Shalom

Shalom is where nothing is missing & nothing is broken.

Size 2

Size 2 knitting needles, that is.

The last knitted project i completed was on 19s, and one I'm in the midst of is on 11s. 

So I thought I'd challenge myself and make some socks.  Why not!  I'm doing a two at once, magic loop, circular needles, toes-up pattern, and so far I've made enough to cover my toenails.  I expect this will be a long project because the thing about tiny needles is that even many stitches don't show up as much lateral progress!  That's why I left my previous project at a place where I'm comfortable with it, so I can pick it up and not have to think much.  But for now, banzai!

Obama at Biltmore (2012)

TIL Obama got to TOUCH the GLOBE in the Biltmore library.

Charlotte Observer article.

New Beaches

Did you love Beaches?  The old one, from the 80s?

Well there's only one Divine Miss M.
But I gotta admit I loved Idina's version too.  More than I expected to.  And I feel like she and all the everyone involved loved it and wanted to remind us of all the best parts not necessarily by doing them just the same (Otto Titsling, of which I know every word, was entirely missing), but by telling the story and throwing themselves into the characters and sometimes doing all their acting just with their eyes because the story runs deep enough that eyes are all you need.

Twice I said "ooh, I'm adopting that":

the toast after CC's off-Broadway premiere:
To the right group of people
At just the right time.

& Hillary's bedtime affirmation with her daughter, a call-and-response:
Dream big & broad...
...& wide & beautiful!

And I love-love-loved Idina singing Wind Beneath My Wings and I'll Stand By You and The Glory of Love.  If this whole movie was a great big advert for Idina's latest album, it worked on me.

Ice sports

Me (from the other room): What are you watching?
Big Frog: Well, it was curling, but now it's ice skating. 
Me (entering the room, where a purple and spangled skater is gliding across the tv screen):  I know what you mean, and you stated it very clearly, but my version is better.  In my mind, the curler let go the rock and decided, "I think I'm gonna do a triple toe, right now."


photo from Yee-union Calgary, 2011.  "Curling is the lifeblood of our country" ~quoted from the Sports Hall of Fame at Calgary Olympic Park

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Similarly, I told another friend recently about road stories: when you see something interesting, everyone has to tell a story about what they're carrying and what they're going to do with it.  There are separate categories for reasonable accuracy ("yeah, that makes sense"/"I suppose you're right") and absurd creativity.  This can be implemented when you see an oddly shaped bundle on the back of a pickup, or a car packed to the gills, or a product placement tractor trailer, but it's most fun when there's something truly unexpected on the roads, like in her particular case, a pair of massive turbines.  Or one time I was followed thru Harrisburg by the Kissmobile.

Socks?

Just last week, literally last week, I told a stitching friend that socks intimidate me.   Not the wearing, although given a choice I'd only ever wear sandals and leave my toes free, just the making.  And not because of the difficulty but because I'm a slow enough knitter and it's encouraging for me to see progress on my projects.

Then I went to a yarn fire sale (yarn never goes on sale, and this was just crazy) and came home with supplies enough for several upcoming projects, and sock yarn.  Pretty purple sock yarn. 

So I'm gonna try it, and what's more, try knitting two socks on circular needles instead of double-pointed.

(not this time, but for future - knitting one sock inside the other.)

Curl away, my son!

Many moons ago (last spring?), Big Frog was sleeplessly channel surfing and found a marvelous? thing.  Late-night televised curling.

But not curling like this dude, Crush from Finding Nemo. 

Curl away, my son!  

Nope.  Think significantly more Canadian than that.  The kind of curling with a 44lb granite stone (Curiously, a curling stone weighs approximately, but not exactly, 3 stone.) with a handle, and sweepers wielding brooms.  (Way back in high school, when my youth group went to play broom ball at the local ice rink, I thought we would be curling.  Turns out broom ball is more like street hockey, sneakers and all, but played on ice.) 

As Big Frog watched, he saw in the stands curling hats.  CURLING.  HATS.  Like cheeseheads for Canadians.  This was important enough that he remembered it and told me about it in the morning.  We went online and there evidently is a significant market for these items.

(screenshots from curlinghats.com)

But would he want one?  Would he wear one?  Sadly (?), no.  But a toss pillow, that might be fun (as long as it didn't weigh 44lb).  I started stitching towards his birthday (admittedly without a fixed eye towards honestly getting it done in that time frame), got distracted into several other projects, and finally finished at Christmastime, if not technically for Christmas.

Sweet.

Also, this.  It's been a crafty week.