Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

 Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday

 

One of the mysteries of life with which I will enter 2013 is the fact that choosing Normal as the font size for my blog means different sizes on different computers. OK, I get if you don't load the same fonts into the same program on different computers, you get a message like: Can't find the font. But all this web site gives me to choose from is smallest, small, normal, large and largest and they can't even keep these few choices standard. Spooky!

 

I just read recently that perhaps the age of films is over. Now, I've been hearing this for a long time concerning books, but films? I'm thinking that this statement may be true but it's more due to the evolution of the psychological make-up of man rather than the desire of film makers to move on to a new medium.

 

For those I haven't put to sleep yet, let me back up for a look at my reasoning. Scientists discover more and more that what we have always considered free will decisions by our species are really based on predetermined brain chemistry. Therefore, we should start to look at personality traits the way we look at physical traits when we think about the evolution of the species. Thus, statements like the age of film is over might refer to the fact that human interest/understanding has evolved (and evolution doesn't have to be positive) so that only fast flashing action on big screens will become the only film experience palatable to them in the near future.

 

Which probably makes my review of the early, neo-realistic, classic directed by Vittorio De Sica, The Children Are Watching Us (1942 but released in Italy in 1944) even more important in the archival sense.

 

I'm very lucky that I don't sleep well and that TCM schedules its classic imports in the wee hours of Monday morning; thus becoming a last minute savior since most Monday mornings, without TCM, all my movie choices to review are dreck.

 

Putting aside a big flaw watching this movie had for me - I can't understand Italian and the subtitles fly past too quickly - this is definitely a must-see, forgotten treasure.

 

The story is simple yet highly provocative for the time period: a wife strays, regrets the consequences of this, but can't stop straying.  It's told mainly through the eyes of her adorable, four year old son, Prico, and was filmed 6 years before De Sica's classic child/parent story, The Bicycle Thief. With The Children Are Watching US, De Sica shows his mastery in telling a tale through the eyes of a child. Slightly maudlin, but always pulling back from the brink of soap opera, he packs in such an adult saga yet always keeping it "child proof" because, after all, there is no question Prico is always watching.

 

As with so many foreign films, the audience is demanded to participate; De Sica will spell out just so much. It's obvious that all the neighbors in Prico's apartment building know of his mother's wandering yet no one talks about it; you just have neighbors coming in to borrow items. Or the scene at the resort where the wife sees the disdain in the eyes of other couples. Or the husband and his housekeeper changing the curtains while they await his wife and son's return from vacation with the only clue from the housekeeper: You know how madame disliked those old curtains. These little scenes pepper the movie and take the place of speech to set the plot and theme.

 

Unlike American films, foreign films often do not let moral judgments in. De Sica shows the effects of the adultery on the family, taking you along on the wife's journey of desire, remorse and desire again. It's only with the last scene, when Prico acts out the movie ending of The Third Man, (which was released 7 years after this movie was filmed), that he becomes the first person to "say" to his mother: I do not accept your behavior. I hold you accountable. But even here, De Sica does not tell you how or if this loving but selfish mother will be affected by Prico's action because immediately Fin appears and the movie is over.

 

Which brings me to a major omission in this movie: it was filmed in 1942 when Italy was in WWII yet you never see any evidence of war conditions: no soldiers, no rationing, no air raids, nothing. You are just watching upper-middle class angst. Knowing De Sica's later career, I have to believe this omission is deliberate. (Perhaps demanded by Mussolini?) De Sica has defined neo-realism as real life but through poetry. If you look at this way, The Children Are Watching Us is the poem which tells the story of how people live their lives, sometimes very badly, whether the world is at war or not.

 

Not a perfect movie (Is there such a thing?) but definitely a must-see for any lover of the medium. It reaffirms that movies can say so much and, at times, so well.

 

See you in 2013. 

 

 

 

      

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

 Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

#1 Sheep scarf

As last week was unproductive knitting-wise, this week will fill in the gap.

 

First, I finished the scarf in #1 in one evening. It's from that farm sheep wool I mentioned on Wednesday that looked like it needed more spinning (big fluffy balls of wool along the strands.) I sort of used a pattern but I was always going to work every row as *YO, K2tog* since I didn't have much yarn. That's what I did on US 17 metal needles. I bolded "metal" because you only want smooth metal as the yarn will drag badly on plastic and wood. My dimensions are 8" x 60" with just the tiniest tug width and lengthwise. If you have just a little good yarn, give it a try. I added a small K border on the long sides but I bet you don't need it. Oh, and don't do: slip the first stitch as a P and K the last stitch to create a smooth edge. Just knit normally since the beginning slip stitch causes pulling.

 

#2 Advent Scarf 2012

On the left, is Advent Scarf 2012. It's 16" x 104" and has been worn whenever trips out do not include pasta and red sauce. Love, love, love it. This will probably be my last year of knitting this scarf, though I will probably still collect the patterns. Right now, I have two Advents in scarf-size and one in shawl-size. How many fancy neck coverings do I need? (I'm sure many of you would answer: A lot!)

#3 Toke Stitch Shell

 

Finally, a full picture of the Toke Stitch Shell. You might remember that this beauty took me so long and so many froggings. But it is a beautiful stitch though DH, who took the picture said: You made this for a child? since it (and so many of my shells) look so small. But that's the nature of lace: it stretches.

 

http://waggledancing.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/free-pattern-for-friday/ 

 

Above is the link to the toke stitch. As you can see, that top only uses it for the yoke. Which works, but I am always working with "just a little less yarn than called for" so a whole garment in lace always works better for me.

#4 House Shawl

#4 is a full shot of the House Shawl I had mentioned before. Remember, this is the one which was re-knitted from a shawl which was too long and narrow to be used for warmth?

I worked it in knit with every row as a garter row ending in 2 increases. Then once I got to my length, I bound off and continued straight in double and half crochet to width. #4 shows the shawl spread out so you can really see how compactly warm it is. There are no wasted areas, like long tails, and a shawl pin holds it in the front so you get double warmth there. 

I decided to post a better picture of this shawl since on Xmas Eve, someone got a short ruana type shawl which works in very much the same way. I'm going to make this again in DK weight. If you are interested in making this shawl, go to my 12/14/12 post and scroll down to Many Yarned House Shawl. I'm beginning to think I could dress this baby up and take her out of the house. More on this another Friday.

 

And finally, a picture of my Lace Sampler. The Advent Scarf gave me the idea of taking all the lace patterns I collect for possible use in a top and work them into a scarf so I could decide which ones I really liked.

#5 My Lace Sampler

 So I gathered some leftover KP Palette fingering yarn of the same hues and spliced them together. Then I printed out all the lace patterns I have and decided that a CO of 35 would work. I tweaked each pattern to fit. For example, if the pattern was 9 stitch I would work: 3 K edge stitches + 27 pattern sts (9 x 3) + 3 K edge stitches for 33 stitches. Since I still needed two more stitches to equal 35 stitches, I just worked K 1 stitch back loop on each side after the 3 st K edge. If I need more stitches, I can use YO, K2tog for two extra stitches, etc. Also, I separate each pattern with 4 rows of K. Oh, and be sure to make a list of the patterns as you use them for future reference. It's a fun project and never boring.

That's it for today.

 

Next week, I'll show you a new top pattern I'm working on.

 

If you are interested in a free knit summer shrug pattern, be sure to go to Ravelry for:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/new-years-shrug

It's called New Years Shrug and it will only be free through December 31. It's a very nice, different lace pattern.

 

Final thoughts: Knit Picks at http://www.knitpicks.com/knitting.cfm is in the final days of its interchangeable needle sets sale so Harmony and Sunstruck sets are $70 from $84 and the nickel and plastic sets are discounted 14%.

Interchangeable needle choices differ vastly but I'll tell you what I've discovered: I'm very happy with my Knit Picks needle sets (I have all of their interchangeables.) You do get some problems (defective cable, needle is sized wrong) but their customer service is more than excellent (you do not have to return the defective product) and the price is definitely right.

I'm sure sales will come again but if you're thinking of buying a set now you still have a few more days of sale at KP. If you were to ask me which set to buy, I could only say that I seem to be using the Sunstruck more right now (blunter than Harmony which is very sharp but fine with complicated lace stitches (P 3 tog.) However, I like them all and even did my first ruffle scarf on the see-through Zephyr in US 11. Also, I love the sharp tips on Harmony but it can be difficult to see dark yarn on them.

Well, that's it for this last Knitting Friday of 2012. Hope you've had as much fun as I've had with our knitting/crocheting projects this year. 

See you for another Knitting Friday in 2013. Happy Knitting and Happy New Year.

 

  

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

 Tax the Rich 

Website Wednesday

(Edit: To fix an error, but also, the blueberry bake is done and delicious. Adding the milk late didn't hurt and adding 4 extra ounces of reduced fat cream cheese made it so smooth. Definitely, in the pancake class in that it needs syrup for sweetness (if that's what you like.)

As I type, the blueberry maple breakfast I linked to on Monday is baking. You may remember that I'm not that good with cooking and the proof came around again today as, 25 minutes into the cooking of my masterpiece, I looked at the counter and said: I forgot the milk! For there on the counter was the 1.5 cups of milk needed for the recipe smiling up at me. So I added it 25 minutes into the cooking. We'll see how that variation works.

But on another note, I finished a scarf for a friend. She had bought the yarn at a local farm (thick and thin yarn which looked like the sheep had just kissed it goodbye) and it had been sitting around for years. So I just whipped something up for her. Proving I do have some talents. More on this Friday.

I saw another installment of Oliver Stone's Untold History of the US. Boy, am I depressed!

So let's move on to the innovative and creative aspects of humans at 

http://prettymomguide.com/30-most-useful-and-creative-things.html 

Pretty Mom tells you a lot about having and raising kids so be sure to check her out on these topics, but I was drawn to the above link which has so many great ideas to make living more simple. A candle with built-in matches; stairs which double as a closet are just two "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas. Be sure to check out the other 28. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/

Buzz Feed was a pick in January 2011 and I'm going to reprise it nearly two years later because it's a neat site for lists and after pictures, or perhaps before pictures, I love lists. Currently, you can read about the 10 food trends which should die in 2013 plus other fun, informative stuff.

OK, I've got 5 minutes before my cooking masterpiece is done so here's a fast one: 

http://500px.com/photo/15456927 

I just love that little guy! And be sure to click around for more pics.

See you next week.  

  

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.  ~Charles Dickens

While, being an atheist, this is not my holiday, I do think Dickens nails the best of this season in the above quote. He's not very optimistic about human relations the rest of the year but even he, the creator of Scrooge, sees some hope.

For those of you entertaining with food during the next week(s), be sure to check out The Huffington Post today:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/make-ahead-christmas-brunch-recipes_n_2324766.html

for some great looking make-ahead brunch ideas. I particularly like the Blueberry Maple Breakfast Bake (#3) and the Cheddar, Ham and Scallion Cups (#17). I'm thinking healthier bread for the first and turkey bacon instead of ham for the second. But both are sooooo simple.

Nothing more today since so many of us are feeling the holiday time crunch. Me, included. I must go buy dessert for a party tonight and I hope there's not a mad rush for sweets because I didn't pre-order anything.

Whether you celebrate your religious holidays in the next two days or not, have a wonderful time during this ubiquitous holiday season.

See you Wednesday.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

 Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I have nothing today. What a fraud I am! Somehow the week got away from me and I didn't take any knitting pictures.

 

#1 Boy's pic

Here's a filler: a picture the boy took which I thought on this Mayan Day of Doom, 12/21/12, would be appropriate. Isn't it a pretty sky? I know people (not just the ones I read about) who really believe this is going to be a day of doom. Of course, in the skein of life's rolling of the dice, they could be right - or wrong. So take a look at the blue sky and fluffy clouds. That should make you happy, whichever way it goes.

 

#2 2010 big Advent Scarf

But moving right along to knitting, here's a picture of the 2010 Advent Scarf. I'm so happy that last year (2011) I started to make them into scarf size instead of the 95 stitch CO called from in the original pattern. Here, you see it as the original pattern which made it a shawl I never wear, unfortunately. Fancy scarves work for me, but not fancy shawls.

The 2012 Advent Scarf was finished last night. It's bound off and ready for blocking. Once again, I had to stop before the last pattern was published (4 more to go) and this time, I searched through my 2010 Advent Scarf patterns to find a pattern with nupps. I don't think a lot of people like nupps. I didn't until I found out how to make them with a crochet hook. Now, I love making them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSIzYLbasHY

The above link is a great how-to for crocheted nupps.. Anyway, I found nupps on Day 5 pattern of the 2010 scarf so that's what I made my last pattern on the 2012 scarf. I'm really psyched because I will have it ready to wear when we go to the restaurant on Xmas Eve and I can spill stuff on it.

Finally, let me bow out with one last link so you can get to any shopping/stuff you have to do in this busy season (DH tells me I missed celebrating the winter solstice; not that I had that feast on my calendar. But if it's a gift-getting feast, I'm in.)

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEw12/patterns.php

Knitty's winter patterns are up. I don't know if I'm wild about any of them, but you take a look.

Much happiness to all of you in this holiday season. See you next week with, I hope, a link to a summer shrug pattern I really can use over camis. Happy knitting!

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

 Tax the Rich 

Website Wednesday 

Some random thoughts first:

1. During the time I make my Advent scarf, (It's the 24 days before Christmas and I just learned this year [my third for making one] that the people making them are very religious - how did I miss that?), I can't work on it and watch TV. However, listening to Open Culture courses: 

http://www.openculture.com/ 

works very well, So last week, I started with a course on the end of the Roman empire and the beginning of Christianity from Yale but I soon gave up on it. It's the first Yale course that was so boring as the prof. basically droned off names, dates and events. (I'm thinking he was dealing with a controversial subject and wanted to stay PC.) But he did bring up the long forgotten heresy of Manichaeism in the early church. Manichaeism sees the world as divided into forces of good and forces of evil which are constantly battling with each other. As I listened to this, I realized that so many in the US, who consider themselves main-stream religious, are really Manichaeists. That's how the insanity of "If only the teachers had been armed at the school in Newton." can be floated in the MSM. For whenever bad things happen, Americans are ready for battle because the evil in the world is always outside them, never a part of them, always there to be fought and conquered if only they had more weapons. 

2. And then there is Simon Winchester, British ex-pat, writer, traveler, to whom Brian Lamb on C-SPAN was giving very friendly questions during an interview last week. (You should listen to Lamb interview someone with unfriendly questions.) Winchester talked about a revisit he had to the US southern states recently where he wanted to look at the areas of the country he had first visited years ago. In some important, but throw-away lines because Lamb didn't follow up, he said: Those people (MS, west TX were mentioned) don't see any purpose in belonging to the US. They don't think the federal government is doing anything for them. They are ready to secede.

3. And finally for something completely different: I also listened to a course on the close reading of The Iliad. Close reading (also the Great Books method of reading great works) means you only look at the text in front of you for interpretation. If the text is extolling slavery, you analyze that in its time frame; you don't bring a 21st century interpretation of slavery. The prof. had a student dramatically read the first 40 lines of The Iliad and then the class  interpreted them. I thought the class did a good job until.......... 

About an hour before the kids get home I like to get on the treadmill where I use my iPad to read or play games for 50 minutes. So yesterday, I got up the Alexander Pope translation of The Iliad (excellent free translation; Samuel' Butler's is not so hot) and dramatically read aloud the first 40 lines. No one was in the house though I did notice that the dog, in her crate upstairs, seemed unusually active.

Boy, was I good! Not so much in the dramatic reading but my close reading interpretation (also aloud - oh, I do hope no one was lurking outside!) was even better than what I had heard in the course. (Truth in advertising: I do know how to close read and I've done it before for class.) I was amazed at what I gleaned anew from Homer. That guy was a genius! In 40 lines, he laid out enough intrinsic and extrinsic details worthy of an award winning screenplay. Which brings me to my head scratching question: Why don't we read such literature regularly? We relegate it to school courses and then pretend once we're in the "real world" we should spend our time reading what is often popularized dross and near-dross in Book Clubs. (Apologies to Book Clubs which read the classics.) What a waste! 

OK, off my soapbox and my pick for today, unless you want to explore the above Open Culture (WW, 11/9/11) again, is: 

http://www.fullpunch.com/ 

Full Punch is an easy read and look. I'm assuming their lists of tips are correct since DH says: Yes, you can change AAA batteries to AA the way they suggest. There's funny and serious stuff here with probably enough "not for office use" stuff to keep it a home site.

It's up-to-date and it's satirical. So be warned, satire takes no prisoners. Enjoy.


See you next week. 

Again 

I remember reading about a time when we were randomly bombing our enemy of the moment and all their kin into the ground and someone was quoted with: "They don’t care about their children the way we do about ours." And I thought at the time: What callous idiocy.

Well, now all those true blue Americans out there who experience this special pain for their children, for our nation's children, have their opportunity to step up to the plate because while they have obviously been able to live with other school massacres, perhaps rationalizing: Well, shit happens to teens (Columbine) and young adults (Virginia Tech), I'll be amazed if they dare to rationalize away last week's massacre of the innocents in that kindergarten class in Newtown, CT.

As I saw pictures of Obama wiping away tears as he talked about this horrific slaughter what strangely came to mind was The Walrus and the Carpenter poem by Lewis Carroll. There, both the walrus and the carpenter wept copious tears ("they wept like anything to see") as they led the young oysters, hand and hand,  to their death.

If we as a country, once again, do nothing to implement gun control after another endemic slaughter, then we are all just willing walking in hypocrisy as our politicians make the clucking sounds of comfort.

Unfortunately, I believe a  comment at Tbogg may have summed it up best last Friday:

You know what? The majority of people in this country are just fine with the occasional kindergarten slaughter, as long as their right to bear as many arms as they fucking feel like bearing is not infringed. So fuck all the sanctimony and handwringing. Deep down inside people are OK with this, because if they weren't, something would have been done about it a long time ago.

No Movie Monday today.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

 Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday and a recipe

I found three 6 oz. containers of plain Greek yogurt in the fridge, out-of-date and lonely. I ate the first with no ill effects so I decided to make cookies for the kids with the other two. My thinking being: they like cookies and I can pack some good stuff in them. Here's my recipe, which is still a work in progress :

Nutritious, Easy Cookies (about 4 dozen)

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Oil spray two large cookie sheets. 

1 box cake mix (I've used yellow and lemon)

1 egg

12 ozs. of Greek plain yogurt

1/2 of a regular box of a healthy cereal crushed into about 1 cup of crumbs

1 cup dark chocolate chips

water

(Note: you can add all sorts of healthy things like wheat germ.)

 

1. Combine all the ingredients except the chips and use the water to make a consistency like soft, spreadable cookie dough so you can drop in on the sheet, not roll it out.

2. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Drop by the rounded teaspoonfuls on the cookie sheets, each 1" apart.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. If necessary, continue baking a few minutes to get them lightly browned.

5. Remove from the oven and cool on a cookie rack.

That's it. The kids loved the cookies. The girl wants to eat them for breakfast with a glass of milk. They both want me to make them for the holidays. These are very fast cookies to make and they also go fast.

Not much diverse knitting this week. I did finish DH's red scarf which is the same garter pattern as the one shown on 11/30/12. I've been spending all my time on the Advent Scarf  pictured in #1.

#1 2012 Advent Scarf

Today is Day 14 of the patterns and I just ripped out Day 10 because I really didn't like how I was knitting it. After three years, I pretty much know the drill: I'll never use all patterns unless I want a 150" scarf so I just pick and choose.  While you could say that on Day 14 I'm working on Day 11, I'm really not that caught up since I've eliminated Day 8 and 10. My cast on of 56 stitches (as opposed to the called-for 91 stitch cast on) seems to be working. Only on one day did I have to add 14 stitches (7 each side) to stay in pattern. All the other days, the most I've added is 6 extra stitches (3 each side) and many days I've had to add no extra stitches.

One thing I did finish this week is a 5-years-in-the-making house shawl (warm but for house wear only.) As of last Friday I thought I had finished it in a knitted version. But I hadn't. The one problem with knitting is that you have to use a lifeline and take the stitches off the needle before you can determine fit. Which is what I did when I followed this really nice, really easy pattern:

http://www.pickles.no/simple-luxury-giant-shawl/2012/2/5/simple-luxury-giant-shawl.html

Well, I did make one variation; I used US 17, not the called for US 36 needles. However, when I tried it on I discovered that the tails went to below my knees and my back was only covered half way down. So it was back to the frog pond and this is the pattern I made up which is shown on the picture, right (You are looking at the bottom of the shawl which is knitted; the top is crocheted):

#2 Many Yarned House Shawl

Many Yarned House Shawl

US 17 needles

N crochet hook

a good selection of yarns spliced or joined together

1. CO 3 stitches (or more) and K 1 row.

2. Every row: K to 2 stitches before the end of the row. Pick up the horizontal thread before the last 2 stitches and M1; or make 2 stitches in any way you like. (You will increase 2 stitches every row and work bottom up.)

3. At no more than 90 stitches (I used yarn doubled), BO but do not break yarn

4. Using an N hook, work a half double crochet in every stitch across the BO edge. (You should get 90 hdc, but I got 97. If you do, just decrease back to 90 hdc on the next row.)

5. Work one more row of hdc.

6. Then work in even rows of double crochets until you have the width you want.

#3 R edge shows straight crocheting

 (As you can see in Picture #3, the sides of your shawl are straight since you are not increasing.)

7. Once the shawl is wide enough, work a row of dc down one short edge (see #3) and then continue working 2 dc in each stitch across the bottom of the shawl for a slight ruffle. (Down the short edge you are working in the crocheted stitches; on the bottom edge you are working on the knitted section again.) If I had enough yarn, I would have worked a row of single crochet around the entire shawl. But I didn't and the stitches I was supposed to use for the row of dc were not that defined but you can fudge it easily.

8. Work a row of dc up the second short edge of the shawl. Cut yarn and weave in ends.

#4 Finished Shawl from the Front

At this point, I was out of yarn but you could work a deeper bottom ruffle, an edging across the top of the shawl, whatever you want until your yarn runs out.

#4 shows the shawl from the front. It may look a little wonky but it's the first time in 5 years that this yarn has been made into a shawl I can wear. It's 52" long and 25" wide. It's a very "soft" triangle (wears more like a crescent) so you get maximum back coverage. Right now, I'm typing and wearing it pinned in the front with a chop stick shawl pin (which is a house shawl pin also.) The side edges go to my wrists and I'm covered front and back to the waist. I'm warm! Finally, I can say: I love this shawl.

Final thoughts on this project: I think the Pickles pattern would make a very nice shawl but it was not going to work into the shawl I wanted. First, US 36 needles are very uncomfortable for me to work with. Also, only increasing 1 stitch at the end of every row gave me a defined triangle which I didn't want. Plus, in the original you are making very long tails to wrap the shawl into a scarf - something I was not aiming for, though it is a very attractive look. And finally, the cable of my US 17 needle popped from the weight of the yarn on my first try (I had about 120 stitches), so I decided to bind off the stitches as soon as I had reached my length and carry on the rest of the shawl in crochet.

#5 A Yarn Mess

Also last week, I frogged this project (#5) because when I went to continue working on it, the hook had disappeared from the bag. I remembered the pattern but I didn't write down what hook I was using. Now, I'm redoing in on an N hook and I'll leave this as a teaser because if I can get the kinks out this wool it is going to be a knitting miracle. More on this next week, I hope.

And really finally: I got my replacement needle tips and 47" cable from Knit Picks and both are perfect.

See you next Friday. Happy knitting.