Really, not a button slut.
Rants About New (and old) Things
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Rogue Knitter
After reading about process versus product knitters, I felt well neither fish nor fowl. But I have finally come up with terminology to describe my knitting that makes me happy. I am a rogue knitter. I knit past errors more often than I rip back. I substitute yarn way more often than I use the suggested yarn. I substitute wool for cotton and cotton for wool with little thought for the consequences. (In my defense, it is only recently that I realized there were consequences beyond the changes in washability.)
I hardly ever swatch. Yes, everyone says, it's better if you do. I rely on the gauge listed on the yarn band. Which for someone who knits a bit tight, is heresy I know. And I am sure as I experience more yarns and more patterns I may have to reform my ways. I do know that I am nuts. I have heard the stories of sweaters too big, too small, or totally deformed because the substituted yarn did not have the necessary drape. And at first, when I thought I was only going to knit square things, it didn't matter. And now that I am on a clothing streak, I should reconsider my ways. I'm sure that I should. But much like a child who understands that the advice given is well meaning, I still forge ahead.
However, perhaps influenced by the lovely talk about Geeky Things in No Sheep For You I knit a swatch. Now I didn't keep it, or mark it or do any of the things that would help me next time I try to substitute this yarn.
But I bought some TLC Cotton to make the Cables & O's cardigan. And then realized that the pattern calls for DK weight. So, I swatched. And the needle size went down, down, down. Until I had an epiphany that - checking with a little knitty math (no pun intended) - I could knit one size smaller on the fives and be at the right gauge. So there. I finally made a swatch. But I didn't save it, so I'm still a rogue.
I hardly ever swatch. Yes, everyone says, it's better if you do. I rely on the gauge listed on the yarn band. Which for someone who knits a bit tight, is heresy I know. And I am sure as I experience more yarns and more patterns I may have to reform my ways. I do know that I am nuts. I have heard the stories of sweaters too big, too small, or totally deformed because the substituted yarn did not have the necessary drape. And at first, when I thought I was only going to knit square things, it didn't matter. And now that I am on a clothing streak, I should reconsider my ways. I'm sure that I should. But much like a child who understands that the advice given is well meaning, I still forge ahead.
However, perhaps influenced by the lovely talk about Geeky Things in No Sheep For You I knit a swatch. Now I didn't keep it, or mark it or do any of the things that would help me next time I try to substitute this yarn.
But I bought some TLC Cotton to make the Cables & O's cardigan. And then realized that the pattern calls for DK weight. So, I swatched. And the needle size went down, down, down. Until I had an epiphany that - checking with a little knitty math (no pun intended) - I could knit one size smaller on the fives and be at the right gauge. So there. I finally made a swatch. But I didn't save it, so I'm still a rogue.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Bubble, Bubble
I'm sure each year everyone has one show on the bubble. And I'm sure that the high amounts I watch contribute to my feeling that TV execs don't want me to be happy. But according to various sources the following shows that I watch are in danger.
Veronica Mars: Come on. Don't make hate those dolls. It's a good show with loyal viewers. Isn't that enough?
How I Met Your Mother: Nothing for sure here, just one oblique reference that seems to point to them not being loved. It's a great show that has the potential to be "Friends"-like in its success.
Gilmore Girls: This is contract issue, and I'm fine with however that shakes out.
Friday Night Lights: Best new show this year. Seriously.
Standoff: Cute seems like the wrong word for a show about hostage negotiation, but it kinda is.
The Game - Very cute. And I really think they've done a great job developing the characters this year - being funny without being dumb.
Veronica Mars: Come on. Don't make hate those dolls. It's a good show with loyal viewers. Isn't that enough?
How I Met Your Mother: Nothing for sure here, just one oblique reference that seems to point to them not being loved. It's a great show that has the potential to be "Friends"-like in its success.
Gilmore Girls: This is contract issue, and I'm fine with however that shakes out.
Friday Night Lights: Best new show this year. Seriously.
Standoff: Cute seems like the wrong word for a show about hostage negotiation, but it kinda is.
The Game - Very cute. And I really think they've done a great job developing the characters this year - being funny without being dumb.
Book Rave #6 (or thereabouts)
As you know, I went to Boonsboro to fulfill my promise to be Lani Diane Rich's stalker - at least in the mid-Atlantic region. At one point, I was standing in line peering at the books laid out in front of Lani, trying to figure out which ones I would be getting that day. (They had move all her books down in front of her, so I was not able to get them before getting in line. Which as fine, but it led to this.) At this point most of the line was angled towards La Nora, so another author (I will get her name, it escapes me right now - Cordelia Frances Biddle!) saw me leaning and mationed me forward. I explained I needed to choose before I apporached, otherwise I would choose them all and my budget would be very mad at me. After perusing from afar, I chose Maybe Baby and The Fortune Quilt.
While they are unrelated, I read Maybe Baby first, since it was published first. It is the thoroughly enjoyable story of a woman who has to visit her estranged mother to ask for money to save the family business, and runs into her ex-fiance who is in the process of moving to California to take a job with her nemesis. And there's a bird and a kidnapping or two. Very fun.
I read some other books next to space out and savor the Lani-ness. But then, a listserv I'm on exploded with people talking about it and I knew I needed to hurry up so I could stop closing my eyes as I skimmed passed those emails. So I read it this weekend. Oh my god.
The Fortune Quilt is a quick read. Not because it's short, but because it just reads fast. It is the story of Carly, who is given a quilt by a woman who makes quilts that tell people's fortunes. Except Carly doesn't believe in that crap. Carly is the no nonsense eldest sister, who raised her siblings after her mother abandoned her father and them and she doesn't go for woo-woo stuff. Until her life falls apart. It's funny, it's sad, its a story about family and how to deal with conflict and change and community.
While they are unrelated, I read Maybe Baby first, since it was published first. It is the thoroughly enjoyable story of a woman who has to visit her estranged mother to ask for money to save the family business, and runs into her ex-fiance who is in the process of moving to California to take a job with her nemesis. And there's a bird and a kidnapping or two. Very fun.
I read some other books next to space out and savor the Lani-ness. But then, a listserv I'm on exploded with people talking about it and I knew I needed to hurry up so I could stop closing my eyes as I skimmed passed those emails. So I read it this weekend. Oh my god.
The Fortune Quilt is a quick read. Not because it's short, but because it just reads fast. It is the story of Carly, who is given a quilt by a woman who makes quilts that tell people's fortunes. Except Carly doesn't believe in that crap. Carly is the no nonsense eldest sister, who raised her siblings after her mother abandoned her father and them and she doesn't go for woo-woo stuff. Until her life falls apart. It's funny, it's sad, its a story about family and how to deal with conflict and change and community.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Perhaps I am Strange
I prefer to read and view things in order, for sure. But it doesn't bother me to drop into a series - television or book - when things are already full steam. Sure, there are things that won't totally make sense to me for a while, but good storytelling is good storytelling in the end.
I read the first JD Robb in an anthology. It was immediately clear to me that this was part of a series that I wanted to read, and I hunted down the rest.
The first of Laura Lipmann's Tess Monaghan series that I read was the sixth. It turned out to call back to the first, so it made reading the first after that really cool.
The first episode I watched of "Veronica Mars" was the third (so okay, not that far). And you know how that turned out.
"Buffy" was opposite "Ally McBeal for a while, so I wasn't watching it (pre-DVR). It wasn't until I read an article with Joss Whedon that I decided I should check it out. But I kept forgetting. So the first episode I watched was part two of the second season finale. There was all sorts of stuff I didn't get, but I saw enough to know I needed to start tuning in.
Same with "Battlestar Galactica". All the TWoPpers kept saying it was totally awesome and finally I decided to check it out. I was sure that I would hate it but at least I could say I tried. It was second season (not counting the mini) and so again, many nuances I missed. It was at the point where they had a team down on Caprica and the President was imprisoned and all sorts of things that had taken all this time to build to were going on. But it was clearly great. So, I started tuning in.
So, this talk by all the networks that people get lost or can't come in mid-season - I'm not sure I buy it. I think a lot of the people you lose, are people who never would have stayed anyway. These are not people who want an arcing series, they want a sitcom or a cooking show (not that there's anything wrong with that). But maybe I'm strange.
I read the first JD Robb in an anthology. It was immediately clear to me that this was part of a series that I wanted to read, and I hunted down the rest.
The first of Laura Lipmann's Tess Monaghan series that I read was the sixth. It turned out to call back to the first, so it made reading the first after that really cool.
The first episode I watched of "Veronica Mars" was the third (so okay, not that far). And you know how that turned out.
"Buffy" was opposite "Ally McBeal for a while, so I wasn't watching it (pre-DVR). It wasn't until I read an article with Joss Whedon that I decided I should check it out. But I kept forgetting. So the first episode I watched was part two of the second season finale. There was all sorts of stuff I didn't get, but I saw enough to know I needed to start tuning in.
Same with "Battlestar Galactica". All the TWoPpers kept saying it was totally awesome and finally I decided to check it out. I was sure that I would hate it but at least I could say I tried. It was second season (not counting the mini) and so again, many nuances I missed. It was at the point where they had a team down on Caprica and the President was imprisoned and all sorts of things that had taken all this time to build to were going on. But it was clearly great. So, I started tuning in.
So, this talk by all the networks that people get lost or can't come in mid-season - I'm not sure I buy it. I think a lot of the people you lose, are people who never would have stayed anyway. These are not people who want an arcing series, they want a sitcom or a cooking show (not that there's anything wrong with that). But maybe I'm strange.
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