Crying Wolf

It appears that the British Intelligence has really foiled a terrorist plot. I hope they're not just better liars than the U.S. Intelligence.

Florida Terrorists
I have to admit that when I first heard of the terrorist plot to concoct bombs using liquids, and bring down multiple planes going from London to the United States, I was quite skeptical. I mean, the so-called terrorists that were going to bring down the Sears Tower in Chicago was such a ridiculous concept, that I just assumed this was another way of making sure the World knew how safe the U.S. and British intelligence agencies were keeping us.

My sister and her husband flew to London last Thursday, just as all this stuff was happening, and Liza just left very early this morning, so I did take the whole issue a lot more seriously. But even if I had a relative working in the Sears Tower, I don't think I would have taken the first plot seriously at all.

My point is, Mr. Bush and his cronies, both domestic and abroad, ought to be careful how many times they cry wolf as a way to sway public opinion in their favor. Like the U.K. plot, the next plot, I might not believe right away either.

Current Knitting
I'm on the 10th ball of yarn, and I will pretty much finish the blanket as designed sometime today.



I did end up buying a new ball of yarn at Twist this past weekend, and I'm thinking about using it to create a more interesting border than the garter stitch border in the pattern. I'm just not sure exactly what I want to do yet.

Twist Knitting and Spinning
This past Saturday, I went to Twist, and was disappointed to find that Deb (the owner) was on vacation. But my disappointment was short-lived. Two incredibly enjoyable and capable folks were there to take over the store while Deb was out. Sissy, a woman I had met before, who is a neighbor of quilt friend Liza, and former part-owner of a yarn store herself. And Steve, a lovely gay man who both knits and spins, and is funny as hell (although he's not so talented on a cash register). It never ceases to amaze me that there are talented folks like Steve who live near here who I've never met.

Then a small, regular knitting crew came in to chat and knit and shop. It was much fun.

I ended up buying one extra ball of the pink Baby Cashmereno, a ball of the same thing in white (I'm thinking about doing a matching pair of booties to go with the blanket) and a ball of Noro Kureyon to complement the yarn I spun from James' fiber from New Zealand.




Readers' Comments/Questions
Tricky Tricot says, "I think if you happen to be queer, you can use the word queer however you want."

I agree that both his examples would be acceptably non-insulting, I don't agree in all cases. Gay men can hurl words like fag and queer just as nastily as any straight person, and an example like, "I just dated a guy named Cyril last night, what a queer." would be just as offensive to me as Cable Guy's deer head saying it.

JoVE asks, "As for the merino hemp, I was wondering whether the feel of the yarn would change over time."

Yes, I'm sure, like most hemp, the yarn would soften, and when I scoured the small hank of yarn and lightly weighted it to set the twist, it did get softer and bloom. That wasn't my concern. The resulting yarn was fine, I just didn't enjoy the spinning of it so much.

Angie notes, "It seems weird that you have to use your sexuality in your blog's title."

Actually, I've had an online persona of "QueerJoe" for almost two decades now, and I wanted to continue it as part of my blog, not to shout out to the World my sexual orientation (although, it accomplishes that too). It started out as an 'in-your-face Fuck You' to all the homo-haters I'd run into in online environments, and then it became a badge of pride for me. Like Angie mentioned, straight is usually the default when it comes to sexual orientation, but I don't feel compelled to broadcast my orientation, but I like that it does that anyway.