Are you out of your ever-loving mind?

This is another post where I tell you about something that I’m not talking about.  This telling-you-what-I’m-not-telling-you was actually a classic rhetorical move used by Chaucer to great effect.  Though at the moment, the exact story in which he used it to such great effect is escaping me.  

The other day I wrote an angry, ranty, post about an ugly bit of racism occurring on our quiet street, and more generally about racism and its stupidity and hypocrisy.  I’ve learned (ha) as I’ve grown older that it’s usually best, with an emotionally charged communication, to let things percolate for a day or two before zapping things off.  Now that the anger has come down to a simmer, I’ve decided not to post that little love note.  It was a little too personal.  That kind of anger isn’t generally a part of who I am or what I do.  

I leave in place, however, two quotes that I think work well together, as part of a somewhat measured response to racism, sexism, ablism, classism, and outright ignorant bigotry.  Implicit in my sharing of these particular quotes at this particular time is, I don’t doubt you’ll notice, an endorsement.  

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Referring to his mother’s “creed,”  Joe Biden said in his acceptance speech for the Democratic Vice Presidential nomination: “No one is better than you.  You are everyone’s equal, and everyone is equal to you.”  

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Stumping for Barack Obama with union workers, Don Gonyea said,  “And here’s a man, Barack Obama, who’s going to fight for people like us, and you won’t vote for him because of the color of his skin.  Are you out of your ever-loving mind?” 

It Happened in the Night

I imagined a post explaining in gory detail the germs that have swept through our house the past week and a half, but decided against it.  I was going to tell you about projectile vomit (times five) in the middle of four separate nights (Can someone give me some sort of scientific-type explanation for why vomitous episodes begin during deep sleep?), in places like a kindergarten classroom, the middle of three different beds, the hallway, the walls, the old chair in the middle bedroom.  About 50 loads of laundry.  About eating nothing but jello and toast for four days.  

But I decided you might not want to hear about that.  

So instead I’ll show you some knitting I finished.  I’ve been inching ahead on three different projects for such a long time that I despaired ever finishing anything.  But lo, here is one finished object to behold.  

This is BYOB from Knitty Summer ‘08, made with Lily Sugar ‘n Cream in Milk Chocolate, Creme Brulee, and Blueberry Pie (these cutesy names do not give any sense of the actual color of the yarn, but it’s a workhorse of a cotton yarn that I like for functional items that might see a fair bit of washing).  It’s a nice easy, lacy stitch there on the sides to create those stretchy mesh panels, so if you can get over knitting acres of seed stitch on the bottom and edges, it’s a nice introduction to a simple repeated lace pattern.  The only fussy part was evenly picking up the right number of stitches around the edge of the bag bottom in order to knit the sides.  It’s a rather large, very functional grocery bag, wider than it is tall, but I suspect it will stretch vertically when loaded with goods.  It will be gifted next week, perhaps loaded with a nice box of fancy tea.  

There is a good chance that I’ll also finish Sonar X3’s Hogwart’s socks today or tomorrow as well.  Which will leave only the Mystery Stole.  I have finished three clues on one end of it and one clue on the other end.  I have all six clues in hand now (five are knit twice, one is knit once in the center), so it’s just a matter of knitting my way through them.  (Which should be much easier now that I can sit upright for more than a few minutes without fear of fainting.)  I’m really enjoying this shawl.  The very fine lacy knitting is so delicate and lovely, which is funny, because fussy sorts of things don’t usually appeal to me.  Still, I think it will be rather pretty when it’s finished.    

I have a tendency to Over-Do

In case you hadn’t noticed.  

I over-do with knitting, and sewing and teacher-gifts and occasionally cooking.  A couple of months ago, I declared this ridiculous to do list.  Look, here’s another thing finished! (The socks, not the child)

 

Those are the new, Hogwarts-inspired, Sonar X3 socks.  I finished one of the shirts mentioned in that post, the other is half-finished.  The other two were cancelled due to a glut of long-sleeved dress shirts.  The Partner Hoodie is done.  The three stealth projects are done.  

I have finished one Deployment sock.  BIL has commenced to being less than familial, and as much as I’d like these socks to be about his service and sacrifice and not about his contribution to our family…. Well, let me just say that a lot of my emotions (and time) go into the things I make for people, and when I’m feeling particularly Not Good about someone, let’s just say that it makes it hard to knit for that person.  But that is one seriously cool sock.  There is a chance that a joke I made about finishing them for Partner, rather than for BIL, was recently misconstrued. But I digress.  

The Mystery Stole is about 1/3 finished.  I love it.  I love making it.  But it requires quiet and concentration, both of which have been in short supply here lately.  It goes on, bit by bit.  

The Urban Aran, Cardiganized is still in the dreaming stages.  

That shopping bag, though not on the list, also managed to sneak into the knitting queue.  It is, as mentioned in a recent post, finished.  

I cast on Kilt Hose *this morning* in the vain hope that I can finish them by early to mid-November.  I’m using Chasing Bunny’s very lovely pattern for Professor Moody’s Kilt Hose (because we just can’t seem to escape dear Harry around here, ever).  

The sanity of that November goal is in question, especially since, right now, I’m in the midst of Halloween Crafting.  I love Halloween.  I think it is a good opportunity to let your imagination run wild and then see if you can make some reality out of it, even if it’s only an approximation.  The educational institution that the elder two sonars attend has, rather cleverly I think, for several years held a Storybook Character Parade on October 31.  Children are invited to choose a character from a book, dress up as that character, and sashay around the campus before the flashbulbs of an adoring set of parents, books in hand.  Various literary and pseudo-literary activities ensue.  This allows any Halloween controversies to evaporate.  

The Sonars, being such imaginative little buggers—er, I mean, darlings, have come up with several lovely ideas.  

Sonar X8 has been inspired by Cornelia Funke’s When Santa Fell to Earth to be, well, Niklas Goodfellow (you might know him better by another name, ahem, Santa).  I dug around in the cupboard and came out with several yards of red felt gifted by a neighbor a while back.  He now has a coat and pants.  Also in the cupboard, some black and red neoprene and fleece, which became spats to resemble big black boots.  Hat will follow.  There will be no beard.  

Sonar X5 had toyed with Animalia by Graeme Base for some time, hoping first to be a Great Green Gorilla Growing Grapes in a Gorgeous Glass Greenhouse, then later to be a Zany Zebra Zig-zagging in a Zinc Zeppelin.  Thankfully (I wasn’t looking forward to using or approximating fur, or stripes) we later came across Enigma, by the same author, and a fascination with a magician has ensued.  It’s going to take me just as long to put this costume together, but it’s a bunch of small things rather than one big complicated (hot) costume, and it can all be done with fabric I have that isn’t a pain in the butt to sew with.  A vest and pants (done).  A bow tie (awaiting tying).  A cape.  A hat (half-finished) complete with “bunny” trick).  

Sonar X3 also started with Animalia.  He was totally fixed on being a Lazy Lion Lounging in the Local Library.  I have made a lion-ish suit before.  A simple lion-colored hoodie with great loops of felt sewn to the hood.  Unfortunately we no longer have it.  Still, it wouldn’t have been too hard, especially after I found half a bolt of upholstery fabric in another neighbor’s trash that was just about the right color to be a lion-y.  But then, we started talking.  We started looking at books.  We started looking at patterns.  And lo, we will soon have the White Rabbit.  Yes, That White Rabbit.  Before you start hyperventilating about fur rearing its ugly head again, know that I’m making only the rabbit’s head, and with white double-nap flannel rather than fur.  And no, it won’t cover his face.  He’s three.  I don’t think that would be wise.  Or cute.  To go with this wonderous head, there will be a vest and of course, a pocket watch.  

What?  For me?  Well, I don’t have much reason to wear a costume, except that there *is* a home football game on Halloween night here.  And I think it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to do some small thing.  So there’s a very good chance I’ll break out my pink Hallowig and put on the Hawaiian dress.  If it’s not too windy.  Pictures will surely ensue should that take place.  

We bought a few apples yesterday.  Six different varieties to be exact.

Kid stories

Removing the grass one swing at a time. 

I love walking places with the kids.  We have a chance to notice things.  Lots of things.  Like street signs and grass and the incredible numbers of butterflies we had around here the other day and house numbers and what is in that trash can and cars and such.  

Yesterday, while walking to the local youth educational institution to retrieve Sonar X5, Sonar X3 and I were waiting to cross the street.  Halfway across, the red hand on the crosswalk signal started flashing.  Sonar X3 pointed to the sign and said, knowingly, “the flashing red hand means don’t dilly-dally.”  So true.  

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Settling the kiddos down to bed the other night, I was stretched out on Sonar X5’s bed, and he curled up next to me.  I rolled and curled around him and told him we were spoons stacked together.  He stuck out his legs and stretched his arms straight down and told me he was more like a fork.  

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Sonar X8 isn’t thrilled about the mountain of homework he has to do every night (frankly, I’m not either, but that’s another story).  Most times he does the work without much prompting, but sometimes it’s like pulling teeth.  Today was one of those days where he went off and started working quietly, but clearly he was not immune to distraction.  A row of five, single- and double-digit addition and subtraction problems were printed in one corner of the math worksheet.  After correctly answering each of the problems, he drew plus signs between the answers and wrote their total in the right-hand margin (also correct).  Then he decorated the ends of each—hm, what is the line called when operations are written vertically?  Horizontally it would be the equal-sign, but vertically, while it means the same thing, it must have a different name?  At any rate, he decorated their ends with little curlicues.