Thread Drift

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've been sitting in my easy chair since 8:00 a.m., trying to learn to KNIT SOCKS! My fingers are numb. I'm sleepy and hungry, but I think I've finally got it!

Karen

Karen, I have knit dozens of socks and mittens...they are my favorite thing to knit!
Unfortunately, when I took up biking/walking/snowshoeing etc I no longer had enough extra hours available in my week so I had to stop knitting for the past 2 years or so.
But I still love knitting....especially socks, on double pointed needles. I love making the toes and heels a different color than the rest of the sock..all kinds of wonderful color combinations.
I figure maybe someday if I break a leg or something I can get a bit of knitting done again.

I assume my daughters were 'taking a walk' today too.

[Tuckervill]

I started learning last winter, and I made one pair, and they were horrible. I still wear them, though!

There is only one yarn store within 150 mile radius of here, and they are quite pricey. So, I've been practicing on some cotton baby yarn. The result was a big big sock! At some point this morning, everything kind of went AHA, and I got right up and drove the 30 miles to the yarn store. Spent $50, and I've just finished turning the heel on the first sock. It looks GREAT.

All the patterns are so different. I have a book but I don't like the socks in it. Internet patterns for beginners are usually so poorly written, I could only go so far before they lost me with their assumptions. So, I've pieced some together and synthesized enough that now I've finally got it! YAY, me!

Karen

[Xrayted]

did you pay tax on that yarn? did ya know, in states that tax, if you say it's for making of clothes, it is tax free? (well, unless they tax you on clothes too.) otherwise, they are to assume it is for crafts and will tax. just a thought.

[Trek420]

Both Uk Eliphant and Duck on Wheels knit. DoW does incredible things with yarn, beautiful stuff. Wish I had a picture of the sweater she knit for our mutual great nephew.

[Duck on Wheels]

Both Uk Eliphant and Duck on Wheels knit. DoW does incredible things with yarn, beautiful stuff. Wish I had a picture of the sweater she knit for our mutual great nephew.

You mean this reversible one? Glad you liked it.

[divingbiker]

Cute sweater!

On another topic, did anyone see the 2-hour MSNBC special on the Jonestown massacre 30 years ago? I DVR'd it and just watched...it was heartbreaking. I remember when it happened (I was in college) but I had never seen the video of the last hours. Very sad. I don't think I'll ever say the phrase "drink the Koolaid" in a joking way again.

[Trek420]

Cute sweater!

On another topic, did anyone see the 2-hour MSNBC special on the Jonestown massacre 30 years ago? I DVR'd it and just watched...it was heartbreaking. I remember when it happened (I was in college)

Yeah, no interest in seeing the special.

It was quite the time around the Bay Area. A growing sense of hope fueled by activism. Jones took advantage of that and drew good folks yearning for new ways of being.

I forget if Jonestown was right before or right after Harvey and George were murdered but it was all around the same time.

In short order we lost two public figures who could have gone on to make a big difference and of course a lot of people in Jonestown.

It's pure fiction yet a lot of fun but if you want a sense of a historic time and place in San Francisco read Armistead Maupin Tales of the City Series

www.armisteadmaupin.com

The books were originally a series in the S.F. Chronicle. Like a soap opera in the paper. I remember looking forward to each edition. We here could not get enough of the story.

As books they suffer from that; article sized chunk, next chapter article sized chunk, Sunday Edition a longer bit etc. But he captures a feeling of the era like nobody else and his sense of dialogue is spot on.

You'll be informed, uplifted, you'll laugh, you'll cry ... read it

I do want to see the new movie; Milk. From the look of the the trailer (warning to your sensitive eyes, brief shot of two men kissing) Sean Penn captures the look and voice of the man and the movie captures the upbeat feel and excitement of the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unu-9...eature=related

[Zen]

Cute sweater!

On another topic, did anyone see the 2-hour MSNBC special on the Jonestown massacre 30 years ago?

I heard an interview on the Tavis Smiley show (radio). The author was a survivor.
Gotta agree on that "drink the kool-aid" phrase..

DoW, that is some fancy knitting!
I hope I can learn just well enough to make dog sweaters and arm warmers

[Zen]

I got right up and drove the 30 miles to the yarn store. Spent $50, and I've just finished turning the heel on the first sock. It looks GREAT.

Whew!
they'd better look great at that price !

[SadieKate]

Stop, stop, stop all this talk of knitting. You're making me feel guilty about all those neglected yarns upstairs.

[salsabike]

Huh. Think that tomorrow I'll try to post a picture of my Big Wall O'Yarn. You people who have been here, you know what I mean. This will assuage any yarn guilt of yours, SK. I promise.

If I didn't have to work, I'd go volunteer at a children's hospital and (when I wasn't crying) I'd teach little kids how to knit and weave. They think that sort of stuff is so much fun.

[Bruno28]

tomorrow I'll try to post a picture of my Big Wall O'Yarn.

No, please....not the BIG WALL O' YARN. We can't take it

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

There is only one yarn store within 150 mile radius of here, and they are quite pricey. So, I've been practicing on some cotton baby yarn. The result was a big big sock! At some point this morning, everything kind of went AHA, and I got right up and drove the 30 miles to the yarn store. Spent $50, and I've just finished turning the heel on the first sock. It looks GREAT.

All the patterns are so different. I have a book but I don't like the socks in it. Internet patterns for beginners are usually so poorly written, I could only go so far before they lost me with their assumptions. So, I've pieced some together and synthesized enough that now I've finally got it! YAY, me!

Karen

Karen, if you PM me your address, I will send you a basic sock pattern that I really like, and I'll throw in a couple of extra skeins of real wool I have that would be nice for winter socks.

[Velobambina]

I have a knitting handicap. As hard as I've tried to learn, I can't seem to master it.

I can crochet. Simple chain stitch, nothing fancy.

My grandmas were both expert knitters/crocheters/sewers. Of course, it was out of necessity (lots of kids, no money).

[pardes]

Charles Taylor=vetting=Chicago=horse=ESP=horse=fractal Sunday morning

I woke up to the CSPAN channel on TV with Charles Taylor, talking about his book, "The Secular Age" that brought global politics, sociology, and religion/secularity together. I only was half-listening while reading new TE posts but somewhere he mentioned "vetting"....

A few of my brain cells remembered that I want to look up the origin of the word "vetting" but the main part of my brain was too lazy to do it right now.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying Chicago's post on TE about going on her first trail ride on the heels of bad news from her exboyfried.

My mind wanders to thinking what good therapists horses make in comforting us with their soft muzzles and funny laughs they make with big horse teeth and I ponder on wanting to write something upbeat and complimentary to Chicago about not letting things get her down and going out and finding fun and joy despite wanting to stay home and cry instead.

I also think that horses are very smart and can read people and have a knowing sense about them in an instant as if they been researching them all their life.

However, first I need to let the dogs out, make some coffee and then I'll come back and write the post.

But, I'm so comfortable under the blanket wrapped around me, sitting cross-legged on the bed with my laptop, that I decide to do a quick check on the derivation of the word "vetting."

"Vetting is a process of examination and evaluation, generally referring to performing a background check on someone before offering them employment. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determine their usefulness.To vet was originally a horse-racing term, referring to the requirement that a horse be checked for health and soundness by a veterinarian before being allowed to race. Thus, it has taken the general meaning "to check."

Thank goodness there is a drifting thread. Where else could I dump this nonsense and my everlasting interest in the fact that everything in the universe is connected and we only have to look for the synchronistic thread that holds all of our non sequiturs together.