I'm Dreaming of A White...

Well, it probably won't be a white Halloween, but it certainly is early for snow of this magnitude. They did break snow records all over the place, but that wasn't hard to do. Other places definitely got hit harder than we did here in this part of Connecticut. And I hear there was almost a foot of snow not all that far north of here.

So I can admit I was wrong. The storm was worse than predicted in some places. And in spite of all the pre-storm hype, many people were caught unaware--at least to hear the news reports.

Trees down, power outages, transportation delays, and slippery driving conditions. These are not unusual for a winter storm. Just because it's October doesn't mean we don't know how to cope with winter weather. We may not like it, but we know how to cope with it.

Well, most of us anyway.

Honestly, what is so important that you would risk your life, and the lives of others, not to mention those of emergency workers, to drive with unsafe road conditions? And if tree limbs are falling all over the place, why are you even risking going outdoors?

Sometimes I wonder if we've forgotten how to slow down. Are we so afraid of time alone or with our families that we have to be doing something not at home?

Board game anyone?

The Hype Man Cometh

IT'S COMING! IT'S COMING! don't panic. RECORD SNOWFALL EXPECTED IN THE CITY! 0.8" maybe. IT'S COMING! IT'S COMING!

Fully half the evening news focused on the coming storm, what the City (New York City) was doing to prepare, and what people were flocking to the stores to buy before the storm arrives. Can round the clock news coverage be far behind?

We've gone from the information age to the too much information age. Does a Nor'easter really merit this much news coverage? Honestly, we did just fine with "just the facts, ma'am" when I was a child. I suppose we should be grateful that it hasn't been labeled "The Storm of The Century."

Yet.

On the other hand, the impending storm has taken the media's focus off the incessant bad mannered posturing of Republican presidential wannabes.

Shawls Plus!

I planned on walking down to church this morning for the gathering of our shawl ministry, but I had extra stuff to carry and ended up driving. I'll walk down tomorrow.

I FINALLY finished two shawls I've been working on for two months--one knit and one crochet.

Pattern: Cozy Mohair Wrap: Free lace Shawl Knitting Pattern (www.abc-knitting-patterns.com/1120.html)
Knit using Size 13 needles with one+ skeins Caron Simply Soft Dark Sage

This pattern was a bit of a stretch for my knitting skills. I had to count stitches at the end of every row, and I did a lot of unknitting and picking up of dropped stitches. I learned a lot in the process.

Zig Zag Shells Stoll (patbythehook.blogdrive.com)
Crocheted using a Size K hook with three skeins of Red Heart TLC Essentials Aran. I made it a little longer than the pattern called for, and I think it turned out nicely.

My friend Rachel donated some yarn leftover from a project she completed, so I whipped up a quick cowl using an N Size hook and a pair of fingerless mitts using a J Size hook. The mitts work quickly, so I made both of them in during our gathering this morning.

When we gather our conversations meander through a many different topics. Today we talked about the fact that we don't really have a name. I've been calling it Grace's Shawl ministry on the parish web site and the parish Facebook and Twitter accounts. Given that most of our members come from Iglesia Betania and Grace Episcopal Church, and that we want to be open to anyone, we gave it some thought. Also, we're creating more than just prayer shawls. Our deacon came up with a suggestion that we all liked: Holy Needles. Brochures in Spanish and English and a listing on the Prayer Shawl Ministry site coming soon.

1600 Steps to the Library

Yesterday I arrived early for our Education for Ministry seminar at St. Paul's Fairfield. Since I hadn't yet taken my walk for the day, and I had 45 minutes before the seminar started, I walked then. Before starting out I searched my iPod for an audio book I'd downloaded. I eventually found it hidden in the Music section of the menu, but while looking I stumbled across the Fitness menu. I knew it was there, and I sort of knew what was on it, but I never really looked at it before.

It has a Pedometer. Not only does it count my steps, it records the total number for each day and tracks it on a calendar. How cool is that? All my favorite music AND a Pedometer in one nifty gizmo. I'm currently going through my music to create a walking Playlist of songs that will keep me walking at a steady pace.

So it took me 1600 steps to get to the Norwalk Library--approximately 15 minutes--this afternoon. The closest branch of my bank is probably less than 400 steps beyond that, as is the Post Office. Within that 1600-2000 step radius are also a small grocery store, a CVS Pharmacy, Dunkin Donuts, a couple of convenience stores, a laundromat, a variety of restaurants, a couple of liquor stores, H & R Block (where I get my taxes done), and the hospital. Oh, and my church. It's probably about 4000 steps to the South Norwalk train station, and I'm thinking that 5000 steps or so would probably get me to the nearest Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, and Barnes & Noble.

It's not New York City, but it is an urban area. I could really cut down on the use of my low-mileage but aging car. Not does walking help keep me fit, but it could help cut my expenses.

Now if I could find a job within a 10,000 step radius, or allowed me to work from home...

National Coming Out Day

It's hard to believe that the event that inspired National Coming Out Day occurred nearly a quarter of a century ago. The March on Washington October 11, 1987. I wanted to go but didn't, and I don't remember why not.

I do remember the debate over the number of people who did attend. The National Park Service gave a significantly lower figure than the one the organizers gave. That's a debate that followed most marches on Washington. I would guess that it is also taking place in reporting of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Why? Because so many people see numbers as the indicator of the impact of thee kinds of events. Concrete facts leading to concrete results. But the true impact transcends facts and figures. How do you measure the impact these things have on individual lives? How do you measure transformation?

When I started Coming Out in 1980 the Wisconsin Gay Rights Bill was still a year-and-a-half away from passage, and 46 states still had sodomy statues on their books (Wisconsin wouldn't appeal theirs until after the civil rights legislation became law). The idea of legal marriage wasn't even on the horizon.

And look where we are today.

So do we still need to observe National Coming Out Day?

Yes. Discrimination still happens, just as it does for women and ethnic minorities. Because sexual orientation is not a visible characteristic, many folks still claim they know no queer folks. Over and over again legislators and religious leaders have talked about how their views have changed by hearing real stories from real people. And in spite of the digitalization of our social interactions, face to face sharing of stories still has the most impact.

Face to face sharing of stories still has the most impact. Something to remember as we consider where we go from here. In any movement.

Disruption

A few weeks ago I noticed some cracks in the ceilings in the bathroom, the kitchen and the little room. I let the management company know, and someone came to look. They came Saturday to patch, and I'm still waiting for them to come and paint.

In order to prepare, I had to clear the top of the the fridge and the high shelf in the kitchen. I also cleared the shelves and the top of the dresser in the little room. All of the stuff in the bathroom; the chairs and lamps from the little room. And everything is stacked in the only place it could go. The large room, which is my living room/bedroom.

I've tried to place stuff as neatly as possible, but it's still unsettling. I feel as if boxes and movers are showing up at any minute. As if I didn't have enough uncertainty in my life during this period of unemployment and job hunting.

These, too, shall pass.

Mittens and Cowls and Scarves, Oh My!

With a hats and ear warmers too!

When the members of Grace's Shawl Ministry talked about hats and scarves for the homeless I thought, "Aha! That piece can be a scarf!" So I finally finished the piece of knitting that was my first real knitting project in almost 40 years. Because I misunderstood the pattern, I ended up with a ribbed piece. So I put it aside and started over. Now it's finished.

If I was going to make hats and scarves, shouldn't I make gloves or mittens, too?

When I was in elementary school Mom knit a pair of green mittens for me. I managed to keep them for several years, and for many of them, a piece of red yarn patched a hole in one of the thumbs. Well, I'm not ready to knit mittens yet, so I set about looking for a pattern for crocheted mittens. There are far fewer crochet patterns for mittens, but they are out there. I finally settled on this pattern from the Red Heart site.

Since I tend to crochet tightly I usually have to use a hook that's a size or two larger than the pattern calls for. I did a swatch with the suggested hook size for this pattern, and to my surprise, I came up with a swatch that matched the pattern gauge. "I must be getting better at the tension," I thought to myself. The next project proved me wrong. I haven't adjusted my tension, but I obviously found someone who crochets like I do!

This set is done using three skeins of Red Heart Super Saver Shaded Dusk. The mittens and the hat (the first pattern on this page) are done with an I size hook. I crocheted the scarf using a size K hook and a pattern of alternating three single crochet and three half-double crochet across each row. I like the wave pattern.

Winter set #2: Cowl, headband, and mittens. The mittens are the same mitten pattern, but a smaller size, using Caron's Simply Soft Chocolate. The headband is a simple pattern of rows of single crochet done in the back loop, which makes a ribbed piece with some stretch. It's Caron's Simply Soft Paints Sunset. The cowl uses both, with the Chocolate as the main color. I did it as a mobius strip, which intrigued the group this morning. I may be teaching a crochet class!

Winter set #3. Did I mention how quickly these work up? The mittens take me a couple of evenings, the hat another, and the scarf a couple. These are made using a single Caron One Pound for all four pieces.  I like this color (Cape Cod Blue) so much that I may make some mittens for myself using it! I used a size J hook for the mittens, because the adult men's mittens using the I hook were just a shade too small for my hands. I'm trying to make a variety of sizes for both men and women that we can take to shelters or have on hand if someone comes into the office looking for warm things.

I may be making more mittens and fewer hats, as other folks have been making hats. But I also like the cowls since they can be used as a scarf or a hood. We'll see.

So here's the green scarf again. It became part of Winter set #4 with the addition of a head band done in Red Heart Super Saver Artist Print and fingerless mitts in Caron Simply Soft Chocolate.

And here are the winter sets bundled up for delivery.

Now that I know I've done mittens, there are couple of slightly more complex patterns I'd like to try. And I haven't stopped working on prayer shawls. I have three going, one of which is almost finished. The other two, well, we'll see.