Heartsick

The recent events in the South have made me heartsick. Heartsick and angry. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror and despair and grief the hurricane victims are suffering. I'm angry because the federal government was so slow to respond. It's been a week and they are now reaching New Orleans. Surely the USA can do better than that! I'm angry that the people who couldn't evacuate were too poor or too infirm to do so and no one helped them.

I'm scared about what this is going to do to the economy. How do we take care of a million newly homeless people when we can't or don't take care of the homeless we already have? The skyrocketing gas prices are going to effect all parts of the economy--anything that gets shipped is going to cost more, whether it's something bought through mail order or something as basic as food. How is that going to affect the poor? Where is the money going to come from to help rebuild? This country is already running a huge deficit because of the war in Iraq. And Katrina has just added to that deficit (and the national debt).

Apparently a lot of funding was cut from FEMA in order to help protect the country from terrorists. The levee projects that New Orleans needed were never fully funded. I'm afraid that we might now be in a situation where our country could be more vulnerable to a major terrorist attack.

Since I'm still unemployed (I didn't get the job in Rockville), I've contacted the local Red Cross chapter to see if they need volunteers. I might as well put my time to a very good use, if they'll have me. Tom has put his name on the volunteer list for Habitat for Humanity for when it's time to start rebuilding.

Knitting News
As predicted, I got some good knitting time in while visiting my parents. We were glued to CNN most of the time, watching the disaster unfold. I got more good knitting in yesterday and today while I was working at Y2Knit. That has got to be my all-time favorite LYS. If you live in the Northern Virginia area or near Frederick or Hagerstown, take some time to visit Susan in Funkstown, Maryland. She has a very interesting selection of yarns and patterns, including a lot of handpainted yarns and yarns that are produced in the mid-Atlantic region. As an incentive to get all you locals out there, she's having a sale on September 17 from 9-5. I'll be there!

So, the sock is almost finished. Everyone who sees it loves the yarn and the color. I'm beginning to like it a little more. Certainly the second sock has knitted up a little faster, more relaxed, and dare I say it, in a more zen-like manner than the first sock. The yarn over short rows are just happening, very fluid and relaxed. And the stitches are not leaping off the needles like lemmings leaping into the sea. I'll finish it tomorrow and will have pictures of the pair posted soon.

Fern Leaf, on the other hand, is still giving me fits presenting a challenge. However, I'm not going to get worked up over it. I'm going to set it aside and pick it up a little later and analyze what went wrong.

I found a baby blanket pattern and will start swatching so I understand the pattern, which will hopefully make the knitting up go a little faster. And I've got a couple more pairs of socks to make, as well as a hat and mittens for The Nephew, and all of the other Christmas knitting that I decided to do.

And I got a gift of wool! Sometimes Brown Sheep tosses in a bag of unspun wool as packing material and Susan gave it to me. So I've got about 12 ounces of wool to play with. I'll use it to work on my spinning technique. Woo hooo!