Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

I'm beginning to wonder why people praise hospice care so highly. Maybe I'm being too fussy (after all their patients are dying) but couldn't they wash their hands before the touch the patient? Of all the nurses (regular and sub) only one came in, said hello and then "Let me wash my hands first." And now there is this snafu my hospice is embroiled in. Our regular hospice nurse didn't come on Wednesday but the company called and said she was sick. Thursday, no nurse by 11:30 a.m. so I called and was told our nurse is still sick but a substitute would be coming in the afternoon. And then, in a most serendipitous moment, I asked: Could you tell me the nurse's name? and when she returned from checking, she said: Oh no, no one is coming today. Someone will be there on Friday. Jesus H. Christ! This is an organization which eases the pain at the end of life? I'm just getting a good dose of angst from all this! Finally, I spoke with the Case Manager and asked point blank: Has our nurse left the company? and got: Oh no, she needed a break. She'll be back on Monday. Another J.H.C! Am I to believe that this company which doles out 12 cents an hour raises to their nurses also gives them 5-day long weekend breaks, leaving their patients in limbo? More on this next week. I have my money on our getting a new hospice nurse then. I'll be shocked to see our regular one return. But, I will "eat crow" if necessary.

 

Dealing with end-of-life issues as I am, I start to look around and say: I have collected a mother-lode of yarn which will be left, one day, to a bunch of non-knitters. This is why I Russian-joined together 2 and 1/2 small containers of remnant yarn to make DM this hospital bed cover:

#1 Corner to Corner Afghan

It's the Red Heart Corner-To-Corner Afghan:

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/crochet-corner-corner-throw

 

which was the pattern I used for the first lace shawl I ever made. The pattern above just goes from the increase section to the decrease section so you produce a square. However, I remembered the way you make this into a rectangle: At your width, increase at the beginning to the row and decrease at the end. Keep the increases on one end and the decreases on the other until you reach your length. (Just read the directions for the decrease section, it's very easy to figure this method out.) Once you reach the length you want, work the pattern for the decreasing rows. You'll find that a lot of yarn gets used in this decreasing section. Here's a close-up picture of the pattern detail:

#2 Pattern detail

I have to say this was the most fun in crocheting or knitting that I've had in a long while. Mindless but the color changes kept me interested.

Also this week, I'm working on another Bow Tie Pi shawl (see last Friday for pattern link.) That also is such a fun pattern to work. I'm making it in white since I only have one white shawl. This is more of a caplet style shawl. I wore the other one I made in beige cotton thread to Sam's Club last week and I was very pleased that the cluster edging (see last Friday) made a very soft "collar."

 

Here's the new one:

#3 Bow Tie Pi

And finally, remember the black cotton cardi which became the black cotton top? Well, it now dwells in the frog pond. I really don't like heavier black cotton but I keep knitting it. However, I tried on a black shrug I made some time ago in a heavier black cotton. Here's the pattern:

http://cache.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/patternFinder.fcgi?language=&store=%2Fstores%2Flionbrand&search=1&searchText=lacy+knit+shrug&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

 

and that one looks good. So, I hope to make another one in black, ASAP.

 

Some suggestions for this shrug:

1. Read the comments for hints.

2. Work the sleeve ribbing in seed and in the round.

3. Work the sleeve ribbing on smaller needles and fewer stitches then the body.

4. Once you finish your last row of seed ribbing, increase to the number of stitches you need for the body (it's a P row so this is easy) and change your needle size up.

5. Work across to the other sleeve ribbing, keeping a few stitches (add these to the count you increased to) in seed on the long ends.

6. Once you reach the other sleeve ribbing, decrease your needle size, stitch count and start knitting in the round again.

 

That's it. Easy as pie!

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

  

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Yesterday was a day of discovery for me and not in the good way. DM, after about two weeks into her hospice program, "sprouted" (that's really the only word for it; smooth skin one day and chaos starting on the next) vascular nodules on her arm. DH called it as a cancer immediately, I, however, disbelieved and daily cared for the large scab which formed with antibiotic, alcohol, zinc oxide and gauze - until yesterday that is. For it was then the good treatment I had applied for about two months caused the scab to loosen. But I was not not looking at the smooth red skin under a normal scab; I was looking at the same small vascular nodules we had started with and I knew that whatever palliative treatment I applied, I was looking at cancer. Which, without excision, was going to stay forever and grow. Soon after this discovery, the verdict regarding Bradley Manning was announced.

 

And then the metaphor hit me. There was Manning trying to inform the public about governmental misdeeds as courageous whistle blowers have through history and I trying to excise a cancer with daily palliative treatment. What I saw under the scab yesterday, what the jury said to Manning yesterday just confirms that cancers, like this skin carcinoma, like the tyranny of the US government, just don't go gentle into the night. Good intentions do not stop cancer's progress. Ironically, the US has one of the most aggressively publicized treatment programs in the world for human cancers. It's the national cancer we ignore until I'm afraid we, as a people, will be "strangled" within the center of a Gordian Knot and you remember what Alexander the Great had to do to untangle that bugger.

Just a few picks today:

  

http://www.fullpunch.com/random/28-lovely-father-and-son-pictures-to-make-you-smile.html 

 

Full Punch has a lot of dad and son pictures. A little late for Father's Day but many are touching; some funny; some sad. Many are obviously not spontaneous shots but all are worth the look. (Full Punch was a 12/2012 pick.)

I'm going to pick another past pick with Flavor Wire (3/2012) because I have always been fascinated as to why people become actors:

http://flavorwire.com/360388/25-famous-actors-ridiculing-their-profession/view-all

 

OK, I get the early Greek dramas like Antigone, The Birds or Oedipus. They were holding a mirror up for humans to judge their lives and world. But Iron Man 3, Police Academy CCCXXX? It's interesting to read the self-deprecation from actors. Almost all the successful ones know that they are very lucky.

  

And finally:

http://www.drweb.de/magazin/60-remarkable-examples-of-graffiti-art/

 

60 examples of graffiti art. How more anti-establishment can you get? These look like all out-of-the-USA graffiti since probably in the US, graffiti = vandalism and this might net you more jail time than illegal (is there such a thing anymore?) gun possession. Be sure to click the links in comments for more graffiti. Interesting stuff, interesting visions.

That's it for this week. See you next Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Sorry for this late posting but finally I have some time to sit down and type. I came late into an admiration of Elizabeth Zimmerman, the doyenne of knitting,  but my first foray into the type of shawl patterns she popularized has made me an acolyte.

 

#1 EZ Pi Shawl

#1 is a crocheted shawl using DMC Cebelin crochet cotton thread. It's called the Bowtie Pi shawl and Cheri McEwen designed it based on EZ's Pi recipe:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bowtie-pi 

 

And, of course, I like most all knitters, re-designed it in that after initial increases, I worked most of the shawl in Row 3 (a non-increase row.) That's because I was making a summer shawl and didn't want/need all the width of the original. I edged the sides and top with evenly spaced 2 double crochets - chain 2 - 2 double crochet clusters. When I reached the bottom edge I made 3 triple crochets - chain 2 - 3 triple crochets clusters in each ch2-space of all the bottom double crochet clusters. Then, when I reached the side edge again, I continued triple crochet clusters in all the double crochet ch2-spaces. I looks great. Can't wait to wear it.

#2 Doesn't look good

#3 Looks good

 

 Pictures 2 and 3 are the reason I swatch shawls (and not much else.)

In #2, you have the Vintage Shawl:

 http://freevintagecrochet.com/shawl-pattern/hilde76no374-shellstitch-stole

 

 (Sorry, pic came in sideways. The top is on the left.) It looked pretty nice in the swatch above but when I started to crochet it up, it looked crappy. Then I discovered the Sherbet Wrap:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sherbet-wrap

 

which is practically the same double crochet cluster stitch as the Vintage Wrap except you work it in every stitch across unlike the VS where you have a *DC cluster, then a double crochet* across. Just that small variation made the Knit Picks variegated yarn in #3 pop. I need a mindless "pick me up, put me down" project right now and this one fits the bill. Plus, I think I'm going to like it.

 

#5 Not so wide bottom hem

Got to end now because I've been away from my patient too long but here's that white top (#4) from a few weeks ago where I made the bottom hem flair out.

#4 Wide bottom hem

 

As you can see from pic #4 to #5, the hem has been taken in slightly. It's still too boxy (probably could have knitted on 5 - 10 fewer stitches for the body) but it's wearable this way. (Oh boy, I just noticed that #4 and #5 look like two completely different tops! What did I do?)

I still have a lot of stuff like pictures of Miss A and that black cardi which is now a black top and something about two copyrighted patterns which look awfully alike to me. But this will all have to wait for next week, or beyond. 

See you then. Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

I could string some words together and give you my opinions regarding the US role in the depressing state of the world today but it's been said before and said better so go and listen to/read the Cornell West/Amy Goodman interview at:

 

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/22/cornel_west_obamas_response_to_trayvon 

 

and then to:

 

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/313417-1 

 

for Jeremy Scahill's talk at C-Span on his book, Dirty Wars. 

 

West (OK, I do have trouble with his pontificating tone) will take Obama to task for his feeble response to racism in the US and Scahill will enlighten and disgust you as he discusses the megalomaniacal imperialist giant the US has willingly become.

 

On to my website picks, which may be more cheerful. And, just posting them as I saved them, we start with castles of Wales:

http://www.castlewales.com/home.html 

 

This has got to be Jeffrey L. Thomas' labor of love. You'll get the history of Welsh castles here with great pictures; many of castles, some of empty land or small houses where the castles used to stand. But there's so much more because after the pictures, Thomas presents the history of these past times, when kings were kings and serfs were serfs. As you know, I'm fascinated as to how the past lived and this site will give you a great window to a sliver of this past. Be sure to click around the top menu bar for hours of viewing and reading.

 

Just a quickie with this one:

 

http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2012/12/geometric-snow-art-simon-beck/?showall=true 

 

But, can you believe the artistic work this man accomplishes with only snowshoes (he's really not dressed for snow)? This guy is amazing.

 

I don't know if I can't die happy without traveling the following roads in Roads To Drive Before You Die:

http://twistedsifter.com/2013/03/roads-to-drive-before-you-die/

 

but I do enjoy looking at these roads from the comfort of my computer screen. Take a look at the Tianman Mountain Road in China or the Sani Pass in South Africa. Now these are what I would call a challenge! I first picked Twisted Sifter in 10/12 but some sites are definitely worth the return visit.

This following blog is a dormant site (last entry in 2011) and not user friendly (no links to the banned books) but it's worth a look at the list of 25 Banned Books That You Should Read Today:

http://degreedirectory.org/articles/25_Banned_Books_That_You_Should_Read_Today.html

 

Many of these books I know; some I don't. What do you think? Should we read them today?

 

And let me leave you with horrible book covers at:

 

http://ramp.ie/index.php/columns/top-tens/top-ten-horrible-book-covers/ 

 

I love this list. Ah, the innocence of by-gone days. Who can forget that classic: Games You Can Play With Your Pussy. I refuse to believe anything here was photo shopped!

 

Be sure visit all the links at Ramp.ie. What's not to love about a site which says of itself: Ramp.ie is an online magazine, driven by original content and the insatiable need to impress our mothers. And, they write well.

 

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

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Sitting on the front porch yesterday, waiting for the hospice nurse, (not because her patient had taken a turn downward (she had) and I wanted to speak with her but because I didn't want her to ring the bell and awakened the pup who now has a temporary abode in the darkened laundry room where the right-off-the floor AC vent is her and her stuffed dog pal's favorite place to sleep,) I had a straight view of the front garden shrubs with their new growth which the Association gardeners have not trimmed for the season yet and I thought: Just what is the purpose of humans? The best I could come up with is: to husband and nurture all the new growth on this planet. Pretty much of a Hallmark greeting card type of philosophy but that was the best I could do at the moment.

 

Which leads me into my mea culpas: few pictures today, little knitting all week. As I've said earlier, I thought I would be knitting up a storm in my down time but it's not happening.

 

But I do have some pattern links for you; sort of my wish list:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/maraschino-lace-shawl 

 Again, a Ravelry link but this time it's a knit. A little backstory: During a trip to A.C. Moore with one of their rare discount coupons for everything regular and sale price, I picked up some heavy black nylon thread. Memories are iffy but I think I was into knitted jewelry at the time. Well, that ship has sailed and I'm looking at 150 yards of this beauty and no pattern. I think the Maraschino Lace Shawl may be the solution. It is such an easy pattern with big holes so 150 yards will "expand." A couple of hints based my on swatching it:

1. Lace metal Chiagoo needles are lovely but slippery with the double YOs.

2. The pattern calls for US 6 needles. My swatch is on US 11 and it's working well on DK weight.

3. Other knitters on Ravelry say that the edge stitches where you increase with a K front and back gives a tight edge so knit them loosely. I'm not having that problem but then I'm a loose knitter.

4. Watch the double YOs when you work them on the next row. These rows are all purl except for the double YOs which are P1, K1. This is counter intuitive  since you want to just purl across.

5. A possible variation which I haven't tried yet: Don't work Chart A. Cast on 16 stitches and start with Chart B. I wonder if this would give a crescent shape? This needs exploring.

 

The second project I'm swatching is:

 

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/clc-vest.html?noImages= 

 

This is a Doris Chan (crochet queen) Lion Brand vest. Which has slight sleeves so it's more of a cardi than vest. It only got a 2.1 score (pretty low) out of 24 reviews. I have a feeling this pattern was revised from the original, though there are no corrections listed. I'm only through Row 5 so trouble could lay ahead but I think if you just work each row as written, you'll be OK. One suggestion: be sure to mark the corners after the first row. If you forget: looking at the vest before you start Row 4 and counting the beginning Ch3, DC as your first 2-DC set, the corners are the 2nd, 5th, 9th, 12th 2-DC sets across. Good luck with this one. I'm excited about this project. More on this another day.

Now for some pictures:

#1 This isn't knitting!

Well, not knitting pictures but on the left is the skirt I made from a sun dress whose top had seen better days. I really liked the print so now I have a summer skirt.

#2 Still not knitting

On the right is another recycled skirt. I loved the hem on this one but you can see that the cut off top (right in pic) was pretty skimpy. So this sun dress has another life as a skirt. Shows you what elastic and a sewing machine can accomplish quickly.

#3 What was I thinking?

And finally, remember this (#3) from last Friday? I was saying how the bottom hem flared but that was OK. Well, it wasn't OK. I ripped out the hem and redid it on a much smaller crochet hook (F). Haven't tried it on yet but if it's still too wide, I'll have to skip some stitches along the bottom hem.
But I do love the yarn in this top!

That's it for today. See you next Friday. Happy knitting.

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

OK, it looks like whatever formatting demons were visiting this site on Monday have left so before they return thinking: Let's reformat this site again so it looks real crappy, let me post my picks for today:

 

I'll start with a visual:

 

http://ingesidee.de/dateien/grafiken/de/_german_panther_2007_luftballon_luft_kleber_balloon_air_glou_960_x370_x_300cm-l.jpg 

 

Wouldn't it be great if all weapons were made of balloons and all wars could be ended with simple sewing pins. I'm assuming these balloons are much better grade than the "pop as you blow" birthday party grade balloons I use.

 

If you're thinking: Boy, that first pick was soooo easy, here's one to challenge you:

 

http://www.collective-evolution.com/ 

Collective Evolution says of itself: Collective Evolution (CE) creates content that engages us all to begin thinking consciously about what it means to be a human on the planet. So you know they mean business.

CE moves you out of your normal comfort zone of thinking. For example: Do you like TED? Do you think most of their lectures are interesting, edgy, up-to-date? But did you know that TED censors some talks? For example, when billionaire (How do you amass that much money? And, how can you possibly hide it under your bed?), Nick Hanauer gave a popular talk: Rich People Don’t Create Jobs, TED didn't list it on its website. (I just checked; it's not there.) because it was too partisan. I don't know if I would find Hanauer's talk on income and inequality in the USA as partisan as the TED censor board (didn't even know they had one) but: Hey, TED, I'm a big girl and I want to make such decisions. Post the damn lecture! (Note: CE has the video of the lecture.)

Take a look around at CE. Their home page isn't the snappiest (well, neither is mine) but I like their Article Shuffle feature. You'll need your thinking cap on here; you'll get a lot of ideas you didn't expect. 

 

DM was obviously cornering the market on coconut flakes (she told me she was going to make macaroons; she has never made macaroons) so this recipe page popped out for me:

http://everycollegegirl.com/how-to-make-a-no-bake-energizing-bite-sized-snack/

 

It's no-bake energy bites using peanut butter and 1 cup of coconut flakes. There are some other ingredients like honey and flax seed which may "offend" the kids' palate so I may eliminate them. Also, they don't really like coconut but if the taste is masked by the peanut butter, I'm not averse to lying that the texture is something else. I am so bad!

 

It looks like I've never used Every College Girl as a website pick before so be sure to click around. It's not just for college kids.

 

And now, I'm going to tell you that I just self-censored my final pick of the day, Answering Christianity, because it was troublingly controversial in the sense that, among other things, it disbelieves the official stories for Pentagon bombing on 9/11 and the recent Boston Marathon bombing. (In our new wacky world of surveillance, perhaps just my visiting this site will get me new readers from the NSA and FBI!)

I had chosen Answering Christianity because of its page on bible contradictions which I found interesting and sort of a fun exercise.

I used the bible site:

http://www.biblegateway.com/ 

 

to check out these contradictions. (Bible Gateway is an excellent site for bible research.) And yes, these contradictions are true but then the bible is a narrative written by many people over many years; it would be surprising if contradictions didn't occur.

However, as I dug deeper into Answering Christianity I knew this was not the site I originally thought it was. It is an Islamic religion site (no problem there) which, as you scroll down, gets into some out-of-the-norm conspiracy theories. I do think it's important to know that there are a mother-lode of conspiracy theories out there and I also I think it's very important for reliable scholars to address these theories and not just avid partisans. But all this is not the purpose of Website Wednesday so I pull the pick.

Let me end with a website pick from a few months ago because I need this picture to soothe my soul:

http://onebigphoto.com/real-life-simba-and-nala/

 

Oh, please don't tell me that is is photo-shopped!

 

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

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich

Editing Note: Something very wacky is happening on this web page today in regards to editing. I can't justify my text (move the banner to the center, remove the end-of-line jagged edges) and the first paragraph after Movie Monday looks all pushed together. All I can do is apologize for the lousy look because none of the fixes I'm trying work.

Movie Monday

Ceberus at Sadly, No!* succinctly uses expletives to sum up the tragedy and travesty surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman and Zimmerman's recent acquittal in a criminal trial. The jury couldn't even convict on 2nd degree manslaughter! (Zimmerman was charged with 2nd degree murder but during the trial the judge ruled that the jury could consider the lesser charge of manslaughter.) Wow!

No legal expert I,  but I've read enough about the law to know that the premeditated part of a crime, like in premeditated murder, can mean the simplest decision the criminal makes before he commits the crime. Like in this case, Zimmerman's decision to follow Martin after 911 told him not to. But the death of a unarmed 17 year old boy by a vigilante "stalker" armed with a gun can't even muster a manslaughter conviction in this old USA!

I'm not going to rehash this yet-another shame of American justice. It isn't the first time; it won't be the last. Shit happens. But I will quote this line from Ceberus: Fuck our toxic masculinity gun culture and the way its erosion of rights have conspired to invent a means to turn LYNCHING into America's Favorite Legal Pastime, because it sums up the perfect storm of that dreadful night: hyper-testosterone, a lethal weapon, insane Stand Your Ground laws and sub- rosa racism.

Just a short review of Celeste and Jesse Forever. You get a glimpse of a young hipster marriage which has ended after 6 years without rancor. In fact, for most of the movie Celeste and Jesse remain BFFs. Very American, witty, peppered with the young, trendy as in the important plot point (with a stereotypical presentation unfortunately) involving gays, littered with bon mots and verve but ultimately shallow. Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage it ain't. Soon into these pepped-up tribulations of young marrieds and their we-are-so-in-love-but-can't-make-it-work  angst, I, and apparently many other viewers, just quit caring.

*7/14/13 posting

Capitalism - Feudalism without the King
Tax the Rich 

Knitting Friday 

Awakened at 4 am, started up DH's computer (because I need pics on KF and most of the time these don't get backed up on my computer) and was hit with a red warning sign of dangerous malware. Nice person that I am, didn't awakened DH until 6 a.m. when he started a 3+ hours full scan. Long story short: I didn't get another chance to post KF until now. Which is much too late because the kids, the dog, my sick patient are all up and running. So this is going to be very, very short. Sorry.

#1 F & F shawl

 I finally finished my crochet feather and fan shawl. It became quitting time for this beauty (and it really is a beauty) because I got so tired of the two row pattern and the crochet hook slipped from the bag and disappeared. I got to finish the last few rows with a H hook which I think is the size I was using.

Unfortunately, I can't find the free pattern for this. It must be in an earlier posting and I'll get it for next week.

#2 Foundation sc neckband

Also, I finished my white top (which had been frogged two times, washed with weights and re-knit finally into a top with a flared bottom.) I never make flared bottom hems but I decided to do something different. Don't know if I like it so it may get a re-do at the hem. But I do love the foundation single crochet neckband. I posted the directions for this about two weeks ago and I'm quite a happy camper regarding the finished look you get with it.

Right now, I'm working on this project:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/in-the-midnight-hour

In the Midnight Hour. It's a free crochet Ravelry download and it's made as a mobius. But I really like the pattern so I'm going to try and re-construct it as a shawl. More on this later.

Sorry I have to run but the house is bustling. That's the reason I like awakening at 4 a.m.; you can get so much done in a before-dawn household.

See you next week. Happy knitting.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday - again

 

OK, my patient is stable in the next room so let me try to list some websites. Apologies if I've posted these recently, but I'm not at a computer which has the most recent list of my previous picks.

http://www.studentbeans.com/student-money/a/20-amazing-ways-to-make-your-old-stuff-awesome3723.html

 

I love it when people recycle (more on this Friday) and here are some interesting (I don' t know if I'd use "amazing") ways to use old stuff for new and useful purposes. Student Beans is a UK site which has been around since 2005. Even if you're not a student be sure to click around.

 

 You know I'm interested in finding ways that humans can live peacefully (well, if you didn't know that about me before, now you do.) Here's an interesting class on nonviolence which I would like to read this summer. Maybe you would too.

http://1.salsa.net/peace/conv/

There's a lot of readings here so you can pick and choose. I have no idea if humans can live peacefully but this is a good place to start thinking about such things.

The following may be a religious site but I really enjoyed this page:

http://1stholistic.com/Reading/prose/A2007/liv_what-love-means.htm

 

where little kids (age 4 to 7 mostly) define what love means to them. Precious!

Some pictures now:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2356703/Photographer-John-Chapple-takes-award-winning-image-50-megapixel-Hasselblad.html

 

This looks like an ad for Hasselblad but there are some "wow" pictures here. Take a look.

And finally, to impress your friends and family:

 

http://www.all-art.org/contents.html

 

You get art! You get lit! You get culture! Navigating the site is a little quirky; be sure to scroll down and to the right. But it's a cornucopia of art history and so much more.

 

That's it for today. See you Friday.