Rant

I've been spending most of my Sunday mornings lately tidying my house while half-watching (or watching, depending on my level of interest) the networks' political analysis fare. This past Sunday, George Stephanopolous interviewed John McCain. I just found a transcript of the interview here.

Now, if you know me at all, you know that I disagree with the vast majority of the McCain platform. That, however, is not why I'm all ranty (well, today, anyway). What irks me is the blatant avoidance of difficult questions, redirection to topics he preferred to discuss, and failure to apply logic or intellectual sincerity to his responses. Ya don't like the fact that economists don't think a gas tax holiday will be effective, so you slam economists en masse as being out of touch with lower income Americans? Seriously? You respond to a question on how to solve the mortgage crisis by swivelling over to Congressional spending and dependence on foreign oil? For real? You're asked about your previously-stated opposition to gay adoption, and all you can muster is a robotic repition of the phrases "two parent families" (which, really, doesn't serve your argument, methinks) and "traditional family values," resulting in a distinct neither-confirm-nor-deny undertone? Come on now. I'll give Stephanopolous credit for calling him on some of this stuff, but I also think he let too much of it slide.

I know a large segment of American voters have resigned themselves to the notion that politicians are, by nature, evasive and unresponsive when asked about difficult policy matters, but it still infuriates me that they get away with it... and they get away with it because so many of us don't think carefully and critically about the logic employed in answers like these. I know there were heads nodding all around the country Sunday morning, people agreeing that of course, those "elitist" economists must not have any understanding of what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck, without stopping to realize that Senator McCain didn't answer the question he was asked.

[Along the same lines, the rampant use of "elitist" as a negative label - and smokescreen - to distract the public from substantive issues? Maddening! Remind me again, when did being intelligent, eloquent, and well-informed become a bad thing, particularly for a potential leader of our country? That is an important job, people! I for one would like the person filling it to excel in all three of those areas.]

Grrr.

Paragraphs, Shmaragraphs!

- Still working on the ambitious knitting project that I can't blog about.

- In the interim, have also cast on for Interweave's Frock Camisole. I'm using a silk/cotton blend reclaimed (read: unraveled) from a store-bought sweater; am hoping it knits up all soft and drapey like I'm envisioning. Also, modifying the heck out of the pattern, as always.

- Harvested and ate beets from the garden over the weekend. Yum.

- Noticed this morning that there are three (three!) respectable green peppers in the container garden (where "respectable" = bigger than a golf ball).

- Have learned that I must must must use tomato cages next year.

- Lawn is mowed, yard furniture is set up, umbrella spoke still needs to be splinted. Need to address that so I can really use and appreciate the yard again, especially for those rare days when it's cool, breezy, and rain-free outside in the evening and my house is still warm from the afternoon.

Who waaaaants.... garden pictures!

As I said in my last post, I'm knitting something at the moment that I can't blog about in great detail, which certainly means no photographic updates. The vegetable garden, however, is not in the least bit secretive, so here are some shots of it, boring as they may be:

One of two cucumber plants. They've got plenty of flowers so far, and I'm hoping they're getting pollinated, what with the dearth of bees everyone's been talking about.

The beets are doing well! I think they've been attacked by some insects and perhaps some small mammals, but they appear to be holding their own.



String beans don't need any sun or anything, do they? In other words, the garden is crowded.

...Hence the driveway garden annex.





The leeks and onions, respectively, appear to be thriving.



The butternut squash does not. I think if you lean in close and listen very, very carefully, you can hear it screaming "stop raining on meeeee!"

I also planted two containers with one pepper plant each. One is taking off:


... the other one, not so much:



Oh well. I've never had any luck with peppers, anyway, so I'll take it as a victory that I've got something potentially edible on the healthier one. The sickly one is more like what I usually end up with.

Also, I'd like to offer my apologies for the hideous formatting here. Let's just say blogspot and I aren't getting along right now. If anyone knows if there's a way to caption photos here, by all means, please tell me.

In which I prove that reverse psychology can be used on one's self.

You might recall that my list of goals for 2008 included designing and writing a knitting pattern to (hopefully) get published. You might further recall the goals assessment at the 2008 midpoint a couple weeks ago, wherein I resigned myself to knitting from patterns for the time being, as I was devoid of inspiration for any new designs.

Following the Thermal moebius debacle of last week, I decided to shift my focus to something more summer-appropriate and landed on the Drop Stitch Lace tank from Fitted Knits. Finding no suitable yarn for that in my stash, I ventured forth to acquire some. Yes, I know, I'd said previously that I was "committed to reducing the stash" this year, but apparently such commitment was not overly strong. In fact, the commitment was really downright spineless when I got to the store and found a bunch of dk-weight (I think) wool on sale for $2 a skein. Um, I may have bought six of them. I'm not sure whether it's helpful or unhelpful in justifying the purchase, but I found nothing to use for the DSL tank.

Rather than detouring to another store in search of summery, cotton-blend goodness, I made a beeline home so as to avoid further hits to my bank account and anti-pack-rat efforts, repeating to myself "I will use yarn I already own. I will use yarn I already own. I will use yarn I already own." When I realized that my new bargain wool would be, I suspect, perfect for a type of garment for which I've not been able to find quite the right pattern, I broke out the pencil and paper and measuring tape. That's right, folks, I've found ye olde inspiration and will be designing something for which I'll hopefully be able to write up a formal pattern. I'm not saying what it's going to *be* just yet, though, lest I jinx the whole thing. But in my head, it's beauteous and lovely.

Seriously, though, who knew? All I had to do was tell myself I was uninspired, and my subconscious apparently took the challenge. Reverse psychology on myself, I say! I wonder if I can use that for other things: my hatred of dishwashing, perhaps...

Moebius, Of Course

Right, so I mentioned I had no knitting projects on the needles. I'm committed to reducing my stash yarn this year, but at the same time don't have a lot of summery yarn that's calling out to me with inspiration, so I cast on yesterday for Thermal. That's right, people. I cast on for a waffle-knit, longsleeved pullover in 100% wool on a hazy, hot, and humid day in July.

Further evincing my brilliance, I knit about three rows and realized I was the proud new owner of a moebius strip. *grumble, mutter, wipe sweat from brow, grumble, grumble* Moebius strips are the bane of my crafty existence, so I always knit back and forth for at least two rows before joining, in order to see more clearly whether all of my stitches are facing in the same direction. Here, though, it was no use. Le sigh.

Other highlights from the week have included unsuccessful attempts (yes, plural) to unclog the drain in my bathtub, as well as a battle to remove my washing machine's agitator (in the hopes of cleaning the lint filter). The latter caused an injury and was, of course, unsuccessful as well.

Ah, Summer

I'll start by saying that I am infinitely and profoundly grateful that I live in a part of the world with less than its fair share of dangerous or frightening pests. I can begrudgingly tolerate a racoon or skunk wandering through my yard in the evening if it means I won't be seeing bears or mountain lions or poisonous snakes. And on the small pests front, I'm truly appreciative of the lack of scorpions, black widow spiders, and so on.

But I still hate the bugs that have infiltrated my house this week. It's summer, so sure, there are going to be a couple of ants. Fine. The fruit flies, though, are truly maddening, because just when you think you've eradicated them, oh, there's another one! I've set up a death trap for them (sugar, vinegar, water, and dish soap mixed together in a bowl), and there were several casualties overnight, but I know there are a few still lurking. I've also realized that I'll have to go outside to throw away each individual item of food-related trash, which is just SUPER. I tried bundling up some strawberry remains in a plastic bag, to be taken out with some other things later in the day, and even with their miniscule brains, they still found them. Sigh. Multiple trips to the outdoor trash bin it is.

And then there was The Beetle. The first of quite a few, if last year is any indication. At night, when I have lights on in my house and the outside is dark, and I have the windows open to exchange hot, stuffy air for cooler refreshment, these rust colored beetles get inside. Some way, some how, they get inside. I mean, the windows have screens, people! It shouldn't be this way. Stupid old, rickety windows! Anyway, so The Beetle was flying around the living room last night, mocking me. ... but it was also mocking Moxie, the cat who couldn't actually kill anything if she tried, so at least that was entertaining to watch.

Cute As A BUTTONY Sweater!

Buttony is finished, hooray! I decided to make it short sleeved, because it's summer and I think it looks better this way than it might with even more space taken up with that pinkness.


The bust darts are, shall we say, imperfect. That's whatcha get for guesstimating their placement instead of measuring and doing math. Oh well. I don't think it looks horrid, and I won't be wearing this anywhere too important. I've also not blocked it yet, so it might be somewhat fixable. The cotton might also stretch and lose its shape, so it might look different after wearing it a couple times.

I now have no projects on the needles. *cue horror film music* Must remedy that soon. Oh, gauge swatching, how I hate it so.