An Enigma Wrapped In A Mystery

I am a big observer of how folks drive in various areas of the country, and I have to say that New York state has some of the best drivers.

Traffic Lights
New Yorkers seem to be very aware drivers. If they cut you off in traffic, it's usually intentional, and often for a good reason. Like most of the country, New Yorkers are also very selfish drivers, but they don't seem to go to as great lengths to beat out other drivers as New Jersey or Pennsylvania drivers (or me, for that matter).

One thing that has kept me in constant amazement in my three years of driving around upstate New York are their traffic lights.

Most states position traffic lights at two places. One is right over the place where you are supposed to stop, and another is on the far side of the intersection so that you can see it from where you're stopped. Many of the traffic lights up here only have a light positioned directly over where you're supposed to stop. So when you do stop, it's very difficult to see the light almost directly above your car. I've needed significant chiropractic care to make up for the strange contortions I have had to put myself in to monitor light changes.

But the enigma about it all is this. In my empirical experience, New Yorkers seem to almost always go immediately when the light turns green. I almost never see drivers who don't notice that the light has turned green, or notice it at the last minute and by the time they get their car into gear and start moving, the light is almost yellow again. These kinds of things happen significantly more (in my experience) in other states.

Current Knitting
I'm almost finished with the front of the sweater with one side of the top complete and the second one on the last 20 or 30 rows.



I would have completed it last night if I hadn't made a boneheaded move. When I re-attached the yarn on the left side of the collar, I figured it would be easiest if I started on the side where I could do all knitting across the row. Unfortunately, that doesn't work too well when the stitch is like garter stitch. It gave me one row of stockinette stitch which looked very stupid. Of course I didn't notice until I was about ten rows up. Having to go back and re-knit those rows prevented me from finishing last night.

Oh well, there's always tonight.

The Benefits Of Being "Out" As A Knitter
When everyone who knows you, knows that you knit, people are always picking up little things that they see at yard sales or flea markets and giving them to me.

These two little items were picked up by two different people who just thought I might like them.



I did.

The needles are a vibrant red, aluminum US10.5 needles and the little kids knitting design booklet is very cute. I particularly like the drawings on the cover and throughout the booklet.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Regarding the spun Romney, Marilyn suggests, "I would have Carol dye your yarn."

That is exactly my plan. Dyeing is a messy pain in the neck, and I would much rather pay to have someone with talent do it, than experiment with it myself.

Carol asks, "How did your mom get Thomas Jefferson to sign the book?"

I told her you said that, and she's no longer reading your blog. You sure do have a way of pissing off maternal members of bloggers families, dontcha?