Gramarye

So, I’ve been knitting for a few weeks now, and done quite a lot of scarfage — two simple garter stitch ones, one for me and one (incomplete, currently) for Rhonda. The latter, which is done with huge Burly Spun yarn, has been dubbed the “Big Black Butch Scarf.” Also another Burly Spun in horrible green for Rosie (mixed garter and rib pattern) and a purple-ish Cascade one for Renee in seed stitch. I also cobbled together a very simple sleep mask (basically, a rectangle with button holes for attaching a tie). But last night I finished my first real non-scarf project, a pair of fingerless mittens in rib and stockinette that are differentiated from scarves only by size and the use of mattress stitch. (Which is pretty nifty, though I’m having trouble getting it not to come undone.) Rosie, however, seems quite fond of them.

I’ve been poking around for good knitting blogs and podcasts, with mixed results. You can see the blogs at my “bloglines”:http://bloglines.com/public/kukk tree under the “knitting” folder. Of the podcasts, so far I only really like “Cast On”:http://www.cast-on.com/ and, possibly, “this”:http://feeds.feedburner.com/ItsAPurlMan podcast, which is of some interest in that it’s a guy — his production values aren’t so hot, so far, but I’ve got to support anyone who devotes time to pointing out that there’s no good reason that all needle cases should be made of floral print fabric.

We’re planning a trip to “Article Pract”:http://www.articlepract.com/ this weekend, as they’re having a sale. Of course, I’m sure the sale’s only on yarn, whereas I have a need for needles, but still. I’ll be looking for some Burly Spun to finish Rhonda’s scarf, some sport-weight yarn and double-pointed needles for the socks and gloves I do not relish learning how to make, some more straight needles (maybe 9’s, among other things), and some “notions.” Also, I may take a serious look at some of their bags, as none of my bags are really geared toward knitting use.

I took a look, more or less by accident, at the new show “Heist”:http://imdb.com/title/tt0491281/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9aGVpc3R8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=3;ft=48;fm=1 last night. It wasn’t painful, or anything, but it was almost mind-numbingly conventional. I shan’t feel bad about not watching it — unlike ??The Unit??, which looks, if not like a show that would likely go on to be one of my favorites, at least like a well-crafted program with what will likely have an interesting future. Unfortunately, it’s opposite something I can’t miss — ??Scrubs??, I believe.

(Note: Yes, it’s odd that I don’t have a Tivo. Or cable.)

I’m still going on the scarves. I had to pause with Rhonda’s big black butch scarf, because while there’s a lot of yardage in a hank of Brown Sheep Burly Spun, a lot of yardage goes into a wide garter-stitch scarf. However, what with an “Article Pract”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articlepract/message/35 sale coming up, I should be able to take care of that. The only catch being that they didn’t have any more of it in black on display when I stopped by; they may have some in the back, or I may just have to get crazy with the multiple colors. (The problem being that I don’t really want to have to add to the cast-on edge.)

I also had to stop one I was making Renee because the yarn was very, very dusty, and I’ve been having a hell of a time breathing enough to stay alive lately. I’m hoping I’ll be able to pick that back up once my breathing stabilizes.

Rosie has come out the winner in all this, walking away with two, count’em, two scarves, one in straight rib stitch in worsted green, the other in a mixed rib and garter using a terrifying “Limeade” Burly Spun (her color choice).

Of course, pretty soon I’m going to need other, non-scarf projects that meet the demands of my laziness — i.e., things that are very simple. I was considering “these,”:http://ohmystars.net/craft/knitting/pgloves.html as fingerless gloves are popular in my family, but I’m nowhere near wanting to make proper gloves with the circular needles and/or the double-ended needles, let alone being able to do so.

I went dark for a few days there, owing to an entertaining array of health difficulties — high points including coming in to the hospital at 9:35 Sunday, getting sent home with a clean bill and totally normal stats, then getting ordered backed to the ER after I called in to mention a spontaneous fever and difficulty breathing that developed that evening. I was in the ER until 2:00AM. The doctor there was pretty great, which I say despite the fact that he pumped me full of prednisone (which, while effective, gives me mood swings) and gave me enough albuterol to kill a horse. (My heart rate was 117 by the time we were done — compare with 90something right now after taking a more than normal amount of the same medication.) It did the job, though. I also got a prescription for more prednisone, which I’m taking diligently. (Entertainingly, the discharge pharmacy originally tried to give me vicodine, which I’m sure many would have happily walked off with — but which would probably not have assisted me with my current problem.)

Anyway, I’m feeling somewhat better, though I’ll be a little weird for a few days, I’m sure.

My computer coped something of a jism, so if you’ve been trying to communicate with me lately by any means, you may want to give it another try.

*Mildly spoiler-containing*

Just saw ??V for Vendetta??. I was favorably impressed, though I wasn’t terribly surprised or impressed by the content — it was basically what I assumed it would be based on the trailer, etc. This is as opposed to something like ??Kiss Kiss Bang Bang??, which was a total surprise — however, as I expected it to be good, it’s no complaint to say it was what I expected. And in fact it did surprise me in small ways — for example, in having very little actual action in it, which is refreshing.

I found its political content to be somewhat more pertinent, more practical, than the religious content of the ??Matrix?? films — as much as I enjoy me some Arendtian- and Cornel-West-influenced neo-Gnosticism — and certainly something that people would do well to consider; we’re living in an active slide into a more and more executive-branch governmental structure, and no one but the shrill, screaming edge of the left seems to be kicking up a fuss about it — something which the mainstream may regret ten years from now. (This is not to say that the current American government is engineering crises or anything as part of a power grab — far be it from me to suggest such a thing — but the receptive condition into which much of America has been lulled is absolutely a state of vulnerability with regard to potential totalitarianism.)

The film is plot-weak and message-heavy, but it’s well-crafted, and the performances are strong. With the possible exception of Natalie Portman (who, while making consistently excellent career choices, has never really wowed me as a performer), everyone is dead-on — particularly Hugo Weaving, who does an amazing job acting without facial expressions, “Stephen Fry”:http://imdb.com/name/nm0000410/, “Stephent Rea”:http://imdb.com/name/nm0001653/, and “John Hurt”:http://imdb.com/name/nm0000457/.

I would have enjoyed a better development of the characters — all of the characters. In fact, the movie could have stood to be considerably larger. I would also have liked a somewhat more complex (i.e., less sympathetic) portrayal of V — which I suspect, based on “this interview”:http://kukkurovaca.textdriven.com/friendlytentaclemonster/2006/03/15/mile-high-comics-presents-the-beat-at-comiconcom-a-for-alan-pt-1-the-alan-moore-interview/ which Kevin pointed out to me, is probably a concern that’s valid relative to the original source material. (I haven’t read the comic yet — I’m still having trouble sliding into that subculture — but I have read ??Watchmen?? and I’m assuming certain things about ??V?? based on that — i.e., the vastness and moral complexity.) I mean, someone who’s willing to kill lots of people, get lots of people killed, and torture his allies for pedagogical purposes is not the kind of person we should honor unconditionally. The movie attacks one end of the political spectrum for ends-means justification, but doesn’t call the other side on it — that is what we call a double standard. More importantly, the question of _just how far_ it’s okay for a hero to go is actually a very interesting dramatic topic — see, for example, ??Alias??, where it’s one of the key themes.

All of which is not to say that I wasn’t tearing up a bit when the little dead girl took off her mask. And not to say that I wasn’t all “fuck yeah” about the “ideas are bulletproof” line. (Note: Ideas are not at all bulletproof. Still, it’s a charming conceit.)

Of course, the one thing that is really surprising is that this movie was made at all — as a critique of possible neo-fascism arising from the current western political climate, it should be getting crazy heat from the right or at least causing widespread discomfort; I haven’t heard anything yet about any sort of backlash. This is puzzling, though I don’t know whether it’s a good sign — i.e., we’re okay with the critique — or a bad sign — i.e., we’re so lackadaisical we haven’t even noticed it as a critique.

Note: I’m probably not going to get any traction on this, but I’d almost be inclined to stack it up against ??Kingdom of Heaven??, which I more and more think was a really beautiful political allegory, and which I know that no one else in the world actually liked.

I’ve recently acquired two books from my big “Gang of Virtue” reading list, the ??Gigantafuckingnormous Correspondence 1926-1969?? of Jaspers and Weil (courtesy of Andrew, who clearly deserves better than I’ve given him in the way of mail (basically, a cd verison of my ??Fluble?? archive), and Althusser’s autobiography, ??The Future Lasts Frover??.

“Gang of Virtue” is the vaporware-y-est of my backburner projects (and that’s saying something, as anyone can tell you), originally conceived as a graphic novel in which Simone Weil would be a superhero. The sheer number of things that are wrong with the original concept — for example: I can’t draw — are quite staggering, but it still exerts a certain force over me. Jaspers, Weil, and Althusser are all on my list of important supporting cast.

We went to “Article Pract”:http://articlepract.com/ last night, and I dropped a quantity of cash which I shall avoid specifying. I got two skeins of Brown Sheep “Burly Spun” super-fucking-huge yarn, one in black (BS-05/Lot 032) for Rhonda (as a butch, Rhonda needs a masculine color scheme), and one in highly disturbing neon green for Rosie (BS-120 Limeade/Lot 018), and a pair of “Lantern Moon”:http://www.lanternmoon.com/KN.asp 13 needles to knit them with. I also got a maroon “Cascade Yarns Eco+” (whatever that means) for Renee in a less crazy chunky gauge, and a pair of longer Crystal Palace 8 needles to use on some of the wool we already had.

I’m just making scarves so far, on the grounds that they’re easy. Also, people seem to want them. Fortunately, the super-fucking-huge yarn should go super-fucking fast. Rhonda’s in particular, as she’s requested a totally plain (garter stitch) design. Not sure what I’ll do for the others. Seed stitch for somebody, probably.