Designing...

I am nearly done with my Upstream scarf! I need to do one or two more repeats of the cable pattern, which I might be able to get done today. I've got to measure it and decide whether it needs one or two. And then I'll create the design proposal and get it sent off to Knit Picks! I haven't heard back from them yet on the design I sent a couple weeks ago, for the "Girl's Best Friend" mitts. I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or a bad one; I heard back within one week, about "Posy Patch". But I'm not giving up on it, until they tell me one way or another.

For anyone who hasn't yet purchased their copy of Posy Patch, here's the link:
http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Posy_Patch_Baby_Blanket__D10472220.html
:D Shameless plug, I know. But what can I say? I love all of my patterns, and I'm especially proud of Posy Patch, since it was published by someone other than myself. The rest of my patterns(so far) are available on my pattern blog for free. http://christineolsonoriginals.blogspot.com
In case anyone's wondering why I don't put them here on this blog, it's because I tend to chatter about all different parts of my life here. I talk about my kids, and my faith, and my friends, and other crafts besides knitting, and homeschooling, and even the occasional foray into politics. I want to keep my patterns separate from my rambling. Although I am considering making some tutorial videos demonstrating certain skills I've recently learned, and posting them over there also. I think I'd have to figure out youtube first...I watch videos on youtube, but I don't have a youtube account. So I don't have any videos of my own on there, and I don't know the first thing about embedding a youtube video in a blog post.

Okay, I'm just rambling here(as usual), so I'm going to go now and find some caffeine to wake me up. Have a nice day, and check out my patterns, if you haven't done that before!

Restoring Honor

I don't usually talk about politics here. It's not because I'm "not interested in politics" like a lot of women(just between you and me, I want to smack any woman who says that). It's not because I don't know what I believe; I do. It's simply because I'm not as articulate as some people who regularly blog about politics. I know in my own heart and mind what I think and believe; I'm just not good at saying it so that others can understand. I am very passionate about politics, and sometimes that translates into "I'm right, and if you disagree you're stupid", because I'm not skilled in being tactful or diplomatic.

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Now, all that said, I feel I must say something.

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I like to watch Glenn Beck, on Fox News every afternoon. While some people think he is on the "extreme" end of things, I actually agree with most of what he says. He's been talking about his "Restoring Honor" event(which took place on Aug 28) for months, and I was intrigued by the idea since he didn't really say what it was going to be about. I wished I could attend, but traveling just wasn't in the budget this summer.

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Knowing what I know about Glenn, I knew it would be a good event, whether it was political or inspirational or religious. I did watch the entire event on C-SPAN(unlike some people who criticized and are criticizing the event), and was overwhelmed by what I saw. It was not political, aside from a few little jokes, and the fact that some people carried "Don't Tread On Me" flags. While those flags are currently popular among Tea-partiers, they are historical, and not really all that "political". It was very inspirational, making many references to Martin Luther King Jr, as the event was held on the anniversary of his great speech. It was definitely religious, as speakers prayed, and preached, and a terrific choir sang. Sarah Palin spoke of being the mother of a soldier, and honored several other servicemen. The event benefitted the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, to the tune of 5.5 million dollars.

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I know that the detractors of the event claimed it was "racist" because it was being held on the anniversary of MLK's speech, and saying that the people there would be "mostly white". Not true. There were many different ethnicities represented, and not a whiff of racism in any of the speeches or prayers or music.

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They also claimed there wouldn't be many people there. Glenn made a joke near the beginning of the event about that; he said that he had received word from the media, that there were "at least 1,000 people here!" Later, the airspace of the capital was violated by someone in a helicopter, who did a flyover to get an aerial shot of the crowd. I'll bet that pilot got in some trouble(as he/she should; the airspace is restricted for a reason). I was curious about what the "mainstream" media was saying about the crowd size, so I did a little research, visiting some websites I don't visit often....

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I started with Fox, since I have that one bookmarked. On Saturday, the article I found said "thousands" of people were there. Today I found this article that also says "thousands" and "huge crowds":
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/28/thousands-expected-glenn-beck-rally-civil-rights-leaders-protest-event/
And this one that says "tens of thousands" and "vast" in reference to the crowd:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/28/beck-wandered-darkness-long-palin-praises-patriots-sharpton-honors-king/
Late on Saturday night, on tv, a Fox host amended that estimate to "about 500,000", but as far as I can see, they haven't corrected it online.

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Next I went to CNN. There I found these numbers/descriptions:
This one says "a crowd that stretched six blocks down the National Mall" and quoted other networks' estimates but didn't commit to an estimate of their own:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/29/glenn.beck.rally/index.html?hpt=Sbin
This one says "tens of thousands" and "big" and copies the previous link in not committing to an estimate:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/30/glenn.beck.rally.monday/index.html?iref=storysearch

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After those wimpy(oops, did I type that out loud?) reports, I jumped in with both feet. With my eye-bleach handy, I went to MSNBC.
This one was thoroughly uncomplimentary, as I expected, but didn't commit to any estimate:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38891505/ns/politics-more_politics
I thought I had seen an estimate there on Saturday, but I don't see it now, so I can't link it. Either way, it was another low number, of course.

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After that I went to CBS.
This article says "87,000":
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20014986-503544.html?tag=mncol;lst;2
This one quotes Glenn as saying there were "a minimum of 500,000" but then goes on to contradict his estimate with the same estimate they used in the previous link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015115-503544.html?tag=mncol;lst;6

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Hmm...what's left, ABC? Okay, then, over to ABC we go...

Ahhh, finally one with an estimate higher than the others; "more than 100,000", although the headline says simply "thousands":
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/thousands-gather-dc-becks-restoring-honor-rally/story?id=11504433
And, even better, here's one that says "hundreds of thousands" in the subtitle, but again just "thousands" in the article:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/glenn-becks-restoring-honor-rally-draws-hundreds-thousands/story?id=11504349

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Okay, I've had enough of trolling "news" sites for the numbers. You get the idea. In general, all of the major "news" outlets put out numbers ranging from "thousands" or "big"(that one makes me laugh; it's so descriptive!) to "hundreds of thousands".

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Glenn Beck himself said that he estimated the crowd as "between 300,000 and 650,000".

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Another site(not a "mainstream" site) I frequent has said there were a million there, but I am not sure about that, even though they were actually there and talked to people who have experience at crowd-counting and crowd-control. I don't claim to have an accurate count; I'm simply pointing out how the so-called "mainstream media" is either downplaying the numbers or demonizing the message, and in some cases both. Remember I mentioned that helicopter that violated the restricted airspace for a photo? Here's the photo, courtesy of Fox. Judge for yourself; which media outlet(s) is/are telling the whole truth?

One last thought: When the attendees of the "Restoring Honor" rally left the National Mall, it was cleaner than when they arrived...unlike the attendees of an inauguration that took place January 20, 2009.

http://www.breitbart.tv/national-mall-left-spotless-after-beck-rally/

Busy busy busy

I'm sorry I haven't posted in several days. I haven't done much knitting. I've been working. My neighbors are having a covered patio/deck built, and I've been helping with the construction this week. Most of the framing was done last week, but I got to help with framing the overhang part of the roof. And yesterday we got that finished. We were going to start putting on the plywood for the first part of the roof, but that didn't happen. It was late afternoon, and Kerry and I were up on the roof, and he said to me, "Whatever you do, don't step here," pointing to the upper side of the drywall that was the kitchen ceiling. I said ok, and took two steps. My left foot slipped, and went precisely where Kerry said for it to not go. So there I was, with one foot hanging down into the kitchen, and the other leg caught on the rafter, swearing a blue streak(just kidding about that last part; I only swore a couple of times). Fortunately, Kerry wasn't mad at me, and neither were the neighbors, but boy, did I feel stupid. Here's how it looked early this morning...
It looks even worse now; very colorful. And it hurts like h-e-doublehockeysticks. I can't walk too well, so naturally I'm not helping with construction today. I had planned on still going out there, and picking up scraps of lumber and such, but even that would hurt. We'll see how it feels tomorrow.

♥

I am looking on the bright side, though, despite the pain and embarrassment. Considering how tired I was by the time this happened(and how clumsy I am by nature), I was likely to fall at some point. And about four steps later, I would have been eight feet over the concrete patio, instead of inches over the kitchen ceiling. Drywall is much more forgiving than concrete.

♥

And so, back to knitting. I need to make some squares for some baby blankets...

(Disclaimer: I am not in the habit of posting pictures of my legs on the internet.)

Juliet pattern

I've written up the pattern for the hat I posted about yesterday. Click on the link to the right, for "My Pattern Blog", and you'll find the free pattern for "Juliet".

♥

I finished "The Waltz", the lace scarf my friends and I are knitting together. I did 30 repeats of the lace, as the pattern instructed, but I think I would do more if I were to make another one. It's only about 4 1/2 feet long with 30 repeats. Anyway, even though it is short, it is very pretty. I really enjoyed knitting it. I think I will make another one, for myself, after I finish a few other projects.

♥

And now I need to get back to work on my other projects.....

Case in point...

Remember what I said about startitis yesterday? I hadn't even thought of this project yet when I wrote that. Yesterday morning, my friend Susie announced that she had a new niece. Baby Juliet was born yesterday, more than three months early. She is in a level 3 NICU, and will probably be there for a long while. Susie showed us pictures of little Juliet; she was wearing her dad's wedding ring as a bangle bracelet. Her total length is less than the width of my laptop computer. The little tiny hats the hospital has are too big for her. That was the inspiration for this project. I asked Susie for Juliet's head measurement, and knitted her a lacy little hat, using "I Love This Cotton" yarn.
This hat is about 9.5 inches in circumference, and five inches from brim to crown. It's a very simple design; even the lacy butterflies are easy to make. I'm writing up the pattern, and I plan on offering it for free on my pattern blog, because it is so simple.

♥

I would like to ask that you pray for Juliet, if you are so inclined. From what Susie has told me, she is doing well, for such a tiny baby. But she has a long hospital stay ahead of her.

Startitis

I have a bad case of startitis. I have lots of WIPs(works in progress), and a few UFOs(unfinished objects), and still I want to start more projects.

♥

I found some creamy-beige bamboo crochet thread on clearance at Walmart yesterday. It's basically the same thing as laceweight yarn, except it's more tightly-spun. Each ball was 300 yards, for $3. I bought five, so that's 1500 yards; should be enough for a nice-sized shawl. I'm not even searching shawl patterns; I'm browsing stitch dictionaries instead, in search of the perfect lace pattern.

♥

I started a table runner in bulky Wool-Ease yarn; after working with laceweight yarns, I feel like I'm knitting rope with broomsticks. I don't often use bulky yarns; they make my hands ache. This yarn(two huge skeins each of burgundy, cream and navy) was given to me by a friend who decided she didn't have time to learn to knit after all. So I knitted a square, in-the-round, using the navy yarn, then started burgundy and cream stripes coming out from one side. There will be matching stripes on the opposite side as well. When it's all knitted, I'm going to embroider cream stars on the blue square. I'm planning on giving the table runner to the friend who gave me the yarn. Her husband and mine went to West Point together, and served in the Army for several years, so I'm fairly certain they'll like it.

♥

I haven't done much work on my Fairy Bubbles sock; I need to frog or tink back a few rows, and put in increases at the top of the heel, and I hate tinking and don't really want to frog lace. I should do some work on the baby blanket I started a while back; it's a simple design, and doesn't take much concentration. I haven't touched my white lace in a long time, or my Surf shawl, or the fun fur blanket I'm making for Angel, or the bright orange Cathie scarf, or my Upstream scarf. I should work on Upstream and get it done so I can submit the design proposal to Knit Picks. I did submit another design a few days ago; the lace fingerless mitts I designed last summer...but I haven't heard back yet whether they want it. I've been working a lot on the Waltz scarf for the KAL/Swap that I'm doing with my friends. I'm nearly done with it.

♥

And Princess keeps asking me to teach her to knit. I feel guilty that I haven't done it yet. I love the idea of knitting with my girls, but Princess's attention span is still very short, and she gets frustrated quickly. But today I got a kids' knitting book at the library; maybe it'll help me. I also need to teach Angel to purl; it would open up a whole new world of possibilities for her knitting. I tried a while back to teach her, but she gave up on it, and went back to just garter stitch. Perhaps later, after our history lesson....

♥

Knittin', and Not Knittin'

I just realized I haven't blogged for a whole week. Oops. Sorry about that. There hasn't been a whole lot of knittin' goin' on, because I've had a migraine for several days. Before it started, though, I was working on a lace scarf. We're doing a Knit-Along and Swap in the Bunker. We're all using the same pattern: "The Waltz" (http://stickchicky.blogspot.com/2008/06/waltz.html) and knitting it in a color and fiber that our swappee would like. I'm making Monica's, and Sandra is making mine. I haven't taken any pics yet, but I've finished 20 repeats of the lace pattern so far, and the pattern only says to do 30, so I might be 2/3 done. I'll have to see how long that makes it when I get to 30. I'm using Knit Picks Shadow(100% merino) Lace in the colorway "Vineyard"; it's a rich, dark purple, with little tiny bits of green and brown in it. Not like a tweed; more like a heather. It's lovely yarn. And since I had two skeins, I should have enough left over to make a scarf for myself, or to give as a gift to someone else. I love this yarn. It's very soft and light.

♥

I'm stalled on my sock. I finished the foot and turned the heel, and worked one repeat of the cabled lace pattern. But when I tried it on, I realized that the cables were pulling the fabric in too tightly around my ankle. So I'm going to frog back to the end of the heel, and put in some increases before starting the cabled lace in the back of the leg. I'm certain that will make it less tight; I just hope it looks right. I had planned on adding increases anyway, but further up on the leg section. Looks like I'll have to add more increases than I'd planned.

♥

But for now, I need to get back to the laundry...

Another pair done, another pair started.

I finished the Double Eyelet Rib Socks! To be completely honest...I did sit and knit most of yesterday, and got them done before dinner.
And I started another sock...

I'm using the "Happy Feet" yarn I posted about yesterday, and a cabled-lace stitch pattern I found in a stitch dictionary somewhere. So far, so good. This sock is going more slowly than the Double Eyelet Rib socks did, because the lace is more involved. There's lace patterning on every row, and cable crossings every eighth row. But I'm enjoying it, which is good, because I'm planning on making them longer than any other socks I've made.

Knittin' Socks

I decided I wanted to knit some socks, and now. ☺ Since I didn't have the size of needle I needed for Zokni, I chose another pattern that would work with the needle I have. So I'm using the Ultra Alpaca sock yarn for "Double Eyelet Rib Socks", a Wendyknits pattern. It's a toe-up pattern, as most of hers are. The lace is so simple that I don't need to look at the pattern except for toe, heel and cuff instructions, and to remember how many repeats of the lace I did on the first sock to make the second match. I've finished the first, and turned the heel of the second. If I knit steadily and don't do anything else, I might be able to finish today. Unfortunately, I do have other things that need to be done, so maybe I'll finish tomorrow or the next day. The first sock went much more quickly, because after I had finished it, everyone in the family got sick, one after the other. So I didn't have much time for knitting for a week and a half, what with feeling awful myself, and caring for family members who felt awful.

♥

Yesterday I went to my LYS to use a discount that was going to expire today. I got 15% off my purchase, for being one of the first 99 Facebook fans of the shop. ☺ Malabrigo was excluded from the discount, or I would have gotten some of that. Instead, I got three 50gram skeins of Plymouth Yarn Company's "Happy Feet" sock yarn, in a really pretty medium blue. I'm planning on making some long, cabled, toe-up socks with it. I looked through the patterns that I have printed, and I was leaning toward using "Plaited Points" from Knitty(http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/PATTplaitedpoints.php), but I prefer thinner cables, so I might design my own pattern....like that surprises anyone. Haha. I found a thin, lacy cable that I really like, and I've never seen any sock patterns that use it, so I'm going to do a little swatching, and see what happens. But first, I need to finish the second Double Eyelet Rib sock.

Posy Patch!

My Posy Patch blanket pattern is up on the Knit Picks website! It's available to download for $1.99.

http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Posy_Patch_Baby_Blanket__D10472220.html

I'm so excited I'm practically speechless. ☺