Freedom to Marry!

Just married!

At 9:00, Tuesday, June 17, 2008, my brother Stuart and John, the love of his life and partner for over 21 years, were finally able to legally marry!

Stuart and John (my BIL!) are a bit famous in the marriage equality movement, plus they had one of the first appointments of the day, and the press were mobbing them – I couldn’t get any pix of the wedding itself because of the camera lights in my eyes. So the press got many more pictures than I did (better ones, too, I'm sure). Here are a few links:

Before the ceremony.
Exchanging rings.
From overhead.
A hug.
During the ceremony. You can even see me in this one, in the blue sweater.
Descending the central staircase. You can see me in this one, also.

This interview contains still pictures and audio of the entire ceremony, which was lovely, and performed by a judge for whom John used to clerk. It's about 5 minutes long.

This video is only about 2 minutes long, and is also lovely.




Two grooms

These were our wedding favors. Cute, yes? Sorry the picture is so blurry. Now you know why I am not a professional photographer. I could have gotten a better one by kneeling, despite my knee injury, but I am no Tiger Woods. In fact, I'm better. I already had my left ACL reconstructed.

One of the happy things Tuesday was that it was NOT all about the two of them – over 200 licenses were issued Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall, and dozens of ceremonies took place. Every 10 or 15 minutes, cheers would burst out as another happy couple walked down the grand staircase.

I have really come to expect to see the two of them on the news whenever there is news about marriage equality – but now, there are hundreds of couples involved, and it is wonderful.

We had a rehearsal dinner Monday night, then Tuesday we were at City Hall right after they opened (slight delay – they had to wand me due to my post-op leg brace setting off the metal detector). They had their license appointment at 8:15, and their ceremony appointment at 9:00. A judge for whom John once clerked performed the ceremony, and did a beautiful job.

The press mobbed them – sigh, a lovely small wedding, surrounded by dozens of photographers, a few of whom were disregarding their wishes and blocking out family and friends. However, we tried to be understanding – it was not just a family wedding, it was a historic occasion.

We were there most of the morning. A couple descending the grand staircase was invariably applauded by everyone in the rotunda. There were women there from a Unitarian church handing out cupcakes, people outside were singing and handing out flowers. All the protesters were missing Tuesday, having spent Monday evening vigorously protested the wedding of two octogenarians who had been together over 50 years. Don’t you think they’d all have something better to do??

Then we had a reception lunch. It was great fun, and exhausting, and energizing, too.

The current poll numbers seem to show that the marriage discrimination proposition won’t pass, but it’s a near thing at this point. Legal experts are divided on the effect of the proposition on existing marriages if it does pass, but I think most of the experts think it wouldn’t affect the legal marriages being performed now.

However, it was all about the joy and love on Tuesday. Hooray for marriage equality!

Four Finished Objects and a Knee

Does that sound like the opening to a bad joke, or what? "Four FOs walked into a bar, see . . . .



Kyoto V-neck Cable Shell by Zukii Design.

The last will be first because I love it so much. I think this is the best thing I've knitted so far.

I love this sweater. It’s for my DD, and I might have to make one for myself as well. She fell in love with the pattern at Stitches West 08 and, although she knits, this is still beyond her. I wish the pattern had charts, but other than that it is well written and very detailed.

No mods, except for doing short-row shoulders and a three-needle bind-off instead of binding off and seaming per the pattern instructions. I guess I do have one small quibble there -- in this size the front shoulders are reduced down to 12 stitches and the back shoulders are reduced down to 9 stitches, plus a small back neck treatment that adds just enough room to pick up the three stitches to make up the difference, but it never tells you to do that. Overall, though, I'm very pleased with this pattern.

Berroco Comfort was recommended by the store for its washability and range of colors so that’s what we went with, although what I was really after was a cotton blend. The yarn was splitty to work with so I had to use a cable needle, even though these are only 4-stitch cables and normally I wouldn’t use a cable needle for those. Other than the splittiness it was very nice to work with.




Lisa's Shedir

My neighbor Lisa is currently struggling through breast cancer treatment. This Shedir is for her. It's in Rowan Calmer. Yes, it's almost the exact same color as the February Baby Sweaters I'm making. I never said originality was my strong suit.

When I gave it to her we got to chatting and mostly as a joke I mentioned to her the Knitty pattern for knitted prostheses. She has some cashmere, she tells me, and she might want some! I'm standing by to knit Tit Bits for her if she wants. Lisa has a great sense of humor and a wonderful family and a whole bunch of support. If you'd like to add your good thoughts for her, please do.



Gauge kicks my butt, again.

As in, I measured my gauge at 9 spi and the first sock came out huge. Over the course of things my gauge changed to 8 spi. I ended up frogging it back to the toe and re-knitting it.

However, all is now well and mom says that they fit. Interesting flashing with this yarn, which is what it’s designed to do. As long as mom likes them, which she does.

The yarn is Regia Galaxy, color Jupiter Blue. They are based on the
Riverbed Master Pattern by Cat Bordhi.




Carina's February Baby Sweater

Look, I already told you I'm not very original, and that I was making two February Baby Sweaters for two baby girls. Here's the second one. It is just like the first one, but a bit longer in the body and arms. I think I love the buttons (from JoAnn’s) even more than the buttons on the first one, which I also love.

When I told the new parents that the buttons aren't functional but have snaps underneath, they were ecstatic. It's a happy synchronicity that lack of foresight in planning buttonholes can lead to contented parents, that's all I can say. EZ's pattern tells you to make buttonholes every 8 garter ridges, but it doesn't tell you this until the yoke is completely done. Yeah, I'm not much of a one for "read the whole pattern before you begin." Now you know.

Now, as to the knee part of the bad joke -- the punch line is that I had knee surgery May 19th. I have a picture of my post-operative knee, but I'm not sure how to post it so that those of you who are squeamish don't have to see it. I'm not even sure I want people on Flickr to accidentally be subjected to it. Not that it's that bad, the wounds are closed already, but not everyone would want to see my leg with five holes punched in it plus an incision, so I don't think it's going up.

I tore my left knee up while skiing in February, and it took until May for the surgeon to find the time in his schedule for me. Not that it was that bad, mind you, but it sure cut down on the exercise. Maybe that accounts for the stream of FOs. And some of the flab.

Now it's fixed, so it's sort of an FO, too. I had meniscus repair and ACL reconstruction, so there's sewing and a couple of screws inside my left leg now. I still have a long way to go with physical therapy and must wear a big honking brace on my left leg until 6 weeks post-op. My friend Barb came over every day the first week to help take care of me so that DH wouldn't have to take off work. Isn't she a sweetie?

Clearly I need to knit her something.