knitting class hell and other weirdness

Oh aggg...we have been so busy lately I haven't had time to post. My knitting class started last Wednesday and it is underwhelming. She just had a bunch of books and told us to find something we would like to knit. I'm working on a purse because it is on circular needles and that is what I went there to learn. In fact I'm working on it again, because last night I had finished the UT scarf for my daughter and had put it away. I picked up the circular needles and Lord knows what I did or how I turned it, but in just a bit I saw I'd purled two and a half knit rows. I unknitted that, but then saw there was a dropped stitch from the unkitting and after I picked it up, there were three extra stitches on the needles. Melli, I thought of you and your extra stitches when that happened.

Anyway, there were errands to run today and I mulled it over in my mind as to whether to take this pathetic pos to someone and pay them to help me get it sorted out or wait until I got back to the second class and get help from my teacher. Just finished ripping it out and re knitting 16 out of 34 rows. Got to tell you I am much more careful when approaching the circular needles now for sure. Last Saturday I went to Half Price books and bought some knitting instruction books. By golly, I'm going to knit me a shawl and on the needles I choose and my teacher can help me with it. I have no idea why the instructions were so specific before the class met to bring circular needles size 8 and 24" long (which can be ordered from a YARN shoppe for you but are not readliy available at like say Hobby Lobby or Jo Ann's) and 4 oz. of worsted yarn, which doesn't come in that weight usually. And then there wasn't a pattern provided by our instructor that went with that equipment. The class was a mess. There are five students. One just finished the beginner class and spent the first one of this class rolling her yarn into a huge ball, one hasn't knitted in a long, long time and was mesmerized by how nicely the teacher cast on her stitches for her. One, I think, was delusional about her knitting skills...her mother tells her all the time that she knits award winning afghans, and then there was me. Oh..yes, there was one that seems competent, but she was sitting on the other side of the room so I missed a lot about her. I wonder how many will show up this Wednesday...and if our teacher will show up with some intructions or something other than those books.

Today I bought an array of needles from a size 2 to 15 with cords from very short to 36" long and you can make them straight, too, I think. And you can buy accessories for them, I was told today by a woman who had the set but was looking for accessories for her's. She is making felted clogs, I think they are house shoes from what she was telling me, for her family for Christmas and she usually goes to the really cool knitting shop on Camp Bowie (in the ritzy part of town) instead of the Hobby Lobby over here. She belongs to a knitting group at that shop. Probably the one where I interupted their lunch one day when I stopped to see what they had. I don't know, but I'd really like to belong to a knitting group that has lunch and knits and chats and sort of ignores customers when they come in. They did start talking about what they should do with all their yarn when they pass on. They decided it should be left to someone in their will so it wouldn't go to waste and it would go to someone who would treasure and understand it. If I'm going crazy with this it will be something for me to occupy my time and not bother others or maybe I could join them, and these people seem as eccentric as they come. I think that is where I first saw a knitted sock that looked like it had been done on size 2 needles. It was hung like a trophy, and it probably was.

Thursday or Friday we had a tree removed by a professional for a change. It was time for it to go, and it was a complicated job. There is pool equipment under it and electric lines and lots of things that if something went wrong it would be tragic. Now there is a LOT of light on that side of the patio. I'm thinking the plants that were under it will benefit a lot from the extra sun. I've had to move some plants to shadier areas when they didn't love being in the sun so much. Today we thinned some of the other trees that had gotten out of control. We now have sun for pansies and mums again. It is looking pretty good out there or it will be when I get it all planted.

For some reason I couldn't get to my blog to post anything last night. I couldn't even read my email jokes. And I won't even go into how much money we have lost in the past week. I think one stock is so low we are going to buy some of it tomorrow. I don't really know how much and don't think I could stand it to know exactly. I ran into one of my friends today and her broker told her she had lost the equivalent to one of the big Lexuses and was starting on another in losses. I just don't want to know that. If this crazy political regime ever goes away, and hopefully we get something better and the weird looking guy they gave the $700 billion to doesn't screw it off like the AIG pigs who blew $440 million of their bailout money at a meeting and spa treatments. Your government dollars at work. It must be time for me to go back to knitting again so I don't have to think about this crazy mess for a while.

Possibly that woman in the red jog suit and wild white hair who confided to Senator McCain in all seriousness and with a shaking voice filled with fear that Obama is an Arab, will come over for coffee tomorrow. I think the moon is in the right postion for something like that to happen. Even my sister thought Obama is a Muslim. I'm here to tell you he isn't. Remember the racist pastor at the church he had attended for 22 years, but had never heard his pastor say stuff like that before. He, Obama, doesn't attend that church anymore, but I haven't heard which one he is attending. I just don't even know where to start with Palin, but your durn tootin' I have some opinions about her Hockeymomness.

It has been one of those weeks...or months...I haven't looked up too much lately. And actually I'm feeling a lot better about the knitting class after writing about the political scene. Pretty much everyone may get a knitted article for Christmas, and they better like it since I probably don't have any money left to buy anything except for my grandson who only wants Star Wars equipment...probably. More later after my next class or maybe after reading the news in the morning...who knows.