It’s very hard to think about anything else, with this
election looming. What must it be for you, who actually live there?
I can’t remember ever being so swept up in an election, even
for Obama, for whom I voted and raised funds. I remember ’48, and a full-page photograph
in Life Magazine which was for a while infamous, showing – what was his name? Governor
Dewey! – in a boat of some sort, crossing New York Harbour or some such, labelled
“The Next President of the United States”. Not.
Truman (who won that election – “Give ‘em hell, Harry!”) was
a Good Thing, I think. He tried, I believe, to do something about health care,
back then when then NHS was being established and it might actually have been
possible in the USofA. I’d like to know the story. I suppose there are books. I
remember (I was 12, when the war ended) the anti “socialised medicine”
propaganda, especially in the Reader’s Digest. But where did I read that? Not
at home. There, I vividly remember reading John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” in the New
Yorker, in ’46. Nothing about health care there.
Knitting
Little. My husband has
been more demanding of late – cutting fingernails yesterday, and I fear it will
be toenails today, I finished reading The Vicar of Wrexhill aloud to him
yesterday – goodness! it’s good -- and
will go on to R.C. Sherriff, “The Hopkins Manuscript” today. I’ll keep you
posted.
But I’ve rounded the heel of the Kaffe Fassett sock, and
almost finished the gusset decreases. And here at home I did indeed divide for
the neck placket on the front of the half-brioche sweater last night. After a couple of
rows, I became seriously afraid that I had committed myself to doing the
buttonholes the men’s way (not that that would matter all that much) , but
after a couple more rows I decided that, no, that decision won’t have to be
made until the ribbing for the placket is actually cast on. I am a Blind Follower if ever there was one.
Tamar, I was very grateful for your comment yesterday, and
your opinion that my Knitzi hasn’t really been too long absent. I’ll leave it
until the middle of next week – after the
election – and then start worrying again, if need be.
Here’s
a delicious list of possible hats to knit. I’ll have to go back to my
Christmas list, mentioned yesterday, and see who hasn’t had a hat recently.
Money is certainly the root of all evil in the US election system, no doubt going back as far as Truman. I just finished a hat in a lovely yarn, Atlantic, that is Falkland Merino. Pricey, but it only used one skein.
ReplyDeleteI have posted pictures of my Uncia blocking. Is it wrong to imagine it in pristine white or in a tasteful accent colour? Could one bear to knit it twice?
ReplyDeleteJean, for most of my circle of friends and colleagues, life is very stressful as we hurtle towards Tuesday. Many of us are not sleeping because of anxiety.
ReplyDeleteTrue here, certainly.
Delete-- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)
Re past elections. I was 12 in the 1948 election when Dewey was running. I was with my parents standing on a bridge in Back Bay in Boston. A train passed underneath and who should appear on the rear platform but Dewey - he waved to us.
ReplyDeleteWe are all anxious, moreso than usual. It is very difficult to have rational discussions when one side distorts the facts.
ReplyDeleteFYI, the New York Times will offer free, unlimited access from Monday after midnight through Wednesday (at least). Link is nytimes.com.
Beverly in Nj
The stress level here is incredibly high . Surely there will be recounts and allegations of voter fraud. I would not be surprised to see the election end up in front of the Supreme Court! The one good thing about this election is that many more people are beginning to understand why it is important to vote in every election. The polls should be busy. Oh, how I hope that the election does go smoothly and that my candidate wins. I understand that Canada does not want us!
ReplyDeleteoh G#D no. hopefully it will be over Tuesday. couldnt bear it to go on
DeleteI try to focus on that - the fact that this election has broken so spectacularly through voter apathy even taking into account that presidential elections always have more participation than off-year ones. And whether our respective candidate wins or not, it is our freedom to choose that is the ultimate winner here. That is what I try to remember. Jean, i just finished a placket myself and almost went into a panic over the buttonholes. Then I remembered it was for a baby:-). Chloe
ReplyDeleteChloe, I just finished knitting a sweater for a new baby and the pattern I used called for putting buttonholes on both sides and then just sewing the buttons in place over one set of button holes. It meant that I didn't have to fret about marking where the buttons went-and possibly setting the a little...off and later, if the mother has a baby of the opposite she can just move the buttons. I thought it was very clever, even though my second child wore her cardigans buttoned on the "wrong" side because they had been her brother's. The first time I knit her her "own" sweater , she had trouble buttoning it because the buttons were opposite of what she was used to .
ReplyDelete