Just What You've Been Waiting For

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath, and here it is. I cast on the first of the Dardo yarn this morning.

Sharp eyed readers with good memories might recognize this pattern. Yep, it's the ubiquitous One Row Scarf.  I know the pattern doesn't show up that well in that photo, so you'll just have to trust me.  That's what it is.  I've knit several of these before, but it's such a good yet simple pattern that I keep coming back to it.

And since these take just a bit more time, I also cast on another Fun Fur scarf.

And I watched football.  Lots of football.  OK, only three games, but that counts as a lot, doesn't it?  It was the weekend of the upset, I tell you.  Unranked Texas handed #5 Nebraska their first loss of the season.  Unranked Mississippi State handed #22 Florida their third loss in a row.  And here's the shocker, #18 Wisconsin knocked #1 Ohio State out of that #1 spot 31-18. Both LSU and Auburn remain unbeaten, setting up a good match for next week when they face each other.

In between all this knitting and football watching, I finally got my fall decorations out and put them up. 

I hit a bit of an impasse when I got here.

The junk and I stared at each other for a good long while, but in the end, I persevered. Now this cabinet looks lovely and fall-y...ish. Whatever.

I took some Benadryl, hoping it would help me sleep a little better tonight.  I can't remember the last time I slept the night through.  Seems I wake up every hour or two.  If that doesn't work, I may have to resort to The Green Elixer of Death.  Otherwise known as Nyquil. 

Squeaky says, "I notice you still aren't knitting anything for me."

Eye Candy Friday

Literally, candy.

A sure sign of fall, when the Kisses start coming out in autumnal colors. Of course, I had to eat the silver wrapped ones straight away, so they wouldn't mess up the color scheme. 

And the only bit of real fall color we have right now. The tallow trees have started to turn. The sweet gum shouldn't be far behind.  The oak and elm are still green as can be.

OK, I'm sensing a theme here.  Wanna guess what it is?

Yep, red.  All this yarn arrived today, sent by Kristen.  This is Dardo, um, I guess that's it.  That's the only name I see on the label.  Ten hanks, plus all this loose yarn. 

I ought to get a lot of charity scarves outta this. And that's where it'll all go: Scarves From The Heart.  Speaking of, it's not red, but I did get another Fun Fur scarf finished. 

Now I can cast on the new yarn guilt free.

Finally, I'd like to apologize for the pedantic plodding of my posts here these last few months.  I know they've been rather dull, and I don't blame my readership for skulking off into the abyss of lurkdom.  Or for abandoning the blog altogether.  Maybe I'm getting old.  Maybe I'm watching too much TV.  I don't know, but my brain just doesn't seem to be functioning as well.  I never was one of these bloggers who could draw thousands of hits per day.  Heck, I've never been one of these people who had hundreds of friends.  I believe my upbringing may have had a lot to do with that.  Social interaction was not encouraged--at least not for me.

I took one of those internet quizzes a few weeks back.  I know, I know...but this one was interesting.  It measured my score on the autism spectrum.  The normal score for females is 15.  Anything above 32 was considered autistic.  My score was 27.

I've never had a lot of friends, and as a child I was painfully shy.  That may be why I didn't have a lot of friends.  I can remember walking down the halls in high school.  People I'd known since first grade would walk by and say, "Hi, Becky" and I'd panic, not knowing what I should say back.   Even as I got older and overcame this, I still never really was able to connect.  Oh, I try to be nice to everyone I meet.  I don't always succeed, but I do try.

Still, there's always been that something missing.  That emotional chasm between me and everyone else.  As I got older, and learned more about Autism, I noticed that many of the characteristics ascribed to autistic persons also described me.  I began to wonder if all my life, I'd been an undiagnosed autistic.  Hey, it's possible.  My allergies to eggs and oranges went undiagnosed until I was in my 40s, though the symptoms were there throughout my childhood.  Now, I'm not trying to diagnose myself.  I'm not qualified.  But between my own observations, and the quiz score, I am beginning to wonder.  Even if I were, what could they do about it at my age?

I watched a documentary once in which an adult autistic person was interviewed.  She said that if she had the choice, she would choose to be autistic.  She would not trade the clarity of thought that autism brings for anything.  Boy, I would. To be able to connect.  To feel human.  To have friends.  To love, and more importantly, to be loved. Yeah, I'd trade anything for that.  Anything. 

In a heartbeat.

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Random Thoughts Of A Thursday Evening

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People need to get off of Marc Colombo's back.

(AP Photo/Tim Sharp)

Sure, he got flagged for an excessive celebration penalty.  We can discuss at a later date whether that call was even warranted or not.  Still, he got flagged.  As a result, they had to kick off from their own 15 yard line instead of the 30.  No matter.  The cannon that is David Buehler's right leg still put that ball on the Titan's own 15 yard line, between the numbers and the sideline.  It's not Marc Colombo's fault that they allowed a 73 yard kick off return.  Put that one squarely on special teams. 

Speaking of special teams, you know you've got a problem when your leading tackler is *ahem* the kicker.

(AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

Brett Favre has the longest game streak of anyone int he NFL.  He has started 289 consecutive games, 313 if you count playoff appearances.  He has played through all sorts of injuries and inconveniences, including a broken thumb.  Yet this bastion of durablity is considering sitting out the next game.  That would be the one against the Cowboys.  Why?  He says it's because he's got a sore elbow.

Hmmm, the man who has endured everything is going to sit out a game because of a sore elbow?  Or could it be that he remembers the fury of Keith Brooking after the last time these two teams met.  You know, the one in which Favre ran up the score on a team that was already soundly beaten.  No, that didn't set well with Brooking, or the rest of the Dallas defense for that matter.  Favre is walking into this game with a gigantic target on his back.  And on his front.  And on his top.  And his bottom.  It's enough to make a 41 year old quarterback want to call in sick.

Come to think of it, David Buehler is no ordinary kicker.  He's the one who smoked cornerback DeAngelo Smith in a footrace during training camp their rookie year.  Probably cost Smith his job, too.  Buehler also played linebacker in college.  He knows how to tackle.  And he's not afraid to do it, either.  It was Buehler who saved the touchdown on that 73 yard kick off return. 

Come to think of it, Favre is no ordinary quarterback.  He's a grandpa.  The first one to play in the NFL. But he needs to shave. Some men can pull off the stubbled look.  Tony Romo handles it nicely.



But Brett Favre just looks like he needs to wash his face.
 



So does Tom Brady.  Or did, back when he was trying to sport the stubbled look. 

Speaking of Tom Brady, did you hear?  The king of stupid looking hair himself had the nerve to make fun of Tom Brady's mop top.  Uh, that would be Justin Beiber.




Yeah, like he's got room to talk.

What is this world coming to?

WIP Parade

Let's have a parade! Bark 'n' Knit is hosting a parade over on her blog. What kind of parade? A WIP parade!  And it's a contest, too.  You can get all the details over on her blog.  Before we begin, let me just say that most of my WIPs have been set aside for charity knitting.  Between the Sailor Hats, and the cancer scarves, I haven't worked on much else lately.  But that's OK.  I enjoy doing things for other people.   OK, are you ready?

And away we go...

1.  Conwy Socks, from Knitting On The Road by Nancy Bush 

2. Pixie Dust Socks: The pattern is Bubble Wrap.  Yeah, these have fallen by the wayside.  They aren't hard, I'm just not feeling the love for this yarn.  It is Knit Picks Imagination, and it is very loosely spun.  It's totally not right for socks, but I've already finished one, so I'm determined to finish the pair.

3.  Anniversary Mystery Shawl 10: The mojo for this one has gone on vacation, so I'm just going to let it marinate for a while.

4.  Orkney Pi Shawl:  I really like this pattern so far.  The repeats are fairly short, making it easy to remember.  I don't have to keep looking at the chart while I knit.  Just one thing, though, the charts are difficult to follow and have some errors.  However, the written instructions are clear and so far, error free.

5.  Fruit of The Vine Scarf:  It's moving right along. 

6. Friendship Blankie:

7.  Family Blankie: Ignore the hideous stain on my carpet.  The cat threw up and it took several scrubbings to get the stain completely out.

8.  Fun Fur Charity scarf: This one's taking up most of my time right now. 

And that's my WIPs.

Be sure and head on over to check out the contest, too.

Music Monday

In commemoration of completing the three sailor hats, your Music Monday for today honors those who will wear them.



Five years in the Navy, and I never learned the words to this song.

The hats are done, but now comes the hard part -- writing notes to people I don't know.

It's Going To Be A Long Season

That crunching sound you hear is all the ankles breaking from the band wagon fans jumping back off.

Roy Williams had a big day, with 6 catches for 87 yards and one TD.

(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Miles Austin had a big day with 9 catches for 166 yards and one TD.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Felix Jones had the first 100 yard game of his career--109 yards to be exact.

(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Tony Romo had the first 400 yard game of his career,  with 406 yards and 3 TDs.

(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

But still they lost, and the Cowboys fall to 1-3.

And once again Wade Phillips needs to be fired.

(AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

Jason Garrett needs to be fired.  The entire coaching staff needs to be fired. Jerry Jones needs to be fired.

Tony Romo needs to be benched.  He's not a leader.  He doesn't have control of the team.   He'll never be an elite quarterback.  This is his fourth year, if he were an elite quarterback, he'd have won a Super Bowl by now (conveniently forgetting that it took Peyton Manning 10 years to get to his first Super Bowl).

(AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

Felix Jones is a bust.  Roy Williams is a bust.  The entire team is a bust.  Cut them all and start over. This was a team that was supposed to be waltzing into the Super Bowl with their eyes closed.  They are supposed to have so much talent, yet they look like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off out there.

Knee *** reactions aside, it's clear that there is something dreadfully wrong in Dallas, yet nobody seems to be able to figure out what.  Could it be that this team just isn't that good after all? 

Sigh...It's going to be a long season.

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Sailors, Skies, and Of Course, Football

Sailor hat #3 is done!

I wanted something that could be worn by either a man or a woman, but not just another plain hat.  I searched through all my old knitting magazines, but I just couldn't find a hat pattern that appealed to me.  So, I did what any good knitter would do.  I adapted the Roundabout Sock pattern to make this one. I am pleased with the way it turned out, though if I ever do it again, I'll do the decreases differently.  Oh, I would have decreased the same way, I just would have stopped the yarn overs a row or two sooner. This is the last hat I'm going to make for this project.  I have quite a bit of leftover yarn, though, that I could make more hats from.  Just gotta find another project.

The good news is, while searching for a hat pattern, I found my Socks Soar on Two Circulars book!  I'd been looking for this book for years--literally.  I've wanted to do the Columbine Peaks socks again, in a wool yarn this time.  They did OK in the cotton blend I used, but I think the pattern would work better in wool. 

For your Saturday Sky, once again, a sky free of clouds.

 We've had no rain at all since September 11, and no significant rain since the beginning of August.  There isn't any rain in the forecast either, until the end of October at least.  We are under a state wide burn ban.  I can't remember it ever being so dry, not since I moved here.

Texas had their bye week, so there will be no Gratuitous Garrett Gilbert photo today.  There was still plenty of excitement in today's football action.  Number 1 Alabama was knocked off by #19 South Carolina.  I didn't watch that game because it was on CBS.  Since we switched to digital, my CBS reception has been spotty at best.  So, I watched Arkansas hold off Texas A&M in a game full of mistakes and sloppy play. 

Then LSU, whew!  After last week's wacky finish, I didn't think it could get any more exciting.  But the Mad Hatter did it again.  It was crazy.  LSU turned the ball over twice, and Florida scored both times.  Then LSU got the lead back, then Florida ran a kick off back for a touchdown.  The lead was going back and forth and back and forth the whole game.  Finally, Florida had the lead, and there was less than a minute left in the game.  LSU lined up for a field goal that would have tied the game and sent it into overtime.  Only they faked it instead.  It wasn't the thing of beauty that Matt Flynn and Colt David pulled off in 2007, but it worked, and Josh Jasper got the first down.  A couple of plays later, Jarrett Lee hit Terrence Tolliver for the game winning touchdown with just 6 seconds left on the clock.

 
Final score:  LSU 33, Florida 29.  And half of my head turned gray.   These last minute come from behind victories are too much for my old ticker to take.  I'm giving up football.  

At least until tomorrow.

Sailor Hat #2

is finished!

And summer has returned to Mississippi. Forecast in the 90s all the weekend.

Sigh...

Product Review--NFL Game Rewind

NFL Game Rewind is a subscription service available through NFL.com at a cost of $49.99 per season.  With this subscription, you can watch every single NFL game on demand, in its entirety, in high definition on your computer.  You can even watch games from the 2009 season, in their entirety.  The good thing about this is that they cut out all the commercials and most of the commentators chit chat, so that all you see is the game.  You can search, fast forward, or rewind at any time.  They have a little scale thing at the bottom of the screen so that you can pick out the most exciting moments of every game, and kind of gloss over the duller bits.  Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it?

But there is a but.  A couple of buts, in fact.  The first but is that your subscription is only good for the regular NFL season.  If you want to watch pre-season games, it'll cost you extra.  If you want to watch post season games,  you guessed it, it'll cost you extra.  Not only that, your subscription ends at the end of the regular season.  If you're thinking you might want to watch games during the off season, you can forget about that.  You're better off investing in a good DVR. 

The second but is that any time there is a game actually being played, the service is unavailable.  Let's say you come home from work Monday and really, really want to sit down that evening and re-watch your favorite team's game from the day before.  Well, too bad.  Because there is a Monday night game, the service will be unavailable.  That DVR is sounding really good about now, huh? 

Since the service is unavailable during actual games, that means all of Sunday --well, from noon until nearly midnight-- or Monday nights are out from the get-go.  Later on in the season, when they start playing on Thursdays and Saturdays, you can add those two days to the verboten list as well.  That's assuming you don't also watch college football on Saturday afternoons.  And if you go to you local high school games on Fridays, that night is out, too.  So that pretty much limits your use of Game Rewind to Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  And if you go to church on Wednesday evenings, well, you get the idea.  That's an awful lot of time that the service is of no use to you. 

This might be a good thing for retired people, or people too ill or disabled to work full time, or stay at home moms, or people on welfare who don't work anyway (though if you're on welfare, you shouldn't have internet access in the first place), but for the average person, you won't have time to watch enough games to make a subscription worth the money you'll spend on it.  Now, if the subscription lasted a full year, so that I could watch games during the off season, it might be a good deal.  However, if I had known the service would be so extremely restricted, I wouldn't have spent my money on it.

I sure won't subscribe again next year.  To me, it's just not worth it.

Ten On Tuesday

I don't always participate in Ten on Tuesday, but this week's topic is one that is near and dear to my heart:  Fall.  I love Fall.  It is my favorite season of the year, and here are 10 reasons why:

1.  First and foremost, fall brings sweet, blessed relief from the brutal heat and humidity that summer in the deep South brings.  I love that first cool day, the first one I can get through without sweat pouring off of my body, and my clothes sticking to me.  Sweet, sweet relief...

2.  Opening the windows.  I love opening the windows and letting the crisp fall air clear the stale mustiness out of the house.  Fresh air, even if my allergist recommends against it. 

3. The colors of fall--the reds, yellows, browns.  The fall flowers, the leaves turning.  We won't get much of that this year, being as it's been so very dry.  Mostly, they'll just turn brown and fall off the trees. 


4.  Fall decorations--starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and morphing on into Christmas.  I love seeing people's yards decorated with pumpkins, scarecrows, and hay bales.  Speaking of, I love seeing the round hay bales out in the fields, too. 



5.  Scuffling through piles of leaves.  Crunchy leaves are Nature's version of bubble wrap.  Next time you're in a funk, try it.  It works.

6.  Turning on the heater for the first time.  Now, if I had a fireplace, I'd probably have listed the first fire.  But since I don't, I have to settle for the heater.  There is just something comforting about having the heater running. 

7.  The first frost.  Especially when it happens on a day when I don't have to get up and go anywhere.


8.  Hot chocolate, hot tea, hot cider -- Yeah, you can drink these all year round, but they are just better in the fall.



9.  Flannel shirts, flannel pants, flannel sheets--flannel is just so warm and cozy and snuggly.

10.  Football. 

Nuff said.

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What A Walker Sees

Usually, all I see while walking is fairly innocuous stuff.  You know the usual things one sees discarded on a country road:  empty beer cans and various other forms of litter.  I see birds and bugs.  Various forms of animal tracks.  This is a fun one.  I try to identify as many as I can.  So far, I've seen deer (lots and lots of deer), horse, dog, bunny rabbit, raccoon, possum, quail, and turkey.  Today, however, was quite different.

I was walking with Rylea and the neighbor's dog.  Beside the road there is a hill. We hadn't gone very far, when Ry ran up the side of the hill a little ways and started growling and jumping.  Well, not really jumping, but kind of bouncing stiff legged.  I went up there to see, thinking it was probably a possum, but when I got there, it was a coyote! 

I'd known they were back there because I've heard them yipping, but I never thought I'd run up on one.  Especially not in broad daylight.  But there he was, snarling and growling.  Fortunately, it didn't attack.  I hollered at Rylea and told her that thing would eat her alive, and we high-tailed it out of there. 

That's quite enough adventure for me these days. 

For your Music Monday, a classic. 



 

Sailor Hat #1

is done!  Off to cast on #2. 

Score!

Today was the day.   I was going to head out on the great superwash wool hunt. I had a little trouble getting going this morning. My usual inertia had set in. I just didn't want to leave the house. But I thought about those sailors, leaving home and their families for months at a time. So I pried my fat butt out of my recliner and headed up to Southaven.

First stop was Jo-Ann's.  Well, OK, the FIRST first stop was Wal-mart.  The one here has stopped carrying the leave in treatment I use in my hair, so every time I head up North, I stop and get two or three bottles.  While there, I picked up a new kitchen set.  I've been needing some new towels, and thought this was the cutest set, and only $5.00.  It has 4 towels, a dish cloth and two pot holders.

Then, I went to Jo-Ann's.  I didn't really think they would have any 100% superwash wool, and I was right.  They had wool, but not superwash.  They had washable wool blends, but not 100% wool.  The stop was not a total bust, though.  I picked up this skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease, color #180 Forest Green Heather.

 

I know, there is a shadow, but I'm not taking another photo, so you'll just have to live with it.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, yet.  I was thinking a scarf to match the hat I made for my cousin last year, but then, he doesn't really wear scarves.  So, that idea is a no-go.  I don't know.  I'll think of something.

I also picked up some more sock yarns for the blankies.

It's about to get cold enough that having a blankie in my lap will be a good thing.

I stopped at Petco, but didn't buy anything.  I also stopped a couple of places to look for some new work shoes.  I really need to wear high top shoes or boots at work, because I've developed the habit of standing on the sides of my feet.  It's causing problems all the way up to my hips.  I don't do that when I'm wearing boots.  I didn't find anything.  Well, I did, but I didn't want to pay $80 for boots that are just going to get ruined at work.

Finally, I went on to Hank of Yarn, and scored big time.   First up, Cascade 220 Superwash.  These are colors 1912  (the browinsh one), #809 (red), and 814 (blue). 

I've already cast on the blue:

This is the Hurricane Hat, and is working up really quickly.  It calls for size 7 needles, and I was sure I'd had some.  Apparently, I don't.  I'm working it on size 8, and it looks small.  I'd hate to see it on size 7.

I also picked up these two.  The top one is Scarlet Fleece Painted Merino.  The colorway is Favorite Jeans.  This one might just have to stay with me. 

The bottom one is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints, color 9871.  It doesn't really look like the color in the photo and looks even less like the color on their site.  It's still pretty.  I though it would make a fun hat for a sailor to wear.  There are women on that ship, and this looks like a girly color. 

The Fun Fur scarves got set aside since the hats have a time constraint on them.  However, just to show you that they aren't forgotten, I cast this one on last night.

I got home in time to watch LSU vs Tennessee, and Texas vs. Oklahoma.  Texas lost, as I sort of expected them to.  They are where Oklahoma was this time last year.  They are still trying to find themselves after having lost so many key players.

LSU thought they'd lost, too.  That game started out with a bang, Jordan Jefferson scoring on an 83 yard touchdown run on their very first play.  They got really sloppy after that.  They were trailing 10-14, and on the last play of the game, there was some confusion, followed by a bad snap that flew right past Jordan Jefferson.  Time had run out, and Tennessee thought they'd won, but there was a flag.  Tennessee had had 13 men on the field, so LSU got one untimed down.  Stevan Ridley powered his way into the end zone and LSU won.  It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen!

Don't believe me?  See for yourself:

To Give 112%

Two weeks ago, in a small South East Texas town, a football game was being played.  It was the second quarter.  The quarterback dropped back and threw a 13 yard touchdown pass.  Afterwards, while celebrating on the sidelines with his team mates, the 17 year old high school senior suddenly collapsed.  He was rushed to the hospital, but never regained consciousness.  About an hour later, just as the game was drawing to a close, Reginald Carl Garrett, Jr. died.

When my nephew Nathaniel died 8 years ago, an internet friend wrote some words that meant so much to me that I have not forgotten them, even after all this time.

I never knew him, but all of our lives have been enriched by our very awareness of him. Go ahead and cry, then rejoice that he was among us for that little while.

I never knew Reggie Garrett, but I have been touched by this tragedy, for that is my town. That was my school. I walked those same halls. I may have even had some of the same teachers. I watched games on that same field. I remember when his head coach, Dan Hooks, was hired.

I never knew Reggie Garrett, but my life had been enriched by my awareness of him. In reading about him, in hearing the words of those who did know him, I have found out that he was a good kid. It sounds cliche, but in his case, he really was a good kid. He was smart, well liked and motivated. He was a leader both on the field and in the classroom.  As his head coach Dan Hooks told us through his own tears, "Reggie was the kind of kid you couldn't say anything bad about. You couldn't even say, 'Well, he didn't do his homework', because he did his homework."

You've often heard athletes talk about giving 110%. It wasn't so with Reggie. With him, it was about giving 112%. Those who knew him say it's because that was the number he wore. They're probably right, but maybe, just maybe it could be because he wanted to do just a little bit more, to give just a little bit more, to be just a little bit better. I'd kind of like to think so.

Tonight, the boys from West Orange Stark high school will take one giant step down the road to becoming men. Tonight, they'll lace up their cleats, strap on their helmets, and for the first time, they'll step back onto the football field. That same field where just two short weeks ago, one of their own left this life. It won't be easy for them, but they'll do it.

And they'll win. They'll sweat, they'll fight, they'll claw, they'll bleed. They may even cry a little bit, but they'll win.  They'll do whatever it takes to win.  Whatever it takes. 

They'll give their 112%.

When I look at my own life, when I think about the dedication of Reggie Garrett,  I wonder...what can I do to day to honor, not just his memory, but the courage and strength of his team mates who now must carry on without him.

What can I do to give my 112%? 

It's Not Saturday

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But it's felt like it all day, since I didn't have to work. I'm almost afraid that I'm going to try to get up and go to church in the morning!  And since I didn't have to work, the first order of business was to take the Rotund One to the vet for her annual shots and checkup.  We did talk about her weight, and the vet said I was right to be concerned.  Obesity in dogs is just as harmful to their health as it is in humans.  He said to keep her on the fat dog dog food, and keep walking her.  The good news is, she has lost 8 lbs since I had her weighed last.  I didn't think she had, because she still looks huge, but the scales don't lie.  I think that was around the end of July.  She weighed 60 lbs then, and today she weighed 52.

The other thing is that she doesn't have ear mites like I thought.  She has yeast infection in her ears.  I wonder how dogs get that.  Katie got them, too.  Anyway, he gave me some drops for that.  She doesn't like them any better, but at least they'll really help her this time.   He said I was doing a good job keeping her ears clean, and otherwise, she's in good health.

When I got home, there was a big, squishy envelope in my mail box.  I opened it up straight away, and found yarn.  Lots of yarn.

This was sent to me by buddy Kristen, to make scarves for Scarves From The Heart.  Speaking of, I finished the one I'd been working on.

And am about to cast on another. I'd almost forgotten how much fun these little scarves are. And quick. I guess that's why I like doing them. I can get a lot done and sent in in a short amount of time.

Rylea says, "Why'd you have to go and tell them how much I weigh?"

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"I'm so embarrassed!"