I Quit

UFO: A knitting abbreviation for unfinished object.  

In all the years I've been knitting (and crocheting), I finish every project I start. Some may take a while, like the afghan that took me six years to finish. And some come out so awful that I stash them away, never to be worn or seen again. But I finish them.

(Well, not everything. The first sweater I ever tried to knit I gave up on, primarily because I misread the pattern, and it went sideways quickly. I ripped the thing out and reused the yarn. I still have the pattern, and someday I might try to knit it again. Although, that was the '80s, so the pattern is a bit dated now.)  

I started the Yaddo Cardigan back in April. I had some issues with it. A couple times I had to rip out rows because I skipped a stitch, but those were my errors, so they didn't bother me too much. I was thrilled to get the main body done and get started on the right front.  

But that's where things went all wrong.  

I read the pattern. I tried to do what the pattern said, but on some rows, what the pattern said I should do did not correspond with the stitches I had in front of me on my project. I ripped out and redid, but I couldn't get pattern and reality to coincide. So, I fudged things. 

I finished the right front, sort of. It wasn't completely right, but it was sort of there, and I could live with it. 

I set the thing aside for a bit, because I knew I was going to have to spend some time concentrating when I went to work on the back. Last week I finally had the mental space to sit down and do it. And that's where it went all wrong.  

It's rather hard to see, but the back isn't in the exact middle of the sweater. It's off to the side a bit. 

Realizing that this wasn't going to work, I went back and recounted everything. My stitch counts were right. Which meant that I needed to go back and recalculate to make the pattern work.  

That's when I decided that I was done with this. Sure, I could do the math to make things work. But it just wasn't worth it anymore.  

I ripped the whole thing out last Sunday. It took about two hours. 

I will use the yarn for something else. I don't know what yet. It's nice yarn. But this cardigan will never be. Sigh. 

Ever given up on something you'd worked on for a long time? Did you regret it? 

Down to Sawdust

Laguna Beach, CA is a bit of an artist enclave. Every summer, there are all sorts of art festivals. My favorite one happens to be the Sawdust Festival. I've been going almost every summer since the '80s.

I ran into the woman who made this frog ring...

I recognized her booth because she still sells this little guy. Isn't he cute?

All sorts of great artists have booths selling their wares. There's some wonderful water photography. And of course paintings of coastal scenes. Especially Laguna Beach. And some more Laguna Beach photography.

I'm especially fond of fiber arts (naturally) and am drawn to the booths that sell purses and such. But some jewelry artists catch my eye.

These wooden goblets caught my eye. And I do love some sculptural stuff. But nephew loved watching the glass blower. And there's plenty of glasswork to see as well.

Sorry about link soup, but I'm wary of posting pics that aren't mine (the frog ring is mine, and I took that photo). This is only a small selection of what was there. If you're in the area, you really should check it out.

A Different Many Worlds Theory

Have you heard the Many Worlds Theory? The one where every decision you make (every decision you've ever made) splits off the universe. So, if you decide to have a bagel for breakfast with your coffee instead of your usual plain coffee, there's another universe where you just had the coffee.

It's a hard concept to get one's head around. This sort of explains the idea.

I've never been fond of this idea. But it's the jump off point for today's question:

What if, instead of separate universes "breaking off" at every decision point, every possible decision you could have made is being played out in this universe, just amongst different people? That is, you could find out what would have happened if you made a different choice if you could find the person who made that other choice.  

Denied an Early Release

Occasionally, I get a teacher whose prep period is the last period of the day. Since I don't have to prep, as long as the school doesn't need me for another class, I get to go home early.

But last week, a small wrench got thrown into those plans.

Because the continuation high school is the way it is, last Wednesday was the day that the students all got their registration packets. But because the administration didn't want the students losing the paperwork, they had us hand it out to them at the end of their day.

(These are students who don't bring pencil or paper to school. Carrying paperwork around all day? Many will lose it.)

And because of they way they do things, that meant that I had the packets for two students. Which meant that I had to wait around for an hour so that I would still be at school for the last five minutes of the day.

Sigh.

(Yes, this is a very minor quibble. Which should tell you how smooth my day went that the only funny story I have to relate is of me having to wait around for an hour to pass out two packets of paperwork.)

Lazy Roll

The continuation high school is back in session. And not all the classes are crazy small. 

Last week, I covered the US History class. First period had 24 students enrolled. Something like 17 showed up.  

This isn't entirely a ditch thing. The continuation high school's year overlaps with the end of summer school, so many of the students who haven't been coming to class have been attending that. They can't be in two places at once.  

Still, it was kind of a shock to get four students in a class where 14 were enrolled. 

I looked at the group. I looked at the roll sheet. 

I hate calling out roll. With no seating chart, calling roll is the most efficient way to get the roll taken. Except in this case. 

So, instead, with clipboard and roster in hand, I walked up to each student.  

"What's your name?"  

Because I really hate stumbling over names. And most of them weren't there to correct me, anyway.  

Look Both Ways

It was just after 7 AM the morning I subbed, and I was headed to school. I was just a block away from my house when a small white dog darted in front of my car.

The dog was too close. I hit the brake, but I knew that I didn't have enough space to stop. I cringed at the moment that the dog should have hit, but because of the size of the dog and the front of my car I couldn't see it happen.

Then, from about where my right front tire was, the dog rolled away from my car, bouncing off the tire of the parked car next to me (the reason I couldn't swerve to avoid the dog). He bounced up, regained his feet, and ran back the way he came.

That's when another little dog (more chihuahua like) ran from the direction the white dog had come. Dog 2 was chasing white dog. Dog 2 took off following white dog, and both safely made the yard across the street.

However, I was still shaking.

The dogs' owner called for my attention then. She had seen some of that happen, but not all, for she asked if I had hit the dog. I confirmed that I had. But she didn't see white dog take off, so I pointed out where white dog was now running around.

Perhaps I had slowed my car down enough so that white dog was not injured. He certainly seemed to be still in play after the incident.

Dream Reality

I've got all sorts of strange and disturbing ideas bubbling about in my thoughts. Too bad most of them are ill formed and only semi coherent. My head's in a weird place.

(The other morning I awoke with one phrase going through my mind: "The Twelve Days of Halloween". I'm kind of afraid to remember the dream that went along with that one.)

So, let me see if I can come up with an understandable what if...

What if the dream state is an alternate reality?