Sunday, October 26, 2008

Knitting, Spinning and Politics

This is far from being a political blog. I try to stick with topics that are non-controversial, but since the election is only 9 days away, I'm going to start this post by straying from my normal yarn and kitty fodder and blog about my chance to see Barack Obama in downtown Denver this afternoon. (Don't worry - there's plenty of yarn and kitty activity to talk about in this post too!)

Mary, Phil and I and a few of our friends met downtown way too early for a Sunday morning to start our for breakfast. We thought we'd grab and bite and then be one of the first in line to see Obama speak...apparently many other Obama supporters had the same idea. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day. We walked and walked and walked to find the end of the line to get into the park where he was speaking. Here's the view from the end of the line.

IMG_0658

And when the line finally started moving, here's what we saw when we turned the corner.

IMG_0659

And when we finally got to the park, here's what we saw. This is the view toward the Federal building. Obama spoke on the steps.

IMG_0660

And at the other end of the park is the State Capitol.

IMG_0662

They estimated that 100,000 people came out to see Barack speak. The crowd was all the way to the steps of the Capitol. We found a good place to stand across this street toward the front.

We had a great view of the snipers. They looked very serious.

IMG_0661

And we had a not so great view of Barack. But at least we had a slight view (see the blue arrow). At least we could hear every word he said clearly. I'm so glad I went.

Barack

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. I have been busy spinning and knitting.

This is superwash merino dyed by Stacy. This is my favorite yarn I've spun to date.

IMG_0645

And this is my first attempt at spinning a soft squishy single yarn. It's a bit overtwisted in places, but I'm happy with it.

IMG_0638

It jumped on the needles almost as soon as it dried from setting the twist. It became the Turn a Square hat (Ravelry link).

IMG_0657

I am almost hoping for colder weather so I can wear it. But I think I can be patient and wait a while longer to get a lot of use out of it.

While all of this knitting and spinning has been going on, rest assured I have had close supervision.

IMG_0649

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would jump at the chance to see Barack speak. Alas, I live in Mississippi, which is not exactly a swing state.

As always, I am in awe of your spinning prowess. One day, you will have to give me lessons on how to be awesome like you.