You were perfectly fine . . .

adventures of an aspiring polyglot

For my Ulla heart socks I had to do a little language research. I know, I could just ask someone on the KBTH list to help, but I have this THING about doing it myself.  I know it's odd of me. Like knitting socks isn't tricky enough.

Imagine my delight when I found Marjutin Neuleet/Neulesanasto. (Don't ask me what that means. I have no idea. Yet.) It is a fantastically detailed and useful glossary translating English/American knitting terms into Finnish. I freaking LOVE finding stuff like this on the Internet! And wonder (again) what the hell we all did for so long without it.

No pictures until Monday--the husband went to his annual sales meeting this week and took his cool fast laptop with him . . . so I'm stuck with the schlumpy old desktop that is twice as old as my kid. And A LOT slower. If I tried to download photos onto this thing, I fear that it would begin to smoke and sputter, then collapse in on itself leaving a gaping black hole in the middle of the desk. Or I would become so frustrated waiting for it to do something--anything!--that I'd begin to smoke and sputter, then collapse in on myself, leaving god-knows-what behind.

Whatever it is, I hope there's a term for it in Finnish.

pop quiz

Compare and contrast this statement from the 2004 State of the Union speech:

Many of our troops are listening tonight. And I want you and your families to know: America is proud of you. And my administration, and this Congress, will give you the resources you need to fight and win the war on terror. (Applause.)

with this ("Hurt Troops Often Denied Pay, Benefits," by James Herndon, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18, 2005) and this ("U.S. Soldiers Lack Best Protective Gear," by Jonathan Turley, USAToday, December 17, 2003--quoting testimony by then-commander of forces in Iraq General Abizaid indicating that he did not know "why we started this war with protective vests [i.e., body armor/"bulletproof vests"] that were in short supply.")

Every time I see a vehicle with a yellow "support our troops" ribbon and a W sticker I wonder how they've missed the fact that these are contradictory sentiments. Supporting W translates to ensuring that our troops are sent into battles we aren't prepared for and don't need to fight, that they are sent in without the armor and careful planning needed to protect them and ensure the success of their missions, and that if they are hurt or killed they will be hidden from public view and denied the health care and other services they and their families have been promised.

During the recent presidential campaign, W and his minions repeatedly stated--and apparently many people came to believe--that the lack of body armor and other equipment needed to protect troops in Iraq was somehow the fault of Sen. Kerry, who voted against the $87 billion appropriations bill for the war in Iraq. Hello? We invaded Iraq in mid-March 2003; the appropriations bill was sent to Congress in September 2003. Um, I'm pretty sure that nothing I do today is going to cause retroactive harm (or benefit) to someone 6 months ago. And the bill DID pass ("easily") in October 2003, so Sen. Kerry's vote had no effect . . . except to give the W camp something to twist and lie about.

My grandpa used to tell us: when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Why in this most critical situation don't W's actions speak louder than his words?

when NOT in Rome . . . dream of Finland?

I missed SW in Santa Clara this weekend, but on my way over to JenLa to check out what I missed, I found this: ULLA, a knitting netmag (like Knitty) from Finland. The pattern index is here. My new goal in life? To become a knitting polyglot so I can knit every pattern I see. Is that too greedy of me?

Here is the one I'm going to try.

How cute are these? I know, they're just socks. But still. Is it wrong to be obsessed?

At least it's not a poncho.

And here is the cartoon from this issue of ULLA, reproduced here in honor of husbands like La's and mine who . . . well, they don't get the knitting thing. No translation needed.

mmmm . . . knitting

Do you ever wish you could just close yourself in your favorite cozy knitting spot with a couple of projects, a few good movies, and regular deliveries of your top comfort foods? I'm wishing that today. The weather outside is grey and blah and cold and dull. Blech. 

(Note: It's cold and icky--for California. If you live in Saskatchewan or Siberia, or you grew up in Wisconsin, please don't write and tell me how wimpy I am to complain about our weather when in many other parts of the world winter involves being turned into a human ice cube and plugging in your car at the mall so you can drive back home. In fact, let's make a deal: if you won't do the "you think THAT's cold?!!" thing then I won't complain about the extraordinarily high cost of living here. K?)

I finished the giraffe and elephant blankie for my nephew--it has a backing knit from Phildar's fluffy Peluche, and I sewed them together last night.

This blankie is pretty small, but a good size for Charlie to carry around and play with. And of course he has to have the matching giraffe toy. :) K helped me put the stuffing in the giraffe, and then decided she might like one too. The ultimate kid seal of approval.

While I was in small project mode, I worked on a flower to be felted for my felting class next month. It's from a pin kit distributed by KnitWhits, which I think was much too pricey ($20 at my LYS), but since I'm knitting it for the store I didn't have to pay for it.

We'll see how it turns out--the instructions call for the pieces to be assembled BEFORE felting, and I would have thought they should be sewn together afterward. I know, I know, I should just do as I'm told . . . I always have trouble with that.

I want to show the different kinds of things you can do with felting, including smaller projects like this. I'm also going to knit a couple of the roses from the felted rose garden bag in the current VogueKnitting.

Finally, I did get a box of Plymouth Encore yesterday in Burnt Sienna, gold, Bronze and Dark Country Blue for some no-thought-required knitting. Can you guess what I'll be working on?

Oh yes, I'm a fan. I can't wait for July 16.

Playing catch-up

I have lots to catch up on today. My mom is doing great; she had to have a second surgery on the 25th to take out more, but now they've gotten it all. She will find out in a few days whether she'll go straight to radiation or have chemo first. She is SO hoping that she won't have to have chemo, but we'll see. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

On my way down to San Diego, I stopped by my mother-in-law's house to pick up the gift she wanted me to take to my mom. Have I mentioned that my MIL is fantastic? Since I was leaving so early, she put the gift out on the front step, along with the previously un-photographed Alchemy scarf I made for her.

Click on the photo to see the pattern better. My MIL said she's been wearing the scarf almost every day, and gets lots of compliments on it. I love that!

Next up, here's the bag I'll be teaching for FashionKnits in Walnut Creek. BEFORE:

(I swear that when I finished knitting the tube that became the body of the bag, before I sewed the bottom seam, it looked just like a tube top for a hippopotamus. It was pretty funny.)

And AFTER:

It was made with Manos del Uruguay, color 05, held double. The carry-along is Joy, and the pattern is FiberTrends AC43. It was fun and quick, and the Manos felted very well. I did pull all of the ribbons from the Joy through to the outside before felting to make the ribbon part fuller. If you don't want to do that, I would get 2 balls of Joy and carry 2 strands along in that section instead of just one.

If you're in the area, the class will be on two Sundays, March 13 and 20 from 1:30p to 3p.

One note on tools: think twice before buying Crystal Palace bamboo needles. Grrrr. I was still in San Diego when I got to the handles, and didn't have any size 11 needles with me. The only ones available at the LYS I found were CPs. Within the first inch of the first handle, I had bits of one of the needle tips splintering and peeling off. It SUCKED. This isn't the first time I've had this problem with their needles. Luckily I was using them for a felting project this time, so I was only annoyed by the snagging, and didn't have to worry about the snags showing up in the finished product.

After that, I finished up the Phildar giraffe jacket for my nephew:

This was a great, easy project. I added about 2cm to the length, because my nephew is tall-ish. I did have to block the heck out of it to get the hem to lay flat--the Pegase+ is 75% acrylic and 25% wool, so I had to get it really wet and let it dry completely.

And one more project--to match:

I've been busy, I guess. :)

Also, I turned 40 this week. Can you believe that shit? I don't feel remotely mature enough to be 40. But there it is. This is one of the best things about never having been a beauty queen: you can enjoy growing older, because you have more interesting things to think about and say, and you don't miss what you used to look like.