I just read the Yarn Harlot's July 1st post "Canada, eh?" and am busy reading the various comments by mostly Canadian and American knitters.  When Steph posted about Canada Day last year, an American wrote that Steph was a "terrible American, Canadian-wannabe" seemingly unaware that Steph is Canadian.  A lot of the comments from actual US Americans (as many people pointed out, everyone in North, Central and South America is an "American") have been along the lines that they really are "terrible American, Canadian-wannabe"s.

This got me thinking about being American/Irish.  Like many of those commentors, I'm ashamed to be a USAian(?).  I don't like (ok, I'm sick to my stomach) that our present administration approves torture, spies on its own citizens, and always plays the terrorism card to try and distract we the people from all their scandals.  Often, when I'm really upset with our government, I image escaping to Ireland.  The thing is tho' that I don't really want to leave Seattle, and the life and friends George & I have made here.  I like the thought of being able to leave if I must without being a refugee, but I really don't want to leave because of my government.

When George & I got engaged, we talked about me getting Irish citizenship after we were married the required number of years (in our case 3 years with no residency required) so that we could take 6-month contract jobs in the EU while leasing out our house in Seattle.  We're both in computers (George is a programmer) and jobs were plentiful at the time we were talking.  With an Irish passport I wouldn't have to worry about getting a work permit and we'd have time to explore an area while earning money.  Our plans always included returning to Seattle to our friends and sharing our adventures with them.

I don't really feel like an Irish citizen as I've never been in Ireland for longer than 3 weeks.  I know that if we did move to Dublin (that's where George's family and most of the jobs are), I'd suffer culture shock because I AM an American/USAian/USian in my thoughts and perceptions.  I grew up in Metro Los Angeles, California and live in Seattle, Washington.  I'm a left coast liberal and I think I do well at trying to see things from other people's points of view, but I have been formed as an American.  I expect certain things and am startled when they're not there or are different in some way.  Discovering these kinds of things while travelling is exciting and expands my horizons.  But as I found while living in Taiwan for 6 months in 1981, even the most open of minds can only take so much before culture shock hits.  And then hits again after one thinks one has adjusted.  Does it ever really go away if one is an expat?

My perfect solution would be for the Pacific Northwest to secede from the union and become Cascadia or whatever name you wish, with a liberal government that cares about its people.  That way I wouldn't have to leave my home and my friends if my present national government continues to slide into despotism.  What a pipe dream! <g>

This is long enough now.  I'll visit this topic again another day.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I've started another pair of socks for George.  I got the first one done and had to rip out the toe after George tried it on (it was too tight).  All the stitches are back on the needles, but the hot weather here in Seattle results in a suana in our living room (where I do most of my knitting) so I haven't felt like working with wool.

I also haven't made much progress on the seaman's style scarf that I am knitting continental method.  Again the heat issue, and the fact that I knit slower in the continental method so I get a little bored with it.

It's time for me to purchase some shelving for my studio-to-be in the basement so I can get all the boxes of knitting and sewing stuff off the floor, and have a comfortable and cool place to knit.  Also I need the space to sew up some curtains for our 1st floor guest room.

We made our 2nd annual move to the "summer palace" on Monday night as our master bedroom on the 2nd floor is stifling in hot weather.  The 1st floor is better, but if the summer heats up much more we'll be moving to the southern hemisphere (my basement office/studio-to-be); yet another reason to clean up all the boxes spread out across the basement floor.

I can't boot my main desktop so I've been unable to work on my Finished Projects gallery.  I will hopefully figure out what the problem is and get a few pictures of finished and in progress projects up along with details.

I think the problem with my desktop is the motherboard or CPU.  They're both over 5 years old.  My husband George has created a Linux boot CD for me so I can reach my data files and maybe figure out just where the problem is.  I'm not too worried as I'm used to recovering data files and re-installing operating systems if necessary.  If the problem is the motherboard or cpu, I'll be heading over to Fry's Electronics in Renton, WA to pick up new one(s).  I've built desktops before.  I even built one of George's desktops tho' he mostly uses his wireless laptop these days.  He only uses the desktop when he wants to do hard-core programming and wants an ergonomic keyboard.

For the past few days at work, I've been reading a book called Learn Microsoft VBScript in a Weekend.  I checked it out of the Seattle Public Library as it's out-of-print.  I really need to learn VBScript for use with Quick Test Pro (QTP); however, the book focuses on VBScript for HTML pages.  I wish there was a book out specifically about using VBScript with QTP, but no one has written one... yet.  Meanwhile, my website might get a little more interactive.<g>

I am having fun typing up and running the sample scripts in the book.  In a couple of days, I should be writing scripts from scratch.  That will be interesting.

I finished reknitting the "Lichen Rib" socks.  After washing, they're a little loose.  I'm still trying to figure out fit for my feet.  I've started another pair of socks in a lovely colour way with yarrow yellow, light green, medium green and medium grey.  George really likes the colour way also so these socks will be for him.  They're knitting up very loose as I'm knitting them continental style, my first real project using that technique rather than the throw (or English/American) style of knitting that I've been using for around 40 years.  Occasionally I forget and do a round in throw style and can then tell that continental is a lot easier on the tendons in my right wrist.

These are the first socks that I knitted for myself after taking a class in sock knitting at So Much Yarn.  I made the leg very short as I have very large calves and all store-bought socks fall down and look terrible.  I hadn't even a clue about leg shaping when I knitted these.  I've worn these a lot over the past several months.  As soon as they're washed, they're back on my feet.  Not knowing much about yardage needs, I bought two skeins.  I didn't even use all of one skein since the yarn comes in 100g skeins of 400m each.  I might try something like Jaywalkers for the other skein.

I'm finding that I like really bright colours for my handknit socks.  The socks I buy are usually black or blue to blend with my shoes or trousers.  But that would be so boring to knit with.  Give me something with pizzazz!

I reshaped the toe on the left foot.  It took me a couple of weeks to get around to washing and blocking the socks.  George isn't crazy about the yarn.  He thinks it's a little too rough, but he did wear them all day today.  Maybe the yarn will soften up after a couple of more washings.

I don't think I'll do the Pointed Toe again.  It really doesn't fit George's feet.



You can see the Dutch Heel here.  It's also called the Horseshoe heel and does resemble that object.  I think it cups George's heels nicely, but I'll have to ask him what he thinks.

These socks are the Lichen Ribbed Socks pattern out of Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.  I'm knitting them in Knit Picks "Simple Strips" yarn which is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon.  I really like the colours in this yarn. 

I had actually completed these socks and then decided the heel flap was too long for my feet.  I've ripped one sock back and made the heel flap only 24 rows long rather than the 30 called for in the pattern.  Now to reknit the heel and foot, then I'll rip back the other one.

Right now I'm working on a basket weave scarf.  I'm using the scarf to practice my continental knitting.  I learned to knit English/American throw-style, but after all these years my right wrist has started to bug me a lot.  So far my tension is all over the place.  Part of my problem is that I hold my left fingers a little too straight.  I'm trying to get myself to bend my fingers more and relax them, but I think that's going to take awhile.

One thing I have discovered that I really like is Norwegian purling.  You can check out a small video of it here.  Scroll down to the "Alternative Methods" section.  I love not having to move the yarn to the front to purl.  There is an extra movement to do this, but I find it a lot easier than regular continental purling.

I'm interested in trying the combination knitting developed by Annie Modesitt, but I think I'll work on learning western continental first.  I feel like a brand new knitter and don't feel like doing much knitting right now, because anything I really want to make right now I would have to do throw style.

Enough for now.  I'll try to post some actual photos soon.

Yes, I've been lazy about updating my blog.  A lot's been going on.

George & I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on Saturday, May 6th.  We had 4 people over for dinner and then told them it was our anniversary.  George made Aghan Chicken, cooked on a rotisserie over a charcoal fire.  He also grilled some tomatoes and red bell peppers directly on the coals, and grilled some asparagus which he then doused with balsamic vinegar.  The final dish was the cooked up onion and spice marinating sauce from the chickens.  Dinner was delicious and we finished it with a Black Forest cake that one of our guests brought.

On Sunday May 7th, George & I took the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train.  We did the brunch trip.  We're glad we finally went on the train, but we're in no hurry to go again.  The food was alright, but we've had better.  I've since been assured by people who have been on the dinner trip that the food is great.

Last night (May 9th), we went to see Cirque du Soleil's performance of Varekai.  It was wonderful and different from the original show as developed and shown on the series "Fire Within".  Some elements were still there, but a lot was new to us which made it fresh.