Knitting Friday

"TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
Howard Zinn, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A personal history of our times”
http://www.rightsaction.org/newsletters/RAnewsletterMarch06-USA.pdf

A short post today because it’s a traveling day. A picture of the hat will follow once the camera gets out of the suitcase.

But before I give you a short hat pattern, I want to mention Howard Zinn who just died.

Remember I told you I’m still trying to figure out what Voltaire meant with “Let us cultivate our garden” at the end of Candide?

Well, after reading Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, you’ll feel like taking the shovel and burying yourself in Voltaire’s garden.

It’s that depressing. But it is a necessary read for every member of our species who wants to be a good ancestor.

Zinn was not alone in his belief that Americans were being spoon-feed rose-colored U.S. history (Native Americans [or fill in your favorite villain] bad vs. U.S. citizen/government saintly) but he did something about his concerns by writing his classic, anti-establishment account of U.S. history.

Zinn is important as a first history read because he slams you over the head with his brutal realism. If you are ready to accept this, Zinn is a drug-free, mind opener.

Right now, Zinn’s book is available free on-line at:

http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

Since the selections include the 2000 US presidential election debacle some must be based on works after A People’s History (1980.)

Take a look at it. It’s not a happy read. It’s a essential one.

And now, on to a pattern. I decided to make a knit hat though I never wear knit hats except for knit, thick headbands which attach with a button so my hair gets flattened, not frizzied. However, since I’m starting a needlework group in a week I thought a short pattern handout might be nice for the first meeting.

Ever mindful of copyright laws, I designed my own pattern using crochet and knitting. The reasons for the crochet: 1. It is so much easier to start the top of a hat with it’s small amount of stitches in crochet. 2. A crochet brim in neater, more dressy?, than a knit rib.

Crochet/Knit Hat - Medium Size Woman w/ US 9 DPNs, H or I hooks, 150+ yards DK yarn
Crochet Part: Ch 4 and join in ring. Ch 2, work hdc sts in ring to fill ring but keep it flat.
Round 2 & following: Ch 2, inc around with hdc sts (ex: one round of: *2 hdc st in each st* then *2 hdc in one st, 1 hdc in next st* then *2 hdc in one st, 1 hdc in next 2 sts*, etc. You will always end the round with a sl st in the top of your first hdc of the previous round and begin your round with a Ch 2. Your goal is a 6 ½ inch hdc circle, fairly flat, of about 65 sts. At this point, stop crocheting.
Knit Part: With US 9 DPNs, pick up your end loop and one st in each crochet st around. (65 sts on needles) Work round in K to desired depth of hat. (Don’t make it too long; shorter is better.) Bind off.
Crochet Brim: With H hook (or smaller if brim looks floppy) work a round of hdc sts. Join with sl st, Ch 2 and work another round of hdc. Continue these rounds till your brim is as wide as you want it. Work 1 round of crab st, if desired. Cut and weave in end of yarn.
Variation: End the Knit Part with ½ inch of P in the round so when the crochet brim is turned up you see the public side of the st st.

You may notice that I used a lot of abbreviations in this pattern. That’s because when I give it to my needlework group I’ll be able to tell the level of the group. A novice knitter/crocheter will have trouble but it’s pretty straight-forward for slightly experienced needlecrafters.

Here’s a list of abbreviations if you need them:
http://www.needlepointers.com/displaypage.aspx?ArticleID=25497&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.knitting-crochet.com%2fabb.html

Happy knitting.

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Website Wednesday

So there I was, 3:30 am this morning, wide awake, knitting in bed and watching a 1935 Gene Autry movie - yes, I was desperate. (Did you know that Encore restores these old westerns?) Of course, it was your typical formula western with singing. But at one point, Gene is reading a letter which says that someone needs an operation and as soon as they raise the money.......you know the rest.

And I got to thinking: This is 1935 and people were having to raise money before they got a needed operation.....

And then my mind really went off (as if it never does) and I thought: In finance, when the credit cards charge usurious rates and the banks pay no interest and Wall Streeters get million dollars in bonus, there is an outcry. The cheats! The bastards! The low-lifes!

But when panels come out and say that medical procedures are not warranted (mammogram before 50, etc.) because they are just ineffective, costly, and physically damaging, the outcry goes the other way. Few people shout: The cheats! The bastards! The low-lifes!

No, when the medical profession gets called on its costly and unnecessary procedures which just line the pockets of the health care system, the bilked public rushes to their defense. Like in our over-the-top capitalistic economy, health care gets a pass. Go figure.

However, my website pick today is really neat:

http://www.cracked.com/

This is just fun. You know that I love annotated lists and here you get a shitload of them.

You learn about the nature of Cracked, not in an About section but in the Advertise section:

Not all of you realize this, but the comedy at Cracked.com is not produced by a team of Hollywood professionals in a big comedy headquarters surrounded by comedy supercomputers. Cracked articles and videos are made almost entirely by people like you: fans of Cracked.com who have a great idea and the ability to deliver on it.

So, are you funny? Want to get internet famous, and have your stuff read or watched by hundreds of thousands of people? And be paid money for it? We don't care if you don't have tons of comedy experience. We want you on board.

So, I guess I’d say: You are Cracked.

Right now, there Home page has a “Where Are They Now?” list or in Cracked’s lingo: The 7 most WTF Post Fame Celebrity Careers. I didn’t know that Peter Weller, RoboCop, is presently working on his Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art at UCLA. I’m impressed! I like that career move. Unfortunately, Jason Hervey’s (The Wonder Years) career change didn’t turn out as well.

Or, you can click on: 7 Classic Star Wars Characters Who Totally Dropped the Ball for a very detailed list of these bozos. Or, in the archives: 7 Bullshit Police Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies). I cried here when I discovered Gil Grisson (CSI) was not a DNA god.

Then click Craptions and stroll through captioned pictures which get that way though contest submissions. Many of them are really funny and there are zillions of them to explore.

And, who can’t love a place with a forum titled Pointless Waste of Time?

I can’t promise a PG rating here but who cares? This is fun, cracked fun, and it looks like basically factual cracked fun.

So enjoy. It may be pure fluff like that spun candy you get at state fairs but it’s sure good while it lasts.

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Movie Monday

First, something about governance. Does Obama get it? Eric Alterman was on Bill Moyers Journal with a Melissa Harris-Lacewell from Princeton. Alterman basically said that Obama was bringing a knife to a gun fight. Well, really he's bringing marshmallows and pillows and fluffy kittens to a gun fight. The Harris-Lacewell disagreed and said that the Democrats must engage the Republicans civilly.

Jesus H. Christ! Here's a poem from Stephen Crane:

"It was wrong to do this," said the angel.
"You should live like a flower,
Holding malice like a puppy,
Waging war like a lambkin."

"Not so," quoth the man
Who had no fear of spirits;
"It is only wrong for angels
Who can live like the flowers,
Holding malice like the puppies,
Waging war like the lambkins."

Crane got it. Human life is a battle. Not a happy thought but a realistic one. US presidents can be good people; they can't be angels.

I was going to review Towelhead today but I still haven't seen the movie straight through. It's on at 8 pm tonight and that's a respectable hour to be awake so I'm hoping my review will be in next Monday.

But I did see the PBS production of Emma and The Secret Life of Bees. First, Emma. Jane Austen is not a fav or mine. Oh, I hear the legions of JA fans preparing for battle. I know she's supposed to be satire but her dripping with wealth settings rile me. Only with Persuasion, where the setting is still the same, do I have some affection for the hero and heroine. Here, the satire seems to knock you over with a brick (apparently, I'm also not a fan of subtle satire) and Anne winds up, not in a luxurious home with her true love, but on a rocking ship.

With this production of Emma, you really don't like Emma (supposedly, Jane didn't either.) She's sort of a rich ditz who messes up the love lives of others. I think I'm finally going to have to read the damn book because I don't know if the screenwriter based the script on Austen or Alicia Silverstone in Clueless.

Last night was only the first part of Emma's story. I'm hoping Emma's moment of final self-awareness is more substantial than the entertaining fluff of the Emma (1996) with Gwyneth Paltrow, who was much more Oscar worthy in this than Shakespeare In Love.

Looking back at last week and my review of Local Color and then up to this week and next with The Secret Life of Bees and Towelhead, I realize that I'm into a lot of "coming of age" movies. Even Emma is a late stage coming of age story.

I had two major problems with The Secret Life of Bees and one underlying problem which pervades the whole movie. (And apparently, the book since over 10% of the Amazon book reviewers globbed onto this criticism: it was a two-dimensional look at a four-dimensional (I know that's hyperbole) time.

First, I really liked the actors: Queen Latifah, Alicia Keyes, Dakota Fanning; Jennifer Hudson - the list goes on - and Paul Bettany as the dangerous yet troubled father. But I really disliked the plot points.

My two major problems were:

1: The portrayal of the father. Maybe I'm too inculcated into the memes of my time but I was very uneasy about the relationship between Lily and her father. I couldn't imagine a father being so physically abusive (Lily's punishment was kneeling in grits for an hour) not also being sexual abusive. And that spooked me. Like waiting for the proverbial other shoe to fall.

2. In that time in the South, Zach would never have been found alive after he was kidnapped from the movie theater. Even June says this, but then like a miracle Zach reappears only slightly beaten. Cripes, whites beat and wanted to kill Rosaleen early in the movie. What was the screenwriter smoking to believe white men wouldn't do worse to a black boy who angered them?

Except for the good acting, the movie walked a very superficial line. But there are still good talking points for parents and teens here and that's another reason the movie shouldn't be dismissed.

For example:
1. Lily accidentally kills her mom. What happens if something bad happens in your life which you can never change?
2. Lily runs away. What should you do if you are in an abusive situation? Or if you know that a friend is?
3. The movie is set in 1964 just after Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. What was the Civil Rights Act? Why was it needed? Are the times different today? How?

See what I'm getting at. I know, I know, the teacher is coming out; but as Roger Ebert once said, he learned how to act socially (with girls specifically) by watching movies.

Movies can open the door of communication between parent and child. The Secret Life of Bees is not a bad place to start.

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Knitting Friday
Well, I would like to say this has been a productive knitting week but I was so lazy and stupid. The shawl I was knitting got frogged and is now being remade into a cardigan.

A little background on this disaster: I have a lot of wool, sports and fingering, left over from the Super Mario blanket. Some I had to buy to get to my $50 minimum on free shipping but some comes from the fact that the wool was bought when I was making a much bigger blanket. So, I have been looking at 6+ skeins of light blue Knit Picks Pallette (fingering) and wondering if I had enough for a sweater. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the “Eureka” moment until I had knitted a good portion of the shawl. Then I realized I should type in “Knit Picks Palette” under the yarn section at Ravelry and check through cardigan projects (Side Note: If you don’t belong to Ravelry, you really should join. It’s great and free.) I discovered that indeed I could knit a cardigan with 6 skeins of Palette using US 6 needles.

Right now, I’m 5" down from the neck of a top-down raglan cardigan. It’s going to be very light but I think with the yarn amount, I’m OK. I’ll post the picture (you know how great I am with posting pictures) and directions next week.
(Continued)

My photographer took the pictures I needed for today and went to work. Never one to waste time, I worked on my monthly newsletter and pretty much finished it. Plus, I worked on the light blue cardigan. It takes forever in fingering yarn. I'm only at 5.5 inches and this has to be at least 9 inches before I can start the body. Tedious but simple.

And now, the pictures I promised last Friday. You know before my photographer (I must get a pithier name for him) clunked his head on the car and got an black eye and the flu within 12 hours.

Would you look at these pictures and tell me if you can see the difference between them? The first one is blocked and it's 73" x 25". Here it is: You can see that the ends are folded in to show you that it's wider than the table. This blocked one is airier than the unblocked which means it would do well into the cool spring while the unblocked one is denser; more winter wear.
The second one is unblocked and that one measures 62" x 25". OK, that means the blocked one is 11" longer. But do I need this? The unblocked one is denser and definitely big enough. (No, it's not misshaped. though it definitely looks that way. It's a bad angle.)



I guess what I don't understand is: why block a stitch which doesn't need it? The trinity stitch doesn't need blocking. Now, if I had gotten a fantastic width with blocking, that would be different. However, the width stayed the same.
The plus side is that both shawls were the second tries and were knitted from very crinkly wool which I did not have to prepare first since the trinity stitch tells no tales. As you know, it's my favorite lazy day stitch.

That's it for today. Next week, I'll share my defunct shawl pattern (the one that got frogged for the blue sweater.) It's one of the very few simple lace patterns I can do and not make mistakes. That alone makes it worthy of posting.

Happy knitting.

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Website Wednesday: and Substitute Teaching

I’ve done a lot of substitute teaching, primarily in grades 7 through 12, and almost full time for one school system (It was because I was either very good at it or I never said “No” to the 5:30 a.m. call.)

I really enjoyed being a sub. It always kept my teaching fresh and I was never bored.

The only part I didn’t like (but it was essential for this age range) was that I had to come in like “gang busters.” That is, I came in tough, strict and no nonsense. “Sit down, be quiet, here’s how we’re going to do this.”

I hated that part and it usually gave me a headache but in a short time the class and I were in sync. They were learning, we were liking each other, and they had figured out I wasn’t such a meanie.

This part always amazed me: that they took to my no-nonsense initial strictness. I gave them direction and they followed.

Which brings me to last summer and Barack Obama.

I didn’t think about this until yesterday (before the Dems lost MA but after they lost NJ) but Obama played a Kerry summer and I missed it.

What is a Kerry summer? Remember the summer before the 2004 election when the swift-boaters grabbed the media headlines? All that summer, the dialogue in my house went something like this:

Well, Kerry will respond shortly.
Well, he’s not going to say anything now since it’s the July 4th weekend.
Well, he’s probably realizes that no one follows politics in the summer.
Well, wait until after Labor Day. He’ll come out swinging.

Well.......you know how all that turned out.

Kerry really never responded to the smears. Perhaps a few of his minions did but the damage was done and the meme became that brave soldier, John Kerry, was a fraud.

And so it went for Obama this summer with the nutty tea baggers and the birthers (and all the racists who are attracted to any anti-Obama movement.) They set the battle lines and the Democratic politicians, on the whole, didn’t think they were worthy of a response, let alone a battle.

Big mistake. Nature and politics abhor a vacuum. If reason doesn’t fill it; some idiot surely will.

I had two choices when I walked into all those strange classrooms as a sub: I could have wrung my hands and moaned: Oh, you bad, bad people. What can I do? Or I could have taken charge: I was there to do a job and we were going to do it the right way.

I took the second choice. Unfortunately for our nation, Obama didn’t make that choice.

Now on to Website Wednesday. I had a frivolous one picked out but after yesterday I’m pushing education:

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/

I know I recommended free online university courses before but this page is different. This is part of the blog of Online Universities.com and if you click on the Home page, you'll get the typical: what are you interested in studying, etc. and you'll be sent to suggestions for non-free degree programs.

Here, however, you'll just find out a lot of stuff. Like the first heading: 50 Important Facts You Probably Forgot Between 5th Grade and College. You'll review "i" before "e" and just what is a subject and an object. Or, under Social Studies you'll learn what Manifest Destiny means to the US or what are the state capitals in the US. A lot of this is simple stuff we have all probably forgotten or only remember vaguely. It's like instant learning but, hey, what's wrong with that? For answers, you'll get sent to Wikipedia, About.com or smaller websites like emptyeasel.com for the answer to What is Cubism? Definitely, this page fulfills the promise of "Something for everyone."

Before you leave, scroll down to: 100 Best (Free) Science Documentaries Online.

You can watch Super Size Me or learn about genetics, space, geology, nature, technology, etc., etc. etc.

Oh, and don't forget to scroll through the blog archives. Good stuff here also.

Enjoy learning as it should be: work and fun.

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Movie Monday

For those of you who are waiting for the pictures from Knitting Friday, there's been a slight delay. My photographer was getting in the car by Sam's Club (not that this place is important but it wasn't like he was coming out of a B.Y.O.B. restaurant) and clunked his head on the door frame. Now, he knows why they have a rubber gasket around that frame; not to protect the door but your head. Well, it didn't knock him silly but he has a black eye and spent two days feeling pretty low (possibly the strain of flu which also going around) and I didn't have the heart to ask for pictures.

I know, I'm setting back women's lib 20 years by not being able to use a camera, but have no fear, I promise I will post the pictures.

And now some random thoughts before my movie pick:

1. Is Obama looking at his presidency as a constitutional law professor? That is, we have three separate branches of government and each, executive, legislative, and judicial, should operate without interference from any other branch. That's the way it should be; that's the way the founding fathers ideally saw and wrote it in our founding papers. But presidents like Lyndon Johnson knew how to use the iron hand in the velvet glove with Congress (OK, I'm sure many times the gloves came off) and he was able to get through historic and important domestic policy (Medicare, Civil Rights Act.)

2. Second thought: Does Obama not understand the Manichaeism view of the world? That is: human life is a battleground between the forces of good and evil. These two forces can exist in the same person or can exist ala LOTR as a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. I say this because he seems to want everyone to get along; have a meeting of minds where the "evil" forces (tea-baggers, birthers, etc.) will "see the light." Unfortunately, it ain't going to happen and he has given all who oppose him and his policies much too much time to get their messages out. At this late date, I think it might be too late for Obama to find his voice and use it effectively. It isn't all his fault though. This is what happens when you elect your hero. You project too much of yourself into him. He/she is the metaphor for what you might have been. You're always disappointed.

And now the movie: Local Color (2006)

This is one of those "small" movies where almost everything is perfection. Armin Mueller-Stahl plays a Russian master painter. Nicholi Seroff, living in the U.S. with a tragic past which has prevented him from continuing his art. Trevor Morgan is the 18 year old aspiring artist, John Talia, living with philistine parents who gets a chance to spend the summer with Seroff as an apprentice. Samantha Mathis plays Carla their neighbor during that summer. And, Ron Perlmann gives an over-the-top performance as the effete art critic, Curtis Sunday.

But it is the three players, Mueller-Stahl, Morgan, and Mathis who carry the picture to a bittersweet conclusion without pretense. For example, in the scene where the two actors, as artists, work with mentally retarded children (who are not actors) you feel a true rapport with these children; or the scene where Morgan walks Mathis home and they share a kiss. It has a sweet and right feeling; and thank goodness not an introduction to the Summer of '42 as one reviewer said.

One expects perfection from Mueller-Stahl but Morgan holds his own and more. I had my doubts at the beginning of the scene towards the end of the movie where he and Mueller-Stahl exchange angry and frustrated words about their lives and disappointments. It could have been played maudlin or superficial but it wasn't. You sensed the deep feelings from the old man at the end of his career and the young man hoping he could even have a career.

I learned that the director, George Gallo, is an artist and you see his artistic skill in the shot compositions. The movie looks like it had the thought process of a painter behind it but without this process in any way detracting from the film.

Savor this movie. Take your time with it. There is no CGI but there are heroics. In its simple, quiet way it gets to the soul of art and tells you how important it is in all our lives.

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Knitting Friday

No pictures until later because my photographer is traveling to pick up pool table covers for our clubhouse and then he is going to look at Ford cars. Oh, the horror! Not picking up pool table covers but looking at Fords! I know: Go America! But they are sooooo old-fashioned. They are supposed to be getting good reviews and it is an American manufacturing product but driving a Ford would be like a young man dating an old woman with bleached hair, a lot of makeup and Botox. I know, me bad.

I guess I'm cranky because I spent the early hours today trying get a get a shawl pattern for about 1200 yards of Knit Pick Palette (fingering) in light blue. It's from my "I bought way too much yarn for the Super Mario blanket" stash. I had started crocheting it into a ch3-3dc cluster shawl on an N hook. As you know, I've been very successful with this pattern with lace weight - it's so soft and fluffy. But with fingering, I'm getting a typical heavy crochet look.

Mea culpas to all the crocheters out there. Don't take this as a slam. I do like to crochet but I can't stand the heavy look crocheting often produces. It's just me.

So here I am, trying to work simple, simple lace patterns like: *YO, K2tog.* Maybe a row of K to separate this simple lace. Plus, I'm trying to work out a pattern that I won't screw up, as usual. I must go into a brain freeze with simple patterns because I always screw them up.

Then I look at these masterpieces:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter09/PATTspoke.php

or this:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter09/KSPATTbitterroot.php

and I think: WTF? I can't even get a simple YO, K2tog right!

Finally, I worked out this simple pattern:

CO 2 with fingering weight and US 10 needles.

K front & back in each st 2xs - 4 sts

Row 1 RS and 2: K1 *YO, K2tog* K1
Row 3 RS: Kfb *K* Kfb - increase row
Row 4: Kfb *P* Kfb - increase row

Mark the RS. Every time you're on that side it's either Row 1 of the lace or a increasing K row. So far, I don't need a row counter but we'll see. I'll knit to the width I want and then change the ending Kfb in Rows 3 & 4 to K2tog. Then at my length, Rows 3 and 4 with begin and end with K2tog.

That's it. This is a variation of a very old, very ubiquitous pattern. Row 3 and 4 make it stockinette; Row 1 and 2 keep a garter look. So you wind up with simple lace which doesn't curl and has a respectable wrong side.

Got to go. We're having a two person family birthday party tonight and it's going to be a pizza party. Happy day.

Happy knitting. Pictures will follow including two trinity stitch shawls, one blocked and one not. See if you can see the difference. I'm having a hard time with that.

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Website Wednesday

A world culture assignment in a central NJ middle class/affluent 6th grade class, which is occurring as I write, is a report on five major religions of the world.

Atheist that I am, I mentioned to the student working on the project that there are millions of people throughout the world who don’t believe in a deity. (I did not mention my thought that this assignment was another example of religion reaching into government since those two have such an unholy alliance: religion teaches its believers to accept and follow, that is, they greatly help produce the good citizen.)

But she replied: I don’t believe in God. You live and then you die. So I just said: Yes, but you live by setting good examples. You use well your days. (Thank you, Tolkien) “And when the day is done, There'll be one child left to carry on.” (Thank you, Blood, Sweat and Tears)

Which brings me to my website pick:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/

It says of itself:

Letters of Note is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos. Scans/photos where possible. Fakes will be sneered at. Updated every weekday.

Wow! Here is the metaphoric “one child left to carry on” since Shaun Usher is giving us slices of social history which might otherwise remain hidden or lost.

Currently, the posting is about WWII soldiers’ lost watches, Rolex to the rescue (sort of) and Stalag Luft III (the one William Holden escaped from in the stalag escape movie renumbered Stalag 17.) You get to read a summary of events and then see the actual letter from Rolex to a prisoner in Stalag Luft III who subsequently used the watch during the escape. Reading it is like when a friend starts telling you a story piled with coincidences and you say: No way! But it’s true.

Scroll down for a delightful letter from the creator of Ren and Stimpy to an aspiring 14 year old graphic artist. What a generous letter, full of good technical advice.

Clicking “Older Posts” will take you to a memo discussing how to have the live detective in Who Frame Roger Rabbit? (1988) interact realistically with the cartoon characters. Real animation meshed with live acting; which may seem passe today, but in 1988 was cutting edge. (This was a giant step from Gene Kelly dancing with the mouse in Anchors Aweigh - 1945.)

Then, after you finish with Letters of Note for the day, go to another site run by Shaun:

http://www.letterheady.com/

Yes, folks, it’s a lot of letterheads. Interesting stuff here also and easy viewing. I wonder if you can cull the measure of a man/corporation from their letterheads?

So enjoy these sites. Kudos to Shaun for this great contribution.

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Movie Monday - Standard Operating Procedure

I was going to review Towelhead and Standard Operating Procedure but they are both stand-alone movies. Plus, since my movie viewing occurs at home, once again, I missed the beginning of Towelhead and would like to see it before I put in my “two cents.”

Standard Operating Procedure is SOP in army terms, which IMDb tells me really stands for Standing Operating Procedure. Whatever.

This wasn’t a movie I planned to watch for more than ten to twenty minutes but I wound up glued to the screen for its 116 minute running time.

SOP is Errol Morris’ documentary on the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Except for deep cave dwellers, the known world can recognize this infamous place as the home movie capital of American soldiers’ crimes against humanity. (You must remember the female American soldier’s iconic thumbs-up pose with a naked Iraq prisioner.)

Crimes against humanity was what it was, plain and simple. Of course, since this was an American crime, only the low level grunts were punished with jail time. Oh, a few higher-ups got transfers and slaps on the wrist, but, hey guys, this is America, we all know only uneducated grunts would commit such crimes.

I probably sound bitter and disgusted and I am; but I didn’t get this from Morris’ film because he presents an even-handed look at these atrocities. He allows the soldiers to speak and explain the picture taking and their behavior without prejudice.

He allows General Janis Karpinski, the commandant of the prison, to tell us that whenever she visited everything looked OK. He allows the prison guards to tell us the whenever Karpinski visited beds and clothes were returned to the prisioners. So Karpinski saw her Potemkin village and went away happy.

Morris shows the banality of evil and some commenters on IMDb felt he should have taken a more proactive, anti-torture stance. I don’t. If he had become a Michael Moore type documentary maker, he would have diffused the impact.

These atrocities came to light because of photos and not photos taken and gotten out by prisoners but taken by U.S. soldiers as war trophies. Listening to them justify their actions; listening to them speak without remorse except for the fact that they were caught and punished, is sickening.

But Morris doesn’t tell you to think this; he allows you to decide where you want to stand on the human spectrum: standing with those lacking Be sure to watch it.

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Knitting Friday

A fast blog today because I'm not on my computer and I have someone breathing down my neck who wants to use this computer asap.

I decided that if the world is on fire, I might as well spend the time shit-faced so in the first three days of the new year I made the following wine cozies to accompany my drinking pals:


There's nothing special about the basic pattern; the yellow one is crocheted. The other two are knitted: CO 36 sts on US7. Work about 3 - 4" of K2, P2 in the round with an eyelet row about halfway down for a tie. Then continue in all K to the bottom. Work 1 row P, 2 row K and then deccrease with *K2tog, K3* around, K 1 row, *K2tog, K2* around, K1 row. You get the pattern. You can fudge it to fit; no one will see the bottom. Decrease to about 8 stitches. Cut and weave a needle through the stitches; pull tight and fasten.

It's that simple.

I think I'm going to distinguish my wine cozies (from the millions out there) with my interesting tops. The crocheted cozy has loops. The pink one has a double-triple crocheted flower and the purple one has a flat mushroom top.

Here's the pattern for the crocheted cozy (without the loops):

http://crochet-patterns-techniques.suite101.com/article.cfm/crochet_a_wine_bottle_cozy_gift_holder

OK, got to run. It's tough to type under pressure.

Happy knitting.

Oh, I'm really not taking up drinking but I am addicted to wine cozies.

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Website Wednesday

This is my first Website Wednesday in the new decade; not that it means much. But some things I have learned since the new decade:

1. I do have enough warm clothes to wear in a nuclear winter; that is, if the temp stays in the 20s.
2. Keurig makes a nice one-cup coffee maker (as seen in banks and other places) but I am used to strong, strong coffee (I didn't even know that) and that tingling headache I have been getting every morning is due to my coffee addiction (I didn't know that either.) Today, for the first time in two weeks, I had three cups of coffee from my old Cuisinart carafe coffee maker. Heaven!
3. My 10 year diet of very, very few starches is coming to an end. I am now including starch in my breakfast meal so I'm able to eat at 5 a.m. now and not start starving and snacking at 9 a.m. More on my progress (or regress) at a later date.
4. Obama should have tackled campaign finance reform immediately last January. I'm beginning to think that is the head of the snake and without such reform nothing substantial will change in re: to instituting any progressive social programs and/or reining in costs of current programs.
5. John Adams was concerned about the natural aristocracy which arises in all societies and understood the need of governments to protect the less fortunate. I didn't know he wrote about this. But then, the Flesch-Kincaid grade level of the piece is freshman college so I bet I have a lot of company.

So, you can see I have been busy during these first few days of the new decade; and I haven't even mentioned all the knitting I've done.

I have two picks for Website Wednesday. A little background: I have always been interested in our native Americans. I remember peering into the tepees at the Museum of Natural History in NYC as a child and it was just a "Wow!" experience for me. (Later, I learned that Joseph Campbell had the same reaction.) As I studied about indigenous people around the world I discovered the same thread: foreign conquerors arrive, the native population is decimated and history is written by the conquerors. Nothing surprising here; power wins. But I like to think that there are those of us who tend the fire of the memory of these peoples so they are not lost to human history. (The Estrucans are a good example of this.)

My first pick is:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/11/20/native-american-prints-by-pennington-photo-studio/

Which is a Denver Post site and may be time-sensitive so take a look now at pictures of native Americans which Pennington and Updike took in CO during the early part of the last century. What is fascinating is that these pictures were found in the 1970's in a cabinet at the Denver Post and each picture had a caption written on the back. To have the pictures alone is a great find but to have a description on each was miraculous. (And this is from a person who has stared at many, many old family photos wondering: Who the hell are these people?

The comments which follow these pictures (and there seem to be no trolls among them) took me to my second pick:

http://www.chiefwashakie.com/wrhcexhibits1.html

The site says of itself:

The Chief Washakie Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports educational programs and research, the creation of class room materials, and scholarship opportunities for Native American youth and educators with significant ties to Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation.

This is a fantastically rich treasure trove of information. You get text, you get old pictures, you even get a section on early western movie star Tim McCoy. Go back to the 1999 - 2000 archives for information on the boarding school experience in Carlisle PA where native Americans were sent. (I have special interest in this boarding school experience because I’ve spent a lot of time in Carlisle, PA and, as a child, my Girl Scout troop regularly volunteered at a north NJ orphanage where many children did have parents.)

I’ll quit now so you can spend time on these sites. They make me sad but they are part of a history we should all remember.

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Movie Monday: The Big Kahuna and, again, LOTR

I know I'm not the only one who watched LOTR, ROTK last night, with commercials. Nothing special about that except I, and so many others, have the DVD (and Blu-ray by now?) of all three LOTR movies both in theatrical and extended versions. Maybe it's the feeling that by watching it with commercials we are in sync with the rest of the world. Nah! We're just nutty LOTR fanatics.

But I didn't watch the commercials. I kept switching during them (which turned out to be tricky since the last movie had fewer commercials than TTT which was shown Saturday night - those commercials went on forever) to The Big Kahuna; a three player tour-de-force among Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and a dark-haired Peter Facinelli (who could not have been dreaming about Twilight fame to come here.)

The movie is basically talk. The three main characters are at a sales convention where they need to sign on a new client (The Big Kahuna) in order to save their company. I see touches of Glengarry, Glen Ross with large doses of Waiting for Godot.

Some commenter on IMDb said that Spacey was very good and DeVito was great. That's right on. I especially liked the scene where DeVito explains to Facinelli that character comes when you make a mistake, regret it but must move on knowing you can't fix things.

It's a lot of talking but it's worth the listen. (I hadn't thought of this, but this movie is probably a good one for complicated lace knitting; you listen, not look.)

Unlike TTT, I did get to see the end of ROTK last night. TTT turned into a sleep fest: falling asleep and then awakening just after a crucial scene. Like awakening and watching Arwen leaving Riverdell in that ghostly caravan of elves leaving Middle Earth for the last time.

What I missed was the scene prior to this between Elrond and Arwen where he tells her what her fate will be if she remains with Aragon. Tolkien didn't write this as a father-daughter scene but it's right out of the Appendix A, v at the end of ROTK. Here, we and Arwen learn that the troubled life of humans is ended in grief. I remember reading that part of the Appendix and thinking Tolkien nailed the human condition; Jackson does also.

This trilogy is a good example of great entertainment with messages.

I'm beginning to think I must have a marathon of the theatrical versions of LOTR. I was spoiled by watching, in order, the extended versions of the first two and the theatrical version of the third. I've never seen Jackson's complete vision since the extendeds contain a lot of fan-pleasing extras.

As I'm typing this, I hear The Big Kahuna playing in the background. My husband must have stumbled upon it while channel surfing. I'm noticing he's not changing the channel. It's that interesting a movie; go take a look.

See you next week.

P.S. I did give Confessions of a Shopaholic another try. I still can't get past the unfunny silliness. The hiding behind the clothes rack to get through a locked door and the sliding across the conference table to get a phone call just make me shudder. Slapstick is tough and most of it fails to amuse. But anachronistic (I'm really stretching a definition here.) actors can do it. If you saw the original The In-Laws with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, can you forget "Serpentine!" Who would have thought tough guy (soon to be good guy, Columbo) Peter Falk could be so funny?

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Knitting Friday

A short post today so everyone can relax from the festivities last night. We had no fests last night (I fell asleep before 9 p.m., less than an hour into the all-night Thin Man marathon I was prepared to watch as I knitted wine cozies - my new project(s) for the new year.) But I had a right to be tired.

Yesterday, I hosted an Appreciation Party for all the residents of my community who deliver the newsletter. I had decided on this little gala when I realized our newsletter prep day was New Year's Eve morning, and what better time to hold a party?

It was a simple affair: coffee, non-spiked eggnog, rugala, bagels, cookies and homemade corn muffins. I didn't have high hopes for attendance when the snow started falling by 7 a.m. but we got a good crowd and I think those who came felt appreciated; which was the whole purpose of the party.

So with a party, kids, doing the wash and changing the bed (yes, I always have clean sheets for the new year; I have no idea why) and with all the other "stuff" I was beat by evening and quite happy that our usual NYE early supper with friends had been postponed for a time of year with better weather.

I'd better start talking about knitting now or this won't be a short post but just one more side trip: What is up with Word Perfect? I love that word processor. It is far superior to Word but it crashes horribly. I awakened in the wee hours of this new year to have it crash 3 times. Finally, I opened Word (and why can't I get single spacing in Word? - that's just one of my many complaints - though I do love Publisher) and put my document there. What is wrong with Corel Corporation which owns WP? They have a great word processor in Word Perfect but they seem to treat it like Cinderella.

OK, some knitting. The document I wanted to type into Word Perfect, and finally did place in Word ,was the MMario swatch which I worked up early, early this a.m.

For those who don't know him, Mario of MMarioKnits is a fantastic and generous lace designer who shares his patterns free in his Yahoo Group: MMarioKKnits@yahoogroups.com

Anyone can join and Mario has files of finished lace patterns and also "Patterns in Progress" which are, as it says, in progress. If you find a mistake you contact Mario so he can check and apply the fix.

The only downside of Mario is that he writes his lace pattern in arcane symbols which he says from his learning lace from really, really old patterns. Like A = a double decrease and N = K 2 together. But that's a small problem for such great patterns. (I do a global "find and replace" to change his symbols to the ones I know.)

Starting today, Mario is having a Mystery Shawl KAL and he had posted a swatch for practice, some time ago. At 3 a.m. today, I awakened and finally worked the swatch. That's when I realized that this swatch would make a nice shawl on its own. So if you join the KAL or are already a member, here's what I did to tweak the swatch into a shawl.

CO 11 sts (as stated) plus 4 sts for a 2 stitch seed pattern at the beginning and end of each row. The swatch directions say work 5 rows of garter on the 11 stitches. I worked 5 rows of seed. Though, I might work fewer seed rows and add more seed stitches to each row like: 3 rows of seed and then 3 stitches of seed at the beginning and end of each pattern row.

Then, with the seed border, work the pattern as written but don't end at the end of the swatch directions. Just keep going with increasing the number of times you do the repeats by one more times each 8 pattern rows. This is not complicated and you'll see what I mean right away.

Reading the directions for the first clue for the mystery shawl (which has been posted) and reading the comments to those directions, I think I might have to opt out of this KAL. It might be just too complicated for my little brain; but I know I can work this swatch into a shawl. And, now that I have all this leftover wool from the Super Mario blanket my stash is ready to go. Oh, did I mention this is swatch/shawl has every even row as knit? That means it's reversible. Heaven!

Enough for now. Enjoy your New Year's Day if you are in that part of world where it's still January 1.

Happy knitting.