Socks, socks, sock-socks, sock-socks.

I currently have that terrible LMFAO song stuck in my head, only I'm pretty sure it would appeal to more people if it were actually about knitting.  Because I'm making....

Socks, socks, sock-socks, sock-socks...EVERY BODY!!

I've never made socks before.  Can you tell I'm excited?  And this yarn is super amusing.  See how the stripes just grow on their own accord?

Magic!

FO: An Annoying Hat

You should not take the following as complaint.  The pattern was easy enough (TBL's Lotus Hat: clear instructions, nice charts), I like the color of the yarn, Cascade 220 is nice to knit with.  Should have been a snap.

But no matter how closely I followed the pattern, I kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches.  No matter how many times I counted my stitches, I kept ending up with two or three extra little buggers at the end of every row (not that I let that stop me....I just fudged it and pretended like the pattern covered my laziness).  Not only that, I did an extra repeat of the pattern and it STILL ended up looking like an itty-bitty elf hat.

So instead of trekking to the North Pole to find a potential wearer, I ripped it back and tried again.

Success!

A hat.  This is right when I finished, before blocking.

This is after I gave it a bath.  Isn't it cool how different it looks?  How much prettier and well-organized?

Sent it off to its new owner last week.  Hopefully she likes the color blue...

Happy Anniversary

Taking a break from knitting for a moment.  Today I am blogging in support of NARAL's Blog For Choice Day, answering the question:

What will you do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?

Today is the 39th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade that affirmed women's right to have an abortion.  As a doula, it means more to me than just that.  It's the anniversary of the affirmation that women can be trusted to make decisions about their own reproductive health, including when, how, and if they have kids.

In 2008, I worked for EMILY's List helping to elect pro-choice, Democratic women in Iowa.  I was on the ground talking to voters and other candidates and supporting EMILY's List candidates and President Obama.  I learned that electing pro-choice candidates is one of the best ways to ensure our right to make the reproductive health decisions that are right for us.  Elected officials are the people who introduce and enact legislation that make it so rape victims don't have to pay for their own rape kits (that law JUST passed in GA this year....jeesh), who ensure insurance coverage for women for contraception and maternity care, who grant federal funds to clinics that provide family planning services to low income women, and who stop the violence against health care providers who provide services that women and their families want and need.

This year it is just as important to me to elect pro-choice candidates.  More and more states are considering "personhood amendments" which would give rights to a fetus at conception.  That would put certain birth control options that stop implantation but not fertilization (like the IUD or emergency contraception), as well as in vitro fertilization, at risk and make it difficult for women who are trying to prevent pregnancy as well as those who really want kids to access health care.  "Conscience clauses" allow providers to refuse routine medical services to women because they have moral objections to the choices made by women, their families and their physicians.  My clients are facing C-sections and inductions they don't want because of policies that are outdated and not based on science.

This stuff makes me mad and sad and sick and makes me want to do something about it.

So, I am working at the Feminist Women's Health Center and participating in their Voice Beyond Choice Advocacy Days at the GA State Capital.  I will get to learn about what my Reps think about pro-choice legislation and to let them know that I will not vote for someone who doesn't care about the rights of the 1 in 3 US women who will seek an abortion in their lifetimes.

I will be making donations to the candidates that do support reproductive rights and speaking out against those that do not.

And I will be talking to my friends and family about what being pro-choice and electing pro-choice candidates means to me.

If you want more information, I encourage you to check out these organizations and to get involved in the 2012 election cycle:

EMILY's List
NARAL Pro-Choice America
Planned Parenthood Action Center

Sq*****l Appreciation Day

Today is the Appreciation Day for those evil creatures who shall not be named.  Need to know how to celebrate?




From the Washington Post.

Tips on how to celebrate from the National Wildlife Federation.

A photoshop competition from the Huff Post.

And some helpful factoids from Mother Nature Network.

Weekend Update: Back in the ATL

I survived the first week back to school.  But first, my bestie came for a visit.  We went to the CNN Center:

This is the news room.  There are several hundred researchers who focus on different topic or areas of the world.  They discover news and then send it over to that big red desk in the background where it is edited and sent to the news casters.  The average turn-around time is in minutes, not hours.

Jha met Anderson Cooper.

I added to my collection of JoAnna Hugging Statutes of Older White Men (seriously, I have a reputation).  This is  Baron Pierre De Coubertin, considered the father of the modern Olympics, in the Olympic Centennial Park.

This is John Pemberton.  He founded Coca-Cola.  He's in front of the Coke Museum (World of Coca-Cola).

 The rest of my week was WAY less exciting.

Back to School

I head back to Atlanta tomorrow for round 2 of Law School Kicking My Butt.  On tap for this semester:  Constitutional Law, Property, Administrative Law, Criminal and more Legal Writing, Research, and Advocacy. 

My bestie is meeting me at the airport and keep me from panicking about having to go back to doing homework after three glorious weeks of food, napping, and pleasure-reading.  We will probably be doing some cooking, a visit to the puppetry museum and a tour of CNN. 

And then....some reading in preparation for Monday.  Sigh....

Holiday Recap: Part 2

Almost everyone got knitted items for their gifts this year.  Mostly hats.

My mom, her friend, my sister, and Nate.

Nate's and my mom's friend's were my own basic hat pattern.  Nate's is from the same wool as My First Sweater.  My sister's hat was the best, I think.

The hat is Simpatico! by Grace Mrowicki...nice cables.  Cascade EcoWool in Black.  I added the tassels without knowing how so they are my own design

Janey is nuts.  My understanding is that this look (as well as words like "wicked" and "sick") means she likes the hat.

My mom has big hair, so I gave her a big hat to fit on top.

It's a Shroom hat like the other million I've made this year.

My mom's birthday is on the 25th, too.  I gave her My First Sweater.  She looks a heck of a lot better in it than I did.  I'm glad she will wear it more often than I would have.  The weather in Atlanta wasn't quite cold enough.

I was wearing my Never-Ending Sweater.  All kinds of wool happening this holiday.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Recap Part 1: Knitted Goods

My family is awesome.  They are definitely catching on to the whole "knitters like knitting-related gifts" thing.  My parents both made donations to the I-want-to-get-a-spinning-wheel fund (also called the money-I-should-spend-on-groceries fund).  I got a felted bag.  Knit clothes (most clothes are knit, but these are sweater-y, so even more applicable).  Leg warmers.  And this book.

Can buy it here

And my sister got me some yarn, which I promptly put into action while running errands this week.

Counting change at the bank.  I'm so classy.

I also got a small air hockey table.

Completely unrelated to knitting, but AWESOME.  Also completely not going to fit in my suitcase.

Thanks you all!  I appreciate it!

A Hat to Be Proud Of

My friend hat a New Year's Eve party that included a contest for best hat.  I have no idea who ended up winning, but this was my entry.

Yes, I am a freak of nature.

And yes, that is a ball of yarn held on my head by a circular knitting needle (size 6 if you were interested).

Not only was this a perfectly acceptable fascinator in the spirit of the British Royal Family, but also doubled as entertainment if things got a little slow at the party.

This was the other hat I am proud of.

A little tiny hat for a 12-week-old baby I met today.  So cute.  The baby was alright, too.

New Year's Resolution-ish Thingies 2012

Last year I made some pseudo New Year's Resolutions (NYRs).  Testiment to the fact that I think NYRS are pretty silly, I wrote them and then promptly forgot about them.  I have literally not looked back at them until right this moment.  Oops.

So did I accomplish them?  Um, sort of.  Here they are:

• In the Knitting Category:  Learn to knit socks. (also see: what the heck is the Kitchener Stitch?!?!) - I did not knit a single sock, or actually even try.  I am still just not that interested in them.  I think it is because my track record for producing things of the right size is not particularly good.  If I spend all that time making socks, I want to be able to produce a sock that at least remotely resembles the size of my foot.  Scarves, hats, and even mittens are so much more forgiving.  Thus, this year became the year of the hats, witnessed by the million bajillion I made of them.  Will have to add socks back on next year's list.  I DID learn to Kitchener, though, to much success in the Cruiser mittens.  WIN!
• In the Haven't-Been-Out-of-the-Country-in-Four-Years-and-This-Won't-Even-Actually-Break-That-Streak Category:  Go to Puerto Rico.  Yea, I didn't go to Puerto Rico.  But I did go to Europe (including a wonderful trip to Paris) so I officially got out of the country.
• In the Healthy-Things-that-Some-People-Seem-to-Like-Doing-Category:  run slash do ANY amount of exercise.  Ha!  I took up yoga (sort of).  That counts, yes?
• Get into grad school.   Woot!
• Knit a sweater.  Double woot!
• Ski.   Nope.
• Write a knitting pattern and sell it.  Double nope.

OK, so my NYR-ish thingies for this year:

• In the Knitting Category - Socks are still on the list.  And a sweater that fits.  I actually ended up giving the sweater I made to my mom because it fits her a lot better than it fits me (will post the pictures tomorrow).  And for kicks, I'm gonna learn the brioche stitch, because I heart non-food that sounds like pastries (which is why I attended Torts class with such zeal).
• In the Other-Crafts-People-Think-I'm Bonkers-for-Doing Category - acquire a spinning wheel and actually spin.  It's been almost a year since I've done ANY spinning let alone on a wheel.  Gonna do it.  I've also given up on doing knitting patterns.  But the page that is visited the most on this site is "How to Make a Vagina Pillow."  It's so popular, in fact, that I might make up a pattern/better tutorial and possibly put together kits for people to buy.  What do you think?
• In the Healthy-Things-that-Some-People-Seem-to-Like-Doing-Category - Gonna keep up with the yoga.  I feel/look like an idiot doing it (I can't even touch my toes and corpse pose is the only one I'm very good at) but I am convinced that there are positive outcomes.  Running, though?  Still not convinced that the benefits outweigh the pain of getting started, no matter how many people tell me they are "addicted to the runner's high." 

In the category of things that aren't really resolutions but I want to put them out there anyway:

• Get a cool internship for next summer.  Or at least AN internship if not a particularly cool one.  Working on it already.  The corollary to this is that I would like to get funding for it (it is nice to be able to buy food, no?)
• Be thrilled about law school.  It was a less-than-thrilling semester because, well, it's law school.  I am now determined to answer any question someone asks about law school with something positive.  For example:  "Yes!  I love the quirky nature of Atlanta's public transportation system!  It is always fun betting on how early or late the bus will get me somewhere!"  Or:  "Yes!  I love doing that much boring reading because it has given me ample opportunity to learn how to knit while reading.  It makes me neither very good at reading or at knitting but gives me a goal to work toward!"

This is not many goals is it?  And not very resolution-y.  Maybe I will have to come up with others. 

What are yours?