I have, despite all appearances, been working hard today. I woke up at 5:30 this morning, and voted at 7 am. My polling place was pretty quiet, but I live in DuPage County, home of the Republicans.

The leaked exit polling has looked excellent for Kerry, but you never know, and really, the exit polling isn’t all that accurate right now, anyways. But I’m starting to feel twinges of optimism.

So, on to the knitting!

This last weekend was sort of an ADD knitting weekend. I decided I was sick, sick, of knitting on the sleeves for my sister’s sweater. I never wanted to see ribbing again.

So, since I was alone for the weekend, I went to Kool Knits in Naperville, and bought a skein of their Plymouth Foxy Yarn. Only I paid 15.95 for it, instead of 30. I have no idea why Kool Knits sells it for so much less, but I figured it was worth a 10 mile drive, given I needed Penzey supplies anyways.

So, I cast on 3 stitches, and did i-cord until I ran out of yarn. I now have this!

No, its not a tenticled monster attacking my purse! It’s a totally great scarf. I wore it all day yesterday. I know, I generally dislike novelty yarns, and this yarn is 100% acrylic. But, it is amazingly soft, and nothing at all like Fun Fur or other craft store yarns.

Since the scarf only took about 45 minutes, I had to find some other way to distract myself from the sleeve ribbing of death. So, I decided that I just had to start on a sock. Everyone in my knitting group can knit socks, and my one attempt had turned out fairly badly. I was trying to knit it to fit my food, and it easily fit Kevin’s foot. It just lingers about the house, taunting me.

So, I tried again with a pattern I found linked off Wendy’s blog. It’s a toe up pattern, and I’m using Regia that I got from the SSRP 2 box.

I’m not so sure I like the colors, but the sock is doing well. It’s actually a bit too wide, so I shortened the sock significantly, and it stretches into place nicely. Knitting it toe up lets me try it on as I go, which is nice. I took the sock with me to voting, but since there wasn’t a line, its just been sitting on my desk at work. I call it my hobbit sock, because its so short and wide.

I’m totally stealing this idea from The Keyboard Biologist’s latest entry.

I like to think, that despite all appearances, I’m actually a moderate. My boyfriend is a moderate Republican, and I’m a moderate Democrat. We’re very close on most issues - we’re both pro-choice, pro-gay rights, believe in “fiscal responsibility”. I’m actually far more “states rights” than he is. I’m against the dealth penalty, although I think he’s for it, in limited circumstances. He’s probably more of a hawk than I am.

I voted for Gore in 2000, and he voted for Bush. I was against the Iraq war from the beginning, and he was in favor. We both agree now that its been a disaster.

We’re both voting for Kerry.

I find it fascinating how people decide to vote for candidates. When it comes down to it, we don’t weight every single issue the same. I put far more weight on the social issues, which is probably why I identify as a Democrat. Kevin puts far more weight on international issues, and that’s why he identifies as a Republican. Kevin told some folks when we were at a party that any candidate that can get both of our votes are going to win. Heh.

Unlike a fair number of my internet friends, I do believe that most Republicans are good people. However, I do believe that the current administration has hijacked the Republican party. I don’t see how a fiscal conservative could vote for Bush. I don’t see how folks concerned about security and our standing in the world could vote for Bush. I do see how folks who are very concerned with moral issues, such as abortion and gay rights could vote for Bush - not that I honestly believe that Bush actually cares about those issues. Anyone see the video of Bush flipping off an aide?

I think this administration is interested in only one thing - their own enrichment and their own extreme ideology.

Kevin’s reason for voting for Kerry is because he feels like Bush illegally invaded Iraq.

I have many reaons for voting for Kerry, but I’m most concerned about how Bush makes decisions. He doesn’t invite disagreement and open discussion. Things like facts or research are discounted in favor of “instinct”. Here’s a good article that summarizes some of the problems. I found that both and had fascinating, and yet scary, glimpses of how decision making happens in the Bush administration.

I’m also disgusted by all the various dirty tricks that Republicans are using to depress turnout. Go Check out DailyKos if you want more information - they’ve been talking about it there all day.

So, I’m exhausted. I’m terrified of Bush winning, but i’m trying to keep a sense of perspective, and realize that god forbid, if he does win, the nation will survive. It’s been through worse. I just hope a lot of people turn out ot vote, and that a lot of people wake up to what is happening in this country.

I’ve been neglecting my sidebar for a very long time. I finally updated my works in progress. I updated my library reading list, which is mostly filled with smutty romance books right now. I really need to do something to get my blog roll under control - I rarely make it to the bottom these days. Also, a lot of the blogs listed I actually read via my LiveJournal’s friend page - its a great RSS aggregator. I’ve been torn between removing them, since I don’t read them via this blog, or keep them, because it provides a tiny sense of community. I haven’t decided.

The blogs I do end up reading are those that float to the top of my blog roll. It’s supposed to sort by last updated, but some blogs never show up as updated, for some reason.

Oh, and the Knitty fall surprise is out. I did like the little booties - too bad I didn’t pick up any Lorna Laces Angel at Threadbear!

Here’s another picture - its from the Morton Arboretum today. You can see all of the ones I liked in this directory.

Dear Knitting Blog,

I am very very sorry I have neglected you. It isn’t that I don’t love you, its just that work keeps expecting me to work, and besides, I’ve had so much yummy yarn to play with that I haven’t had time to talk about my yummy yarn. I hope you understand!

Love,

Gail

Okay, now that that is over, the big news of the week is our trip to Threadbear. I talked about it the Knitting community over at LiveJournal, as did Erica. Her entry has pictures. Monica also posted about it, as well as Sharon. We had a ton of fun, and I need to figure out a way to justify going back.

Monica has a great picture of me, btw, with my arms loaded up with knitting books and wool. My hair was long then - now, its super short. I still don’t have a great picture of it, but I really like it now, and its even grown on my boyfriend.

What did I get at Threadbear?

First, I bought 5 skeins of Barlett Yarns Fishermen’s Wool in a Pinky Orange. I love this yarn. I’m using it to knit York from Debbie Bliss’s last Noro book for my sister. She didn’t want it striped, and this yarn is working perfectly for the pattern. It’s full of Lanolin, a little rugged, but still soft. Here’s Princess Meghan, in her newest Princess dress, overlooking the progress I’ve made so far.

The yarn isn’t actually that orange - its much more heathery. It’s hard to see, but that’s the back and one of the fronts of the cardigan. And isn’t Princess Meghan fetching?

But, that wasn’t all! I also bought six skeins of Koigu - I believe I’m going to use it for the Wool Peddler’s Shawl out of . It’s a triange shawl with a bit of lace, and I think the color changes in the Koigu will be fun.

The colors in that picture are reasonably close, except for the last skein on the right. That skein is much more green and orange than purple.

But, wait, there’s more! I also bought a massive hank of Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, and the pattern to the Paw Print Shawl. I picked Camoflage for the color.

The picture is a bit dark, but you can see how pretty the browns and greens are in that skein.

I picked up Jamieson’s 2 as well - there are some sweater patterns in there that I just adore.

I’ve been working on Aimee’s sweater, so I haven’t had much time to work on Queen Anne’s Lace, which is sad. It looks at me longingly from its basket.

My mother also visited at the beginning of the week. And, I made a horrible mistake. Somehow, I had convinced my mother that I was out of yarn. It was tragic. We made plans to go to the local yarn store so I could knit again.

But, the night she arrived, I proudly gave her a tour of the house, and accidentally pointed out the Yarn Closet. Yes, that one. The cat was out of the bag, so to speak. I may never get Mom yarn again. Well, until she wants a new sweater.
This weekend, we went to Evanston for Kevin’s haircut, and while we were there, we went to Borders. They had a nice selection of knitting books. I got to see the new , which didn’t do much for me. A lot of the patterns were previously published in Knitty. The only pattern I could see myself making was Jenna’s Purple Haze Cardigan, which was a simple, but interesting, cardigan knit out of kid classic and kidsilk haze. I couldn’t justify buying it at its 19.95 cover price, that’s for sure.

I looked at and again. I always feel like I ought to buy them, but never quite do. I think I’m a bit turned off by the charts, which is silly. But I have a hard time seeing the rough dots and the patterns they make.

The book I did end up getting was . It has some adorable children patterns in it, and at 9.95, I couldn’t pass it up. In particular, I loved the bunny jacket, which was pink with cables and little white bunnies running around the bottom of the sweater.

Magazines - the only thing I liked in Family Circle Knitting was the moose booties. The Holiday Vogue was frightening - I didn’t even buy it, and I buy most Vogues. It gets to be a little depressing that everything new out there seems to be for beginners. I’m so sick of simple, “easy” projects. I know that there is a lot out there for more traditional knitters (and I own a lot of it), but I haven’t felt the rush of “oooh, I must have!” in a long time.

After I finish York for my sister, I’ll go back to my Queen Anne’s Lace. I really do enjoy working on it. I need to find a local retailer that carries Dale yarns - my mother’s boyfriend picked a Dale sweater out, but he wants the colors a bit different. I think I’ll need to see the colors live. Knitche in Downers Grove does carry Baby Ull, but that won’t work. I’ll have to post more about that sweater later.

There comes a time in everyone’ s life when they feel like they need to follow a fad. Even if they know that that fad will result in a butt ugly garment. Even if they know everyone else is doing it. Even if they know that they’ll wear the garment 3 times, and then hide it in the back of the closet.

At these times, we must turn to our stuffed animals.

I have to admit that the poncho bug bit me. I mean, everyone kept knitting them, and while I’ve seen very few that I’ve liked and/or thought would look good on me, I kinda felt left out.

So, while watching/blogging the last presidential debate, I looked up the Yarn Harlot’s poncho pattern, sized it down to stuffed animal size, grabbed an odd ball of Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals, and went to work.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when downsizing a person pattern to a stuffed animal.

1. Stuffed animal heads to stuffed animal bodies do not match human heads to human bodies. Stuffed animal heads are bigger compared to body size than human heads. That means you probably can’t just cut the number of cast on stitches by half, and expect it to work super well.

2. If you do cut the number of stitches in half and expect it to work super well, most stuffed animals will not mind if you have to squish their heads to get the poncho on.

3. If you are knitting in Barnes and Noble, and want to see if your poncho is long enough, you are likely to find a seasonal bear of the appropriate size. These bears do not mind modelling ponchos, although your knitting pals may die of laughter watching you.

So, what I did was cast on 30 stitches, and then followed the rest of the Yarn Harlot’s instructions. I should have cast on more like 45, perhaps, if I wanted a looser neck line. But Brideen the Clouded Leopard doesn’t really mind.

There are two sets of eyelets all the way down the front, they just aren’t open in this picture. Brideen is one of the World Wildlife Fund animals from Build-A-Bear. I love Build-A-Bear, even if they are expensive and probably evil in some fashion. I have at least 7 Build-A-Bear animals, I believe. I drag out of town guests to the store and force them to make animals. (Well, my sister. She made a Chicago Tourist Bear.) I’m going to try and convince Mom she needs to make an animal as well. I’ve been trying to control my acquisitions by only buying clothing, but the problem is that they keep coming out with new animals I just have to have, and so that’s why the Clean Sweep people are probably heading my way now.

Speaking of Build-A-Bear, here is my newest addition, Morrie the Polar Bear. He’s sitting in my latest unfelted cat bed.

He’s also wearing an argyle sweater. I think he may want a hand knitted one, although I’m not sure he’s getting one.

Finally, here’s one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken of my Katie cat. She doesn’t stay still for the camera very well, and its hard to get a good representation of her coloring. She’s taking off her, because she saw the pre-flash, but I still like it.

Saturday, the knitting group is heading to Threadbear. I’m excited, even if they are a bit low on Koigu, we’ve heard.