Xanga has apparently gotten all its servers across the Hudson, a phrase which seems as though it ought to have a ballad available for it. However, I do not yet trust it enough to write much, because posts, pictures, and comments are still disappearing into the ether.
So I will merely mention that I am making progress on the Regal Orchid Jasmine sleeves.
The term “sleeve island,” coined by Fluffa! back in the mists of blogtime, is often used in knitting blogs to refer to the sense one gets while doing a sleeve that time is stretching out. You know how it is. You have completed the front and back, you sort of feel like you are almost finished, you’ll just whip out a couple of sleeves, and then you knit and knit and they do not seem to get any longer. You feel stuck, rather than as though you are sailing along briskly, prepared to shout “Yarn, Ho!” at any moment.
This blog has allowed me to discover that sleeves for an adult sweater take me about two weeks. So I still expect to finish this sweater in May.
There was a time in my knitting life when I mostly made baby things. That was because I had a house full of babies at the time. I could whip out a garment while they had their naps.
I am not nostalgic for that time, but I do look forward to having grandchildren so I can make baby stuff again.
Anyway, I have no objection to sleeves. I read while I knit, so long stretches of stockinette with minimal shaping are welcome.
My choir director, Bigsax (I did not make up that name; it is his screen name), told me the other night that he does not read novels. We were talking about The Da Vinci Code, and how het up over it people were getting. At one point he asked me, “Have you read it?”
I was a little bit taken aback. Wasn’t that what we were talking about? But he had not read it, had merely read about it. “I don’t read novels,” he said. And fewer than half of Americans do, if you believe the studies.
This is old news, of course, but Bigsax’s remark made me think about it again. And I was wondering whether it is fiction overall that is suffering, rather than novels as a medium. Because it seems to me that a lot of popular TV is also not fiction.
The TV is often on at my house, so I do not think that I am entirely ignorant about TV, although I am rarely the one in control of the remote. And it seems to me that most of what is on does not have a story line. We watch The Daily Show, and then there are the sports and news programs, and then there are things like Nashville Star and game shows, which my husband loves for reasons which are not clear to the rest of us. I watch Monk when I can figure out when it comes on, but otherwise there is probably not a single plot on the TV in a week.
I am not prepared to draw conclusions about this yet, because I might put lots of thought into it and craft paragraphs persuading you to my point of view and then push “submit” and get that “not responding” screen and that would feel a lot like Sleeve Island.
I don’t want to sound snobbish, and I think I’m the least snobbish person on earth, but I found the The DaVinci Code mediocre. Interesting subject, though. I may have to go back and read the original by those people who were suing the author.
Sleeve Island. (chortle)
Oh, and there’s a new book out by a biblical scholar that sounds good. I heard an interview on Fresh Air. But I can’t remember his name, nor the name of his book. 🙁 Anyway, sounds more up my alley.
i thought the da vinci code was fine. i mean, you know, if you don’t really have anything else pressing, why not read an interesing little bit of fiction. i honestly can’t see why everyone is in such an uproar about it. it’s f i c t i o n people. my favorite tv shows tend to be something from bbc america (i especially love the spy-type mysteries) or malcolm in the middle which my kids watch at every turn. i never actually sit down and watch it with them, but it rings to true in this household…..
Here you go:
Go to photo manager.
Upload your button image.
When done uploading, click on your image. Then click on available sizes. Choose your size. I usually go with the original size, which is sized for a button. But if not, you can choose thumbnail or square. The link to your image will show up in the photo html box. Highlight it and copy it. You might want to also paste it into notepad or something, so you don’t lose it.
Go to your look and feel. Under your custom module, paste the following code in, inserting your own html and image html afterwards.
here you insert your photo html, which should look something like below
So your final html entry for the button should look like this:
The
puts a paragraph break after your button. Make sure you have all your little > and / and ” and other thingies in the right place, if it doesn’t work.
http://www.funky-chickens.com is a great html code source! Hope this helps.
Oh, drat. None of the codes came through. I will email it to you.
And Xanga must not have all their servers up, because half of my images aren’t showing up. Double drat!
what? how could he discuss something if he’s never read it? that’s ridiculous!
I’m not to sleeve island yet..I’m working on the back. This is a long project. I keep abandoning it for various reasons. Not that I dislike the sweater, I love it! Sleeve island, huh? I wonder if it’s too late to turn this into a vest instead…. LOL j/k
The trip should be fun – assuming Li’l Sis and I sort out the details before Monday – which is when the deal my sister has found closes (We’re probably waiting for the other to get in touch with us – neither of us are good with phones and she very rarely uses email – probably ‘cos her partner is on the computer most of the time) I do remember the Terry Pratchett been discussed last year and I also remember that I meant to get a copy of it – which of course I haven’t got around to yet. Thanks for the reminder.
Funny, I hadn’t read your blog yet, but commented on much the same thing. The lack of reading going on in America! I just volunteered at my sons’ Book Faire and was so happy to see so many little children making huge lists of the books they’d like to have. My sons (9 and 5 1/2)love books and reading. I’m glad, because I enjoy it as does my mother.
I was going to send you pictures but it took them a million years to upload and by then I was bored.
Sigh.
On my next login, I will try to do it.
The reading statistic sounds very incomplete.
Are the people who don’t read novels reading other things? There are newspapers and non-fiction, as well as fiction that is not a novel (magazines, short stories, etc.). Or are these people just not reading at all?
It doesn’t say.
My landlord is practically illiterate because of extremely bad eyesight. My brother has the most severe case of dyslexia I’ve ever heard of. My brother-in-law grew up in a hospital (he had bad allergies) and never went to school, and so, can barely read.
All of them can read a bit, if they have to.
But I always thought they were statistical anomalies. Maybe they’re not.
Are there more statistics attached to this?