Long time, no blog

I haven't been doing so much quilting lately, and may not do any more for a while. I started sewing together some circles for the denim quilt today, and now my machine doesn't want to pick up the bobbin thread. I can't figure out how to fix this because this machine is different in that it has a drop in bobbin. Grrrr.





I have, however, been getting back into knitting. It's always been something I enjoyed, and I found it to be a little more portable than quilting while I was chasing around the boys when Jason was in Mississippi. I knew how to knit before I knew how to quilt, so I don't have to concentrate quite as hard on it.





I'm making a scarf out of Gedifra Chandra yarn. I can't remember the color number, but I saw the ball out on display and had to buy it right then. It's very soft, the label says it's a wool,polyamide and acrylic blend.





I had a hard time deciding how best to play up the colors in it, so I stuck to a simple design. I hate it when only one side of a scarf is pretty, so I decided to knit it as a tube, and I have one side plain stockinette, and a simple cable running the length of it on the other side. I wanted it to be easy enough I could find my place again in case the boys took my attention, but not so boring as to be mind numbing.






This was my progress after a couple of hours working on it. The colors are a bit washed out because of the flash, and I don't think a camera could do them justice anyhow. I went back to the shop and there was a whole bag of this yarn, so I bought two more balls just to be sure I'd have enough to make the scarf nice and long.






I've been trying to figure out how to knit socks. You can get high quality sock yarn anywhere here, including the toom (a super K Mart type store) and Hela ( think of a Home depot, PetSmart, Michaels, and Wal-Mart all in one store). I think I'll stock up before we move from here so even if we're on a tight budget when Jason gets out, I'll still have some crafty things to play with. So far, I haven't had much luck, but I think I just need to keep at it and eventually I'll get the hang of it. I need to teach some people around here to knit so I have someone to commiserate with in person! When the boys are old enough, I plan on handing them some needles and yarn since they're always wanting to get into my stash anyhow. They may not think it's cool, but I think at least having knowledge of knitting, crochet, sewing, and cooking will fall under the "Can't hurt to know it" category.

This one's for you Miss Kitty

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a rant

I'm listening to a news report now about why not to leave a child in the car on a hot day, and I find it highly distressing that it's only illegal in twelve states. TWELVE! Why is this not illegal everywhere? I understand what a pain it can be to take a child into the store, especially if it's only for a few things. However, I think that falls under the "It sucks to be a parent sometimes, but oh well. What can you do?" Children getting severely injured or dying because of being left in a hot car is such a preventable tragedy.

Another disturbing part of the report mentioned that in most cases of a child dying in a hot car, a person just plain forgot them.Excuse me? How can a person, whether they are a caregiver or the parent, forget a child ? I've done weird things like forget my wallet at home or leave my purchases at the check out counter when I'm distracted by the kids, but I've never once forgotten one of my kids. Also, if it's a caregiver and they are so easily distracted that they forget a child in the car, they shouldn't be minding the child.

Phew. I need to go have some carbs and calm down, this report has me seething, and I need to keep it together for my little chitlins.