Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Still trying to pace myself and get enough sleep. Horrible episode on Wednesday night. We think her heart stopped and then restarted. It can happen. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this hospice (where everyone seems to believe in god absolutely) will look at it as a "miracle." Today, she is so much better and stronger. Not a miracle but these are the seeds on which the first religions grew.

 

I mentioned this Lion Brand shawl last week:

 

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80877AD.html  

 

It's called Tranquil Shawl and here's my rendition of it in dishcloth (hate that adjective) cotton:

 

#1 Tranquil Shawl

#2 Tranquil Shawl details

 On the left is the entire shawl, which is 41" x 18.5" and it just the right size for a summer cover-up.
I talked about this pattern last Friday and here are a few changes I made: 1) I worked Row 5 as triplet crochet to give me more width (big complaint was the shawl grew in length too fast). I could have worked two rows this way, sort of R5a and R5b but I was making a summer shawl and didn't want it too wide. 2) You are supposed to end with R5 (straight double crochet) and then work the edging. That's what I did in the pictures above. However, you could just as easily end on a shell pattern row and work your our edging. 3) I worked picots along the top edge: *ch 5, sc in 4th ch from hook, sl st in next 2 sts* across. 4) Don't make this in crochet thread. The stitch definition is difficult to see.

Another project I working on is:

 http://us.knitsmc.com/patterns/short-sleeve-sweater-ajour-pattern

It's a free short-sleeved sweater pattern, no registration. I'm using my generic top-down sweater pattern (scroll through past blogs; it's posted multiple times) and only the lace pattern from the above pattern. It's purl and lace, not knit and lace which makes for an interesting look. I'm not working the "k together with selvedge stitch" since I have no idea what that means.

More on this next week. Got to go. Happy knitting. 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Still trying to pace myself so at the end of the day my legs don't feel like they need that extra nap all by themselves just to stop hurting. Hopefully, with the equipment which was just delivered (bed, wheelchair, etc.) quality of life issues are going to improve. Before, I looked at people in wheelchairs or those with other disabilities and thought emphatically: How sad and difficult for them. Now, I'm on the "front lines."

Just one website today and it's one which may make you cry also; OK, tear up.

http://www.featureshoot.com/2013/03/photos-of-children-from-around-the-world-with-their-most-prized-possessions/ 

These are pictures of kids from around the world posing with their most prized possessions, toys. I know that mom or dad could have encouraged placement of these items but be sure to look at the kids' facial expressions also, such as Chiwa, Tangawizi and Alessia. There is so much innocence and honesty there.

Then go to Feature Shoot's main page:

http://www.featureshoot.com/ 

This is not your typical website with photographic articles such as: The 7 Wonders of the World. It's interesting and quirky and should make you think. For example, scroll down for a loving and insightful photo article titled: Sage Sohier’s Portraits of Children with Facial Paralysis. It's something we don't see or read every day; though maybe we should. This is a website well worth return visits.

That's it for today. See you next week.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Fast post today since my time is pretty limited now as I'm discovering I have to triage any discretionary time I may have. The Greeks talked about a "good death" meaning death with honor in battle but I guess a good death is something we can all wish: fast and without much pain. I don't know how this one is going to play out but, in a week, I'm seeing fast deterioration. And surprisingly, I'm learning that unless the caretaker paces himself, he/she deteriorates also.

Stlll no review of Prometheus though I watched parts of it again yesterday. I think I'm having trouble with how the director/writer/actor want Captain Shaw portrayed (Her science is so flawed that she's reminding me a modern day, cleaned up version of the villain scientists of the 1950s sci-fi cheesy pot boilers.) I'm thinking that I have to move beyond Shaw's character and take a look at this movie again, and again and again it seems.

But I do have two sci-fi flicks to reviews; two small sci-fi flicks which, if you blinked, you missed.

The first is Perfect Sense (2011) which is really only sci-fi in its premise: humans start to lose their senses one at a time. Take that away and you're dealing with a typical love story: they met, they love, they quarrel, they reunite. However, set in the backdrop of a world losing its five senses, starting with the sense of smell, makes Perfect Sense one of those great films for a double-dating movie nights where you can stop at Starbucks after and talk into the wee hours about what this movie means. (That is, if you have a very, very inexpensive babysitter home with the kids.)

Ewan MacGregor plays a chef and Eva Green is the scientist trying to understand and stop this world-wide sense-depriving virus epidemic. It's an interesting twist on the typical world-wide epidemic flicks where things get bloody and violent fast. You don't get your oozily, ugly plague victims here. Instead, you get perfectly normal looking humans who are slowly losing all their human senses: smell, taste, hearing, sight, and touch and the questions we're left with are: Without human senses are we still human? and Without human senses, is life worth living? Nothing is resolved here. No last scene of everybody going into church to give thanks as in that 1953 The War of the Worlds. You are left on your own "darkling plain" to decide the future.

Monsters (2010), though your sci-fi flick with scary aliens, is also a perfect gem of a movie. Seldom has any movie, let alone sci-fi, put together the blonde female lead, monsters with very long tentacles, and dark jungle nights and not produced a cheesy, screaming bodice-ripper. Monsters breaks that mold. Whitney Able plays Sam, the daughter of a rich newspaper publisher who gets stranded in Mexico at the US border; a place where aliens (from space) landed some time ago and are kept contained by US patrols (see the metaphor?) Scoot McNairy is the photojournalist, Andy, who, by escorting Sam back to US safety, hopes to get her dad to publish his photos. Get the picture? We have hero-guy bravely helping rich blonde to safety. Well, no, that's not it at all. First, Sam is the only one who can speak Spanish so she must translate for Andy. Second, it's Andy who foolishly leaves their passports with his one-night stand as he runs after Sam and then returns to discover she stole them. Without passports and money, Sam and Andy lose their places on the last ship to safety and have to make the journey on foot. So it's he, not the aliens, who puts the "damsel in distress."

I talk a lot about the strident PC feminism which pours through so many movies today (Snow White and the Huntsman) and yearn for intelligent writing/acting/directing which can get a feminist POV across without turning up the volume to "not fit for human ears" and cramming it down our throats. Monsters is that movie I'm wishing for. Although Sam is in an emotional turmoil (does she really want to marry her fiance?), she is a competent, resourceful woman. (This movie even admits that people have to pee when Sam gets Andy to stop for that reason.) Sam's got an emotional life which involves a man but you never look at her as the ditsy blonde whose only purpose in life is to choose between two men. (Which is really the premise of a similar plot, It Happened One Night, where Clark Gable is escorting Claudette Colbert back to her rich dad.)

Monsters is sweetly realistic on many levels. Also, it's a monster movie without the screaming violence and it's a metaphor movie minus the bat-to-the-head approach. Be sure to watch it and then decide: do Sam and Andy get a happy ending? A lot of mulling-over thoughts in both these small gems, Perfect Sense and Monsters.

That's it for today. See you next week.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich 

Knitting Friday 

I've spent the week dealing with hospice, which is a pallative treatment program for the dying, probably most used by the elderly at the end of life but the requirement (at least in our program) is that death has been diagnosed as most likely to occur within 6 months.

I won't give you my "one stop at a traffic light in-depth analysis of an entire city" impression of hospice but so far everyone I've dealt with has been very kind and informative. Two things I have discovered though: hospice becomes a new family member, you know the one who is always showing up and this hospice (and maybe all) has an up-front belief in god which they are very willingly to share. But, as a friend said: Whom do you think goes into this type of work, ruthless financiers? It is becoming obvious that my ability to isolate myself from a religious belief system I do not share is about to end.

My blog has never been a personal one, you know the type that even I enjoy reading, so I'm not going to dwell on this new facet in my life but I just wanted to explain why my postings for a while may be truncated or "go black" on certain days. You have to pace yourself if you are the caregiver with a hospice patient. You have to learn fast that you're not a mythical super hero. You always have to remember to eat well and exercise because this experience, for all family members, is enervating.

Knitting was done this week, pictures, however, were not taken. Let me just give you a few links and comments on my current projects.

For some reason, I am crocheting like crazy. Possibly because I opened some yarn drawers and realized that during my sleep the yarn fairy has made many, many visits to them and left unbelievable amounts of lace yarn. And, as you know, I only crochet with lace since life doesn't have enough years in it nor curses available if I knit with lace.

My latest crochet project is Lion Brand's:

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80877AD.html 

I'm usually wary of LB patterns. They're free but comments say that they miss a lot of needed directions or rows. Tranquil Wrap has the latter problem: too small. I started this as a summer shawl in crochet thread but, using as I hook, I didn't get the stitch definition I needed (you work in the stitches not in chain-spaces) so my stitch count got wacky fast. Then I switched to that off-white discloth weight cotton yarn which has been following around the house for weeks saying: Please love me. Well, I still don't love it but with a P hook I'm getting an open lace look in the Tranquil Wrap with it. It's a fast project and apparently others have repeated Row 4 through 9 much more often than the pattern calls for and have gotten a larger shawl.

The cotton thread (which is very wary of me and always says: You're going to frog me again, aren't you?) is now working its way into this: 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-iris-shawl

(This link may not work; you may have to cut and paste it.) 

I've mentioned the Easy Iris shawl before where you crochet the length and then pick up stitches from the side to crochet for the width. I've been making and frogging this pattern for quite a while; hopefully it will stick this time.

And finally, I'll leave you with a long term project which I may have spoken of before: a legacy project. That is, one you would like your family to inherit and pass on. I've been looking at an Aran-style sampler scarf or small Aran afghan for quite some time. If I had a million years, I could design my own patterns: And did you know that granny, great-granny, great-great-great granny...... spent two whole years just working out this one design? However, there is a very generous designer, Tammy Eigeman Thompson, who provides free, monthly Aran-style squares for the entire year: Here's an example from April 2013 on Ravelry: 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/april-square

You cast on 82 stitches and the pattern is 72 rows so these are big squares suitable for shawls or afghans.

You don't have to work Aran squares since the idea is make a work which is a "keeper." You could work a lace sampler legacy piece. Here are some good sites for these stitches: 

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory /lace_edging_squares_stitches.php

http://www.knitting-and.com/homework/ 

(above may be for the more advanced knitter) 

http://www.knittingonthenet.com/stitches.htm

(Great site for all sorts of stitch patterns. Don't forget, you can make this sampler using all types of stitch patterns.)

These are just a few links. There are so many stitch pattern books available, plus I think there is a 365 day stitch calendar. If you do knit or crochet and are even just thinking about a legacy project, it's never too early to start. By working sampler squares, you can finish a few, put the project away and then pick it up even years later. Since your squares will be finished you won't be asking yourself: Now, how did I work this half-completed square?, you'll just start on your next one. (Hint: Since your needle/hook might be missing from the project, be sure to write down the size you are using.)

That's it for this week. See you next week. Happy knitting.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

All living things die. But when they die out of their time and violently it becomes jarring beyond comprehension - most of the time that is. For unfortunately, unexpected deaths by violence happen every minute throughout the world which we, in the USA, don't notice and therefore can't care about. However, when we do notice and care: 9/11, the movie theater in Aurora, CO; Newtown, CN; Boston, MA; we pull out all the bells and whistles for news coverage and compassion. And then go back to our average lives until the next time our grief is called for on the national stage.

 

But lost under all these moments, days, weeks of national compassion and shock is a willingness look at the propensity for violence rampant in the human species which is so often exhibited individually or collectively. We never ask the question: Can we change this human propensity for violence and its resulting carnage?

 

We never take a step back to realize that these gunmen, these bombers, whether we like it or not, are our "brothers and sisters" in the human species. We may try to fool ourselves that they are the "other" and different from our imagined persona as the "good guy" but no baby enters the world thinking: Wow! I hope I get to gun down a lot of people when I grow up. However, somewhere along the way their "souls" get so twisted in hatred that the idea of loading multiple bombs in backpacks and exploding them remotely becomes a idea they are willing to consider and carry out.

 

Perhaps, we can never stop the human propensity for violence because it's bred in the bone, but I do know there are national and international organizations which try valiantly to find solutions to violence. Isn't it time to try to achieve a more peaceful paradigm in human behavior? To borrow a quote from a long-forgotten politician: I'm tired of going to funerals.

 

 http://alphadesigner.com/mapping-stereotypes/

 

There are some interesting pictures on this page of Alpha Designer which are witty and insightful, like a map of how Americans see the world (the USA is labeled "awesome"), It's called Mapping Stereotypes and scroll down for some chuckles and thinking. Be sure to click on "Blog" to read Yanko Tsvetkov's, a freelance graphic designer, observations on a lot of topics. He's an artist and he writes well, a great combination.

 

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=20999

 

OK, so I'm dealing with a teen and a soon-to-be teen so the above link is interesting: Twenty-five Things to Know on Becoming a Teenager. It's a good read for teens and their parental units.  

 

Then, be sure to visit Library Thing's home page:

 

http://www.librarything.com/ 

 

If you're a book lover, it looks like an easy, free registration to join or you can cruise around and read a lot of good stuff as a guest.

 

I think I may have linked to/may have mentioned this type of site early in my blogging:

 

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/house-plan-6903AM.asp 

 

You can search for all sorts of house plans here and nothing "soothes my soul" in times of stress (apart from knitting) more than looking at house plans and mentally redesigning the ones I see. (I'm looking at the one featured, W6903AM, and trying to imagine a bedroom instead of a study on the first floor.) OK, maybe I'm wacky but cruise around; you might get hooked.

 

And finally, my picture site:

 

http://evantravels.com/road-trip-america/ 

This train shot at Evan Travels just blew me away! Be sure to scroll around this page and click the top bar for more amazing pictures. Evan Spiler is a New Jersey born (Hooray!) photographer and makes the state proud with his photography. And don't miss his blog with more pictures and observations.

 

That's it for today. The medical emergency I mentioned on Monday, hopefully, will finally get resolved today. More on this another day.

 

See you next week.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday? - not today

 

I'm going to take a break today. Hopefully, life will return to normal by Wednesday. We had a family medical emergency this weekend and I'm whipped and in need of some "stupid time." Plus, my anger at my pick to review this Monday, Prometheus, is still so strong that I could use the time to back away and calm down so I won't write a review like: Nah, nah, nah, I don't like you and your mother wears army shoes.

 

See you soon. 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Well, I did spend the week knitting but I don't have much to show for it. Remember this pic (#1) from last week? This was one of my prototypes for my crochet thread summer shawl (which hasn't been frogged and still looks great) in dishcloth cotton. Last week, I used that picture to show how the pattern was different in the center of one row and I did say that I was going to frog this/had frogged this prototype.

#1 Dishcloth cotton

 Here's what what it was reborn into (#2):

#2 Drops Shawl

This is a Drops pattern and it's an easy variation of the trinity/blackberry stitch. In the trinity stitch you p3 together. In the Drops pattern you purl 4 and then pull the 4th stitch on the right needle over the first 3; then the third stitch on the RN over the first 2, till only 1 purl stitch is left. It's a much easier way to work the trinity.

Here's the pattern:

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=4436&lang=us

It's a knit pattern and makes a triangular shawl. However, to make a rectangle, just cast on a multiple of 5 and ignore the stitches you're supposed to add on. I cast on 45 stitches and, while the picture doesn't show it, I worked to a shawl/scarf length before I frogged the whole thing! But to backtrack for a moment. If you make this shawl, on Row 3 you're supposed to work the first stitch together with the first stitch from Row 1. It's simple but when you complete the first stitch on Row 1 run a long strand of yarn through it. That way, when you arrive at the beginning of Row 3, the stitch you need to pick up is clearly marked.

I really liked working this pattern and it was right for the yarn and the yarn was right for it. I used US 13 needles and it was a very fast knit. However, when I tried it on I realized it was long and narrow though it was also open and airy. For a summer shawl I needed about 20 more stitches in the cast on (65, not 45.) Then I started to envision it as a shrug: Start with 40 stitches for knit in the round garter cuffs and then increase 25 stitches and working flat in pattern until the second cuff. The one thing I definitely knew: if I didn't frog it ASAP, whatever I made, I would be working with crinkly yarn. So back to the frog pond it went.

 

Bubblemamia was another knit scarf I tried this week:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bubblemania 

If you want a very interesting but easy scarf pattern, this is the one. Two changes I would make: 1) Except for very light yarn (lace), I would go up in the needle sizes. 2) I would slip the first stitch as P on every row and K the last stitch. (I found the beginning stitch directions confusing.) And, I would pay close attention to the YO, SL 1 K, K2, PSSO section (the main section) since YOs can get lost or forgotten very easily.

Also this week, I started this crocheted summer shawl (#3) but spent the whole time musing: Is this pattern too plain? (It's a simple double crochet, chain 1 with increases each side and the DC - Ch1 pattern worked in the previous row's ch 1-spaces.) Finally, I draped it over my shoulder, looked in the mirror, and decided it really was sort of nice in its simple way. That is, if it didn't have a glaring error of two double crochets in one ch-sp!

#3 Simple DC shawl

So #3 also visited the frog pond though not for long.

I don't have a picture but here's the pattern of its rebirth:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kraka-shawl-in-linea-krakaschal-i-linea-lin

(Sorry for another link to Ravelry [since you must free register to see it] but more and more patterns are being posted only on this site.)

The Kraka shawl can be crocheted top-down or top-up. I'm  working top up since chaining 303 stitches for top-down seems like a bear to me. It's a half-double crochet cluster + a chain 1 pattern with the clusters worked into the ch-sp of the previous rows. Advice is given to work the first and last HDC as a DC: it would be DC - HDC - HDC - ch 1..(work across).. HDC, HDC, DC, ch 3 for every row. That first and last DC does help prevent pulling on the edges. I normally don't make/like triangle shawls but in crochet thread this one is working up attractive. Pictures next week.

OK, that's it for this week. Note to self: start using color in your work. There must have been a huge sale on off-white yarn.

See you next Friday. Happy knitting.

 

  

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

 Website Wednesday

Since I post about politics and history, I guess I should say something about Margaret Thatcher who, in life, brought so much misery to so many people with so much glee. But let me just borrow a comment I read regarding her: Nothing nice to say, and move on.

I have some fast, light picks this week so I can leave you with my final one which, I hope, you will find as challenging as I have.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/49746/faces-behind-31-disney-villains 

Mental Floss is a favorite of mine and was a previous pick in 2010 but I thought this page might need a current visit. It's a pictorial list of the voices behind Disney animated characters. Nothing to ponder over but if you, like me, have thought something like this in the past: Hmmm. Who is that actor doing the voice of Scar (The Lion King)?, you'll get your answers here.

http://www.socialphy.com/posts/images-pics/18561/Top-100-Photos-of-the-Year-2012.html 

Socialphy lists the above as the top 100 pics on 2012. For me, a great photo must take me beyond itself. #19 does that. Take a look for yourself.

And, staying with Socialphy:

http://www.socialphy.com/posts/movies-television/7744/17-Films-to-Look-Forward-to-in-2012.html 

These are listed as to-look-forward-to 2012 movies.Well, we're in 2013 so you can answer: Were they worth waiting for?  (Note: At least one, The Great Gatsby, still hasn't been released.)

Finally, moving towards to my final pick:

http://www.folj.com/folj.com/lateral/ 

This page has a series of lateral thinking puzzles. You know, the type like: How could a baby fall out of a twenty-story building onto the ground and live? It's a very generous set of puzzles since each comes with a hint and a solution. Of course for me, my answer to each is always: I have no idea. But a lot of people are aces in this kind of thinking so give it a try. (As far as I can tell, these questions may be tricky but are logical.)

Some back story before my final pick. When the kids were young, I used to awaken in the wee hours of the morning and play hostage negotiation games on the internet. No, I was not honing my skills to deal with children all day; I just found this type of game intriguing and unfortunately very sad since you can't believe the number of hostages who got blown away because I asked the wrong questions.

Fast forward 10 years and yesterday I decided to search for my "old friends." The internet has grown into a very, very big person in 10 years but I finally found my very early morning web pals from the past at:

http://www.sfhgroup.com/ca/training/online-training/test-your-skills.php

Note: The game listed as The Desperate Dad has a glitch but you can get to TDD at:

http://www.zapdramatic.com/swf/ambitionep1.html

What you get is a group of games where you must defuse volatile situations. The Desperate Dad has a distraught man in an office building who has strapped himself with explosives. Your job is to "talk him down." Of course, you can only click on the responses listed (you can't make up stuff) and by two incorrect responses, the game ends (sometimes with an explosion). But you are able to try again or move on to another game. These look like fun, easy to play, clickable games but I've read that they are used in negotiation training and very soon you'll find yourself trying hard to give the right answers. Hope you enjoy these games as much as I did.

See you next week.