of yarn.  It was thin and spindly.  Gah!

That's the knitting report.


The tort report:

We did lose a baby.  He died last week.  He had stopped eating very well, and his shell got so thin that just picking him up caused an unintentional and grievous injury - one that he could not recover from.  It was Mosquito, who has been a problem for some time.   He was the most special to me for various reasons, and he was not thriving.  Milagro and Dusty were almost three times his size, even though they all started out nearly the same weight.  Button spent a lot longer outside on his own than the three original foundlings.

Mosquito lost ground steadily over time, and he became Button's "room mate" so that he wouldn't have to compete with the bigger sibs.  Button is doing better but I can tell he is searching for his sibling.  We buried Mosquito under the rose bush, wrapped in some flowered calico for his journey.

Travel in Peace, tiny fellow.

Katie sings...

She sings this a lot differently but it sounds lovely.

Wolfie's Mile Stone and a Beautiful sunset from on High...

The Beautiful Sunset at the summit yesterday. New Storm on the way, too.

Wolfie finally made it up a full mile, almost to the summit yesterday. He is getting sprightly at only 15 pounds. YayWolf!

I think he want's to know where his "cookie" is.

Wisconsin...where it's going according to their Governor

This is war, Baby!





Here's the war game strategy in case you were wondering:

Paul Krugman OPed NYT where he says, in part:

"You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions. "

No I haven't given up knitting. But I do feel I must register a protest while still allowed to. I feel that we are getting abused, "we the people", who have been used as mouth pieces, some very willingly, for a gigantic machine that is going to now devour our children and ourselves.

The Warning: Frontline

I believe that the most recent attacks on PBS started here. For this program alone PBS as taken the wrath of Hell from the right wing evil empire.

I'm convinced, completely, that the genesis of their arrogant ire lies in Frontline and this one particular program.

It's time to take THEIR money away, those who love it so much. They, and their ilk, who thought that they were home free after destroying the economy and getting bailed out, must have laughed all the way to the Bank. Having made so much money through this scam, they were not interested in regulation even after they got a little scare for which they sacrificed Asian and South American economies.

Then came the latest and worst recession, from which the banks were bailed out.

Watch the Frontline program HERE and more about the bail out HERE. This is little reported in the present day press.

This is all our money! Yours, mine and millions of American taxpayers just like ourselves. We'd best find our voices before they come for the kids to work their banana plantations farther to the south.

An article about Brooksley Born, who saw it all coming....

HERE

.....and was crushed, the small agency she headed, the CFTC, emasculated.

California Sea Otter Tax Check-Off - Defenders of Wildlife

Ok, this is a good cause, and I know some of you live in California. We are donating to this so thought I'd share the site....

Thank you very much for reading the post!

Snag this...Great Backyard Bird Count.

It's over for this year, but here is the URL for IT for next year.

If you really listen like a lateral thinker.....

.....you will see why, if you want to stay anywhere in the middle (the middle class) and help the rest of the Americans to stay there, we are going to have to think more, and watch more, and be much more critical of what you are hearing from mainstream media. Otherwise, all is lost.

Noam Chomsky is one of the foremost critical thinkers we have to turn to when it comes to breadth of scholarship and clear sight about what has happened and how we got where we are.




And, this from Rolling Stone about people who just moved 1.5 billion dollars worth of jobs to off shore, to India. That is $1,500,000,000. What about what a Billion really means.

There is just so much more but you can find it if you want. Try this...

Mary and Randall Caine fight back This is a page from Dennis Kucinich's page.

And THIS: This cut is political, purely and simply. This is for the United States Institute for Peace. That tiny budget cut would not even pay for THREE HOURS of the Afghanistan war.

It was characterized as a "waste of tax payers' money"

I cannot just keep all this stuff inside of me anymore. ENOUGH is Enough!

And I'm adding a link that Milinda posted somewhere secret, so the trolls can't follow but I can credit it to you!   People supporting People just like they did for Czechoslovakia and Poland! 

SOLIDARITY!


I'll answer serious and/or scholarly comments, but don't expect to see your comment approved, all the shills out there being paid to bombard small blogs, if you are just going to try to abuse intelligent readers. This is not the Fox News Network.

Teacup Pincushions

Aren't these cute? I've seen others of these in times past, but Mimi K seems to really be into these little pin cushion like things.

And no, I've never been diagnosed as Bi-polar. I just see things from two very different angles. Black and White, with lots of color thrown in. *smiles*

The Rollercoaster of Citizenship in America

Many years ago, I told my doctor that I was an Optimist, but that I was a Depressed Optimist. We both laughed. Yesterday was a really grumpy day. So, I remembered this cartoon, and thought, "Yes! I am a New Optimist!"

My Horoscope today:

"Before you let yourself get worked up over a situation, remember that you carry your emotions on an atomic level. That is to say that every atom of every cell is encoded with the feeling."

Hmmm? The ouchy feeling is really the mitochondrial, or gut, reaction to bad news, which has become a daily onslaught. Is it time to "draw the latch and sit by the fire and spin".

You remember this, right? That old "Cross Patch. Draw the latch. Sit by the fire and spin" rhyme that children taunted the grouchy old ladies with in the past?

But then, I thought of this:

The Guilty.

This is a story that was told in a book I'm reading. It's about two men, brothers, who stand to inherit a little boy's fortune should he die before they do.

The first uncle comes home and finds that the little boy is upstairs in the bathtub playing with his toys. The uncle goes in and decides to hold the boy's head under water until he stops breathing. And dashes out, unseen!

The second uncle comes home almost at the same instant as the first uncle is dashing out the back cellar door, and sees the boy under the water. He has not done anything to him but realizes that he is drowning but does not come to his aid or try to revive him, or even call 9-1-1, because he knows he will inherit that fortune, remember?

The philosopher who originally posed the scene, thinks that both are guilty, the one who committed the crime and the person who fails to act.

There is no way out of acting. We can't let this criminal enterprise, characterized by a very astute human being as Predatory Capitalism, or Vulture Capitalism, take over any more of your country's wealth or spirit. We have to fight for our rights and for our children. We just can not let such people win.

Weather Report, and What I've Been up to....

We went to Ceramics and started to clean the greenware for another season, and this little guy was so sweet looking that I couldn't resist taking his picture. There is a set of three, one standing, one lying down, and one sleeping.

We got the rain last night, but welcome indeed where these gathering clouds. February is supposed to be a rainy month, but we've gotten so little rain it's scaring me.

And, I've been reading. More Wee Books from a Master of Droll Humor. These are a delight to read, but look for 44 Scotland Street for the opening novel.

The sweater beneath is now 14 inches long.  It takes about seven full rows per inch of length, and with 560 ( i think) stitches, that's a lot to do in just one row. I try to knit two rows a day, with the other knitting mixed in, and of course tea and escape literature fitted in as well.

Our white, Stick tree gave up on us - almost all the lights were not working. So DH took it down to the bare "branches", and it proved to be so "Arty looking" that we've decided we will recycle it into some other "thing of beauty" to be a joy for every, or at least til it rots
entirely. The lights on the floor decided to light again after they were unstrung (go figure!) so I think after the rains are over, I'll put them up outside with some sort of colored lantern "thingas" made from whatever looks perky enough to add some color (if not class) to the shade patio. Having fun crafting is very important in dark times, yes?

Something from the Mutt and Me for the Man of the House

This was fun to do, especially the Spiky Bow that Marla showed on Facebook a few days ago.

There is a tutorial for this bow at this site called ArtMind. It's very fun to make, and easy as pie.

Have some fun with it.

Hope you have a lovely St. Valentine's Day, and don't forget to treat yourself to something nice if no one else is inclined. There is no harm in a little self indulgent spoiling every once in awhile. Buy some Flowers for yourself or something.

St. Valentine was real as far as I can recall, and in prison. Probably because he wouldn't shut up! You know how that goes. Anyway, he sent these little messages, the myth goes, to ask people to not forget him, and to tell them that he always prayed for them.

Such a sweet man that I would give chocolates to him if I'd been around at the time, or if chocolates had! Hugs!

Iraqi Bundles of Love IBOL

I participated in this last year after being sent a "head's up" from a dear friend who was also participating.

The title to this post is the hot link to IBOL web page where it explains everything and how to do this.

This is a charity for the Iraqi families in Northern Iraq, created to supply them with materials to be able to make clothing for themselves and their families. What IBOL does is make it possible to send boxes of a certain size, through the USPS to an APO address in New York, for the APO rate. The boxes are then sent through the APO system to their destination.

The boxes are filled with sewing supplies, fabric, pins, needles, other sewing notions, whatever would go into making a garment, or perhaps a quilt, or quilted garment.

This really feels good for the heart. I'm cross posting this to ZI ZIPPI BLOG ROLL, where my long blog list is. Look for the link, there, under "Things to Do For Others"

Doctor Duane Gaveline talks with Dr. Joseph Mercola about Statins

This is a critical interview about these powerful drugs. If you take statins, you should at least listen to this interview.

The title in this post is a hot link. It's a 5 part video, so it's rather long. Click on the small half circle on the edge of the video (when you run the cursor over it) when it stops.

I don't like, let's just say, have a lot of respect for Dr. Mercola but I do think this interview is important for people who are taking statins. I'm impressed with Dr. Graveline's experience and articulation.

Yasmeena Sings....

Her angelic voice, along with the Celtic harp she is playing, makes me think of Heaven.

Enjoy!

Some Agates, some not...

Of Troy loves agates and so do I, so I thought it would be nice to share this photo of a Geode display taken in a September 1992 Gem show at Moab, Utah. Some of these are filled with bands of agate. Some are only thinly walled with agate, and some are covered with Drusey, or with chalcedony which is micro crystalline, and some larger crystals of quartz. Agate is a banded form of Chalcedony, Silicon dioxide, which is one of the most prevalent compounds on the earth. Gorgeous stuff, really.

 

Owls, Starr Ranch Barn Owl Webcam

Here it is, another Owl web cam. They have been experiencing server overload so it might be unavailable, but Audubon is pretty fast on their feet about these things.

Barn Owl Cam

Birds, you just gotta love em. Audubon, too. I love Audubon.

Way, WAY out there...

At this time of year, I really want to be way, WAY out there in the Southern Arizona Desert, or even the BLM lands, prospecting for agates, tiny garnets that you find around ant hills, or some other great, old stuff.

I want to be out there, under that great big sky, where it's very quiet- out there where when the stars come out at night you can actually see by their light.

Starlight, all by itself, can make a soft glow on the sand that you can see by to walk along quietly, communing with the unbelievably immense Universe.

Little Surprise from the Garden

Click the Pic to make it bigger.  It helps!

A Ceramics Club friend gave this cutting to me this summer, and I didn't expect it to bloom for another year! I guess all the rain helped it to feel comfortable enough to risk blooms, though just a little bit late. Yay!

I've been having nice dreams but bad thoughts. Go figure. I guess too much in the email box or something. Anyway, I was knitting late last night and started thinking about all the world's troubles and having a black thought. So, I told it to go away, and visualized it running to the edge of the bed and jumping off. Then it ran under the bed where a hellacious fight broke out as the dust bunnies attacked and ate it. No more little black thought!

And, in case you were wondering, there is actually an Anti-Valentine's Day Movement.



Free Twitter Backgrounds

Heehee!

Books Should Be Free Dot Com

I just found out about this place. It looks wonderful, and I am going to put a button in the side bar so it never gets LOST!

Books

How great is that?  hehe

Life chugs along here in the volatile Southwest.  We had one of the coldest nights on Wednesday last week, something like 38ºF, and today it was 80 during the day.  We are getting Earthquake Weather in the winter, instead of the fall, now it seems.  This theory has been around for centuries, but in California we call it this when the days are hot and the nights quite cool.  Theories... you gotta love em.

Ok, try this experiment. Walk into the photo, sit on the edge of the walkway at the base of the stairs, and listen to the water. Remember what it was like when you did this last. Calm down and just remember the peacefulness of it.

*sighs*

is that poison oak there on the right side? hehe.

I hope this woman can survive!

We need her. I don't care what the not very clever newbies in office think anymore. We actually DO have to be protected from preditory lenders as well as their less savory relatives, the loan sharks.

I'm going do nominate her for an award. If you feel differently you'll have to make sense or I won't publish anonymous comments to the contrary. She's a Hero to me. My Mother would agree.

Raggedy sock

This is my first so over time, I hope to get a lot more adventurous with these, as this is pretty mundane.

I've just reached the heel flap, and found out that knitting one row with one yarn and the next with another, and continuing in this way alternate rows makes something quite interesting. So, save your leftovers for making a pair of wild ones, Feral almost. Very cool and fun.

But, really, if you want to see some spectacular ones, look for them in the Thrifty Knitters groups photos at Ravelry. They are absolute Masters of this!

Another lovely thing happened for Wolfie today. He PLAYED and went into play stance with a standard poodle who has been trying to get him to play for a year. And another thing. From a top weight of 20+ pounds he is back down to a more normal 16.2 today at Pet Smart. He's almost to his best weight which is most likely 15 pounds or a tiny bit under. He's a big chow hound so we didn't know he was going to blossom out that badly on 3/4th of a cup of kibble a day.

He's a lovely little fellow. We adore him.

In the mix of books that came home from the library sale yesterday for me was one I forgot to mention. It's called,The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  Do you know it?  I'm looking forward to reading it.


Have a wonderful day tomorrow.  Good night!  Time for me to read a little and sleep! 

The Eternal Beauty of Fractals

 

Book sale at the Library

I'm really looking forward to reading the one on the top. The others are reference books that have already been very amusing! 50 cents each!

Today I actually tried to find some accidental art, and indeed, I've been looking for it for days! It's probably my mood that affects this quest. It's been a bit dark lately. Though my dreams have been good. In one I had a little cat that looked like a raccoon in coloring and only weighed about 4 pounds. It was full grown but acted like a kitten. I want one in Real Life! Another dream was about small animals like giraffe's and elephants and a polar bear that were toys until we touched them. Then they came alive and were very tame and sweet natured. I think I need to go backwards and turn into a kid again.

The sock is almost to the heel, and somewhat boring. It isn't very much like the rather exciting ones that people knit in Ravelry, and it's a little disappointing. The ones with houndtooth patterns are the very best, but I bet they aren't as flexible as a regular sock. That is what I fear anyway.

My sister was here and she has made a list of places she wants to see when the weather is good and not too hot. One is a farm where they grow lavender. I'm excited about that. Lavender fields are beautiful things.

What I'm reading...

I'm wading through these painful books a few chapters in turn.

In, All the Devils Are Here, I found out how my mother lost her home. I haven't been able to read past that.


The Smartest Guys in the Room tells how Enron ruined a lot of California businesses for reasons that are still murky but decidedly criminal. Two of my favorite greenware providers went out of business at that time, and I couldn't run my electric kilns. So I say, "painful" to read.

The Prophets of War  is about, of course, war contractors.  These are always sad to read about, as it chronicles preditory capitalism.  A head banger.

But you know? Someone has to do it, right? Who will know what they are doing if no one reads books like these.

Song for the Blue Ocean. The death of the blue fin tuna, well, what's another dead fish? Except their eyes. I remember their eyes.

Today DH took pity on me.  He found and brought me an Alexander McCall Smith book, the first in the series written by him called, 44 Scotland Street. I'm going to see if it gives me better dreams!

The scrap socks are going to  look good.  One leg so far but I'll knit the two legs and then to the heels and gussets.

I ripped the Pi Shawl back to the hub.  It really deserved better knitting.  I'll get to it in summer.

After that all Manly/Beastly so that it is done by summer time.  Three years is long enough on a sweater.

Happy dreams!

Beautiful Winter Liquid Amber tree, and Goldfinch

The Lesser Goldfinch was calling, and eating, calling and eating. Finch of all kinds eat the seeds from the pods off these trees, and Sycamore trees.

Be sure to zoom in for a better look at this tiny bird. He's as small as a malt ball but feathered. The seed pod itself is a little bit bigger than a quarter in diameter.