I Almost Forgot to Add a Title

Status, Dog Sweater: complete, except for the fact that I have to actually undo part of the neck and sleeves so it will fit. So … not really. I could lie. She fits in it okay. But it’s not right yet. I blame Audrey. She used to be a pound and a half heavier, which is a lot for a roughly 10-pound dog, and it kinda screwed up my original measurements.  What do you do with an extra 2 inches of width on a dog sweater?  Hard to figure.  In lieu of that, this:

The “Freedom of Information Act” Questionnaire:  (seems a topical name) Periodically I like to mess up the flow of my blog by inserting sudden question-and-answer sessions. I found a good one on the Stitch Bitch blog, interesting because actual bloggers made up the questions. The first 5 are from Doaleigh, who I don’t know, and the second 5 are from Sitch Bitch, who I do know in that internet-ey way. There are rules, below, but no one should feel burdened by participation or close rule-following, because I clearly didn’t follow the rules too precisely.  Like Ms. SB, I will answer the questions I ask.

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (And your e-mail address if I don’t already have it, please.)
2. I will respond by e-mailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

DOALEIGH QUESTIONS

1. Would you rather be beautiful but always smell terrible or be ugly but smell lovely? Hm, a choice between ugliness and ugliness. Neither. (I really am not a rule follower.)

2. The old adage says to regret nothing, and that’s probably true. But if you could change something you’ve done, what would it be and why? I consider regret to generally be a self-flagellating exercise in futility best ignored (ranks second to guilt, which I just have no time for), but nevertheless, I’m pretty sure I regret not eating lunch today.

3. What are some of your nicknames? Tell us the stories behind them. I was small and nerdy, so I got appropriate nicknames from that – Little People and Four Eyes. Junior high nicknames relating to being a silly junior high girl. My brother has about 3,000 for me, typically highly inappropriate and nonsensical. I am often called Mouse at new jobs by coworkers who don’t know me  (later they call me stubborn). My uncle calls me Trout, and won’t tell me why, and I’m not convinced he knows anymore either.

4. What is one of your own favorite physical features and why? Also, you should show us a picture (if appropriate). Another pic? No. I like my eyes, which seem to change color sometimes.

5. When was the last time you cried and why? Audrey. See last post.

Bonus question: Who is John Galt? I don’t know who that is. Since AVS mentioned it, I never read Ayn Rand. That wasn’t my brand of quack philosophy.

STITCH BITCH QUESTIONS

1. The local news media shows up on your doorstep. It turns out your neighbor is a serial killer. You cannot say, “He was so quiet. This is such a shock. This kind of thing doesn’t happen here.” What do you say? (You can choose the neighbor.) I would fail to be surprised. I just had a neighbor arrested last year for something disturbing. Serial killers, I suppose, have to live somewhere, and it’s no good stereotyping where I think they ought to live.

2. What’s the greatest invention created in your lifetime? I pick the Macintosh. Perhaps if I did not mine would become angry. Actually, because I have no idea what I would do with myself without my Mac. I am a big nerd.

3. What was your best job? Being a TA. Even though the academia thing didn’t much work out, I enjoyed teaching and grading and the questions from students, and I really liked the professor I worked for.

4. Over the next 18 months, we’re all likely going to have to cut back. Where will you make these cuts? What luxury will fight to save? Will you actually come to blows? I will probably not cut back anywhere. We are already very conservative and overly analytical people, so it really be ridiculous for us to do this more.

5. Are you a good speller? Yes. While there are a few words that trip me up consistently (usually because I truly feel they ought to be spelled differently), mostly I am very precise. I once regularly won spelling bees. I have trophies. With bees on them. Please proceed to find the spelling error in this post, yes, I know it’s here.

I do wonder what I will do if someone asks me to interview them.

Flour Sacks

In my blog reading, I see a lot about people reusing things, making dresses out of pillow cases and bedsheets, exchanging clothing, and many other such thrifty and recycling-oriented occupations.  I’ve even seen people make things out of nothing but selvedges!

I was reminded of this when I was in Iowa, adding my blog to my grandparents’ email. This little poem about flour sacks was on the screen while I was doing it.  Flour sacks are incredibly useful (so are feed sacks and coffee sacks), I still use them when I find them in stores (antique stores, usually). Indeed they are a part of “Americana” – you can get pillows made from them at the Sundance Store (left) and some people have amazing flour sack material collections, and you can get bags made out of them too.

Anyway, the poem made me laugh, and it was a nice slice of life and history, and I hope my grandma doesn’t mind that I borrowed it.

1930 flour sacks
by Colleen B. Hubert

IN THAT LONG AGO TIME WHEN THINGS WERE SAVED,
WHEN ROADS WERE GRAVELED AND BARRELS WERE STAVED,
WHEN WORN-OUT CLOTHING WAS USED AS RAGS,
AND THERE WERE NO PLASTIC WRAP OR BAGS,
AND THE WELL AND THE PUMP WERE WAY OUT BACK,
A VERSATILE ITEM, WAS THE FLOUR SACK.
PILLSBURY’S BEST, MOTHER’S AND GOLD MEDAL, TOO
STAMPED THEIR NAMES PROUDLY IN PURPLE AND BLUE.

THE STRING SEWN ON TOP WAS PULLED AND KEPT;
THE FLOUR EMPTIED AND SPILLS WERE SWEPT.
THE BAG WAS FOLDED AND STORED IN A SACK
THAT DURABLE, PRACTICAL FLOUR SACK.

THE SACK COULD BE FILLED WITH FEATHERS AND DOWN,
FOR A PILLOW, OR T’WOULD MAKE A NICE SLEEPING GOWN.
IT COULD CARRY A BOOK AND BE A SCHOOL BAG,
OR BECOME A MAIL SACK SLUNG OVER A NAG.
IT MADE A VERY CONVENIENT PACK,
THAT ADAPTABLE, COTTON FLOUR SACK.

BLEACHED AND SEWN, IT WAS DUTIFULLY WORN
AS BIBS, DIAPERS, OR KERCHIEF ADORNED.
IT WAS MADE INTO SKIRTS, BLOUSES AND SLIPS.
AND MOM BRAIDED RUGS FROM ONE HUNDRED STRIPS
SHE MADE RUFFLED CURTAINS FOR THE HOUSE OR SHACK,
FROM THAT HUMBLE BUT TREASURED FLOUR SACK!

AS A STRAINER FOR MILK OR APPLE JUICE,
TO WAVE MEN IN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD USE,
AS A SLING FOR A SPRAINED WRIST OR A BREAK,
TO HELP MOTHER ROLL UP A JELLY CAKE,
AS A WINDOW SHADE OR TO STUFF A CRACK,
WE USED A STURDY, COMMON FLOUR SACK!

AS DISH TOWELS, EMBROIDERED OR NOT,
THEY COVERED UP DOUGH, HELPED PASS PANS SO HOT,
TIED UP DISHES FOR NEIGHBORS IN NEED,
AND FOR MEN OUT IN THE FIELD TO SEED.
THEY DRIED DISHES FROM PAN, NOT RACK
THAT ABSORBENT, HANDY FLOUR SACK!

WE POLISHED AND CLEANED STOVE AND TABLE,
SCOURED AND SCRUBBED FROM CELLAR TO GABLE,
WE DUSTED THE BUREAU AND OAK BED POST,
MADE COSTUMES FOR OCTOBER (A SCARY GHOST)
AND A PARACHUTE FOR A CAT NAMED JACK.
FROM THAT LOWLY, USEFUL OLD FLOUR SACK!

SO NOW MY FRIENDS, WHEN THEY ASK YOU
AS CURIOUS YOUNGSTERS OFTEN DO,
‘BEFORE PLASTIC WRAP, ELMERS GLUE
AND PAPER TOWELS, WHAT DID YOU DO?’
TELL THEM LOUDLY AND WITH PRIDE DON’T LACK,
‘GRANDMOTHER HAD THAT WONDERFUL FLOUR SACK!’

A day in the life

It’s awfully nice when you can do something different with your day than you usually do.  Even if it’s just going to the doctor, or just sitting at home in the morning cleaning up data files (wow, didn’t I have an exciting day?) Too much sameness drives me nuts.  Actually met a doctor I liked today.  Typically, no.  We had some political excitement today just a quarter mile from my office…

… pause … I wonder what just crashed down off of my roof and down to the ground?  That was alarming. Thinking about caring …. nah, I’m sure it’s fine …

Helicopters at the Alamo?

Well then!  So as I said, UT’s Rec Center had the Obama-Clinton debate this evening.   Now local news is completely beside itself with the local version of the talking heads.    Definitely the locals haven’t figured out the talking head thing quite yet. It’s looking a teeny bit amateur.  And of course they’ve brought out the helicopters.  Wow.  Ooh, there’s Huckabee in front of the Alamo (cliche!).  People ususally ignore Texas, this is weird!

Saw bunches of students being  … well, students, today.  Excitable, activist, that sort of thing. Left my doctor’s office near campus and this huge group of people in front of a cafe started wailing and waving Clinton signs at me.  I was pretty startled until I figured out what was going on.  I wish Clinton hadn’t called attention to our local senator Kirk Watson freezing on camera. Kirk’s really nice, and has done a lot for people around here, and I think she could have left him out of it.  It seemed like a cheap, unnecessary dig at the expense of a hardworking guy.

Brilliant Blocks

Amidst the doctors, political excitement and data, I kept working on adding black borders to squares. This has two purposes – one is aesthetic and the other unity. With all the different colors and styles, the black is there with the purpose of creating a common, unifying element. Whatever the pattern, the style, the texture of the granny squares, this border gives a finite space to the donors’ creations. In the end, it is supposed to give the effect of a stained glass window. Pretty cool, eh? It would also be a good way to build a sampler blanket, if you were into sampling granny square blocks.

With these squares, I’m amazed at the variety, yet really there are definite repeating patterns and colors. A lot of 3-dc, 2-ch in pinks.  All sorts of yarn textures. You know, though, surprisingly it isn’t that hard to create these borders, just to create something similar for each square, no matter how it’s made or with what.  Fiddle with it a bit, and they just sort of work.

I admit – it’s nice to see all these examples of people’s crocheting – now I know that my crocheting is, er, normal.  When I teach myself things, I do wonder if what I do is totally unlike what others do.  I’ve been very interestedly reading all the slips that go on the blocks, too. It’s really quite something to see all these squares from all these people, and to see the wonderful tags that people have added.  Some cute things.  I just did one square from Japan.

Well, off to listen to more helicopters.  This can quit any time.