My favorite moment from last night.

I was so, so glad to be watching CNN (rather than MSNBC, which I had on in the PIP) sometime after 12 AM Central last night. If I hadn't been, I would have missed the best moment of the night: Jim Webb came out to make what everyone expected to be a I-am-going-to-bed-this-isn't-going-to-be-decided-tonight-speech (just like George Allen had done about an hour previously), and he DECLARED VICTORY.

From Salon at 12:08 AM CST:

With an 1,800-vote lead over Republican Sen. George Allen, Jim Webb just told his
supporters that it's important to respect the Democratic process. But just when it
sounded like he was about to concede that there's still a lot of counting -- and maybe
recounting -- to be done, Webb said: "The votes are in, and we won."

(I am still looking for a video--the reaction of the people in the CNN and MSNBC newrooms was half the fun.)

[Edited it add a clip of the CNN coverage, albeit without the anchor reaction]



Payback's a bitch.

What about a recount, you say?

Last year Virginia had a recount for the State Attorney General race, and the vote totals only changed by 37.

THIRTY-SEVEN.

Let's all hope that the election results are as clean this time.

Seriously, though: VOTE.

Via TPM Cafe:

"Just like in 2004, your vote today will affect the lives of every man and woman serving on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan. Your choices will determine how long we fight in Iraq, what kind of equipment we have on the ground, and what treatment we receive when we get home.

This week, you can make your voice heard.

Our country is at war. A 60% voter turnout isn't good enough. Please vote today, and remind your friends and family to make it to the polls."

There are other issues. There are other people (like the people of Iraq) who will be affected by the outcome of this election. It is not OK to stay home today.

I saw a 20-foot blow-up bulldog in the back of a truck on the way to work this morning

I am many posts behind regarding knitting and gardens and things that I find amusing, but today I just have time for this:

Please vote today.

Here is a handy voting guide.

(The bulldog was a political ad for state auditor)

The funniest thing I have heard all week.

One of the attorneys with whom I work likes his hairdresser so much that when she left the salon that he normally goes to two months ago, he did a skip trace on her to try to find out what salon she is working at now.

Ways to get odd looks in the supermarket (the first in a series)

1. Shop at 10 PM on Sunday, and only buy an apple pie and rat poison.

Hmmmm.

Hmmmmm.

No knitter would *ever* throw their needles over a cliff

I don't care what trauma they endured--it just wouldn't happen. And I am impressed with the yardage that she gets out of that last ball of yarn.



I will say that the scarf approached the length of my first scarf, which I never did cast off. When my grandmother taught me to knit when I was about 10, she did just that--she taught me the knit stitch. She did not teach me how to cast on, purl, or cast off. (My grandmother is not exactly known for her patience, so I am a bit surprised that she taught me to knit at all.) She bought me some size 13 needles (Susan Bates, of course), some squeaky chambray-colored acrylic yarn, and cast on a scarf for me. She then showed me how to make a knit stitch. I was to continue the scarf until it was "finished" and then she would cast it off for me. The only problem is that she decided that this scarf should be *gargantuan*. I had about 1000 yards of worsted wool, and by God I was going to use all of it. Remember that this was a scarf for me, and I was 10. I knit about 5 feet of scarf and asked her to cast it off. Not long enough. 6 feet. Still not long enough. 7 feet. Nope. 8 feet. Still no. I still had some yarn left, you see . . . . I finally just put it away and stopped asking. I still have it, on the needles, with the extra yarn. I doubt it would be short enough for a professional basketball player.

Be a mensch . . .

Have *you* called 1-800-OOPS-JEW?

Well, I know what I am doing this evening.

But will John S. be outside drumming the Vermonster container for 10% taxes?

All Hail the Federal Republic of Kate!

(I realize that only a couple of the people who read this blog will have any idea what I am talking about.)

The benefits of working for a very small business

It may be hot in Topeka and disgusting in Minneapolis (seriously, I don't think it got any lighter when the sun came up this morning), but when you are less than a week post-major-project on a Friday where two people of a seven-person office are out sick, sometimes your office closes for three hours and the partners take everyone to lunch and a movie. Which is pretty cool.

For Introverted Couples Everywhere.

My husband and I are both introverted--we could be the couple observed in the bookstore in the answer here (registration or watching of short commercial required). We go to the Great Big Barnes And Noble With The Used Book Section at least twice a month and spend a couple of hours reading, drinking tea, and generally not talking. THIS IS TOTALLY NORMAL FOR WELL-ADJUSTED INTROVERTS.

That is all.

Remember Cop Rock?

Now imagine that Cop Rock is being performed by lawyers. At a continuing legal education course.

My favorite line:

" There are no CLE seminars like those from the Ethics in Tune program."

Maybe there is a reason for that. Just guessing, here.

Airport security

Now, I am going to refrain from much comment on the state of airport security beyond the fact that if I could do something to the plane with water bought after going through security (which you are required to dispose of before boarding the plane), I could probably think of a way to use the water ON the plane for the same purpose (let me also state that I have no idea what I would be able to do with either one). Oh, and also the fact that at Philadelphia International airport at the beginning of the summer they didn't even notice that I was flying on an expired license (the fact *had* been noted on my flight to Philly), while at the end of summer--after the most recent bust regarding liquids--THEY DID NOT CHECK MY ID OR ANYONE ELSE'S IN THE STANDARD SECURITY LINE AT ANY POINT. There was someone checking the first class/international line, but not the standard line. They ran my bag through three times and asked about liquids, but they never checked to see that I was who I said I was.

Oh, and this really entertains me.

That word you keep using . . . .

From this NY Times article about the reintroduction of the VW Rabbit:


"Hence, the company pulled a rabbit, quite literally, out of its hat."


Really? Literally? Considering that this Rabbit is a car, that's got to be one heck of a hat. Did you perhaps mean "pulled a literal Rabbit out of its hat?" It's still not great writing, but all of the words mean what you think they mean.

You know that this is Ben Franklin, right?

Just checking.

(via Fark)

Edited to add: Target took the listing down, but it was a Ben Franklin doll labeled as a Franklin Roosevelt doll, with "presidential quotes."

Watch this now.

What he said.

Sometimes the morning just starts off right.

From Salon's War Room:

"CQ Politics has just moved the November outlook for the district once represented by Tom DeLay from "no clear favorite" to "leans Democratic.' "

Tea Cozies

My sister's bridal shower was last weekend. Early on in the planning, she made one request: that it be a Mad Hatter's Tea Party (my sister is a huge Alice in Wonderland fan). All of the bridesmaids took that into account and planned a tea with some Mad Hatter/Alice touches. At some point we all decided that we should have teapots in which to serve the tea. At Ikea, I found the cheapest teapot I have ever seen:


Now, this pot is very functional, but it is also very plain; it looks like a coffee carafe. I immediately suggested that I would use leftover yarn from various projects and make wild cozies for all ten of the pots (yay, using up stash yarn!). This idea was accepted, so I commenced making a basic design using a pi increase for the bottom and then trial and error for the rest. Then one night it occured to me that the pot is kind of shaped like an upside-down top hat. At that point, I realized that it might be fun to make some of the pots characters in a very abstract sort of way. That was also the point at which I totally fell off the stash-using bandwagon.

The cozies were very much a surprise, and my sister reads my blog, so I was not allowed to blog about them before. Here are the best pictures I have of them (some of the pictures are not very clear, and all of the colors are not quite right because I had to use the flash indoors):


The Mad Hatter. The brim ws a bit more ruffled than I had planned, but I thought my other sister's Happy Bunny card was a nice touch.



Alice.



The March Hare. He only has one ear because the handle represents the other ear, and that's his tail on the bottom.




The White Rabbit. He also only has the one ear and a tail on the bottom, and he has a clock on the bottom.




This represents the Red Queen and all of her cards. It was meant to have card-symbol buttons, but I managed to lose them.



The Cheshire Cat. He was the most abstract, and there was much debate as to whether or not I should outline the teeth; I think he came out very well.

The rest actually *were* random, and I *did* use stash yarn for them (albeit occasionally stash yarn that was leftover from the character cozies):





This one is from the Eighties. The stripes are textures using stockinette and reverse stockinette stitch.



This one used up quite a bit of my leftover Fizz and some leftover alpaca sport. The bottom is more purple than that; the flash washed it out.





One of my sisters said this one reminded her of what Neville Longbottom's grandmother might wear; therefore, it is named "Neville Longbottom's Grandmother."


Last, but not least, this one was meant to be forest-y.

Here are all of the cozy teapots on a table before the shower:

Baby blanket

One of my best friends, L., had a baby girl last December. I met the baby (also L.) in January, and I met her again at the beginning of August:




Isn't she cute?

I decided last year when I found out that L. was pregnant that I should make a baby blanket. I also decided that it should not be a normal baby blanket: it would not be pastel, it would be big enough to use for several years, and it would be in some way Star Wars-themed. L. and her husband C. are huge fans, you see. I decided that illusion knitting would be the way to go, in washable cotton because they live in Florida (the machine-washability is why the edges are not quite even in the pictures--no blocking+machine drying=uneven edges). I had never actually done any illusion knitting, and I had to design it myself, since (unsurprisingly) a pattern of this sort did not exist at all. In fact, I entered the Knitting Olympics with this blanket, and I would have finished it if the plumbing in my basement hadn't exploded.

I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. I finished the blanket in February and sent it off without taking pictures because at the time I didn't have a digital camera. When I was in Florida at the beginning of the month I remedied that oversight:





The yarn is Tahki Cotton Classic in red and dark grey.

My favorite Explainer ever.

Slate's explainer is usually interesting. This is my favorite, ever. The actual question is: "What's the proper way to transport a snake on a plane?"

More posts coming--I have been mostly out of town for three weeks.