Glutton for Punishment

I was considering this morning what project I should bring with me to the Pride Festival, in case of a slow moment, and I realized that I don't have anything appropriate on the needles--the only sock I'm working on is nearing the heel, and I don't want to mess with a short-row heel (a technique I am not very practiced at) when I'll likely be interrupted. The solution? As soon as I finish writing this I am, once again, going to cast on the Charade Socks. In the Cursed Red Sockotta. This time, with a clear purpose in mind, I'm really hoping it goes better.

Wish me luck!

I also wanted to mention that a few weeks ago I devised a new system for Stash Storage and Management. I got myself some Space Bags, made a spreadsheet, and got to organizing and inventorying. I realized then, and had the point driven home to me this morning when I retrieved my yarn, that sock yarn does count as Stash.

Seriously. That's a lot of yarn. I don't even want to think about how much money is sitting there in that extra-large Space Bag. I need to knit some damn socks, and fast.


I'm about to go seriously off-topic, and I'm sorry about that--this is supposed to be my crafting blog, and what follows isn't going to be about crafting at all. I try hard to keep my personal life out of this blog, but this is really important to me, so I'm going to Go There. After this weekend we should be back to our regularly scheduled knitting.

I'm completely excited about the festival today. I continue to be amazed that we've done so much in such a short time. (As a friend told me last night, I could be easily forgiven for straying into "smug" territory--I think she's right. Call me smug!) Even if no more people show up to this than have attended the Shame Picnic in previous years, it will be a success.

On that note, it has been suggested to me that I am Extremely Weird for hoping that this event, that we've all worked so hard to put on, is protested. Let me explain: It has been amply demonstrated over the last few weeks that there is a need for this festival. Certain very vocal members of the Lexington community object to the fact that Pride is going to be a public event this year. This, in a city that The Advocate recently named as one of the 10 best places in the U.S. for members of the LGBT community to live! Clearly, in order to end (or at least silence) the hatred, members and supporters of the LGBT community need to be more visible and, frankly, show the nay-sayers that we walk among them every day and function as productive, valuable members of society--without committing sodomy in the streets, without recruiting their children, without doing any of the things they're so afraid of. These people--the ones who are filled with hatred and fear--exist in this city. I want them to be paying attention. We may not change any minds today, but I want them to see how well this event is going to go. I want them to see the people who attend it and maybe start to think that we're actually pretty normal--just in the backs of their minds. And to me, if no one shows up to protest, it doesn't say that we've been accepted--it says that our festival is insignificant. And that's one thing I don't want it to be.

In my heart of hearts, idealist that I am, I hope that local protesters show up, and that a few of them are looking into the crowd of revelers and see someone they know--someone they consider a friend. I hope that seeing that friend on the other side of their signs (the ones that say "Got AIDS Yet?" and "AIDS Cures Fags") makes them reconsider their attitudes just a tiny bit. See, I'm not hoping for a confrontation or a fight. All I want is to change the world--one closed mind at a time.