Shoulders: I finally realized the hindrances I’ve had in learning to play the guitar are that I have short arms but large hands (not quite man hands, but large for a female of my height), and a well-meaning guitar instructor started me off on the wrong foot ages ago when he steered me towards his own preference in ‘rock’ guitars instead of my more mundane fireside singalong goals. I’ve tried three different guitars (all steel string, two acoustic and one electric) and have not been happy with any of them. Either my shoulder kills me from reaching over, or I can’t seem to get clear chords because I’m stretching so much to reach certain fingering positions that my fingers touch adjacent strings, or my fingers develop painful blisters from exerting so much pressure on the strings. The fingertips I know will toughen up, but the arms, I can’t do much about those…

I really, really want to learn to play more than a few (strained) chords and so I have spent some time lately trolling local guitar shops, strumming on a huge range of guitars trying to figure out what works for me. I think I’ve found it, a combination of size and sound that fits in my shoestring budget and starter status. I’m going to go back a few more times to make sure, but my next guitar (after I find homes for my current two, of course) might be a Cordoba C5. I like the wider neck yet smaller body of the classical guitars (my shoulder doesn’t seem strained reaching over it), the sound is more in line with I was craving, and the nylon strings are so much nicer on the fingers. Plus, for being a less expensive guitar this one has a really round, warm sound. It has a red cedar top, which I like the look of more than spruce.

(stock photo from an online store; it’s much prettier in person)

Knees: Actually, they are doing pretty well (knock wood). I just couldn’t skip right from shoulders to toes.

Toes: I’m working on a pair of socks for myself. They are farther along, and a lot less yellow, than in this picture, but you get the idea. Simple stockinette, contrast toes. This is my current commuter project and easy enough that I can read while I knit them. Multi-tasking at its best!

First of all, I got myself some Madeleine Tosh yarn – this is not available in the LYS I usually frequent, so I was tickled pink to get my fiber-loving fingers on some. I got four skeins (two each of  Magnolia Leaf and Alizarin) of the Tosh Sport to make a Catkin shawl with, and two skeins (one each in two colors, Golden Hickory and Thyme) of the Tosh Lace to make an as-of-yet-undecided something or other.

I also picked up five skeins of Cascade 220 in some basic colors (black, red, orange, yellow, teal) to make Cloisonee Mittens with. I haven’t wound these up yet, but I started a pair of the mittens with scrap yarns so that I could figure out the pattern – took two tries, but I have it now and can’t wait to play with color combinations.  I plan on making several pairs of mittens and then doing gloves with the same cuff.

Last but not least, I got two skeins of sock yarn – a Supersocke and a Fortissima to make socks for the hubby. (both of those were under $8, which is pretty darned awesome for sock yarn!) While I have a respectable stash of sock yarns, they tend to be in colors that *I* like, and they don’t always go with hubby’s wardrobe – the new ones are still colorful, but with less pink.

In the notions department, I picked up two sets of HiyaHiya needles to replace those chewed up by the kitten, and a new quilting thimble to replace the one that has gone mysteriously missing (I think it looked too much like a kitten toy).

As usual, I have several projects already on the needles – a pair of basic socks for me, and a Laodice scarf for which I need more yarn (I thought I could make it work, but it’s just too much of a shortage). There are also (as usual) a few hibernating projects I haven’t touched in months; those are on my to-do list – oh, speaking of which: I got three items OFF that list! I darned two pairs of socks and re-knit a pair that was too large. Woohoo!

A person cannot spout epithets of love thy neighbor and do unto others and all equal in God’s eye (or Jesus’ eye) and in the same breath denounce the lifestyle of thousands (perhaps millions) of people and deny them happiness in the form of love and marriage, if they so choose.

This, my friends, is the proverbial rotten apple that has ruined the cider. I have a great many friends and relatives that believe in God / the Bible / etc. It’s ok to disagree – heck, I’m very much against facial tattoos, but that doesn’t give me the right to tell someone their soul is in danger of eternal damnation if they get one. Empathy, logical thought, and love for our fellow man should guide our hearts and actions.

Despite what a few dissenters have said, I am a moral person. I believe in helping others, being kind, education, and fairness. I do believe in loving thy neighbor (unless they have proven to be undeserving by repeated acts) and I don’t wish harm on another human being (child molestors, murderers, and the like excepted). I don’t believe we have the right to tell another person how to live their life or what to do with their body. And I will never understand or support hypocrisy, or how a person’s actions can conflict so with their words.

*putting on my rant pants, which is prompted by this article in the Seattle Times and the resulting barrage of opinions flooding the internet. Might as well add my own. It’s my blog, after all.*

What impact, exactly, does gay marriage have on humanity? (aside from the ones involved, of course) None. Zip. Zero. Nada. Whether I married a man or a woman (or didn’t marry at all) does not affect your job, your house, your family, your property value, or the job you have. Opposing same-sex marriage is like opposing marriage between two people that are afraid of heights, it isn’t logical.

Being gay is not a choice, a fad, a stance, a political statement, or a result of an environmental influence. It’s part of who a person is, and it makes no sense whatsoever for Sally to tell Tom and Bill how to celebrate and commemorate their love just because Sally disagrees and perhaps points to a passage in the Bible as her ‘reason’. People are made up of all sorts of likes, preferences, inclinations, desires, and so forth – most of which we cannot change, and indeed, should not feel compelled to do so based on the opinions of others (ones that harm others notwithstanding).

So who, exactly, is hurt by the states that ban same-sex marriage? Duh: gay people who want to get married. Not Christians, not housewives, not kids – just the very people who happened to fall in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together. I say if someone wants to get married, let them! It’s rare enough to find a soul mate (what is the divorce rate again?), and bah humbug to the Bible quotes about marriage being a union of a man and a woman. Most of the same-sex marriage opposition I’ve read and heard is based on religious views, and this raises my ire like few things can.

*Rant escalation warning* 

(preface: I have nothing against religion (honestly!), I think it brings a great deal of comfort, structure, guidance, and support to a great many people) 

The stories in the Bible were written by numerous men over a great span of years and have been translated, revised, condensed, expanded, illustrated, censored, interpreted, and argued over for many hundreds of years. I think maybe if there was one truly “God-authorized” version we wouldn’t have so many different religions, or branches of the same religion, or people within the same religion coming out with differing opinions on what it really means. Of course, we’d all have to learn to read the original languages that the Bible was written in (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). And when you come right down to it, that’s what we are talking about here – interpreting the Word of God. (My, aren’t humans presumptuous creatures??)

Interpretation is not a valid reason for denying a couple the right to marry. Have you ever read the assembly instructions on a product made overseas? Yeah, quite a bit is lost there and that’s in modern-day communication. I may have just stepped over some boundaries there, but I have a real problem with people who wave a Bible in my face and tell me it’s the end-all rule book on how to live a virtuous life. And before you ask, yes – I have read the Bible, and I have been to church (several, in fact); not that it’s in any way relevant.

The main Biblical ‘reason’ I’ve heard opposing same-sex marriage relates to procreation – sex is not to be recreational. That is, the purpose of sex is to create life and if you aren’t creating life, you should not have sex (something about not wasting seed, but I can’t elaborate because Monty Python just leapt into my head). Well, I think we passed that point eons ago. Humans have been controlling conception for a long time. And what about people that are sterile? Or women past menopause? or people with hereditary genetic disorders? Or women for whom pregnancy is physically dangerous? Most religions have managed to accept recreational (non-procreative) sex, even if they aren’t outward proponents of it - so what’s the big deal?

I guess my point is there is nothing wrong with having an opinion. Shucks, I have a lot of opinions! But if it’s something that isn’t harming anyone, why get your boxers in a bunch over it? Why deny two people who love each other the right to be married if they want to? Go ahead and be opposed. Don’t marry a gay person, if you think it’s wrong. As for me, I fully support a person’s right to choose who they vow to love and honor until death do they part, and I’m glad that Washington state is one step closer to becoming the 7th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

In the interim, I’ve been mucking about the house cooking and baking, sweeping and dusting, making soap and spinning. Knit a small project yesterday, a bandana cowl that is soft and scrumptious – it’s mystery yarn from the stash, feels (and acts) like wool and knit up beautifully in warm copper tones.

I bought yarn for a few more projects (and before you give me a bad time about buying yarn, just shut it. I had yarn money tucked away for the Seattle-to-Portland Yarn Train event, but that was cancelled on account of the snowmageddon that rolled through the west coast. They were planned purchases, and there are projects lined up for the new yarn, and I stayed within my budget. So there. *insert raspberry noise here*)

And the spinning – I finished a bobbin of merino wool, 4 ounces to be exact, spun nice and thin. It will be plied with a merino/silk blend that I just started on. The color of this single is somewhere in the mauve family, but with a touch more purple. I still don’t have a real camera, so the phone pic will have to suffice.

There’s a beef stew in the crockpot for dinner, and I am considering doing a bit of quilting (bought a new thimble yesterday, to replace the one that has gone missing – probably stolen by the kitten) while watching Firefly episodes. I may not be able to watch Netflix, but I have Firefly on DVD so all is not lost.  I’ve spent a lot of time at home the past week but have not made much of a dent in the housework; I’m starting to think I’m not very fond of housework.  Baking, yes – we’ve been enjoying an array of nummies – but the dusting, not so much. Any volunteers?

It’s been a long four days of snow and ice, with the  Seattle area virtually shutting down. I live on top of a hill and we always get more snow than the surrounding lowlands, but this time pretty much everyone got hit to some degree. I take public transportation to and from work so I can usually get to work even if the freeways are mucked up, but yesterday things iced over so completely that even our light rail system was shut down and I was not able to make it to work.The unexpected snow day would have been more enjoyable if I wasn’t so frozen from my morning failed attempts to get to work, but I did end up going outside to play in the snow for a little while.

It’s difficult to tell exactly how much snow we got, because it would snow then rain then ice then snow some more, so everything compacted down. At least 8″ though, for sure. I’ll leave you with a few photos of our snow and ice – it was beautiful, but it’s too bad it resulted in massive power outages and downed trees.

Frozen raspberry canes

Encased in ice, no way in.

Crunching through the ice layer, feeling like Godzilla! Rawr!

Ice Lantern

And this morning at 8:30 am:

You never know in the mountains, though (and it is January after all), so I made sure everyone was prepared for snow. Good thing, to – just a few minutes after we arrived it began to snow. Literally, minutes after we arrived.

Throughout the day we gazed out the windows, taking frequent walks in the snow. We saw several eagles and hawks, but no other wildlife. It was quiet, and snow periodically fell in large clumps from the trees and slid from the roof in rumbling mini-avalanches. I brought plenty of knitting and spinning to keep me busy, but had no problem setting it down to head outside.

Sunday morning we woke to even more snow, topped with a glittery layer that sparkled like diamond dust. The trees were encased in snow, rendering the world in black and white.

Sunday continuted accumulating snow, and we made an effort to clear pathways. Really, it was just an excuse to play in the snow.

We packed up and headed out shortly after noon on Monday, and it was still snowing – with roughly 8-9″ of accumulation. I would have loved to stay but home and work called.

A nice surprise awaited me at home – snow!