Status Report: Catherine Parr

This is the first sleeve for Catherine Parr. Another two inches or so, and I will shape the sleeve cap. I've already cast on the second sleeve but haven't started the colorwork yet. That won't happen until I wind off another skein of yarn.

The Catherine Parr knitters are starting back on our informal KAL this week. We're meeting Friday to tackle the sleeve shaping. The pattern is written with standard drop shoulders, but I'm doing a modified drop, and I'm going to show the others how to make this absurdly easy modification.

I suspect the first sleeve will be off the needles within a week. We'll see. A lot depends on work and other issues, and how much knitting time is available to me.

Back on the politics thing. I don't often talk about politics, but you should probably know that I'm what pollsters call an independent or a swing voter. (And believe me, once the pollsters identify you as such, your phone tends to ring a lot during election season. I've already been surveyed a half-dozen or so times in this election cycle.) I have in the past voted for Republicans and Democrats for president. And for other offices.

In any event, I make it a practice of watching both conventions and watching the debates, as much as possible of all of it. I generally know who I intend to vote for before all that coverage starts, but I have changed my mind in past elections based on things I learned during the election season. So my scrutiny of both conventions is nothing unusual.

I was very interested in knowing who McCain would pick for VP, because this was one of the factors I knew might sway my vote. Plus, let's be real here. McCain's getting up there in years. I wish him a long and fruitful life, but still. His VP pick matters more that it might otherwise matter with a younger candidate. Right now, I'm listening for evidence that Palin deviates from her party platform on any particulars. And I'm not hearing it, but it's a little hard to hear real politics at the moment when all anyone wants to talk about is the unwed teen mother thing.

It's not easy being a swing voter. I have to listen to a lot of rabid outrage from both ends. I do listen to it, but frequently from an abstract rhetorician's mindset. Spin is fascinating stuff.

And as long as we're on the topic of full disclosure here, I worked in the government long enough to gain a good understanding of the way things really work. I worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations. The two sides have very different approaches to managing a government office, but I must say I met good people and bad people on both sides.

So I'm going to do my best to drop the topic now, even though this is going to be a hot topic for the next two months. But just in case I do start waxing political, I thought it made sense to lay this foundation now so that people might understand where I'm coming from.