When I start to think about Thanksgiving, my mind thinks it's so far away that I don't need to think too much about it right now. In actuality, it's only a month away! While I'm busy working away, I'm completely neglecting to even consider what I'm going to do for Thanksgiving.

All of that is beside the point, however. What I really want to talk about are The Signs of the Holidays. Every year starting in about September, I begin to look for these signs. They are nothing specific and they can be everywhere. When I start to notice the signs of the holidays, it puts me into sort of a giddy mood because I know they are approaching.

I think the first sign I remember from this year (Hallmark aside because we start in July) is a commercial for Walmart's layaway program. That's always a sure sign that the holidays are coming. The next was the Christmas lights behind the Halloween product at Target.

These little signs aren't typically very big, but they get me in that mood. They get me prepared to start thinking about the holidays. They sort of lead me into the rest of everything that's coming.

I know it's all very commercial, but the holidays have always been pretty commercial in my lifetime. It feels like a little extra festiveness outside of my home. Something that stores do to increase the holiday spirit.

Some of my favorite parts of the holiday season are the holiday commercials (think the Hershey Kiss "bells", Coke, the Lexus "December to Remember" commercial, Folgers, M&Ms, etc.), the store decorations and seasonalization, and (even though most people find them annoying) the Salvation Army bell ringers. They're all like extra decorations and festiveness that I don't have to worry about creating.

I'm also a huge fan of Christmas movies. In recent years, I don't get around to watching them like I used to, but the commercials for them help. My ultimate goal where Christmas movies are concerned, would be to sit down every night (starting Black Friday) with a mug of hot chocolate and watch a different Christmas movie every night.

So, those are my random thoughts on the upcoming holiday season.

I'm going to lose my mind

Do you know what makes me pretty much want to lose my mind? The mindset of today that teaches kids that there are no winners and losers in life. That's the biggest crock of bull crap I've ever heard. Parents and teachers who try to force that thought process on kids are just destroying any chance of survival. I'm getting ahead of myself though, let's start from the beginning.

I was browsing the internet when I happened upon an image of (what looked like) jam. Upon further inspection I found this to actually be an image of a jar filled with water and glitter with a caption that read: "Mind Jar. The goal is that when they are feeling out of control, they shake the jar, then sit and watch the glitter settle in the water. When the glitter settles, we finish our meditation. This one is a really great technique to use in lieu of timeout."

This was my thought process: "Ok, 'in lieu of timeout', so they are obviously referring to kids. Glitter? Settling in water? So, instead of punishing my child with a timeout (which, may I remind you, is nothing more than having a child sit alone to brood over what they have done and why it is wrong), they want me to have my child stare at a jar of glitter settling in water? What the hell does that accomplish?!"

What the hell, indeed.

This all goes back to parents being afraid of their kids. "Don't spank you kid, or he'll end up turning into a wife-beater", "Don't tell your kid he lost, tell him he didn't win that way he won't feel bad about himself", "Don't use red-ink to correct papers, red has a negative connotation" What the hell? When did we become so whimpy?

Ok, let's step outside the box and view this from a different perspective. I could, maybe, understand not spanking your kid, as long as he's punished in some other form. How will they learn the difference between what's acceptable and what's not? No one wants to physically hurt their child, so spanking can be seen as extreme (not that I have any problem with it, at all). Telling your kid that they didn't win instead of losing. Uhm, sure that will make them feel better, but so would actually winning. Don't use red-ink. This one I just don't get. Red ink is an editing tool that allows errors to be seen to be fixed. If red isn't used, it's much more difficult to see what needs to be fixed (or in this case, relearned).

The biggest problem I have with all of this, is the idea of not telling your kid that they lost at something. Losing is part of life. No one wants it to happen, but it does. Losing is the fuel for winning. To me, it's much better to lose at things (like sports) when a child is younger so they can get better and become more accustomed to winning as an adult.

If I person goes through life thinking that they'll never lose, then they'll never try to win. That makes life especially difficult in the workplace. If I was up for a job promotion and I had to beat out another competitor, I would do whatever it took to make sure that job was mine (within reason, of course -- I would never do anything under-handed). This is because I have a strong sense of competition. I know how awesome it feels to succeed and to beat out someone else for something that I really want.

Not everyone in life is going to win all the time. It doesn't work out that way. If you have an understanding of what it's like to lose however, you're better prepared to win.

Illumination

Recently, I have found myself very interested in art. In particular, Manuscript Illumination. I can tell you though, it is practically impossible to find anything on the internet that will instruct you on how to *draw* the different designs found in these manuscripts. I basically had to search out images from manuscripts and re-create the shapes and motifs.

I'm currently in the middle of creating a bookplate for myself. It uses the acanthus leaf, which was pretty widely used in manuscript illumination. I'm also using some heraldic ideas, so I'm calling it Medieval.

I'm also wanting to illuminate a verse from the Bible. I don't really know which yet, but I really want to do it. Also, I'm feeling the pull of Christmas (which isn't hard to believe because it happens frequently) 6 months ahead of schedule, and I want to illuminate The Twelve Days of Christmas. I'm imagining a border done in pine branches instead of acanthus and having a representation of each day woven into the border. It looks pretty cool in my head.

On a completely un-related note, I'm also learning to play guitar. I find fingerstyle to be fun, even though I'm pretty terrible at it.

24

I'm usually not a big tv fan. In fact, I go out of my way NOT to watch tv, but 24 is just one of those shows that is hard to pass by. If you've never heard of it, but are interested, you are sadly too late. Tonight was the final episode of the series. And boy was it a good one. This is sort of the ending that you hope for -- good guy wins, bad guy loses, all is right in the world.

Now, of course it really isn't that simple. The good guy had to go on a killing spree to win, which makes him guilty of murder (as well as breaking federal laws), and the other good guy (or gal) had to face her darkest times and see the light right at the end, but still has to pay some mighty consequences.

If you're a fan of the show, I won't spoil it for you. But boy do I want to :]

It's shows like this that make me proud to be an American and gives me hope for mankind. It's that kind of show that makes you think "What would I do in the same situation?". I know it made me think long and hard. It also does a great job showing how one lie can lead to another, which can lead to another, which can lead to another, and before you know it you're buried under your own deceit. Not a fun place to be.

Now, is everything in this show realistic? Not really. It seems highly unlikely that Jack could forsee half of what he does, and he comes up with his plans way too easily. It does make for fantastic entertainment, though.

If you're interested, look it up. I can't say enough positive things about it.

P.S. They have a movie slated to begin production in early 2011, so 24 fans, it ain't over yet!

Where the heck are we headed?

As you can probably see, this blog was initially started for knitting. Yeah, I'm a dude and I knit, get over it. Knitting is only one part of my life though. I have so many random interests that come and go. I have a few main interests (well, let's say hobbies): landscaping, woodworking, knitting, cooking, music, and facebook games.

As I said before, these interests come and go whenever they please. One day I could be knitting a sock (that crap sucks though) and then the next day I begin planning an garden; the sock, meanwhile, won't get touched for 6 months. Building furniture is an expensive hobby, but it is so rewarding. Check out Knock-Off Wood for some great pottery barn and the like knock-off projects. The best part? They're completely free.

Well, I'm not really much of a blogger, so I'm just going to leave you with some of my favorite links that pertain to my hobbies:

Knock-Off Wood
Ravelry
Food Network
Martha Stewart - for landscape designs as well as recipes
Flickr - great for getting ideas for furniture, landscaping, food, knitting, pretty much everything -- look me up to get a visual representation of my interests
Mugglenet and other Harry Potter fan sites - just general interest, not a hobby really (since Deathly Hallows was released I haven't been there often, but it's still nice to visit every once in a while)
Facebook - well duh

I think I'm done for now...

What to do...

So I found this awesome list of skills a knitter can learn from Discombobbled on the HPKCHC group on Ravelry. This object is to sort through these skills into: what you've done, what you plan to do, and what you are not planning to do.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

This is a great thinking exercise, several of these skill I hadn't even thought of doing. This is a gread starting point for planning future projects and expanding my knitting prowess. I envite anyone to go through this list to see where you might like to go with your knitting.

Thoughts on Gardening

I have always considered farming a noble profession, though I had never really considered making a career out of it. I don’t really know why. It might be because I consider it time consuming or labor intensive, but should that honestly matter?

No, it really shouldn’t.

Even so, I have my reasons for shying away from farming.

Before we go anywhere near those, I think it's important to understand what I do like about farming.

For me, farming is more than just a way to get cheap produce. It’s sort of a... I hate the word “spiritual,” so I won’t use it… but it’s sort of a connection you forge with the earth. There really is little that is more exhilarating than seeing those first leaves push their way through the topsoil. Once they do, the magic and excitement really begins. The changes and stages that a plant goes through as it develops are truly amazing to me. Gardening, or farming, is akin to parenting: you plant the seed, watch it sprout, nurture it, watch it develop, nurture some more, see it full grown and produce offspring of it’s own, and eventually die. We are ultimately watching a life-cycle take place every year.

Even though I have a very strong connection to farming and I regard it so highly, my family has had some… less than perfect experiences with gardens in the past.

(On to the story)

My parents, my little brother, and I moved to New Mexico in October of 2003. We really had no idea what “The Land of Enchantment” would hold for us (though my brother and I knew it was going to be terrible no matter what), but we were excited (HA!) to find out. We rented a house in the small town of Flora Vista, New Mexico. It was small, but we fit in comfortably. Our yard, however, was gigantic compared to the house.

In early 2004, my mother had resolved to plant a good-sized garden. By February, she was sketching and coming up with designs for her garden. When April arrived and she was ready to till the ground, she had a monster garden in the making. If I were to estimate the size, I would say it was about a 50x30 foot garden (this is large to me, maybe not to some of you).

If you don’t know much about New Mexico, it is a desert. For plants to survive in the desert, they need to be hardy. The weeds in this state are some of the hardiest in the world – their roots run so deep you could tug at one for hours. And we had to till a 50x30 foot rectangle of this stuff! After much work and much preparing, May rolled around and we finally planted the seeds. Not only was my mother ambitious with the scale of her garden, but also with the number of plants. We had: tomatoes, peas, green beans, Brussels sprouts, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, beets, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, watermelon, pumpkins (those were mine), and corn, though I’m positive there were more. Planting alone took an entire weekend. Weeding was non-stop. Watering was a logistical nightmare; thankfully we had a well to draw water from.

As summer came to a close, we were faced with more vegetables than we had any idea what to do with – except for corn. The ears of corn never grew larger than 5 inches in length. We ate, we canned, we ate, we froze, we ate, we gave away, and we even ate the produce. Overall, the entire experience was, exhausting.

The next year, we scaled back immensely. We reduced the size by about 50 square feet and the number of vegetables by about half. Even with the reductions, that garden was still a lot of work. As the years progressed, the size of the garden decreased until now where we are down to a few tomato plants.

I love to grow a garden, but I never fully appreciate the time and effort that go into it until I’m in too deep.

I still would love to grow a garden, I just need to make sure I’m ready for it and have everything planned ahead of time to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.