Knit afghan with BIG cables - Homespun

Click here for the pattern (PDF format). 

This afghan was custom-made for a bidder who won it in a silent auction to benefit Public Advocates, an incredible public-interest law firm headquartered in San Francisco.

It's hard to make an afghan for someone you don't know, even though Kevin was very gracious and kept saying that he would be happy with whatever I made. I hope that's true.


The color did not reproduce well in the larger photo. It's Homespun Baroque - a medium purple. You can see the color better in this closeup:










The afghan was very easy and went very quickly, because you only cable every 11 rows - and then you only cable every other column of stitches. Because Kevin wanted a medium weight afghan, I worked in a single strand of Homespun with #15 (10.0 mm) needles.

I'd rate this pattern as Advanced Beginner to Intermediate.
Stitches used: knit, purl, cable.

If you're a beginner and are thinking cables are beyond you - please, please give them a try. Beginners often assume that cables must be hard. And yet they are so very, very easy. Cabling is a little awkward at first, but you’ll catch on quickly. I use cables a lot for silent auctions and gifts – they give a tremendous “bang for the buck.”

Click here for the pattern (PDF format). Do not be intimidated by the length of the pattern. As always, I’m just trying to be thorough.

Originally, you can find the original pattern here.  If you end up having to do a Google search to find the original pattern, look for "Bernat Softee Chunky Aran Cable Blanket."   The original pattern had a few more cables, to create a corkscrew effect.  Either pattern would be stunning.

Technology Problem Solved: I Belong to a Yahoo Groups listserve, yet I can't access group messages and other features online

I manage several listserves on Yahoo! Groups. The listserves work fine once they're set up, but the Yahoo system is complex and non-intuitive. If I were starting a new listserve group, I'd use Google Groups.

In a future post, I hope to provide information on how to set up a group. Today, though, I want to address another issue.

The "Subject" of this blog post describes the problem. Someone - let's call her Sondra - is a member of a Yahoo! Group, and decides to try to access group information online. Maybe Sondra wants to read group messages online, or perhaps there are photos or files to access. Sondra tries to click on the link that's included on the listserve emails, but is stymied.

What's wrong? And how can Sondra's problem be solved?

Before answering, I must acknowledge that the solution is an [expletive deleted] nightmare. No wonder Yahoo! is losing money. But, it CAN be done. And, it only has to be done once. That is, once this solution is implemented, Sondra will be able to view messages and other Yahoo! Group content on the web.

The process doesn't take very long, but, as you'll see below, it involves a large number of non-intuitive steps. I've tried to set the steps out in great detail below. I suggest you print out these instructions and follow along.

Overview: The problem is that Sondra doesn't have a Yahoo identity and access to Yahoo! Groups requires a Yahoo ID. Therefore, Sondra needs to create a Yahoo! ID in order to read the posts online, even though she doesn't receive Group posts at a Yahoo email address.

Let's assume that Sondra receives emails from GroupA@yahoogroups.com at sondra@anyemail.com.


Sondra should follow these steps:

1) Sondra should go to groups.yahoo.com

2) She should scroll down and until she sees (under the login boxes) - "Don't have a Yahoo! ID? Signing up is easy." Click on the "Sign Up." link.

3) Next, Sondra selects a Yahoo ID and answers the other questions asked. She should INCLUDE THE email sondra@anyemail.com address under "Alternate email."

4) After Sondra creates her Yahoo ID, the next screen will have a link "Edit Marketing Preferences." It's not necessary, but I'd suggest Sondra click on this link and opt out of all the marketing stuff - to cut down on spam. I'd also advice Sondra to KEEP the Yahoo email address (for the Yahoo identity she just created) as the place for Yahoo to contact her. She'll never check that email address, so the spam can just pile up there - what does she care?

Sondra should not give Yahoo! her phone or snail mail address. She should then click on "save changes." It will appear that nothing has happened, but actually Sondra's changed preferences HAVE been saved.

5) Now Sondra should go to the top of this screen. She should see a (fairly small) link that says "My Yahoo." Click on "My Yahoo."

6) On the next screen, Sondra must scroll down the left side of the screen and click on link to "Groups."

7) On the next screen, on the left near the top, Sondra should see a link inside box that says "Click here if you receive Yahoo! Groups email but don't see your groups listed here."

8) After Sondra clicks, she'll be asked for an additional email. She should enter her sondra@anyemail.com address.

9) Sondra will then be asked to click a link to "verify" her sondra@anyemail.com email. What this means is that Yahoo needs to verify that she really does receive mail at the @anyemail.com address. After Sondra clicks on the "verify" link, Yahoo will immediately send an email to her @anyemail.com address. Sondra must then check her @anyemail.com address for an email from Yahoo. She'll click on the link in that email and her @anyemail.com address is now verified.

10) Now all Sondra has to do is use her newly created Yahoo! ID to log in at groups.yahoo.com. Voila! - she should see all the Yahoo Groups where she's subscribed at the sondra@anyemail.com address. And, henceforth, she'll be able to access her groups this way with her now-created Yahoo! ID.

NOTES:
A) Further complications will ensue if Sondra has multiple emails where she receives messages from different Yahoo Groups. Suppose, for instance, that her subscription to GroupA@yahoogroups.com comes to the (now familiar) sondra@anyemail.com, but that she receives posts from GroupB@yahoogroups.com at sondralady@someotheremail.com. Sondra is going to have to add the second email to her Yahoo identity. She will not have to create a different Yahoo identity. I can't give detailed instructions on how to do this, but at some point after she's linked her first email to the Yahoo! ID, Sondra will be asked if there are any other (non-Yahoo) email addresses she wants to link to this same ID. And she'll probably have to verify the second email address too.

B) I make no representations about how long these instructions will remain accurate. I think the basic idea of having to create a Yahoo! ID will probably persist, but the details may change in terms of links to click, etc. (Another charming aspect of doing battle with Yahoo - and yes, that's meant sarcastically.)

C) I know I have not been consistent and have sometimes called it Yahoo! (Exclamation point! I'm so excited!) and sometimes just plain ol' Yahoo. Deal with it.

Knit afghan - Feather & Fan - Homespun

An adult afghan I just finished for the silent auction that benefitted the Women's Law Caucus and the Public Interest Law Society at the U. of Tulsa College of Law.

Closeup



It's a standard knit "feather and fan" pattern, with a garter stitch contrast section. The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun Tudor (main color, variegated) and Baroque (the pale purple). If I do say so myself, the pictures don't capture the texture or softness of the afghan.

I'd rate this pattern as Advanced Beginner to Intermediate.
Stitches used: knit, purl, yarn-over, k2tog, SSK.

Click here for the pattern (PDF format). Do not be intimidated by the length of the pattern. I’m just trying to be thorough. I want my patterns to be accessible to beginners. I also want to eliminate any guesswork for even experienced knitters. (And, okay, so maybe I'm just verbose in general - see "favorite quote" about me at left.)

I love the Writer's Almanac daily email newsletter

Because it's taught me that I love poetry (or at least "accessible" poetry, as some call it). Check out the poem from this past Monday (Oct. 6, 2008), "The Scientist," by Jonathan Holden. Never heard of the poet; never heard of the poem. Loved it.

The Oct. 6 entry also had great info about a couple of Faulkner novels, As I Lay Dying and Light in August.

And then the clincher: a fascinating paragraph about someone named David Dietz, a mid-20th century journalist who was one of the first people to popularize science in America. Who knew?

Here's a great quote about poetry, also courtesy of the Writer's Almanac (for Oct. 13, 2008). Poet and translator Richard Howard wrote, "I do think that many people who say they don't like poetry like the things that poetry can do; they just don't know that it's poetry that's doing them." That used to be me.

Click here for the Writer's Almanac homepage. As you'll see, it's done by Garrison Keillor and is broadcast on various Public Radio stations.

At the homepage, you can read or listen to today's entry, and browse/search for previous entries. You can sign up to get the Almanac by podcast, RSS feed, or get the daily Newsletter, as I do. Here's a direct link to the Newsletter sign-up, which includes lots of other keen ways to clog up your Inbox.

I'm happiest subscribing to the email because I find Garrison Keillor pretentious as a reader. I have a nearly Pavlovian aversion to the sound of his voice. I like some of his writing okay and did enjoy the "Prairie Home Companion" movie.

My FIRST blog entry

Hello. This blog will cover ALL the topics that interest me. That's a very long and diverse list, but includes:

• knit and crochet
• politics (liberal)
• feminism (radical-thinking; reform-acting)
• reproductive choice (I'm for it)
• domestic violence (I'm against it - and it's the focus of my professional and volunteer life)
• sports (love all kinds; football is my favorite and I've been a rabid Washington Redskins fan since 1955, when I was 5 years old )
• my kids (son Allen, born 1985; daughter Marcia, born 1989)
  
• my life partner (Marty, born ____ (he'd probably prefer I didn't say); we met in 1982; married since 1985)
• human beings (everything about them interests me, including how they relate to each other and how they feel about themselves internally)
  
• movies
• law
• technology, especially for my beloved Mac computer (I despise mere gadgets, but love technology when it's a tool)
  
• music, art, literature
• good writing - including grammar and usage

And much, much more. Presumably no one else is interested in all these same things. I even considered starting multiple blogs so the knitters wouldn't have to slog through the politics and the movie lovers wouldn't have to slog through the knitting. But instead I'll just do my best to tag posts accurately.

As for my background, I guess I'll start with my job. (That's how all American respond to, "What do you do?" Did you know that a European might answer this same question, "I like to ski"??)

I'm a law professor at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Math from above will tell you I was born in 1950 - total Baby Boomer. I was raised in Washington, D.C. (thus...the Redskins). My father moved to Washington when he was 13, and my mother's family has lived in Washington since before the Civil War, so we're real natives. I have one older sister; we're very close. I went to the Quaker school in D.C., Sidwell Friends, all the way from 1st through 12th grade. (Chelsea Clinton went there - as well as Richard Nixon's daughters when he was Veep.) I then went to Cornell University (American history major, '72) and Harvard Law School ('75). After three years as a practicing lawyer at the U.S. Dept. of Labor in D.C., I became a law professor, so this year marks 30 years in teaching. I've taught at the law schools of American University in D.C., U. of Florda (met my husband there; son born in Gainesville), Albany Law School in Albany, NY (daughter born there) and, for the past 13 years, at U. Tulsa.

My husband, also a law professor, has been the Dean of the University of Akron Law School in Akron, Ohio, since Jan. of this year. I will be leaving Tulsa and joining him pretty soon, probably at the end of the current academic year.

And...while I'm at it...I might as well mention my biggest claim to fame. I'm one of the all-time champions on the TV game show "Jeopardy!" In 1987, I won nearly $50,000 - and that was before they doubled the money amounts, so in today's game my winnings would have been almost $100,000. I was a semi-finalist in the 1988 Tournament of Champions, where I was out of my league. Then I appeared as a contestant in the 2002 Million Dollar Masters tournament, where I was way, way, WAY out of my league. But, hey, they gave me $10,000, plus an all-expenses paid trip to New York, including putting me up at the Waldorf-Astoria. Thus, I was perfectly content to be fodder for the other, much more knowledgeable Million Dollar contestants.

As you might expect from a Jeopardy! champion, my brain is chockful of trivia. If I'm not there and my friends are arguing about anything (Was it Barbara Stanwyck or Katharine Hepburn in that movie? Who was President in 1900? How old was Dickens when he died?) - someone will say, "If Kate were here, she'd know." More than one person has told me, "If I'm ever on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire," you'll be one of my phone-a-friends."


In a future post, I'll say why I named the blog "Kate Can Help." At the moment, the title is misleading. For now, I'll be focusing on sharing my thoughts and activities. I'm going to allow comments, but I probably will NOT respond to comments or offer help very much.

Thanks for reading.