Huntington downtown safe Halloween

I got this in email and wanted to pass it along!

 

 

 

 

Cabell County Commission, Kindred Communications and Downtown Live! present Cabell County’s Safe Trick or Treat.

 

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 30th at the Cabell County Courthouse.

 

A Costume Contest for children age 12 and younger will be on the Court House Lawn, and a Carved Pumpkin Contest for the adults will be on the stage.

 

So dress your kids up and bring your family’s pumpkin for judging. Prizes from Community Trust Bank, downtown restaurants and Latta’s Toy Station will be awarded.

 

We hope you can attend this family friendly, fun event! If you have any questions, please e-mail or call Holly Rice with the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce.

 

Thanks!

 

Holly R. Rice

 

Holly Rice

Downtown Live Coordinator

Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce

Phone: (304) 525-5131

E-mail: Holly@huntingtonchamber.org

for Missy or others who might not vote

You SHOULD research the choices and VOTE, for heaven’s sake!  Maybe you will find an article like this helpful.

 

Today I met Missy.  She’s a single, working mom and she told me she wasn’t sure if she was going to vote at all in the Presidential election, because she isn’t convinced that either of the candidates are really qualified to be President.  She does like Colin Powell.  I hope she keeps in mind that Colin Powell endorsed Obama.  If you think neither candidate is really right but ONE of them IS going to be elected next week and will be President in a few months, you best vote for the one that is most likely to make the best decisions for the country and the one who has the most qualified advisors.  A lot of leadership is knowing which people to trust and which not to trust.  On different issues.  I found this article interesting.

 

Also, while we are still talking about the election, I heard some voices on NPR yesterday saying that EVEN IF you have voted before, double-check to make sure that your registration is in order BEFORE November 5.  You can go to GO VOTE or another similar website and check on your registration and verify your polling place and districts, etc.

I guess McCain would think me a socialist, too

More, go read this from The Nation.  Socialism is not an epithet.

Barbara Jordan speech & some upcoming events in Huntington area

I am piggybacking off someone else’s blog again, but I followed this link and was very impressed and, as it spoke to me, I thought it might speak to you as well.

Barbara Jordan’s speech at the DNC in 1976

And my fiber-adventures are still sortof on hold.  Today I NEED to clean up my HOUSE.  Ugh.  It is absolutely essential, lol, because I need to get my dining room table cleaned off and put on my Halloween tablecloth on before I miss the whole darned holiday!

The boys and I did NOT find any frogs yesterday when we went out to the creek.

Mark your calendar, if you are local to me (Huntington, WV):  This coming Monday, 10/27/2008, author Resa Nelson is coming to the public library to talk about her new book The Dragonslayer’s Sword, which I read an advance copy of.  I enjoyed the book quite a bit–I wonder if there will be a sequel??  Anyhow, she is coming at 6:30 pm and the Port Oasis SCA folks are coming to do a little fencing demo, too.  The book is, I think, best for “young adult” readers up to adults.  A middle school friend also enjoyed it (he reads the Harry Potter books and the Eragon series and the Eclipse series) it.  It starts with the main character as a quite young girl (she is 8, I think), but then skips to when she is around 20.  The storyline is quite captivating and I did not find it to be too much like any other dragon book that I’d already read.  There is (or there was in the galley copy) one scene in which her breasts were described in some detail, but there wasn’t really anything else that younger kids ought to be troubled by.  The Book Nook is getting her to come in to do the presentation and it looks like the book will cost about $15.  I expect (but have not verified!) that you will be able to buy a copy.

If you have younger children, there is also a dress-up Halloween party on the fourth floor of the library at around 6 or 6:15.  I will probably dress in my SCA garb and start at the party upstairs, go down to hear Resa and then go back to check on the kids…Which means, unfortunately, that I will miss my River Cities Fiber Clan guild meeting, which is also this coming Monday at the First Southern Baptist Church in South Point, OH.

 

And, oh my goodness,  can’t seem to stop with the politics!

Jon Stewart & Jason Jones on Wasilla’s Main Street.

And, on a more serious note:

Colin Powell endorsing Obama

The photos for the sock yarn comparison

Last week I took these photos of some different sock yarns, now I’m finally posting them for you.

#1 Heart & Sole (Red Heart superwash wool & nylon)

#2 Tofutsies (superwash wool, soy, chitin…)

#3 Sockotta (cotton blend…I’m too lazy to go look)

#4  Stretch Sock (Patons cotton, superwash wool, elastic)

#5  Felici (knitpicks superwash merino wool & nylon, patterning/striping)

#6  Essentials (Knitpicks superwash wool & nylon)

Comparison to the thicknesses/softnesses in the Joe the Plumber entry…

More politics through the lens of Margaret & Helen

Really, I don’t want to give you politics when you want spinning and knitting and socks!  I am falling behind on the fiber front recently.  Nearly done with a nearly-neon prayer shawl in Lion Boucle (bright orange & bright green & some multi-), but have been busy reading Charlie Bone and worrying about the election.  I also did batik a long-sleeved t-shirt with a peace sign on it a few days ago when I was making up a few more sheep & llama & bunny shirts.

Anyhow, I was reading up on various things to do with the Presidential election and found this blog post that I thought was great.  I will just direct you to go read it.  Margaret & Helen on Those Damn Poor People Ruin Everything.

I am also looking (locally, Huntington, WV) for a live frog or two that I can borrow for a couple weeks for my Sunday school class…Please contact me through the comments (or by email if you know me IRL already) if you have a frog I could borrow or that you could catch in your yard for me??  We are talking about the plagues that came to Egypt when Pharoah wouldn’t let the people go… Thanks!  :)

Sorry to still be on politics/Cindy McCain on PTSD, ugh

In case you haven’t heard this (it is from a couple of weeks ago, but it still makes me angry)

 

I hate to be all politicky on my fiber blog, but I am going to vote for Obama.  Not only because of many of the issues, but also because I think it is time to have an intellectual president…

 

Now, I am off to try to find an alien mask (you know, green or silver with slitty eyes) for my 10-year old.  We’ve looked several places with no luck.  The other son wants to be a ninja or something (both of them want to dress entirely in black with some accessories).  There is a “Halloween shop” near the mall and at the mall, which I hate to go to, but while I am up there I will run in Michaels and try to get some Glow in the Dark yarn!

Obama’s (in context) talk with Joe the Plumber

On youtube:

Last report I heard on npr, it seems that Joe the plumber is not registered to vote.  :(

(Later reports say that he is registered, but that his name is misspelled–some people think he is one of those voters that might be challenged at the polls)

On fiber:

And, I’ve also been comparing different sock yarns.  I will try to load photos later.  Of the sock yarns I have bought and/or used recently:

Sockotta & Patons Stretch Socks were around 21 wraps per inch

Tofutsies was around 20 wpi

Red Heart Heart & Sole was around 19 wpi

Knitpicks Felici & Essentials were both around 18 wpi, but Felici feels skinnier to me.

My wrapping technique is certainly not flawless.  In case you aren’t a spinner, wpi is a measure of how skinny a yarn is.  How many times it can be wrapped around a ruler (others use other things) side by side in one inch.

NPR’s Andrei Codrescu on the bailout

Read it and/or listen.  Too funny.  Too pointed.  Maybe I should try harder to get off the grid?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95567782&ps=cprs

With apologies to Mary, about knitting socks…

{apologies to Mary because I already sent this to her in an email, but thought it worthy of blogging…}

For ages I refused to knit socks.  Well, “ages” being relative, as I’ve only been knitting for about 6 years…lol.  The first socks I tried were tube socks with awful acrylic yarn, because I didn’t “get” how to do the whole heel thing.  I made ONE sock and it was hideous.  I think I let one of the kids have it for some sortof hat for a stuffed animal.

Then someone suggested trying a “mini” sock to see how the mechanics worked out without having all of the work and expense, etc of a “real sock”.  THAT was a great idea!! I knit one tiny sock (similar to the ones suggested on the Cider Moon website) and I only screwed up a couple of things and I realized I COULD do it.

Then I made a pair of socks and it was okay, but not great.  And I didn’t really see the point so much.  I didn’t want to use the tiny needles and use the really skinny yarn that meant I would have to make thousands and thousands of stitches per sock.  Using fattish yarn and especially using what I will snobbily call inferior fiber/yarn (like acrylic, again) made socks that weren’t as comfortable but a lot more trouble than storebought.

Finally I broke down and bought first dk weight yarn and then fingering weight yarn and knit them on little dpns.  Not too bad, but I didn’t really like knitting on dpns–too pokey and too many places where I had to slide the stitches to keep from losing them.  I tried knitting a sock on TWO circulars.  Better.  But still had to slide stitches around.  My LYS had 9″ circular needles, which I am so glad I found out about!!  I could use the ridiculous size 2 needles but I could just go around and around and around without all that poking and shifting that I didn’t like.  And I figured out how to make a sock that fit MY foot pretty well.

Still, knitting a pair of socks was a fairly time-consuming task.  Even though it was more enjoyable and produced good socks for actually wearing.

Thus, the ridiculous antique sock knitting machine purchase.  Which I am sooooo glad that I made, even though there is some hair-pulling involved.  Now, even without having fixed the crank, I can do a sock easily in an evening.  I’m considering this skilled for someone just starting with the sock machine, as some people apparently take months to get a good sock with a decent heel made.  I’m still pretty slow, mostly because I’m worried about dropping stitches if I don’t keep a VERY close eye on what I’m doing–but it is much faster than hand knitting.