Free Speech

It all started after I attended the ICHE Illinois State convention Thursday and Friday. They feel very strongly about a husband's duty to control his wife and children. When they stated the father's "job" was to determine what the children's future aspirations would be I tried stay as calm as possible before I got the heck out of there. I was worried I wouldn't get myself to attend any other workshops as this kicked off the convention. Oh brother! I was pretty picky about the following sessions I went into. There were a few writing workshops put on by the Institute for Excellence in Writing that were great. On Saturday I attended another homeschool conference in Joliet. Here the message was we, as parents and educators, need to provide as broad a course of study as possible. How are we to determine God's plan for them? Exactly! I stayed for the rest of this workshop. I really do appreciate how Americans are able to express their opinions. You just won't see me attending a pro-war rally or a Republican convention in the near future.
Now for the knitting project update:
I am currently suffering from second sock and second fingerless mitt syndrome. I finally invented a seamless fingerless mitt pattern that when completed fit my son to his specifications. "Mom, where's the other one?" That's what I've been asking myself about my socks I've been working on too. I'm sure I'll get back to them right after I start another project.

I'm considering joing the World Cup KAL.Cast on June 9th during the opening game and finish by the final match on July 9th. This may be the motivation I need to start and finish the Jaywalker socks I've been wanting to do for a few months.

Brain fart

This is what we called it in High School when your brain would temporarily be out of order. Lately my mental capacity has been on a downward spiral. Last night while gathering with the gals for sit 'n stitch a fellow stitcher, Heather shot me a "what the hell is wrong with your brain" look. For some unknown reason when Sandy mentioned her Church had a priest visiting from Nicaragua I thought she said Nigeria. I responded with "the church I attend has a priest from Africa too". I realized after Heather's look what Sandy had said and felt like a complete moron. I really know Central America and Africa are in completely different parts of the world. I blame this incident on my years of selective listening. I'm really good at being able to tune parts of conversations out. This is extremely useful at family gatherings not so much at round table discussions.

Seeing green.

The first weekend of May means lots of work around our house. It's time to open the pool in anticipation of hot summer days. We should take bets on what color the water will be once the winter cover is removed. This year the winning color was Lagoon Green....

Now it's a nice blue-green.

We're getting closer.

Red Sweater Project

Current number of American soldiers killed in the Iraq conflict:2416

I came accross this site tonight. The project titled "Red Sweaters Art Installation" was inspired by the war in Iraq. Anyone who can knit or crochet can participate in her effort to collect "mini" red sweaters. To date she has over 1500 sweaters hung on her trees. Each sweater represents an American soldier killed in Iraq since 2003. The picture of the tree in her front yard would make anyone think about how many lives are affected by this War.

Webs order!

I received my order from Webs today. If you haven't checked out their May sale you really should, the prices are unbelievable. I still can't get over my "shouldn't buy wool because it's so not vegan" phase so I ended up with cotton. Lion Brand thick & quick 100% cotton. Hey for $1.00 per skein I'll give it a try. I have been wanting to find the right yarn for a couple of bathmats so now I've got the yarn.

If you do order from them make sure you know the shipping and tax fees before you have sticker shock like I had. A $12 order turned into $22 with shipping.
The ladies at SNB need to keep luring me with their tempting animal fibers so I'll have something to shop for come Midwest Stitches time. Webs sent me loads of samples to tempt me too and many of them are so soft and colorful. Hey, I'm a vegetarian anyway so the occasional purchase of animal fiber should fit nicely into my lifestyle. Right??