Vacation Crochet

Last week I made the decision (while writing last Monday's post) to rip out that second side and start over. I got it fully frogged and restarted when it was finally time to leave. And while I did some work on it on the plane, I'm not quite to where it was before I ripped it out. 

(Sorry about the background. I did not pack my off-white fabric that I use for photos.) 

Ta-da! Flat. 

Of course, I ended up ripping it back a bit on the first leg of my flight. And when I arrived. But I've still made some solid progress. 

Now I'm eyeing the first side...

I may rip it back a couple rounds. I'm not sure. I'll see how it goes. 

My sister-in-law is impressed with it thus far. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it sweater-shaped, but that's not at issue at the moment. Getting this oval to lie flat is. But at least I got some good feedback. 

My crochet companions so far have been Shadow...

...who became fascinated with the yarn and leapt on it (and on me). I yelped and jumped. His claws were out, but he didn't scratch me. 

And then there was Delilah...

...who basically just wants attention. 

I haven't gotten pictures of Winter or Calliope (the other cats) or Artemis (the other dog) yet. It's been a timing thing. 

So, sort of progress, but since I'm out of town and not on my usual schedule, I don't know how much I'm actually going to accomplish. But hey, I didn't leave it at home, so it will be more than if I had left the yarn behind. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?

The Color Quizzes: What's Blue?

This summer's quizzes have a theme: the colors. Quizly did a series of quizzes with one question. Of the choices, only one is the color of the quiz. Today we're looking at blue. 

What's Blue?

I lucked out with this one and got 20 out of 20. Is blue easier than the other colors? Or were the other choices just more obvious? I knew quite a few of them, but a couple of them were lucky guesses. 

How did you do? Are you an expert on blue? Let me know in the comments. 

13 Busiest US Airports

I am getting on a plane today (or I'm on a plane or I'm getting off a plane, depending on when you read this). I am going to visit my brother and his family in Ohio for several days. (They have internet and I am taking my computer with me. I'll be around the blogosphere, although I may not be checking in daily.) So, in honor of my travel day, I thought it would be fun to find the top 13 U.S. airports. Yes, this is a Thursday 13. 

I got my data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, ranked by passenger enplanements for the year 2025. (I used the spreadsheet which was the third sheet tab at the bottom of the chart.) 

1. Atlanta, GA (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International)
2. Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (Dallas/Fort Worth International)
3. Chicago, IL (Chicago O'Hare International)
4. Denver, CO (Denver International)
5. Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles International)
6. New York, NY (John F. Kennedy International)
7. Orlando, FL (Orlando International)
8. Las Vegas, NV (McCarran International)
9. Miami, FL (Miami International)
10. San Francisco, CA (San Francisco International)
11. Charlotte, NC (Charlotte Douglas International)
12. Seattle, WA (Seattle/Tacoma International)
13. Phoenix, AZ (Phoenix Sky Harbor International)

None of the airports I'll be in are on this list. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I do know that when I went through Denver last year, things did not go so well. 

Eliminating Blogger's Indent

You've noticed it, right? In Blogger blogs, the first line of the first paragraph starts a space over. 

It's a minor thing, but it bugs me. Why does it do that? How can I fix it? 

I don't have an answer to the first question. Not the "why?" anyway. But I do know how it's happening. 

If you open a new blank blog post, you're greeted by a blank template. Before you do anything, switch from "Compose view" to "HTML view". 

click on the image to make it bigger

And you'll notice there's already some code on your page: 

click on the image to make it bigger

It's basically gibberish. It's just some placeholders in between code that means "paragraph". If you look in your toolbar, it'll show "Paragraph" rather than "Normal". "Paragraph" means when you hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard, a gap of a whole line is left after your previous paragraph. 

(If you want to use "Normal", that line isn't left, and you have to hit "Enter" again to get that space.)

If you try to delete that code, in Compose view it'll go back to "Normal". If you hit the back button to delete that space in Compose view, things go wonky. 

So, most bloggers just leave the space in. But you don't have to.

The way to get rid of the space is to begin the post. If you start with writing, start writing. When you hit "Enter" to get a new paragraph, begin writing the new paragraph. 

Only after you have started a second paragraph can you go back to your first word and hit "Backspace" to eliminate that space. 

Yes, I know. It's an annoying extra step. But it's the only thing I've found that works. 

But what if you start with an image? 

If you upload an image using the picture icon in the toolbar, an extra line of space is added to the top of your blog post. 

I have not had luck in hitting backspace before the image to make the extra line go away. (If you have, please leave how you get it to work in the comments.) But I can make that extra space disappear by deleting the first paragraph code (in "HTML view") after I've uploaded the image. 

If you delete everything highlighted in gray, that space goes away. Be very careful to get both "p"s and the carrots on either side. 

When you go back to "Compose view", your post will be back in "Normal". But if you click on the arrow, you can switch it back to "Paragraph", and it'll stick.

Of course, if you haven't noticed this issue and it doesn't bother you, feel free to ignore this post. But things like that irritate me, so I take the time to make sure I don't have that space. 

What about you? Do you eliminate the space? Have you never noticed? Or are you on a different blogging platform and don't have the problem? (Or do you know a better way to fix this?)

The Pros of Bad Leadership

I haven't really been following the news lately. So much bad news. But, there is some good. 

This clip from Rachel Maddow's show last week talks about all the things that are good about having a bad president. Mainly, his incompetence is making it harder for his policies to be implemented. 

I mean... not great. But it's something. Keep pushing back. It's us pushing back that's helping. 

Which Way Now?

The wavy second side? Still wavy. 

The first side is heading towards lettuce, too.

And right now both are about the same size. Woo-hoo! 

But now I have a dilemma. Do I rip back the second side in an effort to tame the wave? Or do I wait? 

Normally, I would have ripped this back days ago. But in three days I'm getting on a plane, and I'll see the recipient of the finished sweater (whenever it actually gets finished). And at that time, I can measure it against her. 

Although, I have hours on a plane. With nothing to do. I might just have the time to redo what I rip out... 

I mean, I was trying to make sure the second side followed the increase pattern of the first, but we saw how that came out. I could instead just do what I did for the first, and see how flat it lies as I figure out which increases to do. 

The more I write this out, the more I like this plan. It makes sense. 

My mind is whirling. While I may talk myself out of this, it's more likely that by the time you read this, that second side will be completely frogged, and I'll be working my way back. 

As I'll be travelling, next Monday's post may or may not be up-to-date. (I've written most of the posts for while I'm away. I'll be checking in. But Monday's posts may or may not appear. I haven't decided yet.) 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side

The Color Quizzes: What's Green?

A funny thing happened over the last few months. The quiz site I currently use, Quizly, did a kind of series of quizzes about color. 'Round about the third color, I thought about making them this summer's quizzes. 

Each quiz has one question 20-ish times. Which of the following choices are in the color of the quiz? This is both easier and harder than you think. In some cases I figured it out through process of elimination. I knew the others weren't, so the last one had to be. In some cases I did know which was the right color. And in the rest of them, I wasn't entirely sure. 

I hope you join me on this journey through the colors. Today we'll start with green. (Why green? Why not green?)

What's Green?

I managed a 19 out of 20. Woo-hoo!

Good luck. Let me know how you did in the comments.