October 2005 Archives
I had a great time at the Knit in the City event on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, although it got a bit hot in the afternoon. Surprisingly, most of the people in the Yarn Lounge were there to learn to crochet, not to knit and I only ended up teaching 4 people to knit. I did wander off a bit to check Sandra's progress on her giant 8 foot knitting needles, shown here. But every time I cycled back to the yarn lounge, there were only crocheters. I can crochet a little, but not well enough to teach. My swatches come out more trapezoidal than rectangular, because I don't really get what to do at the end of the rows.
Here's Sandra's completed scarf for the Pink Scarf Style competition. She ended up winning honorable mention, I think, and was awarded with this book: 
I won this book. Now, I am not one to complain about free... but this isn't a book I would have purchased. It's full of garments made of simple shapes (triangles, squares, and rectangles), but out of all kinds of crazy yarns like Trendsetter and Prism. And something with balls of fox or rabbit fur. Just not my style. Monika, who has a vision I can only dream of, looked through the book and was oohing and ahing and saying wouldn't this look great felted, or other ideas that pop into her head. I really tried to visualize some of these garments in, maybe, solid colored yarns, or something simple like cotton or wool, and really had trouble. Anyway, I will hang onto it for inspiration for color combinations and such.
adnohr needs scope of work for the co-investigator to get started. I sure do!
adnohr needs no help. Never!
adnohr needs to win because she is the only candidate. Wouldn’t that be sad if I didn’t?
adnohr needs to know who he is. I guess...
adnohr needs a new outfit. It’s true.
adnohr needs to move more and eat less. Sadly, this is all too true.
adnohr needs our prayer! If you think it will help
adnohr needs to sign. Anything in particular?
adnohr needs to come out of serious suits and career minded sweats into something more appealing. Career minded sweats? What the heck is that?
adnohr needs your support to stay sober. I think I’m doing okay here.
adnohr needs a "clean" trash can and an Everclear brew! I wonder if I do?
adnohr needs to focus on things that are a lot more important than this personal beef she has with some airport security groper. Now this one sounds interesting...
adnohr needs to get a dildo! What's wrong with the one I have now?
adnohr needs to apologize. Uh, I’m sorry.
adnohr needs someone to yell at every now and then. Well, who doesn’t need that?
ADNOHR NEEDS EMERGENCY ADVICE. ‘CUZ WE LOVE ADVICE YELLED AT US IN AN EMERGENCY
adnohr needs to build a fence for her dog. I think she does!
adnohr needs to ask for time off to go to Seattle. Oh, I could visit little Wyatt while I’m there!
adnohr needs to call you back. Yeah, cause I’m real busy now.
adnohr needs one to mount. I am sure I do.
adnohr needs to have a place where her readers and fans can email her from her site. What? I have fans?
adnohr needs a little patching up. Sadly, this is true too.
adnohr needs more hands. I could knit those three color stranded rows in Dale of Norway Sweaters if I had more hands.
adnohr needs the Prestone tune up to get back into the field. If I knew what that meant, I might argue with it.
ADNOHR NEEDS HEALING RIGHT NOW LORD WE LIFT HER UP TO YOU RIGHT NOW LORD! What’s with the all-caps Jesus-freaks? No wonder God doesn’t answer with you people yelling at him all the time! I think I'll take the nice quiet prayer offered above, thanks.
adnohr needs a little medical attention. Just a little.
If you want to play, type
...and finally have a perfect graft between the two ends of my scarf. Since I always seem to end up with an extra stitch or two at the end, I thought I would try the method where you add some waste yarn and then sort of trace the stitches of the waste yarn as you join the two pieces together.
Well, I added the waste yarn, as you can see, and began to try grafting. It was a disaster. I couldn't tell if I was even joining the ends or just looping near it. Of course, I had no directions, so that didn't help. In the end, I just took out the waste yarn, got out my trusty friend and did it the old fashioned way. And darned if it didn't come out perfect this time? No extra stitches at the end.
Here she is, all blocked and with the lace opened up nicely.
I'm off to Memorial Park in Pasadena, CA for the Knit in the City event, where I will be handing over the scarf, and teaching some new folk to knit. Since I learned to knit just 4 years ago at the Knit-Out 2001, at the hands of a kind woman with a great attitude, I figure it's now my turn. Trouble is, I knit continental, and really have a hard time knitting English, so that will be hard to teach, but I am sure if I go slow, I'll be good.
See you there!
This is a nipple. I test knit the pattern for a friend for a forthcoming project to reclaim the nipple. She'll explain her reasons for the project on her site, but I'll give some of mine here.
I was astounded by the reaction to the Janet Jackson nipple incident whenever that was, I don't remember, but I was shocked by the rediculous outcry and all the letters to the FCC. People in this country (USA) seem to completely equate nudity with sexuality. Why this is, I don't know, but I am sure it has to do with the Puritan beginnings of the country. But it really is strange since this place is such a melting pot (or salad bowl for the Gen-Y crowd) that this sex/nudity thing persists.
I am convinced, by the types of letters I read on The Smoking Gun (letters sent to the FCC in protest of CBS) that women are completely ashamed of their bodies to the point that they can't even see the bodies of other women, maybe even their own. I know that I am ashamed of some of the attributes of my body, I wish it were smaller, for example, but not of the fact that I am a woman. I think there is a difference between the two.
Is this why there is such a high number of Breast Cancer victims? Are women so afraid of their sexuality that they can't bear to touch their breasts to check for cancer because someone might think they are, what, getting off on it? We are going to have another generation of women that will go back in time to the Victorian age if we let it happen.
The other side of the problem is men. This goes for men in countries that cover up their women as well as women here. Men who can't control themselves have a need to control the objects of their desire instead of themselves. If a woman appears sexy to a man, well, you better cover her up, because there's no telling what might happen. It's going on right here in our country too. Women whose nipples poke through their blouses are tittered at behind their backs, and told to return to their offices to get a sweater. My husband has told me of it happening in places where he worked in the past. I have a co-worker who wears padded bras so her nipples won't show if she gets cold.
Why is this? Everyone has them, we all know what they look like, what happens when we are cold. Why do they have to be hidden behind bras with "maximum nipple coverage" as described in the latest Victoria's Secret catalog? There is no reason why a woman who wears a size DD bra should also have to have it padded so some passer-by won't be offended.
You got a problem with it? Excercise your right to look away, don't keep staring and then complain about what you are looking at.
Some other thoughts on my mind today:
You can't legistate morality.
You do have a right to free speech, but not a right to not be offended by someone else's speech.
Rants for another day, eh?
I've been feeling like some lace, as I mentioned a few entries back. This is the scarf I am working on for the "Knit in the City" event that is happening in a few weeks. I am about at the halfway point, and will be starting from the other end and grafting in the center so that it will look the same from both ends. When it's blocked out, I am sure it will be even more lovely.
This is some KnitPicks Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor. I'm not sure about this yet, I thought the colors would be a little more subtle, but when I get to it, I'll find out for sure. I don't have a specific pattern in mind for it, but it will probably be a Fiber Trends shawl (one of the triangle ones they have) or maybe something from Folk Shawls?
I'm in no hurry, because I also bought some Koigu in shade 1020 which is a nearly solid. I think I may crochet a lacy shrug with it, if there is enough, otherwise, it'll be a scarf, I guess. And there's more, I'm afraid. I bought the whole box of KnitPicks Pallette, it's their "fair isle" yarn. It's lovely and I am sure I will have fun coming up with something to do with it. There was a cool bag in Folk Bags, I forget the name but it's the Welsh version of a sporran and I've wanted to knit the dragon on there for a while, so maybe I'll have a go at that and use it somewhere else, or maybe I'll make the bag, minus the furry loopy bits.
It's funny, I did all this shopping over the course of two weeks and didn't even notice how much I ended up with until putting it all in this entry. I guess I should slow down a bit, eh?
LOVED the movie. Typical Joss, which I can't elaborate on without spoilers, but the surprises were not surprising. It was much like 'Firefly' but richer, with more color and depth. Mal even changed his shirt a few times! Was Zoe wearing her wedding dress at the end of the movie? Is that woman gorgeous or what?
I have to admit that it started off a little stiffly, the dialog had a strange cadence that I didn't notice on Firefly, but as the movie went on, it was like, the actors got their rhythm back and it was part of them again. I loved the opening credits scene as a single 'Citizen Kane' flyover and intro to all the characters (including Serenity). Well done.
One thing I love about the Whedonverse is that Joss can take some actors and put them in these great roles, then turn around and cast them for a season long 'big bad' in the Buffyverse, and then when they are back in the big damn movie, you don't even remember that they were the big bads of elsewhen, because they are such loveable, likeable characters that you perceive the characters rather than the actors playing the roles. I hope that makes sense. As and example, whenever I see a movie with Tom Cruise in it, I never remember the character's name or get very engrossed in the story because, whether the fault is his or the director's, he never stops being Tom Cruise. (I do have an opinion on that but since he is one of those types, I'll just hold on to that.)
Anyway, back to the movie - I wonder where they can go next? I have so many questions. Will we ever find out what the deal was with Shepherd Book? Will Inara stay with Serenity? What's holding them back? Is it because Mal can't ask her to give up her profession to be with him? It certainly would impact his income if she did but he's managed without her for a while, could he keep doing that? Would she never allow Mal to ask her to give up her profession? If he asked, would she do it? All the other questions will have to wait until after everyone's seen the movie, I wouldn't want to be a spoiler.
And can I say thanks to everyone who saw the movie over the summer for not spoiling it for me? I've been a lurker on many a board and haven't seen anything about the MAJOR events that happened in the movie. Considering that Harry Potter 6 was spoiled on the morning news only 3 days after it's release, I am really happy that those who saw the movie early were kind enough to keep it quiet.
I can't wait for the big damn sequel!
