Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The good, bad, and ugly, February 2009


I'm getting settled back in, but still not sleeping right because of jetlag.  Stories will follow, don't worry.


I have a few goods to talk about this morning:  Heart, the lucky Japanese ox.  Heart is really cute, and he is indeed very lucky to be born in the Year of the Ox.  And he will never be yakitori, either.


Stella McCartney for LeSportsac bags caught my eye last year, but I choked on the prices.  The Fall 2008 styles and colors are now half off at LeSportsac, and that makes them pricey, but not insanely so.  

I've spend the past month doing swatches for a well-known designer's upcoming book.  I probably won't do that again.  Multiple swatches just aren't that much fun.  I knit enough that I could have made an entire sweater instead.   And they were solid colored yarns, so you know I was crying from boredom.  I am claiming 800 yards (8 12x12 swatches) on my yardage counts for 2009.

My little brother has Thailand photos, and I am trying to get him to send me some!  In the mean time, I sat on a beach that looked like this, knitting up yarn that matched the sky.  I also lost half of an Options pair.  It's probably bobbing back to China by now.

I followed the budget clamorings this week.  I am distressed that there seems to be a lot of spending that might not stimulate the economy, which might not work (and that seems to be ok), and that my DGD has to pay for it.  I feel like we sent our kids to the grocery with $1,000.00 and no grocery list.  They can spend it all, but we might not have anything for dinner next Friday night.

A medical system tagged along hidden in those 700 pages, and now we will be treated by trend.  I did that already in the Air Force....3 months of physical therapy to help my leg pain, and I must have been a terrible patient, because I did the exercises with no relief.  As it turns out, I had a tumor on my sciatic nerve.  No amount of physical therapy would have fixed it.  

Lastly, Casey shut down one of the conservative message boards on Ravelry.  This really shocked me, because I learned amazing swears on Ravelry.  Every story has two sides, I know, I know;  I learned terms like "Twat-waffle" on Ravelry from the LSG.  LSG puzzles me because they talk to each other like pimps beating their whores, and they find it pretty funny.  I can't figure that one out, because I know that in their heart of hearts, men talk about us like that anyhow....and we earn .85 to a guy's dollar.  The joke must be on me, I guess, stupid woman that I am, because LSG lives on, but the political conservatives were silenced.

Sigh.

ETA:  Someone came by and told me that "before you bash Ravelry, you should be clear about why the group was closed...not because of the views, but because the mods couldn't follow the rules."

HMMM-I am pretty sure that my post reflected confusion and disappointment, but I didn't feel I was bashing Rav.  Still don't.  And I sign my work.



12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Before you bash Ravelry, you should be clear about why the group was closed... not because of the views, but because the mods couldn't follow the rules.

smariek said...

Oh absolutely, of course those yards count towards 2009.

You mean you couldn't find a knockoff of the back somewhere in your travels?

Anonymous said...

Also, re: LSG, the point is that everyone is equal and having fun there. Sure, there are people that use bad words to refer to women, but what better way to reclaim them then to use them as terms of endearment? If you're not able to see why LSG is supportive and fun, perhaps you're focusing too much on the silly names, and not on the substance of the messages?

Pam said...

Hi. I moderate LSG, the group you claim speaks to each other disrespectfully.

For your information, LSG is jam-packed with beautiful, intelligent, loving, compassionate feminists. We're well aware of the gender pay gap. Many of our members are not only informed, but activists. I know I certainly am.

We formed out of a big joke in Ravelry's infancy and we love each other and support each other more than any outsider will or could ever know. We don't expect people who don't understand our group to make accurate judgments of us, nor do we care if they do. I just hope that people will consider that just because they don't share our humor, or understand us, won't automatically assume we're anti-woman.

Moreover, I find that incredibly insulting to be assumed of a group that just sent dozens of hand-knitted hats to a member going through chemo, or a group with several charity KALs in progress, a group that holds each other through deaths, break ups, economic stress, etc.

Those girls (and a few guys) are all amazing people, even if they don't fit into your or other's view of what is "normal". I don't expect anyone to change their mind since we're everyone's convenient Ravelry scapegoat. "But LSG does this" and "LSG does that" LSG does everything we are asked by Jess, Casey and Mary-Heather and we have a half dozen dedicated mods watching our group to be sure we're abiding by Ravelry's TOS. The Bunker did not. We had nothing to do with that group and would love to be left out of their BS.

And it would be nice if occasionally people looked passed the swears and saw the heart of our group, cause it's a whole lot bigger than the controversy of language.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Bets! Sending you an ice pack for all those bruises from the Ravelry beating...:) Boy, you stepped on some mighty sensitive, if grammatically-and-spelling-challenged, toes...

Anyway, times are interesting around here, aren't they? And to think I left Europe convinced I would not have to live under that or any other brand of socialism again!

Looking forward to more vacation stories,

Marta

smariek said...

Whoopsie, I meant "bag" (not back) in the previous comment.

Marta's comment cracked me up. Wonder how these people found their way here.

junior_goddess said...

They are showing me the love, Marie, just showing me the love.

Anonymous said...

How about some *real* love then?

*HUGS*

Suzann said...

Welcome home Bets. I am always behind the curve. What the hey is LSG?
I am glad you had a good trip. I would ignore the rattle and hum.

Unknown said...

Well at least ONE member of LSG had balls enough to leave their name.
heh...

Anonymous said...

Poor Bets. Bravo GF for speaking your mind. They just love to bash conservs, don't they? Group intimidation is how lifestyle agendas get rammed thru where I live.

I use my Rav mod privileges to delete expletives in posts and to quell any potential tempests in a teapot, under the principle that PG-rated is the best level to be to make it a comfortable place for the variety of ages and backgrounds of the nice people who joined. There a zillion other websites for other foolishness (channeling my best Niecy Nash). ;-p

Joan

Tammy said...

((((hugs)))) Looks like those poor loons are getting lost again. Loud and angry is no way to go through life.