The Pavement Neckwarmer

Front

SSPX0146
Originally uploaded by roostercf

Back

SSPX0147
Originally uploaded by roostercf

A quick project, a neckwarmer for the husband. The pattern only has two lines across a five row repeat, and then a switch in direction.

Worsted Weight Yarn (I used a mystery grey wool I had laying around)
Yarn Needle
Size F Crochet Hook

(US Terminology)

Chain 30.
Chain 2 at the beginning of every row.
Extended single crochet across row.
Every five rows (as in, 1,2,3,4,5 then this one), do one row of front post extended single crochet.
Stop when desired width is reached.

Extended Single Crochet down width side of project.
Every five rows of Extended Single Crochet, do one row of alternating front post extended single crochet and back post extended single crochet.

Stop when desired length is reached. Leave a long tail.
Sew together and weave in ends.

Simple, tidy, just enough ornamentation to make me not want to go crazy but simple enough the man still likes it.

Crochet Ruffle Scarves

Crochet Ruffle Scarves
Originally uploaded by roostercf

Testing out the new instablogger for photos from Flickr!

Ruffles!

I've been working on stuff for the Xmas sale of the Knitting Guild, and the thought occurred to me that this might be a great chance to use up my smaller stashes of LB Homespun (1-3 skeins) and Fleece Lite (2.75 skeins, really, I started a hat and had to cut it off my loom because it tangled so much). I started with my favorite pattern,
Ruffled One Skein Scarf by Liz Laferty, but had to stop because my knitting needles were bothering my hands. So I started crocheting them and had a very prolific trip to Minnesota this past weekend. I should have brought another project, but oh well, I forgot it.

Anyway, the crochet ruffles are fun because I changed them up as I completed them. Some have more rows, some have more increases, the one I'm working on now has less increases and more rows, etc.

Flickr looks like it got done automatically posting my picture of the scarves, so I'm going to go check it out!

New Post

Just checking in and letting people know I'm still alive LOL. Lots of work at work to do, and I haven't done a whole lot of new stuff.

Genealogy and History: The Military Convoy comes to Wheaton

Hi all! I promised a genealogy entry and I found the perfect topic.

To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Transcontinental Motor Convoy, a reenactment took place. One of the stops on the tour was practically on my doorstop, at the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park.

Different from the first and second tour, the convoy had vehicles from many wars, all the way up to Desert Storm.



What's that? You never heard of the first Transcontinental Motor Convoy from 1919 or the second in 1920?

Do you have any idea what they accomplished? Well, I didn't either. So I had grabbed a knowledgeable comrade (who's intending to get a Masters in military history), and started some research.


A photo from the original convoy. Source: http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/arch_results_detail.jsp?&pg=27&si=0&st=b&rp=digital&nh=27

The first one was done to raise awareness of the state of the Lincoln Highway. The road was in such horrendous shape that they found bridges collapsing under the weight of the 81 military vehicles, and they barely got 60 miles per day!



At each stop, the convoy was greeted with barbecues, dances and very well received.

Most people agree the first convoy was a success in that they got a world record for the longest distance traveled by a motor convoy, public support for the military and repairing roads was higher than when they left.

The second convoy, done in 1920, was done to raise public support for a national highway system. It was a bit smaller, about 50 vehicles, and found issues with the Mississippi flooding, and impassable desert sands in the Southwest.



Its debated the effect the second one had - while the crew was again greeted with parties and press, they failed to garner support for a national highway bill (though a bill passed in 1921).

Longterm, these convoys did have an effect on the future of America. President Eisenhower, a rider on the first convoy, supported the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 (which created many of the highways we know and love today), partly because of his experiences with the first ride and even told some stories about it in his book, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends (Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1967).



This new convoy, as we were told, has more than a single purpose -

1. To celebrate the anniversary of the 1st convoy
2. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of President Lincoln
3. To celebrate the fine work of the US military.

In all, I think that it succeeded. They visited Cantigny on the same weekend as the Fine Art Fair, and seemed to have quite a few visitors. Many were little kids who hadn't seen anything like that before.



Anyway, getting back to the genealogy of the convoy...

1. Learn more about it. NARA has a section on their website under "America on the Move".

2. Search the newspapers for the local community. ALL of them would have covered this, as it was a big deal when the convoy came to town.

For example, the Fort Wayne Gazette from Fort Wayne, Indiana on July 19, 1919 discussed the aspect of H. S. Firestone donating vehicles, and the Reno Evening Gazette from Reno, Nevada on September 6, 1919 discussed statements by Lieutenant Colonel C.W. McClure, the leader of the convoy, and the efforts of Captain J.H. Murphy, who was in charge of recruiting.

An article from the conclusion of the trip on September 7, 1919 in the Oakland Tribune, gives a list of official observers from the trip. You never know what you might find!

I suggest if you try Ancestry.com, to search 1919 for keywords "Transcontinental Motor Convoy" and see what happens.

3. The Eisenhower Library has quite a few records about his time in the convoy.

4. Check out more about the new convoy at the MVPA website.


This video was taken by the MVPA as the convoy was going through Iowa.

Sources:
Ancestry.com - Copies of the Reno Evening Gazette, Oakland Tribune, and Fort Wayne Gazette.
MVPA.org
AmericasLibrary.gov
Eisenhower.archives.gov
History.sandiego.edu

New Pattern from Berrocco - HOT! I love it!

I know I've been hard on Berroco before on my blog. They have created new yarns for the fall and reawoken my interest in them.

Cirilia Rose sent out an awesome KnitBits this week getting us excited for Sundae yarn!

It looks gorgeous. But that's not really why I'm posting :-)

Check this out: Bolt Legwarmers

Aren't those incredible? They look like they might be one of the few and proud legwarmer patterns that STAY UP of their own accord and HUG, not slouch.

And the cables make me think they'd be a sexy knit, rather than a poke-your-eyes out stockinette field like so many other legwarmer patterns.

More news to come later this weekend!

Poor missing Bear!

Things are quiet in Yoohooville...

...I haven't being doing much crafting lately. Too much working!

I am designing a new blanket that I hope to be done with after my summer vacations. A couple good trips and I'll have all the crochet I need LOL.

I also officially started my etsy store, though nothing is listed in it yet.




I'm also working on these, to help raise money for my knitting guild. The pattern is Dainty Earrings.

Please sign this petition regarding gardening at the White House

Subject: Tell Pesticide Peddlers: We support Michelle Obama's organic garden.

Dear Friend,

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) has a bone to pick with Michelle Obama. MACA represents chemical companies that produce pesticides, and they are angry that - wait for it - Michelle Obama isn't using chemicals in her organic garden at the White House.

I am not making this up.

In an email they forwarded to their supporters, a MACA spokesman wrote, "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder." MACA went on to publish a letter it had sent to the First Lady asking her to consider using chemicals -- or what they call "crop protection products" -- in her garden.

Michelle Obama and has done America a great service by publicizing the importance of nutritious food for kids (she's growing the garden in partnership with a local elementary school class) as well as locally grown produce as an important, environmentally sustainable food source.

I just signed a petition telling MACA's board members to stop using Michelle Obama's garden to spread propaganda about produce needing to be sprayed with chemicals. I hope you will, too.

Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/wh_garden/?r_by=-1982793-oaoVC5x&rc=paste

Thanks!

Construction Marketing

Those of you who know me well know how much I enjoy working in the A/E/C industry. One of my favorite sources for outside-the-normal RFPs/RFQs is the RFP Database. This is one of their press releases for the week, and I think such cross marketing is awesome!

Its nice to see an RFP database that isn't a front for another website, charges you a reasonable cost and has an astonishingly high quality community. If you haven't joined, I encourage you to do so.

---

Wanna Get Dirty? The RFP Database is Proud to be Featured on MikeRoweWorks.com to put America Back to Work

Northampton, MA (PRWEB) April 1, 2009 -- The Request For Proposals Database is proud to be working with Mike Rowe of Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" to put America back to work! In honor of Mike's site going live last month, the RFPdb Team scoured the web to add more than 100 new construction RFPs. Visit http://www.mikeroweWORKS.com and go to the "Job Site" portion of his site for the RSS feed of all our construction projects on his site and a link to the "RFP Database".

"We share Mike's values and celebrate the businesses that land the dirty jobs that build our country," said David Kutcher, president of , the creator of RFPdb.com. "Our goal is to enable businesses to find work and help their employees, as Mike says, 'go to work clean and come home dirty.' That's what RFPdb.com is all about."

The demand for skilled workers to rebuild our country's infrastructure has never been greater. Areas of opportunity listed on RFPdb.com include construction, engineering, architecture, advertising, marketing, web design, computing, management, manufacturing, and other fields - basically any work brought to RFPdb.com by its members. The RFPs range from small projects in the thousands of dollars to large projects running into the millions. Project solicitations are issued by municipalities, state and federal agencies, major corporations, small businesses, non-profit organizations and others.

Membership on RFPdb.com is free. Got time on your hands before your next project? RFP Database wants your labor, and we'll compensate you for it! If you help the rest of us by uploading projects you aren't bidding on, we'll stock your account with credits that enable you to download your next RFPs for free. Need more incentive? There are no registration fees, no subscription fees, and no commissions. If you'd rather purchase the project leads without uploading projects they cost a mere $2.

For contracting officers looking to attract competitive bids on their projects, RFPdb.com offers an easy-to-use and active marketplace to list your project with over 38,000 registered users from small, mid-sized, and large businesses. The listing cost per project? Free.

Join us and discover for yourself why thousands of people, representing diverse businesses and organizations, are registering each month.

RFPdb.com offers:
An exceptionally affordable and high-return resource for businesses seeking new work.
No fee for joining -- you get the first 2 projects free, and you can be selective in the projects you choose to bid on.
No registration fees, subscription fees or commissions
$2 per project lead -- free if you help by uploading projects
Free sign-up to daily or weekly customized alerts of new projects
200+ new projects uploaded every week
A community of more than 38,000 registered users
A LinkedIn group for members to learn, collaborate and discuss

About the RFP Database (RFPdb):
The Request for Proposal Database (http://www.RFPdb.com) was created to facilitate the submission and sharing of RFPs between organizations and contracting firms/independent contractors. This goal of the RFPdb is to provide a public site for organizations to post their Requests for Proposals (RFP) to a centralized location that will garner them the most responses and a destination for companies seeking projects to bid.

About Confluent Forms LLC:
Confluent Forms LLC (http://www.confluentforms.com) is a boutique branding, graphic design, web design and custom software development firm based in Northampton, MA. Incorporated in January of 2002, Confluent Forms has provided technology consulting, branding, graphic design, web design, PHP and MySQL development, Web 2.0 software development, application development and hosting services to customers from the Fortune 100 to local non-profit organizations, startup businesses and academic institutions.

For More Information:
David Kutcher
President
Confluent Forms LLC
+1-413-303-9612
http://www.confluentforms.com