Jo Knits

I might go nuts

2009-01-16T05:43:30Z

I don't have any socks on the needles, which might lead to insanity. Instead, I decided to quickly knit a belated holiday gift for a friend, for whom I haven't knit a scarf in several years. A couple of balls of Trendsetter Dune seemed right for her, and a search on Ravelry gave me the idea of using the Crossover Scarf pattern from Knitty Gritty. So far, so good.

OK, the photo doesn't really do it justice. The glitter in Dune is striking, and this is one of those projects that gets people to stop and ask me what I'm doing. Random people. Like the kids in the school library when I was volunteering today. And the piano teacher. I guess those aren't random people, but you get the idea!

At home, I've done a couple of repeats of the Tiger Eye Lace scarf, after a bit of a hiatus.

I'm loving the pattern, and alternate on thinking the yarn is subtle and lovely, and thinking it's plain. It's 100% silk, and will block beautifully. The color sings to me sometimes and then is blah others. Go figure.

Last weekend, we had an 8th birthday party for somebody! Sarah came to do a cake decorating party, and the kids had a great time. CJ is showing off her creation here.

This weekend: a reunion brunch for our Lair of the Golden Bear tent-cabin circle!

A few finished objects for 2008, and one for 2009

2009-01-09T15:36:12Z

Last year I felt like my knitting was very unproductive. Between being slammed at work, having a daughter in musicals, and dyeing yarn, I didn't spend much time with the needles.

There's nothing like holiday deadline knitting to improve one's productivity - and a few long plane flights.

Last night I finally finished the Broken Cable Rib socks, after re-doing the toes. It usually doesn't take me 4 months to get a pair of socks done - and I have no idea really why these took so long! But I am very happy with them. The yarn is Creatively Dyed's Ocean, which is a blend of superwash wool and seasilk. Seasilk, for those of you who don't worship fiber, is a rayon derived from seaweed. The socks are pretty thick because I knit them on size 1 needles.

Ravelry details here.

My end-of-2008-rush included...

A Seaman's Cap for DH, knit from Toots LeBlanc yarn. Ravelry details here.

Bramble Fingerless Mitts for K's teacher, knit in Classic Elite Maya. Ravelry details here.

A potato chip scarf in Noro Kochoran, for CJ's teacher.

And the Backyard Leaves scarf from Interweave's Scarf Style, knit in Classic Elite Charmed. The scarf is gorgeous, and I'm quite proud of it. And I gave it to CJ's other teacher! Ravelry details here.

In other news, Forrest the Cat got into a fight, and had to have his leg shaved, examined, and get some antibiotics. He's fine now but his leg still isn't fully hairy!

And, I've been living on our Satsuma Mandarins, now ripe on our tree, which is on a pot on our deck!

One proud mama

2008-11-26T05:14:35Z

After 11 months of work (well, there were a lot of breaks), I finished the Aran cardigan I designed for Calandra! The knitting was done last week. On Sunday, I laid out the sweater pieces and tackled it with KnitClips.

And then I seamed. I attached the sleeves to the body first, and then did the sides and arms. When the seaming was done, I was feeling good about it.

Except for buying only six buttons, when I needed 7. On Monday I made a run to the nearby JoAnn's store and got the final buttons. I like the way they echo the Spanish Tile Cables.

The recipient is very pleased. She picked out the yarn, and picked out the cable motifs - and then I put it together. I used Knitware for the basic pattern schematic and put the exact pattern into Excel. Each cable had a column in Excel, and it was easy to cut-and-paste the repeats down the columns. I got a row-by-row pattern from this... except for the typos and needing to do things like add buttonholes and figure out the collar (on the fly).

Since CJ has been wearing this all day, I think it's a hit. Project details are on Ravelry.

Another sock, and a sock question

2008-11-19T04:52:46Z

Finally, after much ado and many months, I have finished one of the cable-rib socks! Well, almost finished. I'm not showing the tip of the toe because I haven't grafted it yet!

I'm on row 20 of the second sock... this will take a while.

I got a question a few weeks ago -

Hi, I just started with socks for the first time and the pattern that I started with has a different style of toes decreases and I like how it is on your socks, could you tell me if you did it on dpn?

Thanks,
Alex

So... Alex was asking about my Mona Socks. What I did for these was - knit in pattern to about 1 or 1.5 inches from the tip of the toe. I used two circular needles. Arrange your sock so that the top of the foot is on one needle, and the bottom of the foot is on the other. You can use double-pointed needles, but you'll need to place markers for the points where the sole of the foot begins. Now:
Round 1: Knit along the bottom of the foot and purl along the top of the foot.
Round 2: Knit one round.
Round 3: Knit 1, SSK, Knit to 3 stitches from the end of "bottom of foot", p2tog, Knit 1 (now you are going to start the top of the foot), knit 1, SSK, knit to 3 stitches from the end of "top of foot", p2tog, knit 1
Round 4: Knit around
Repeat rounds 3 & 4 for about 1/2 to 3/4 inch, depending on how pointy or round your toes are. Then, just do round 3 over and over until your sock is long enough and you have between 8 and 16 stitches remaining (again, depending on how round your toes are!). Use kitchener stitch to graft the toe shut.

In non-sock news, I have finished CJ's aran sweater!!! It has been washed and is drying.

I fear it is possible that she has outgrown it before I even finished it... In which case I'll be adding a cable to the sides before I seam it!

Where did the month go?

2008-10-17T04:21:44Z

Somehow 4 weeks went by and I never finished my Alaska report!

So, after we disembarked in Seward, AK, we rented a car, and headed to the airport. We rode a little helicopter up to Godwin Glacier, for a tour of a dogsled camp!

This was a very cool thing. There were at least 50 dogs in those dogloo houses, including a baby puppy that we held.

And, we rode on a dogsled! It wasn't a long ride but it was fun. I am amazed at the folks who ride on these things for hundreds of miles. It is not easy.

We then checked into our lodge. The next day we checked out Exit Glacier, to which you can get pretty close.

And, I found the yarn shop - A Flyin' Skein.

After our 2 nights in Seward, we drove to Anchorage. Our only activity there was the zoo, where I had to take pictures of Alpaca and Musk Ox (mmm, qiviut).

Over the past month I have been knitting (really!). The Aran for CJ is getting close to done. The front and back are done!

The first sleeve is in progress. I think I'll finish while it still fits her.

Health proposals and the Presidential candidates

2008-09-16T05:02:10Z

Somebody pointed me to this useful site recently. It compares Obama and McCain's health care reform proposals side-by-side.

I think this description hits the main points of the proposals on the head.

Here are the things all voters should know:

> Remove the favorable tax treatment of employer-sponsored insurance and
> provide a tax credit to all individuals and families to increase
> incentives for insurance coverage...
>
> Reform the tax code to eliminate the exclusion of the value of health
> insurance plans offered by employers from workers’ taxable income....
>
> Provide a refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 (individuals) and $5,000
> (families) to all individuals and families for the purchase of
> insurance.

What does this really do? Right now, if you get insurance through your job, you don't pay income tax on the value of the insurance. The McCain proposal would change that. If your employer gives you health insurance, its value would be taxable income. You could claim a tax credit of $2500 per person or $5000 per family for your health insurance, whether it came from your employer or you bought it on your own.

Now, last I heard, the average health care spending of somebody with private insurance was around $4000. Children are about $1100. So... a single person would not have a tax credit anywhere near the cost of their health plan, and a family would have the same problem - but worse if it was a married couple.

With the tax-protected status of health insurance removed, employers would have no incentive to pay their employees with health insurance. Most employers would be just as happy to get out of the insurance game, and under McCain's plan I expect they would drop employees - gradually, but it would dismantle employer-based coverage.

So, for poor families, does McCain have a way to help them buy health insurance?

> Work with states to create a federally-supported Guaranteed Access
> Plan for people who are denied coverage due to pre-existing
> conditions. Premiums in the plan would be limited and financial assistance
> given to those below a certain income level.

Oh. So if you're healthy and poor, you're screwed. And if you're middle-class and healthy, you're screwed. Got it.

By the way, estimates of insurance spending for low-income adults and children indicate that health spending would be lower if everybody were enrolled in Medicaid instead of private insurance. Note that a key piece of Obama's health plan is an expansion of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program...

And now, for your knitting enjoyment...

2008-09-14T19:14:20Z

Over the past month, I have made a bit of progress knitting. Really.

I took the Mona socks with us to Alaska, but didn't finish them. I didn't knit much on them, in fact, because I had a ~~plan~~ delusion that I ~~would~~ might finish a Gathered Pullover for the Ravelympics.

So, during a trip to Evanston, I finished them! Previous posts have shown a complete sock, so here I give you the heel and the toe.

Note that I used a reinforcing thread on the heel. I couldn't find the exact color, but the one I found wasn't too bad. I love the toes of these.

As for the Gathered Pullover... well, I thought it might be clever to have waist shaping, which I saw on another Ravelry finished pullover. I measured how much I'd need to decrease, and went to it. But I didn't allow for enough space between the decreases and increases, and got this mess.

Which begat this mess.

And then, feeling revived, I made some serious progress.

I am nearly done with the back and then just have miles of brain-dead stockinette for the sleeves. But since I'm knitting with Baywood Yarns Butter (50% silk, 50% merino, single-ply) it's awfully enjoyable to touch.

I needed to cast on a new sock, and a skein of Creatively Dyed Yarn that I bought at Stitches West was calling. It's their "Ocean" which is a blend of wool and seasilk. It feels a tad ropey, similar to Louet Gems Pearl, and I can tell the socks will be very durable but soft once they are washed.

The pattern is the Broken Cable Rib from Interweave's Knitting Daily. I'm knitting on a smaller needle than the pattern calls for - something like a size 2 when the pattern says to start with a 4. But the pattern is for a size 9 shoe, and I'm a 6.5 or 7. I might make the foot smaller (as I did with the Mona sock) to get a better fit. So far I'm in love with these socks.

Question: I do not really like or wear pink. So why do I keep knitting pink-ish socks???

Alaska Trip Report Part 3: Skagway & Sitka

2008-08-31T22:35:28Z

After we left Juneau, I felt a bit of pain in my back. By the time we woke in Skagway, my back had completely seized up. My best guess is that I strained it a little when I hit the gym on Thursday, and then all day Sunday on boats just was too much sitting and balancing for me. Nonetheless, we had plans in Skagway, and I was determined to see everything. Plus, it hurt less to be walking than sitting or lying down.

Skagway is in a beautiful setting, with a lovely harbor and the White Pass behind.

We went on a hike on the famous and historic Chilkoot Trail. We hiked two miles, learning the history, hearing how long it takes for a Sitka Spruce to get big, figuring out which berries are the deadly baneberries, and stepping over bear scat. We then veered off the trail to go floating on the river.

Eagles flew overhead, the mountains were spectacular, and overall it was one of my favorite days.

We returned to the ship for lunch, and then I headed into town while DH watched the kids. I took a short trail to Lower Dynes Lake, which is part of an extensive trail system with trailheads from downtown.

I then wandered around town, and of course found the yarn shop, Changing Threads.

It was a nice shop, with a good selection and variety. They had roving, too.

We left Skagway and sailed overnight to Sitka. Sitka does not have a port for a cruise ship, so we had to tender into the town. We first did a "Wildlife Quest" by boat and saw a flotilla of sea otters. But with the clouds and distance, those photos are... well, let's say it was better in person than on film (or digital).

Even with the clouds, Sitka was lovely. It did not have as much of a "run over by 4000 cruise ship passengers" feeling as Skagway or Ketchikan. The public art was great, and the Raptor Center is extremely cool.

Next up: Hubbard Glacier and Seward.

We interrupt this Alaska travel report to talk about Alaska

2008-08-29T22:46:05Z

Sarah Palin? Seriously? That's the best McCain could come up with?

The best critique I've read so far is from Robert Elisberg.

Alaska Trip Report Part 2: Juneau and the Tracy Arm

2008-08-22T16:28:16Z

On our third cruising day, we neared Juneau. Near Juneau is the Tracy Arm, a fjord with two magnificent glaciers - the North Sawyer Glacier and the South Sawyer Glacier. K had read about the Tracy Arm in a National Geographic Kids magazine and was excited to see it. So was I.

What do you see in the Tracy Arm? To start, lots of icebergs.

They even brought one on board for us to touch? Trivia fact #1: Iceberg ice is much heavier and denser than "regular" ice you make in your freezer, because the glacier ice is compacted by all the weight of the glacier. All the air bubbles have been squeezed out. Trivia fact #2: Icebergs bigger than about 10 feet are called "icebergs", those 3-10 feet are called "growlers", and the smaller ones are called "bergy bits". Note that Wikipedia has the growler vs. bergy bit classifications reversed of what our naturalist told us on the ship. Who is right? Does anybody know? K is here with one that is about 3 feet.

We also saw a lot of waterfalls. They were everywhere you went.

We hit a point at which the captain had to decide which glacier we would see. He said the South Sawyer Glacer had been impossible to approach all summer due to ice in the water, so we would probably go to the North Sawyer Glacier... but he wanted to take a look first. And then, he decided we could try South Sawyer. We made it within 1/2 mile.

The crew was so excited they shut down the galley to go on deck and watch it. Yes, it did calve. And trying to take a photo of a glacier calving is like trying to get a photo of your kid scoring in soccer. You'll have your camera pointed for an hour and then they'll do it the minute you have to go to the bathroom.

K and I met the ship in Juneau, where DH and CJ had already gone on their own exploration. We had an evening whale-watch & Mendenhall Glacier trip scheduled. It was - shall we say - a wee bit foggy, so the Mendenhall viewing wasn't so good.

But we did see a Black Bear eating salmon from the river. That was pretty cool.

And then off to another boat, for our whale watch.

The fog lifted and the sky was glorious. Juneau is beautiful, and the sky and mountains surprise you every time you turn around.

We saw humpback whales bubble-net feeding. Seriously cool. And also something you just can't catch on camera, or at least not do it justice.

Did I go yarn shopping? Of course. I found the Senate Building in Juneau, which houses Skeins.

Skeins is larger than the shop in Ketchikan, but didn't have as good a selection of Alaskan yarns as the Ketchikan shop. They had a lot of "mass market" high-quality brands, and if I lived up there I'd do quite well in this shop. I didn't buy anything because... well, do you have any idea how much I spent on the qiviut in Ketchikan? That was the end of my yarn budget!

Next up: Skagway (and maybe Sitka if I decide to post it all at once)

Alaska Trip Report Part 1: Vancouver & Ketchikan

2008-08-17T23:11:55Z

Whew! The washer & dryer are going, K is off to sleepaway camp, and I've uploaded my photos from Alaska. We were gone 11 days, which is a long trip for us. My full photoset is on Flickr (if you're not my friend, ask to be my friend if you want to see all the photos), some are here for the world to see.

The kids and I stayed overnight in Vancouver and woke to see our ship had come to port and was being prepared for our embarkation.

The kids and I visited Stanley Park with our dear friends and also hit the Chinese Garden. The weather was 85 degrees and sunny - crazy for Vancouver. DH was flying up the morning our cruise was to begin, after a work-dinner-thing that he could not get out of the night before. Well, he was supposed to arrive that morning, except his flight was cancelled. He got up at 4am for that! He managed to get on a later flight, which wasn't delayed too much more, and arrived at exactly the time we could get on the ship. Whew! Our bags arrived in our cabin (thanks to Luggage Free!) and we were on the top deck in time for setting sail!

It was complete foggy as we moved up the BC coast, so no photos. Our first port was Ketchikan.

It was fairly sunny, especially for the Rain Capital of Alaska. The tour guides were a bit funny about it. They said they missed the rain already, and that so many people rely on rain for their drinking and household water that people would be foregoing showers if it didn't rain within another day or two.

When we reached port there was fog, so our "float plane to watch bears eat salmon" trip was cancelled. We rebooked onto a Misty Fjords floatplane trip. By the time we were to go to the plane, the weather had cleared.

And the scenery was amazing. We thought the kids would be bored by sightseeing, but they thought it was very cool. Especially the part when the pilot landed on the lake, and we stood on the pontoons and took photos!

We had some time to wander around Ketchikan, seeing the salmon ladder, salmon hatchery, and finding a yarn shop. Mission Street Arts & Fibers has moved into the central part of town, and will be leaving the Salmon Landing Marketplace soon - so if you're looking for them, be sure to look for their new address.

The owner was very helpful. She had a great selection of Raven Frog.

And also Rabbit Ridge.

And Qiviut.

I liked the Rabbit Ridge yarns a bit better. Raven Frog uses a lot of Henry's Attic yarns for dyeing (I know because I recognized them!), which are lovely, but I dye that myself. I liked her hand-spun (of which there was a good amount) and I think I saw some unspun dyed fiber (but I don't spin). This blue from Rabbit Ridge called out to me, and joined the Qiviut to be my first souvenir from Alaska.

Coming next: Tracy Arm and Juneau.

After 2 years in the stash and one on the needles...

2008-08-03T18:34:24Z

The Zig-Zag tank is done! I bought the yarn in Barcelona at a lovely yarn shop called Barcelana. The yarn is 100% cotton with slubs. It's an interesting yarn. I created the pattern using Knitware, after swatching and deciding a zig-zag pattern worked well with the yarn.

I stalled in late fall 2007 when it was clear this wouldn't be done for the Indian Summer warm weather. I finished the back, and cast on the front, and put it down. There's no point in finishing a tank top in December, right? Plus, the monotony of the pattern was driving me nuts. Yes, it's more interesting than stockinette, but it also is slower and requires more attention.

I finally picked it up again in June 2008, when I had some conference travel and thought it would be good during the conference sessions. That was a good choice. It didn't take me long to finish the knitting, and then I spent a few days seaming it. The neckline was rather floppy due to the zigzagging at the top, so I decided to finish the seams with crochet. I had to do two lines of crochet along the neckline to tighten it up. I also crocheted along the arm holes, which with the cap sleeve design gave the sleeves an appealing poofy look. At least I find it appealing!

I wanted a tank, and didn't want to set in sleeves with the zigzagging thing, but I also wanted a bit more coverage. The cap sleeves are good.

Whew! Now to finish CJ's aran cardigan, and the Mona socks...

Things I learned about my cat.

2008-08-01T03:48:51Z

We have a strange cat. Her name is Whisper, and we don't know how old she is, except to say "very old." She has had radiation treatment for a hyperactive thyroid, has had many of her teeth pulled, and is a cranky little creature.

But she loves CJ's poncho.

And, I've noticed that my basil planting has looked quite pitiful all summer, never growing much.

Apparently the cat like to sleep on it. Aha!

For knitting content... I'm in the home stretch on the Mona Socks, finally. I love this pattern but these have gone slowly for me. I think I have too much happening at work to knit much.

Or maybe it's the distraction of having too many projects going on at once. Or summer vacations. Or cleaning the house while our wonderful housekeeper recovers from an illness. Or dyeing yarn. Oh yeah, that! Check the Baywood Yarns Blog for the new yarn!

Random political rant

2008-07-31T16:21:57Z

According to a KaiserNetwork summary of Congressional Quarterly Today:

The White House on Wednesday said that President Bush will veto a $118.7 billion fiscal year 2009 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill (HR 6599) unless Congress finds $2.9 billion in offsets in other appropriations bills to meet the overall spending level he requested.

The response that echoes my view on this is from Rep Chet Edwards (D-Texas), Chair of House Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee:

"I do not understand the values that would suggest, during a time of war, we provide tax breaks for people making over $1 million a year, but we cannot afford to provide the health care our veterans deserve and the housing our troops need. I believe our veterans, military families and the American family will be as offended by this veto threat as I am."

I never supported our going into Iraq, and at times wonder whether the VA system is the most efficient way to deliver care to our Veterans. However, to hold adequate care for Veterans hostage to maintain cuts for programs to the poor and tax savings for the rich is simply abhorrent.

Not the best

2008-07-18T04:32:20Z

One of the reasons often stated in opposition to state or national health reform is the assertion that the United States has the best health care in the world, and reform might mess that up.

For those of you who missed the news, this is not true, and hasn't been for years. In fact, things are getting worse for Americans, in terms of the quality of the care we receive.

But why do people think their health care is so good? Is it that they like their doctors? Do they trust their insurance company? Do they believe their hospital is safe? Are their nurses well-skilled and well-staffed? Do they think that the statistics must refer to "somebody else" and not their own care?

What do you think? Do you think the care you receive is the best? Would you still think that if you had to pay $12,000 for your own insurance (not to mention your family's) from your own pocket?

Marshmallow in the clothes

2008-07-06T17:58:52Z

We just returned from our fourth year at the Lair of the Golden Bear, at Pinecrest Lake. As usual, we were at Camp Oski, C Circle, with a fabulous group of families on the Tent Circle.

The first few days we were there, the air was smoky from the fires across California. But that made for nice sunsets.

I made it up to Vista Lodge one morning to knit with Lauren, who I met on Ravelry. I then went over for the sing-along at Vista.

They had a Fourth of July Carnival, which was fun. (I didn't see Lauren there although I looked for her.) They had water baloon winging.

They had a decorated golf cart parade.

And a cakewalk!

We also went horseback riding - no rattlesnakes this year, but my horse Bob got pretty annoyed with the horse behind us that kept nipping at his tail!

And I knit. I finished knitting the Jaywalker Sweater, and it is blocking now. I'll take photos of the finishing work. I also found a mistake in the second Mona Sock... see if you can spot it!

Back from the Southland

2008-06-16T02:48:04Z

After the kids got out of school on Wednesday, we headed south to visit Nana & Papa (aka, My Parents). It was a long drive, which we broke up by visiting a few geocaches. One was near a lot of cows.

We also stopped at Harris Ranch for the bathrooms and another cache - and of course there were plenty of cows there. Later that night, K could not bring herself to eat beef...

The next day, we headed to LA with Nana and Papa and went to American Girl Place. For those of you who are not familiar with this, it's a series of dolls and historical fiction books about American - uh - girls. The books are quite good. You also can get a girl to "look like you". Here's the display of options...

Yes, that price is $105 each.

We followed that up with the La Brea Tar Pits, which is a totally cool thing to see. The display behind CJ in the photo below is old skulls found in the pits, dating back thousands of years.

The next day, we went to Universal Studios.

We took the studio tour, and rode the Jurassic Park ride. And we saw dinosaurs!

After those two whirlwind days, we went back to Bakersfield, just in time for WWKIP day. Let me tell you, those knitters in Bakersfield are dedicated. The forecast was 100+ degrees, and still they were out in force!

A group was even working simultaneously on an afghan.

I got to meet Suzanne, April, Joan, and a bunch of others whose names are now somewhere in the part of my brain that stores things and then loses them. Oh yes, and I saw Lisa again, after quite a few years. She is knitting from her late mom's stash, which I find very touching. And her mom had a good stash!

And then... mom and I checked out ABCs of Creative Pursuits, in the hope of saying hi to Karen (the owner). She was out sick, but I got these photos of the shop... If you were wondering whether it is worth stopping by when in Bakersfield, these photos will convince you the answer is yes!

Yes, I knit, and yes, I'll take photos of my own stuff some day. Maybe I'll even finish an object this month!

A long trip to DC

2008-06-11T17:24:46Z

This year's AcademyHealth meeting kept me in DC for 4 nights. I was at two "special interest group" meetings (presenting papers) on Saturday, and then had presentations on Sunday & Monday at the conference - and chaired a session. Oh yeah, and attended an editorial board meeting. Wow - that was busy!

After my session on Sunday, the very smart Julie called my hotel room and suggested a yarn crawl. See, I told you she is smart! We took the Metro to the Eastern Market and browsed the stalls in 95 degree heat with high humidity. The SF weather has spoiled me, and I am just not used to the heat like I once was. We bought sorbet (mango!) and then walked a few blocks to StitchDC.

Yes, we both bought things...



In my hand is a skein of Farmhouse Yarns sock. Yeah, like I need more sock yarn. Well, it is pretty and I haven't seen it anywhere in California. According to their website I could find it at Imagiknit, but I don't get there often. Yes, I'm rationalizing. Anyway it is now here with me at home!

On Monday night, after all the activities of the conference were done for me, a large group of about 18 went to Lebanese Taverna for a huge meal. The food was great as usual but service was a bit slow... it took an awfully long time for Dennis to get the glass of wine he needed. At the end of the meal, the Stanford crew was left in charge of counting the money - which was pretty comical.

And then Steve the Bad Influence joined us and a few of us grabbed drinks. It was a remarkably tame evening for this crowd.

The next mornign I slept in and then met the fellow Academic Knit Raveler Ellie at the hotel coffeeshop. She was arriving for her own conference which started right as mine was leaving. She was knitting some gorgeous green socks from a handpainted yarn she got at a fiber festival - great stuff. And two toe-ups on one needle - I was impressed.

Today I am doing laundry like crazy and getting ready for a road trip to B'field to visit my parents...

Laugh for the day

2008-06-04T15:28:53Z

Yeah, I am knitting, but not making enough progress to bother showing.

My MIL sent this:

TEACHER ARRESTED

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-gebra is a problem for us," the Attorney General said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns,' but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle.'

When asked to comment on the arrest, President George Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better Weapons of Math Instruction, He would have given us more fingers............and toes."

White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President.

An open letter

2008-06-04T03:30:49Z

Senator Clinton:

Tonight you did an enormous disservice to the Democratic Party, to the causes you support, and to Americans across the nation. Tonight you sowed the seeds of ongoing dissent, rather than offering your support to Senator Obama, who is now the nominee of the Democratic Party.

Your ongoing claim that you "won" popular vote, discounting the caucuses and counting Michigan (in which you were the only candidate on the ballot), and also counting Territories that will not vote in November - well, this is misleading and quite frankly pigheaded.

You clearly asked your supporters to continue to fight against a process with rules YOU AGREED TO month and years ago.

Your actions tonight were unbecoming a candidate. Senator Obama treated you with far more kindness than he should in his speech.

I personally, as a person who supports your causes and shares your concerns, ask you to stop. It is time for unity, not ongoing battles based on faulty math and an unwillingness to follow rules. Your campaign at this point has become an embarrassment.

[sent to her campaign, via her website]

A quote post-Rules&Bylaws meeting

2008-06-01T18:29:41Z

Love this quote from Daily Kos, referring to Democrats who were supporters of Senator Clinton, who now say they will vote for McCain (especially the so-called feminists)...

If your shrieking can be believed, you McCainocrats are premeditating ballot support for an exclusive club of racist, union-busting, woman-suppressing, bedroom-peering, rights-scoffing, warmongering, torture-backing, buccaneering, global warming-denying, privatizing, public land-grabbing, Supreme Court stuffing, empire-building, Constitution-shredding raptors. All for self-indulgent revenge. You’re unhappy that your candidate has not won the nomination. I understand that. Mine didn’t win either. But you’re not just unhappy, you're also willing to contribute to the election of someone who stands against most of what your candidate has been promoted as standing for. That, I don’t comprehend at all. Emotionally, intellectually or morally. I get the feeling you would vote for George W. Bush in 2008 if the 22nd Amendment weren’t in the way.

I don't only write politics...

2008-05-22T04:19:16Z

... actually, I usually write about knitting. I just haven't had anything to show lately beyond some progress on my projects that is so incremental it's not worth photographing. But now, a finished sock!

This is the Mona sock pattern by Cookie A. It's an enjoyable pattern to work, and pretty easy to memorize. I love how the twisted rib works down the back of the heel from the pattern.

The yarn is Arwetta 100% merino that I bought in Copenhagen last summer. It's amazingly delicious to knit. I used reinforcing thread on the heel, but of course didn't photograph that - maybe when I finish the pair!

Tomorrow I'm enjoying the Health Care Quality & Outcomes conference, and presenting a paper... and knitting the other sock!

And on the second day...

2008-05-16T18:50:45Z

We mailed 11,000 surveys for the California Board of Registered Nursing last week - I think they went out on Wednesday May 7. 10,000 of these are 16-page surveys for nurses with Active licenses, and 1000 are shorter surveys for nurses with inactive or expired licenses.

On Monday this week we started to get some "return to sender/undeliverable" envelopes back. On Tuesday we got some more.

On Wednesday we got more "return to senders" and then we also got these completed surveys...The pile on the left is now almost fully logged with a count of 100 so far.  I think the total count for those piles will be about 220.

And then on Thursday, we got this:

Holy crap! Yes, that's four completely full boxes of completed surveys. Since the Wednesday delivery filled one box, I think there must be at least another 800 returned surveys here, making a total of 1000 returns in the first 2 days we have been getting any back.

To say that we are feeling a bit swamped would be an understatement.   But we also are very excited! Whenever you receive a survey, and are tempted to throw it in the trash, please remember that there are researchers like me who need your help.  State government agencies want to understand trends in nursing employment, education, and job satisfaction so they can plan smart policies to address problems. The success in California of expanding nursing education programs and moving us toward an end to our nursing shortage was driven at least in part by data that clearly showed the scope of the problem and analyses that estimated exactly how many more RNs we need to graduate to solve the problem.

So do your nice, earnest, policy-wonk researchers a favor, and fill out your surveys!

The age-old question: quality vs. cost vs. access

2008-05-14T22:38:40Z

The buzzphrase in health care policy over the past few years has been Pay for Performance, sometimes charmingly abbreviated P4P. The theory behind this is that health care providers, such as hospitals, have historically been paid the same amount of money whether or not they provide excellent quality health care. In fact, some payment schemes - such as those that offer extra payment for extremely expensive patients - may reward poor performance. When Aunt Thelma gets a hospital-acquired infection, she is in the hospital longer and the hospital may get more money from insurance companies.

If one could come up with a good way to pay hospitals, doctors, and others more money when they do better, then they'd be paid like most of the rest of us. If they do better they should be paid more, right? Even the federal government has embraced this idea, in Medicare for example, as well as state Medicaid programs. Private insurers in the US and the Brits, with their centralized National Health System, are moving into this area as well. Some very good research indicates that these programs can help improve quality of care and improve the cost vs. effectiveness of health care.

P4P has potential to improve the value of what we pay for in health care, thus raising quality and perhaps even cutting costs. So what's the catch? If a hospital (or other provider) doesn't have an adequate budget to engage in quality-improving activities, P4P programs are not likely to be helpful. In fact, P4P could result in hospitals with already-tight budgets being penalized for low performance, thus starving them financially and reducing their ability to address quality problems.

This is all theory, or at least was until a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The focus of the study is hospitals designated as "Safety-Net Hospitals', meaning those that care for high shares of the poor and uninsured. Many of these hospitals are located in central cities and rural areas, a large share are publicly funded, and they tend to be chronically short on money because Medicaid payment are low and many of their patients are not insured by any program or company. Rachel Werner, a researcher at the VA in Philly, and her colleagues conclude: "Safety-net hospitals tended to have smallergains in quality performance measures over 3 years and wereless likely to be high-performing over time than non–safety-nethospitals. An incentive system based on these measures has thepotential to increase disparities among hospitals."

This differential between the safety-net hospitals and other hospitals highlights that the issues faced by the majority of US residents who have health insurance are totally different from those of the uninsured and poor. Those of us with insurance can whine about the cost of insurance and the poor quality of care we think we get, but... what about those who don't have any insurance at all, who are depending on under-funded hospitals and doctors who don't want to take Medicaid because the payments are too low? Do we care enough to push for universal health insurance? What are we willing to give up to get universal coverage?

Now, don't tell me we can get universal coverage without giving up anything. I'm an economist, and economics is all about trade-offs. Zero-sum and all that...

We interrupt our knitting for an unpaid political note

2008-05-13T21:13:22Z

If you were wondering whether you should vote for McCain, because he is was an independent thinker ~~or something foolish like that~~, remember his approach to domestic crises and humanitarian issues...