I can see for miles and miles…

I don’t know whether this could be considered “good” or “bad” planning, but I have two current knitting projects, and both of them are at that totally mindless stage of endless stockinette.

There’s the Ogee Tunic, finished except for the back.

Back and forth and back and forth...

And there are the Tabi Socks, being knitted because R. asked for socks he can wear with flip-flops now that it’s getting colder (and in spite of me being totally NOT in sock mode right now).

round and round and round...

It could be considered “bad” planning because it’s nice to have something a little challenging to work on when endless stockinette starts feeling, well, endless. And since I’m still very much in the learning phase, there are a lot of challenges out there that I’m eager to try.

But at the moment it could be considered “good” planning because I find myself totally distracted by certain things that would probably just lead me to make mistakes in anything harder than decreasing two stitches every 18 rows.

Other than the usual distractions such as too much work, realizing that I need to get my garden ready for the winter, and Ravelry (of course), I find myself spending hours every day totally immersed in the US presidential campaign and what everybody is saying about it. Some days I stick to the news and the official websites, but other days I stalk blogs and forums and find myself amazed, appalled, relieved, bewildered, laughing hysterically, in total agreement, or so angry that I’m speechless. And sometimes all within the course of just a few minutes.

It’s weird being an ex-pat during campaign season. I live in a country that almost exclusively reports on Obama (although Palin is getting some serious attention right now), and where people were truly dumbstruck when Bush was voted in for a second term. (I was too.) Here in Germany, politicians’ private lives aren’t given nearly the scrutiny as those in the US, and that is always a hot topic too. “Why do they care that he/she had an affair back in 19-whatever?”

So I turn to the internet for my news and to learn about the candidates, and inevitably find myself pulled into some major timesuck of opinions, arguments, speculations, and conspiracy theories. And while it can be very educational (at least in regards to human nature, if nothing else), it is also exhausting and worrisome. And sometimes very, very funny.