What would you do?

OK, I don't live in the nicest neighborhood in the world. It's one of those places that is kinda on the borderline - a few blocks one way is kinda scary, but a block up the hill it gets pretty nice. I like my neighborhood. For the most part, it is quiet. I know my neighbors, we watch out for each other. Good stuff. I have a great apartment, a sweet deal.
The problem. This morning I was awakened by yelling. A man and a woman yelling at the top of their lungs, at 7:30 in the morning, every other word is the 'f' word. Nice. I wasn't sure where it was coming from.
I spent a veeeeeeery lazy day out in my yard. I did have plans today, but decided that I just wanted a "me" day. So a little while ago I came in to get something to eat and I decided to take a few minutes and put in the screens in the outside doors. So I'm in the front hall, and I hear yelling and screaming coming from across the street. I hear a man yelling at one of the kids to "stay the f out of my room" and I hear crashing and I hear screaming. I hear a woman tell him to get out and I hear him continue to yell, and the kids continuing to scream. Loudly. I had my cell phone in my hand and my thumb on the first 9. But I didn't call. I don't want to cause problems. For a family that is, from what I see, down on their luck at the moment. I really like the kids. They are nice, they talk to me, they talk to Rusty, I gave the girl a ride to school one morning when it was pouring out (they don't have a car) and the parents seemed ok. I know that phone call to the police could put them at risk. Maybe they are good parents. Maybe this is a one time thing. I'll keep my ears open. I wanted to go over and ring their doorbell and just talk to them...but I don 't want to cause problems for myself either. People are unpredictable when they are that angry. Did I do the right thing by doing nothing this time?
I stood in the doorway for a while, listening. I wondered if some neighbor ever paused in their daily tasks and heard my family having one of their many loud, violent moments and contemplated getting involved...
I'll keep listening...

Tag, I'm It!

OK, I will play...Julie tagged me first, followed by Gina...

Here's the deal: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. I got my bachelors degree at the age of 39. I'm thinking about pursuing a master's degree, because I love school, but the thought of even more student loan debt keeps me from starting.

2. I've only been knitting for about 3 years or so. I mainly learned from watching videos at knitting-help.com, googling terms I wasn't familiar with, and my manchvegas knitting friends.

3. It would be a dream come true if I could drive say 50 laps around a racetrack in a Cup car.

4. When I was 11, my parents took me to see Lily Tomlin at some little club in Boston. She invited people to come up and do impersonations of her various characters on stage. I went up and did her Edith Ann character and she gave me a huge hug!

5. I am missing 10 of my teeth, genetically. When I was in the 6th grade, I had to have 4 baby teeth pulled because my second set of canines had no adult partners. Then I had braces to move all my teeth together. I got one set of 12 year molars on the bottom, no partners up top, I'm missing the next set of molars all around, and no wisdom teeth. Other than that my teeth are incredibly healthy, but I've always wanted to have big teeth and a nice smile...

6. I would love the chance to swim with Dolphins. Not one of those tourist-ee things, something a little more obscure than that. Like on some remote Hawaiian island (they have dolphins in Hawaii, don't they?)

7. I don't believe in the physical limitations of age. It's all about how you feel. I love that my doctor (who is my age) shares that same philosphy and doesn't push all these tests on me. He knows I am healthy and that I am in tune with my body. I don't buy into the mindset of taking all kinds of medication. I will admit, I do take one medication, an antidepressant in a low dose, but I only started taking that after trying all kinds of other options.

Phew! That was hard!! And Gina tagged everyone I was gonna tag...hmmmm...now what do I do???

Ramblin

Went to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival this past Saturday...SUCH a gorgeous day!! Cindi came with me and Sadia drove down from Vermont and then we met up with Gina, Jackie, Laurin and her hubby, Ericka, Chris and Mandy, Heather and her 2 kids, Gaye...ok, I have to be forgetting someone, there were alot of us there...sorry!!! In my travels I also ran into Amanda D and her sister and mom, and Joanne from A Knitters Garden. I purchased my first roving (!) which I will spin up one of these days and make myself a hat with. A friend is lending me a drop spindle. I do not wish to catch the spinning bug, I just don't have the time for it, but it would be cool to try it once at least. Case in point - I have not touched yarn today, it's just been a non-stop day.
Blocked the Booga Bag yesterday and Cindi figured out how to do the handles for me (I am SO visually challenged!). I will take pictures outside tomorrow. I am going to give the bag to Cindi and make another one for me. It's good, mindless meeting knitting.
I was really good at NH Sheep and Wool. Aside from the roving, my only other purchase was some beautiful raw silk that is being made into a gift for someone. Once the gift is delivered, I will post pics.
TOnight I watched one of the best Red Sox games EVER!!! Dice-K pitched his first career full game and they won 7-1 against Detroit. I just love the little bowing/handshake ritual that Dice-K and Big Papi have going on...
Geez, I had so much more I wanted to say earlier...but now I can hardly keep my eyes open, so nite!

The little voices belong to my stash...

and they tell me to start yet *another* project. At the moment I have 4 active WIPs. There are a couple more lurking in the shadows that I have no immediate plans to pick up again. One is a scarf I started making almost 2 years ago for someone else to match the mittens I made...hopefully she has forgotten about it because I just can't see myself picking it up again, for various reasons...another is a second sock of a Fair Isle sock I did last summer. It will be good beach knitting. Then there is the lace project I attempted last summer - the yarn does nothing for me and I do believe I will place it in the give-away pile.
The active projects though, they are things I enjoy at the moment. I wish there was a way to work on all at the same time.

First there is the Booga Bag, started at Knit Camp several weeks ago. I take it to meeting and out in public, since it is just knitting, not thinking involved. I hope to finish it tomorrow at the all day class I have at work.




Next is the Forest Canopy Shawl I started a few weeks ago in the amazing lace yarn I bought from Ray at Knitivity. The picture does not do the yarn justice. Normally I am not at all drawn to a yarn with so many colors in it. Truth be told, I mainly bought this yarn because of how soft it was. I gotta tell ya, I am in love with the colors. It's like, yes, there are alot of them, but they are all just the right color level and it works. I will definitely be ordering more yarn from Knitivity, and if you haven't been to the site yet, you just are missing out!!

I started these socks last week (ok, maybe it was the week before) for my friend Wendy. She is one of those rare friends that is a great listener and when you ask for advice, or her opinion, she gives you an honest answer. Wendy LOVES tigers, so when I found that Opal had a Rainforest Tiger sock yarn, I had to get some. My friend Donna hooked me up (she has some secret Opal connection or something, I looked all over for it, including eBay) and Wendy picked out this pattern from Sock Bug, it's called Bubble Wrap. I'm knitting both socks at once on dpns...magic loop just wasn't for me, I am much faster on the dpns and there is no cable to futz around with.

Last night, I heard the voices again. The voices of my stash. I suppose it is my own fault for moving some of my stash out to the living room where it can work on me. The yarn that roped me in last night (get it? yarn? rope? lame...) was from the amazing Heather of Sereknity
Heather is soooooo talented and her yarn is just amazing. She is known to arrive at our Wednesday knitting night with a big bag of crack yarn and the needles fly as we all pounce to get first dibs on it. I bought this yarn several months ago and was going to make socks with it, but it just begged to be used for a Radiance Lace headband, designed by none other than the lovely Gina - check out her patterns for sale, and her blog, at Sleepy Eyes Knitting and also download her fun podcasts!! I decided on the Amanda as my first headband, since it is named for my best girl blogless Amanda...

Oh, and Rusty wanted you all to know that he helped me with the photos tonight...whatta guy, huh?

Checkin' in...

Not much time for knitting lately! I work on my lace shawl when I can catch some quiet time at home. I find if I try to watch tv and work on it, it just doesn't work. This weekend I spent alot of time with the NH Gay Mens Chorus (I think we need a gay women's chorus, not that the boys aren't fun, but the girls would be WAY more fun!!!). I'm in charge of support staff for them. Saturday night was up in Plymouth, NH and it was crazy!! There is a college up there that has a reputation as a party school, and they lived up to it that night. I spent the entire time in the lobby praying that no one would walk in and disrupt things. Police cars went by like every 10 minutes, and it sounded like a riot outside!! So I sat in the lobby with my Booga Bag and hoped I wouldn't have to assault anyone with my needles!! Yesterday's venue was the biggest, in Manchester. Lot's to keep track of and no time for knitting. So, tonight I came home and went for a looooooong walk and then I settled in the yard for an hour or so. It was so nice...I love this time of year. Whipped up some pasta to have with the last of my homemade pesto from last year's garden...mmmmmmmm...trying to decide if I can stay awake long enough to do some knittin'! I'm a homebody at heart and I have been pretty busy the last few weeks - good busy, but I am missing my quiet time for sure. It was nice to have some today. Work was good, got alot done, found a few issues, am really settling into my new role. Wednesday I have an all day mandatory class on goal setting. *yawn*. I plan on bringing the knitting. Anyone else find if they bring their knitting to a meeting, or a class, that it's easier to focus and pay attention? I know sometimes people think that me kntting means I am tuning them/things out, but actually I am the most present ever when I am knitting. Because my mind isn't rambling as it does ALL the time, and I find that I listen much better as a result.
Enough with this typing, time for yarn...

New technique and a feast!

So I'm in this Irish pub in Nashua last Monday night at a going away party for my friend Meg from work (well, formerly from work) and I brought the booga bag in with me. I was nearing the end of the first skein of Kureyon and knew I would have to splice in the new yarn...and in that moment, the Beer Splice(tm) was born. Yes my knitting friends, beer works. It felted together just fine...someone suggested (I think it may have been Chris) that I felt the entire bag in beer, when it is done. Hmmmm...well, first of all, that would be ALOT of beer...and, well, yeah, I don't think that would be a good thing...

Today was sooooo nice out...for the first time I hung out some laundry to dry...so tonight I'm out there taking it down, and I'm almost finished, and I hear...people. alot of them. like, angry mob, only they weren't angry. I look down the driveway and I see this parade of people walking down the street. Many were carrying candles. They had a cross too, and at first I got a little worried, but I saw it was a mixed heritage marching along. I called out, a couple of times and no one would even look at me. So I ventured down to the street, with my laundry basket of course, put on my nicest smile and said, "so what are you guys all marching for?" (I mean, there were ALOT of people, a couple hundred easily. So one of the women in the crowd turned and said, "It's the Feast of St. Joseph and we are parading down to St. Joseph's church from Trinity High to celebrate. And I thought that was so cool!! So I broke into a grin and wished them all a Happy St. Joseph's day, which they thought was pretty cool...ya know, I know nothing about saints and feasts and religion and all that...but I have tons of respect for the many ways that people choose to celebrate their beliefs, and I think it is great when we get to glimpse into another way of life. It really made my night, as silly as that may sound. That a couple hundred people walked down my little street on a Tuesday night carrying flowers and candles and celebrating...I think the world needs alot more of that!