Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

#1 New top

Since I mentioned my dearth of new projects last week this is the only one I've started.  It's in Knit Picks fingering Stroll. (Stroll is a lovely feeling washing wool which, I discovered late in the game, will not splice. Apparently, that's a feature of washable wool. However, since KP washable must be chemically treated, you can place the joining ends in boiling water which removes the chemical and then you can splice. Don't get burned though.)

 

As you can see I'm using my ubiquitous Row 1: *YO, K2tog*, Row 2: *K* pattern again. That's because I know two skeins (400+ yards) will make a top and I'm too lazy to swatch to see if another pattern will work.

 

Two things about this top: 1: The armholes had to have a loose bind-off because I was only binding off 30 stitches. I used the elastic bind off at:

http://slipslipknit.com/?page_id=92

 

It's not rocket science to learn and it makes an even, attractive, elastic bind off.

 

2: I really worked hard to eliminate gaps at the underarm. 

 

Here's an example of the problem in Picture #2. You can see those two single strands of yarn on the right side in the middle of the picture.

#2 Messy underarm

 And you can see the yarn just above them at the underarm look more substantial. From comments on Ravelry, this is a very common and unavoidable design problem which is in all of my tops before I figured out the fix.

#3 All fixed

 Picture #3 shows the top I'm working on now and you can see there are no single threads at the armhole as there are in Picture #2.

 

I fixed this by: I worked one round where I cast on the stitches for the underarm (10 sts each armhole) then on the next round when I reached the problem area, I used a crochet hook to pick up a thread from the "bar" of yarn at the top and perpendicular to the single threads above. (Sorry, I should have used a pointer with Picture #2) but follow those two single yarn threads up where you see a thicker column of yarn which is perpendicular to them. Just grab a yarn thread from that column and work it through both single thread and place it as an extra stitch on your needle.

#4 The fix

 

In Picture #4, you can see the fix in progress and the area in Picture #3 is not loose or open anymore. Once the stitch is on the needle, knit it together with the next stitch. You usually have to do at the same place for both armholes and sometimes when you return to this spot on the next round you have to repeat the process. Since the yellow top shown here was already done; I made the fix then tacked that stitch you see on the crochet hook (#4) to the inside of the top with yellow thread.

I know I've mentioned this armhole problem before but I hope these pictures are more helpful.

In keeping with my fix-it mode, I have another one for you: the stockinette stitch (st st) roll.

#5 The dreaded roll

Anyone who has knitted a st st pattern will, unless the st st roll is a design element, read something like: CO x sts and work 3" in rib (or seed or garter, etc.) Change to larger needles and work in st st for x inches. Because, if you don't make this hem, stockinette will curl; its the nature of the stitch.

 

Yesterday, I was moving summer tops to make way for winter ones and pulled out Picture #5. You can see the stockinette stitch curl even though I have a hem of 3 rows of crochet. Before I tell you what I did, I want to put in a plug of top-down knitting for garments. Most of the times, fixes occur at the bottom of the garment: too short, too long; too tight; rolling, etc. With top-down knitting, your bind off is at this bottom hem and any fix means just finding the yarn end at the bottom and unraveling. (OK, another tip while I'm at it: get a small notebook to use for all your projects. You can use it for elaborate notes including what pattern you are using but be sure to use it for at least this: yarn used and needle sizes used. This is so helpful when you have to alter a garment.)

 

#6 The pull out

#7 All marked

As you start to unravel the bottom of your garment, be sure to mark the first stitch of the round with a safety pin. Then, as in Picture #6, use a ruler to determine where you want the hem to start. (I like a long K1B, P1 rib so I'm going up about 5".)

 

Once you've determined how deep you want your hem, put your pin on the first stitch of that row (just travel up the garment from the original stitch you marked off) and unravel back to that round. Use a very small circular needle and pick up the stitches on that round. Transfer to the correct sized needle and work your new hem. I'm about two inches into the new hem in the top above and I'll post a picture next week.

OK, stick a fork in me, I'm done. Next week maybe I'll get some ideas for fall/winter knitting. See you then.

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Something is being lost in the controversy over Mitt Romney’s, US presidential candidate (R), secretly recorded and then released remarks at a fundraising event when he said that 47% of the US population are lazy moochers on the dole. Even right wing pundits are defending this 47% by saying that he was wrong to criticize them because most of this group is hard working though needy or too old to work and therefore receiving Social Security and Medicare; this latter group containing the much cherished Republican voting base: older, white males. But this type of criticism still allows Romney to set the meme: the government allows people to be lazy moochers by providing the dole and only criticizes him because he picked on the wrong people. They’re not disagreeing with his basic premise, just tweaking it. And they and he completely do a "wink wink, you guys are OK” to all the rich in this country who can scam the system legally every day with help from corrupt, buyable lawmakers.

It seems to me our government should be there to assist its citizens and I don’t mean in tax breaks for the rich. The government should see that every citizen is provided with what are basic rights in an enlightened society: health care, education, employment. But for some reason, our much touted "best constitution in the whole world ever even though it's racist" always has that part in its preamble forgotten. You know, the part that says "promote the general welfare" Hey, our much beloved founders even managed to get in the word welfare!

 

My first website pick:

 

http://noquedanblogs.com/arte/the-art-of-clean-up-el-arte-de-ordenar/ 

 

is really only in for a quick one page view but what a page! Talk about great examples of, take your pick, anal retentive, obsessive compulsive, just plain nuts. However, there is some satisfaction in bringing order to disorder. 

You can go to: http://noquedanblogs.com/ 

 

for pages of more interesting pictures from this site. Sorry I can't say more but this is not a language I know (Spanish? Portuguese?) It's times like these that I wish I had listened more in my language courses. (Does that sentence remind anyone of Daudet's The Last Lesson?)

 

On to:  http://waveavenue.com/profiles/blogs/flying-365-illustrations

 

OK, I'm on a roll.  I love these drawings by Flying Mouse on the website Wave Avenue. WA is one of those sites where you submit your work. From its About: Wave Avenue is a visual blogging community filled with ideas, design inspirations and creative booms for the smart, playful, friendly and curious. We are inviting you to sign up get linked and perhaps start a conversation. We hope to let you share ideas and connect the way you do in a café.

 

Be sure to click on Blog Categories at the top. There's a lot of design and architectural postings but any site with Endearing Best Friends + Pet Photography is aces in my book.

 

Finally: http://www.geekfill.com/

Once again, you can submit to Geek Fill and it says of itself: GeekFill takes pride in finding the best funny images, rage comics and memes across the web so you can get your fill of geekiness. Be sure to check back every day as we're constantly adding new funny images to GeekFill.

You have 853 pages to scroll through at present and it's quite a scenic panoply. This is a happy site so be sure not to miss the laughing turtle. See you next Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 Movie Monday - A Dangerous Method

In its genre, A Dangerous Mind is a good film with great elements, and within it there is an excellent film trying to get out. It strives to tell the disparate tales of Carl Jung's (acolyte and then rival of the great Sigmund Freud) relationship with Freud and Jung's relationship with his first patient where he used the analytical listening method invented by Freud. That's a lot for director, David Cronenburg, to attempt and given his penchant for rather short films (99 minutes), it doesn't work.

Before I throw more disapprobation on ADM, let me say that I really liked this movie. It made me think by helping me to coalesce my reaction to Jung and Freud and even had me switching my alliance with these two greats. It's also a beautiful visual movie which, in a Cronenburg (and perhaps Mortensen) way, tells a lot by saying little.

I think it's important to have this paragraph of praise early because I don't want people dismissing this movie for its flaws and walk away, thinking: OK, I'll skip this one. A one word answer to that: Don't.

We're first thrown into the plight of Sabina Spielrein, a wealthy, 19-year-old, whose persistent beatings by her father from an early age become the trigger for sexual pleasure. At 19, she is a raving hysteric and hospitalized under Jung's care. His treatment of her leads to Jung's first contact with Freud, whose new and controversial method (a dangerous method) Jung will use for the first time with Spielrein. We don't leave Spielrein as a raving lunatic since she goes on to become Jung's first mistress (once only guessed at, but recently uncovered letters confirm this) and a renown child psychiatrist.

The above summary shows a big problem with A Dangerous Method for Jung and Spielrein's relationship is a movie of its own. However, Cronenburg tries to balance this with Jung's relationship with Freud. He almost pulls this off because Viggo Mortensen gives a stellar performance as that cigar-chomping giant, but let me tell you why he doesn't.

First, Keira Knightley as Spielrein, has trouble portraying this complex character; perhaps no actress can. Her initial, over-the-top hysterics (and yes, unfortunately Knightley's jutting chin, as one commenter observed, can be very annoying) quickly morphs into a sort of very mild Tourette-like neurotic quirks. As played, I don't see anything of the "gem above all" quality Jung says she possesses. Add to this, the lack of any chemistry between Michael Fassbender as Jung and Knightley as Spielrein has the viewer watching their intimate foreplay scenes with giggles. OK, watching Fassbinder beat Knightley into ecstasy with a whip may be a difficult empathy stretch for any actor but the "going-through-the-motions" quality between these two belie any grand passion that the letters of Spielrein express. 

Perhaps, it's just the fact that both actors need better foils to play against because Fassbinder fares much better in his scenes with Mortensen and his few scenes with Vincent Cassel (great cameo performance) as Knightley does in the scene where Mortensen quietly warns her "We're Jews, my dear Miss Spielrein. And Jews we will always be.". (Mortensen perfectly portrays Freud's understanding of the Jew's place in the Aryan world at that time.)

So we have a "flat" but very crucial relationship between Fassbinder and Knightley as one peg of this movie and then a quietly dynamic relationship between Fassbender and Mortensen (Jung and Freud) as its second peg.

It is this second peg which makes the movie such worthwhile viewing. Mortensen is an actor who plays his cards close to the chest and bringing this quality to his portrayal of Freud. you don't see the actor, you see Freud.

In the scenes between Jung and Freud, for the first time, I got a clear understanding of the Freud vs. Jung controversy. I'm not going to go into here but to say that I, as a college student, always favored Jung's loosening of Freud's dogmatic view that everything goes back to sex. After ADM, I understand that the validity is with Freud on so many levels; I was wrong. (Freud: The world is as it is. Understanding and accepting that is the way to psychic health. What good can we do if our aim is simply to replace one delusion with another?)    http://www.moviequotesandmore.com/

It's these scenes which show you that perhaps by "picking a smaller apple", Cronenberg could have created a masterpiece in this genre. Mortensen and also Cassel give tour-de-force performances. That's the movie I wanted to see. (To be fair, A Dangerous Method is adapted from the play by Christopher Hampton, The Talking Cure, so Cronenburg didn't have much wiggle room.)

Watch A Dangerous Mind and see if you agree: Jung and Freud work; Jung and Spielrein don't.

And for more on Freud, go to Freud and Vienna by Lillian Furst:

http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2001/winter/furst-freud-vienna/

It's short but very worthwhile.

A final note of trivia: Box Office Mojo has this movie grossing  $27+M with 80% of this coming from foreign sources.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I was thinking I would just bore you with my diet every two weeks but if there's anyone out there also on a diet, I just want to give a thumbs-up of encouragement. I'm in my second month and I'm slowly seeing results. That skirt I would like to fit still doesn't but, as I said last Friday, I'm not playing the Picture of Dorian Gray game every time I look in the mirror. There are days I do look in the mirror and see "heavy" but I just go with it and usually change my clothes to black. Yes, that does help. Maybe the whole world is just a magician's trick. 

I really don't have any sure-fire method for dieting. As I said, I started with exercising for a week and no dieting. It was only in the second week I stopped certain foods (like pie, ice cream and potato chips.) I don't beat myself up if I falter (I did have a big bowl of popcorn - no butter or oils - last night) but I do make sure I use the treadmill or walk for 30 minutes a day.

The combination crochet/knit top is done.  Here's the link to the original again:

http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/pdf/SundanceNotYellowTank.pdf

Those of you who crochet will have no trouble with it but I had to fudge the Round 2 yoke increases (see the revised directions for this in last Saturday's (9/8) special Knitting Friday on Saturday.) Also, I had a problem with the join after I started crocheting the bodice in the round. But before I tell you what I did, a picture:

#1 Crochet/Knit Top

On the left is the finished top before any washing. The yoke and part of the body is crocheted but then I picked up 104 stitches at the bottom (I was working with 90+ crochet stitches at the time) and, using US 10, I knitted the bottom in a simple lace of one row: *YO, K2tog and one row: K

The width of the top is about 30 inches across but it stretches for a close but comfortable fit. This top was done in acrylic, well, it was done in a pulled-out afghan which had been unused for years. I don't remember the brand but I do remember it was a "good" acrylic as opposed to those "bad" ones. The yarn felt stiff while crocheting and knitting it and there is really very little ease. (More on this later.)

#2 Side view of joined rounds

As with Round 2 of the yoke, I had trouble with crocheting the rounds once I worked the back length (I just love how this pattern was designed.) Well, the rounds were OK but joining the last round to the next proved tricky for me.

Kristin has you joining with a slip stitch to the Ch-2 of the previous row and then making your new Ch-2 and working a half double crochet (hdc) in each hdc across. I was increasing one stitch every row this way. Now, I know this was my fault because I'm not really as adept with crocheting as I am with knitting. However, with these increases I was also getting a space at the joining so the round didn't look smooth all across.

My fix: I marked the first hdc after the Ch 2 and then when I arrived at it for the next round, I made a slip stitch in the hdc I had marked and not in the Ch 2 as directed. Then I made the ch -2 and a hdc in the same stitch.*

Picture #2 shows this join. You can see it slants slightly to the right (not from the armhole because I started my fix about 2 rounds down) but there are no annoying spaces and the slant disappears when the top is wore.

*One Big Disclaimer: I didn't write down the directions for this method and I don't remember if I made that hdc in the marked hdc (where I also made the joining slip stitch.) or if I skipped that hdc and started my hdc in the next hdc. If you decide to try this method, just count your stitches in the round before and then after this round. As long as you don't add an extra stitch, you're OK. Sorry. (Better directions when I start my next top.)

#3 Wool top L and acrylic top R

Would I make this top again? Definitely. It was easy, portable and great for on-the-go try-ons. Would I keep the crochet and knit combination? Yes. I like the solid and lacy looks and I like experimenting with knitting patterns. Would I make it in acrylic again? Yes and No. Why? Look at picture #3.

You're looking at an unfinished wool top on the left which has the same width as the acrylic one on the right, about 30". However, the left top is going to stretch wildly and have a less tight fit. I understand that the yoke and bodice hdc section should be tighter since the right top was done in DK with the recommended hook and the L top is fingering on US 10 throughout. (Both the bottoms have similar patterns on 104 stitches and use US 10 needles.) I don't think it's the acrylic which makes the R top tighter but rather it's because of my yarn and hook choices. Next, I'm going to take some DK wool or DK cotton and work up the pattern to see what happens. (Note to self: Probably the cotton will work up like the acrylic.)

So, that's the long saga of my top-down crocheted top. I had been looking a very long time for a V-neck top-down top (one yarn end at the start, one yarn end at the bottom) and though I still haven't found that one, this top is close enough. I like the fact that it's low enough in the front for summer wear or vest-over-a-tee-winter wear. 

Next week: I'm down to one top (above) three cotton crochet shawls (never-ending) and one lace wool shawl. I need more projects. See you then.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Before I get to my picks, there's a question which has been bugging me ever since I saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and recent events brought it to the front of my brain again.

 

The recent events: There's anti-American havoc in Libya and Egypt because an Israeli/American has produced an anti-Islam film which got translated into Arabic and then went viral on YouTube. The guy acts likes an agent-provocateur in that's he's quoted as standing behind his anti-Islam propaganda and his type of hate is not unusual to me since every once and a while some of my neighbors will e-mail me anti-Islam screeds full of vitriol and nonsense. (Why do people think just because you're liberal you're also a hater?)

 

When I awakened this a.m. and read about the US. embassy staffer being killed during this mayhem, I remembered the question I had after seeing TGWTDT. The scene is when the reporter links the killings to verses from  Leviticus. Harriet's voice-over quotes a passage similar to 20:16: "If a woman presents herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it, she and the animal must both be put to death. You must kill both, for they are guilty of a capital offense."

 

I know that Leviticus is known for its wacky "Shall Nots", but did people really have sex with animals back then? Laws don't usually get written unless people are doing something that the lawmakers want stopped. And to reach the level of such a draconian punishment, I'm assuming enough people did this to hit the "radar." Spooky! I've also decided on a new saying: Religions are just cults with bigger budgets.

OK, I'll start with this website today:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/wpa/wpahome.html

These are American slave narratives which are preserved due to a  Works Progress Administration project from 1936 to 1938. Now the WPA was a government program set up by Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), during the 1930's depression in the US. (You can google WPA to read about this program.) It not only gave Americans jobs and dignity, it created this treasure trove of insight into lives of slaves in the US south before the US Civil War. The former slaves just talk about their lives with much more resignation than I think I could have felt. (But they were very old at the time of the project.) It's not an easy read because their dialect is written down as they spoke it but the cadence and understanding kicks in as you read along. Want to know what it's like when you're an object to be bought and sold? Want to have some talking points when a yahoo tells you "slavery wasn't that bad for those people?": Read this.

And now for something completely different:

http://5secondfilms.com/watch/naked-came-the-gorlac

The site is called 5 Second Films, but the film linked to above, Naked Came The Gorlac, comes from one of the site's long films. (Link in top bar.) Naked Came the Gorlac takes place at a wedding reception and hopefully a reception you'll never attend unless, of course, you're dating Gorlac. Amateur perhaps, but cleverly entertaining.

To get to the 5 second films, click on "Random Film." There seems to be a blurb about each film to the right of the screen but you had better be able to read fast because 5 seconds is really, really short.

Their About says: 5-Second Films was created by Brian “Boss Man” Firenzi in the Spring of 2005, after being disappointed by so many 5,400-second films. The rules are simple: 2 seconds of beginning titles, 5 seconds of film, 1 second of end titles. If you take umbrage with these 5sfs running at an actual length of 8 seconds, we can only assume you’re no fun at dinner parties.

 

A really fun, quirky site, probably not kid nor work friendly, but where can you get 12 films with plots and themes in 60 seconds? Enjoy. See you next Wednesday.

 Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday

 

I realized a long time ago that most voters don't live in a politically wonky world. I don't either though my daily reading about political/economic/historical events has me on the fringes of this world and probably would enable me to hold my own in a politically wonky heated discussion.

 

But in spite of the fact that good skills in analyzing political rhetoric and then informed voting may be the important factors as to the degree of comfort their futures hold, most voters worry about getting kids to soccer practice, paying bills, gossip at work. looking for a better job - perhaps a mundane list, but that's where they live.

 

I came into a conversation with our pool lifeguard last week as I heard a resident extolling loudly: But you must vote. This is your future. I think the guard was happy to get away and she told me that she knew nothing about the national candidates, politics were never a topic in her home and she didn't get much of civics while she was in school. I told her I was voting for Obama because of the anti-abortion platform of the Republicans and while she agreed with pro-choice, I could tell this issue wan't going to get her to the ballot box.

 

She was seriously against the fact that students were defaulting on loans. (As I remember the framing of this issue, I think the horror of student loan default is a talking point of the right so, though I didn't ask, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox News wasn't the channel of choice on her parents" TV.)

 

I touched briefly on the recent Gary Hart op-ed piece saying that Americans didn't feel any civic duty to their country and suggested that in exchange for free undergraduate college, graduates give 2 years of national service (teaching, health care, military, etc.) thus producing citizens with skills to contribute to their country without saddling them with lifelong debt. She seemed to like that idea also.

 

So I left her with the advice to read as much as she could about the candidates and try to separate the truth from the fiction.  I told her to use the scientific research skills she was learning in her college courses to plod through all the propaganda. I didn't leave this conversation thinking that I had set her on the path to the ballot box nor that she would even make an "informed beyond the ever-present right-wing propaganda" voting choice.

 

Which brings me through the back door so-to-speak to my movie pick: Tomorrow When The World Begins. TWTWB, like The Hunger Games, is based on a popular teen trilogy where teens are placed in dangerous situations and must make serious choices to save themselves and the world.

 

Heavy stuff but there is a huge difference, a crucial difference, between these movies. From Box Office MoJo, TWTWB grossed $16M, THG grossed $600+M. Future installments of the latter is ensured while the former may sink into the retirement home for box office duds.

I saw value in Tomorrow When The War Begins because this movie made me feel, for the first time, what a country's invasion was like. Told through the eyes of a handful of teens who "missed" all the initial trauma since they were away in a remote Australian camping location when the foreign army landed. Realizing soon what has happened (brought home swiftly as they sneak up on a make-shift concentration camp and watch prisoners being herded onto trucks or shot), they band together and start doing guerrilla  damage to the invaders. As their tactics become more effective, the verisimilitude of this brave band of teens' effectiveness gets more difficult to accept. However, a good portion of the beginning of the movie with the bucolic camping trip followed by the realization that the world they thought they were returning to is no more was more effective to me than all the heroic resistance fighter WWII movies that Hollywood produced by the 100s.

I thought about this movie again after my poolside conversation and since I do believe that the US is in dire need of a civics curriculum on a national scale, I wondered if movie like Tomorrow When The War Begins could be used as one teaching tool. Unfortunately, almost all of the teen connection movies today are fantasy (Harry Potter), futuristic (The Hunger Games) or grossly silly (you add your choice here.) 

 

In the US, we allow teens to vote at 18 (as we should since we allow them to die in the military at 17), but do we care if they cast an informed vote? I'm not thinking a viewing of TWTWB will lead to better citizenship but is there a market for teen movies which treats them like thinking creatures who have a stake in a realistic future? Or is the IMDb list the only future?: 

 

http://www.imdb.com/list/rrOHZwE2DFo/

 

 

 Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 Knitting Friday Revision on Saturday

I've started my second top and I've streamlined the directions for working the second row increases in the Sundance Not Yellow Tank:

http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/pdf/SundanceNotYellowTank.pdf
 

I’ll be using directions for my size and my cast on is 96 stitches. For more detailed directions, look at yesterday’s Knitting Friday.

You will need:
1. 8 markers of 1st color.
2. 1 marker of 2nd color
3. 1 marker of 3rd color

Terms: PM = place marker; (# of sts) = # of sts after the increases, hdc = half double crochet, st = stitch, sp = space

Placing Markers: Before you begin Round 2, place your markers. 

Round 2 runs: 1st sleeve section, back section, 2nd sleeve section, front section. On my cast on of 96 this runs: 17 stitches, 31 stitches, 17 stitches, 31 stitches. All the markers listed should be moved into each round you work. Plus, even when you stop your increases keep the markers in the 1st and last stitches of the Front and Back sections.

1. Place a 3rd color marker in the slip stitch which joined Round 1 to Round 2.
2. 1st sleeve section: 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 17.
3. Back section: 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 31
4. 2nd  sleeve section: 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 17.
5. Front section:* (see below) 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 31
17 + 31 + 17 + 31 = 96 sts.

Rnd 2: (inc of 8 sts) Ch 2

1. This Ch 2 is always considered one hdc.
2. Place the  2nd color marker in the space this ch-2 makes. Be sure to move this marker along as you work your rounds.
1st sleeve section: 2 hdc in 1st hdc, 1 hdc in next 15 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (19 sts)
1. Work 2 hdc in your first marked stitch of the sleeve section.
2. Work 1 hdc in each of the next 15 hdc.
3. Work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch of this sleeve section.
4. You don’t have to follow the directions PM, since you already placed the markers before you started this round. 
5. Be sure to move these markers along as you work more rounds.
6. You now have 19 sts in the 1st sleeve section.

Back section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next in 29 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (33 sts)

1. Work 2 hdc in your first marked stitch in the back section.
2. Work 1 hdc in each of the next 29 hdc.
3. Work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch of the back section.
4. You don’t have to follow the direction "PM" since your other markers are enough.

5. Be sure to move these markers along as you work more rounds.

2nd sleeve section:  Work as the 1st Sleeve section.

* Front section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next 30 hdc including the joining sl st of previous rnd, sl st into first hdc to join.

1. This section is slightly tricky since it looks like you are making 2 increases + 30 stitches which only gives you 32 sts total. I think the directions should read: "1 hdc next 30 hdc plus the joining sl st of previous rnd"
2. Here's what I did: 2 hdc in the 1st marked stitch, then I worked 1 hdc in the next 31hdc (for  32 sts) and 1 more hdc in the slip stitch which you already marked for the 33 stitches you need.
3. Join your round with a slip stitch in the Ch2-sp which is always the 1st hdc. (Be sure to mark your new slip stitch.)

At the end of the round in my size, I've increased to 104 hdc; 19 sts each sleeve; 33sts each front and back.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday (see streamlined knitting directions on Saturday, 9/8)

As promised on Wednesday:

http://midwaysimplicity.com/100-simple-nutrition-tips/  

Here are 100 nutritional tips which look good except for #20: Never smoke after eating. There are good times to smoke? and # 86: Avoid open buffets. Closed all-you-can-eat buffets are OK?  But the advice is sound though I never remember more than a few tips on these mega lists.

Want to ask about my diet? Remember the uproar when Michelle Obama said she was finally proud to be an American? Well, I'm finally proud to look in the mirror. I no longer have to play the Picture of Dorian Gray game. That is, ask myself: Does my chin finally look firmer? The diet is working. It may be the 30 minutes a day on the treadmill (increased speed; no incline) and/or the cutting down on carbs but something is happening. No earth shaking: OMG, I fit into that again? and I don't doubt that a few days of cheating could be disastrous. I'd like to say that I'm happy because it's important to live healthy but there is a good component of pride in my pleasure. The US population may be fat but the meme is thin. More on my progress on another Friday.
 

Now, if you awakened this morning asking yourself: Why crochet? I'm here to provide the answer.

 First, a crocheted tee/tank top:

http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/pdf/SundanceNotYellowTank.pdf 
 

You may remember that about a month ago I was blithely designing my own top-down crocheted top. You may not remember that I canned the project fast because I had no clue on how to work my way from the neck down. As I remember it, my design was developing into a new geometric shape rather than a top.

Well, Kristen TenDyke has done what I couldn't: She has designed a top-down tank top which, once you work past the yoke increases is so unbelievably easy to work. Thank you, Kristen.

I cast on for the yoke yesterday and this morning I'm already two inches into the bodice. The yoke and the top of the bodice are done in half double crochet and you can see the bodice changes into a V-stitch design. I'm not wild about this look so I may continue with the HDC throughout or pick up the stitches and work a knitted stitch for the bodice.

Now for anyone who likes this pattern and wants to start crocheting, let me say that the Ravelry comments mention the difficulty in working the yoke increases. You produce a slight raglan look in your yoke increases so you want to get a diagonal line look, not a wonky line look.

#1 Neck band of the top

Yesterday after I fell in love with this pattern, I was feverishly writing notes to myself to make the increases easier and I'm going to post them here. 

I'll start with the neckband of the top at the left. (Sorry, this would not rotate properly. The back of the top is at the hook.) The directions say: Ch 96 and join. You're looking at this but soon after the picture I restarted with a foundation single crochet row (google the process, it's a great crochet foundation row) which was easier to join.

I made a list of explanations and suggestions which, I hope, make the yoke increase section easier. (I'm only using my size for the example.) Here they are:

1. Make a more-than-you’ll-need amount of long yarn threads in two colors. I'll call them 1st color and 2nd color markers below. (I like long threads rather than typical markers.) Make one long thread in a 3rd color.
2. If you make a personal copy when working this pattern, eliminate all the sizes except yours. (So cuts down on confusion.)

2a. (Variation: Work a row of 96 foundation single crochets instead of your typical beginning chain row and don’t work Round 1 but start on Round 2. Then the hdc referred to in Row 2 will be sc to you.)
3. Join your first row with a slip stitch and put a marker in this slip stitch (Very important throughout.)
4. Your original stitches are going to be divided into four sections: 1st sleeve, back, 2nd sleeve, front and Round 2 will set-up how many stitches are in each section.
5. You will begin each round with a Ch-2 which you are always to consider as a half double crochet. But I can’t figure out how this Ch-2 comes into the count of stitches. It seems to be used only as the “anchor” for the slip stitch which ends the round and connects the end of the round to the beginning. Still, be sure to mark this Ch-2 sp throughout.

I’m going to dissect Round 2 because this round is different from Rounds 3 and 4 which will be your repeat rounds for the yoke increases. If you get past Round 2, it's easy as pie. I'll be working with my size which has a CO of 96 stitches.
Terms: PM = place marker; (# of sts) = # of sts after the increases, hdc = half double crochet, st = stitch, sp = space
Rnd 2: (inc of 8 sts) Ch 2
1. This is always considered one hdc. Put the 3rd color marker in the space this ch-2 makes.
1st sleeve section: 2 hdc in 1st hdc, 1 hdc in next 15 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (19 sts)
1, You are working with 17 hdc from Round 1 and increasing them to 19 sts.
2. Using the 1st color markers across the row for this, put a marker in the 1st hdc of the previous round.
3. Count out 17 sts (hdc) and put a 1st color marker in the 17th hdc.
4. Work 2 hdc in the first marked stitch. Work 1 hdc in the next 15 sts. Then work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch.

5. Put a 2nd color marker after this increase. (This marker will separate the double increases you do on Row 4 throughout the yoke. I think this is more important if you use the pattern's marking system rather than mine, but be safe and use it.)
5. You have completed one sleeve section with increases to 19 sts.
Back section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next in 29 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (33 sts)

1. Put a 1st color marker in the next st in the round.

2. You will be working with 31 sts and increases into 33 sts.

3. Count out 31 sts and put a 1st color marker in that st.

4. Work 2 hdc in the first marked stitch. Work 1 hdc in the next 29 sts. Then work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch.

5.  Put a 2nd color marker after this increase.

6. You have completed the back section  with an increase to 33 sts.
2nd sleeve section:  Work as the 1st Sleeve section.
Front section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next 30 hdc including the joining sl st of previous rnd, sl st into first hdc to join.

1. This section is slightly tricky. In this section, after your beginning increase you seem to work straight on 30 sts. I only get 32 stitches for this section that way. 2 inc + 30 = 32

2. Here's what I did. Put a 1st color marker in the first st of the section, as usual.

3. Count across 31 sts and mark this last st with a 1st color marker (as usual.) You may find that the slip stitch you marked at the beginning is the 31th st.
4. Work across as the Back section making the beginning and end increases as usual.

5. Join your round with a slip stitch in the Ch2-sp which is always the 1st hdc (remember you marked this also before and be sure to mark it throughout the yoke.)

At the end of the round you have, in my size: 104 hdc; 19 sts each sleeve; 33sts each front and back.

The most important thing is that these sections are symmetrical with all the increases in the same place. That's why you're using all these markers throughout the yoke section. Believe me, Round 2 is the toughest round. After R2, you will be alternating increase rounds. In Round 3, you will increase 2 sts only in the front and back sections. In Round 4, you will increase two sts in all four sections. For my size, I only had to repeat these two round once before I was ready for the armholes.

I worked up my own marking system as you can see from the above. I made sure I always had markers in:

1. The Chain-2 space.

2. The slip stitch joining the round.

3. Every first and last stitch of the section, whether I had to increase in that stitch or not. 

4. Between two "2 hdc in 1 hdc" which were next to each other in the increases in Round 4.

After that, I made a chart of the stitches for each section at the end of each row. For example: At the end of Row 2, I've increased all the sections and the sleeve sections are increased to 19 sts. However in Round 3, I only make increases in the front and back sections. So, for Round 3, after I marked my Ch-2 sp at the beginning, I marked the 1st stitch in the sleeve section and the 19th stitch. Then I just worked even across. At the end of Row 2, I had 33 stitches in the back/front sections so I marked the 1st st and the 33th st of the back/front sections and increased in those two stitches.

Here's a quick summary of the increases after Row 2 which I think I worked out in the middle of night last night.

To work increases after Round 2:
Start at the first sleeve section and look back at the final count for that section in the previous row. Mark the first and last st of this count on your present row. If there are no increases just work one hdc in each hdc across. If it is an increase section, make two hdcs in the first and last marked sts. Rep this for each section

It was definitely a lot of marking and counting but I think this pattern is worth it. Plus after your first top, it will become so much easier.

I'm doing my first top in junk yarn for practice. I'm sorry I did and I think you should be able to work in good yarn from the start.

Once you get to the armhole, you will cast on stitches for one underarm (cast on loosely), work even across the back, cast on again, and then work even across the front. Just be sure your stitch count stays the same. The pattern says to ditch the markers in this section but I still marked the 1st and last stitches in the front and back sections.

OK, that's it. I'm zonked! See you next Friday.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

And sometimes, sometimes very rarely, all the schlepping of kids here and there and here again for all their activities since schools have cut extracurricular bus service because the idea of so many more "mom cars" in use for pollution transportation appealed to them, pays off.

 

The girl had a very short command performance of the marching band for all the school system's teachers who were gathered at the high school yesterday. The HS is by the library so the boy and I decided to go there and wait. Now if no one knows this, I own a zillion books because I never seem to leave all those book sales I've visited without an arm breaking load. So it was natural that I took a look at the library's used book sale ($1 per, unless otherwise marked.) I wasn't the first that morning as I followed a man who was perusing the sale most carefully. However, not careful enough since he walked past 6 brand new volumes of Spielvogel's Western Civilization, 7th edition (the student and the instructor edition.)

 

So I gathered them all up and  went to a nearby carrel to check and see if I was going to buy all of them. With that, the girl arrives (I told you it was a very short show) and says: It's only $5, why don't you buy them all? Up to the counter I go where three women were very, very busy but one finally agreed to acknowledge me and I showed her that the books were not "otherwise marked", handed her my $5 and left.

 

I got home and started googling Spielvogel. He's PhD-ed from Ohio State University with a specialty in Reformation history. (Aside: Amazon shows the these books sell for about $125 each. But, adding to the Gone With The Wind advice: Never sell the land, I never sell books.)

 

Spielvogel has written  top-notch texts on western civilization. You couldn't ask for a more understandable, more readable, more interesting (primary source selections. charts, maps, etc.) source of world history. The girl starts Advanced World History tomorrow and it was so serendipitous for these books to appear just now. With the dearth of knowledge about any history among most US students, I would love to see these texts as required reading in high schools.

Now, I'm not going to link you to Amazon to purchase these texts but here's a link for you:

http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0534646026&discipline_number=21

 

This will take you to a a chapter by chapter review for the 6th edition of Western Civilization. You get interactive quizzes and tests (while you can't submit your answers - well, you can but I doubt you'll get a response - you can use the questions as a guide), flashcards, interactive maps, interactive time lines, etc. It's free to use and it's another example of why the internet is so great.  

OK, sorry for all the enthusiasm but I am loving reading these books!

 

Let's start with something edgy and interesting:

 

http://chicquero.com/ 

 

It's pictures and text. It's edgy and makes you think. Be sure to click on the Categories link on the right and under Culture you get to see what Barbie and Ken are up to. 

Their About says: Chic [French] meaning stylish or smart, as an element of art, fashion and design. Quero [Portuguese] verb. like, want; will, desire; love; list. An  i n s p i r a t i o n a l  place, created to vulgarize trends, expand beauty and share fashion thoughts!

 

It's not for everybody; definitely not for kids. For some reason, it reminds me of Altman's message in Prêt-à-Porter. Expand your mind and take a look.

 

http://angrytorro.com/post/4200 

 

Be sure to scroll through Angy Torro (love that name) but I'm really posting it for Einstein's Riddle which is a classic logic problem and is currently on Torro's first page. If it's not, be sure to find it, solve it and then please place a comment here. I love to work this type of logic problem and except for the multi-complicated ones of "If neither Jane nor Bob ate ice cream nor pickles but one of them liked onions......." where, if I had Alexander's sword, I would just slice through rather than solve as he apparently did when presented with the puzzle of the Gordian Knot. However, I think that Einstein's Riddle is missing a clue. I don't think it's solvable as written. Or if it is, you must make an assumption which only someone with Einstein's brain would see.

After you solve ER, take a longer look through AT and don't miss the section on "If child's drawings were made into toys." Its a hoot.

 

OK, I could go on because I have 100 nutrition tips also. But I've been discussing my diet on Knitting Friday so I think I'll post that site then.

 

My Western Civilization book is right in front of me and I'm going grab a few minutes with it before things get hectic around here. See you Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Long before I ever understood the last line in Candide:  “All that is very well,” answered Candide, “but let us cultivate our garden.” I was speaking with a friend who had a priest as a good friend. She was saying how she and he had a conversation recently where he spent the evening explaining theology. And I said, I'm sure rather glibly: I'm afraid he's just sifting sands. And she said: That's what we're all doing. And talk about one of those epiphany moments; the times when a thought you never could have imagined would hit you does and another piece of that philosophical puzzle you grapple with all your life falls in place.

The coda for The House of Sand (2005) is another such moment and, as all such epiphanies should be, it was not expected.

The House of Sand is a visually beautiful, visually desolate movie with a surreal minimum of main cast since mother and daughter at different ages are played by the same real life mother/daughter actresses and it works. 

Two woman, mother and pregnant daughter are taken by the daughter's fanatical husband from their comfortable life in the city to live in the Brazilian desert and when he dies and they are robbed of their possessions, the movie then takes you on their odyssey of surviving in this wilderness. 

Nothing really happens except watching the women develop the survival skills necessary to live in a hostile land where their ability to interact with the local runaway slave population proves vital. A baby girl is born, time passes and when she is still a child we see her mother trekking across the desert and discovering a group of scientists. Hope springs that deliverance from the desert is near but nature intervenes. It is not until the end of the movie that the deux ex machina does finally arrive for real.

In the hands of a less capable director and cast, all of the above which may sound like the tears of boredom could be played that way. But it's not. This is a small movie, an "art" movie, but it grabs and holds you. No CGI here just unbelievable natural scenery with enough developments in the plot to prevent you from fidgeting your way through to the end.

And then at the end. After you thought you were watching a very well-made melodrama about three generation of women surviving, the director shows you that this movie has had a greater meaning. With just a simple conversation between the middle-aged daughter (the one who wasn't born as the movie started) and her aged mom (the pregnant daughter), you realize that you've been watching a movie which runs much deeper than its surface plot.

The House of Sand  is  a well-constructed, well-acted "small" foreign film and it's got a nice, quietly powerful philosophical punch which moves it to the front of the line in this category of film. Don't miss it if you can.