Coveting Concerns

I am a knitter. You might even say I am a bit obsessed. It is the time of year when sock yarn clubs are opening up for 2009 and I WANT TO JOIN ONE! (In reality I would actually like to join more than one, but I am trying not to be too greedy.) Needless to say, with my employment situation, I will not be getting on any of these this year.

For any of you who are sock knitters - go out and look - they look like WAY TOO MUCH FUN.

OK, I need to be honest. I am not only coveting the clubs, but just the ability to buy more yarn in general! It is so hard to surf the net and peak at e-bay but not be able to purchase. Don't get me wrong, I am not starving for yarn - I am a proud member of SABLE (stash accumulation beyond life expectancy) but I seem to have discovered my 'shopping weakness' - YARN. If you want to get a look (sorry no virtual touching) at some of these check out Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Wool Girl, Sundara, Loopy Ewe, Perfect Day Yarns, Lorna's Laces and ZenYarnGarden. Be careful - they are really nice.

Back to the job hunting work for the day!

Tuesday tidings...

Today was fun. I did the weekly unemployment thing. Applied for a few jobs on-line (Trib want-ads were mighty thin). Went to knitting and worked on sleeves using the 'magic-loop' method. Had to try something new cuz I didn't have 2 size 8 circ's and recently lent out my dpn's in size 8. Good to know alternate methods!

This evening got to read with son - Harry Potter #6 and then watched the Mentalist with daughter.

A few thoughts for the day:

• The less people understand a theory, the smarter they believe it is.
• Failure is good - it brings you experience. Success can make youlazy and arrogant.

• There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

  In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

Slackin' Day, Kids Off Tomorrow - AGAIN!

Today is a designated slackin' day. I am planning nothing and WILL NOT feel guilty about it! I am sure that knitting will be a significant part of the day, lots of Christmas knitting to complete. Job outlook is continually interesting - very different from the last time, but 13 years has changed more than just the job hunting process.

Tonight is NW Suburban Knit Night Out. We will be knitting preemie items for charity.

The one good thing about kids having school off is that we all will be sleeping in. But for me, not so late as to miss my Caribou!

Election is OVER!!!

My happiest moment in this whole election is that the

HORRIBLE CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS ARE OVER!

I guess it is a bit obvious that I was just totally fed up with the negative campaigning - I love the freedom of speech, but what ever happened to "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"? I would be much more inclined to listen if I was being told what the candidate stood for and what they hoped to achieve if elected vs. what 'the other guy did/didn't do'.

At this point, the only race in MN that isn't decided seems to be the Coleman/Barkley/Franken senate vote. It is also the only one in which I have VERY strong feelings about (that I am not going to get into here). At this time (11:30pm) the percentages are 42%/15%/42%.

This is a historic election and it is kinda neat to be alive for it. I am sure that there are many in my parents generation (probably in mine as well) never thought that a person of color or a woman could ever get elected. I have to say that McCain made a truly gracious concession speech. Now watching Barack's speech. Boy I don't envy him coming into the presidency in the midst of all this economic turmoil and the Irag war still waging.

Well, after the speech, off to bed.

November Knitting Challenge

The Northwestern Suburban Knitting group meets this Thursday night. I am hoping we have a record turnout for our preemie donations knitting. We will be knitting hats and booties for preemies and donating them. Goal is to see what we can get done in the time we are there. Even if you haven't attended before, come in November it is for a great cause!

Interesting Fact: a correctly sized preemie hat should fit an average sized orange!