For your time-wasting pleasure

I haven't updated in a while, and I do have a few blog posts running around in my head. However, I don't have time to actually write them up right now, so here is something brief to keep you entertained.

And now for something completely different

Enough politics for now. I haven't posted any pictures in a while, so a quick update.

I have been busy with many knitting projects, most of which can't be posted here until after Christmas. I did finish the shawl for my sister's wedding, though:

(My coworker models--I am not sure if my sister wants pictures of herself on my blog)

Here is the shawl with the main section blocked but before I blocked the edging--an amazing difference, eh?:



Here it is blocking on my favorite blocking device, kid's alphabet mats:



Here is a closer look:

And even closer:


The yarn is Alchemy Silken Straw in Winkie's Blue, which is actually a ribbon yarn. The yarn was chosen more for color and sheen than gauge or type, and I designed the shawl to fit the yarn. My sister had a celtic-knot sort of theme going on at the wedding, so I modified celtic knots and celtic keys for the pattern, with a transition from the central motif (which is almost all knots) to the edging (which is all keys). Sis also asked for a rectangular shawl, since she felt that would be easier to wear both at the wedding and at other times. Her wedding colors were deep blue and purple, but you just try to find those colors in early summer (which is when we had to shop for the yarn) not in cotton or mohair (mohair is not a good idea when one is wearing a white dress). We ended up with Winkie's Blue because it is a lovely color that looks like purple or blue depended upon the light. Of course, now the same yarn comes in Dream, which is deep purple. Ah, well.

Blah, blah, blah, stupid metaphor about a tree's leaves in a strong wind and deep roots.

George Allen just conceded.

The Democrats officially control both houses of Congress.

Addendum: Put the !@#$ football away, George. This is a PRESS CONFERENCE at which you are conceding in a race for US SENATE. Have a little dignity.

Further addenda:

1) From an email from Mater-Eater Lad: "To which I say, Welcome to the real American and the real Virginia, you racist sack of shit.'"

2) From further emails between the two of us:

SWMBO: "God, I hate football. Can you imagine any other sport (soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, hunting, bowling) where a former player would think that it was OK to have a catch at a major news conference?"

MEL: "It'd be pretty funny if a candidate started throwing a bowling ball into the crowd.

Or if he was an archer, and just started winging arrows at people."

A good day.

This is a good day.

A very good day.

It is not, however, a great day.

There is still much work to be done.

Don't screw it up with stupid mistakes.

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.