Random Acts of Knitting

Green

If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.

They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with fervor as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmadinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmadinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.

The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite, and websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmadinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.

Mousavi requested that the government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. People are being brutally beaten. Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran no older than I am. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.

For more information:
PICTURES: here and here
NEW INFORMATION:
Here - near constant updates
Here - ONTD_political live
post ON TWITTER: @StopAhmadi, @ProtesterHelp

 دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
 
Tell the world how they have stolen our election

This is not my writing nor my photographs. This post was created by this LJ user and has been circulated by my friends all over the world.  I encourage you to share it as well.

Tweet

Feel free to follow me on Twitter. I don't promise anything exciting, but I do promise no mention of Japanese pretty boys. Or sumo. Or tweets in Japanese.

That Certain Something

There's just something about certain projects, isn't there?  When the yarn is perfect and pattern is perfect and the needles feel good in your hands ....  This is one of those.  It's for my sister - a scarf/wrap in the Snowdrift pattern, made with RYC Wool Silk DK, and I'm using my ebony Lantern Moon needles.  OMG this feels so good to knit. 

I say scarf/wrap because even with serious blocking I'm not sure if it will be wide enough to be called a wrap.  The pattern recommends size 7 needles, but my twisted stitches just didn't have that pop that a line of twisted stitches should, and the purls were a little too loose to show off the details of the pattern, so I switched to 6s. 

I'm doing a pattern repeat a day, so this xmas gift might be finished before Mother's Day.  Is that a record?  Do I get a prize?  Anyway, I'm in love.  Blissfully.

To the city, I apologize

But I really, really, really wanted to shoot pictures of the finished Besotted Scarf against a bleak and snowy background, and since Mother Nature and I are *crosses fingers* like this, she let me have one last snowy morning.

 

Now it's early afternoon and already the snow is gone and the sky is blue and we're back to Spring.  So ... forgiven?

Repurpose the useless and unappreciated

Way back in 2005 I started on an afghan for the monk. It was an ambitious attempt, since I wanted the stripes to go lengthwise and to be long enough for his 6'6" frame.

Two years later, here is where it stood. Each stripe is a 32 row pattern, each single row taking me 15 minutes to complete. There are hours and hours and hours in this, crafted of wool/alpaca/silk yarn. It will never be finished. Why? Because 1) I don't deal with the monk anymore (and yes, I chose the word "deal" carefully, as all interaction with him seem to be some sort of transaction) and 2) Knitpicks doesn't make all of the colors anymore and I was buying them as I went along, planning to repeat the color sequence one more time.

That was two years ago.  So ... what to do with it. I'm obviously not finishing it.  Right now it's in a zippered plastic bag in a Marks & Spencer tote in the nether regions of my closet. I'm not even bothering to pull it out to photograph it again. The plan? Well, since there are three skeins of yarn in each stripe, I think I'm going to make scarves.  And donate them.  To charity.  This yarn deserves better kharma than its original purpose.

What I love about Sumo

Strength

Baruto is 50lbs heavier and almost a full foot taller, and yet Goeido proves that size doesn't matter. (Though I don't think he could do that with 550lb Yamamotoyama.)

Sportsmanship

No, these guys aren't Japanese. Baruto in blue is from Estonia, Kotooshu from Bulgaria. I love the Europeans because they're very polite and very careful with their opponents. Notice how Kotooshu catches Baruto the second that he's won to ensure he doesn't fall and risk injury.

Suspense

Bouts like this are amazing. One shift of the weight, one placement of the foot, and everything can change in a second.

Surprises

Asashoryu had a perfect 9-0 record coming into this match. He's the highest-ranked rikishi in the country, with seniority to one other grand champion (yokozuna), Hakuho. But Harumafuji (my very, very, very favorite) proves that even a yokozuna can be beaten.

Orchids and Cyclamen and Croci, Oh My

Meager Attempts

Shedir is finished and awaiting transport.  It was a great knit - fun and interesting but not too challenging - and showed me where I seriously need to improve my knitting skills. 

My stitches are grossly uneven and before I attempt some fancy socks I've had my eye on I'm going to need more practice.  Of course, knitting would be the way to practice so I should just knit them, right?  Right.

Anyway, one attempt at comfort taken care of.

Unfortunately, the other can only be satisfied by prayers at this point.  That girl I mentioned passed away yesterday.  I never met her and don't remember speaking to her mother, but they were both very dear to my knitting circle and their pain is heavy on my heart today.

So, what to do?  The only thing I can.  Make you laugh.

What follows is how I spent last Friday evening.  I'm not intentionally mocking my Mom here - we were all getting the hang of computers at some point.  I did tell both my parents - when they were firing questions at me and not letting me finish a sentence - that they are worse than cardiologists, but that is because ... I love them?  Anyway, enjoy:

Mom: So how do I send the meeting minutes to the group?
Me: You click here where it says compose email.
Mom: And then what?
Me:  The email window opens.  *demonstrates*
Mom: OK.  *gets pen and paper and begins to write*  Click ... what did I click?
Me: Compose email.
Mom: *writes* Compose email.  Then what?
Me: Then you write the email.
Mom: I type the minutes in it?
Me: Why?  Put them in a word doc and attach them.
Mom: How do I do that?
Me: Do what?
Mom: Put the minutes in word .... what?
Me: Word document?
Mom: Yes. *writes* word document
Me: Go to start and then programs and .. oh, hold on.  *pins Word to Start Menu*  Just click on start and Word is right here.
Mom: Right where?
Me: Here, Mom, where it says word.
Mom: *writes* Start.
Me: So you type something here *keysmashes* and save it and call it whatever you want
Mom: What should I call it?
Me: o_O I don't know, Mom, they're your meeting minutes.
Dad: How about "minutes" and the date *bites lips to keep from laughing*
Mom: OK.  How do I save it?
Me: Click the save button.
Mom: Where is that?
Me: Didn't you take a class on Word?
Mom: Yes, but it was useless.
Me: You don't even know how to save?
Mom: I can't help it.  I've never done this before.
Me: OK, the save button is right here at the top.
Mom: What does it look like? *squints*
Me: Like a floppy.
Mom: I thought you said no one uses floppies anymore.
Me: You don't even want to get into that.  Trust me.  Now, you write your minutes and you save it.
Mom: OK. *writes* Save.
Me: And in your email you address it and put a subject and attach the file.
Mom: How do I ....
Me: You type in the address here, type in a subject here.
Mom: What should the subject be?
Me: Mom?  Are you doing this to me on purpose?
Mom: *innocently* Doing what?
Dad: *turns face away to hide laughter*
Me: OK, call it whatever you want. In this case, "meeting minutes" would be good.
Dad: And the date.
Me: And the date.
Mom: OK. *writes* Subject with date.
Me: And click here where it says attach file and browse to it.
Mom: *doesn't even bother to verbalize*
Me: When it opens this window, it will default to documents.  Unless you saved it somewhere else it will be there.  *sees that we're logged into Dad's account and knows that issue will come up where minutes were saved in one account and she'll be in the other.  Decide to just not mention it.*
Mom: OK. *writes*
Me: Click on the file and press the open button.
Mom: But what if I don't need to open it?
Me: It won't.  It's just a button.  It says open, but it won't.
Mom: o_O
Me: Bill Gates, Mom.  Just let it go.
Dad:*leaves the room to laugh in private*
Mom: OK, so we attached the file.
Me: Yes, and it will appear here.  Then just write the email and send it.
Mom: Why do I have to write anything?
Me: Just something like, "Here's the minutes from the last meeting."
Mom: Why?
Me: Because it's nice.
Mom: *rolls eyes*
Me: Because sometimes emails that have attachments but no text are blocked because they might be viruses.
Mom: Oh, OK. So, what do I write?
Me: *face in hands* It doesn't matter, Mom. Write whatever you want.
Mom: *writes*
Cat: *circles my ankles supportively*
Me: So, you think you got it?
Mom: I'll call you.
Me: I get $100 an hour.
Mom: Hrmph.
Me: Or dinner.
Mom: I can afford that.

Not entirely unexpected

So when the pattern said that it will use an entire ball with none left for swatching, I knew that it was unlikely and that I was going to need another ball.  But I held hope.  In vain.  Got to row 66 of 83 and this is where I'll have to join a new one.  The rest of the rows are the crown, so of course it will be all decreases and I'll use a fraction of the second ball, but that's OK.  This is one of my favorite colors (periwinkle in case your monitor is lying) and I'll make something with the rest.  Maybe matching ipod and cell phone sleeves or something. 

I hear that.  You're wondering about gauge.  Well, to be honest ... no.  Didn't check.  But not because I'm stupid or lazy!  There's no way I can knit this yarn (Rowan Calmer) on anything smaller than the 3s it's on, and I can't knit any tighter, either.  That makes gauge a moot point, right?  As in, no other options than what I've got?  It's a one-size hat pattern, after all.  And one size it shall be.  This one.

It could be worse

For those of you who haven't heard, I'm job searching again.  Though the new administration and promised funding will be great for the EMR industry, too many doctors had adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and no sales = no money.  So, I was laid off, but amicably - I'll be free-lancing for them a bit until I find something new.

But, honestly, I can't even feel badly about it.  Too many horrible things are happening to too many people in the world for me to be upset that I can't shop anymore.  Friends of friends have daughters in ICUs awaiting lung transplants and relatives of friends have ovarian cancer and I can't even go into the devastation in Australia and other parts of the world.  Being jobless just isn't that awful.  Yet.

I keep seeing questions about what my ideal career path would be and what my dream job would be like.  I just end up thinking, "Does it matter?  Would you pay me what I want to make to do what I want to do?  No.  So stop rubbing it in."  What would I do, you ask, tentatively?  Dig wells in Africa.  That job doesn't pay very well.  I assume.  They don't list jobs like that on Monster, either.

So, the best I can do is be supportive to those who need it and reorganize my closets now that I have the time and maybe catch up on my reading or any other free activities.  And knit.  This is a chemo cap for tragically-blogless Anna's MIL.  There's a young woman in an ICU bed, as well, who is collecting paper cranes.  As you pray for a seemingly unending list of those in need, please think of them, too.