Taken at the Smithsonian, 2008.

I must admit that Thanksgiving is not really my holiday. I didn’t grow up in the states and in the 7 years I’ve lived here, it hasn’t really sunk in. It always sneaks up on me. I’m not sure about a holiday basically in the middle of the week – my job now requires you take leave to have the Friday off. I think the government should at least make Friday a holiday too (anyone disagree?) [And actually that's a thing I have about federal holidays here in general, even if they fall within the week you get that day off. Back home in Oz they used to, since I have no idea if things have changed or not, just give you the nearest Monday or Friday off for a long weekend.]

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving! While I don’t ever think of setting my foot outside on Black Friday, and Turkey isn’t my favorite poultry, I can get behind the idea of the holiday. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a new job, which is actually my dream job (even if it’s not quite what I thought it would be), I have my health, a husband of 11 (almost 12) years, and my dad who was my rock growing up. And even though I’m not wealthy, I’m thankful I can afford a venti vanilla latte from Starbucks whenever I feel like it.

And of course, I am thankful for knitting and my knitting friends, to include those out in the blogosphere. So have a great day everyone.

Pattern: Through the Loops Mystery Sock 2009. And a link to all the projects on Rav.
Yarn Used: Crash Into Ewe Jewel Collection with Sterling Silver, Red
Date Started: October 13 2009
Date Finished: November 8 2009
Notes: I loved this pattern. It was strange knitting without any idea of how it was supposed to turn out, but it was a nice surprise. I originally chose a different yarn but it was obscuring the pattern. I remembered I had this yarn I got at the Homespun Yarn Party last year. It was the perfect yarn for this pattern! Also, I still have plenty of yarn left over.

I completely forgot that I actually completed a pair of socks for the month of May. They were done just before I started my new job and got put down once completed because I had to charge my camera battery etc and then never got around to it.

Pattern: No-Purl Monkeys
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM in Marmalade. This yarn was really hard to find a pattern for. Quite a few I chose seemed washed out because the yarn is much lighter than it looked in the skein.
Date Started: May 23, 2009
Date Finished: June 2, 2009
Notes: I have knit regular Monkey’s before and enjoyed the pattern. But I really enjoyed this pattern because of the NO PURLS! Not sure why it took me so long to try this version of the pattern. I finished them in no time!

I decided to start a little thing called “WIP Wednesday” where every couple of weeks (or at least every two wetrying to be realistic here!) I post a little something about the projects I’m working on, and how I feel about the pattern as I go along etc. First up….

Bella’s MittensThis pattern is all the rage (2062 projects started on Rav, and queued 3080 times!) thanks to the Twilight saga and is a replica of the mittens Bella wears in the movie. I am making them for my friend’s daughter for her birthday at the end of November. They are oversized, but I am not going to make them that large because she is a 13-year-old girl and I’m not sure if she will want to wear them if they are that big and bulky.

Mitt #1 is completed except for the thumb gusset. I have to re-do it because when I was trying not to make them too large, I made them too small! They are not going to fit her in the hand…but the arm portion is perfect. So I’m going to move on to Mitt #2 with a new plan – keep the same size needle for the arm, but go up a couple of needle sizes for the hand. If this works, I will rip back Mitt #1 and redo it. If not, I’ll just have to rip them both back and start from scratch. I have a bit of a deadline – I’m going to Colorado next week to see my friend and her daughters so I want them done then. This way I can have them wrapped up and given for her birthday at the end of November, saving postage!!

Close-up of the cable.

The yarn I’m using is Malabrigo Chunky in Black (the photo above doesn’t really show the black well.) This yarn knits up nicely, with a firm fabric at times.

I have wanted to visit Fez since seeing a brightly colored photograph in a travel magazine some years back (probably more like 10 years, but I can’t remember exactly!) My enjoyment of armchair travel books and my interest in Morocco pushed me toward this book. The author, Suzanna Clarke, and her husband Sandy decide (sort of on a whim really) to buy a riad, a traditional house, in Fez, Morocco. I love these kinds of books where the author goes on a life-changing journey like Clarke did. I have to admit though, that it makes going to Morocco seem a little more daunting to me. The fact is: I don’t have the personality to deal with all the frustrations and bureaucracy that seem to be the norm. Now, in the Q&A at the end of the book, Clarke does make a good point – there is bureaucracy in every country. True. I guess I just feel like any sort of crap I run into here is different because I’m at home or in the case of Europe, somewhere like home. Yeah I know, that’s not a great excuse. I am not saying that bureaucracy here is better than in Morocco – just different and easier for me to handle. And the truth is, as much I love to travel I can honestly say I’m not sure I’m really that adventurous in my travel. I could probably handle a week in Fez and that’s only if I am a mere tourist (which I would be) and didn’t need to do anything such as deal with a lost passport or something like that.

Now, my opinion on some of the “book group” questions at the back of the book:

The issue of Clarke’s wealth relative to that of the locals: Clark mentions feeling guilt about her financial situation. I think at times she is taken advantage of because she is a foreigner and has more money in comparison to her neighbors. She and her husband are not wealthy, and reading the Q&A at the end of the book cements the fact that a lot of their worth went into restoring the riad to its former glory. I would be interested to find out if other foreigners that were undertaking similar projects had to pay as much as she did for some things, such as the engineers letter – a simple piece of paper – for the dreaded roqsa (permit for renovation.) Numerous times throughout the book the author reminded herself (and the readers) that while their wages didn’t seem a lot to us, many of her workers were making more than their average monthly salary from just one day’s pay from her.

The use of inshallah, and the Western equivalent: I’m not sure that the West has an equivalent to “inshallah” except for ‘what will be, will be.” In the West though, a carpenter or plumber would not get away with this as an excuse for not showing up and doing the work. I felt like for all the poverty and desperation for work, that those who were getting it would be more grateful for it. This wasn’t the case though with some of the skilled craftsmen working on her house (not to include the staff that helped her on a daily basis). I felt like “inshallah” was really just an excuse for whenever the craftsmen found something better to do with their time. And it seemed very unprofessional to me that the craftsmen would just drop one job for another, supposedly better, job whenver it came along. I guess for all the desperation for work, I can understand why some of the craftsmen had several jobs lined up, but they still needed to manage their time better. That’s where I think inshallah just becomes an excuse because they are not planning their time out.

Lolly posted about past knits and how they’re holding up now, so I decided to talk about a couple of my bigger knits. All of my handknit socks are great, but I really only break them out during the winter time and usually wear them with my Uggs so they don’t show any sign of wear yet, which is why I won’t talk about them here.

Remember this?

Rusted Root with modifications, knit using Debbie Bliss Cathay. I would probably knit this pattern again – but this doesn’t really fit me around the arms anymore because I put on a little bit of weight and it seems to have dulled color-wise. Maybe it’s my poor memory, but I remember it being a bit more vivid. It has been washed and now just doesn’t seem to pop. There is also a bit along the top where it looks like the dye has come out. And I only really wore it a couple of times.

And then there’s Mr. Greenjeans.

I’ve just pulled this cardigan out again since the weather has turned cool here. And I love it! The only thing I need to do is make the buttonhole smaller, other than that, it’s great! It’s warm and I still love the color, and so far the yarn has held up well. I used Araucania (I have to look up how to spell it every time!) nature wool, a yarn I still love. It’s not as soft as Malabrigo (my fave!) but it’s a decent price and a bit of wool wash helps it soften up a little bit. Plus, I don’t wear it alone – I wear it with a longsleeve shirt normally. I actually wore it to work the other day and it received several compliments.

Apparently even though it’s 2009, the idea of people of different races being in relationships bothers some people. And what’s worse – this person says he’s not racist, just that he’s worried about the children and doesn’t think interracial marriages can last! Diven the fact that nearly half of all marriages end in divorce these days and many same-race couples aren’t raising their children well, I can’t say how this man doesn’t have some sort of problem. A racist, according to the dictionary, is one who believes that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Is this man saying that he believes whites are superior to blacks…not in so many words. But why does he worry about the children? Is it because they will not be 100% white? Or perhaps because they will not be 100% black? Maybe he’s just anti-miscegenistic (doesn’t agree with the mixing of races, on either side) rather than just racist??? I don’t know! All I know is that he is wrong.

Now, I don’t advertise the fact, but my DH and I are an interracial couple and, drumroll please….we’ve been married for almost 12 years! We’ve had our ups and downs, but don’t all marriages…and none of our issues have anything to do with race. Before we got married we talked about everything, our values, our religion (or lack thereof) and how we wanted to raise any children we had. And guess what? We share almost identical ideals.

The link to this story includes some readers comments…and one points out not to generalize all of Louisiana. I would never do this because that would be falling into the same mindset of this justice of the peace (JP). And many of the posts make the point that the action taken by the JP means that racism is still alive and well in American – no doubt about that, I have to agree. But what I don’t agree with is labeling everyone a racist at the drop of the hat, like for exampe, if someone doesn’t agree with the policies of our new president. Or just if someone doesn’t like someone else…by assuming that the dislike stems from a hatred of the persons race.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. Have a good weekend!

Pattern:Argosy
Yarn Used: STR Lightweight in Bleeding Hearts colorway, 1 skein.
Date Started: January 21, 2009
Date Finished: September 19, 2009
Notes: This project went into hibernation for a little while, if you couldn’t tell. I decided to pull it out a couple of weekends ago and once I got started back on it, it seemed to fly by. I’m not sure why I put it down in the first place. This yarn was much finer than that called for in the pattern, but with blocking it turned into a nice sized scarf.

A quick start to Socktoberfest!

Pattern: Sarrtje’s Bootees
Date Started: October 11, 2009
Date Finished: October 12, 2009
Yarn Used: Left-over STR in Mustang Sally (I think.)
Mods/Changes: I followed the pattern to the letter until the straps. Instead of casting on the 12 stitches called for in the pattern, I cast on 17. I also knit 3 rows before binding off the straps instead of the 2 called for in the pattern.