Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

I just may blather today because I have..........nothing. What's with my movie package selections this week? Usually I get one new movie I can rant or rave about. But this week it was repeat segments of The Road: a movie well-worth seeing but one I can only watch in segments (I shudder every time the father sees the big house on the hill and they decide to explore); Eclipse: Jacob's actor still had lousy skills in this movie. Oh, the cringing he put me through! Plus, what the hell I am doing watching a teen girl flick again?; and of course, LOTR, TTT: that trilogy is bonded in my heart (I have no idea what that means, perhaps I should write it in a poem.)

But I do have something substantial for you this Monday because I also re-watched Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry. Filmed in 1955 in beautiful, vivid color (which was a trademark of Hollywood in that decade but unlike this movie, a trashy, garish trademark) it tells an idyllic tale of young love and old love with a pursuing sheriff, a bumbling MD, and a little boy set in a bucolic small USA town. Oh yes, then there's the dead Harry, who is the plot pivot. Hitchcock's touch is perfection with this movie. It's witty, racy, dark, cuttingly funny; it's so good that it's almost impossible to review without writing a tome. For TTWH is really one big MacGuffin but it's so charmingly done. It's like if typical Hitchcock is naturalistic author Thomas Hardy (Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Jude the Obscure) then this Hitchcock movie is romantic/realistic author, Henry James (The Americans, Portrait of a Lady) but without all the boring, yawn inducing prose for which James found such fondness. Interesting fact from Wikipedia: TTWH was unavailable for 30 years until Hitchcock bought back the rights.

OK, I know you're saying: That last paragraph was substantial? No, it's the following link that is:

http://www.openculture.com/free_hitchcock_movies_online

At this site, you will get to see 21 Hitchcock movies for free. (When the movie appears, click the rightmost bottom icon to view full screen.) You get a lot of his silent work but also, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 version and so much better than the Doris Day/Jimmy Stewart remake), Sabotage and Secret Agent, among other classics. (The last two movies have heart-breaking scenes involving dogs.)

OK, got to go and start looking for movies with a vengeance. I only have 7 days until next Monday. Perhaps it is time for Netflixs...............

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday - Tips and Techniques

I want to make this a tips and techniques Knitting Friday but I'm going to also make it a "Learn How to Add Pictures in my Updated Blog Day" so bear with

Use the same needles

me as my brain expands and, hopefully, does not blow a gasket.

1. Use the same needles tip: On the right, you're looking at one of my typical top-down shells in the very hot-this-season stitch pattern (2 rows K and 2 rows *YO, K2tog*) as seen in J Jill and the Gap . (Do you know how psyched I was when I found myself standing in front of a Gap store in Princeton, NJ and seeing this pattern on a sweater?) The picture above shows the top just before I bound off and tried it on (for the second time but obviously the first time I really, really looked at it.) That's when I realized the top of the sweater for about 5" had a much looser stitch. That's when I realized I had been using KP Harmony needles at the beginning but the yarn was grabbing  the needles so I switched to KP nickel for easier work but also a big problem which I wouldn't discover till much later. Tip #1: Be careful if you change needles in the middle of your work. Even with the same size needles, tip texture changes the tension and the look. P.S. I frogged and I'm reworking this top with a K 2 rows, *YO, K2tog* for 1 row pattern.

Ready to work the width

2. Ready to work for width tip: On the left is another example of my 1 skein #10 crochet cotton thread summer  shawl. It's a simple *ch 5, dc in loop* across the row pattern. You make 2 loops in the end loops on each side and every row for increases. (I've posted this pattern before and I'll update it soon.) The picture on the left shows the shawl at the length I want, I'm ready to start just working for width.

Typical end loop increase

In the picture on the right, the pins mark the two loop increase in one end of the shawl. Follow the second vertical stitch past the left pin and also the next vertical stitch. You can see they both go into the same loop of the previous row.
That's the increase you work on both sides of every row as you're working your length. You really don't have to mark where you have to make this increase because whenever you come to this double loop, you make your increase in the second double loop. (In the right pic, this loop is marked by the left pin.)

Working the width

In the left picture with the ruler, this pin is at the bottom of the ruler and you can see that I'm now working the width of the shawl but not its length. Here's how I did it. 

a. Mark the second loop from the end of your work (the loop marked by the right side pin in the right picture above. b. When you reach this loop: Chain 5 and work a double crochet in this loop. 

c. Turn, chain 5 and work a double crochet in the same loop. (The end loops will now only have one loop each side, every row.)

d. Mark the loop you just made and keep moving your marker at the end of each row so that you know that's your end loop and you just make one loop in it, not two loops as before.  (I like to use a safety pin as a marker since you don't want to lose track of this end loop.)

Pretty soon you'll start to see the width developing (bottom picture) and you should use the rest of your skein just working the width this way.

3. The best short rows explanation in the world: I'm thinking if I were to live to 100, I would remember how to knit to the end. However, now and on my 100th birthday, I would still be looking up how to make short rows. Making them is not a skill like tying shoes or riding a bike; not least not for me.

I can't sing the praises of this website enough when it comes to a clear, workable, explanation of how to make short rows:

http://www.socktopus.co.uk/2011/02/short-rows-shadow-wraps/

Backing up a bit, short rows are a way of giving shape to a garment. For example, if you want a shawl to cling to your shoulders or a sweater to curve in under the bust, you would work short rows. It's a way to decrease within a row without the tell-tale marks a ssk or k2tog make.

Read through Socktopus' explanation of short rows (which she calls a Shadow Wrap) and then try a few. That's what I did and I was amazed how seamlessly these short rows fit into the rest of the garment.

Most short rows include a wrap and turn (a Google search will take you right to an explanation of w & t) which helps to prevent the hole a short row can create. Additionally, they also include dealing with the short row stitch on the next row. Which would be OK, but, for me at least, I sometimes "flub" the two stitches I'm supposed to work together on this row. Socktopus has you make your short row stitches as "twins"; that is, they're connected visibly in the stitch below them. You can't miss them on the next row.

Just a tip for a neophyte to short rows who reading about Shadow Wraps: 

The "mama" stitch refers to stitch from the previous row; below the stitch on the needle. So when it says "Put the mama stitch on the RN." you are picking up the stitch below the one on the needle.

I was so impressed with this method, I worked up a "cheat sheet" that I'm putting in with my traveling needles. Believe me, this tip is so good you don't want to forget it.

That's it for today. Happy Knitting! Oh, Knit Picks has a sale on interchangeable needles for M-Day. Might be worth a look.

I

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 Website Wednesday

Well, sit me down, I have the vapors! My dinky little blog has been revamped by my server (OK, they didn't do this for me alone, but I'm willing to send them a personal thank-you note.) so that when I went to post today, I was greeted with a completely different prep page. So, I think: WTF? What happened while I was sleeping? Not having signed out on Monday, I decide to sign out now and power up the site again, perhaps sending the wacky page gremlins packing.

So, just minutes ago, I signed back in and discovered: my server has moved into the 21st century! Now I can track the traffic on my blog! Truth be told, I have always thought (except for three comments I have received - and cherished, I might add) that except for the times I prod DH with guilt so he reads my blog, no one is "watching" me. I have always thought my postings were great for typing skills and logical thinking skills. But......... wait for it! ........ over 7,000 people have visited my blog!. Oh, thank you, thank you! I know I'm being shamelessly obsequious  but I'm a kid with the toy he always wanted or the proverbial pig in shit. Happy day!

Now, I hope I can edit my posts in this new version since you can't believe the mistakes you can make posting in the wee hours of the morning, as I sometimes do. Hell, you can't believe the mistakes I can make posting all day long.

I had planned on a very, very short post today because my pick has a lot of reading:

http://www.bpib.com/illustra.htm

This page is part of the JVJ Publishing  which is a publishing site offering books about and by illustrators/artists. But what really drew me to this site is the pick linked above. This page connects you to text and picture-rich links of over 100 book illustrators such as Vargas, Wyeth and Wally Wood (who did, among other things, the illustrations for the iconic famous people biographies for kids.)

I know that I'm a sucker for pictures but seldom do you get the rich histories of the men/women behind the work.This page alone is an archival treasure which should be remembered and preserved.

So, enough of me talking, grab your coffee and start clicking around this website pick. I bet there will be plenty of times you find yourself thinking: I didn't know that. Enjoy!

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Do you know that every website I visit, and I mean every one, has a knitting ad? Can you believe that so many websites are sponsored by knitting interests? And now, I'm noticing that there are ads for Kumon also on these websites? Wow! Knitting, an interest I've had for a long time and Kumon, a new found interest! These sites must be so prescient to know my interests!

OK, can you read the sardonicism in that last paragraph? I pity the poor kid who researches the growth of prostitution in the US. I can imagine the explaining he/she will be doing to parents. But I must admit, I like getting knitting ads. I guess that old saying: Everyone has his price is true. I am a sucker for knitting products.

Some shorter reviews today:
1. Revisiting vampires. I saw Let Me In and Let the Right One In again. Even not liking remakes, I think the first one (the remake) is just as good as the second. Both worthwhile viewing even with the gruesomeness because they don't pull their punches. The ending might seem unrealistically upbeat but any rational viewer knows there is no happy ending for these "kids." However, the ending does present a much wider question affecting humanhood: How do people with no hope survive?

2. Why Toy Story 3? Like why the "3", like in Aliens 3, Die Hard 3, etc.? Like why the obsession with numbers in Hollywood? (Though as a history junkie, I will get a kick out of the second Salt movie, Salt II.) Toy Story 3 stands on its own as a good living lesson for kids and parents. Kids growing up, abandoning their childhood, separating from the unreality and play lessons toy teach us. But it insists with its numerical sticker to shout: Hey, kids. Remember you liked the other Toy Story(s)? Well, we're trading on that popularity so we can keep our marketing budget down.

3. What wrong with Magic City? The new series on Starz that you must live in a TV-less hole in the ground if you want to miss its incessant promos? They can talk about the feel of the 1950's with the fashion, music and settings but when you have the "walk" of a TV show from the 1950s you're in trouble. Magic City moves like an early TV show. Static and boring. Cripes, there is one scene where the protagonist walks across the room. The last time I saw that was in an old Charlie Chan movie where, with swelling music, the camera follows Charlie as he leaves a building, walks down a large flight of steps and enters a taxi. When what it supposed to be a cutting edge modern series uses a variation of this time-waster, you know there's trouble ahead. I like watching Danny Huston because he can chew up the smallest of roles. (As King Richard in Russell Crowe's Robin Hood.) But even he can't save bad dialogue and direction. There's no magic in this city.

4. Midnight in Paris: A less acerbic Woody Allen examining the life and psyche of the creative person. The scenery is fantastic, the acting spot on (That was Hemingway!), and everything was delightfully tied in a bow by the end. But it wasn't Deconstructing Harry nor Crimes and Misdemeanors both of which I think described the essence of the struggle between the creative and the mundane with cutting edge, and over-the-edge accuracy. But watch Midnight in Paris, you won't be disappointed. Someone said that Owen Wilson really captured the Allen persona. See what you think.

That's it for this Monday. Now on to write an article aimed at "capturing" a new Social Committee Chair for our community. Wish me luck.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday - Splicing Superwash Wool

Or, a post which will write itself; because I'm just going to expand on a posting I did on Ravelry, with some background.

First, I obviously came late to the superwash dance because the whole world seemed to have known before me that superwash wool will not splice. (Splicing is fraying the ends of two skeins of wool [or at least 40% wool yarn] wetting these ends, joining them and then rolling them vigorously in your palms until they felt and join. Google "splicing in knitting" for more info.) Now, I knew that superwash wool was wool you can wash on warm in the washing machine but the penny never went into the slot to join the dots: this wool has to be chemically treated so warm water does not cause it to felt. Ergo: since splicing is micro felting, this won't work either.

Fast forward to a sale on superwash wool at Knit Picks. In fact, not one sale but two. Well, these yarns are probably on constant sale but I never noticed them (bag and kit sales) until I wanted to buy $5 cable needles and had two choices: $4.99 in shipping or spend $50 dollars and get free shipping. You can guess which option I chose. I found two 10-skein bags of Swish DK superwash at $28 each. Now I can make excuses as to why I even considered buying more yarn especially after taking a blood oath not to, but why bother; I put in the order.

However, I didn't start using this yarn and discovering my superwash ignorance until I had placed a second $50 order for KP superwash Stroll sock yarn. (Hey, this was even a better bargain so don't go paging Dr. Freud.)

OK, this introduction is just about over. So there I was, waiting for my second order and finally starting to make my usual top-down shell in the lime green Swish DK. I knit these tops fast and the second order still hadn't arrived when I was ready to blithely splice the second skein to the first. Oh, the primal scream I uttered!. The damn thing would not splice! So I tried again. And, once more a no-go.

After a frantic SOS on Ravelry I got this reply which I would paraphrase as: No, dummy, you can't splice superwash. What a jerk you are!

So, there I was with 20 skeins of unsplicable superwash and 16 skeins more being shipped. In desperation, I thought: Come on, primate, use your brain!

And I did. First, I did a bit of research to discover that superwash is chemically prepared two ways. One way the wool is chemically treated; the other way I forget but I knew I was SOL if KP used this method. So assuming the KP superwash was chemically treated, I did some more thinking:
1. Superwash will not felt in warm water. A given.
2. If the wool is dipped in a chemical for treatment can you remove the chemical? A possibility.
3. What would happen if I used boiling water on the ends? Since superwash washes in "warm" could "boiling" remove the chemical? The challenge.

Below is what I did as I posted it on Ravelry:

Warning: Boiling water is used in this method; please take every safety precaution if you try it.

After ordering a load of superwash wool from Knit Picks (Swish DK and Stroll sock yarn), I learned through a Ravelry posting that superwash wool will not splice. Being a lazy knitter (I hate ends!) and after doing a bit of research, I decided to try and splice KP superwash.
Here’s what I did. First, I got my supplies: a tray with a rim (so the water would not spill), a mug which could hold boiling water, a paper towel, a metal spoon (optional.) Then I prepared the yarn as I would for regular splicing but I made the split ends longer than usual (3+”.) With the work area and the yarn ends ready, I boiled water to a big bubble boil. (I put semi-warm tap water in a mug only ½ filled and then placed it in the microwave.) As soon as possible after the water boiled, I submerged the yarn ends in the very hot water for about 2 - 3 minutes.
Then I removed the ends, placed them on the paper towel to absorb some of the water and started to roll the ends in my palms as is usual in splicing. If the ends needed more moisture, I used the spoon to get a few drops from the mug. (This stage took slightly longer than splicing with regular wool.)
And it worked. I’ve spliced three times with the Swish DK and one time with the Stroll. In none of the yarns can I see the splice and I’m already wearing a top with the spliced wool.
I don’t think I messed up the superwashability of the yarn with this method (but then I wash all wools by hand anyway) if they used this method at KP.

End of the Ravelry post.

At first, I got some dismissive replies from Ravelers: Oh, this is too much work. Oh, I like the braided join/Russian join better. (Note: I have never found either of these joins, no matter how well they are done, not obvious in a stockinette pattern.) Then yesterday, I got a more favorable response which makes me happy because I was hoping someone else could use, and possibly refine, this method.

Now that I know this works with boiling water (not my favorite "play" item), I'm going to try very hot tap water, hoping I can "bring down the heat" and safety concerns.

So that's it for this Knitting Friday. Hope this splicing superwash method is helpful. Happy knitting!

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

OK, let's keep in the movie mood this Wednesday and look at films a little differently at:

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/

FSR says of itself:

Film School Rejects is the movie blog you've been waiting for. The ultimate commentary track on what's happening in Hollywood, FSR combines the freshest voices on the web and a swagger all its own to provide the best reviews, interviews and industry news coverage to millions of unique visitors from around the world every month.

Not prone to modesty, they, but there's a nice edge and quirkiness in their articles which makes reading them worthwhile. It neat for me to read at FSR, (especially as I'm reading Ellis' bio of George Washington) that our 1st President really wanted to be a professional wrestler. Ellis, how did you miss that fact?

There's an up-to-date movie news section, interviews with people like Willem Dafoe and Richard Jenkins, both very worthwhile actors, and a hyperlinked movie review page. (I'm sorry I missed The Hunter when it was on HDNet.) Also, you have Reject Radio features and a list of the 30 best movies of the last decade. (I would not have picked Memento as number one but the choices are solid.)

So don't reject Film School Rejects. Take your first visit and then return again and again. You won't be disappointed.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

I'm thinking that the 2012 US presidential election could be a doozy. You have a black man whose biggest 4-year accomplishment is that he saved capitalism against the archetypal Republican white man: rich with a rich wife and no clue nor care about those pesky parts of the voting public. You know, the poor, minorities, the progressive; all those not into dressage.

Taking a tip from Ulysses, I'm still voting for "No Man" on the presidential level. I'm sure I'll get a lot of pressure to vote Obama before the election. I just can't see why I should. After all, is he really the last great "white" hope? Every time the Republicans demand half the pie; he ups the ante backwards and gives them the whole damn thing.

My movie review this week is of Moneyball. A very solid biopic of the rebirth of the Oakland A's at early part of this century with superb acting by Brad Pitt, Jonah Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others.

I know very little about baseball and less about the Oakland A's but except for minor points, I was able to follow and enjoy the story. Of course, there were those melodramatic moments as when the A's blew an 11 run lead and were about to lose their phenomenal winning streak at game 19. You had the cut shots, the stirring music, the whole 9 yards but by then you were invested in the actors. An investment which never occurred for me in the award-winning A King's Speech. Moneyball is how AKS should have been but then why should it have bothered? Hollywood awards seem to loves the pedestrian.

This is a good movie for sports and non-sports types. It's telling a story not selling a metaphor, something that is very rare in movies based on real incidents not screenwriters' dreams.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday - The Saga of Super-wash Wool

I always feel the guilt when I miss a day of posting as I did this Wednesday. I know I should just look at some blogs which have been dormant for months, even years, but I still feel guilty.

My sleeveless yellow top of KAL fame is now frogged and reborn as a winter, openwork, lace, crocheted, very large scarf. (Picture was in last Friday.) I decided not to block it since DH says it has a three dimensional look this way and with shawl pins almost all large scarves "pop."

A very good knitting website to check out is the one from Knitting Daily at http://www.knittingdaily.com

It's an easy registration to join, just e-mail and a password, and be sure to download their 40 Favorite Tips & Techniques for Knitters of All Levels eBook. They really mean all levels. I I consider myself an experienced knitters but I'm gaining some new insights from every tips.

I like Knitting Daily and it's one of the two knitting apps on my iPad (the other is Lion Brand.) I go to Lion Brand for patterns and stitches but I like to read the postings on KD.

And now, on to super-wash wool. There's an old story about the Japanese soldier hiding in a cave after WWII and not knowing that the war had ended for years. Well, I know the feeling; it's the way I feel about super-wash wool. Like I know it existed and I know you can wash it in a machine without having it felt (you can even use warm water.) But in my ignorance, I didn't know that you couldn't splice the ends together. I should have known that since splicing really is micro felting, but I was a dummy.

That is, I was a dummy until last week when I decided to start a sweater using Knit Picks Swirl DK and reached the point when skein A had to be joined to skein B. Well, it's not quite true that super wash doesn't splice. I got the ends to join but the look is horrible. You could use the join in a bobble in the trinity stitch but it looks lousy in a straight stockinette stitch. Tail between my legs, I posted my problem on Ravelry and immediately got responses: No, dummy (they really didn't say that), you can't splice super-wash. One Raveler suggested a braided join which I googled and then worked up. It does produce a good strong join (and it's fun to practice summer camp braiding) but I still wouldn't use it in a flat stitch pattern.

But from my research on super-wash wool it looks like they chemically coat the wool to prevent felting and therefore also splicing. So my little mind thinks: What if I were to boil some water and dip the ends of the yarn in it. Could I dissolve the chemical treatment?

And that's where I'd headed right now. To the kitchen to microwave a cup of water to boiling and then dip in two ends of the super-wash wool.

Let me leave you with this knitting cliffhanger: Will she be successful or will she sink deeper into knitting depression? The answer next Friday.

Happy Knitting!

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Last week without the kids, I saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 with subtitles so I got all the words. I wanted to watch it alone and again to see if my opinion of it changed. It hasn't. I still think this is the only watchable Twilight movie since the first even though I think the chemistry between the lovers is lacking by this movie. It's almost like: When is my contract up? acting. But what's compensating for this is the fact that Bill Condon is a good director and some of his nice directional touches shine through.

But the movie I want to review this Monday is a "real" vampire movie: Let Me In, which is a remake of the Swedish Let The Right One In. While I'm not a fan of remakes, I think this movie captures the angst of vampire hood on the vamp and his/her enablers.

Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and made a year after his stellar turn in The Road (a little gem which the world overlooked) it tells the story of a bullied, lonely, broken-home 12 year old boy who unknowingly befriends a locked-in-time" 12 year old girl vampire, Abby. As with the original, this version builds slowly. You're first introduced to Abby's enabler (Hey, she's a little girl! Someone has to kill and obtain the human blood for her.) who has been taken into custody and hospitalized after a killing/blood gathering incident goes wrong. His suicide by jumping from the hospital window (no spoilers here really) prefaces the movie which then begins with the title: Two Weeks Earlier.

We watch the childhood romance between Owen and Abby which is so pathetically natural and then so horribly sad as he learns her identity and the nature of her being. By the end of the movie, Owen's vicious bullying by schoolmates and Abby's dilemma with finding blood meet and we get a bittersweet ending which we know will never end happily.

This is the antithesis of the Twilight saga. Edward and Rosalie touch on the horrors of vampire hood and eternal life but Meyers has opted for the Hollywood vamp - no metaphors for her.

Let Me In is the metaphor for any "other" existing in the normal world. How do you survive when tomorrow is never ever going to be happy? A lot of "food for thought" and a lot to discuss with teens. But be warned: this movie shows the carnage. And don't miss the short scene where Owen looks at the picture strip showing Abby and another young boy. It says so much.

This movie is a quiet gem. Abby and Owen (Chloe Grace Moretz [13] and Kodi Smit-McPhee [14]) almost single-handedly carry this movie with a charm and talent which is often missing is young actors. Don't miss it.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Well yes, it is Saturday. In fact, it's Saturday and I'm on a different computer because pictures have not been uploaded to my computer yet.

I think we left the saga of the KAL of the seamless top at the point where I tried the beauty on and discovered mistakes in a row 4 inches up. After the initial screaming, I did get to work fixing the problem; but in a very different way than I anticipated.

First, on the right is the top just before I cut the yarn (which I never did.) For some reason the color is orange but you get the picture.

I thought I would give some pointers on repairing mistakes; pointers which I've picked up from many, many mistakes. First, you need these supplies:
good size safety pins and
a very small sized (US 2 or 3) circular needle

Here's how I proceeded:
1. I marked the beginning stitch of the pattern row just below the mistake with a safety pin.
2. I marked my mistakes with safety pins.
3. I would have removed my working needle but I had bound off so I carefully tinked the bound off row and then unraveled the yarn back to the row before the mistakes. (Hopefully, this will only be one row.)
4. At the "mistake" row, I pulled out the stitches of this row and, using a small circular needle, I put the live "clean" stitches on it.
5. So now I had a row without mistakes ready to knit. (It doesn't matter if you start at the beginning of the row, as long as the beginning of the row is marked. (See Step 1.)
6. Then I started knitting the correct pattern row the correct pattern row onto the larger sized needles which I had used for the pattern.
7. That's it. You should be good to go with the mistakes eliminated and none of the working stitches dropped.

However, if you are working with slippery yarn however, this method may not work. With slippery yarn, lifelines spaced every ten rows and not removed until the sweater is at its final stage (already tried on and examined for mistakes) are the answer.

However, a reworked top w/o mistakes was not my outcome. For, when I first looked at the top and discovered the mistakes, I also discovered that I didn't like the color nor the pattern. Truth be told, I think the "wrinkles" in the yarn were not properly removed with washing and hanging.

But I wasn't giving up immediately. I frogged the entire top and started again with the trinity stitch which I tout as the best, and sometimes the only stitch, for crinkly yarn. However, the bobbles of that stitch which are created by the *P3tog, K-P-K in 1 st* are worked on the wrong side which means in circular knitting the public side of the knitting would be inside - not a very good way to observe for errors along the way.

So, at left is what I finally decided on. It's a simple crocheted shawl with chain 5 loops and 1 DC in these loop. I increased it with two loops in each row's last loop until I reached 85". Now, I'm working even. It will be slightly crescent shaped but I'm going to wear it as a large scarf.

So, in the end, the saga of the KAL did not turn out successfully for me. But I learned a lot and I also started a lace and stockinette pattern for another top which I'll share with you next week.

Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

No Movie Monday because the kids are home and it was the boy's b-day and newsletter prep day. If any one is looking for a nice spring recess flick to rent, try The Iron Giant. A sweet (a really weird word to use in this context) anti-gun, anti-violence, anti-war movie for kids, littler kids that is. It has so good discussion points but the tacked-on Hollywood "soon-to-be-happy" ending weakens the punch. It's from 2000 and apparently bad marketing saw it found little audience then.

Apparently, our NJ Gov had his first official foreign trip abroad and went to Israel where Netanyahu schooled him on the danger of Iran. Now, call me old fashioned but I thought that only the President with the advice of Congress constitutionally get to discuss foreign affairs with foreign leaders. Since this is billed as an "official" trip, was he a representative of the US? A rogue agent? A salivating, want-to-be US Prez? The Gracchi brothers must be turning in their graves.

My website pick has a pretty impressive title: All That Is Interesting:

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/

But it lives up to the hyperbole. Right now, you get to see the sun, up close and personal. Also, Japan's gold forest, Toronto at night, and the world's oldest structures. And you get words and pictures so you can "oh and ah" and learn at the same time.

Click on History and its pages and you see the dead of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the revolt called the 1968 Prague Spring, and the open casket of the first Soviet cosmonaut to die in space (not for the squeamish.)

Or go to Animals for, well, you know, cute little creatures. But I bet you didn't know there is a really cute spider in the world.

This site is part of the PBH network. Sounds classy, right? Well, this is what PBH says of itself:

Prose Before Hos was founded in 2005 by a couple of pretty good looking guys who will tell you within the first 5 minutes of conversation that they live in Brooklyn. Much like Tina Fey, PBH existed in obscurity until 2008, when we all learned we could make fun of Sarah Palin for a living.

Now, Prose Before Hos is the keystone site to the PBH Network. Devoted to the snarkier side of politics, Prose Before Hos convenes current events with pop culture in an intellectually provocative and entertaining fashion. With an eye for satire, PBH blends original and curated content with mixed media to engage and entertain users. We ask for a reciprocal relationship with our users: comments are appreciated, and encouragement and suggestions on how to better this site are always welcome. We thank you for your participation and patronage of Prose Before Hos.

These guys sound like my type of web masters but even if your politics run right of Attila the Hun take a look at All That Is Interesting. You won't be disappointed.