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Saturday, September 12, 2009

 

random is good


I hope it is! At least that's the slogan of a local FM radio station.


This is yet another one of those posts where I'm unfocused, but I wanted to make sure to tell those of you who do pickling, preserving and canning that my dear friend Kiki has posted some scrumptious recipes for pickled garlic and jalapeno jelly, in addition to pictures of her beautiful knitting and crochet! I have never pickled anything in my life, unless yarn soaking in vinegar water counts. But when I saw Kiki's recipe for pickled garlic, I immediately became hungry for it!



Pretty Yarn & Nice Pattern = Ugly Scarf?



If it's my project, unfortunately yes. I brought 7 balls of Galway wool out of my stash and decided to plow through at least some of it. With the best of intentions, I cast on for the Sunray neckwarmer (Ravelry link), except I made it full scarf length, at least 50" or long enough to wear any way you want. It used up about 2.25 balls of the Galway.



When oh when, will I learn to add edge stitches to a flat rectangular piece? Either a garter or seed stitch border would have been more than adequate to keep the piece from rolling, which it did like mad crazy. My knitting buddies suggested single crochet all around the edges, and I thought that would be just the ticket. What I didn't realize, though, is how much I suck at crochet. Instead of stabilizing the edge, I got a ruffle--after blocking, I mean--and a long aqua lasagna noodle is not what I was aiming for. Since I hardly ever wear scarves anyway, this will go in the Christmas gift/charity knitting bin, and I'll deal with it later.






I really love the stitch pattern, though. It's super easy and I had it down after a few repeats. I think next, I'll do this or this, and use up another ball or two of that Galway!


Got Purple?




As I chug along with dyeing up wholesale orders, I try to keep coming up with new colorways, or at least reproduce ones that have sold well, for my inventory. I probably reinvented the wheel with my "shock treatment" method of kettle dyeing--it's really just veil dyeing, adding one color at a time--but this is one of my favorite purples. I almost don't want to sell it!







Don't yell at my President!



Not to get political, but I had to weigh in on the news story of the week. While I'm working I like to have MSNBC on during the day. Sometimes I get a little tired of the talking heads, but I'm unable to focus on a movie while doing yarn, so liberal news is (pardon the pun) a happy medium. Anyway, the best quip I heard, regarding the Congressman who shouted "You lie" at President Obama during his speech, was "Join the Wilson Picket!"


My opinion and $3.50 will get you a grande latte. However, I think the whole undertone and psychology behind an outburst like this has to be racial at its core. The politician is from a Southern state and belongs to some ultra-conservative white people's group, the name of which escapes me at the moment. Apparently in British Parliament, they yell at the Prime Minister all the time; however, it's America I'm interested in. Other people have said that nobody in Congress ever yelled at W., although God knows somebody should have, and smacked him a few good ones while they were about it! I just don't see this week's incident as random or spontaneous; I see a cracker, for lack of a better term, forgetting that the black man speaking before him is the President of the United States, and letting loose what he really thought. There is no excuse for that. It's way worse than just rudeness; it is racism and unconscionable behavior for any elected leader.
Seven years ago, I was an exchange student at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata-Osaka, Japan. It was a year after the 9-11 attacks and six months before we invaded Iraq. Watching television news in another country and talking with Japanese people, I learned a great deal about how the rest of the world sees America, and it was a lesson in humility. Ever notice how if you look at a map of the world, the United States is smack in the center? A large map of the world was on the wall of the student lounge at KGU. What country was in the center? Japan. A US Air Force colonel's daughter from Texas was one of my classmates. On 9-11, she looked at the flags representing every nationality of students at the university, and was upset that the Stars and Stripes was not lowered to half-staff. I told her it would be, if we were at home.
A few Japanese people I spoke with wanted to know my opinion of President Bush. I told them in my poor Japanese that I didn't think he was a good president, and some of his policies made me feel embarrassed to be an American. I do love America and still think we have much to be proud of; it was just such an eye opener to see that in Japan America is viewed with skepticism along with curiosity, and regarded as no more important than any other country. In fact, for historical reasons, China is far more important to the Japanese than America is. Perhaps a prerequisite for political leadership should be to have spent some time in another country!
Well, had I had a topic for this blog post, I would really have gone off the rails. I'd better get back to work now; Mr. Stitchjones and Michelle left this morning for that garden spot, Spokane. The BIL hosts an annual golf tournament. Although Jason and his brothers grew up on a golf course because their dad was a PGA professional, he never plays golf and doesn't particularly enjoy it. However, he views it as a family obligation and attends it every year. They'll be back Monday, so I should get cranking and get as much yarn out as I can! At least it's going to cool off over the next few days. Yesterday was too dang hot.













# posted by Sharon @ 12:12 AM
Comments:
It's hot. I'm making jam. It's hotter in my kitchen. Ew.

Love the purple yarn.

Love the "Wilson Picket" line.

And yes, it's eye-opening to spend time in another country. Maps are funny things...
# posted by Blogger pdxknitterati/MicheleLB : 3:13 PM
 
with you on the politics-

I'll be snagging some of that purple when it's up.

beautiful.
# posted by Blogger sophanne : 5:53 PM
 
Pretty purple!

Not all white conservatives are racists, but I have heard that line enough that it has me as irritated as you are on the flip side. The senator was in committee, and has somewhat of a better idea of what the not-finished bill says than we do, so he was frustrated. But he was very rude all the same. And really, until the bill is finalized, debate on either side is rather silly.

I am not a Bush lover nor hater, neither am I a fan of Obama. Neither man has taken corruption and 2-party scheming out of D.C. I'm still waiting for real change, which both had promised. My 2 cents as a bigoted racist astroturf dangerous conservative. At least that is what MSNBC says I am. ;) lol
# posted by Blogger Robyn : 9:30 PM
 
Well said, Robyn. Thanks.

I take MSNBC with a grain of salt; unfortunately impartial journalism is a thing of the past, if it ever existed at all. It makes it all the more difficult for us to form our views based on fact rather than biased reporting and stand up for what we believe in without being labeled. If its any consolation, I'm a bleeding heart commie pinko tax-and-spend liberal according to Fox News. ;)
# posted by Blogger Sharon : 11:45 PM
 
OMG the purple....I made that gurgly sound that Homer Simpson makes when he sees donuts with sprinkles...

You are sweet to link to my recipes! Believe me, if I thought our country's postal systems could manage it I would send you some of my garlic!

That lie comment....it's true, in British and Canadian parliament, the 'back benchers', as they are called here, are famous for yelling all number of things at anyone speaking in the house...their favourite is "shame! shame!"...the funny thing is, I find all the political parties are basically the same, they love to blame the other for anything and everything, pass the buck often, and spend taxpayers money like it's growing on their own private tree in their backyard.

It's also funny how you mention other country's take on your events happening in America...I first noticed this when the war coverage started...it was an eye opener, since we get a lot of your tv stations up here, how different the coverages actually were.

They did show some footage up here of people in congress booing at W...but I'm sure no one said anything about it at the time because it became such a common occurence (LOL)

Being from a country that has had universal health care at least all the years I've been alive, I am still so perplexed at why some are fighting it...that being said, our minority government is gearing up for its fourth election in five years, and we are all past fed up about it, the last voter turnout was the lowest in history, no one cares anymore.
# posted by Blogger Kiki : 5:18 AM
 
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