Hawai'i Wildfires

I had intended to blog cheerily about my newest FO, but instead have been riveted by the devastating wildfires on the island of Maui and the island of Hawaii. After some research I've added the donate button to the right in support of a local fund addressing immediate needs on both islands through a network of churches, the Hawai'i 2023 Wildfires Relief Fund. Or you may prefer the Maui Strong Fund, also local, which funds other nonprofits and focuses on the island of Maui.

And here's the FO, a water bottle cozy. I'm quite pleased with this one. I use 'em to protect the finish on my water bottle when it's in my tote bag.



Although the irony of finishing a water bottle cozy while watching a conflagration just guts me.

Make Nine 2020

This Epiphany – in some Christian traditions the Day of Kings (el Día de los Reyes) – secular revelation comes not with a star, angels, and shepherds, but by means of a Tweet and Reply. There's the horror, the horror of an imperial, violence-prone presidency on full public display, in 140 characters or less, and the lawful rejoinder. Context here.

This Media Post will serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that you should read the War Powers Act. And that you’re not a dictator. https://t.co/VTroMegWv0

— House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) January 5, 2020

The contending assertions also provide a reminder that the religious text for the day plainly calls wise men and women to acts of resistance and civil disobedience against would-be tyrants. When fox-like Herod treacherously demands you play the informant for him, conscience and lucid dreaming will send you home safe by another way. It's not alternative facts, but an alternate road.

One of those alternate paths for me includes the gentle Make Nine Challenge (#MakeNine), explained by blog, Instagram, and Ravelry group. Rather than attempt to Make All the Things and succumb to the pressures of fast fashion, this challenge is a thoughtful, intentionally limited ramble through a year of making. I've been trying to de-clutter, and that really should include my multi-craftual queue, too. So here's my collage and intentions.



1. Make some prayer shawls: maybe knit them, maybe weave them. While the production method may be in question, the current need at Church of the Improv is indisputably urgent. I've never before seen a time such as this. It's easy to feel anxious and overwhelmed.

2. Fold some origami cranes and take them to the June pilgrimage to Washington, DC.

3. Reduce the number of UFO socks, including Singular Sensation Socks. This could easily turn into a deep dive into a rabbit hole all by itself. To set some parameters, let me note the current number of Singular Sensations is 11; the lowest number is 7, achieved in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2016; the highest number is 12, a dubious achievement of 2009.

4. Sew a T-shirt or two. I haven't done any garment sewing in a long, long, long time and would like to get back into it, not least because I love wearing tees, inventory is running low, and I'm increasingly dissatisfied with storebought. Although I have a quibble... I prefer the finished look of facings, but patterns with bias binding would seem to be the current style, such as the knit 100 Acts of Sewing: Shirt No. 2 or the woven Grainline Studio Scout Tee, with sleeve variations. Perhaps more research is needed.

5. Free square, project to be determined. Of course there's a free square. There are many contenders for the empty space – Sock Madness, Tour de Fleece, and the Tokyo Ravellenics come readily to mind – but I want to hold it open for a while.

6. Sew some project and shopping bags, such as Grainline Studio Stowe Bag. I'm still trying to reduce my use of plastic.

7. Knit a Churchmouse Yarns and Teas Swingy Linen Skirt. I have the pattern, and yarn purchased for Camp Loopy 2017 (just when the most recent round of chaos started) and re-purposed in 2018. I haven't had the requisite time to knit, but I hope to remedy that this year.

8. Sew some aprons, such as Purl Soho Cross Back Apron. Or possibly weave some kitchen towels or spa cloths.

9. Can some things – apricot or peach jam, maybe; tomato jam, definitely; maybe dilly beans or pickled nasturtium pods; hopefully some cherries. Lately I've repeatedly missed cherry season because of too much travel. Sigh. The list could go on and on, but in the spirit of Make Nine, there's no pressure (har) to can All The Things.

I'm looking forward to learning lots of good ancillary things too. For example, that's my first photo collage above (yay, me) and I hope to become more proficient on Instagram, the format of which just boggles me. So here goes, and good luck to everyone Making Nine.

Make Way for Marathoners

It's Patriots' Day in Boston, which means it's Marathon Day. It's a beautiful day for it. And after the horror of last year, the city, indeed the entire international running community, went all out to make certain that haters don't win, fear doesn't win – love wins. As part of that effort, Old South Church in Boston sponsored the Boston Marathon Scarf Project. The plan was to give every runner who attended a Blessing of the Athletes service a scarf to symbolize being wrapped in love and courage.



Old South Church is located just beyond the finish line of the Boston Marathon. It's a big, historic city church, first gathered in 1669. Every year it hosts a Blessing of the Athletes services, which this year coincided with Easter Sunday; dozens of church members participate in the marathon as runners or volunteers and dozens more work as first responders and healthcare professionals; its Great Bell announces the first male and female finishers of the marathon. Last year the church building was inside the crime scene tape and so was closed, but the work of the church went on in the streets and homes and hospitals of Boston. So when the call for scarves went out, I knit my bit.



The organizers of the project are organized – they even specified the official Boston Athletic Association Pantone numbers (Yellow 109C and Blue 294C) for the scarf colors, but quickly relented and said any blue and yellow would do. I just used what several of the organizers used, Coeur Rouge Bright Yellow and Royal. Although in some photos it looks like BAA blue is closer to sky blue and BAA yellow is closer to lemon yellow.

No matter, word is the recipients loved them. Scarves were spotted worn around town at the Sports Illustrated cover shoot, adorning landmarks, on Doug Flutie, at carbo-loading dinners, even on the Mallard family in the Public Garden.

The Mallard family out for a stroll in the Public Garden, wearing their marathon scarves. They later received custom-made race bibs, as seen on Harvard Dangerfield. Photo credit: Old South Church in Boston.

The runners are on the course as I write. Suffice to say I'm thinking of them. So let me repeat here a portion of John Edgerton's account of yesterday's blessing service:

Hundreds stood with heads held high to have our traditional words of blessing showered upon them, words drawn from the prophet Isaiah: may you run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. Aware of the fear that was engendered by last year's terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon, yet unwilling to bow before the power of death on Easter, we added another prayer. It was a prayer uttered from the depths of our souls for the 118th Boston Marathon runners: God will command the angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

Call it a churchy way of saying what the crowd was chanting at Heartbreak Hill, Mile 20, when the runners first enter the city, "Boston Strong! Keep going!"

ETA1: Runner's World published an online article on the Blessing of the Athletes service. I hear that of the runners who started, 98% finished, which surely is a record. I also hear that some runners who didn't get scarves have been asking for them, and a plan is TBA.

ETA2: After prayerful consideration, the scarf organizers decided not to continue collecting and distributing scarves. They intended the scarves to be a blessing and felt that to continue would be to turn them into a souvenir. It's a difficult concept for some to grasp – the difference between being a pilgrim and being a tourist – but as I have my own hopes for pilgrimage, I deeply respect the decision.

Medal Tally

Behold, Ravellenic Games glory is mine! Or at least it is for the two out of three projects finished on time: the pair of socks for Team Tufty and a scarf for Team UCC. I thought I had until midnight local time the last day to finish a third project, but the rules specify a deadline of 11:59 pm British Summer Time, which was already past by the time I sat down to knit and watch the Olympics™ Closing Ceremonies at 9:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. The delayed broadcast got me! Ah well.

However that may be, I'm very pleased with my handspun Lotus Heart Socks. I'm especially pleased with the way the hot spots in the roving translated in the FO. I don't have enough experience to be able to look at a braid of roving and know if it will spin up suitably for the project at hand. As things turned out, the mottled yarn does obscure the lace pattern somewhat, but the stripes are not as strongly contrasting as some.



Incidentally, after all the fussing with contrast cuffs/no contrast, there's a subtle tonal difference between the cuffs and legs that wasn't planned, it just happened as I knit.



During knitting, the sock initially seemed far too small. That caused me a certain amount of freaking out and frogging, but persevering knitters should trust the pattern, keep calm, and knit on – the pattern tweaks I tried only made the sock far too big = more frogging. (At least my handspun held up to the hard use.) In the end, the only mods I retained were the mirror image cuff and an extra pattern repeat in the leg, because I prefer a tallish sock. Because the cuff tends to flare, the sock fits better cupping the curve of the calf anyway. Go figure.

Speaking of which, that's two badges for me.



I also finished another scarf for my church project, for three more badges. This one is a bit more subdued in color, for those who might appreciate something less BRIGHT. It's still el Corazón Rojo, though, so the texture leaves much to be desired.

     


Project #3 is finished as well, but as it doesn't figure in the medal tally, I'll blog about it, and finish my Ravellenics musings, in another post. To be continued....

Cranking

It's the day after (U.S.) tax day and there's not much to say. In between working on taxes I've been cranking out scarves of Red Heart for my church project. I've forced myself managed to finish two so far. shudder

   

Corazon Rojo has proved to be surprisingly full of knots, a minimum of one a skein. I woulda thunk yarn shot from spinnerets would be immune to the problem. The knots do not disrupt the color runs, unlike knots in Noro, which often do. I suppose that means Corazon Rojo is spun, then dyed while Noro is dyed, then spun.



I've also been cranking out granny squares to use as hotpads, vaguely inspired by Granny Circle Placemats and using the Adjustable Loop start. They're strangely compelling – can't make just one.



To do my bit for informed citizenship, I crunched the numbers and calculated my nominal and effective federal income tax rates. It's not difficult. To find your nominal rate, look up your adjusted gross income (Form 1040, Line 37) in a rate chart or plug it into an online tax calculator. To figure your effective tax rate, divide your total tax (Form 1040, Line 61) by your adjusted gross income (Form 1040, Line 37) and multiply by 100.

No surprise, my nominal rate is much higher than Mitt Romney's effective rate on much less income. I get a deduction for state and local taxes paid, so my effective rate is lower than my nominal rate. But if Mr. Romney were to have his way, his federal income tax bill would decrease further and mine will more than double. He's OK with that. I'm not. Like I said, no surprise.

No Fooling

My April Fool flash-your-stash is the recommended yarn for my next church knitting project.



I wish I was fooling. I don't know what I've done to deserve this. I don't know why church knitting has to equal fugly er, I meant pug + ugly = pugly.

Ah well, at least I can store it in a spiffy Della Q project bag.

ETA: Churchy friend Linda gently chided my outburst of bad language. Fixed!

Shawl Ministry Pins

Thanks to a timely prod from Pat and Jane Ann, I finally wrote down and uploaded a ::cough:: long-promised PDF pattern for these whimsical little Shawl Ministry Pins.



The pin depicts a miniature prayer shawl in progress. The pattern includes a pictorial tutorial for the miniature knitting needles as well as the miniature shawl. For gentle readers wondering about the scale of things, here's a pin with a NJ quarter.



The pins were designed for shawl ministry groups, although perhaps other groups and individuals will also enjoy making, giving, and wearing them. In keeping with the spirit of shawl ministry, the pattern is free for personal, non-commercial use. I think the pins are best shared freely and widely – I hope they bring happiness wherever they are bestowed and maybe, just maybe, do a little bit to sparking lovingkindness (or hesed, agape, metta, mohabbat, etc as gentle readers may prefer).

Show of Hands

Tomorrow is General Election Day in the U.S. and I'm grappling with indecision. I don't mean about voting – those who have the right to vote should exercise it. (Click to find your polling place.) In NJ, the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. – be sure to vote on Question 1, which amends the state constitution.



My quandary is of the fibery sort: although I regularly wear fraternal twin mitts and socks, I'm hesitant to add this child's pair to a charity Mitten Tree. I may like esthetic asymmetry, but I worry about how mismatched mittens would make the recipient feel. Gentle readers, What say you?

L is for Lacuna

L is for lacuna. NJ Senate President Dick Codey is subbing as governor again, so it must be year end – and I still have a quartet of ABC-Along posts left to do, so onward.

Gentle readers may recall that L was omitted from the ordinary course of the ABC-Along. That is because last summer I was growing out my hair with the intention of making a donation to Locks of Love. At the time that seemed imminent, but then my haircutter moved. I figured more is better than less, so have been lazy about finding another. However, the length is finally starting to bug me – I'll be looking for a new stylist in the New Year.

Alas, Church of the Improv will also be looking in 2009 – for a new associate minister. The current excellent one is leaving at the end of the program year due to a spousal relocation. Sigh.

Rushing

For reasons unknown, I've been unable to post the last few times I tried. Watching the Firefox spinny thing spinning fruitlessly has only amplified the displaced anxiety quotient roundabout Exit 151. The obvious (to me) conclusion: holiday knitting must take precedence on the knitting queue!

My gauge tends to become variable during The Holidays, not a big deal for some projects, disastrous for others. So my dilatory NaKniSweMoNorovember Rosedale has been put in time out for the duration. Here she is languishing in her storage bag, moments before it was unceremoniously squashed and stuffed under the bed... out of sight... er, hold that thought.



Stowing Rosedale didn't accomplish anything beyond getting her out from underfoot, yet I felt strangely liberated, as if sprung from a knitterly Azkaban. I've worked with people who clear their desks during The Holidays – similar principle, but hard on staff.

Anyway... tralala... here's a holiday Odessa by Grumperina, worked in Peer Gynt colorway 664 (prize yarn from Kristen) and 6/0 Czech glass beads. Thanks again, Kristen! I love how the cap looks like a carved and ornamented pillar of ivory.



Margaux mentioned she collected sufficient afghan squares, so I'm stashing the ones I made for a future drive. No doubt they'll be needed soon enough.



Knit Unto Others has concluded, but Margene has indicated more mittens are wanted (and also commented sagely on holiday guilt). I sent two pairs to the Soaring Eagles Project, Child's Mittens by Sivia Harding, worked in Mission Falls 1824 Wool, colorways 21 Denim and 26 Zinnia.

As expected, the second Country Christmas sock isn't quite matching the first. Oh well. I like 'em. The mere thought of what they'll look like peeping out of my snow boots makes me smile. It's been snowing roundabout Exit 151, although not enough to need boots – and I'm still raking leaves.



It was announced on Tuesday that the magnificent essayist Elizabeth Hardwick passed away last Sunday. Her writing always makes me think of the kindling of many small lights from a great bonfire, perhaps an especially apt image during the holiday season. Must pause and haul out a book of her essays and read a bit.

Next Two Weeks

This morning's snow got me in the mood for a spot of charity knitting. I do a fair bit all year 'round that I don't record here, but this batch seemed like appropriate blog fodder.

Locally, Margaux is collecting afghan squares (actually, 7x9-inch washable wool rectangles) for The Hoboken Shelter silent auction. Suggested patterns and specs may be found here. Completed rectangles may be dropped off at Patricia's Yarns in Hoboken through November 30.

A bit farther afield, Margene and Carole are sponsoring Knit Unto Others, with a suggested list of charities and projects, also through November 30. I'm making child's mittens using Sivia Harding's pattern and oddments of Mission Falls 1824 Wool, colorway 026 Zinnia. Here's this morning's knitting.



Snow on leaves, mitten on snow.

Shameless Blegging

My turn to indulge in some shameless blegging. Y'know, fundraising for charity via blogging. It's for a good cause!

One of my favorite good causes is the annual CROP Walk, a charity walk held in various communities nationwide to benefit local and international anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs. I not only give money and help organize my local Walk, the Montclair CROP Walk (which serves Montclair, Glen Ridge, Nutley, Bloomfield, and Verona), I even know the Executive Director... although [cough] on the day of the walk, October 21, I'll be at Rhinebeck (I'm a square!)... which means I gotta do my blegging now.

It's easy to advocate for CROP Walk, which is responsible, efficient, and interfaith in its operations and unusual for a walk-a-thon in that walk sponsors (ie, donors) have the option to give to the general fund or to designate any of a number of recipient organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, CARE, Heifer Project International, or World Relief, to name just a few. Donations are tax-deductible in the U.S. to the full extent of the law.



There's oodles of online resources about CROP Walk – program updates, resources for children, financial statements, etc – which I won't parrot here. Suffice to say that whether you're interested

in learning more

or in joining a walk yourself

or maybe even in sponsoring me [vbg]

lots of information is ready at hand.

I'm participating as part of the Church of the Improv team and have the modest goals of raising more money than my pastor [teehee] and landing our Walk among the Top Ten in NJ. Even though I'll be away on the day of the walk, I'll bike the route more than once before and after, to assess conditions and to put up and take down signs for the walk. So never fear, I'll more than go the distance!



If you have any questions, just leave a comment or send an email to jerseyknitter [at] gmail [dot] com – I'll respond as quickly as I can. And especially for Kristen, who appreciates slogans, here's the CROP Walk motto:

WE WALK BECAUSE THEY WALK