Okay, okay, let me explain!
Well, I finally did it - I managed to tick somebody off. I'm sure I've done it before, but this time I irked someone enough that they actually left a comment. I was preparing myself to get flamed for my comments on copyright, but instead I got an anonymous comment from an Oregon native who was irritated by my protrayal of Oregon drivers. So let me clarify...
First off, I love Oregon. If I ever leave this state, it's going to be feet first. Even though I've only lived here a year, I feel like I'm finally home. And so I was snarking about the slow drivers here in an affectionate manner, kind of like I rag on my husband (who is my favorite person in the whole world) for leaving our halloween pumpkin on the front porch so long it turned into a bizarro science experiment and started dragging property values down in the neighborhood. So I sincerely apologize, anonymous Oregon commenter, for ticking you off.
And you are right - the drivers in my home state of Minnesota are horrible. I hate the thought of driving on the Minneapolis freeways every time I go back there. Yielding is not socially acceptable there, and boy do people like to tailgate. At high speeds. In blinding snow. And y'all can't get mad at me for saying that because I used to BE one of those crazy people. I have to say, though, the worst driving I've ever seen had to have been in Atlanta. Yielding is common and expected there. The problem is that people often just pull out without looking, expecting others to yield. Which is fine if you see them, but not fine if you don't! The Atlanta freeways were notorious while we lived there for these huge fiery wrecks with multiple fatalities that would shut traffic down completely for hours. I think there was an average of one fatality a day or something ridiculous like that.
Oregon is so much better than either of those places. I don't mind California drivers, either, since they generally seem skilled (I guess that's what happens when you spend three hours driving to work every day). However, now that I've been in OR for a year, I am really happy with the less frantic pace here. I rarely find myself in the left lane anymore and even when I am, I don't feel like I have to drive 90 to avoid getting in anyone's way. It's much more relaxing and I don't feel like I'm taking my life (and my children's lives) into my hands every time I get behind the wheel.
That said, I guess the point of my earlier rant was the people who drive soooo slowly around here. Not at the speed limit - I am more than happy with people who drive the speed limit and have turned into one of them myself, for the most part. But the people who toodle along at 40 in a 55. Or 30 in a 40. I just wonder about them. What are they thinking about? Don't they have anywhere they need to be? Do they just enjoy driving? Perhaps they're concerned about fuel economy. Enquiring minds want to know! In another year, I'm probably going to be one of those people.
Well, I hope that makes my position a little more clear (and a little less irritating to you, gentle anonymous reader). I love Oregon. Okay? Okay!
Now for some socks.
New knit-alonger Cece finished a pair of January Jaywalkers. No J for this month, since she joined too late, but she will get a little brownie point!
Linda finished up a gorgeous pair of Yukon Leaves socks. She just started a brand new blog, so git over there and give her some comments, dagnabbit!!!
Persnickety Knitter gets a big ol' J for these lovely Log Cabin socks. I am loving that pattern!
Amanda gets a brownie point for her Rumba socks. Very nice!
Abigail finished some totally funky Hot Socks for her son's best friend (aka Glamour Girl - the friend, not the son). Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the prize for February. It's making me wish I was entering myself in the drawing! Thanks, doll!
Jennie finished ANOTHER pair of Jaywalkers. She entered too late to get her J, but she's going to get another brownie point!
Ragan posted a pic of her brownie point socks, which she knit for her daughter. Too cute!
Sarah's January socks are an amazing pair of knee-highs that you HAVE to see. I don't blame your mum for stealing them. I want some!
Finally (I think that's all of them - whew!), I have Jen's January Jaywalkers!
I'm posting her pic here because her DF just lost his grandfather and she didn't feel it appropriate to be talking about socks on her blog immediately after. Please send some thoughts and/or prayers her way. And no, those aren't Jen's hairy legs in the picture. Even tho' they are pink, these Jaywalkers are for her DF.
Okay, if you're still reading this ridiculously long post, I have more for you. First, I'm done with the crazy last-minute Knitty design. Karen is hosting a little FO-along this week and said I could get credit for this if I blogged about it, even if I didn't show pics of it. So there you have it. I'm quite happy with it, and it got rave reviews at my knitting group last night. Please, Amy, please please like it! I'm just going to keep submitting stuff to you until you accept something, so you may as well get it over with!
I also got some fantastic news in my e-mail inbox yesterday - Knitter's is buying one of my designs for the summer issue! Yahoo! I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed at all this stuff that is getting accepted (and all seems to have a deadline of March), but it's a good problem to have. Fortunately, Chris is going to help me out and knit one of my samples - a little pair of socks for Quick to Knit Gifts. Now I just have to get the pattern written and find the yarn (which should be easier than it's turning out to be)...
And now, back to work. I have two hours before the kiddies come home and about 16 hours of work I have to do. And all I really want to do is curl up on the couch with my Jaywalkers and watch last night's Bachelor: Paris. Sigh.
First off, I love Oregon. If I ever leave this state, it's going to be feet first. Even though I've only lived here a year, I feel like I'm finally home. And so I was snarking about the slow drivers here in an affectionate manner, kind of like I rag on my husband (who is my favorite person in the whole world) for leaving our halloween pumpkin on the front porch so long it turned into a bizarro science experiment and started dragging property values down in the neighborhood. So I sincerely apologize, anonymous Oregon commenter, for ticking you off.
And you are right - the drivers in my home state of Minnesota are horrible. I hate the thought of driving on the Minneapolis freeways every time I go back there. Yielding is not socially acceptable there, and boy do people like to tailgate. At high speeds. In blinding snow. And y'all can't get mad at me for saying that because I used to BE one of those crazy people. I have to say, though, the worst driving I've ever seen had to have been in Atlanta. Yielding is common and expected there. The problem is that people often just pull out without looking, expecting others to yield. Which is fine if you see them, but not fine if you don't! The Atlanta freeways were notorious while we lived there for these huge fiery wrecks with multiple fatalities that would shut traffic down completely for hours. I think there was an average of one fatality a day or something ridiculous like that.
Oregon is so much better than either of those places. I don't mind California drivers, either, since they generally seem skilled (I guess that's what happens when you spend three hours driving to work every day). However, now that I've been in OR for a year, I am really happy with the less frantic pace here. I rarely find myself in the left lane anymore and even when I am, I don't feel like I have to drive 90 to avoid getting in anyone's way. It's much more relaxing and I don't feel like I'm taking my life (and my children's lives) into my hands every time I get behind the wheel.
That said, I guess the point of my earlier rant was the people who drive soooo slowly around here. Not at the speed limit - I am more than happy with people who drive the speed limit and have turned into one of them myself, for the most part. But the people who toodle along at 40 in a 55. Or 30 in a 40. I just wonder about them. What are they thinking about? Don't they have anywhere they need to be? Do they just enjoy driving? Perhaps they're concerned about fuel economy. Enquiring minds want to know! In another year, I'm probably going to be one of those people.
Well, I hope that makes my position a little more clear (and a little less irritating to you, gentle anonymous reader). I love Oregon. Okay? Okay!
Now for some socks.
New knit-alonger Cece finished a pair of January Jaywalkers. No J for this month, since she joined too late, but she will get a little brownie point!
Linda finished up a gorgeous pair of Yukon Leaves socks. She just started a brand new blog, so git over there and give her some comments, dagnabbit!!!
Persnickety Knitter gets a big ol' J for these lovely Log Cabin socks. I am loving that pattern!
Amanda gets a brownie point for her Rumba socks. Very nice!
Abigail finished some totally funky Hot Socks for her son's best friend (aka Glamour Girl - the friend, not the son). Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the prize for February. It's making me wish I was entering myself in the drawing! Thanks, doll!
Jennie finished ANOTHER pair of Jaywalkers. She entered too late to get her J, but she's going to get another brownie point!
Ragan posted a pic of her brownie point socks, which she knit for her daughter. Too cute!
Sarah's January socks are an amazing pair of knee-highs that you HAVE to see. I don't blame your mum for stealing them. I want some!
Finally (I think that's all of them - whew!), I have Jen's January Jaywalkers!
I'm posting her pic here because her DF just lost his grandfather and she didn't feel it appropriate to be talking about socks on her blog immediately after. Please send some thoughts and/or prayers her way. And no, those aren't Jen's hairy legs in the picture. Even tho' they are pink, these Jaywalkers are for her DF.
Okay, if you're still reading this ridiculously long post, I have more for you. First, I'm done with the crazy last-minute Knitty design. Karen is hosting a little FO-along this week and said I could get credit for this if I blogged about it, even if I didn't show pics of it. So there you have it. I'm quite happy with it, and it got rave reviews at my knitting group last night. Please, Amy, please please like it! I'm just going to keep submitting stuff to you until you accept something, so you may as well get it over with!
I also got some fantastic news in my e-mail inbox yesterday - Knitter's is buying one of my designs for the summer issue! Yahoo! I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed at all this stuff that is getting accepted (and all seems to have a deadline of March), but it's a good problem to have. Fortunately, Chris is going to help me out and knit one of my samples - a little pair of socks for Quick to Knit Gifts. Now I just have to get the pattern written and find the yarn (which should be easier than it's turning out to be)...
And now, back to work. I have two hours before the kiddies come home and about 16 hours of work I have to do. And all I really want to do is curl up on the couch with my Jaywalkers and watch last night's Bachelor: Paris. Sigh.
posted by knittinmom at 10:47 AM
15 Comments:
Okay, I have to laugh a little at the "Oregon drivers" comments. I think it was pretty obvious that you were stating your frustration in said affectionate manner. Sorta weird that someone really got so ticked about it.
And, for the record, I live here and I DO think Portland is the land of 10,000 Volvos--and I want one! :)
Oh, a big congrats about the accepted Knitter's design! Yay!
woohoo! another accepted design! someday when you're famous like debbie bliss, i'll be able to say that i knew you waay back when you were first getting started.
thanks for posting pics of DF's hairy legs. Much better than those of his not-so-hairy head.
DF also rants about drivers from OH much like you rant about the OR ones. maybe they're migrating westward?
i wonder what you'd say about hawaii drivers. my ex used to wonder why it took so long to get anywhere by car; he joked i could've easily just walked there since it's not that far. psh, no ways! but i do wonder why people drive so aggressively here; there's only so far you can go and you know you'll get there!
i am loving this sock KAL you invented, chrissy! seriously, all these socks people are making has me wanting more! and just look at those Jaywalkers Jen finished for her DF! what a feeling it is to see gifted yarn turn into something so beautiful to behold. great job, Jen!
Hurrah for your submission to Knitty!!! I'll credit your FO tomorrow, and I'm thinking postive thoughts for you! I have to say, NY drivers and MA drivers are not the best either. My brother is moving on CA now (on the road as we speak) and will be in OR for training for three weeks - so I'll have to get him to weigh in on the subject too. :)
Yay for you! You know if you need another test knitter, I'd be happy to help you out. Seriously.
Didn't you write a whole post exalting the praises of Oregon last month some time?? I never took your post to be anything but friendly fun-poking, but I guess you can never please everyone. And as a bad driver myself, I can totally attest to the fact that we have some REALLY bad and aggressive drivers here in HI. ;-) Jen's Jaywalkers turned out beautifully!! Man, those stripes are so perfectly even, but then again, I'd expect nothing less from Jen! ;-) Thanks for all the sock updates and take care! :-)
Ah well! It's your blog, so post what you want girlfriend.
Amy
Misunderstanding-now understood. Handled with grace and humor on your part. Chill pill taken. Knit on...
Glad to see the Oregon resident is happy again, but way MORE happy to see the Knitter's news! Congratulations!
Congrats on your designs to happen in the future!! Cool! Can't wait to see them!
Great to see everyone's socks...Well I did finish 1 sock, my first, so February here I come!
Hi Chrissy
I finished these last night, for January, then took a nap, and here I am posting them:
http://starzabove.com/article/koigu-sock-finished
And then these I count as my 'brownie point' socks for January:
http://starzabove.com/article/baby-kamryn-lily
Now to get some sleep!
Thanks,
StarzAbove
Congratulations on all the design success! I really like the scarf in Magknits.
I love the Bachelor: Paris, too. The only thing you could say that would offend me is saying that Moana is your favorite. :)
Okay, so the slow drivers are a little annoying, especially when they are in the left lane. The worst driver's in Oregon, though, are the people merging on to 26 in the morning - can they not figure it out that you have to match the speed of the traffic you are merging with? Why should that traffic slow down 20 mph just to let you and your slow silly self in? Okay, I'm done ranting - I've lived in Oregon for 7 years now and I still can't get over the really crappy job of merging people do here. I'd better go knit something to calm down.
I'm a Minnesota native, as well, and I always thought we were relatively sane drivers. Well, I moved to Chicago (the city, not the 'burbs) three years ago.
When I was back in MN over Christmas, I was amazed at how slowly and politely everyone was driving! I realized that I was tailgating people, zipping around slow cars (that were really just obeying the speed limit) on Hwy 100, etc. Sigh... I guess Chicago has affected me.
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