The Short Post

This is a (short) dispatch from out West.

Update: Peanut's sweater is a little more than half way done. I finished the second sleeve and have about an inch past the sleeve seams.



She is going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. I made her cape:



I'll post a pic of her in it once I re-hem it (I made it a little long). It is ADORABLE on her. I also got her a tiny basket to carry. She looks SO CUTE it hurts a little.

Once I am done with the sweater, and past Halloween, I am going to get back to knitting my own sweater:



I have the back finished and have begun shaping on the front left panel. And I have not touched in almost a month. Please note that I have only been knitting since the beginning of September.

I'll post something a little more, um, written soon. I am just so tired.

But a little note before I sign off:

If you are in California, and you are registered to vote, please Vote no on Prop 8. Revoking rights to marry for consenting adults is just wrong. I may not have as much money as the Mormon church to fight for something I believe in, but I do have my tiny blog with my tiny readership. So here you are: discrimination is wrong. Treating people differently based on something as non-important as sexual preference is silly.

Don't take away rights because you are scared of what schools might teach (kids are not taught anything about marriage- that's your job, parent), or because your church told you to (yes Mormons, I mean you), or because you don't like the idea of "non-traditional" relationships.

Remember- you have a chance to be on the side of the angels. You can be the one on the side of kindness, or hope, of love and progress and equality. (Good things, right?)

You can be the one person at your church who understands that love is love- and that trying to mandate who people can love is ridiculous at best. If you are uncomfortable with "non-traditional relationships", maybe you need to remember that generally, the gay guy/gal in your neighborhood is so not that into you. You are probably safe, regardless of whether that person can get married or not.

Please pretend that I finished this entry with something witty and clever and erudite. I have to go to bed.

Wocka Wocka

Ok, I have been slacking on the blogging front lately. I've been knitting, you see. I want it to be colder soon, so I am making sweaters aplenty so that the weather might catch onto my idea.

So far, we've had two little bouts of the dry, hot Santa Ana winds. Not exactly what I want, but very much in character for the season here. I guess it gives me a little bit of time to finish another little sweater. I am making my second Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater, which she titles the "Baby Sweater on Two Needles, Practically Seamless" (which is the title I prefer, as it is so long and descriptive and telling) but is more commonly known in Knitting Land as the "February Baby Sweater" from the "Knitter's Almanac." I made the baby version in a mauve cotton, that I showed in an earlier post, but this time I am going to get the pattern right (in red wool for Peanut), gosh darn it.

I upped the needle size and used a thicker yarn and cast on a larger number of stitches to make the sweater for Peanut. She wears about a 2T or 3T on top, so I think I am on track. When I started this project, I knitted it and then ripped it right back out about 6 times (no exaggeration) because I kept dropping stitches when it finally occurred to me to use the stitch markers that I bought without really knowing what to use them for.

Yeah, duh.

So, I have learned something here, boys and girls. That is what you use your stitch markers for- for marking stitches. Who knew? As I type this it just seems so obvious, doesn't it? This sweater is really starting to come along-finally. I just began the sleeve shaping for the first sleeve. Yay! I'll post a picture of it this weekend.

I've also been working on a scarf for my dad for Christmas:



I'm not sure whether this is going to end up being a scarf or a neck warmer thing- I think my dad might use a neck warmer more than an actual scarf.

My writing teacher/friend, the wonderful Rebel Girl, posted a link to this recording of Virginia Woolf speaking about writing that just totally blew my mind. It was just so insane to hear her voice- just nothing like I would have imagined. You really should click over and have a listen- it's utterly mesmerizing and strange. An unexpected treat for a Thursday.

Oh yes, and I am still all kinds of pregnant. Yep. Still pregnant. Actually about 30 weeks now, so I am thinking of it as the home stretch. New baby (code name Dangerfeet) is crazily active and knocks about as if she owns the place. Which I suppose she does, at least for now.

What else have I been thinking about? I'm late to the party of my new love of the Yarn Harlot who I have found to be very funny and apt. I heard her speak in an interview via podcast on the Knit Picks podcast, where she talked about rarely having any security personnel confiscate her knitting needles. However, she did mention that once, a security person took away her banana, explaining that it was a gel. Um, right. She said, in reference to airport security, "...there's no way to know what they're thinking...once they've taken away a banana, all bets are off." You can see why the kids like her.

In any case, this is already far too long. I'll be back soon. Maybe this weekend I'll post a pick of the little red riding hood cape I made for Peanut's Halloween costume. It is sooooo cute, if I don't say so myself.

Thought For the Day

Can we give the phrase "liberal media" a rest already?
If the media is too "liberal" maybe more Republicans should learn to read and write.

::::::::::::::

Sunday

Well, I finally sucked it up and Peanut spent the first night away from us last night. Oh my, it was hard. We needed to practice, since I am due to have Dangerfeet in December. R is nervous about leaving me alone in the hospital (sweet man) and so we figured on having Peanut stay at my dad's house. I was worried about it, and worried about Peanut and worried about me.... But she was really fine. And I was really fine, too. R and I went out to dinner for our anniversary last night and walked over this morning and picked her up at my dad's.



We walked fast, but I did stop to take a couple quick pictures:



R finds this cat hilarious:



This afternoon, we went to "Pa's Pumkin Patch" (note that is not my misspelling):



Peanut rode the train:



Peanut shows signs of wanting to be a weightlifter when she grows up:



I really love this sign. When was the last time you made a pumpkin cry?



Peanut finally picked a pumpkin. She had a lot of fun. So did R and I.

We've been married six years now. How lucky am I?

Random Bit of Stuff...

Here is my favorite thing this week. (Boo, this made me IMMEDIATELY think of you).



Also, I finished the baby hat for Dangerfeet:



Which matches the sweater I knitted her:



And the sky was swirly and cloudy, and I needed to take a picture.



More soon.

Beauty, Eh?

My kid is cute. I think I may have mentioned this before. It bears repeating, though.



She's like a little ad for cuteness, I think:







Dang, I think I might keep her.

October

It's definitely feeling like October here. The Santa Ana winds are beginning their dry way across Southern California, our wildfires are igniting, and my hands feel like desiccated paper, left in the sun for years. 'Member, how I was hoping that October would be better than September?

Um, not so much.

Family stuff is afoot, and badness abounds. I really won't get into it all here, because the badness affects me only periferally, so I don't think it's my business to publically discuss it. Let's just say I am getting an education about what Medicare will and will not pay for. Death, they'll cover. Living, it seems... Well, not so much.

In any case, I have some pictures to post. Here's the sunrise on Wednesday, from my bathroom window:



I love my little peek of the first rays in the morning. It reminds me of being a young insomniac, catching dawn from the other side of night.

I also finished my baby sweater:





I did actually mess up the pattern of stitches, as it was supposed to be more regular, but I kind of like how it came out- like coral or something, maybe a wild Celtic knot, unbound.

Finally, our neighbor's kid knocked down our tree:





It sounds worse than it was: our tree has been dead since we moved here in 2003, so I think it was just time.

Oh, my. I am so tired. I am actually going to bed at 9:30 PM on a Friday. I am so old.

Are You Gonna Vote?

You're going to vote, right? 'Cause you're cool like that. Sarah Silverman thinks your gramma should vote too.


The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

This chick cracks my shit up. She has told two of the funniest jokes (are they jokes?) that I have ever heard. Um, the one about a Jewish girl being raped by a doctor and about um, a slur for Chinese people. I really suck at explaining jokes.

Look it up. That's what Google is for.

Have a good week.

Stuff.

Well, I am getting nearly done with my baby sweater knitting project:



This is based on the Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater pattern from the "Knitter's Almanac." It's really a great pattern, and actually pretty easy. It's very satisfying.



My stepmom and I went to the garment district in LA this past weekend, and I bought a bunch of pretties, including some Amy Butler fabrics. I made a little knitting bag to keep my work in:





Here are some of the lovely things I got:



I mean, who could pass up green corduroy for $2 a yard? I mean, really.