Day Jobs and Debates

Today was my first day at my new day job. I’m not really supposed to say where it is, or what I’ll be doing. But it is in the same place where I had my last oh-so-brief day job, so I know how to get there, and the layout of the building. I also knew a couple of people that I saw this morning. I told one of them what had happened and came very close to breaking down in front of a large group of people. She was sweet, encouraging and understanding. Hopefully things will go better this time, and I can work quite a bit longer.

Last week, the week I was supposed to have started this job, was the time of the first Presidential debates. Anna from Mochimochiland offered two free patterns for tiny Presidential nominees.

Yep. There they are, Tiny Sec. Clinton and Tiny M. CheetoDumpsterFireTrump. Right next to the tissue box, as I haven’t had a chance to make the tiny debate stage. Even if you’ve never made tiny knitted figurines before, it’s pretty easy and a lot of fun. Also highly addictive.

Tomorrow is the Vice Presidential debates. Fortunately, I have to go to bed early so I’ll have to miss them (dang). Let me know below if I miss anything.

Tonight is also the first day of Spinzilla. I’m looking forward to doing some spinning to get the day out of my head.

The Circus is Back (Thank Goodness it’s not Here)

This is the week of the Republican Party’s National Convention in the US. When I was younger, politics was like a game. A weird, sometimes hilariously funny, mysterious game where the winner and loser didn’t really matter, because the world still went on.

Then Donald Trump decided he was going to run. For President. Now it’s not so much of a game anymore.

8 years ago, Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, won the election for President of the US. Some people said it was the end of racism in our country, because we finally had a Black President. As it turned out, not so much. There were questions about where he was born, because if he had a Kenyan father, he couldn’t possibly be One of Us. There were questions about whether or not he was a Socialist. (On a personal note, it is a dream of your blogmistress to actually have a socialist president. But I don’t think our country is ready for that today.) He had more threats to his person and his family than any president in my living memory who hadn’t actually been assassinated. But he kept going, no matter what horrific racist garbage was tossed his way. The Democratic National Convention was held not far from us and it was amazing. Even with police roughing up protestors and keeping the press at arm’s length whenever possible, it was amazing. I don’t remember where the Republican convention was that year, but it was pretty entertaining.

And 8 years later, we’re getting political party conventions again. The Republican convention is, from my personal perspective, a horror show. I cannot describe it in any other way. It was so bad that the Colorado delegation walked off the convention floor em masse on the first day.

Let me say that a little slower. A. Delegation of elected delegates. Walked. Off. The convention. Floor.

The cover story was that “they were going to dinner”. At 4 in the afternoon. Of course.

The next day, when the official verbal vote count went out, the results told the true story. Out of Colorado’s 37 electoral votes, 31 votes went to Ted Cruz, later amended to 33. 2 delegates abstained. The other 4 voted for Trump, now the official Republican party nominee for President.

That’s not even mentioning the blatant racism, sexism, and homophobia proudly on display over the past few days. Like the dinosaurs howling their last after the cataclysmic event that brought their demise, the vast majority of party speakers can’t seem to stop being the party of Proud White People.

As of today, I’ve spent the entire RNConvention writing this post. Last night was the big speech in front of the Reichstagacceptance speech for the Republican nomination. Apparently, clocking in at 74+ minutes, the longest speech in the history of nominee acceptance speeches. I was busy recovering from our trip to the Fancy Amusement Park with Baby Goth and her BFF and wasn’t in the proper frame of mind to watch last night. This morning, between Twitter and our local news, I’ve managed to make up for that. My goodness, that looks truly frightening.

So, now that the convention is over, register to vote in November. Do it today. If you live in a state that offers mail-in ballots, please please take advantage of that. I can assure you it’s worth whatever hoops you have to jump through, especially if you live in a state where the weather is unpredictable in November. Register today. This is no longer a joke. This is our new reality. If we don’t want it to be our reality for the next 4 years, please vote in November. If you’re not bothered by that, I’m not certain you’re reading the right blog for you.

I’ll write more spinning-related posts this weekend. Promise.

More Spinning Than Knitting

Before I get started, did you notice the spinny thing before the blog finally opened? Some people get that sometimes, courtesy of their ISPs. If certain companies/providers have their way (*coughComcastcough**) the Internet will look like this all the time. Of course, like everything else in our capitalistic system, if you can pay more… That’s what Net Neutrality does – it makes sure that the playing field is level for everybody. Every small business, every little website (or blog – ahem), everyone; regardless of their ability to pay for more or faster access, everyone has a chance to make or view content. The FCC is now hearing input from the public about whether or not to change the rules. If they change, broadband providers and cable companies can charge different rates for “premium” access; with their own definitions of what constitutes premium, which will not be to the public’s benefit – you know, ours. So, now that you’ve gotten past the spinny thing, click on the link and call your US Senator. If you don’t live in the US, there are other ways you can help. I called my Senator this morning. Well, his office. I have what can be charitably called an aversion to talking on the phone. If I can call, so can you. Go. I’ll be here when you come back.

Called? Good.

I’ve been working on an 8-oz. bag of a blue-green striped top, a merino-silk blend. It’s lovely in the bag.

But it looks so pretty…

It’s also one gigantic PITA to separate out into its different colors. So it’s been a little more barber-pole-ish than I’d like.
I have no idea how this will look plied. I’m a little worried that chain plying won’t do the job, and plying from random chance will make the mixing worse. So we’ll see what happens when I finally have enough to worry about plying.

There’s some progress on the bison/cashmere/Merino/bamboo mix too. I’m aiming to have enough for a couple of prosthetics for Mom by Giftmas. Not sure whether or not to dye it or leave it as is. Right now it’s kind of a light beige/oatmeal color. I’m afraid the softness will be gone if I dye it, though. I’ll have to sacrifice a test skein to the Dyeing Gods to see for sure.

An FO and one in progress

This week, I finally finished something else. Meet Diva Squid, my Diva Cup’s new buddy.

The Elder God who keeps your menstrual cup warm and cozy

Double knitting is something I’m new at, and it went relatively well. The increases were a little tricky – I had to rip it back and restart it 5 times before I got them right – but it turned out okay. There might even be another one for my iPod in the near future.

The other thing I worked on today was my spinning.

That’s part of the second bobbin of singles I’m using for a beaded yarn. I even knitted up a sample skein…

The beads look pretty on their own, but I think I might use a different color on that white. Um, yes.

As for my other 2 UFOs that I’m still actively working on:

Margaret is still patiently waiting for me to figure out what the hell I’m going to write on her.

Bat Shawl is still slogging toward completion. I’m almost up to the point where I started ripping 3 months ago.

And that’s pretty much it for knitting.

In other news, I’m still stunned that Keith Olbermann left Countdown this evening. I had thought that MSNBC would be off the air when Comcast took over, but I had no idea it would be piece by piece this way. Very weird. Rumors as to the exact reason and all are still flying, so…

Olbermann could be a sexist wad at times, but his heart was usually in the right place. I’ll miss his passion for left-leaning causes.

It’s almost finished

Yep, my mom’s sweater is almost finished. Here’s a shot of it after its latest bath, before it’s completely blocked/smoothed out:

Not quite done, but almost

The best part is…I can send this to her for her birthday in two weeks. I’m guessing it’ll be dry by then.

I really liked spinning the yarn for this. In retrospect, I probably could have planned the color changes better, but the yarn wound up being kind of pretty. Just hope she likes it…
Speaking of color, for some bizarre reason it looks blue (at least on my browser). It’s not. It’s a variegated gray.

In other things, school started last Friday. School Girl has had a good first two days, I think. She’s got some familiar faces from last year in there, including her best friend, so that’s helped quite a bit. Her teacher seems pretty good; I’m anxious to go over there for Parent Night on Thursday, when we’ll find out a little more.

I’ve also started…two more pairs of socks and, um, something else. Plus I’m sort of working on a new yarn, based on what’s left of the CVM cross fleece I’ve got left over from Mom’s sweater. It’ll involve dyeing, but it’s still nice enough to do a lot of that outside, so it shouldn’t be too painful.

Oh, and the Colorado “primaries” are today. Just because we aren’t voting for President right now doesn’t mean there aren’t people to vote for today. So get out there.