Tres Divine: Excessive delay ensued

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Excessive delay ensued

Heavens, ducks! I haven't posted since New Year's Eve. You'll all be pleased to know I still "walk" the Earth (but only if I have to!), and I'm still knitting. Gotta knit for sanity now; my country 'tis of thee continues on its shambling course to the gates of Hell. More on that in a bit, let me fill you in on activities at Chez Plaid. After the New Year (I think it was on the 6th, so still within the 12 days of Christmas), Plaidman & I went to All Star Medical and bought a power chair. We decided to go with the chair rather than the scooter, so I can use it in the house. We had it almost a month, used it to go to the zoo and go shopping, when the right motor stopped working. So, back to the dealer we go. They took it in the shop in back, and tried to find the problem without success. The decision was made to send the entire motor back to the manufacturer. In the meantime, we have a loaner chair of the same model. Earlier this week we went back to the zoo, having seen only half of it at our last visit. It was a gloriously sunny and mild day. Have you ever seen rhinos romp like dogs at play? We did! I believe they were as thrilled by the sunny day as we were. Who knew rhinos could be cute?

What I wanted for Valentine's Day included the obligatory heart-shaped box of chocolates, but mainly was some relief in communicating with the Plaidman. He's my sweetie, and I have to yell at him to be understood because he's so deaf. I don't like yelling at him, anymore than he likes being yelled at; DiscoDame doesn't help when she starts yelling at him too. So, he actually called a hearing center & got an appointment for next week! I'm looking forward to having conversation with him in conversational tones, without our "Canadian" sign language. I wish I could explain that to you, but I think you'd have had to be there when Disco invented it.

What I got, besides a lovely card & chocolates, was further proof of the future of this great nation being carried away in Satan's handbasket. Part of the reason I haven't posted lately was that the event at the Portland, FL, school just about tore out my heart. I know I can't show you how badly this hurt me; I haven't the words for that. I can tell you that a long time ago Plaidman and I buried our own firstborn child, and that pain will be part of me until I die. To see so many other Moms & Dads having to go through that has moved me from grief to anger. To see the survivors speaking about their terror and pain of loss, as children, just drives me to the angriest tears. How can anyone troll these children, calling them "actors" with prepared speeches--these are young humans with actual brains and passions moving them to decry our government's lack of decency. Someone else pointed out that thoughts & prayers from someone who neither thinks nor prays, are less than useless. So many of our representatives owe their allegiance not to their constituents, but to the gun lobby's deep pockets. Plaidman remembers protesting the bombings in SE Asia, folks chanting,
"Hey Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today"
and he suggested we use it now, only change "LBJ" to "NRA". I think we must protest and resist the NRA's control of our Congressional representatives. So, I need to find a way for this wheelchair bound old hippie to get out there and support our kids' efforts to make the changes we need to see. Oh boy--here's where my head is at: When I think of protests, I hear Joan Baez singing "Joe Hill" in my mind. That may not be the most useful thing I've got in my brain, but if it gets me going I'll take it. One hopeful note in the news today: Texas had an extremely high early voting turnout, partly because of Democratic efforts to get out the vote. That's probably something I could do, working on getting folks to GO VOTE or GET REGISTERED.

Gosh, I haven't even talked about my knitting. I found some patterns for Swiffer or Clorox mop covers, that can be washed/dried & reused. Well, I happen to have a crapton of kitchen cotton laying around, and thought Sis might like to have some of these. One pattern was really simple, just a seed stitch rectangle with stockinette borders that tuck into the slots on the back of the mop head. It works, but was really not that interesting or fun to knit. Then I tried one based on the Ball Band Dishcloth pattern, and that is so much fun to knit (even in cotton!) that I went a bit crazy and made four of them very quickly. Two will go to Sis, but I'm keeping (& using) the other two.

I've finally worked in the ends on the pink headband (Blue Leaf Lace Headband on Ravelry), and put a button on that one too. I'll send both headbands down south, along with hedgehog toys for the girls. I feel that the pink headband needs a steam blocking first. I guess I could do that pretty quickly.

I did start a cap, Exeter on Ravelry, but as the yarn description in the pattern was misleading as to weight, I had to rip it and redo the math for it. I'm working on the crown decreases. Here it sits in my yarn bowl, which was a present from me to me.

And if you look carefully you'll see Sis' birthday present to me: a gorgeous shopper tote from Dooney & Bourke (gasp!). Here's a pic of it alone, carried by Disco.