Bits and Pieces

The weather has turned to fall, at last. Steady days of cool temperatures. Some rain, but not too much of it. And it's clearing up every day. Which is good since I'm planning on going to an outdoor event, a local craft fair, on Saturday with my sister-in-law, so we're hoping the forecast is accurate.

One of the things we're sure to see, since we've seen them every year we go, is a bunch of knitted scarves, wildly overpriced. Cheap yarn, easy stitches. $40 and up. Basically a couple of dollars worth of yarn, and maybe an hour's worth of knitting. I've never seen many of them sell, which is both good, and sad. Good that people recognize that the product isn't quality, but sad that with an upgrade in yarn, and some interesting stitches, those scarves would sell well. And yet, every year, we see the same old cheaply made scarves, by the same vendors. Obviously, they're selling enough to continue, but not enough to put a little effort into upgrading their stock.

I'm surprized that they're allowed to return every year, given that this is a small, upscale community venture, called the Village Venture after the Claremont Village, where it's held every year. Lots of small shops and boutiques and restaurants line the streets of the Village. No chains, no outlets, all high-end products and services. And yet, they allow a vendor of cheaply made "handmade" items in every year. If I enjoyed knitting scarves, I'd be tempted to compete with them, but knitting the same thing over and over simply doesn't appeal to me. Guess they're safe from me!

Oddly enough, I am, presently, knitting a scarf. To send to my sister in Virginia. Where it does get cold enough to need a scarf to wear with a coat or jacket. I'm making this one in cashmere from the Lion Brand LB collection. With reversible cables, which are so much easier than I thought they would be.  I picked up a copy of Lily Chin's book,  Power Cables, which clearly shows how to achieve a wide variety of reversible cables. Very interesting, although I'm not sure I see the point in using reversible cables to make a pullover sweater, since you're the only one who will ever see the reversed cables, but still, it's neat to know. And I recommend the book to anyone who's interested in cables, or cable construction. Lots of information, and some patterns. Not that a pattern is really necessary for a scarf, but there's lots of information on constructing the cables in any width, with mandatory repeats info and ideas for using them. Just a really useful book.

I decided to knit this scarf before launching any of the items on my to-do list, since this has to be done for Christmas pretty early to mail it to Virginia to arrive in time. Better to be done early than to be looking for a mail service that can do miracles. And I am still knitting a little bit every now and then on my Vogue Early Fall sweater that's on tiny needles. (3s) Progress is hard to see on that, but there has been some progress. Tiny needles are so not my favorite, but I just fell in love with this sweater, so tiny needles it is. I just can't knit for hours with them, so I have to have something to switch off to with larger needles. The scarf is on 7s, which are much more comfortable for me.

Sometime between now and January 1, I'm also going to knit my first ever pair of socks. I've got some beautiful hand-dyed yarn and the DPNs ready to go. I just have to overcome my fear of DPNs (all those sharp pointed sticks!) and my confusion over how to figure out what size/number of stitiches to make to fit my feet. But I'm determined to knit one pair of socks in 2010.

And now I'm off to bed, since it's after 11, and I have to be up in less than 6 hours, getting ready to face my 32 10 year olds for another day.

On Franklin Habit

I'm home sick today, so I was browsing blogs to fill up my day. (I'm achy and coughing and fuzzy-headed, so reading and knitting seem like too much for me right now) I got to the Panopticon, and stopped. I love his humor, I marvel at his skill, I enjoy his style. So, today, it surprized me a bit to experience a vague sense of shame after reading this post, It Gets Better.

Not personal shame. I've never done anything like what he describes in his post. It's just shame that anyone who shares my profession, teaching, could ever say the indescribably sick, cruel things that Franklin describes. And that it was supported by the school itself just leaves me gasping.

I know that there's a large group of self-proclaimed "Christians" who feel the way the teacher felt. I know they are loud in proclaiming their right to tell us all how to think, live, love, feel. I just never gave them any respect for their agenda. To me they aren't Christian, they aren't democratic, they aren't right. And most of all, their arrogance just amazes me.

Admittedly, my religion is complicated. I wasn't raised in any particular denomination, or with any truly religious upbringing. My father was an Anglican, my mother a Presbyterian. I went to church irregularly, with lots of different friends, so I pretty much got a taste of a wide variety of Protestant religions. I didn't belong to any particular church or religion, however.  When I was an adult, I decided to join the Catholic church. As it turned out, the one place I felt closer to God was inside a Catholic church.

I didn't just "join", however.  I was blessed to have found a church that didn't have the regular program for inducting new members. I got assigned to a deacon, who met with me once a week, to explore my beliefs, to determine if I was really meant to be a Catholic. I loved it. We talked about a wide range of issues. We grappled with the Church's support for the death penalty (I'm opposed), and my belief that abortion is a woman's right (they're opposed). I learned more about myself and my spirituality in those conversations with my deacon than I had learned in the 30 years before.  I am a Catholic, with some disagreements.

Oddly, given its history as the oldest surviving Christian church, you don't find many Catholics running for office to impose church rule on everybody. You don't find Catholics shouting hateful anti-gay messages at the funerals of US soldiers. You don't find many campaigning against marriage equality (although the Church is opposed.) You do find some protesting abortion, however.  Now, I'm not claiming that Catholics are better. You don't find many Episcopalians, or Methodists, or Presbyterians out there doing that, either.  It just seems that the people in that "Christian" group belong to johnny-come-lately religions, rather than established ones.  Maybe they roar so loudly because they are newbies, feeling a bit insecure. Maybe they've crafted a "religion" that fits them as they are, enables them to give nothing of themselves, that gives them a "feel-good" reward for being themselves, and they use it to shout their frustration and envy and hate to the world.

I guess what I'm saying is that I just feel that religion is being used as an excuse for human desires. It's a cover-up, a misdirection. These people, with their arrogance and their hate are using religion as a cover for their desire to rule the world the way they like.  There's no real Christianity in any of their dogma. There's no hope, no charity, no love in their diatribes on "right living". It's all hate, intolerance, and prescriptions for living the right life.

Intolerant people have always been among us. You can find them in every walk of life. It used to be, however, that we pitied them for their limited understanding of life and love. Now they're attacking us for not being intolerant, beating us over the head with a Christ I can't recognize.

As a teacher, I am appalled by what Franklin endured at that despicable high school. As a human, I am appalled by a society that gives support to a group of intolerant, narrow-minded people set on destroying our society.  When are we going to say ENOUGH!

No more "stash"!

What I have is a collection of yarn, just as I have a book collection, a magazine collection, etc.  Sharon and I were discussing this in an email, and her post today (you should go read it!)made me reconsider what to call all the yarn I have accumulated. I think "stash" has a slightly negative connotation, whereas "collection" doesn't. So, from now on, I will talk about my collection, rather than my stash.

In other news, it hit 115 here yesterday. We didn't even let the kids play outdoors. They were offered the use of the cafeteria (air conditioned) or staying outside, but only in the shade. 115 is simply too hot to do anything. And it isn't even really cooling off at night. It was still 93 at 9 pm.  Sleeping has become problematic. Oh well, they're forecasting 90s by the end of the week. Oddly, that sounds cool to me!

Yikes!

108 yesterday, heading to 110 today! This is generally when the really hot days of September cool off to the warm, but lovely days of October. What the &!*$ happened? Obviously, no knitting is happening, or going to happen for a while. We may be down to the mid 90s by Saturday, but I'm not holding my breath. It's too bloody hard to breathe in this heat as it is.

Where did Fall go?

Knitting weather has disappeared. We had just over a week of very cool (for SoCal) temps, but starting the end of this week, we're back into the 100s. It got up to 104 today, and, without a/c, it was just too hot to even think about knitting. It's supposed to hit 106 on Tuesday. The "big" cool off toward the end of the coming week means it will only be in the mid-90s.

As if I didn't have enough yarn or patterns, I picked up a Maddy Laine pattern and some Store yarn to make it, and it arrived this week, just before the temperature sky-rocketed. I'd planned to make it this weekend ~ it's her Vest Alternative pattern, a quick one with bulky yarn. I haven't even swatched for it.  Don't know when I'll get to it, with the temps this high.

I'm still here!

I'm still blogging, I just haven't had anything knitterly to blog about. School is very busy, and I've had afterschool or evening meetings at least 3 times a week since the beginning. Was due for another meeting today, but the principal got tied up in a district meeting, so, 10 minutes after our meeting was supposed to start, we got word it was cancelled.  (Actually, other than the late notice, all of us were relieved ~ one was sick, one had a union meeting to get to, the rest of us were just tired, tired, tired.)

The yarn and patterns from Elann arrived days ago, and other than opening the package and oohing and ahhing over the yarn and patterns, I've done absolutely nothing with them. It hasn't really been the weather's fault, either. The days start off chilly, warm up to the 90s, then cool off early in the evening. Perfect weather, actually.

I'm just busy with lesson planning and grading papers, and reading essays about the students (written by them), and cataloguing the answers to several inventories they've completed. Oh, and enrolling all of them in a program I bought (way back when I had money) that tests them in a myriad of language arts skills, and produces incredibly detailed reports. Now, I'm just trying to get access to our computer lab so they can start taking the tests. And waiting to find out if I'm getting any new students, since the deadline for reorganization was Tuesday, and we haven't heard a word either way.  I don't want to give up any of mine , and if truth be told, I don't want any of the other teacher's students. But, of course, I don't have any choice in the matter.

Anyway, getting home between 6 and 9 pm nearly every day, and filling those few hours of my evening with school-related work has made knitting take a back seat. I even forgot a knitting group was meeting Wednesday, and I was supposed to go. Didn't go, didn't even log on to Ravelry to tell them I couldn't make it. Not good.

Maybe I'll have some time this weekend to decide which project to start first, and actually start it. Or maybe I'll just do a swatch party, and see which one I like best after that. (I don't always do swatches, particularly not if I bought the yarn specified, but I know I should.)

If I don't start this weekend, I likely won't get anything done until the weekend after. I've got yet another long meeting Tuesday after school, and Thursday is Back to School night, and the meeting that was cancelled today will be rescheduled, probably for Monday, since the Tuesday meeting needs the results from this group, so....

Knitting Content, this time!

Not that I've actually started knitting, of course. But I have bought project books and yarn for several knitted objects, and that counts, doesn't it?

This one is from Cornelia Tuttle. I love cables, so this is a natural for me. And it uses chunky yarn, so that appeals, too. Araucania Nature Wool Chunky. In this color:

Next, I got the yarn for my Twist Red Oak sweater, in this lovely Mallard Peruvian Chunky from Elann.

I also picked up some Ella Rae Classic wool in two colors, for two different projects. First, this one in the color shown, Pearl.

Next, a simple top, in a forest green:

So, that's what I've got planned for the next little while.That's in addition to the two I mentioned earlier, both from VK Early Fall issue. So I should be set for knitting until Christmas, at least.

I'll be starting a knitting class after school for any of my students that want to learn. They'll have to provide their own needles, but I have lots of yarn they can use. I'll get them started on garter stitch projects ~ scarves, phone cases, placemats, wash cloths, any simple small project that gets quick results. They need that in order to feel successful.

(Blogger is being a pain today, and I've had to redo this post twice now, so I'm hoping the third time is the charm!)