Compromising

What do you think? Are politicians still full of crap? Or is compromise possible?

Gauging Election Day

I hoped that my day as an election poll manager would be too busy to get much knitting done, and it mostly was. The real reason, however, that I didn't progress far was that my gauge loosened up 1/2 inch over 25 stitches. Same yarn, same needles, clearly a different bat channel, so I put down the knitting. I'll pick it up again after 2 decent night's sleep in a row.

Neverending Story (Music)

Mr. Rimsky-Korsakov, your oevre "Scheharazade" is a lovely piece of music. But my god, it never ends. YES, I KNOW that's the point, but seriously. I can find many places in the score where you could have penned that double verticle line. I had to sit in my car this morning for an extra 10 minutes waiting for the last note to fade away. No, I couldn't just turn off the radio, I was compelled to keep listening. I quote from the fabulous TV show, White Collar: A happy ending depends on when you stop telling the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptC3szb4zHs

I'm still so very sorry about the explosions last week of the unmanned Antares supply rocket, and the manned test flight of VirginGalactic's SpaceShipTwo. I've wanted to be an astronaut as long as I can remember, probably since the first time I read Little Bear while the USA was deeply in a race for the moon. To make it even more upsetting I just finished reading the epistolary novel, God is an Astronaut by Alyson Foster. In Foster's story the narrator's husband works for a company that operates tourist low-orbit space flights, the lastest of which has exploded killing all on board. She is reluctantly persuaded to ride the first flight after the investigation to the cause of the explosion is discovered and remedied. Unlike her, I would volunteer to take that trip willingly. I still want to boldly go....

Time Is Fleeting

Tomorrow, today will be yesterday, so what's an hour more or less? I love it when we have to change the clocks forward or backward; the arbitrary nature of time captures my imagination. I changed mine before leaving for work this morning. Sadly, I haven't accomplished anything more in the extra hour.

Those of you who know me in real life or online know that I loathe baseball. I'd rather watch paint dry. However, I do love slip stitch knitting. And I love knitting hats. And I love supporting success of any kind in my City. I found a stitch pattern in one of my plethora of stitchionaries, and thought to myself, "You know, if you work this in alternate directions it will make a herringbone pattern." And then after watching an episode of White Collar - the one where Neal steals a baseball and Peter reveals his baseball-loving past - I said to myself (outloud), "You know, if you use white yarn with the contrast color red, it will look like a baseball." And I said, "If you hurry you can whip this up into a hat for the 2014 baseball season opening day, and people will think you're part of the cool kids." So I did, and the Baseball Beanie was born.

Later on, to mitigate some of the hypocrasy, I decided to put the pattern to good use, by offering the pattern free for supporters of Halos of Hope while the Cardinals are still in the playoffs. If you want to participate, make a donation to www.halosofhope.org before we're out of the running, and ask for the coupon code. (The pattern is always available for purchase at .

Yarnigami - Or How To Turn a Rectangle into a Vest

In May, the wonderful folks at Skacel Knitting had a design competition, and I was thrilled to have my pattern, Cross Hatch Wrap, chosen as one of the five winners. The scrumptious Kid-Seta yarn was a dream to knit, and their photographer did a great job of capturing some of the possible ways to wear this vest.

Some people are having trouble with the concept of how to transform this long rectangle into a wearable with armholes! Following are step-by-step directions to guide you through the process, with my not-very-professional photographs.

1. Fold the rectangle in half so the cast-on and bind-off edges are together, and mark the center point. Unfold.
2. Bring down the cast-on and bind-off edges so they are next to each other, with the inside length of the rectangle together. Sew from A to B - about 9 inches.
3. Bring down the Center so that it touches the top of the seam at B.
4. Make a diagonal seam outward on each side from the Center, leaving an opening on each side - these are the armholes.

You have just made a Y-shaped seam from one of the long edges of the rectangle. The other long edge runs the length from bottom, around the neck, and down the other side. The cast-on and bound-off edges are the bottom. Fabric topology!

Worn as you have just sewn the garment, it is a swing vest. Flip it upside down (180 degrees), and you have a shrug with tuxedo points. Fasten with a shawl pin, or tie the points together.

Have fun finding more ways to wear it.