Tuesday, May 24, 2005

SP Questionnaire

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I try to be a yarn snob. Here in Israel the only wool sold is up to 30% wool, so when I can't get yarn from overseas I'm stuck, but my long-term goal is wean myself away from petro-chemicals. I do like Lion Brand's Magic Stripes, though.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
Both. I spin whatever I can get my hands on (even dryer lint and cotton balls) and have about a dozen spindles, a Louet S-10 wheel, and a Babe charka. I mainly crochet yarmulkas in #5 or #8 crochet thread, but I also like crocheting with beads and with audio tape.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
I don't, but The Spouse is allergic to pets (our cat lives outdoors) and perfumes.

4. How long have you been knitting?
About 15 years, though intensively only 6 or 7. I've been crocheting 35 years and spinning 3.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I have an Amazon wish list.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Rose, and after that citrus.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes, but I keep strictly kosher, so any sweets must have rabbinical certification (like the OU, OK, Kof-K, etc.).

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I weave with a Kromski rigid heddle, I do some basic beading and want to learn more, I sometimes cross stitch (less than I used to, but since my daughter's gotten into it, I've started again), and I garden. I love miniatures, but don't have time to learn as much about them as I'd like.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
My computer can play MP3s. I like contemporary Israeli music, Broadway, and the music I grew up with--the 1970s and 1980s.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Right now my favorite colors are orange and deep purple (no, not together. I'm strange, but not crazy!), but before that it was shades of blue. In
general, I prefer stronger, more saturated colors. I don't totally hate anything, though I can't say I'm particularly fond of chartruese. (Except as a word. I adore the word. Just say it a few times, roll it around your mouth. Doesn't it just have the best bite?)

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married and have one teenaged son, two teenaged daughters. We also have a 2 year old cat.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
To live on the beach in Gush Katif (which we may yet do within the next year or two). To own an RV and travel around the States, working 4 days a week and touring the other 2. (And then there's the Sabbath). To live long enough to spin/knit/crochet/weave all my stash. To be the world's coolest grandmother and the mother of a weapons designer, a groundbreaking historian, and an award-winner director. To be married to the world's best scribe. To edit the Great American Novel.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
So far my favorites are anything I've spun myself. In Israel I don't have access to most of the name brand yarns, so I might like them were I ever to try them.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Audio tape's a pain (literally) to work with. I also don't like very plastic-y acrylics, and I can see only very limited uses for fun-fur.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Socks. I love self-patterning yarn.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Socks.

17. What are you knitting right now?
Socks (notice a trend?)

18. What do you think about ponchos?
In theory I like them, but since I cover my hair for religious reasons, I can't really wear them; when I take a poncho off, my head scarf tends to go along for the ride.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular--they can do what a straight can, but backwards and in high heels.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
In general bamboo, but for socks I like plastic (love Bryspun for larger gauge socks!).

21. Are you a sock knitter?
See answers 15, 16, and 17 above. :-)

22. How did you learn to knit?
I saw a sweater pattern in a women's magazine, liked it, and asked a neighbor to teach me knit and purl. The rest I taught myself.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
My Mariah, 8 months stranded in UFO land.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Tweety Bird, and any mouse character.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Sukkot--the guys do the hard work, and we have most of a week to hang out with the family.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Dust bunnies and worries. Frequent flyer points. Scripts from the 1976-1981 TV show Eight is Enough.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None. When I'm in the States I load up on whatever looks interesting. I do subscribe to Spin-Off, though.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Double Weaving on the Rigid Heddle Frame Loom. I've got to learn how to produce cloth for sewing. Any books having to do with my kids' family histories.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Clearing up loose ends

Or: Why I love wireless access.

I'm sitting here at Newark Airport, waiting for my flight to West Palm. Trying to answer one of the fundamental questions of the universe: why does El-Al show movies from 2003 on their 2005 flights? The only movie worth watching was Coach Carter.

Before I get to my parents, gotta tie up some loose ends.

End #1: Flower week. I love altheas. Can't imagine why.




I finished the black kippah from the kippalong. Final stats: Bulky weight 100% Pima cotton. Started with a figure 8 cast on (6 stitches) and increased up to 72 stitches by knitting one row plain, knitting the next as k(n), yo, k(n), yo, where (n) increases by one each time. After I hit 72 stitches I knit plain for 2 rows, then did a pattern of purl diamonds (9 stitches: k4, p1, k4 the first row, k3, p3, k3 the second, k2, p5, k2 the last) and then four rows of garter stitch before BO.

When I left home it was still blocking:


The Spouse tends to wear his kippot inside out. Too bad, Honey, there is no inside out on this baby!

I almost didn't make it this far. Sunday night I left the house, and when we got down the hill, the army wouldn't let us continue. A Palestinian Arab had littered the road with 3 road-side bombs. Luckily there's a side path (I wouldn't dignify it with the name "dirt road" which in the 14 years I've been living here I've never travelled down. We took it and proved that everything happens for a reason--if the car hadn't been in the garage over a nonsense bit of repair, it would have been wrecked on that path. Think this means we've already had our weekly attempt to kill us all?
Oops--that's my flight they're calling. See you next where the sun always shines (except in hurricane season)!

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Eurotrash

OK, OK, I have to admit it. I'm a Euroweenie. I love the Eurovision song contest! For sheer humor and outrageousness, there's nothing to beat it. I never get the voting quite right (I thought our entry would never do as well as it did--Shiri Maimon's English teachers ought to be very proud of themselves), but how can you beat silly costumes (times three, when you count in the videos and the semi-finals), the ridiculous accents, the cheesy choreography, and the laughable songs? It's three hours of the best comedy on TV.

This year was all about ethno-pop. I thought the Moldavian song did it best; I want to be Gramnda Boonika when I grow up (I already have the head scarf. Or, as we said last night--"Hey, look, it's Daniella Weiss's mother on stage!") I was sure the Swiss song would win; I'm still humming it. Norway's song was great as long as you kept your eyes closed and didn't have to look at WigWam's glam-rock costumes. Spain looked like they were doing a TV commercial for a pasta company. The FYR Macedonia (can't they come up with a shorter name?) song is much better than the video would have you believe; it's amazing how distracting costumes which have been run through paper shredders can be. And the Croatian song is not half as good as the clip. Too bad they couldn't get bell jars on stage. Andorra -- the less said the better. And it's a good thing the UK has to do the semi-finals next year.

The strangest twist of fate: Israel always scream "politics" and "anti-Semitism" when we don't do very well. Since we came in fourth, I was wondering how we would scream it this year, but Europe found a way. The French singer, all the way down near the bottom of the chart, is Israeli!

All the Eurovision needs to make it complete? Simon.

Quote of the day from my 17 year old son, before he went back to the dorms this morning: "You must be a bird, Mama?"
"Why?"
"Because you fly so much." (accompanied by wicked 17 year old snickers).

Friday, May 20, 2005

Knitting content on a knitting blog is a *good* thing

I loeave for FL on Sunday night. I'm not ready at all--even the Great Wall of Mama is still blank.



I wanted to finish with my KALs before I left (well, aside from Mariah, which is stalled at 4 line in to the first sleeve). I'm slowly making progress on my Industrial Monkey for the Not Yarn Along, but knitting with audio tape is a pain. Literally. Think of knitting with cotton, only 10 times worse. I can manage about 2-3 rows a day before I start hurting all up and down my right arm. Good thing the KAL is through August.


One thing I do love on this project is my nifty yarn bobbins


The other KAL is the Kippalong. The pattern is not written for bulky cotton, so I'm playing it by ear.

Attempt #1 (how to turn a silk purse into a sow's ear):



The Spouse's reaction? "Even my head isn't that pointy. What is that, a kippah for a Keebler elf?"

Attempt #2 (snarky comment still to be decided upon):





I picked up my father's birthday gift, a case for the megillah The Spouse wrote him 5 years ago.



The text has my father's name, the date of the party, and the saying "At 80 comes courage." I think we should have gotten a silver case instead of olivewood, but I was overruled. That's OK, I was just the writer of the text and the shlephorse who went and got the thing. My sister can take the blame, if there is any, for choice of materials.

The other thing I got down for my trip was the head scarf to match my good skirt. I'm getting better with the weave, but really need to work on my selvages.




I finally got with the local fashion program yesterday and bought myself a sack (along with 2 seersucker skirts, but those The Spouse made me buy. He's such an impulse buyer...)



I told The Spouse I wanted it for its wide strap, since the narrow little strap on mine, combined with the weigth I carry, was hurting my shoulder. After we bought the bag we were walking down Yaffo Road, and as we start to cross the X Junction The Spouse starts in on me that I should start using my new bag. "But it'll be such a pain. I have to start pulling things out of the old one, transferring them to the new..." I say, trying to explain Flogic.

A women turns to us, and in NY English says: "Mens just don't understand sacks."

Poor Spouse almost bust a gut. "We don't understand *what*?"

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Tag, I'm it!

From the ever-vintage yarn ho:

Pick five and fill in the blank then pass it on to three (or more!) victims friends (and no backsies!):

If I could be a scientist…
If I could be a farmer…
If I could be a musician…
If I could be a doctor…
If I could be a painter…
If I could be a gardener…
If I could be a missionary…
If I could be a chef…
If I could be an architect…
If I could be a linguist…
If I could be a psychologist…
If I could be a librarian…
If I could be an athlete…
If I could be a lawyer…
If I could be an inn-keeper…
If I could be a professor…
If I could be a writer…
If I could be a llama-rider…
If I could be a bonnie pirate…
If I could be an astronaut…
If I could be a world famous blogger…
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world…
If I could be married to any current famous political
figure…

If I could be a world famous blogger I wouldn't have to worry about what to do during my six hour layover at JFK on June 2. People would flock from the entire tri-state area to see me. (Hey, NYC area bloggers--anyone up for a KIP session at JFK on the evening of June 2?)

If I could be married to any current famous political figure it would be George Bush. And then I'd harrangue him every night until he told Ariel Sharon to stop the madness he's planning, and until he fully recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. (At first I was going to say it would be Ariel Sharon, but just look at the man. Would you want to even think about sex with him? Ewww....)

If I could be a doctor I would make sure to listen to my patients, particularly women around *that* age. I'd run tests, just to be sure, instead of dismissing it as "empty nest syndrome" or "menopause." (I learned all this from my cardiologist, Dr. Park, who was the first doctor in 15 years to really look at my tests and treat my problem. It was there all along and obvious, but until Dr. Park I was always a "hysterical housewife" and so not truly as deserving of treatment as, say, The Spouse.)

If I could be a professor I would probably be kicked out of academia for having politically incorrect views, but I'd keep writing and trying to publish, just so kids like The Middle Teen could read some academic text which didn't demonize people just like her.

If I could be a gardener then my garden would look more like



ruffled altheas!




striped altheas!




herbs!



fiber plants!



But since I'm not a gardener, what I've shown is only about 5% of my yard, and the rest is the sad truth:



Victims...victims. Shiknits, because I read her and know what my own teens are probably saying behind my back, Rachel Ann, because she's one of the most perceptive bloggers I know, (hey, di dthey ever fix that hole in your town's fence?) and Backspace, because new content is desperately needed there.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

An army travels on its stomach, a police force on its...

Last night was the big trial run of some anti-expulsion movements. Throughout the country, intersections were blocked in an illegal protest. Yes, illegal--let's call it what it was; most of these protests had no permit and those which did had no permits for what they ended up doing. But let's add in another fact: they were protesting against the government. Who exactly was going to give them any permit? Did the Ukrainian government give permits to the Orange Revolution? Was Mandela given permits by the South African government?

I have to admit I am of two minds when it comes to roadblocking. As a driver who often needs to get somewhere on time (like to the airport) I despise them. But I know they are effective--they do disrupt normal life, reminding drivers that for some people, life will not be normal again (check out the statistics on those forced to leave the Sinai). (And, of course, nothing the anti-expulsion people can do will rival what the trade unions do by holding general strikes several times a year for weeks at a time.) I understand that permits for anti-disengagment protests are not easy to come by, yet I am almost pathologically law-abiding. I know that every successful grass-roots change of government left some in jail, but selfishly don't want the jailed to include my family.

Others have written about the protests last night. I want to write about a disturbing trend in the police reaction to protest by women and girls. There have been hints here and there on Hebrew language sites, but nothing major, which also disturbs me.

Increasingly, police deal with women, and especially with teenaged girls, through sexual harrassment and humiliation. When the girls protest, they are told to "take it to Internal Affairs--but they won't do anything."

Some of the stories sound like something Newsweek would cover if it were happening in Iraq and it were American soldiers instead of Israeli police, Muslim prisoners instead of Jewish. Three girls have told of how, when they were cuffed hand and foot, policemen groped their chests and between their legs, sometimes with policewomen in the room watching. Girls I know spoke of soldiers who, during last week's protest outside the Beer Shava courtroom, went around lifting the shirts of as many girls as they could catch. (When trying to drag a sit-down protester, I understand you sometimes have to grab the shirt. This was not the case here: the girls said their shirts were lifted when they were standing, and lifted way up.)

Not very much of this is being reported, and understandably. Most of these girls are between 13 and 16. All they know is that they feel abused and humiliated. Most wouldn't even know to whom to turn to report this. Some may feel it's their fault (I knew I was going to a protest where there would be male soldiers. I shouldn't have worn a shirt and skirt, I should have worn a dress with pants underneath...) We've heard all this before; it's the classic story of sexual abuse of those for whom one feels contempt, as a group, as a class, or individually. It's the siren song of absolute power twisted with something inhuman.

I read (again, in the Hebrew press--why doesn't this stuff seem to make the English news) that the State Attorney General is trying to decide if Jewish settlers have the basic human rights guaranteed under Israeli law. Are settlers human?

Rachel Ann calls on even those who are in favor of Sharon's plan to speak out against the silencing of the opposition. I join her call, and add my own. Does anyone think that abusers will stop their abuse once the current question is settled? "Boys will be boys" and they will continue from the Beer Sheva courthouse to Massiyahu Prison to your local neighborhood pub -- and G-d help the girl who gets in their way.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Israeli Independence Day, or The Clap Goes Political

This year's Independence Day was so much better than last. First, The Spouse was home. Second, it only took our bus three hours to get to Neve Dekalim instead of the nine hours it took last year. Third, it was temperate-to-cool, so I got to wear my politically-correct-for-the-venue Clapotis



I love the strech of land between Shirat HaYam and the lake. On Thursday it was crowded with people, but you could still find empty stretches



But once we got to the lake area, where the speechifying was to take place, it was wall-to-wall people:








I know the struggle costs money, but I found the commercialization disturbing. Every time I turned around, another one of Noam Livnat's daughters was trying to get me to buy some Gush Katif product. I have to wonder--since they're from Elon Moreh, why aren't they concentrating on saving north Shomron?

Some more shots of the beauty that is Gush Katif:





And the saddest picture, the terrace of the Hof Dekalim hotel, which has been without guests for the past 5 years and has fallen into massive disrepair:



Next up: I've been tagged!

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

WIP Wednesday

I'm not a KAL ho. Really not. I did finish 2 KALs before I signed up for another 2.

Branching out is blocking:



The Youngest Teen loves it, and the only reason she won't be wearing it tomorrow when we go to Independence Day celebrations in Gaza is that she'd suffocate there in wool, even lace.
Now The Middle Teen wants one, too. I have the perfect yarn for it, but first I need to finish up a few other fibery committments. Before next winter, though. If I forget, remind me, OK?

I also finished my second pair of MeKAL socks.



Meanwhile, I'm continuing with the Not Yarn KAL. I'll be making a version of the Cocktail Monkey (which, for some reason, I keep calling "Chunky Monkey"). I already ran out of "yarn" once--happily, there are no dye lots on audio tape.

Yom HaZikaron

Today is the state's memorial day for the fallen soldiers and victims of enemy activity. (I know the ideological reasons behind it, but I still prefer the general day of mourning on the 10th of Tevet; why cut all these people off from the continuum of Jewish mourning simply because they're Israeli?)

In memory of
Magen Friedman, killed in Lebanon. Two points, Magen. You always did win, and we're the ones who lost. (In Hebrew)

David and Rachel Gavish, along with their son and her father
Shlomo Miller
Gilad Zar
Hillel Lieberman
Rachel Shabo and three of her sons
Yaackov Parag


(Of course, like most Israelis, I know more fallen soldiers and terror victims than this. But I knew Magen since he was a little boy. The first four terror victims I listed had sons in The Oldest Teen's elementary school class [4 parents killed from a total of 36]) and the last 3 had girls in the Middle Teen's class.)

Yehi zikram baruch
Hashem Yikom damam

Monday, May 09, 2005

And so it begins

Yesterday Neriyah Ofan from Yitzhar was arrested and placed in administrative detention. Administrative detention is what they call it when a regime wants to arrest citizens but has no case against them. Lots of South American and Middle Eastern countries. Thsoe countries tend to get invaded by the US sooner or later; Israel, though, will probably get an increasing aid grant the more arrests are made.

Lest you think detention just means being locked in a jail cell and watching cable TV all day -- I have neighbors who've been through the routine. It means beatings, psychological torture, threats. It's certainly no summer vacation.

I'm not too well acquainted with Neriyah. In this area, men and women don't tend to hang out together. I know his wife Naomi well, though--she was homeroom teacher for The Middle Teen two years and The Youngest another two and a half. I saw her husband at parties and at PTA nights, and he always struck me as a kind, gentle man.

I have a theory. There are two types in this world--the constructive and destructive. Constructive people try to change public opinion by building, be it settlements or grassroots movements (Neriyah is one of the organizers of Sivuv Shearim, the monthly circling of Jerusalem's Old City walls.) The destructive plan attacks against the "enemy," be that enemy Arab or fellow Jews. These are two distinct types, and constructive people do not go around planting bombs in Arab schools -- they're too busy planning how to build good things, hoping good will crowd out bad, to plot impotent showpieces of violence.

So why is it the secret services arrest only the constructive types?

If anyone can arrange interviews with the local or international press, Naomi Ofan's phone numbers are (country code 972, then remove the first 0 if calling from outside Israel) cell: 052-4767131, home: 02-9400265.

A side note: Neriyah was arrested at the entrance to Jerusalem, with his wife and at least one child in the car. As Noami was making her way home, husband missing, she was attacked and firebombed.

I've never really classified myself as a Zionist. When I moved here, I did it to move to the Land of Israel, not the State of Israel. I have seen nothing in my nearly 15 years here to change my mind, so I won't be joining in Batya's flag-flying. I'm proud to live in Eretz Yisroel; I couldn't care less about what the State of Israel thinks of where I live.

Call me haredi, just don't call me late to the Independence Day barbeque!

P.S. to the secret services: My whole family will be out of the country this summer, something planned two years ago, so no need to arrest any of us as a preemptive measure. Thanks, anyway.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Readers write

aka: my responses to a bunch of comments
aka: if I'm not at MD$W, I might as well take care of business

Muse and Mark reponded to my solo boycott of Hitchhiker because of Alan Rickman's particpation in both the movie and the London travesy of a show about (get ready for non-PC langauge) St. Pancake (shout out to my fellow LGF readers!). Muse, I didn't know Rachel Druk or Rachel Weiss, but I remember the night Rachel Druk was killed; I was at the demonstration that night. I sat in the tent at the bend of the road that eventually became Rachelim, and The Spouse wrote the first mezuzot which were placed on doorways by Mr. Rappaport. Mark, isn't it nice when politics saves you from wasting a few hours of disappointment? And I love the actor's new name--I think I'll adopt it.

Snooze, who got to go to a bookbookbook reading: If there's anything specific you want to know about Israel, just ask. Catherine, you pegged it--now that I've put away Passover (the last meat grinder was put away today; last year I never did find a space for it at all), I have survived!

Crazy Aunt Purl left me a comment--w00t! But be warned, m'dear--as my contribution to getting all Jews to live in Israel, if I ever get to LA I'm going to try to get Aharon to move home.

Andrea asked about controling th tape I plan to use for the Not Yarn Along. Truth is, I don't plan to. I love the way the reflection of light changes as the tape twists and turns, and since I don't plan to make anything wearable with it (this time) I don't need to be a perfectionist. Besides--who ever heard of a woman remaining a perfectionist when she harbors 3 teens?

And last but not least (especially to The Middle Teen): about that piercing. No way, no how, fuggedboutit. Nice try, Muse & Andrea, but the Creative Genius (no question mark here!) got it right--my house, my rules. If I thought she wanted the extra hole for some real reason, maybe she'd get it, but she wants it because other girls have it. Rosenblog said it better than I could: "The biggest problem here isn't [a piercing]. It's the idea that individuality comes from conformist costuming."

Google Referrals: For the person who came in looking for "camp maayanot"--send your daughter--it's great. For the person who was looking knitting classes in Sugarland Texas, I think I once saw a Sugarland knitting Yahoo group.

And finally, a link for anyone who thinks that my work is boring: Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, all about how the ancients viewed menstruation and stories of supfetation. What a fun Sunday evening read!

Friday, May 06, 2005

Only in Israel

We got a letter from National Insurance. They are sending our file over to their debt collection division because we owe them--

Ready for this?

-1 NIS!

That's right--they are going to try to collect a negative number. Sure, I could have prevented this by sending in the form that tells them where I want them to send the 1 shekel they owe me, but a stamp costs something like 1.33 shekel.

Only in Israel.

Cotton growing season has begun



Yeah, this is probably not the best way to start the season, but it worked for me last year (as did ignoring a lot of other conventional advice; I ended up with more cotton than I could spin over the year).

Why I won't be seeing Hitchhikers'

I knew Rachel Gavish and Rachel Shabu. Rachel G taught The Middle Teen, and not long before she was murdered RG gave my girl a mid-term 100. "I never give these," RG told me at the PTA conference, "but her average is 103. I have to be fair." Rachel Corrie's friends were/are a lot of things, but fair isn't one of them. Rachel Shabu's daughter was in The Middle Teen's class. RS was the perennial PTA mom; none of us had to worry that we'd get stuck with the chore as long as RS was around. Yesterday The Spouse saw RS's mom -- she still, of course, feels the loss of her daughter and grandsons. Both of these Rachels were sitting at home with their families when murder burst through the door. Who's going to write plays about them?

Edited to add:

The Jerusalem Post article requires a free registration. If you want to read the article without registering, try the user name yeahright1 and password yeahright2 (courtesy of BugMeNot.com).

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Not cotton

The post on the glories of growing cotton is hereby postponed for this breaking newsflash:

I am an idjit.

No, really.

I wanted to warp my loom today. It felt like a Where's Waldo exercise--how many mistakes can you find?

1. 10 epi does not mean 10 slots per inch. If you want something 20 inches wide, you do not thread 200 slots worth of warp.

2. While the Spouse may be very tensiong, he is not great at putting tension on the warp.

3. When pulling threads through the holes, do not split the warp thread so badly you break it.

4. 6 ends means six. That's one more than the digits on one hand. 4 is not 6.

5. When rolling warp onto the back beam, there is a correct and an incorrect direction to wind. Use the correct.

And that was just the easily corrected mistakes. It took me 4.5 hours to warp the stupid loom because--

Reapeat after me--

I AM AN IDJIT!!!!

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

A ROAK and three KALs

Carrie from Southern Fried Knitting sent me a card on the most gorgeous notepaper.



The picture doesn't do it justice--let's just say that both The Middle Teen (an aspiring artist) and The Spouse (a paid artist) went bonkers over it. Thanks, Carrie!

KAL updates, a day late:
My Branching Out has a name--Autumn Leaves.



Since the yarn is singles, I'll need to severly block it, and lace does not show up too well in stripe-y yarn, but still, The Youngest Teen is loving it, and since it's for her, away we go. One third down, two thirds of the way to try to memorize something beyond row 1 and the even rows.

I made headway on the second pair of MeKAL socks. They're as fraternal as fraternal twins get (hello, you idiot, can't you even watch which repeat you start with? Sheesh) but the recipient won't mind. She'll know how much work went into these, since she knit them.



And yes, that is a nude loom they're perched on. The loom itself is in the other room right now, getting warped.

And I bought more yarn--this time for the Not Yarn Along. Yarn for a not-yarn KAL? See if you can ID it.




No? Here's a hint:




Next up: Cotton, cotton, cotton, and cotton.

Monday, May 02, 2005

Post-Passover Roundup

I knew there was a reason why we moved to Israel. Visiting with B's brother from NYC over the weekend reminded me of it -- and am I glad I live here, scandals and what passes for journalism. (Israeli readers who know where I live: It was the gate to a house, for crying out loud. It gets closed on the man's own kid about four times a day, and all they need is a kiss from Mommy, so explain why a grown man "has" to spend hours in the emergency room?)

Friday we did anothers section of the Israel National Trail. We started from the Movil Junction


.

The fun part of the trail is searching for the signage. Sometimes it's obvious



and sometimes very faint



(The marks are on the log just above the hole.)

We walked, and walked



and then walked some more, saw some sights



(I thought this was a skull from a distance, but it turned out to be a tree worm cocoon. I wonder if I could spin it?)

and some beautiful views






Here I am, standing by the side of the road!




Now it's back to work, back to school, back to regular blogging. Tomorrow: Tuesday is KAL day and RAOK.