Episode Thirty-nine: As Far As The Screw Can Turn

Some things you didn't hear me talk about; some things you did. And the end of the book!
The Librarian's Lament (don't you loathe hearing, "yeah, that's just your opinion..." when someone says something like, "the world isn't flat!"), and a killer library.

Some things to do in the spring to help make the world a less polluted place...why can't they just make a kit!?!

A Manifesto I can get behind.

Freaky shark!

Spider_Knit's cool blog.

Buy yarn here for the rest of January (in case you hadn't seen the Yarn Harlot's post--it's #5). And Teresa sent this link which tempted her even though she doesn't knit (Hey, Teresa, check out the Winter Spin-Off for some embroidery ideas! You could hookup with a spinner/felter/knitter!)

My sister has asked me to knit her a special hat. Sadly, the pdf of the pattern is AWOL so I may have to begin my first adventure in faking a pattern. Whoo hoo!

A list of courses Ruth alerted me to can be found here. No college credit, but MY! MY! look at the listings!

And, of course, next week (if I'm available) we'll hear some short stories while we decide what to read next!

Episode Thirty-eight: The Neverending Cable

First: Chapters 18-19-20!

Second: Stephanie Pearl McPhee's SOAR interview.
Whoo hoo!

And the rest: Sock Darning.
Nuff said.

And worth mentioning again--the best Toe-Up cast-on in the WORLD! in my deeply biased opinion...

Here's the article on the Ladies in Phoenix, knitting for the good of others...and themselves.

And, from Julie: The Sci Phi Show--another philosophy podcast. Predictably enough the podcaster uses science fiction to launch each subject discussion.

And Julie also wrote: since you've been into Weird Al Yankovich you might enjoy the novelty songs featured on the most recent Geek Survival Guide. The podcast is about 15 minutes long and the songs are fun.

And Debra's Tallit with accompanying planning information:

the bottom border was instinct with some Jewish numerology thrown in; the neckband was charted but also adapted the little "entry motif" before the zig-zag. I used a lot of combinations of 7 (Sam's birthday - 7/7/94, born at 10:10 a.m., and his bar mitzvah is 7/7/07 in the Western world) and C'hai - so there are 18 stitches in the zig-zag repeat, and I'll do 9 of them, which makes 18 of the triangles....

And where she got the Qiviut:

The yarn in the tallit is qiviut, which I found not in Alaska where I grew up, but online from Caryll's Designs.

And...the (unblocked) neverending cable. This is a side view of the (did I mention unblocked?) hood. The color actually came out pretty close to true on this one. Go figure!

Episode Thirty-seven: Unfair! Protest!

Today, Chapters 15, 16 AND 17!
WHOO HOO!

Today I have some fun silkworm links, some pretty pics of the Pysanky eggs by Jen (who is very, very, very prolific while listening), some pics of intersting historical spindles, and some lip from Julie!

Tee hee!

Julie absolutely rightfully called me on the carpet for my anti-governess bias, so here's my rec. Go listen to the last episode, last chapter, with a different ear (that would be at roughly 47 minutes into episode 36). Then keep listening to today's chapters. Yeah...Julie has a point. I'll also let you in on some things Ol' Henry himself had to say about the book.

I may also share some of ELOISE in Paris (okay, NEXT week...) and remind you that really, truly, I loathe being a single Mom.

¿Donde esta mi esposo?

And some helpful info from Jen:
pysanky (piz·ahnk·yeh) is the name of those Ukrainian/polish eggs. singular = pysanka
Kiska (pl = Khttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifisky) is the name of the stylus thingie.

She also says:
if you like Weird Al, you might be interested in The Apologetix. they are a
Christian parody group that does Christian remakes of pop songs just like
Weird Al.

Oh! And don't forget to visit Ms Stitchy McYarnPants!

Update!
Found! Philosophy Podcasts! This is the one I spoke of. This one may even be a little better.

Episode Thirty-Six: Toe Woes

Today's theme is "Honi Soit qui Mal y Pense" which comes to us from a (probably apocryphal) story about King Edward III and the Order of the Garter. A rough translation is "Shame to him who thinks ill of it" but my AP English teacher used it as "Evil will be seen by those who look for it." Actually he may have had a different famous French quote, but I took Spanish so I wouldn't recognize a the real quote if it walked up and shook my hand.

ANYway...

Today we have chapters 12-14.

On my needles and on my son's walls today...

And how are your toes? Hmm?

Does your sunscreen have: formulas that include ingredients — like zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or Mexoryl SX — that impede damage from the sun’s longer wavelength UVA rays, a protective effect that is not indicated by a product’s SPF rating.

And if you're interested in more on Mosquito bites, check out:
Herbal Medicine site or the WebMD page or something my sister found on Google.

And some chairty/sock 411 from Jenny M. many thanks. You can also check out Knitting Peace.

Cheers for Store Wars and Weird Al!

And a special thank you to Cindy, the generous Park Slope Blogger (ah, the Motherland).

Episode Thirty-five: Ennui and Normandy

Well, we're having the first winter storm of the season. The mountains are capped with snow, the sky is grey, it's 39° (I hear you..."Hey! It's the DESERT! What's with the snow and temperature?!"), and the day is bleeding ennui.

Not least because my husband is here and I'm here (though it's much greyer today).

But Ennui and Turn of the Screw go well together so no complaints...much.

Today, chapters 10-11. You won't BELIEVE what happens today! Ai yi yi!

Charity knitting! Fixes to the Blogspot site! Felted Doggy Toys! More funny things! Holiday presents of fibery knitty things! (Does he love me or is he just feeling guilty for spending New Year's in Paris with his Brother and Dad?)

Was Santa good to you!?

Many thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

NOTE:
My RSS feed is down. The file is there, but I can't update the feed. You can listen through the little G-Cast player on the Blogspot site or download the episode directly from the Library (down to the right on this page--see, I told you there were improvements!). I'll fix the feed to iTunes as soon as they let me.

Episode Thirty-four: Backaches and Boxes

This week—Chapters 6-7!

The Other Nina sent this very helpful, eminently bookmarkable link to help me with mosquito bites. There's actually a lot of great info here...and this site has a very interesting looking hand/foot/everything cream. Lotions just don't work on me. If it doesn't say "cream" I don't buy it. Well, I bought it and thank you Nina!

And, here's my attempt to rekindle a love of Weird Al...Yoda!

Many thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

Episode Thirty-three: The Kindness of Strangers

This week--Chapters 6-7!

Okay, and you're not really strangers but y'all sure are kind!

Some fun with You Tube and Dante

Julie's socks (whoo hoo!) and 1400 A.D. knit pic

More Organic info from Dawn (worth a look-see)! Seventh Generation and Land Stewardship Project

Janet's pomo fun

And then--That Darn Governess and her latent class and boy issues!!!

BTW: we didnt' have time for these which I got off of a Knitter's Review forum. Did you know these superstitions:

** It's bad luck to leave a project unfinished. The intended recepient will get bad luck from the unfinished item.
** Stabbing your needles though your yarn balls brings bad luck to anyone who wears something made from that yarn.
** Don't knit a pair of socks for your boyfriend or he'll walk away from you.
** If you knit one of your own hairs into a garment, it will bind the recipient to you.
** Knitting for children you may have in the future, but before you are pregnant, is bad luck (it may prevent one from getting pregnant, or bring ill health to the baby).

And

Interesting Latvian beliefs about mittens

1. Mittens and socks should be knitted in summer, then they will be warm, soft and strong.

2. One should not wash new mittens when there is an old moon,
they will lose their color and let through the wind.

3. One should not wipe their nose in a mitten. Whoever does that never gets rich.

4. One should not give their hand to another with a mitten on, otherwise they will give away their luck.

Many thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

Episode Thirty-two: I See Dead People...

Hey Look!

Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?

You're Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen!
Take this quiz!








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Whodathunk?

Then there's this one too:

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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You should also check out Stephanie/Lumie's blog (gorgeous work!)

Then go here and get smart, RIGHT NOW!

After expanding your brain, you can crack yourself up with my friend Peter on his podcast.

Don't forget to get your SantaCon on! When you're done with that, embrace your inner Earth Mother and find out the skinny on Organics.

And in today's chapters, listen for the allusion to Jane Eyre that ol' Henry snuck into the first minute of this chapter.

As we continue our governess will continue to show her true colors--not a pretty picture.

And today's chapters reveal a bit more of James' brilliance. The Governess--who may still be nuts--does see someone who looks like Peter Quint. She had seen no pictures of him, but describes him to Mrs. Grose--well enough for her to identify the vision. Of course, the problem is...he's dead.

So, the mystery deepens...

Many thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

Oh, and I've moved all the links to previous episodes to the right side of the blog page at Craftlit.blogspot.com. There was a question as to why the files are so blasted big, and I'll tell you--I'd like to know that too! I'm working on it...

Episode Thirty-one: Apologies All Around...

(Apologies although I blathered quite a bit anyway...)

This week, chapters 2-3!

More Amazing Crochet from Dawn, some victorian pruditry, more wonderful emails from y'all, how to be an ostritch rather than a governess, and a little background on our author.

His dad was a Swedenborgian (say THAT three times fast) and I thought--when working through the "ghost" question--this quotation was ellucidating:

Although James had rejected in the beginning of his career "spirit-rappings and ghost-raising", in the 1880s he become interested in the unconscious and the supernatural. In 1908 he wrote that "Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are not 'ghosts' at all, as we now know the ghost, but goblins, elves, imps, demons as loosely constructed as those of the old trials for whichcraft; if not, more pleasingly, fairies of the legendary order, wooing their victims forth to see them dance under the moon." Virginia Woolf thought that Henry James's ghost have nothing in common with the violent old ghosts - "the blood-stained captains, the white horses, the headless ladies of dark lanes and windy commons." Edmund Wilson was convinced that the story was "primarily intended as a characterization of the governess".

Then there's the "corruption" question. Ah...the tangled web...

ALERT:
I just this second got this email from MaryBeth--right after uploading the 'Cast. Darnit. But it's worth noting here:

Loved your comments on the Fog Index. I'm a technical editor, and I have the following quote by Melville on my wall at work: "A man of true science uses but few hard words, and only those when none other will serve his purpose; whereas the smatterer in science thinks that by mouthing hard words he proves that he understands hard things."

Is that not brilliant?! I love Melville...but I'm not gonna do Moby Dick...not for a couple of years, anyway. See how I love you?

Many thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

Newsflash:
So, I fixed the little GCast player...but they've also tweaked it. If you want to, you can put a Craftlit player on YOUR site.
No really!
Under the player it says "subscribe free" and "Add to my page." The first is a subscription to the GCast feed (if you have the Libsyn/iTunes subscription there's no reason to change). The second link will give you HTML to paste onto your page.
Cool, no?

Episode Thirty: The Screw Turns...

Cool things to check out: Crochet Sea Creatures not to be believed (Thank you Dawn!), Check out Yarn-a-go-go's site and then check into NaNoWriMo! It's not too late! Then there's The Thread Project (One World, One Cloth), and I ran out of time to talk about My Paper Crane from Heidi.

I'll never do this to you.

Here's Henry, by the way:

I think you'll need this over the next few weeks.:

Character List
Anonymous Narrator
Probably represents Henry James. (Diagetic Level 1)

Douglas
The one in posession of the Governess' manuscript. He may have been in love with her. (Diagetic Level 2)

The Governess
The protagonist--twenty-year-old governess of Flora and Miles at the country estate of Bly. (Diagetic Level 3)

Mrs. Grose
A servant at Bly; illiterate, respectful.

Miles
A ten-year-old boy; charming, well-behaved, and very attractive.

Flora
An eight-year-old girl; beautiful and well mannered.

The Children’s Uncle
The governess’s employer; good looking but aloof with odd requirements for the job...

Peter Quint
A former valet at Bly; “infamous” throughout the area of Bly.

Miss Jessel
The governess’s predecessor; a lady, young and beautiful but “infamous.” Apparantly had an inappropriate relationship with Quint.


May thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw. If you check out her site you'll see why she's so good...except for that blasted microphone...