The Bog of Lost Scholars

17 February 2005

Slightly Illustrated Craft Update

Filed under: Crafts — Castiron @ 20:18

The yellow doily is done, hurrah!

I haven’t done a mass illustration of my UFOs for a few months, so here’s a partial group photo. Pentacle, Just Nan, Ruby in back; the blue jay is barely visible leaning against the pentacle. Next row: granny square afghan, a Mill Hill ornament that I decided to start because it’ll be quick (all that’s left is the sewing and fringe), crane (just a tiny patch left of the wool, and then it’s all gold couching), shirts; the folded-up Flanders map (with just about all that I’ve done so far showing) and the lace blouse are in front.

Not pictured: the denim dress, the sunflower needlepoint, the harbor needlepoint.

16 February 2005

The Evils of Working Dads?

Filed under: People, Culture, and Society — Castiron @ 18:02

Nine times out of ten, when I read an article about the problems of the American family, someone will mention mothers who work outside the home.

How come no one mentions fathers who work outside the home?

Especially when we have so many commentators talking about the importance of fathers and how kids need their father in their life. Um, if Dad’s working a job that keeps him out of the house nine hours a day plus commuting time, and the kids are just seeing him on weekends (and possibly not even that, if he works a lot of overtime), seems to me that Dad is not a primary influence in these kids’ lives.

One hundred years ago, my forefathers worked on family property, or at worst a five-minute’s walk from home; they saw their kids, worked with their kids, knew what was going on with their kids. The children’s books I read that are set around that era? Same thing; Dad works on the farm or at a nearby store, and he’s home for lunch every day. Yes, sometimes dads had to be absent for economic reasons, but it was always portrayed as a regrettable or sub-optimal scenario, not The Way Things Should Ideally Be.

Now we have long commutes, overtime, and workplaces that are utterly segregated from children’s spaces. And we certainly have many individual fathers who don’t like the situation…but we don’t have pundits talking about how it harms the family. Why not? Aren’t fathers as important to kids as mothers?

10 February 2005

Daily Thread

Filed under: Crafts — Castiron @ 19:30

Is it just something about winter that makes me want to start new projects, never mind that there are plenty of old ones to finish? Having started that nice long-term thread crochet project of a lace blouse, I promptly went and started another thread crochet project. So instead of making steady progress on this blouse, I’m making intermittent progress on it and on a varigated yellow doily.

It’s a small doily, though, so it won’t take long. I’m currently thinking it’ll be another present for my ex-mother-in-law, as it’s the same thread and colors as the one I made her a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the blouse is up to nine and seven-eighths squares. The first sleeve is “done” (it’s too short for my tastes, so I plan to lengthen it if there’s enough thread when I’ve finished the rest), and I’m starting across the body.

Counted work: Nada. Zip. Nothing. The yellow doily has temporarily supplanted the crane as my living room lounge project.

Sewing: Progress on the cat quilt! I’ve sewn together the blocks and vertical lattices into horizontal rows. Next step: press the seams, then sew the rows and horizontal lattices, and at that point I just have to figure out what I’m doing about the border.

The clothing sewing, however, is pretty stalled. I still haven’t been able to arrange a fitting time with the gal from church; I must have overdosed on black flannel, as I haven’t touched my bro-in-law’s or nephew’s shirts either. (I know what’s stalling me on those, actually; I have to rip out and recut a cuff, and I don’t feel like doing it.)

7 February 2005

Wasabi Guacamole

Filed under: Food — Castiron @ 11:03

One day, my boyfriend and I were out having sushi, and I observed that the wasabi was about the same color as guacamole. We joked about wasabi guacamole routinely afterwards.

Yesterday, in honor of the Super Bowl, we actually made some.

It’s…weird. Not bad. But very weird.

(It’d probably work better if we actually used a food processor or blender to mix the two; mushed avacado alone doesn’t blend that well.)

4 February 2005

Austentation

Filed under: Film and Media — Castiron @ 17:16

Recently I saw the 1986 BBC version of Sense and Sensibility (starring Irene Richards and Tracey Childs) and the 1980 version of Pride and Prejudice (starring Elizabeth Garvie). I’m more familiar with the more recent movie versions of the two books, Emma Thompson’s S&S and the Ehle/Firth P&P, so that made for an interesting comparison.

In the case of S&S, much as I like Thompson’s version, the older version’s tone felt truer to the book. And of course, since it was longer, more of the little episodes fit in. I prefer Greg Wise’s Willoughby to Peter Woodward’s, but Bosco Hogan’s Edward Ferrars was much more Austenesque than Hugh Grant’s. Ultimately I’d like to have both versions on my shelf.

When it comes to P&P, though, I definitely liked the new one better. The Garvie version does have some excellent characters — that Mrs. Bennet worked better for me, as did Mrs. Gardiner; I liked the idea of Lady Catherine as a not-quite-so-old woman, and while I didn’t exactly like Moray Watson’s Mr. Bennet, I can definitely see that harsher take as a valid reading.

But David Rintoul’s Darcy…he was so reserved that the viewer (or at least this viewer) can’t see what he’s really thinking. Maybe I missed it, but I couldn’t see any real chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth. And Garvie’s Elizabeth actually made me think, in a couple places, that Mr. Bennet was onto something when he said that all his daughters were silly and ignorant like other girls. So I probably won’t go out and buy this version on its own, though I might get the full set of the early 80s BBC Austen adaptations.

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