Various topics

RIP IV
My last short story I read was (again) from Everything’s Eventual. It was “Riding the Bullet”. It was the most thought provoking story in the book. It is about a 21 year old college student who is hitching a ride home to see his mom who is in the hospital. He gets in a car with a dead man who makes him choose between himself and his mom who will get to live. He chooses his life and feels guilty when he gets to the hospital. His mom is still alive, in fact she lives another 7 years, but he knows he has signed her death warrant. However, he does spend the time he has left with her making every day count. Is it better that he knew she would go and spend quality time with her or to not know and live his own life? It made me think about these questions. It is the natural order of things that parents die first. I know that when my sister died, it was crushing to my mother. I know she felt she should have gone before any of us. But to live with the knowledge that some how you might have shortened your parent’s life would be very hard.


Read a Banned Book
Tomorrow is the beginning of Banned Books Week. Here is the ALA website. Go to the website and find a banned book to read. Down with censorship.
I was surprised to see how many I have read. I, of course, have always read whatever I damn well pleased and have never thought about whether or not it was approved by anyone else. So perhaps that is why. I also found the lists interesting. There are some books I could see why someone by be offended, but others are just baffling. The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 has Stephen King’s “Cujo” on it, this book does not even deal with the supernatural; it is just a rabid dog. It is not a very good book, but offensive? What the? And all the Judy Blume, when I was in 5th grade our English teacher would read us these books in class. No one was permanently damaged by “Blubber”. So I urge you to visit the website and read something that will make you a rebel!

FOs
Yes, I do actually knit. Here is proof. These are some dishcloths I made for my mom. Pretty cool huh?

SO IT GOES

Yesterday I received a phone call from my DH. He found a kitten in The Girl’s room. She had snuck in with on Tuesday night. After much discussion, we decided we would keep said kitten, but that it would be The Girl’s responsibility. She needs to take it to the vet, feed it, clean up after it etc. If she ceases to do so, the kitten will have to go back to her friend’s house or to a rescue site. She agreed to this conditions, plus she lost her phone privilege for 2 days for sneaking it in. I do not know if this is the right solution, but I hope so.

Work has been crazy this week. I know I normally say nothing about my job, but it is affecting my knitting. Last night after our running around was completed, I was too tired to knit. It is a terrible situation. I did sort though some yarn. I was looking for some yarn. I would like to organize my stash better so I can find stuff easier. I did some minor adjustments, but not a huge one. I am not sure if it is better to organize by fiber or by yarn size or both.
How is everyone else’s stash organized? What seems to work the best? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

RIP II
I have been reading the stories in Stephen King’s Everthing’s Eventual. Some of the stories are quite good. One that I read was 1408, which the movie is based on. The movie has the same feeling as the story, but is very different. I enjoyed both for what they were. Hotel rooms can be very scary.

I forgot to mention that I am now on Ravelry. I am knittingchaos on there as well, so if you are on there, stop by and check me out. I do not have much on there yet, but who knows what will be coming up.

Here is a task list thing that I stole from theladywyvern.

Mark with bold the things you have knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Participate in an exchange
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitch
Knitted flowers
Purses/bagsKnitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Free-form knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/arm-warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

RIP Week II

My short story this week was actually two from Stephen King’s “Everything’s Eventual”. I read “Autopsy in Room Four” and “The Man in the Black Suit”. They were both well crafted, but not really scary. I one thing I don’t like is that at the end of each story is an author’s note about the story which really takes the mystery out of the tales. I know I could just not read them, but I find if there are words on a page I must know what they say. I think I will continue reading the stories this book because I have it now and I have never read any of them before. I have read a lot of Stephen King in my life. I actually think my favorite of his short stories are in “Nightshift”, but I could not find my copy. My favorite King short story is “Strawberry Spring”. I find that he sometimes writes tales that are wondrous and other times they are just fair to middling.
I knit a baby hat for a co-workers new grandson. I do not know if it is going to fit as it seems really small. Of course, I do not know what size babies heads really are since I do not interact with them on a regular basis.
She did seem to like it though.
I need to start working on the scarf for the MKG scarf exchange. I am not very excited about it since the yarn I received to knit with is fingerling weight Cashsoft, which means merino. I am allergic to merino. When I knit with it, I can only knit for about 30 mins before my eyes start to itch like mad. Plus I have to make sure that I do not let it touch my forearms or it burns like crazy. It is the only wool I have found that I react so violently to. It really sucks since everyone else is the opposite and there is more and more merino blends out there.

RIP challenge I

I did actually read a short story for my RIP challenge on Sunday. It has just taken me a while to post.
For my 1st short story, I read H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls”. It is a tale about a man who buys his ancestral home in England only to discover a terrible family secret. Last summer we went to see a one man show of this story at the Fringe Festival. It was quite close to the story.
The story is told by the main character, Delapore (de la Poer) after the fact. He changes the Americanized spelling of his name back to the ancestral spelling when he moves to England.
I like reading Lovecraft because he describes the scenes in great detail. You feel like you are transported to the locations. You are in the horrifying twilight grotto. Yet, he does not explain everything to you. There are questions left in your mind when you finish reading the story. You have to piece together what it all means.
The rats – no one sees or hears them except de la Poer and the cats. Could it be the power of suggestion from the stories he has heard in the village? Is it the supernatural? It seems to be supernatural since he dreams of the grotto before he sees it. Of course, since the story is told after the events, so his memory could be defective. Are the rats a metaphor for the de la Poer family?
The location it self seems to evil. It seems like many immoral acts have occurred there throughout history. Have the de la Poers been there since before Roman times? If we go forward in time, would the site be subdivided and filled with suburban sprawl? Would this induce madness in those people as well? Or are only de la Poers affected? In which case, is it safe from evil since it seems most of the de la Poers are gone?
Where did all of the victims come from? Where the de la Poers breeding them? This is sort of implied, but how many people could they actually breed under ground. Were some kidnapped from the surrounding area? Were people invited to dinner and not allowed to leave?
So many questions… no real answers. Dear reader it is up to you to decide.