Kat with a K

And on a lighter note...

That other thing you're not supposed to talk about...

For quite a while, I tried to avoid talking much about religion or politics here. I figured it was polite, because I have readers of all different faiths, ideologies, politics, etc. But obviously I've been mentioning politics, quite a bit, and I've lost a few readers but not too many. In the past week or so I've been trying to find a better balance of talking about a variety of things.

This Lent, I've been doing a lot of reading and studyng and praying and trying to recommit myself to my faith. And I have come to feel that part of what I need to do is to stop avoiding talking about it - here and other places. Don't worry; I'm not going to start preaching or talking about religion incessantly or anything. But it's part of my life and I'm going to start talking about it if it's on my mind or I want to share something I've been studying or something.

I didn't mean to make this sound like a big serious announcement or anything. Just wanted to explain in case anyone was confused if I suddenly posted something about Lectio Divina or something.

Politics Links (2/28)

An interesting map of the Democrats Abroad vote.

Is it a problem that McCain was born overseas?

Lewis is officially switching his support to Obama. (At least we think it's official this time.)

Bloomberg: I'm not running for president, but...

Booking through Thursday: Heroine

Today's question:

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

Oh, gosh, hard one. I'll have to say Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Shirley, for similar reasons, actually. They both have a strong sense of self that transcends their circumstances when necessary, but they are also willing to change and grow when they realize they are wrong or when their needs change.

Politics Links (2/27)

Some good takes on last night's debate:
Salon: ". . . even when she's right she sounds wrong."
Andrew Sullivan's live-blogging
John Dickerson: "Watching her fight through 90 minutes trying to make some kind of dent against the vastly improved Obama made you want to offer her a pillow."

Dodd endorses Obama.

A non-paranoid's guide to superdelegates

Ralph Nader, the tugboat candidate

A hilarious faux-Mark Penn memo

Katha Pollitt on why we shouldn't underestimate McCain.

What McCain Should Have Said

What does Hillary Clinton eat?

The Evolution of Chelsea Clinton

The complexities of "We are the ones we've been waiting for."

And here's a set from a few days ago that I apparently never actually posted:
Conservationists Give McCain a Big Fat Zero
Oh, Nader, not again. . .
Hillary Clinton = Tasha Yar?
Obama: Popular in Obama, Japan
Is Huckabee running for 2012?
Will McCain give up his Senate seat to focus on his campaign?
Officer Traveling with Clinton Killed in Crash
Castro comments on what the candidates said about his resignation.

You wouldn't know to look at me...

It struck me the other day that, even this cold time of year, you'd never know I was a knitter by looking at me. I'm usually wearing $1 "magic gloves" and sometimes a storebought scarf that was a gift a few years ago. I still haven't made myself a sweater. Basically, other than one pair of socks, I don't actually have any knitted items I wear regularly. That's obviously not acceptable. I have a few hats and scarves I've made, but they seem to clash with my winter coats. Poor planning, there. I must do something about this by next fall/winter.

Moving Day

No, the blog isn't going anywhere. They just moved my department to the other end of our huge office building, so I have a nice new cubicle. Well, "nice". . . you know. I think it will be okay. There's more light over here, and higher ceilings, and it was a good excuse to clean my desk. But the set-up is a little different (in a good way, I think, eventually) and the light is different and I can hear my computer humming, and so I have a headache. And the whole moving process took up much of the day; my whole routine was thrown off. Oh, and they upgraded us to IE7 at the same time. Yay for tabbed browsing, but it added to the "everything is suddenly different" feeling. So all in all, I'm just feeling a bit . . . unsettled. I think it's time to go home and curl up on the couch with a big mug of tea and some nice relaxing knitting.

Socks in Progress

Remember I said I had too many socks going at the moment? Yeah. How about some pictures?

Shrug - Done!

Look!

It's done! Yay! I'm very excited. Pattern is I Do, yarn is Tahki Cotton Classic. This is for a friend to wear at her wedding next month. I'll try to get a picture of her wearing it with her dress.

Bread Machine Issues

Recently, I've been having major problems using my bread machine. My loaves keep coming out something like this:

Is it me? The machine? The recipes? (I've tried more than one.) Any ideas? It tastes fine, of course, but it's certainly not pretty, and the weird shape isn't very conducive to sandwich-making.

Tagged!

I love being tagged. Jocele over at Knitting on Call tagged me for this a while ago, and I finally have time to look through the archives and find things. Sorry for the delay, Jocele!

Rules:Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. Link 1 must be about family. Link 2 must be about friends. Link 3 must be about yourself. Link 4 must be about something you love. Link 5 can be anything you choose. Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better. (Readers - don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments.)

I'm not sure these are my five absolute favorite, but they're five I like that fit the categories, at least.

1. Family: Not a particularly good post, as such, but exciting news: my brother getting into college.

2. Friends: No, I said "boots."

3. Myself: 100 Things I Like

4. Something I love: This post features both Ben & Jerry's and sock knitting, so let's go with that.

5. Random: I couldn't do this and not include a post about Dewey!

Let's see... I'll tag Rachel, Courtney, YarnLibrarian, Raising WEG, and Barefoot Cobbler.

Random Friday

It's nowhere near Wednesday, but that just makes it more random, right? Right.

1. Girl Scout cookies have arrived! Yay!

2. It's snowing. Again. Can we please have spring soon?

3. A little bit of follow-up on the holding doors post... I think that a few of the popular theories are correct in this case - that he was trying to show that he was old-fashioned and polite, and simultaneously to make sure that I would not object to said manners. (Which I wouldn't. I just don't think it's necessary to discuss ahead of time.) But in this case, I decided not to meet him for other reasons. I've explained a bit more to those who have commented, but if you're really curious, leave a comment. I just don't want to go into too much detail here.

3a. I had dinner with a guy* the other night and he held doors and it all seemed fine, so that reassured me that I'm not actually too weird about the subject. :)

4. I'm going to post knitting pictures this weekend. I promise.

5. Anyone watching Cashmere Mafia? I'm sort of hooked in spite of myself.

6. I know I've been posting about politics kind of a ridiculous amount. It's partially because I've been thinking about it a lot, obviously, and partially because when I'm busy, it's easier to make a list of links than to string together decent sentences. But I'm going to try for a better balance, because I do thinking about things other than politics, I promise.

* My age-ish and single, but not a date, if that matters to the subject at hand.

Politics Links (2/21)

How Obama won Wisconsin

Why Demographics Aren't Always Destiny in the Clinton-Obama Race (Thanks for the link, Liz!)

Obama the cowboy

Maybe Obama and Clinton should just duel.

KnitWars!

Lime & Violet have started a knitting quest on ChoreWars! I know this has been around for a bit but I just found out about it today, so I thought I'd link it just in case any of you hadn't heard and might be interested. My nickname there is "Kat with a K." I'm currently ranked 1049 amongst the knitters, but hope to move up soon!

Booking through Thursday: Format

Today's question:

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

I had to think about this one. I think I'd rather have what we at Borders referred to as QP - quality paperbacks, the larger kind that most non-fiction books and some fiction come in. Mass market paperbacks are small and flimsy, and hardcovers can be cumbersome, so I think quality paperback is a nice compromise.

Of holding doors and carrying heavy things

Please discuss:

What do we think about the idea of going on a date with someone* who makes a good point of bringing up within his first few e-mails that he "believes in" opening doors for women? Now, I'm not against the actual action. I think holding doors is polite. (I generally think whoever is at the door first should hold it, regardless of gender, actually.) But what seems weird to me is making a big point of it. What is that supposed to convey, exactly? That he's very proud of his manners? That he thinks women need (or want) to be taken care of? That he thinks women should stay in their place? Is it a test to see if I'm one of those crazy feminists who will object to such actions? Hmm. (Honestly, I'm not as fixated on this one statement as it might seem; it just got me thinking and I thought it could be an interesting discussion.)

Sort of related: The other day I was walking with a male friend and he was carrying something slightly heavy that we had purchased for joint use. (Okay, I guess technically he had purchased it. It was a $4 thing of cat litter for use in getting our cars unstuck on my icy driveway.) Part of the way home I offered to carry it for a while, and he said it was fine, and then we both laughed as we realized that we both knew that I felt like I should offer but actually would rather he carry the heavy thing, and I think we were both okay with that.

I'm not sure exactly what my point is with the second story - I guess that it seemed like a more okay version of the "chivalry" thing without making a big point of it.

* This is a theoretical question at this point, because I've pretty much decided not to go out with the person, for other reasons. But I'm still curious as to thoughts on this issue.

Politics Links (2/19)

The English language, Obamafied.

Dahlia Lithwick breaks up with Obama.

The "competence" argument works better if there is actual competence involved.

The Onion has a nice election term glossary.

How Hillary can still win

Politics Links (2/18)

I've been collecting these for a week now, so sorry if a few of them are out of date...

The Clintons' Terror Pardons

Huckabee's press van runs out of gas. No, literally. Haven't there been several Huckabee-related press transportation issues? Huh.

Memo to Obama Fans: Clinton's presidency was not a failure.

Hertzberg on the campaign and drugs

Debunking the "Obama cult"

Should journalists vote?

50 Politicos to Watch

Presidential love letters

Politics Links (2/11)

Clinton Replaces Campaign Manager

A slide-show of Hillary's worst outfits ever.

American Apparel endorses Obama with a rather dreamy picture.

Requiem for a right-wing dream.

Obama wins a Grammy

He's got Obamaphilia.

Politics Links (2/7)

Salon on Who Won Super Tuesday?

Clinton Senior Staff Goes Without Pay. That along with her loaning herself $5 million... hmm....

Clinton the Anti-Feminist

Did Catholics Save McCain?

Just a reminder: Barack Obama is Not Jesus

Huckabee's Press Plane Makes Emergency Landing

(Not) Booking Through Thursday

Today's question:

What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time?

I like to...
knit
cook
bake
watch/listen to/read/talk about the news, especially politics (while knitting)
watch movies/TV (while knitting)
write
And other things, of course, but those are the first things that come to mind.

And then there were two.

Romney's dropping out.

Politics Links (2/6)

Well, that was an exciting night. Whew. I'm very proud of my home state, Connecticut. Here's a nice summary of last night's events.

Oprah and Obama chocolates

How Republicans misremember Reagan.

Karl Rove to Fox News

Obama v. Clinton: Who's Greener?

Road Ahead Tough for Clinton

Voters show up a week early in Virginia.

How Clinton & McCain May Have Won California

What Does the Muddle Mean?

Dems Head for Messy Nomination Process

Our Time Has Come

First finish of 2008!

I finished Mom's Christmas socks on January 27, and finally got a decent picture. Since I finished them in January, I'm on track with my "finish a pair of socks a month" goal! Yay!

They're plain socks in Dye-namics Small Stripes, "mystery" colorway, sport weight. Love love love this yarn.

P.S. Mom, they'll be in the mail soon!

Happy Super Tuesday!

If you live in one of the many Super Tuesday states, don't forget to vote!

Yes We Can

Politics Links (2/1)

Oops. Apparently I didn't manage to post this on Friday...

Obama endorsements:
MoveOn.org
Craig of Craigslist
Wil Wheaton

Arlo Guthrie endorses Ron Paul

What do candidates' chosen fonts say about them?

Six Unimportant Things Meme

Courtney didn't tag anyone, so I decided to go ahead and take this, since it's Friday afternoon and I'm bored.

The rules for this meme are: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. I almost always change into pajamas as soon as I get home.
2. I put on Crabtree & Evelyn Lavender Hand Therapy Cream right before I get in bed every night.
3. When reading blogs in my Bloglines account, I sort by number of new posts and alternate - I read the blog with the most posts, then the five blogs with the fewest, then the one with the next most, etc.
4. I have to watch TV shows from the beginning. If necessary, I will wait until it comes out on DVD so I can make sure I go in order.
5. I am addicted to library books. I consistently take out more than I will be able to read, and I cannot seem to stop. I figure that as addictions go, this isn't so bad.
6. I don't like most lentil soups or most Wolfgang Puck soups, but Wolfgang Puck's lentil soup is the best thing ever.

I'm not going to tag anyone either, but feel free to play along if you'd like!