Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Fetching Fetching

That's one of those words that starts looking funny if you read it too many times. Fetching fetching fetching fetching fetching fetching fetching. See? A little too close to retching. But I only have two fetchings to show you. (No retching.)





These are the fetching wristwarmers from the summer 2006 issue of Knitty. The dark pair I made for myself shortly after the issue came out, from Reynolds Odyssey. The cables show up much better in person, and the yarn has so much depth. These took one skein and I have one more of the same. Any grand ideas for it? The purple pair was made from leftovers of KnitPicks merino style. I made a sweater (recently finished, but not yet shared with you) for myself from it. These wristwarmers were a gift for my sister's birthday a couple weeks ago. I knew she would love them, but I was surprised by how excited she was about them. This is really a great pattern. It doesn't take long, and the cables aren't too complicated, but they look (and feel) so nice! I like how the cables around the wrist give it a little tighter fit right there.

Totally unrelated non-knitting content:

I had jury duty this week. Like most other people, I was not looking forward to it, and would have gotten out of it if I could. But, there I was yesterday morning. My number was called in the second group of prospective jurors, and from the pool of 28, I was one of the chosen 12. Only three of us were women.

The trial commenced after lunch and continued until 4:30, when we were dismissed until this morning. Of course, you can't discuss the case with anyone or form any solid opinions until you deliberate. Then, when it's all done you can blab all you want.

This morning, we were all there on time, with our juror badges on (which let everyone in the courthouse not to discuss anything related to any trial where we could hear it). We sat in the jury room, very carefully not talking about it, until our jury instructions were ready. Then we went back out and heard the instructions and closing statements. Then it was time to go back into our little room and deliberate.

It didn't take us long to come to a verdict, but we did carefully consider all the evidence. It was a fairly cut and dried case, and we all hope that the 5-6 years the defendant will likely get at sentencing will be enough to help him make the decision to turn his life around. We didn't know what the sentence would possibly be while we were deliberating (and we couldn't consider it, even if we had). The judge told us later when he came back to talk to us. We also didn't know that this young man who is now barely 19 and has been in jail for the 5 months since the crime was committed already had an assault conviction on his adult record, as well as at least 3 juvenile felonies in another state.

It all makes me wish that a young man wouldn't build this kind of record. That he wouldn't be homeless, with no one to come to his trial, at 19. I just really, really hope that the system can help him and he can overcome his past, and his past bad choices, to emerge better on the other side. In any case, I'm glad he won't be back on the streets for a while.

2 comments:

Margaret said...

So what do you DO with fetchings???? I don't get it.

Jury duty sounds interesting albeit a bit sad. I've never actually gotten out of the jury pool onto a trial.

Lara said...

Well, they're wristwarmers. I took one picture with them on, but it came out terrible. They keep you warm, but let your fingers stay free for whatever, or they can be an extra layer on top of gloves if it gets really cold where you are. (It doesn't get that cold here.) Just keeping that pulse point in your wrist warm can keep you warmer overall. And they're cute. lol.