Randomday: The Amoeba Edition

Saturdays are busy, even though they're supposed to be the relaxing day we catch up with things.  Quarta has to clean Winky's cage, which means there is a mini-hamster ball bumping around the downstairs while she does that, terrorizing the cats.  Both inside cats show great curiosity about this little furry creature, but are spooked by her plastic casing and sometimes jump quite high if it happens to touch their outstretched paw unexpectedly.

We went bowling this afternoon; Tertia has been enjoying bowling for her school's team, but it had been about 10 years since the last time I went.  Secundus was working, so it was just the parents and daughters, but it was fun.  Lots of '80s music.  No scores over 100, but everyone except Tertia got at least 1 spare, and Tertia has a good attitude no matter what.  We played 2 games at Crosley Lanes.

I started quilting Easy Street yesterday afternoon.  It's almost 25% done now.  I'm using a squiggle-loop-flower allover design.  I decided on blue thread, but the fabric store had only three 250 yard spools.  I hope it will be enough.  I may need to fill some bobbins with other thread to make sure.

Source: google.com via Katherine on Pinterest

School continues.  The third quarter is always a marathon, but this year it seems to be a fast-paced one.  Third quarter is flying by.  That doesn't lessen the amount of stress any, but it does put a definite end in sight.

In probably the most random event of the week, I have acquired yet another troll on an internet site.  I seem to collect them.  It started years back with Ravelry, where I identified myself as a conservative before I realized the "disagree" and "funny" trolls would start dogging my steps wherever I went, and encountered plenty of people who seemed to live only for the chance to belittle those knitters of different political persuasions than themselves.  Then there was Pinterest, where I pinned a couple of books by Ann Coulter to my "books worth reading" board and got several nastygrams from one disgruntled Ann-hater.  So my latest borderline obsession online is the Cryptograms website.  Logic, quotations of great (and some not-so-great) literary value, pattern recognition, wordplay -- what's not to like?  They let you comment on a quote after you solve it -- and there have been plenty of nastygram comments on quotes by people like Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, Dan Quayle, etc... and plenty of nasty comments insulting them even on unrelated quotes.  So when I came across this quote: "What this country needs is radicals who will stay that way regardless of the creeping years." — John Fischer
I marked it as "confusing," because, I mean, really?  More radicals would be good for the country?  Any country?  And I commented, "So he's saying that all those aging lefties are good for the country?"  I was thinking of a conversation Steve and I had recently about aging hippies.  Neither of us think they age well, usually, and keeping the same radicalism they had in their youth would be downright frightening.

Well, apparently there is zero tolerance for tweaking the liberals on the cryptogram site, because I happened to check out their chat forum yesterday, and a safely anonymous "Guest" had cited my comment  and called me out by name.  I recap the rest of his/her comments for your amusement:
"Since when 'radical' is the same as 'lefty'"
"?"
"Ever heard of the 'radical right', you amoeba?"
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_right"

And another, perhaps less cowardly member commented under his own identity,
"If you are a radical idealogue, you are on the right regardless of your allegiances. Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, Rush Limbaugh, Joe McCarthy, all on the right."

Then there were a few confusing attempts by other members to either divert the conversation or gently say that calling out someone in public wasn't ideal, and maybe the insult "amoeba" was a bad move, etc.  There was a particularly confusing bit when two "guests" were arguing with each other and one of them, apparently the original one, was trying to stir something up with me.  I didn't even see the conversation until probably a few days after it started.  I might have remained safely oblivious if I hadn't been wasting time.  Now it's a matter of personal pride.  I do not suffer trolls or fools, whether they haunt Ravelry, Pinterest, or Cryptograms.  And I can make a snappy comeback with the best of them, but I can do far better than calling someone an amoeba.  I can only imagine how nasty things must get on Twitter or other sites where politics is the main topic.

Just another example of the intolerance of the left for free speech.  And the downright nasty thug tactics of internet bullies.

Getting it Done in February, and Goals for March

I guess it depends on what the meaning of "done" is.

Here were my 5 goals from the beginning of February:

1. have fun, or everything else is pointless. Verdict: there were moments of fun, and there were moments of not fun. The not-fun was largely a function of not being able to have time to quilt or knit, so I guess that says something right there.
2. hand applique one of the floral side blocks for the 1996 Piecemaker's calendar quilt Not Done.
3. finish Daniel's socks, and get halfway on another pair for Steve. Done!
4. finish the Easy Street blocks and begin seaming them together Done with the top!
5. and for good measure, make Crumbs blocks and play with the Scrappy Trip-Along. Which will be fun even if I don't get them done.  Crumbs blocks - some done.

Besides these goals which were a mixed bag, I actually did a few other craft-related things.  I excavated a hibernating bathmat on size 15 needles and started working on that again.  And, well, that was about it.

So now I need to set goals for March:

1. True to my habit, I drew a random #3 from my master list - Bowling Style Knitting Bag.  Maybe this will be the time I get it done.  Goodness knows I'd like to clear the rolls of fabric out of my sewing area!
2. Quilt, bind, and give away the Easy Street quilt.  There is a hard deadline for this one.
3. Finish Crumbs quilt top for Cedar Tree auction.  There is a semi-hard deadline for this one, and I will need to start collecting signatures from the students soon also.
4. Finish current Steve socks and begin the next sock project, whatever it is.  It may be the argyles hibernating from last year.
5. Finish that knit cotton yarn bathmat that I dug out of cold storage this month.
6. For fun, play with the Scrappy trip-along.  I wanted to do this last month and never got to it.

These are more than the 4 goals we are supposed to set, I know.  But 2 of them are "have to" projects at this point, and I want to keep the fun element in there.  And that is really only a tiny fraction of the things I would like to do.

Linking up to Judy L's blog so you can check out what others are working on.

Yarning Along on WIP Wednesday

This tangled mess is Zero to Fifteen, the confluence of my two current knit projects.  Socks for Steve on size 0 needles, and a jumble of 8 cotton or linen strands at once knitted on size 15.  It will be a very absorbent bathmat eventually.  Notice that I've now turned both heels of the socks.  And you'll have to take my word for it because the cats have been messing with the rug, but the circle is about 2/3 done.  So things are coming along!  It is such a confidence boost to knit about 5 square inches of rug fabric in the time it would take me to knit one half round of the socks.  I know I'm supposed to comment on my current book that I'm reading, but right now, it's the calendar that I'm studying, and all the emails I'm falling behind on. 

Family calendar events include dentist visits, orthodontist consults, a choir field trip, a symphony field trip, a bowling match, upcoming IEP for Tertia, upcoming part time job for Secundus, and a trip to the grocery store that just isn't happening even though it desperately needs to!  The only reason that I'm reasonably able to handle it today is because I just came back from my massage and chiropractic adjustment.  The kids don't know it yet, but they are going to have to come up with a side dish and veg. for dinner.  I am just not going to be able to deal with strategic planning for any Latin events or grading for the rest of the week.  And that will have to be okay.  Sorry for whining about the stress on Monday; it must be building up too much if it breaks into my blog.

Easy Street is mounted on the Megaquilter frame!  It is big -- at about 97" square, I decided to go out and buy a King size batting rather than have to piece a long skinny strip onto a Queen size.  Now I'm thinking I will probably go out and buy aqua thread to quilt it, rather than white.  I just feel like any bit of aqua I can add to the mix makes it less Christmassy (especially since I pieced the entire back from my lime greens and reds)!  I'll be cogitating on what quilting pattern to use and then I just need to dive in and do it!

The crumbs blocks are still waiting for me to get back to doing some more of them.  You can see some leftover Easy Street patches in there, and a bit of Jack's Chain next to a giant fish from scraps from boxer shorts, and of course the trees.

Political Tuesdays, the Sequester Edition

Omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperasset. -- Tacitus

Tacitus immortalized the otherwise extremely forgettable emperor Galba this way: "No one would have doubted his ability to command if he had never been emperor."  (Galba was one of the three emperors between Nero and Vespasian.)  Everyone agreed that Nero was a bad man and a bad emperor; most agreed that Vespasian at least provided competent government once again.  But despite Galba's delusions of grandeur, I wonder if the Roman Empire would have been substantially different if Fortune or Ambition had never plucked him from obscurity and brought him to prominence for a few months before dropping him.  Maybe he talked a lot about transformational change and demanded unpopular sacrifices.

It must have felt a little like watching children play a made-up game, one of those with constantly evolving rules and no winners, to the political wonks of the first century.  It certainly feels like that today.  So we are apparently going to experiment, as Rome did before us, with massive cuts in areas such as defense.  Or would the proper word be "defaulting?"  I'm not sure, I'm really just an ordinary citizen who is appalled by the leadership deficit coming out of Washington.   I wonder how many more Benghazi-style attacks our outposts will see.  It's nice to know that the Senate has confirmed a man to command our military who feels that Israel is the real problem in the Middle East, who has to be slipped a note to inform him he misspoke, and then misunderstands the note.  That will send a strong message that America means business. 

As I was watching Argo with Steve last Friday, I was enraged by the weak America portrayed there: an America where it was in doubt whether a handful of endangered State Department employees were worth the risk to rescue.  Enraged also, of course, at the regime that oppressed our people without fear of reprisal, because it held our citizens hostage. I wanted to see America swoop down on them in military might like an avenging eagle, but of course it was a movie about patience and subterfuge.  And Carter was president, not Reagan.  Patience and subterfuge were about the only things available to us in that situation, and even they were in doubt.

At least our citizens didn't die, completely abandoned by those sworn to protect them.  Even with as little leadership as he provided during that time, Carter is looking positively noble compared to our current executive.

Design Wall Monday and Stash Report

{insert primal scream here} I'm stressed beyond belief and really wishing I could afford an appointments secretary to make sure my kids get signed up for the things they need to get signed up for.  How is it that I spend ten hours (that I don't get paid for) making sure everyone else's kids are signed up for the Latin Olympika, and miss the fact that Tertia has missed the first two weeks of play practice because of a conflict with bowling?  The teacher's children have no permission slips.  Seriously, how do other teachers manage to get everything done and still have good attitudes?  I guess she won't be doing the play this year.  I hope I can get Steve to break it to her.  I just returned from the dentist where they ground down the chip on my crown that probably was caused by my chronic teeth clenching.  Stress, what stress?  All I can say is that however hard I work, it's never good enough.  Tertia, plodding along in the special ed class in public school, is always getting the short end of the stick.  I can mostly keep up with things at Cedar Tree (with anywhere from 5-20 hours of unpaid labor a week in addition to what I get paid for), but I still seem to have lots of people upset with me at any given time.  People, I dare you, try my job for a week.

So here are the most recent crumbs blocks on the design wall.  I'm really not sure how I feel about my job right now, so maybe I should wait until I'm in a better place before planning the quilt I'm making for the auction.  It will look great... if I ever get to work on it.

Stash Report:

Quilting fabric:

Fabric used this week: 6.5 yards for Easy Street backing (to be mounted very soon on frame)

Fabric used year to date: 16 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 3 yards
Net used for 2013: 13 yards

Knitting yarn:

Yarn used this week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to date: 880 yards
Yarn added this week: 0 yards
Yarn added year to date: 910 yards
Net used for 2013: -30 yards in the hole and working hard to finish more

Randomday once again

I think I'm trying to do too much on Saturdays.   But then, that's nothing new.

Yesterday afternoon I spent wrestling with an Excel spreadsheet to figure out registration for all the students who will be doing the Latin Olympika.  I don't speak spreadsheet and I couldn't make it do exactly what I wanted, but Steve said it was a good spreadsheet anyway.

Cedar Tree Logic students put on a "teacher appreciation dinner" last night.  Steve was my date.  I felt very appreciated.  Afterwards we went to see Argo.  It was an excellent film, but very intense.  I should probably not try to knit socks on size zero needles while watching intense movies in the dark, especially when increasing for the gusset.

Quarta has to clean her hamster cage on Saturdays, so it's kind of fun to have Winky the hamster girl rolling around the downstairs of the house while we eat our breakfast on Saturday mornings.  It's wild how she freaks out the cats.

I noticed that the glass reflecting bowls on the lights in our bathroom hadn't been cleaned in many years, so I did it this morning.  I should really do that for all the other lights in the house.  I wish I could fix the lights that have shorted out, but I don't think I can do that.  We really need to hire someone to do that.

I pieced the backing for Easy Street, but I didn't get to put it on the frame yet.  I sewed about 6 more blocks for the crumbs quilt, and the sewing room is still a dreadful mess.

I graded some more Latin quizzes.  I am always amazed at how differently all of my students interact with the problems I set them.  Some with scary, mathematical precision; some as though the lights have not yet been switched on.

I took Tertia shopping to try to spend some of her Christmas money.  She looked at board games but didn't really see anything she liked and didn't already have.  We decided she doesn't need any more video games than the ones we have that she doesn't play, and she doesn't have enough money or real need for an ipod.  (I would like Quarta to help her learn how to play some of the video games and computer games that she would enjoy, but Quarta probably doesn't have enough patience.)  She looked at "jewelries" and liked some, but didn't buy it.  She bought a bubble see-through umbrella of her very own and we practiced putting it up and down in the store so she can do it herself.  She also bought a battery-operated hand-held fan that dispenses M&M's.  She still has some of her Christmas money left.  Maybe we'll work on taking her shopping more often, because it's kind of fun seeing how her mind works.  She resisted efforts from Quarta, who has already spent her Christmas money, to influence her to buy something that Quarta would like.

Quarta's class celebrated "Cowboy Day" a week ago.  She was probably the only one in purple boots, who made her own horse.
Tertia has now had two bowling matches.  In yesterday's, she bowled a 41.

After reading this article, I want to play a Civ IV game and conquer the world.  Aztecs? Zulu?  Mongols?  Something I haven't been much before, I think.

Yarn-Along: Zero to Fifteen; and WIP Wednesday

Welcome to all my new followers!  Since the Liebster Award came along, I have noticed the number of followers has more than doubled (from 4 to 11, that would be almost tripled!) and I really appreciate each one of you.  Thank you for your patience with my ramblings and woolgatherings!

The big quilting news since last week, of course, is finishing the Easy Street top.  I am hoping to piece a backing and get that on the frame soon. 

Once again I am venturing into crumb-land.  This will be the signature quilt for the 2013 Cedar Tree auction, and I was so happy with how last year's turned out that I'm using basically the same formula.  You can find basic instructions for the crumbs technique at Jo's Country Junction, but it's pretty much just free-form patchwork with very little advance planning and no strict rules about fabric matching.  I'm trying to make as many tree blocks as possible -- some are double height, but most blocks will be 6" finished, with plenty of dark green to tie the whole thing together.  But in addition I have lots of leftover scraps, orphan blocks and dead-end blocks that will find their home in the top.  And if one of the tree trunks has a bit of a lean, and some of the fabric is from old sheets or curtains, or there is the bottom half of an orange T-Rex wandering through the forest, that suits my aesthetic just fine.  Most of these blocks were made in the last few days... I have acres of scraps to sort through and about 90 more blocks to make before I quit.  It will be messy in my sewing area for awhile yet.

For the Yarn-Along, I give you Zero to Fifteen.  Last year was the year of shawls; this year I'm working on knitting up some socks.  I'm chugging along on Steve's Zauberball socks on size 0's.  I am increasing for the gussets -- I decided to use Wendy Knit's basic instructions for toe-up gusset socks, which I've used in the past with good results.  But for a break from the teeny tiny stitches (and also to clean the sewing room just a bit) I dragged out this bathmat rug that's been hibernating for awhile, on size 15 needles.  I'm stranding 6-7 strands of reclaimed cotton yarn from thrift store sweaters.  The socks are about 9 stitches per inch; the rug is about 2 stitches per inch.  I get a bit of vertigo switching back and forth.  And the book is my recent purchase, Scraps and Shirttails II.  Lots of dream quilts in there!