What a Difference a Year Makes, or Year One of Married Life

Today I am lucky enough to celebrate, my one year anniversary as well as my 46th birthday.  If you remember last year, Natalie and I eloped to Iowa and were married (http://tempestinapot.blogspot.com/2011/03/lucky-in-iowa-or-how-i-got-married.html).  For newlyweds it has been a good year.  We have continued on with our lives, living as everyone does with the usual ups and downs.  This year has seen changes for gay and lesbian couples in America.  New York state became the 6th state to say yes to same sex marriage, thank you for that New York.  Maryland and Washington states are also saying yes to marriage for all of their citizens.  Things in California are looking up too, the courts are setting precedents saying it is discrimination to not allow same sex marriage. New Jersey is also on board to legalize same sex marriage. 

Circa 1989

I hope that my friends and family recognize that after 24 plus years together Natalie and I deserve the rights all married couples enjoy.  Natalie and I have made the trek to a law office and done everything we could to get the rights of a married couple, but a court of law could take those away from us, if pressed.  I have no family medical leave from my job if Natalie gets sick and I need to take care of her because they do not offer domestic partner benefits.  The federal government does give Natalie family medical leave for partners, but stops there.  I am not covered under her health insurance as a spouse should be.  Nor am I eligible for her pension if something were to happen to her, despite 20 years of taking care of her life while she has been all over the world for the government.  These are hard pills to swallow as I age and think about our future as a lesbian couple.  Possibly, next year I may be blogging that the federal government put on their big girl pants and started recognizing marriage licenses for all their citizens. I can only hope.  And I do hope.

Commitment Cermony 1992

Don't get me wrong things have improved, improved by bounds.  Natalie left a ROTC scholarship in college partially out of fear of being discovered as a lesbian.  Now photos of gay marines are on the Internet charming (some people) with their much deserved homecoming kiss.  Polls are in our favor, we are cresting the 50% approval  for same sex marriage (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2011/03/poll_growing_pu.html).  I have hope.  Hope that you my friends and family will see my life with Natalie and realize that we do not bring end times with us only the dream that one day, we will be legally married in the United States.  Maybe this time next year for my second anniversary I can have the gift of equality.

Cousin's Wedding Fall 2011

Epic Knitting Failure or the 29th of February

First, I want to say that I am blogging today so I can have at least one blog post with the date of February 29th.  Like a lagniappe, we get this extra hours to enjoy one more day of the mildest Februaries I can remember.  And the forecast says tomorrow will be just as unseasonably warm.  I say bring on the strawberry spring, I can handle it.

Second, I am very tickled with the new look on my blog.  I am also impressed that I figured out how to change the format and give the fonts a fresher look. I am not very computer savvy so I was pleased it turned out so well.  Now if only I can figure out how to fix the broken flickr link, I will think I am a computer goddess.  As to the new look I hope you like it too. 

Third and lastly I have made an epic knitting failure and of course it was on a hate (my word for hats these days).  I have been working hard in the land hates trying to improve my knitting skills.  So when I found a slouchy beret pattern called Starving Artist by Laura Linneman on Ravelry I thought that looks kind of fun.  I even had some cotton chenille in a strawberry parfait color that I thought would look charming.  I hit a snag when I had a purl front back increase, I had no clue how to do it.  However youtube saved the day with a very good tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJCawekDfY) so onward I knitted thinking my problems were solved.

My mistake was the usual, I knit big.  I think because I am a queen size woman, everything I knit must be queen sized as well.  My head is actually very normal sized and I don't need to knit like I am knitting for a titan sized head.  This lesson had yet to be learned, it is now.  My starving artist is more like a gluttonous hack, fat and overdone. Sigh, I have only myself to blame.  I would rip it out, but using a cotton chenille makes that an effort in frustration.  In the end I have a beret that has a 15 inch diameter.  I think it looks more like a mushroom hat, than a slouchy beret.  In other words EPIC FAIL.  But I knit on and think, never, ever, super size your head again.

In the Soup (Tureen)

So you know I love Fiestaware.  Last fall the good people at Homer Laughlin said to each other how can we truly torture our faithful customers?  They decided in the spirit of evilness to put out a 75th anniversary soup tureen, which would cost almost as much as stove, in their new color marigold. I tired to resist the urge to own one, I really did.  I am not even crazy about the marigold color.  However, time and obsession undid me.  A piece of Fiestaware, I don't own was too much, and I do make a mean bowl of soup when I put my mind to it. My baked potato soup is particularly tasty.  In the end I truly have no willpower against shiny anniversary pieces of pottery.

The power of Fiestaware was strong and I did end up putting it on my wishlist of fantasy dishes I wanted to own.  The price was steep and the hope strong.  Last week my wife gave me a very large box with Homer Laughlin printed on the side for Valentine's Day.  I know they say little packages contain the best presents, but not always.  In my box was the much desired marigold soup tureen.  My wife was happy, I was happy, but in the end she said good luck finding a home for that.  As always she was right, I have very little space for new editions, let alone something so significant.

I fussed and I measured, my china cabinet was too small.  My corner cabinet refused to be worthy to have the soup tureen inside it as well.  So I fussed and looked around the dining room and looked and looked.  With much study, thought, and tea I did find a home for the new Fiestaware.  It took effort, movement of much stuff, and a couple of glass blocks to make it work, but I am pleased with the end result.  The top shelf of the corner cabinet full of teapots was cleared and made way for a burst of marigold to take center stage.  Now to dust off those cookbooks and start thinking what soup would be worthy of the new tureen.

P.S. With the soup tureen my wife also bought me a chartreuse Fiesta Lady (I know I am very lucky to be so spoiled by my spouse).  She is very lovely dancing at the base of the mighty piece of pottery.

The Cruelest of Months

Unlike hometown boy, T.S. Eliot, I think February. not April is the cruelest of months.  February makes me think about losing my dad.  Friday will be the second anniversary of his death, and I have to tell you I still miss him so much.  I have come a long way from where I was last year in my grief.  Sometimes it is hard, but that said, I am trying to focus on moving forward while still holding on to the good memories.  

I have been so lucky (last years resolution) to be surrounded by so much love and support from my friends and family.  Their everyday kindnesses have been a comfort getting me through some these rough times.  Today I was surprised by a very sweet Valentines present from some of my nearest and dearest.  The gift though not expensive was so thoughtful and lovingly given, it made a cold snowy day in St Louis a little less bleak.  I got hot pink heart shaped peeps, Swedish fish, and a groovy salt and pepper shaker set.  I can only say as cruel as February may be, this little bit of valentine love made the month seem not quite so cruel and my heart a little less achy.  To all of you who have helped me get through this loss know how much it has helped, thank you.

Dyeabolically Wrapped or I Talk About Knitting

I couple of years back I bought a significant amount of cotton warped yarn from my good friend at Dyeabolical Yarns (http://www.dyeabolicalyarns.com/).  I bought over 900 yards of a blue/green colorway, that I called Peacock.  I decided to knit the Elegant Scarf Wrap pattern from the Spring/Summer 2009 Knit Simple magazine.  I even decided to put the project supplies and notions all together in a knitting bag and take it to work, making it my work project.  On Ravelry I marked the start date as April 9, 2010.  The project had a cast on of 350 stitches.  I thought, and you should not be surprised by this, I would cast on 50 more stitches, so it would be just a little longer. 

At first I was very diligent about knitting on this project during my lunch and breaks.  Over time I got sick of the project and knit on it less faithfully.  Somewhere last summer I stopped knitting on it all together.  Before Christmas I decided to take it home and after all my seasonal knitting I would put my needles to the grindstone and get this baby done.  Well the Elegant Scarf Wrap made out of cotton warp yarn is done, all 60 inches of it.   A lovely summer wrap perfect for throwing over your shoulders on a breezy summer night, and as if on cue St. Louis has had temperature in the sixties.  I love it when a plan comes together and I look FABULOUS!!!

Trying to Love Hats, or What I Have Been Knitting

You know I have been whining about knitting hats.  I have complained endlessly about not getting the nuances of making a well fitted hat.  I have even taken to calling knitted hats, hates.  But with Nietzche ringing in my ear, "Was uns nicht umbringt, macht uns stärker" or in English, "What does not kill us makes us stronger," I have knit on in the land of hats.

I fell in love with a be-tasseled hat pattern called Capucine, remarkably the first pattern written by a new knitter, (http://navlne.blogspot.com/2009/12/knitting-pattern-capucine.html) and decided as soon as I could I was making me one of those crazy toppers.  Anything with excessive tassels has to be mine.  I made three of these over the top things out of alpaca and alpaca blend yarns.  The pattern was fun and making tassels is never a chore so these were done in short order.  Granted I have only one head so wearing all three of them at time would be difficult so I am giving two of them away to people who I know will wear them with dignity and pride.  Or should I say with the crazy abandon those kind of tassels deserve.

I then had a Boho Beret pattern (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boho-beret) that I wanted to knit for a birthday present.  This pattern started with the yarn.  I had the yarn to match a scarf I made as a Christmas present (see not so straight scarf: http://tempestinapot.blogspot.com/2012/01/end-of-year-knitting-wrap-up.html).   Ravelry (my favorite social network) has an awesome feature where you can look at pattern suggestions for yarn and I found the Boho Beret design.  Again this pattern was some much needed fun knitting.  I really loved that the beret is wide at the top to accommodate big hair.  When I finished the beret I wanted to knit another one, but stopped myself with the thought that I will knit another one later.  I gifted this brightly colored beret and it was well received accept she wanted a pom-pom instead of a stem.  I had to tell my friend, I DON'T do pom-poms, ever.  You can quote me on that if you like.

Finally, last week with my three day weekend, I decided to treat myself to a hate, I mean hat, of my own.  I checked out a book from the library (my library, not the one I work for).  I was attracted to the title, Stashbuster Knits by Melissa Leapman.  The book was full of hints for projects of the stray ends of yarns.  One project was the Urban Knitser Slouch Hat.  I saw the pattern and thought hey I have some left over yarn from the Capucine-apalooza which would make a lovely Urban Knitser Slouch Hat.

I would like to say that knitting this pattern was fun and as the pattern says, "You can easily knock it out the morning of a bad-hair day."  Sorry Melissa Leapman, but that was just not the case for me.  It took three days and two trips to the frog pond of rippit out.  The size 9 needle band was too tight, and the size 10 needle too loose.  In the end I went with the 10 needle and decided loose was better than too tight.  I also used up my scraps and needed more so back to the bowl of scrap yarn I went and came up with a very bright top.  The hat turned great and with the cold weather I have worn it all week and loved it.  I wore the hat Friday to work with one of my tie dye t-shirts and a co-worker called me a hippie.  Yikes that was not really the look I was going for, maybe it was the t-shirt?  Okay, I hope it was the t-shirt and not the hat. 

When all is knitted and done, I am still going to call hats, hates, but I will say it with love.

Quip Me

I don't watch shows about hoarders, because it strikes way to close to home.  However, I caught the last 5 minutes of one of those shows tonight, just enough to catch the happy ending.  The woman had placed a sign on her kitchen wall to encourage her to not hoard.  I was amused because the sentiment is in fact my New Year's resolution.  The sign read, "Find joy in your journey."  I guess you never know where you will find inspiration.