Savage Chickens

Prayer Shawl - Army Folks Check in

Ahhhh another day blogging with the yahoo radio. The only radio that is crazy enough to play all the songs that I like. They come in randomly just like in my head on a crowded bus. Right now it is Betty Davis Eyes, Before that was Bach preceded by Weird Al. Who is next Bob Marley, Devo who knows. Good Times

I have been making a concerted effort to work on my juggling. My bad hand only has so much fine motor skill in before it hurts. So I have been working on the clown stuff and neglected knitting, except for a couple shop sample swatches. Today at Water Front knitting I will be starting a prayer shawl for a knitter. Since it is for a knitter I can use some of the cool yarn that was donated to us from Yarns Unlimited.

By the Way Yarns Unlimited is a shop on Beaver Ave. in Sewyckley They have a friendly staff. If they were a wee bit closer to were I live I would visit them more. Still, if you are in the North Hills it is worth the trip.

Anyway I am thinking Alpaca with a eyelet pattern. I have not done eyelets for some time. This will also be one of the ones that it going into the book. I have not named it though. So if you have a good name for an eyelet prayer shawl let me know. I am always open to suggestions.

We had a block party at the Corps for Halloween so I did not get home till super late. I have also been working on the booth at every chance I get. So the blog suffers. Be reminded that I am always thinking of both of my loyal reader no matter what I am doing.

By the way is you are from The Salvation Army and reading this drivel. Leave a post. I know knitters read this thing. I was just wondering how many Army people are reading this thing.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Knocking About

I have been working on the knitting book and playing around on Ravelry. I have not really knit anything in the last couple days. Still. I have been playing around with some pattern ideas.

I continue to be struck with the Revelry and what the people in it do. There is another person out there writing a charity knitting book. I am glad to see that happening. It makes me think that I am not that crazy.

It strikes me that I have not talked about the new knitting shop in Pittsburgh. I have been working to help them put together the stock on display units. When the shop opens I will be working there and teaching classes. I will post the classes when the schedule is put on their site.

Even more fun is the yarn. With the exception of Red Heart we have stocked most of the yarns that I like. And the ones that I have not use or heard of are yarns that I now like. I would go into more detail but I do not know if it is secret or not.

The space is coming together nicely. they have a great crew working on it. They put in a sprinkler system and drop ceiling in once day.

Well just wanted to put in a post. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

I digress.......

It is Saturday and I am heading out to look for an MP3 player. My old CD player is on it's last legs and I should probably get with the new technology. Even though I use a computer I tend to update things slowly. Most of what I use the computer for is to write books and post in this blog.

Last week I got my first flicker account because that appears to be the only way to post pictures to Ravelry. I must say that i am pleased with the Ravelry. I am not sure i am as excited as some. Still, it is a neat idea and I think it's time has come.

I did start a group for the book. I may have mentioned that. http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knitting-for-war

You would think I would remember the contents of this blog. Still, I do not really read this blog. Which is odd. Perhaps there would be fewer misspelling and grammer problems if I read the blog. But I digress.

Anyway I have gotten a few patterns from people from The Knit List and Ravelry. A few more patters and I think i will have a book.

I did ask what people thought about having a how to knit section in the book. Half the people that emailed me were for it and the other half were against. So i ask some friends. And I should not have asked an even number of people. Half were for and half were against.

So it is back to the drawing board. I am going to write a chapter on how to knit. At this point none of the patterns in the book have crochet. So there will be none of that. I will probably put a link to a site that has a good how to crochet section.

It is truly odd how things progress. When this blog was started it was a way to post about odd things and to find other male knitter. The finding other male knitters in my area has not worked out that well. I have posted about a lot of odd stuff.

Now it is a tool in writing a book. Yes it is very odd how things progress.

On other fronts there has been some movement on the Army thing. I am told that I was asked to do something before I could be considered as a candidate for training. This was a surprise because i had never been asked to do that thing. It has been several weeks since this revelation and no other movement has been made.

I do not mind being the black sheep. I have found that many circus clowns do not respect organised Christian religion. Historically good Christians have been against Circus folk as messengers of sin. Then again many silly thing have been said by good Christians over the years.

Personally I see organised religion as the only way to deal with the really big problems. So it is not fair for those that have been hurt by the church to say it is a bad thing. You cannot complain about hunger, suggering and poverty and then say there is nothing you can do about it because you don't like the church. That is a bigger cop out then the church not liking different people.

That was the main reason I felt called to the Army. The scriptures talk of unconditional love and helping people. And when I was on the road I was with one exception always welcome at a Salvation Army Corps. This was not true of my home church which was about fifty fifty. And the reality of that is more a small town suspicion of different things.

There was no vast church conspiracy to keep out the Circus Folk. Just a group of people trying to protect their daughters from the heathen hordes of jugglers, tumblers and mimes. By the way you simply cannot trust those mimes. Everything they say about them is true, but I digress.

So I continue to wait for a resolution to this problem that does not appear to exist from my vantage point. I will keep you posted.

If you have any pattern ideas for the book email me. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

Silly Christians

Today I had a meeting with some people so I was in uniform. So I was on the bus in unform heading home after dark. So I had a guy sit down next to me. He then began to ask me what I thought about certain "Sinners".

I mentioned something about it not being my job to decide who waws going to hell. This was not the answer that he wanted to hear. So I was not a good Christian.

It is days like this that I wonder if the Pastapharian are right.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Book Mussings

As I continue to work on the knitting book I am struck by the diversity in knitting books out there. I must have nearly every book about clowning that has been published. Virtually all of them are text about various clowning skills. There are a few biographies of notable clowns and there is a bit of fiction out there about clowns.

No where is there a book of a clown talking about their experiences with juggling, or puppetry. Now there are several books about knitters talking about their life's experience with knitting. It is odd that such a specific thing as knitting has so many different views.

Anyway that was just something that I was thinking about. The main point of writing the book is to make some money for the Clown Brigade. Still, it is interesting to think that I will be adding something to this body of knowledge that so many have before me.

Moving along there is a a Revelry group for the book. This is it: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knitting-for-war

As I get chunks of the book worked out I am sure I will be having some local folks look them over to make sure I am not doing anything terribly strange. All and all I expect to have the text together for the book by the end of December. I imagine there will also be sample knitting and that sort of thing. By the end of January everything should be in once piece.

Well I will be getting back to typing stuff in. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Knitting Should Save the World - Do I Need Knitting Instruction?

I am heading out for some good old fashion door to door, pavement pounding, War Cry deliverin stuff. With the hole in my schedule I am going to visit some of the Sunday School and Cub Scout Kids' parents today. As the ad people might say face time is an important thing.

I may not have stated this but my Corps is on the smallish size. At our Christmas and Easter services we have thirty or so. One thing my officer has noted is that people do not visit each other. So a couple of the solders are going to try and reverse that trend.

It is interesting to note that in my life the only people that I visit with are knitters and fire fighters. I really do not have a concept of a time when people would go over to the neighbor's house and do stuff. As a kid I player with the neighbor children. I don;t know if it was a dangerous neighborhood or what. Still people did not hang out on their front porch or trade pound cakes back and forth.

My wife is constantly sending me out the door with baked good for people. Perhaps people from Rock Island are friendlier than everyone else. I have noted that people are constantly swapping things back and forth in knitting groups.

As I am working on this book I am struck by the fact that it is a knitting book. I have never thought of writing a book about clowns trying to save the world. I have never even though about writting a book about The Salvation Army trying to save the world
(even though they are). I am fascinated by the power of the knit article.

If you knit someone something that is fairly nice (not lime green) it can steel the show from expensive electronics at a birthday party. I may have noticed an extra boost in this when they find out the chromosome make up of the person that knit it, but I digress.

Whether it is a Prayer Shawl or a Chemo Cap the person on the other end of the giving people usually feel the love of the item once it is given.

On another subject entirely as I am typing stuff in for "Knitting For War" I am wondering if I need a how to knit section (Wow product placement on my blog. I have hit the biog time of annoying). So many books are teaching people how to knit. Do I need the throw in my two cents in? Or is this something that is expected of knitting books? As always I want to hear your two cents so let me know what you think.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

Who is using the Brittish System?

As I am thinking about writing my book I would like to make it available to the majority of English speaking sections of The Salvation Army. Of course Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom use the English System. As I think about it logic would dictate the The United States is the only group that uses the US system of Knitting Needles.

This may sound like a dah moment. What is the best way to make an international book. Should I make two versions or put all of the international measurements in the books.

By the way you can thank Metal and Knit for getting me thinking about this. She said that she wanted a copy of the book. I understand that people alter things slightly to suit their needs. What are the pitfall that must be avoided to make a good international pattern. Personally I tend to think of all knitting needle in metric terms. This probably has something to do with my learning to knit from French Canadians.In my needle stash are 7.5 and 7.75 mm knitting needles. Personally I think of these as the all purpose needle for worsted yarn. I suppose most American tend to think of 5.5(9US) to 6.5 (10.5US) as the general needles for that type of yarn. I also tend to knit tightly on occasion.

So my beloved Seven millimeter needles are out for the book. What other pit fall am I not thinking of? Post if you can think of something.

By the way I am on Ravelry as Zeeppo just plain Zeeppo. There is a group for this book that currently has three members. I will have all the text done by the end of this month. There is still some work to do on pattern and I have added a couple section on the advice of others.

Well this is turning out to be a fun thing. I am still working on the scifi book. It is a novel though and a ton of editing will be going into it. The knitting book will have considerably less work to get it ready to be published.

Since I am self publishing both I imagine the knitting book will be done first.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

I have name my Knitting Book

For those of you that have been following this blog you now that I am writing a knitting book.

Now before I reveal the name I want to explain the book. First there is a famous quote from the founder of The Salvation Army, William Booth.

William Booth entering the Royal Albert Hall - 09 May 1912 to give his last public address - accompanied by Colonel Theo H Kitching.


While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!

Anyway that has basically been my attitude about the Army since I joined it several years ago. The bottom line is that The Salvation Army is fighting against every kind of suffering. Now as a clown there is an extra imperative to fight against things that are not funny. That is one the principal reason clowns hate mimes, but I digress.

Besides you did not really want me to make a list of things that I do not think are funny. I am looking at you Carrot Top. Moving along, moving along.


Now what might this important quote have to do with naming a knitting book. Firstly I would like to state that this title came to me and someone else pointed out the irony.


I have decided to name the book KNITTING FOR WAR.

Once again I would like to state that is not a dig at the book knitting for peace. Although I am certain that I will not have a pink cover on the book.


I do have a list of the types of patterns that will be in this book. They are as follows:


Knitting for the Troops : Wolly Bully and Heavy Socks

Knitting for Primeies: Primy Cap, Booties, Small Baby Blanket

Knitting for the Homeless: Watch Cap, ribbed scarf hat combo, scarf, gloves, unisex sweater

Knitting for Cancer: Chemo Cap Basic, Chemo Cap Fancy, lay blanket

Prayer Shawls: Heinz 57 Shawl, Steel City Clown Brigade Shawl, Brigadier's Personal Shawl, Steel Valley Corps Shawl

Knitting for Clowns: The Judy Scarf, Tandem Sweater, Really Sleepy Hat


By the way as always I am looking for suggestions. And if anyone has a really cool pattern that matches in this section I would like to use it. It must be available to be published.


I do have to have samples knit for many of these things And I have to write eight of the patterns. The clown stuff and the shawls are done. As you can tell many of the projects are fairly simple.


I do hope to have most of the text typed in in a couple weeks. I will be harassing local people to read it and check the patterns. By the first of the year I hope to have the book completely finished.


Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

The Most Terrifying Thing Ever

Have you ever wondered what the most horrible thing that could ever happen would be. Well the answer to that question is me in a band. And to make matter worse I am playing an accordion in the band. The band has three member Karen on the Piano, myself on the accordion and an eight year old name Jasmine is our front man so to speak.

We were able to play a song this evening that sounded like the song. I must admit that I am the weak member of the band. Granted I have only been at the accordion for a while. Most Corps have a stash of Brass instruments. My Corps has a piano and stash of accordions. I mean we have several accordions not just one lonely one at the bottom of the pile of instruments. Accordions are our entire pile of instruments. I suppose someone could say that is Satan in action against the church. Well a clown looks at that and says God must want us to have an accordion band.

Beyond the horror life is going well. My hand is working well enough that I can play the accordion. Magic and juggling are still away off. Still, progress is good on the hand front.

I did have someone ask is there will be premature baby section in the book. It sounds like a a good idea so I will add it. It anyone has some good patterns that I would be grateful.

Be safe out there and keep your stick off the ice.

BookS Books Books

Hello people out there in Blogland.

As life moves along I continue to work on my writing projects. And without the splint my knitting is slowly returning to normal. Although it does appear that I am faster with the belt knitting and not splint. So I will probably continue to knit that way. I have recently been informed that you can purchase an honest to goodness knitting belt from school house press. I have not been able to find mine and I only have a few of the needles I inherited from B.

The pocket thing that I got from the Punk Rock Shop on the South Side is working more or less with the Boye Needles. If I am going to continue to use the Boye needles I will have to a slightly better way to attack the needles to the belt. i suppose I could destroy a couple set of Boye Needles and tun them into double points. For some reason I am bother by the prospect of chopping the end on my beloved Boyes.

Well moving along. I am getting back to the book on Charity knitting. I work on that some today. with a few more patterns and some improvements to the how to knit section i think it would be done.

The book will be organised into several sections. There is the how to knit section, knitting for the homeless, Chemo Caps for Cancer patients, Knitting for the Troops and a section on prayer shawls. I am still looking for some patterns, any suggestion would be helpful.

Well that is it for the moment. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

Rambling Around

It is another Monday and another Hive Knitting coming up. I do enjoy our little group. By the way if you happen to be around stop by. We still meet at the Bee Hive at 7:00 PM.

My hand is doing fairly well. As you can see I am back to typing. I do prefer entering in things this way. My grammar and spelling may not be perfect. Still, I can almost type as fast as as I can think.

I have been looking for a turtle character from bleach on line and have not found it. I also cannot find my cartoon knitting book that I have a couple years ago. It was from Japan and had a couple of neat dolls in it. Japanese knitting is an interesting thing thing. One of the people in the group was asking about it and i wish I had some more answers to give.

The book is moving along nicely. I am going to have to ask the Navy and The Salvation Army for their permissions. The Navy has an office that handles that sort of thing. I am not exactly sure how my church deals with it. I suppose I will ask someone at DHQ.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

Savage Chickens

Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate is Hillarious. She is also going to be the new companion in the Tenth Doctor's Third Series. Ran across these on the Youtube. Which in this case should be the them tube because they have nothing to with me. Anyway enjoy.

Good Mornig Sunshine - Extream Clown WMD

It has been a good couple of days. Besides the snarky comments about my stand on welcoming men it has been fun. At last count I have been invited to three groups and have heard about men trouble in three other groups.

To the folks in Texas, German and Jacksonville thank you for the invitation. If I ever get out your way I will stop by. To the men or women who love their particular man who told me about troubles in their knitting paradise. I sympathise and wish you well.

I have emailed them about trying to get control of their group with ground rules. And when that fails I find that a seltzer bottle or super soaker is a good way to deal with people that have male knitting problems. By the way I am a professional. Do not go around seltzering people on your own. People could get hurt.

If you are going to Seltzer people here are a couple of simple ground rules:

Aim high - Depending on your bottle their is an arch to the seltzer. If you are going long rang you will have to aim over their head.

Practice - Like everything the more you do it the better. I have a range of dummies in my back yard. I use it to practice sneaking up on people and the always hard over one person's head to hit the person next to them.

No tap water - If you are going to use a seltzer bottle you have to be classy about it.

Sound Effects - A little goes a long way. I knew someone that used a horn. This took away from their aim. If you are going to use noise makers you need a partner. It is like military snipers. One to set up the shot and other to take the shot.

Surprise - The first time you shoot someone at your knitting group surprise will be on your side. After that you will need to hide the bottle. Make it into a fake lamp. Keep it in a bag. When used effectively it can be a knitting WMD that will keep chatty and gossipy people in line.

Watch the Yarn - For the love of Mike don't hit the yarn. practice the head shot. If you can make them run off you might even get yourself some nice yarn in the deal.

Remember this is a general guide for those that are not going to listen to my recommendation not to do this. And if you must do this it is only for extreme cases. Do not go shooting the person who is knitting an ugly hat. They need a yarn intervention not sniper fire from a would be clown.

Also on the good news front I am without splint. My doctor thinks I am doing well. As a programming note he is a surgeon and has stated he make not claims on on my sanity either way.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

Really Really Behind on New Flags

I am really behind on flags that I should have put up on the Blog.


Vietnam has had a few people stopping by.


Venezuela has had a few people stopping by as well. Hugo please send us some tasty oil. We are running out of countries who have oil that are talking to us.

United Arab Emirates, Hello

Taiwan we know that you are not part of China no matter what those people to the west of you say.

This is a really cool Flag

Qatar, Hello

Peurto Rico, all the benefits of America and you still get your own Olympic team.

Moldova, Moldova, Moldova the dance of Moldovia. I am writing a theme song for Moldova in my head

Mauntius, Hi. These folk are bucking the tri color flag thing. Way to stick to Russia, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland and all the rest I am not going to list

Latvia good evening

Grenada, cool I am watching Heartbreak Ridge as I am typing this.

Cyprus the only flag that is a geography lesson too.

I am still astounded that this many people stop by to listen to me ramble about all kinds of irrelevant things. Be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.

For the people from Saint Lucia and Grenada that is a Hockey reference. It is a game you play on ice. Saint Lucia that is something the frozen people in the Commonwealth do.

Edited Again and A. Nonymous and Don't Make Me Out to be a Dixie Chick

As I have found to be the case the List Moms edited me cutting out half my message. One person did respond with an email and invitation to their group in Texas. As she suggested that is a heck of a commute for someone from Pittsburgh. I will keep it in mind if I am ever down in Texas. I don't travel as much as I once did. Still, you never know.

I had two people leave anonymous and very disparaging comments on the blog. One was so offensive that I will not repeat what it said. They both suggested that I should get over breast feeding. I myself was breast fed at one time. So I have no objections to the practice.

There are many very healthy and important functions of the body that we do not do in public. And before you suggest that I am comparing breast feeding to flatulence or worse your mind went there not mine.

If we cannot be honest about making a group comfortable for both genders than we are not going to have men joining the ranks of knitters. Or if it does become popular in some circles of men they will exclude women.

On a personal level I could care less what the conversation is about, for the most part. I also do not care if children are being fed. I am not the bashful sort. But if you want to attack new people to something you must get them while they are young. And you will not be able to count on their level of maturity.

Also not to put too fine a point on the subject there are some women that no longer feel the need to cover up while feeding their babies. This even makes some women uncomfortable. And before you send me a rude message stating your position please remember the point of the conversation.

I understand that suggesting that breast feeding may make some people uncomfortable is like the Dixie Chicks attacking the President when their fan base is the NASCAR set. But many men are worried about girly thing infiltrating their lives. I like to call these men pansies, but I digress. How many of those who attacked the Dixie Chick really cared if what they said was relevant or not? Or even cared if they had the right to say it?

We are trying to make men comfortable with knitting not defend Breast Feeding. And perhaps the men who cannot stand to sit near a woman while breast feeding should grow up. That does not change the fact that if they have come out of the knitting closest they can go back in.

Also in the unclaimed comments was one about the food I suggested. I am sorry but that is way out of line. You can attack my possition on partial nudity by don't you dare say anything is wrong with Spam and Ranch Dressing. I will defend my right to kill myself with high fat foods to the grave. Carrot Sticks and whole grains is crazy talk.

They told me that I should be encouraging healthy food alternatives. This person also called me a Jerk so I am not going to post their comment. Knitting is supposed to be fun. Very few people really need to do it in the United States. If you are going to go and relax somewhere you should be allowed to do it with a cup of tea and some biscuits {Alright that is my time in Her Majesty's Service talking}. In the case of American men would it kill you to have a pizza? On behalf of all the men out there I will compromise on the anchovies. You will just need napkins.

Bellow is the pleasant email that I received about the post. Enjoy, I did.

Sounds like fun. And don't count baseball out. I am sure they would have said knitting a dying art at one time. The main point is that if your group knitts as an activity to do while complaining about Husbands. That generally scares off men. Not that we don't complain. Although I imagine most men don't complain about their husbands, but I digress.

Generally if a group is welcoming and primarily about knitting it will atttract a couple men. Men do need to get over the macho thing. Many Peruvian Men knit for the lively hood. And men should recall that once upon a time virtually all professional knitting was done by men.

Unfortunately it does not look like most men are ready to make that leap. Someday macho will be defined by individuality and not grunting and smashins things.

By the way you can see the entire entry on my blog. The lists moms edit me.

Peggy wrote:

Would you settle for basketball and football instead of baseball (a dying
sport unfortunately)??

My Saturday knitting group talks sports (and NOT ice skating or ice
dancing). We also talk politics, family, movies, music, television shows,
and anything else in the news. We meet at a Seattle's Best Coffeehouse --
they sell snacks that "aren't good for you" and excellent coffee -- AND we
all have stashes that are the envy of most yarn shops! One is a computer
tech, one a professor of French, one a librarian, one an engineer
specializing in bridges for the state highway dept. and one a criminal
defense attorney. I'm the only one with kids -- and they are grown and gone.
I DO have a grandchild and occasionally tell the group something funny my
DGD did -- or show a new picture. But that's about it. The professor knits
mostly modular things, the attorney makes hats and scarves to sell to her
cohorts at the courthouse, the engineer does a little of everything, the
computer tech sometimes crochets -- and I (the librarian) either knit lace
or things for that DGD.

Shame you aren't in Austin!

Peg in Austin

> If you want to attract men to your knitting group there are several
> things you can do.
>
> Snacks that are bad for you.
>
> The occasional Baseball conversation.
>
> And lost of cool knitting stuff.
>
> If the group is about knitting than a couple guys will show up
> eventually. The bottom line is that men are going to be a small
> minority in knitting circles. No one likes to be outside their
> comfort zone. In another couple decades if knitting stay as popular
> as it is now then there will be droves of male knitters.
>
> Zeeppo
>
> The Blog http://zeeppoville.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Savage Chickens

Listening to Women Talk About Men Knitting.

On the Knit List there has been several people talking about Guys knitting. The Conversation started by asking if Richard Dawson really knit. I could not find out. I did leave some messages at some Richard Dawson fan boards. We will see if any of them get back to me. I don't know where he lives. If I find out I will sit out in front of his house until I see him knitting or get arrested.

Bellow in italics is the post I put up for approval. Bellow are my other recommendations that I knew would not make the list.

Rosey Greer did do needles point. I have no idea if Richard Dawson Knit. his bio doesn’t say.

If you are knitting group of women who want men to show up your right, Girl Talk is a bad thing. Ladies how many of you want to sit around and listen to Dale Ernhart Jr. turning left stories. There are some subjects that are simply male or female. And once upon a time knitting groups were called Stitch and Complain and that has come back again. And what did a bunch of women complain about, men.

And as a man that has attended dozens of knitting groups there are several that I have not gone back to because it was a group therapy session with knitting. There is nothing wrong with that. If you’re a group of friends that gets together in a coffee shop that is cool. There are also a couple of female knitting group that I have been told at the door that men should not be there. It also scares that daylights out of men when several women are feeding children while knitting.

By the way if you are in all female group that does not want men to attend do not be afraid to put that on your poster.

If you want to attract men to your knitting group there are several things you can do.

Snacks that are bad for you.

The occasional Baseball conversation.

And lost of cool knitting stuff.

If the group is about knitting than a couple guys will show up eventually. The bottom line is that men are going to be a small minority in knitting circles. No one likes to be outside their comfort zone. In another couple decades if knitting stay as popular as it is now then there will be droves of male knitters.

Zeeppo

The Blog http://zeeppoville.blogspot.com/

Women if you want me to show up don't spend more than 20 percent of the time talking about women stuff. Breast feeding is also a scary thing for men. I am not getting into that. Men know what I mean.

Pigs in a blanket are a good thing, Hot wings, Ranch Dressing, Coke or Pepsi, Pizza, Jeff Gordon, Bruce Springsteen, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and or a Stephen Segal Movies are good ways to attract men to a group.

This may sound like a silly thing to be thinking about. Men dominate so much in the world. Why not let them take second place in the knitting world. Well those that read this thing on a regular basis know that I will go on about the most inconsequential things at great length.

Well it has been an hour since I placed my post and it has not shown up on the Knit List. At least my important observations have shown up on my blog.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Ravelry - Yay

I was invited to Ravelry today. And only six hours after I have joined I have five friends. That is nearly twice as many Friends as I have in the real world. So I am excited about that.

This was a neat thing and I am glad that I sign up three year ago to get through the waiting list. Actually it does appear that they are working hard to avoid many pit falls of new and popular websites. I have put up two things in the Forum type thing. With the exception of the Yahoo thing for my knitting group I have not used this sort of thing before. I suppose that the Knit List is that sort of thing. Although the restriction on that do not appear to be in Ravelry.

I know the people that are involved in this already know about these neat features. Still, it did get my attention the amount of stuff that you can so on this site. I have to admit that I was not terribly impressed with the progression of the Knit List and a few of the Internet thing that are out there about knitting.

One thing that i am tickled about is that i get to use just Zeeppo as my ID. For some reason there is a drunk guy who has been using Zeeppo on things like blogger yahoo and various other places. So I frequently have to add stuff to my clown name to use it on line. When I have million of dollars I will buy all of the Zeeppo names out there. IT will be the first step in my take over of the world. Still, that involves mechanical kangaroos and blaming stuff on Australia. But i digress.

Well just wanted to post about this and that. Everyone have a good morning out there. BE SAFE AND KEEP YOU STICK ON THE ICE.

Knitting, Jesus, Fall Fiber Festival Update

Great Fun was had this weekend. I was honestly considering not going. I figured I did not have the time. Still, I am glad I went.

Pictured to the left are the Song Book and Bible that were given to Jim on Sunday. That was a very touching moment as well. We forgot to take a picture. We will have to make sure to stage a couple for posterity.

Three yarn shops have called and left messages over the weekend while I was gone. Unfortunately they were all closed for Columbus day. So we will see what happens on Tuesday. Still I have to think they are interested if they are calling.

This is a video I made while in the Prayer Room over the weekend. Well I hope to see some of you at knitting tonight on the South Side.

Savage Chickens

On a Ravelry update I am hovering around a thousand people ahead of me. People keep trying to reassure me that it is really cool. Still if this hold at the rate they are going I should be in sometime next week.

This evening I am off to The Army's camp near Elwood City for a prayer retreat. It is good to see the Army spending a concerted effort on prayer. Sure we have always prayed. That is part of the whole Jesus thing. The thing that we appear to be doing more is concentrating our effort on certain area. Currently we are praying for Human Trafficking.

I like to think of this blog as a happy place so I will not go into too many details. Still, there are currently people being sold into bondage in this world. And for the people thing that it is happening in far off land who do you think is the rich country driving this thing? Of course it is the good old U.S of A. They are being used for domestic help and far worse.

Onto happy subjects I am knitting a bible case. I figure it will be a nice thing to stick the song book and bible I am giving away in.

We have a good day out there everyone. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

New Traditions in The Army and Clowning

A Bible and two Salvation Army Song Books arrived in the mail today. The Army Song book is a big tradition in our church. In most Christian Churches the Hymnal or song book is the thing sitting in the pew. In The Salvation Army it is that as well. In addition to there are leather bound version of the song book with the New Testament. This is usually so special that it is given to new soldiers and Cadets when they are sent off to training. In addition it is generally embossed with the name and rank of the person that is getting the book.

This all goes back to the days when we would run around in the streets of London telling people about Christ. It was also a neat little way to have everything you needed for a service in one package.

You may ask yourself what this has to do with anything even remotely connected to knitting or clowning. Or you have switched to a more interesting blog by this point. If you have stuck around I will explain.

In the old style clowning world that spawned me you get given something when you advance in rank. At this point I have a clown that has advanced in rank and I didn't give him anything. And the beauty of it is he doesn't read this so it will be still a surprise on Sunday when I give him something.

So we are starting a new tradition. You get a burgundy leather bound Bible for completing the Basic Clowning Proficiency and a Song Book when you make the rank of Jr. Clown. So Sergeant Jimbo gets a Bible and a Song Book.

We went with the burgundy because it is cooler than black which is the only other choice. I was considering asking if we could get the song book made in electric blue. I did not because it might annoy someone. And my officer has taken enough fire for just knowing me.

And I go Jimbo a new song book. I have not charged the camera and this was the only picture I had.

Going back to the clown tradition the gifts that were given at these stages were considered essential clown stuff. And us being Christian Clown what is more essential than the Bible.

So for Jr. Clowns they will get one and a half Bibles and a Song book. By the way if any one know why we only have half the Bible in the Song Book I would like to know.

Savage Chickens

Clowning and a Little Person in Mutil Media Extraviganza

This is a little elf type doll that one of the knitters at the Hive Knitting Group is making a sweater for. He even has a little chair. What is not to like.

And it is not a plain chair it is one of those trendy saucer shaped chairs. None of my dolls have a trendy chair.

I digress about those whole my dolls having boring chairs thing.

On the Festival Front we spent some time at practice stuffing info into envelopes to go into shops and other places. All of the knitting world will soon be covered in our cheaply made information sheets.

On knitting fronts I am still trying to rebuild my half missing collection of Boye Plastic Needles. I found a set on 9s and 10 1/2 . I am still missing a couple of the larger size and 2, 4 and 5. When I have billions of dollars I am going to buy Boye from who ever owns it. Then I will start making the plastic needles again. And I will make Boye Needles from Rosewood, Ebony, Bamboo, Titanium, Silver, Gold, Mahogany, Crystal and good old fashioned Steel. There will also be a special edition 19mm needle made from Highland Style Shortbread covered in white chocolate.



Well this video is from our practice tonight. Enjoy Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Little People & Clowns

Ravelry is Slowish

Just checking in. Not much is happening. Some more pamphlets were sent out today and a few more came in. So the festival is moving along

On revelry I am at just under three thousand. If all goes well I will get on there before I am so old and crippled with arthritis that I will not be able to knit or type. All I can say is that it better be as cool as everyone says it is.

The fact that I have had such a hard time joining mean that it must be really really cool.

The hand is coming along well. I am able to keep to effected finger closed. I am told this is a big thing. When all is said and done I should be in fairly good shape by Christmas.

I am concentrating on typing in as much of the book as possible. When I make millions of dollars off the book I will buy a lap top so I do not have to write the next one out. Although i do like having thousands of composition books laying around my house. And my wife really likes them.

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

A Busy Week End - Sergeant Major on Hold

I spent the better part of the week end dealing with a dozen or so details of the upcoming Yarn Festival. In addition to that I am starting a Cub Scout Pack, getting the Brigade ready for four shows, editing a book and attempting to train a cat. So as usual the blog suffers.

What can one do? Anyway a good time was had at Hive Knitting We may be few in number these days but fun is still had by all. I do enjoy our group down there. The Hive may have a reputation for being a strange place. Still, it is one of the few places that I fit in.

On the Sergeant Major and Training Front. Several people have offered their prayers on this one and I thank you. The unfortunate thing is there is no news. According to our Divisional HQ they do not know if they are allowed to make me a Sergeant Major. When asked why they say they have not been told.

Frustrating is no longer the word for this thing. Frustration comes when one is surprised by an odd behavior. At this point it is expected. I suppose I would have been surprised if thing has gone well with Sergeant Major thing.

Being that there is no official word as to why, my only guess is my odd past. I must say that I find it frightening that this may be the case now. At one point in history anything went in the saving souls business. We tell stories of our founder, General William Booth, sticking an umbrella in the ground and talking to it. Then when a crowd gathered to see the crazy person he would tell them about Jesus.

Joseph Garbedian dressed in outfits that would have made Liberace jealous and yelled on the street corner about Jesus.

The sad thing is I am not allowed to talk to anyone about this. Bureaucracy will be the death of us.

In reading the Army Blogs out there I have seen many people that are openly talking about renewal in the Army. Even though I have firmly believed that we are not what we once were. I have not talked about it openly because I thought it would hurt my chances of getting into training. That is sad. It is truly sad that a member of an organization can not talk about what is wrong with their organization without fear of being ridiculed. Even if in my case it is behind closed doors and I am not allowed to know.

We were once a church that was proud of outcast heritage. We were proud of the strange people that would join our ranks. Now we want to be respectable. And I fear if we get too respectable the outcast may one day not be welcome at out doors. Currently they are not welcome as officers.

I still firmly believe we are the best church out there. I firmly believe that we are the most Christ like denomination out there. If there was anyone better or doing more work for Christ I would join them. I just fear that one day we may loose that position because of our attitude toward our own people.

Pray for us out there in Blog Land. Satan is attacking us like he attacks us all. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice