A mix, Good, Very Good and Not So Much

Many things running through my mind today.  Little energy.  Will abbreviate.  

1.  New Mystery Stole swatch on US Size 2 needles.  Like it much better.  Really like the orange beads.  Or maybe the purple.  Must decide before Friday.  

2.  Sonar X3 is super cute.  This is the SuperCowboy ensemble, made from some old suedy polyester fabric with McCall’s 8398, copyright 1966 (Batman, Robin and Superman official Costumes).  Made for a family friend’s Cowboy fifth birthday.  She and her folks loved it. 

3.  We’re sick.  Ok, four out of five of us are sick, including me and all of the small people.  Right now it’s general malaise, sore throat and ache ache ache.  I’m hoping we can kick it with a low-key long weekend.  

4.  Go make this Malted Milk Ice Cream.  It’ll mess up a lot of dishes, but it’s so worth it.  So so worth it.  

5.  Deployment socks are progressing slowly, but progressing.  Thinking of a modification of this Pink Lemon Twist pattern in the foot area.  With red and yellow.  Or maybe blue and grey.  Or something.  

6.  I found the major speeches of the Democratic National Convention very stirring, particularly the focus on families.  I find John McCain’s VP choice profoundly troubling.  Inexperience, energy policy, family rights.  Very troubling.  

7.  There’s a meteorological par-tay happening in the tropics.  Gustav.  Hanna.  And a couple of “pre-” storms here and here.  I have something to say about the storm name choices this year.  But I’m not sure what it is yet.  We look to be on the safe side of the named monsters at least.  Check on your friends in Louisiana.  It’s going to be a bad scene for them.  Again.  

The Spirit of Sport

Ok, so Partner Sweater is finished as of about ten o’clock this morning.  [grand cheering fills the stadium]

Stealth Project Green is 70% finished (I told you, it’s small).  

As part of a greater project to move the garden beds in the back yard, Partner gathered the remaining onions and carrots from the back yard.  So I’ve been doing things like this:

And this:

These carrots look a little slimy, I know, but really they’re just wet.  And then I decided I needed one of these (because I am always ruining shirts by leaning against oily things on the edge of the counter.  This one is big enough for Partner as well, who is wearing it in this picture):

And I needed one of these (because the plastic bag I was using just wasn’t cutting it anymore):

These last two were made out of some fabric I inherited from a neighbor (and which was almost given away in the famous not-cleaning-out of my craft closet earlier this summer.  You might recall that I filled a trash bag with fabric I was sure I’d never use, and I was worried I’d not be able to get it out of the house.  And lo, here I am digging through the not-given-away fabric bag for something very handy.  Sort of implies that my efforts to get rid of the excess fabric are doomed to fail, huh?).  It reminds me of old-fashioned mattress ticking, and truth be told, I have enough of it to make a small mattress.  

In between all of this, we watched bits and bobs of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies which we recorded last night.  We haven’t made it all the way through yet, so there may be other moments worth comment.  The ceremony has been incredibly beautiful so far.  We really loved the boxes popping up and down, and just as the plum blossoms popped out and we were thinking, ‘what a cool computer/mechanical coordination,’ I got totally choked up when the People popped out from under the boxes.  People, who must have popped up and down about eight-hundred times in the beautifully choreographed presentation.  Amazing.  

The Sonars really loved the bit where people were walking around on the globe/lantern thing.  Oh, and the giant LED screen on the floor.  Very cool.   

But was anyone else totally creeped out, when the kids in ethnic costumes were carrying the Chinese flag across the stadium (which was very sweet), and then the Chinese soldiers goose-stepped in and took up the flag to put it up the pole?  The bobble-heads on the tv suggested that it symbolized the Chinese state’s ability to ensure the future of their children.  Sure.  

Mother's Day, Part 2: Make it Meaningful

Ileana noticed the business about mothers in the U.S. Congress this week.

Our government is, indeed, quite weird sometimes. Many of the strange things they do can be attributed to ceremony and tradition. Often the gestures they make are symbolic. Yep, we’re going to vote to have Mother’s Day this year, or Nurse’s Week, or a national symbol of some kind or other. But it’s not always even as simple as that.

Turns out Mother’s Day is even complicated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050802999.html

After unanimously voting in support of Mother’s Day, in a revote 178 Republicans voted against it. The move was blamed on “procedural shenanigans.” Uh huh.

Whether the House supports Mother’s Day or not, however, is really rather meaningless. It is merely a recognition (or not) of mothers. A holding up of a symbol, so that they can say they love moms and all they do. But it doesn’t carry any practical support that mothers can use. Take for instance the recent vote about fair wages for women, famously criticized by John McCain, who thinks we just need more training and experience and we’ll get the same pay. Yeah.

Or how about paid family leave, the promotion and protection of family-friendly work spaces, protection and encouragement of breastfeeding, fair and affordable healthcare?

A consortium of mothers called MomsRising is working to aggregate information and support of legislation that can practically, meaningfully, and substantially show support for mothers and families in the United States. Check out their mother’s day e-card for a synopsis of where they stand on Motherhood.

In that vapid little rag, Parade Magazine, this morning, Sarah Jessica Parker, who claims to want to be the world’s most fabulous mom, ahem, she points out that if you put a bunch of liberal moms in a room with a bunch of conservative moms, we’d all want basically the same things for our kids. Her penchant for shoes aside, I have to agree with the former Square Peg. Mothers and Fathers want and need to have the tools to raise healthy and successful families in the United States.

If any of this moves you, whether you’re a mother or not, share it with other moms and dads you know and consider subscribing to the MomsRising list. You’ll get notifications about petitions and movements in Congress. Kick those congressional representatives in the pants and help convince them to pack a little action with those words.

It's the President on line 1

Last week, Hillary Clinton. This week, Ted Kennedy and Joseph Kennedy (stumping for Obama), then Barack Obama himself, followed very closely by Bill Clinton (stumping for, well, you know, his wife). All in or around little old Corpus Christi, Texas in a matter of days.

And the other night, Michelle Obama called (stumping for, well, you know, her husband). OK, she didn’t just call me since it was a prerecorded message.

But all the attention might start going to my head.

Do you think they’ll still love me after March 4?

Maybe I ought to hold off on the speech accepting that cabinet position, just in case.

Happy Day Lovelies

Knit and felted hearts, LionWool

P.S. I opted not to take the little guys to see Hillary yesterday; the pragmatics were just too much for me. But we did watch her live on tv, and I was inspired, knowing that she was in my neck of the woods.

P.P.S. I am still undecided.

Next Time: My First Race