To Sleep Perchance To Dream

I have not been sleeping well. It has been very hot in the MN lately, which affects me greatly. AND my bed is on its last legs, the springs are broken and they poke at me causing me to wake up several times a night. The lack of sleep is starting to affect my mood. I have been feeling very down lately. I feel crabby and sad and like a total failure. I just don’t know what to do about it. I feel like selling everything I own and running away. This is never a good sign.

On the knitting front, I am almost done with my sweater for the Fair. I am on the yoke and it is looking pretty good (if I say so myself). I did have to change my original design because when I did not like it when I started knitting it. Last night I was working on it and realized I had made a mistake in the yoke pattern. I was able to drop the stitch down to the row with the wrong color and fix it and this was after I had drank a couple of glasses of wine. So I guess I am okay at this knitting thing…

I still do not have a camera, so no pictures yet. You will just have to image a really cute black toddler sweater with corrugated ribbing in purple, red, yellow and green.

The Baby has started to walk. She decided last week that it was the thing to do and just stood up and walked. She is just the funniest baby. She is getting so big. She has started learning body parts and the other day she was standing around saying “Toe, Toe, Toe” in a deep voice. It was very funny.

Inception (Movie Review)

A couple of weeks ago I saw Inception. Before I get too far into this review, I should revel that I dislike Leonardo DiCaprio. He just bugs me to no end and normally I just do not go to his movies. Overall it is a pretty good movie. It is really well constructed, which is saying something since a lot of it takes place in the subconscious. The special effects are amazing and the acting is okay. The story is fine, but not really deep or meaningful. It was worth seeing in the theater just because it is a big movie and the effects would be lost on a smaller screen. So I am giving it 3 out of 4 knitting needles. 

What To Do When You Can’t Sleep

I have been having trouble sleeping lately. It is not that I am not tired, I am. It is now 2 am and I am exhausted. I go to bed and I just lay there. So then I think, well I will listen to some pod casts and play some games on my ipod. Next thing you know, I am up in the middle of the night. Last night I went upstairs to read my latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer and I fell asleep. It was about 7:30. I dozed for about an hour and a hour total and then by the time the news came on I was awake again. I suspect it has to do with not having a job and spending all day in the house. Anyway, I am really tired, so please excuse me if this blog posting does not make much sense.

Boo! (Movie Review)
The Girl and I went to see “Paranormal Activity” a couple of weeks ago. We went on a Friday afternoon and they were carding people so the underage teens did not get into the movie. They did not really card me since, well, I was obviously NOT a teenager. The movie is a LOW budget horror film (rumor has it they made it for $15,000). It is basically about a young couple who are having a seemingly supernatural problem in their home. It was good, a very pared down film. No gore to speak of, (I know you are all shocked that I saw something not filled with blood). Mostly, it is a creepy film filled with bangs and flickering lights. However, it was good to see it with The Girl (she declared it the scariest movie she ever saw and that she did not think she would ever sleep again) and a theater full of teenagers. I am sure all of them found it scarier than I did. Will this movie terrify you? I do not know. However, I did find it entertaining and creepy. There is a knitting in the movie, even though, I do not think the actress could actually knit. It sort of looked like she thought this is what knitting looks like. But, it was an honest effort. I am giving it 3 out of 4 knitting needles.

Knitting stuff
I have been knitting. Of course, the photos I took of my stuff is stuck in the camera which is currently in The Girl’s possession. I think she would be mad if I woke her up to get it. So I will just tell you what I have been up to.
I knit a hat for my FIL for Christmas. He was complaining that they no longer make the kind of hats he likes to wear. The navy blue ones like Brando wore in “On the Waterfront”. I told him I could make him one and he said that it was too much to ask. LOL. I knit up the hat in a few days when I got home. He is a funny guy.
Then I knit up a couple of pairs of socks for The Baby. She is the Houdini of the sock world and none of them will stay on her feet for very long (sadly including the ones I just knit her), but I just keep putting them back on her. Her feet will get just like ice!
Right now I am knitting some fingerless gloves made out of alpaca. They are really nice. I am done with one and ½ way through the second.
Next, I have to work on some more Christmas presents. I think I will make my MIL some bed socks.

Other Stuff
There is not much else going on right now. The Girl is on again and off again with the Baby Daddy. The ex-Boyfriend apparently wants her back. Who knows what will happen? It is like a freaking soap opera around here.
The Baby has a cold and has not been to daycare all week. On Monday night, we took her to the urgent care and the doctor said it was just a cold. Since The Baby was happy (she usually is) and she had her pacifier in her mouth and was breathing through her nose, and she did not have a temp she was okay. The doctor said a way to know if it was something more was if she could not breathe through her nose. Who knew? If we had known that before, we would not have bothered with the urgent care.

Well, it is now 2:30 and I should go up and try to get some sleep. Talk to you soon.

I Can’t Think of a Pithy Title

I have finished The Baby’s Christmas stocking! I finished knitting it on Saturday and blocked it on Sunday.
Here is a photo of it being blocked.

I found that the heel seemed to be too wide and sort of bunchy, although it blocked out okay. I also think that the toe was not long enough in the pattern. I added an inch of straight knitting and actually would not think it would be a bad idea to add even more so there would be more contrast in the end.
I put on jingle bells as well, but I did not get a photo of it before I brought it over to the Fair. I dropped it off on Monday.

I also knit up a blanket buddy for The Baby.

The yarn I used was awful and so I am going to get rid of any that is left, so I am counting the whole ball as being used in this project.

Therefore, I have 1.32 km to go until I reach my 5K goal. I have knit 2013.5 fathoms. It sounds like I have done a lot of knitting when I say it that way!

I have not yet cast on for my next project. I am thinking of doing a felted bag. On the plus side, it would use a lot of yarn; on the down side, I would have to felt it when I was done and I would need to make a lining. So do I consider complete when the knitting is done or when the bag is actually usable? I am not really very good at finish up things like linings. I think it is because it is outside of the knitting realm.

I am finding it very hard to stay on the yarn wagon. It is not that I need more yarn as much as I would like to knit something big, but do not have enough of anything in one color way. Plus, of course, I see some yarn I have wanted to try and it is on sale and I can not buy it. I love a good bargain you know!


Movie Review – “District 9”On Monday, The Hub and I went to see “District 9”. It is about aliens in South Africa. Basically, an alien spaceship showed up over Johannesburg 20 years ago and it was full of starving aliens and now they are living in a slum in Johannesburg and the government wants them to move.
This is a fantastic movie. It is very thought provoking. It speaks to apartheid, to colonization, to how people treat anyone who is unlike themselves. It does not have any “stars” in it and the main human character, Wikus, is played by someone who has never acted before and apparently ad- libbed most of the movie. He is fabulous and quite honestly it was the best performance I have seen this year. I strongly encourage you to go see this movie, with a small caveat, it is violent and there is a lot of cussing. So if you can not handle the f word or people being evaporated (for lack of a better word), this movie may not be for you. There are a few nice knits. The special effects are just outstanding, it really does seem like these aliens are real and the humans are interacting with them. This is not always the case with science fiction movies.
I am giving it 4 out of 4 knitting needles. It is a great film.

Breaking Radio Silence

Greetings and Salutations. Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. I have no good reason since I actually had started writing a posting last week, I just have not been up to actually doing it.

I have not been feeling great. It has been hot and humid (really for the 1st time this summer) and I have not been sleeping well. And I have been sort of stressed out. I think I need a couple of extra days off. I am trying to decide what days to take. The Hub and I are thinking we will spend 2 days at the State Fair this year (we never seem to be able to see everything we want to in one). So I would have 8/31 off anyway, so we will go that day. Then it comes down to opening day or a day the 1st week of September. We will have to see how it goes.

Speaking of the State Fair, I intend to enter The Baby’s Christmas stocking.

All I have left is the heel and the weaving in ends and blocking. It needs to be in by 8/18, so I have less than a week to do all of this. I do not think it should be a problem. I will probably need to steam block it.
I would have been done sooner, but I had to rip back the toe 2 times, or was it 3. Doesn’t matter, it was rework and therefore a waste of time. The directions for the afterthought heel were confusing and the length of the toe was not quite right. I think it looks okay now, but I will see when the heel is in.

No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain
-- Pink Floyd
Work has been particularly stressful. Morale is low because of the layoffs (past and upcoming) and people are becoming cranky. I am on the project that will not end and I have had enough of it. I am to the point of just saying “we’re done”, and moving on. I am sick of fighting with people, I am sick of the backstabbing and the politics of the whole situation. It is not helping with my overall mental health. Again, I probably need a couple of days off…

Of course, I am taking vacation the last week of September / beginning of October. I am going to visit the in-laws in NM. I hate NM. It is sooooo depressing, brown and dry. I do not know why they can’t live somewhere fun, like NYC or London or Honolulu. On the plus side, I will be going to the Taos Wool festival, at the end of the trip and that should be fun. I am taking a class on dyeing fiber with plants.

Movie Review – “The Hurt Locker”
So on Monday I hung out with my friend. We went to lunch and then decided to go to the movies. We were going to “Public Enemies”, but it was not showing until late in the day. So I suggested we see “The Hurt Locker” because I had heard good things about it and I knew The Hub would not want to see it. It is about an Army bomb squad in Iraq. It is shot in a documentary style, not with interviews, but in that “someone is following the characters around with a camera” style. I liked it, but it was very intense, because well they are a bomb squad in Iraq. There were scenes that I thought could have been shortened, but I think the filmmaker had them longer intentionally to show the “waiting for something to happen” aspect of war. The film really is not taking any political stance, rather, it was trying to show these people doing their job and how the job affected them. It has some very graphic scenes as well. It is a sad, brutal, realistic movie. It upset my friend (Sorry TJ, next time you get to pick the movie) and I felt bad about that. Apparently I have a very high tolerance for pain and suffering. I am giving the movie 3 ¼ out of 4 knitting needles. It will make you think and it might upset you, but I think it is worth seeing.

The Ro-Man is not like the Hu-man

This is quote from the cinematic classic “Robot Monster”. It is one of my all time favorite movies quotes because, well, who hasn’t felt like that the Ro-Man is not like the Hu-man. It is referring to the Robot Monster’s kind, not fellows from Rome. I find it fascinating the even aliens use the term robot since it comes from the Russian work rabota, it means to work as in “я работаю на магазине (ya rabota na magazineh)”, “I work in a store”. There, now you can say something in Russian! All you to do is get a job at a store in Moscow (Moskva) and you are set!

Have you ever seen Robot Monster? If not the whole thing, you probably have seen clips from it. It is the one where the guy is wearing what appears to be a gorilla suit body and a deep sea diver helmet. I think a clip of it is used in a Cars video, but I can not remember which one.

Anyway, I saw a list of 14 Movies you should see before you die by Will Ferrell and I thought well if he can do it, so can I! This list is not in any particular order and truthfully would probably change if I did it again. I have seen a lot of movie and sometimes I like things more than other times. I am not going to describe them since you can just go look them on IMDB and well, I do not think they are so out there you haven’t at least heard of most of them.

14 Movies to see before you die
1. The Godfather – This is one of the best movies ever made. It is just so lovely to watch the little details. Of course, Godfather II is just a good, so you should watch that one too.
2. Goodfellas – This is like the flip side of The Godfather, just as well made, but a less romantic look at mobsters. Ray Liotta is perfect.
3. 2000 Maniacs –by Herschell Gordon Lewis, the Godfather of Gore. He made several gory movies and they are considered the precursor to the slasher film. This movie is over the top and made on the cheap, although it does star a Playboy Playmate! Be warned, there is blood. You could watch Blood Feast instead, but I think this movie is better.
4. Drunken Master II – the Hong Kong version, not the one that was released in theaters in the USA. I think this Jackie Chan’s best movie. Plus, I love his pregnant step-mom kicking butt!
5. Raising Arizona – I love the Coen Brothers and I think this is their most accessible film. If you like this one, then go see “O Brother, Where Art Thou” which is awesome and has the best soundtrack ever.
6. Halloween – The original John Carpenter version – this is one of the best horror films ever made.
7. Strangers on a Train – Okay, you should see as much Hitchcock as physically possible, but I happen to really like this one. You could watch it with “Throw Mama from the Train”.
8. Blade Runner – the directors cut, of course. The only real down side to this movie is the cheesy soundtrack by Vangelis, but that is the price you have to pay to see one of the best science fiction movies ever made.
9. Double Indemnity – This is my very favorite Film Noir movie. I love Edward G. Robinson in it.
10. My Man Godfrey – This is a classic screwball comedy.
11. Midnight Cowboy – This is one of the best buddy movies ever made and it is probably my favorite Dustin Hoffman film. There are parts of it that are very dated, but the story is fabulous.
12. Bride of the Monster – by Ed Wood Jr. – This should be watched for Bela Lugosi’s big speech if nothing else. Ed Wood if often considered the worst director ever, but he always was trying to make a good movie, he was just bad at his job so I consider him better than some. You could try watching Plan 9 From Outer Space, but not everyone can make it through.
13. The Killer – by John Woo. Watch it in Chinese with subtitles, this is the only way to watch any Hong Kong movie. This movie is very violent.
14. Singing in the Rain – This is my favorite musical. If you can see it on the big screen, I would recommend seeing it that way since it is a Technicolor wonder.

There you have it. Go out and rent some movies.


But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.
- Money by Pink Floyd
So there is going to be a layoff at work. Rumor has it that they are going to lay off 200 people. It looks like it is going to happen on Tuesday. This is very concerning to me because well, I have a lot of mouths to feed here. Plus, I really do not want to be out looking for another job. I don’t find it scary, just depressing. I hate looking for a job and truthfully, I just want to work for a few more years and then move to a farm. All I can do is hope for the best.

Knitting News….
I finished the baby booties. The pattern is dead simple, but it leaves a big hole right below the eyelet row. This bothered me a lot, but I could not figure out to fix it. I had just enough yarn to finish them so that is another 64.6 yards down. Anyway, here is a picture of the completed pair.

I did not work on the rug for the last two days so today I need to work really hard on it today and tomorrow. We have no big plans for the weekend, so I should have time.

We Danced On the Floor in The Round

Normally, I do not discuss famous people here. Mainly because famous people have very little effect on me, I do not hang out with them; I do not see them in my day to day life etc. However, I am going to discuss the deaths that have occurred in the last few days.
Poor Farrah, not only did she die a painful death, she had the misfortune to die on the same day as Michael Jackson and thereby was upstaged in her death. I feel very bad for her and her family.
Michael Jackson… I will say right now I was not a huge fan. I did not listen to the Jackson 5 as a child. However, I was in high school when “Thriller” came out so to say he did not have an impact would be a lie. I remember I had a friend who had a jacket like he wore in the “Beat It” video, okay, not exactly like since hers was bought at Kmart and was made of pleather, but it was as close as anyone was going to get in my tiny rural hometown. We were all very jealous. The “Billie Jean”, ‘Beat It’ and “Thriller” videos (especially the “Thriller” video) were shear genius and changed the world of music videos. This does not seem like much, but take a look at some of the other videos released around the same time; some of them were really quite dull (J. Geiles Band’s “Centerfold” is a prime example). It was exciting to watch the videos. The music was pretty good, but truthfully, the Michael Jackson song I liked best and still like to this day is “Billie Jean”. It has a great tune, it has interesting lyrics and I always like the imagery (especially the line I used for the title of this posting) which he used. To me, “Billie Jean” really represents what fame brings; the idea that you could meet someone once and suddenly, they want a piece of you.
However, I think one can not overlook the fact Michael Jackson spiraled out of control in the late 80s. I remember saying to someone that he needed someone to tell him no. I think when you have tons of money and fame, it is easy to surround yourself with people who agree with you and allow you to follow every whim. A person should not follow every whim; it leads to certain despair and doom. And I think that is what happened in Mr. Jackson’s life.
Still, it is sad that someone should die at 50.
Speaking of that, I heard this morning that Billy Mays (the guy from the Oxiclean ads) died over the weekend, he was also 50 and apparently he died of a bump on the head. This is very sad to me because, well, he was very amusing. I actually have been following his ads for a while. I remember several years ago he was in an ad for some sort of glue and he had obviously gained a little weight and I made a comment that he must be doing well since he was eating better. I think I was probably one of a few people who even noticed. I know, I know, there is something wrong with me. It is sad that he too is gone. And let’s face it, there will be not be hours and hours spent discussing his influences. This, I think is too bad.
Okay, this is a really depressing post so far.

How about a little weekend update to cheer you up?
I finally heard from my mom on Friday. She wanted to get together today (Monday), but I have to work because it is the holiday week and we have to work the normal 8 hour days. So instead, we agreed to meet on 7/13 and yesterday (which I will get to in a moment).
On Saturday, we went out and picked strawberries. Much to my surprise and delight, The Girl said she wanted to come with. She has not gone berry picking with us in years. Of course, it rained quite hard during the night and so I knew the ground would be wet. What I did not expect, was that it would start to rain when we got there and we picked berries in the rain. It was not a hard rain, but it did mess up my picking prowess. Normally, I get into a certain Zen state and I can pick quite a lot of berries. This year, I was able to pick only 9 ½ pounds. The Girl picked more than me (10 pounds). The Hub picked 9 pounds. So there was a grand total of 28 ½ pounds of strawberries. Normally, The Hub and I pick more than that alone. There have been years when I have picked over 20 pounds by myself. My knees started to hurt and my glasses were very wet (which is always a distraction), so I gave up early. The Girl mocked me and we had to crown her “the hostess with the mostest”. It was shameful. I was thinking about going back and picking more, but we have a lot of strawberries already and probably do not need any more. I just want to redeem myself.
After berry picking we went to breakfast at Perkins (The Girl love Perkins, I personally can take it or leave it) and we had a really nice talk. It was a really good day.

On Sunday we went down to my niece’s house so we could see my mom. My mom had given me the address and some vague directions. However, she had told me the wrong town (which she denied when we got there). So we were running late anyway and then we were driving around in a totally different area. It was awful. The Hub and I got into a fight and basically, I was really crabby by the time we got to where we were going. Of course, everyone acted like nothing had happened over the last 9 months. On the phone, my mom had said it was all my SILs (my crazy brother’s wife) fault and that no one else had cared. They are such liars! However, I suspect my mom talked to them about it in her confused manner and they all knew what they had done and had to cover it up stat.
Anyway, we all sat outside as my family is wont to do and I got terribly sunburned. I knew we would be sitting outside and I can not explain why I did not wear sunscreen. I have no excuse. Everyone except The Baby got sunburned to one degree or another. I have not been this badly sunburned in a long time and I am in a lot of pain today.

Knitting News
I finished one arm of my Daily Sweater. I decided I wanted it to be a ¾ length sleeve since I wear that length a lot. However, I do not like how the cuff part looks. It was supposed to be 2 ½ inches, which is just too long for a cuff for me on a good day, but it would have looked bizarre on a ¾ length, so I only did 1”. I like the length, but it looks weird because of the increases, it sort of flares out at the end of the sleeve. I am thinking of ripping it back and doing it with fewer stitches per round.
I will let you know what I do. I do understand what they are trying to do with the increases, it is not supposed to be a tight cuff, but it is just really floppy. It is probably worse since I did not decrease all the way recommended in the pattern.

I figured out I need to do almost 400 yards a week in order to complete the 5K by the 1st day of fall. Maybe, I will have the deadline be the end of September. I will have to think about it.

I am thinking I will start my mom’s rug tonight and hopefully I could have it done by the time she is ready to leave. I will be seeing her the day before she goes. We will see.

One Small Step

I have completed my first item on my 5K knitting goal.
I present to you – Yellow Pig Potholder!


It is for one of The Hub’s swaps. It only used 70 yards of yarn, but it is a completed project never the less and counts towards my goal. Only 5398.07 yards to go!

I am also half way through some rainbow leg warmers for The Baby. So that will be another step.

I am going to go out and buy yet another size 7 – 16” circular needle in order to continue on my Daily Sweater. I actually already own 2 of this size, but they are both in a box which is MIA. This box actually contains 95% of my stand alone circular needles and most of my dpns. I am very concerned where it might be since I have looked everywhere I could think of. However, I can not wait any longer to continue on my sweater. I wove in the ends on the body and just need to put on the sleeves and I will be done! It is so close…

MOVIE REVIEW
On Saturday, The Hub and I went to see “Drag Me To Hell”. It is a good horror movie. It is directed by Sam Rami and very much in the vein of “Evil Dead II”, only there is a gypsy instead of the Necronomicon. The basic plot is that a gal angers an old gypsy woman and the gypsy curses her. The plot is not terrible surprising and you will see the end coming a mile away (I know I did), but it is an entertaining ride. There are several really gross scenes and it has really tense music so I was very jumpy. I personally found it pretty scary, but The Girl did not (they went later that night and we babysat). However, I believe that horror is a very personal thing. What I am scared of is not necessarily what you will be scared of. I find dead things not staying dead very upsetting, where others may find demons upsetting and still others find blood upsetting and so on.
There were not and hand knits per se, because it takes place in sunny CA, but the gal does wear some nice lightweight sweaters that I could image being translated into hand knits.
Overall, I am going to give it 3 knitting needles out of 4. If you like horror movies, I say go see it. It is very much an over the top horror film.

Hello It’s Me

Greeting and salutations! I am sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. I started summer hours this past week and it really has taken it out of me. The best part of summer hours is that this year I am taking Mondays off and it gives me extra knitting time. I can knit in larger chunks of time.

I have quite a bit of knitting news!
I finished a hat I have been working on since, well winter. It is the maple seed hat pattern and I used Mountain Colors Mountain Goat. I think that is the yarn, I can not find the tag for it, it might be a different Mountain Colors yarn. I had not been working on it because I could not find my size 8 Dpns. I still have not found them, I just went out and bought some over Memorial Day weekend so I could finish this hat.
Here it is:

Pretty snazzy, huh?
I am glad to have it done.

Last weekend I participated in a shop hop. Every year there are 7 shops which host a shop hop and you go from one to the next and sign up for prizes (which I never win) and get a free goodies. This year it was charms and patterns. I was not able to go to all 7 shops, but I did go to 5. However, the last shop was out of charms and I got an IOU I was supposed to turn in at the last shop I went to, which of course I did not make to any more so I only receive 4 charms. It is okay and I think I will make them into stitch markers since I really have no other use for them. There were a couple of notable things that happened while I was in the stores. First, when I was in one of the stores, I looked at The Expectant Knitter and I fell in love with a couple of patterns in it. Okay I should back up, I had heard about the book at Knitpicks because they were featuring Her First Party Dress and I thought it was too cute so I was actually looking for the book. Anyway, I thought about buying it, but it was $28 and just could not bring myself to do it. So on Sunday I went to the library and checked it out.
Second, I bought more yarn including yarn for my mom’s Christmas present. I will get to buying yarn issue in a moment.

Here is the result of getting my hands on The Expectant Knitter: it is the Girl’s Summer Suit.

Here is my granddaughter in her new outfit. She just tried it on since we are in a cold snap and it was way to chilly for her to wear.
It is really easy to knit. The hardest part is sewing it together. I made it in cotton (the red part is cotton blend) and cotton is not the easiest thing to sew together.
I think I will make another one only I am going to knit the top in one piece. I am going to make the skirt longer (even though I made this one longer than the pattern, it is still really short on her) and do it in a feather and fan lace pattern to girly it up even more. And I am going to use a thinner yarn for the skirt. This one was a bulky even though the pattern calls out for worsted. But I really liked the color.
I am also going to make Her First Party Dress and the leg warmers out of the book. I actually think I will end up buying the book, but I will have to see. There are just so many cute things.

On to the issue of buying more yarn. I have been buying a lot of yarn lately. And I need to stop. I have way more than I am going to be able to knit up in a timely fashion. So I am going to take a moratorium from buying yarn. Yesterday I bought a little bit, mainly, I bought some Rowan 4 ply cotton from the NU Outlet in order to make previously mentioned party dress for The Baby. So I am going to try to avoid buying yarn from stores or Ravelry or the internet etc. until October. Why October you ask? Well, we are planning a trip to New Mexico to see the In-Laws and to go to the Taos Wool Festival. So I can buy yarn then.
I also need to try to get through some of the yarn I have. At last count, I had over 78 miles or 125 kilometers of yarn. This is a LOT of yarn. One day my DH made a comment about knitting a marathon. And this has got me thinking… perhaps I should try to knit 26 miles worth of yarn. But I think I need to work my way up to it, so this summer, I am going to knit at least a 5K, which works out to about 5,468 yds. Since the yarn in my sweater is still considered “stash” by Ravelry and that is where the number is coming from, it is going to count against the running total. Get it… running total… 5 K! Ha I crack myself up!
So starting today, 6/7/09 and going through the end of September I will attempt to knit a 5K. Wish me luck.

Family – Bah
So last Sunday my nephew (The Girl’s brother) got confirmed. We went down to the church to witness the confirmation, we were late, because The Girl can not get anywhere on time, but we only missed about 10 minutes and since the service ended up being like 90 minutes long, I think that is pretty good. However, overall the whole thing was a disaster. Not one of my family members came over to see The Baby after the service, well, my nephew who was getting confirmed came over. I was forced to talk to people I have not seen in 20 plus years and try to remember who they all were. It was a miserable experience and it really upset The Girl. She really thought that actually seeing The Baby would make them change their minds. In fact, when her brother and her went outside to visit their mom’s grave, everyone was standing outside and they all stopped talking when they came through the doors. When we left the church they were are still standing there and only my oldest nephew said anything to us. Oh and we saw my crazy brother on the sidewalk on the way to the car and he felt obliged to say hi and look at The Baby although you would think we were pulling out his fingernails as he did it.
Over all, it was a very unpleasant experience. Plus, my mom arrives in the state on Tuesday and she had already said that she would not be spending any time with us since we do not have room. She said that she would stay with my oldest sister’s girl and we could come down there and visit. Given the icy reception my niece gave us on Sunday, this seems unlikely that this visit will occur. So I suppose I will have to call my mom and tell her what happened, but in reality, I do not want to look like I am complaining so I have been putting it off. I hate family. It is more political than work, which is saying a lot!

Well, I have a lot of knitting to do. Talk at you later.

Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America and All Ships at Sea

I am paraphrasing Walter Winchell. You will have to insert the beepty-beepty- beep noise at the end yourself. I have always loved the way he would start his broadcasts, especially the “ships at sea” part. It makes whatever announcement was to come seem so much more important.

So what important announcement do I have? Why I have knitting pictures! What could be more important than that!

I am actually making progress on my Daily Sweater. I have been plugging away on it while I watch TV and I gotten to the part where I have created the split at the bottom. I am almost done with the back ribbing. I do not have a photo of that, but I do have a photo of the body of the sweater.
This photo is a lot closer to the actual color. I have been trying it on as I go (I really like knitting from the top down) and it is fitting really well. I am very proud.

Since I have so many things on my needles, I decided to start another! I started working on the Great Goatsby kit I bought at Shepherd’s Harvest.
I know, socks, I am so terrible at finishing socks. And I have my superbad socks almost done and I have not worked on them in more than a year. Why would I start another pair of socks? Well, because these are so darn cute and they are called Great Goatsby! Who doesn’t what socks with goats on them, especially if they have a clever literary title?
Here is my progress so far…

Okay, I am actually farther along then this, but this is how far I was when I took the picture. I am at the body of the goat

And here is a close up of the pattern…


It is from Blackberry Ridge. I bought the Sheep Tea Cozy kit from them and was very pleased with the yarn and the pattern. I am enjoying this one as well. I love this yarn as well. It is a wool silk blend. If I finish the socks and they fit, I think they will be quite nice to wear. I am concerned about them fitting because I have really big calves. I did the large size, so we will see.

Also, I promised a picture of the Briar Rose yarn I bought.

Isn’t it delicious? I have 3 skeins of it, which works out to 1950 yds. I should be able to make something with that amount.

Movie UPDATE
We went to see Star Trek again this week. I want to make a small correction to my movie review. Spock does mention that Vulcans and Romulans share a common ancestry. Not sure how I missed it the first time, but there you go. I loved it just as much the second time around. I think I might try to see it one more time in the theatres before it is gone. If you have not seen it yet, what are you waiting for, go to your local cinema right now!

Dammit, I Am A Buyer Not A Physicist!
But luckily, my FIL is a physicist and I was able to ask him some questions regarding the Lost finale. I know you are wondering why I am still prattling on about that, but I love Lost so you will have to bear with me.

In regards to the size of the core: my FIL could not give me details as to what the size would actually be (due to it being classified), but he said if you can accept the rip in the time space continuum caused by time travel, you could accept that the core would fit into a backpack. My FIL has a very good sense of humor! However, he said it would be really heavy so carrying it around on your back would be unlikely.

He then explained that by taking the core out of the hydrogen bomb would mean that it would no longer be a hydrogen bomb, rather a standard atomic bomb. Basically, an atomic bomb using fission and a hydrogen bomb uses fusion. Here is a direct quote from my FIL: Fission works by chain reaction. If you put too much plutonium in one place, it will spontaneously fission and melt down. So there's a limit on how much nuclear fuel you can pack into a fission bomb (not to mention the cost of making it). Fusion only works if the hydrogen isotopes are really, really hot, and under a lot of pressure (think the solar interior). The result is that there is no serious limit on how much fusion fuel you can use, and you can achieve tremendous yields, like tens of megatons. The trick is to set it off. You have to use a fission (plutonium) explosion to do it. It's what puts the "thermo" in "thermonuclear." So a hydrogen bomb has two parts: a plutonium primary and a hydrogen-fuel secondary. So what the Losties are carrying around is no longer a hydrogen bomb, rather it is an atomic bomb, which is still pretty bad.

I also asked if you could rig the bomb to explode on impact. He said that bombs built in the USA since the 1940s have been built specifically NOT to explode upon impact because they did not want them to go off in a plane crash. However, if was poorly designed, it is a possibility, but it would not be as big of an explosion.

Which brings us to what would happen, explosion wise?
Again a direct quote: Since you didn't set it off properly, you would only get a fraction of the design yield. Maybe a few hundred tons of TNT equivalent. But that would still be about a hundred times the power of the biggest (4 ton) conventional bombs dropped from an aircraft. How much effect that would have depends on the setting. Out in the open air, it would be pretty impressive (a kiloton of ordinary chemical explosive makes a nice mushroom cloud), but far underground, it wouldn't do much. (I was part of a chemical kiloton underground test in the early '90s, and there was very little effect at the surface). However, if I were dropping this thing down an open shaft, I would want to stand clear!
I do not think there would be much left of Dharmaville or the Others.

There has been some discussion out there that the bomb going off caused the Incident. Or that the electromagnetic field is holding the blast in the hole. And that the button being pushed is releasing the atomic blast in bits. Okay, my FIL said an atomic blast would destroy any electromagnetic field, (his exact words regarding containment were “Not bloody likely!”), and so Faraday actually did get that right. FIL said that to contain an atomic blast with an electromagnetic field, you would need the pressure you would find in a black hole or the center of a star, not in hole near the surface of the Earth.
He also said: The second reason that the explosion would not be contained is the same reason why we don't yet have a working fusion reactor. Since around 1950 people (myself included) have been trying to confine very dilute thermonuclear reactions with specially designed magnetic fields in the laboratory. This has proved to be extremely difficult, because the hot plasma keeps leaking out. It's rather like trying to pressurize Jell-O by squeezing it with your bare hands. So if the guys in the movie have solved that problem, I wish they would tell the rest of us the answer.
I just love that last line, so I had to include in my synopsis. He has never heard of Lost so he did not realize it was a TV show rather than a movie.
I want to thank my FIL for all of his help. He really is the smartest person I know so I was pleased he was willing to help me out with this nonsense.

Overall, I think this all supports my idea that there was not an explosion, rather it was some other flash (a time flash IMHO) and that is what caused the bright white light.
We will have to see.

We're Not Going To Guam, Are We?

I know it has been a long time since I last blogged. Sorry about that, life has sort of gotten in the way. Not this week Tuesday, but the Tuesday before there was a layoff at work. It was brutal and nonsensical. There were only 2 people in my little area and one of them was laid off. Now I get to do two people’s jobs. The only statement my boss has made is to pretend they are on vacation. This week I had green belt (DMAIC / Lean) training and my boss had to cover for me. I do not think he was happy about, but you know what, neither am I. The gal who was laid off was one of the lower paid people in the group and she had tons of work to do. So this week I was in training from 8 – 4:45 every day and I came in early and stayed late to attempt to at least keep up with all the e-mails. The one day I spent 12 hours at work. It was a nightmare and I was so tired at the end of the day I could hardly function. I believe there will be some restructing, but I am not sure when that will take place. And considering how poorly the lay off went, I have little hope of it going well.

KNITTING
I have been working on the Daily Sweater from Mason Dixon’s Knitting Outside the Lines. When I started this sweater, I found the little boxes confusing but now I have it down and it is going along well. I had hoped to be done with the box section, but I did not get as much knitting done this week as I would have liked. I did have to order longer cables for my Knit Picks options because my longer ones are in other projects. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my options needles? They are really awesome!
I love how the material is turning out. It is soft and lovely. I think it is going to be a nice sweater. Since it is knit from the top down, I have tried it on. The collar seems just a little big, but not enough to bother me.
I knit a baby hat and was going to embroider on it, but it was harder then I thought it would be. I am thinking I need to use bigger wool or do an i-cord and stitch it on.
I need to put together the baby’s sweater and make a hat to go with it. I was also going to make some booties, but I don’t know if I will have time. The Girl had contractions this week, the doctor said it was not time yet. Also, I am working on a different pair of bootie. I am on the second one. I have finally finished turning the heel.

LOST
The title of this blog comes from this week’s episode. I just think it is funny. Plus I sort of feel off course this week.
I have been watching all of the episodes twice this year. I do not know if I have had any more insight because of it, but I have been enjoying them. I have to cover two episodes this blog episode.
The death of Charlotte only bothered me because I felt bad for Daniel. Personally, I did not like Charlotte, she was sort of creepy and irritating.
I hope Miles doesn’t die. I really like him. My husband thinks he will survive because he is the new Sawyer since Sawyer is so much nicer than he used to be. As a side note, I was watching an old episode a few weeks ago and Sawyer was down right mean. I had forgotten how hard he was in the beginning.
Danielle Rousseau and her crew: I am not sure what to say about this. Danielle obviously been through a lot and by the time the Losties met her, I think she was totally crazy. There seems to be a lot of discussion as to why she did not recognize Jin, but I think after killing your husband and having your child kidnapped and spending 16 hiding for Smoky and the Others, you would not remember what he looked like. You would just remember some Asian guy who “infected” your crew and disappeared. I am curious why she blamed the Others for infecting her crew and not the Smoke Monster since it was Smoky who lured them into the Temple.

So Jack, Hurley & Kate are in the past. I figured when Locke fixed the Donkey Wheel, they were in the past. How did they get hired by Dharma? Did they just show up and ask for a job? Maybe Dharma was trying to recruit “hostiles” to their side.
I do think that Ajira flight 316 did crash, but some people were sucked into the past, because that is where they needed to be. However, I think most of the people are in 2007, along with the crash wreckage. I think they are the ones who were shooting at the time traveling Losties in the outrigger. Perhaps there were people on Oceanic flight 815 that were sucked into the past and we just don’t know them.

Who told Hurley to get on flight 316? I think it was Charlie, hence the guitar. Everyone seems to represent some one else.
Jack & Kate = Jin & Sun
Sun = Rose
Sayid = Kate
Hurley = well, I think he represents everyone else

I do not think Kate is pregnant. I have read this theory else where and I do not believe it.

Where is Aaron? I think he was taken from Kate. I can not imagine her giving him up willing because she is her get out of jail free card. Who took him? Here is my crack pot theory:
Claire’s mom became suspicious and asked her lawyer (Dan Norton) why Jack would have followed him to her. Mr. Norton, being a lawyer and Ben’s lawyer to boot, would be clever and devious. He puts together the fact that Kate’s son is not hers and that Claire was pregnant on the plane. I do not think that Claire’s mom necessarily knows that Claire was pregnant since she was in a coma at the time, but others would have known. Her boyfriend, the lawyers who handled the adoption, Ben, etc. And who would have brought it up to someone coming out of a coma. Hey, welcome back to reality sorry your daughter and grandson died in a plane crash.
Anyway, I think Mr. Norton puts 2 & 2 together and tells Claire’s mom that Aaron is her grandson and she should have legal right to him. Which I am pretty sure she would since he would be a blood relative. Or he would become a ward of the state until custody was decided. I think the sheriff showed up and took Aaron and Kate did a runner.
Does Sun think she can get back home after getting Jin? Does she have a tracking device on her so Widmore could find her. I do not trust her and I think she would kill all of the others to save herself & Jin.

I find religion fascinating. I really enjoy the religious overtones in Lost. All of them, not just the Christian ones, but I am going to discuss the Christian ones, because it is the religion I know best.
-- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
→ John Locke is obviously going to be resurrected after being sacrificed for the island.
→ Eternal life: Don’t the others seem to have this down? Richard has been on the island forever and has not aged. People on the island illness’s are healed.
→ Doubting Thomas – is this really Jack? It could be, but honestly, Jack seems more like Peter who denied Christ and then had to suffer the guilt. Hence the note from John “I wish you had believed me.”

Overall, I am happy with this season. Although, I like mysteries better than answers, so I actually an not very excited about all the answers being given. But I do realize it has to be done to satisfy the masses.

MOVIE REVIEWS
It is again Oscar weekend, which means that we spent yesterday watching all 5 movies that were nominated for Best Picture this year. This year I decided to make notes after each movie so I would be able to get all of my thoughts down. Well, except for the last one, because it was midnight and I wanted to go home!
Before I get to the reviews, I would like to have a little rant. I know that is probably shocking to my regular readers that I would have something to rant about…
Here is a helpful hint: if you are going to spend 14 hours in a movie theater with 299 other people, please leave your baby at home. That is were they belong, not crying during an R rated movie. Babies crying during a movie piss me off anyway, but to have to listen to them through several movies is just WRONG!

I will review them in the order I saw them. Just like last year.

“Milk” - This was the only movie we had seen before. So I have actually already reviewed it. However, it is worth repeating what a great movie this is. It is based on the life of Harvey Milk, the 1st openly gay man elected to a major political office. It is brilliantly acted, Josh Brolin is amazing as Dan White. Plus, I forgot how beautifully Gus Van Sant directs. If you have not seen this movie yet, what are you waiting for? It is moving and inspiring. Go see it.

“The Reader” – this is an excellent movie. This movie is about a 15 year old German boy in the early 1950s who takes up with an older woman (she is in her 30s). It does not last of course, but 10 years later he is in law school and discover a terrible secret about her. Kate Winslet play the older woman, she is supposed to be matronly, but well, let’s face it, she is Kate Winslet and she is still really beautiful. There is a LOT of nakedness in this movie both male and female. If you are offended by the human body, do NOT go to see it. However, the human body does not bother me and it all seemed to fit with the story. The boy (David Kross) is a very good actor. It would have been nice to see him nominated for an Oscar. Ralph Fiennes is in the movie as well. Whenever I see him in anything, I always think of that scene in “Red Dragon” when he puts in the fake teeth. I don’t know why, I have seen him in several other movies..
Anyway, there are a lot of really great knits in the movie, both hand and machine knits. And there is a scene with a woman knitting with dpns. She appears to be making a baby hat.
I am giving this movie 3 ½ knitting needles out of 4. It is excellent.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” – OMG this movie was way too long. It should have been severely edited. How the hell did this piece of crap get nominated for best picture? It started out okay, sort of quirky and funny, plus there were some nice hand knits and old lady knitting on the porch. However, it soon devolved into nothing by melodramic clap trap. It had no point and Daisy (the love of Benjamin’s life) was an ass. “The Dark Knight” or “Iron Man” should have been nominated instead. Hell, “Tropic Thunder” was funny and better acted than this movie. If this wins best picture, the damn Oscars are fixed. It had better not win!!
In case you do not know the story: a guy is born old and gets younger. He meets all sorts of odd people, falls in love with some dancer, eventually marries her, has a kid leaves them and dies. Only it takes 3 freaking hours to go through. It was painful. I will give the movie 1 knitting needle out of 4 for the nice hand knits. The acting and the story line were awful.

“Slumdog Millionaire” - this is a very pleasant movie. It is about a young man from the slums of Mumbai India who goes on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and wins a bunch of money. It goes through his life in flashbacks. It had a lot of hope and a good love story, but not sappy. The movie moved at a good pace which was refreshing after BB. The music was good and the guy (Dev Patel) who played our hero Jamal is really cute. It was a cute movie and enjoyable. Best movie of the year? Well, no, but at least I can see why it is nominated. Although, I think some of the actors should have been nominated as well. In particular, Madhur Mitta who played the older brother Salim. He was really good. I am giving this movie 3 out of 4 knitting needles.

“Frost / Nixon” – this is a fantastic movie. It is about talk show host David Frost’s interviews with Richard Nixon. It was excellently acted. Frank Langella as Richard Nixon, was amazing. He definitely should win an Oscar for the performance. Kevin Bacon was also fantastic. I loved this movie. I think it was the best one we saw. I loved how it was edited, I loved the costumes, I loved the actors and it was funny. Now, I will admit that I do have a degree in history, so that appealed to me and I have a strange obsession with Richard Nixon. So please take that into consideration. However, I am going to give it 4 knitting needles out of 4. I can not say how much I truly enjoyed this movie from the very beginning to the very end.

Here is my ranking of the movies I saw:
Frost / Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Benjamin Button


Sorry for the excessively long blog, but you know, lots has been going on. I will try to blog sooner and with a few pictures.
See you then.