Today is a beautiful day.

I don't like to talk about politics. Usually I'm the girl who, at the first mention of George Bush or the war, changes the subject of the conversation to her pet bird's vocabulary or her current knitting obsession (all the while searching for an exit route). It's not that I don't care about the state of the country, it's just that I don't find it particularly enjoyable to share/hear political opinions. If you ask me, politics are pretty personal. So I keep myself out of them, and it seems to work pretty well for me.

But the city I chose to live in doesn't share my low-key political attitude. I mean, this is to be expected for the city that hosted the Free Speech Movement and, more recently, a nearly two year long tree sit. It makes perfect sense, then, that Berkeley would have had an amazing reaction to the election of Barack Obama.

The moment that the news announced Obama had won people mobbed out into the streets. Never one(s) to pass up a party, my roommate and I got carried along with the celebration. Thousands of people gathered at the south end of campus; people climbed street signs, sat on rooftops, hung out of windows. . . all the while chanting "U.S.A!", "OBAMA", and "YES WE CAN". It was a pretty fantastic sight, and it did something strange to me. It replaced my normal feelings of indifference with feelings of pride and a sense of hope.

Now let's not get too carried away with politics. Never far from my life, my knitting was the main reason I wanted to watch the election coverage. Hours of precious knitting time, and I chose to devote them to the Springtime in Philadelphia Beret. I realize I haven't posted any progress shots so far, which is strange because this WIP is by far my favorite thing I've ever knitted. Favorite yarn (koigu...), favorite pattern, favorite needles. I. love. this. hat. I want to have one on the needles at all times, because it really is a perfect portable knitting project.

In fact, its portability is probably the reason I haven't taken any photos of it yet. Most of this hat has been knitted on BART, in buses, or in waiting rooms. I was kind of saving it for those moments, which translated into a pretty slow progression. I've resolved to finish it sooner rather than later, so I'm going out on a limb and knitting it---gasp---while at home. And boy oh boy will I have a lot of time to knit, because all my damn yelling at the rally the other night cost me my voice.