Quill Lace Socks

Another knitty.com pattern, and my favorite sock yarn.



The yarn is Yarn Pirate (surprise!) in the colorway Smoke Rings. I knit these in four days. The pattern looks like it would be difficult, but it was easy-peasy! Pity the weather is getting warmer - at least too warm for socks.

Rare Happenings

We don't often have company. It seems our friends don't travel much, at least in our general vicinity. (LOL) My BFF visited this weekend!



Sun burnt from driving up here with the top down in his Mustang, Mr. Powers seems suited in this element. He looks a bit devilish in this photo. Chris, Kevin and I spent the day in Gold Country visiting San Andreas, Black Chasm Caverns in Volcano and finishing the day in Angel's Camp and Murphys.

In Murphys, we had dinner at Growler Craft Brewery. They share the space with a pizza place, and the combination was good. We enjoyed a round of tasters and then settled on individual pints. We all picked something different, which is fun. All of the beers were good, but nothing stood out as exceptional. My palate is becoming too refined! Over the last year I have been spoiled by the riches of micro brews we have tried. We ordered a half and half pizza, which was excellent.

Here are some more photo's from our day in Gold Country...



These were throughout Angel's Camp, but this one was in front of Growler's.



My Prince Charming kissing a frog.



Inside Black Chasm Caverns - this part of the cavern is "dead", there is no more water coming into it.



I love these formations!



It's hard to believe this is rock.



This is the entrance to the cavern. The stairs about killed me coming back up. My left knee just hates stairs.



Tranquil scene from the bridge in San Andreas.

It was a wonderful weekend, made more so by the company of a friend.

I Don't Know.....

..... I think it needs more chrome....

you don't see one of these everyday

Just when I start to think that my beast is getting old, I see something like this....



A 1973 Datsun 610 - parked across the street from my house. It looked pretty good, considering it's 36 years old! Seeing old Japanese imports warms the cockles of my heart.

Weird Encounters

I had to go to Walgreens last night to pick up a prescription. Besides being there for 45 mintues to pick up a refill that was supposed to be ready half and hour before I got there, I had time to "shop".

Is it just me, or does the thought of patriotic pain killers just seem wrong?

Matthew Shepherd - Time For Justice

For anyone who is reading this, take a moment to call your Senator and ask them to support the Matthew Shepherd Act, which would provide hate crime legislation based on sexual orientation. You can read about Matthew Shepherd here.

Republicans and right wing conservatives, such as FOF's James Dobson, are vehemently speaking out against passage. In a message posted to his followers, he states "As I'm recording this video greeting, there's a so-called hate crimes bill that's working its way through the congress that contains no adequate safeguards to protect the preaching of God's word. Because the liberals in Congress would not define sexual orientation, we have to assume that protection under the law will be extended to the 30 sexual disorders identified as such by the American Psychiatric Association. Let me identify some of them: bisexuality, exhibitionism, fetishism, incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, prostitution, sexual masochism, voyeurism, and bestiality. Those are just a few. And I have to ask, have we gone completely mad?"

Last week, North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx stated that Matt's death was a "hoax".

On the stoptheaclu.com website, they continue to propagate the "protection for pedophiles" angle and states that the Matthew Shepherd Act "specifically denies such protections to other targeted classes of citizens such as pastors, Christians, missionaries, veterans and the elderly".

Under Federal Law, current statutes permit prosecution for hate crimes based on a person's race, color, religion, or national origin when participating in a federally protected act. Current law protects pastors, Christians and missionaries.

The Elder Abuse Victims Act is making it's way through Congress for the third year in a row. The House has passed it twice. I've heard nothing about this from either side, and isn't a horrific shame that Congress has been unable to pass legislation that would criminalize elder abuse. At least California has taken care of that, along with hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

What I would like to emphasize at this point is that Wyoming has NO hate crimes legislation - not even for crimes based on race. It's for this reason that we need to pass Federal Laws to protect victims of hate based crimes.

I propose this scenario: if Matthew Shepherd had been Jewish and the two men that tortured and killed him had been White Supremacists, would we even be having this discussion 11 years after his death? Matthew was killed because of who he was. I'm sorry that there are those who think his "choice" of being gay is against God's teaching, but then again those same people made a choice to follow those teachings. Their "choice" is protected under US Law.

Call your Senator. If you need their phone number, you can look it up here. And while you're at it, tell them that it's past time for them to pass the Elder Abuse and Neglect Act.

New Project - Lettuce Vanda

It's been a while since I used Knitter's Magazine for anything other than "oo, pretty" moments. However, when my Eat.Sleep.Knit Malabrigo club shipment arrived last month, I went in search of a pattern I liked. (The one they sent would not complement my figure, if you know what I mean.)

I found a pattern in the Summer '08 issue called Vanda. The model was shown in what appeared to be a kettle dyed yarn, and I thought the Malabrigo would be prefect. I brought it with me to cast on while we were gone for our trip, but the sock took all the time. I finally cast on tonight, and I am loving it.

I am working on the sleeves first, both at once.



I had such a headache when I started this earlier tonight, but now it's almost gone. I became so engrossed in my progress, I forgot that my head hurt! Isn't knitting wonderful.

Going to bed now - nite!

Everlasting Bagstopper

I've been looking at this pattern on knitty.com for a while now and thought, "I should make that". So, I did.



I bought some no-name cotton yarn at Stitches West last year, for this specific purpose. I started it when we were driving through the Sierra's a few days ago. Now, I just have to add handles and head down to the farmer's market!

Weekend Adventures

We went to Boise for the weekend to attend my Sister-in-Law's wedding. As I posted on Facebook, it was a whirlwind 72 hours, 1200 mile road trip with an awesome celebration. I will post a picture of the happy couple later.

As we typically do now, Kevin drives and I knit/supervise the iPod/prepare and administer refreshments. This trip was dominated by one knitted item - my Faceted Rib Sock. I finished the first one several weeks ago and then got busy stitching. I was still on the leg of the second sock when we left home Thursday night. I worked on it on our way to Winnemucca.

Friday morning we headed out and passed through Oregon (posted speed limit 55 miles per hour in the middle of frakkin' nowhere and if you're in Nevada or Idaho, it's 70 or 65 respectively on the same damn freeway. Bastards. 2000 meandering sheep my ass.) We had rain almost the whole way, and I can say that this particular stretch of road is only slightly more interesting than I-40. In other words, other than changes to topography, this is a long stretch of ab-so-lute-ly n-o-t-h-i-n-g.

I knit on my sock.

We got to Boise, and we descended on the court house en masse. There were at least 20 people there to watch Kelli and Adam tie the knot. The judge even noted that this may have been his biggest audience. Afterwards, Kev and I went had some lunch at Goodwood BBQ with his mom and step-dad. Those were some of the best beef ribs I have had since the last time my Dad made them (in other words - forever).

We headed back over to Kelli and Adam's and made origami cranes for the BBQ reception decorations for Saturday. I discovered that paper folding is not my forte, so I strung them on fishing line. Then the ladies settled in and chatted while some of the guys were watching Iron Man. Adam was making cookies. Kevin and Larry went to see if they could find an old friend. I had the opportunity to knit on my sock.

The next day we were kind of lazy and got a late start. We had brunch at the Cracker Barrel. I haven't been to one of those in over 20 years. It was as good as I remember. I picked up small gifts for the girls at the office and 45 minutes later we were back with Sharon and Larry so they could get a bite to eat. Kevin and I had some dessert.

Headed back over to the Kelli and Adam's. We spent a lovely afternoon getting to know family and friends. The food was great! The rain held off for most of the afternoon, thankfully. We didn't stay too late, since we had to be on the road early the next morning. I'm so glad we decided to go. Spending time with family is priceless.

Sunday morning we're on the road by 6:30. The weather isn't too bad. We're in Winnemucca by 10:30 and had a bite to eat. By 3:00 pm, we're passing through Reno. We stop at Boomtown - and I'm done with the sock! Finished the toe while Kevin was pumping gas.

See...........



Not a great shot, but you get the idea. I've never knitted on one project while traveling through 4 states. That was kind of neat.

Anyway - road construction slowed us down and we lost about an hour. When we drove through Thursday night, we didn't see much snow on the ground. Not so by Sunday. The storm that went through dumped quite bit.



Again, not great, but I took it from the car and there's little contrast due to the clouds. But you get the point. It was strange to see all that fresh powder and no one on the slopes. The resorts closed last week or the week before.

We were back in Concord by 6:00 pm and had dinner out before heading home. What a weekend.

Here is a shot of the pair of Faceted Rib Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott, from the Little Box of Socks. Yarn by Yarn Pirate in the colorway Patina.



This one certainly fulfills the moniker of traveling sock!