Something is finished!

One of the disadvantages of knitting multiple items at the same time - is that it seems forever until one thing is finished! Even me - the process knitter - began to get edgy that I had so many partially done things on needles - my Embossed Leaves socks, my Southwest Philosopher's Wool Cardigan, my Mermaid, Deli (hah! I was trying to keep that one to myself), even a Dale sweater I started years and years ago and I don't have the heart to throw away.

So - I decided to drop my Southwest for awhile and concentrated on the socks. And finito! At least one.



I love them! And they fit fine. May even be a little small. I lengthened the pattern to compensate for using smaller needles. So now I know - I can even handle a 64 stitch count with smaller needles. Such a pretty pattern. And no kitchener at the end. You just pull yarn thru the last 8 stitches. My kind of toe!

But I did make a little progress on my cardigan:



I'm happy with that too.. but sometimes the stiffer yarn is hard on my fingers. Smooshy is a lot easier to handle.

So I'm back to regular work hours starting tomorrow. Good thing. Getting up at 3:15 so I can get online by 4AM was getting really old.

I don't do a lot of whining (other than about yarn) on my blog.. but I really wonder if I am the only single person with a large mortgage who doesn't understand why the tax laws seem to think that a single person only earns 50% what a married person makes? This normally hits me at tax time when I check the tax table and see what % of my salary I owe compared to a married person's %.. but this time it came last Thurs when they set the upper limits for the tax stimulus checks. The upper level for single people was 50% that for a married couple (whether or not there were two breadwinners).

I'm not implying that I need as much money as a married couple with children but I know its more than 50%. My largest expenses are the same. I own my own home with a mortgage, I need to heat it, and I need to pay significant property taxes on it. I make a good salary (after 30 years) but my married coworkers that make more money than me get the rebate and I don't. And its not all about the money. Its about fairness and discrimination. I think we need change the tax laws to deal with each household rather than the marital status of the taxpayer. Wishful thinking - huh? Well that's all I'm going to say about that!

Will have a full report on the Denver Creative Festival next week!