The Secret Life of Walter Knitty

I was reading Julie’s blog and she was tagged for a meme, tagging her readers as well.  Pick up a book nearest you, flip to page 123, go to the 5th sentence, and read the next three sentences.  I have Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five”

There was silence now, as th englishmen looked on in astonishment at the frowsy creatures they had so lustily waltzed inside.  One of the Englishmen saw that Billy was on fire.  “You’re on fire, lad!”

I tag Samer (the only person I know with a blog) Jim, my Dad, and two other people who randomly read this blog.  You are it.

I know I’ve been ignoring politics for a while and there is so much going on.  Check out McClatchy because all week they have a series of investigative reports about torture at Gitmo, Bagram, and Abu Grhaib.  How the orders for torture came from the top not from commanders on the ground.  How David Addington and others in the Administration used twisted legal logic and arguments to justify torturing people.  Some of our soldiers undergo special training to resist torture in case they are captured.  David Addington and others twisted the use of this to make it legal to apply these tactics to prisoners.

Today, today I’m excited because my yarn from yarn.com is coming.  I’m almost finished with one of Jim’s socks.  It’s amazing how fast Cascade Superwash knits up into socks.  It means I get to start a birthday gift that is not socks but a lovely cabled scarf and a hat.  Cables are my favourite thing to knit with fair-isle running a close second.  Hopefully the Manos comes soon.  It’s being shipped all the way from Uruguay so it may not come till next week.

Webs (or yarn.com) is wonderful.  I got 60$ish worth of yarn for about 40$ with shipping, they shipped it right away and their customer service is very nice.

This

is astonishing. This was taken in Orchard, Iowa the other day. Orchard, Iowa is in northern Iowa near the MN border. Apparently it did not touch down and went back up into the clouds. I’ve never seen a tornado up close but have always wanted to. It sounds crazy but tornado’s one of the most powerful things in nature and there is beauty in it. These clouds are so well defined, you can really see the cyclonic motion. I’ve never seen anything like it. Another tornado touched down in Rock Island, IL which is the next town over from Moline where my brother lives. There have been big thunderstorms all week from what I gather. Parts of Eastern Iowa are flooded. In Cedar Rapids 400 city blocks are underwater. I-80 is closed between Iowa City and Davenport.

Parts of Waterloo are under mandatory evacuation and the first floor of the apartment building I used to live in is under water. That is a lot of water.

It is the one thing I miss though about living in Iowa. The storms. I know and work with some people from the Midwest and they miss the storms. It pulls at my heart today to think about it. I remember so many and so many smells. My favourite was fresh mown grass mixed with a coming thunderstorm. I miss watching the clouds come in, always so slowly then they were right on top of you. The sound of thunder so intense it rattles the windows and your rib cage along with lightning close enough to make the hair on your neck and arms tingle. I miss watching lightning’s brilliant white flashes. The breeze when the storm was approaching. My ex-husband and I would turn out the lights if the storm was at night and watch the lightning.

It’s the only thing that makes me want to go back in the summer. The possibility of experiencing a strong storm, the kind that makes the streetlights come on at 3 PM. During one storm I will never forget lightning struck a dead tree in the yard across the alley and it exploded.

I miss the storms today.

When I was in San Francisco I went to ImagKnit

It was lovely. Lots of yarn and I bought some yarn to make myself a new hat (some lovely, soft Manos my new favourite yarn) and another soft yarn with a nice sheen that looks like it would take cables well to make a new pair of fingerless gloves. It’s Oregon. You can wear them in the mornings for a good part of the year and if you bicycle then it’s longer. I havent had the time to knit with them. Well, except for the hat that didnt turn out. Since I finished my sweater in early April I’ve made a pair of socks, fingerless gloves, a hat, finished a hat, knit nearly another pair of socks with another pair on the needles. There are birthday’s coming up and my parents are going to ride their motorcycles from Clinton, IA all the way to Glacier National Park in Montana. 1500 miles in 5 days and even though they are going in August there is a good possibility it will be cool there in the mornings. So they get fingerless gloves, socks, and Mom gets the hat I want to make. Oh, and another pair of socks as a request.

Sigh.

It would be nice to be able to make something for myself before the Christmas knitting starts. Ugh. I dont want to think about it

I bought some more plants today from the farmers market.  Basil, oregano, lavender, and zinnias because zinnias are happy flowers.  Next time I go I might get a morning glory starter because morning glories are happy flowers too.  My apartment complex is laid out like a U.  There are 4 studios on the east side, 4 studios on the west side, a separate one bedroom and a courtyard in the middle.  Everyone on the east side has plants.  One of my neighbours has a wonderful collection: azaleas, hens and chickens, hops, honeysuckle, jade, a maple tree, a noble fir, grass, iris’, etc.  No one on the west side has any plants so I’m representing for my side.  I dont have any intention of doing much with the lavender.  It’s just one of my favourite smells and has pretty flowers.  The tomatoes are starting to take off and the cages are in.  The next few days are supposed to be sunny and 70ish so they should really shoot up.  Yea!  They are even starting to get flowers.  This is very exciting.  I’m a bit lame so it’s exciting for me.  Several of my neighbours on the west side are growing tomatoes as well so it’ll be overflowing here in Sellwood.  Maybe we could have our own version of La Tomatina.  Seriously, doesnt this look like fun?

It’s been a busy week.  I’ve been running around at work and after work.  Barack Obama has secured the nomination and Hillary Clinton is actually going to drop out.  Not to be gracious but because she is being forced to by the party which while is not the best situation is better than having this go all the way to the convention in Denver.  The Senate Intelligence Committee came out with a report that says (surprise) Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and crew lied to the American people during the run up to the Iraq war (gee you think? go figure) Zimbabwe is a mess.  Mugabe and the military have basically instituted a coup.  And in the Independant yesterday there was an article about the US agreement to build 50 permanent bases in Iraq, have military and civilian contractors immune from Iraqi law, US controlled airspace below 29.000 feet, we could arrest anyone we want for whatever reason we can drum up, etc.  It’s been a busy week.  There will be another comprehensive post later this weekend but for right now I’m leaving you with this:

I should have known no matter how much I dont think it should matter that it really does.  The hat I tried to make is not going to work out.  It’s okay because I have another pattern that should work for that yarn and I do still want to make the beret.  I tricked myself into thinking that just because I was getting the right amount of stitches per inch that would be all that mattered.  What can I say other than that this is a learning experience and I should have known better.

Oh well.

Hopefully my tomatoes dont die.  And no, I’m not melodramatic much.

While I was in San Francisco I visited ImagiKnit.  I cannot say how nice the ladies and gay boy who work there are and they carried a brand of yarn I’ve been wanting to pick up.  It’s Manos Del Uruguay.

I did not buy a silk blend but wool, plain green, beautiful, soft, kettle dyed wool which I am using to make this hat

The yarn is so soft and the colour is really beautiful.  Manos is a run by a womens collective (it got started in the 60’s, the yarn preserves traditional techniques of kettle dying and with 17 collectives helps a lot of women make a living with dignity and respect.  While it is a little on the spendy side (you’re not going to get 220 yards for 7$ like you can with Cascade 220) the quality is worth it (and knowing my money is going to a worthwhile cause) it is worth it.  I know I’m supposed to be making socks for my Dad for Fathers Day (I have started them, more than just cast on) it’s nice to have something for myself since it’ll be a while before I can get back to my stockings and I have a lot to knit for others in the next couple of months.  Knitting with Manos is a very tactile experience.  It feels so soft and smooth between my fingers.  And it is the first yarn I drooled over while looking at photos on the Internet.

Part 2: Politics and Hillary Clinton

So the Rules and Bylaws committee ruled today to half Florida’s delegates and split Michigan 69/59 Clinton/Obama.  Of course the Hillary camp is not very happy with these results.  Her campaign wanted all the delegates from both states seated with the votes just the way they were.  Even though Barack Obama’s name was not on the Michigan ballot the Clinton campaign argued she should get her 60% and he should get nothing.  (FYI: Hillary got 60% of the vote but was the only person on the ballot, neither candidate campaigned there, and 40% of the people who voted did so as “Uncommitted”)  Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates for moving their primaries before Super Tuesday, Feb 5th.  Both campaigns agreed their delegates and votes would not count.  Now that that is not convenient for Hillary Clinton both she and her supporters are crying “FOUL!”

I wish I had words for how asinine this is.  Now that the rules are not working for her she cries “It’s not fair! It’s a big media conspiracy against me that is making me loose!”  Unfortunately for her loyalty was too important to fire Mark Penn after Iowa and her campaign has been very poorly run.  Yes, I will admit there was sexism in the media towards Hillary Clinton just as there has been racism toward Barack Obama.  To see the latter all you have to do is look at the coverage of Rev. Wright which the Clinton campaign fanned.  But I digress.  Harold Ickes has stated that Hillary Clinton reserves the right to appeal to the Credentials Committee which meets the first day of the Democratic Convention in August.

This cannot go to the Convention in Denver.  The Democratic Party is already split and if the Party remains divided until August because Hillary Clinton thinks she can manipulate a victory there, our chances in November are looking very dim.  I do agree with Rachel Maddow, in that Hillary Clinton is going to take this all the way to the Convention.  She has been very clear over the last several months that this is what she is willing to do.  She is not dropping out and does not seem to care about the general election in November against John McCain (cough* 4 more years of Bush* cough).  She only cares about gaining the nomination and while I am a woman and believe it is more than past time for a woman President, it is not time for her.  But she seems to think because she is a Clinton that it is her turn and she deserves to be the nominee just because she is a Clinton.  She is a woman I have had much respect and admiration for and it is so sad to see her so willingly give up her own dignity.  If she does (which I think in all likelihood she will) take this up to the Credentials Committee the Democrats have a very good chance of loosing in November.  While Nancy Pelosi did say that if this does go to the Credentials Committee that they will meet at the end of June it is just not good for the party to have it go that far.  I only wish Hillary Clinton would see that.