Knit-Nerd-Rant

Image credit: http://sciencefiction.com/2015/10/15/nycc-2015-interview-clever-girl-jurassic-world/ [Spoiler alert - but seriously, it's out on disc by now] I finally got around to watching Jurassic World this past weekend - something I had been meaning to do for ages.  I grew up with the earlier Jurassic Park movies and adored them.  I was the little girl who could name a surprising number of dinosaurs, and inhaled any books that I could find about these incredible creatures. So, for the imaginative dinosaurs, I loved the movie.  It's completely over the top and ridiculous and once again tries to remind the audience that humans cannot and should not play god, nor should they think that they can possibly control it. The thing that rankled me was the portrayal of Claire - the woman who looks like she walked out of a midtown Manhattan boutique, with impossibly smooth hair for a tropical climate and who wears a pair of towering spike heels for the entire film....

I recently started taking a belly dance class. I love it intensely. Over a decade ago, I had previously taken a couple classes taught by a friend in high school and feel head-over-heels with the style. It was fun, it looked cool, I liked the music, and it was really self-affirming. Backing up, I was an overweight kid, who surprisingly grew up to be an overweight adult. It wasn't always that way. When I was a very young kid, I was short but skinny. Sometime around 3rd grade something happened and by 4th or 5th grade, I was plump. There was no change in my constant level of activity - there were dance classed, soccer teams, softball teams, even a short lived basketball team. I loved moving and sports and generally being active, and I still do. I loved vegetables and still do. Just something happened with my internal chemistry that changed how my body managed chemical energy conversion. It was something frequently on my mind - that I was bigger than the other girls. I looked di...

Inspired by one of my new favorite writers , I want to write a brief letter to 2013. Dear 2013, Bite me. You had some good moments, like a promotion and lots of positive feedback and travel for work. However, those times when you inflicted incredible harm to the people I love were not cool. I have spent too much time in hospitals for one year during your twelve months. Too many tears. Way too many tears.  It's not for nothing that my mother said this year "if what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, we must be like Godzilla by now." I want to burn you in effigy every day leading to your end. You have become dangerously unbalanced and unhealthy. I don't want to see any other years like this again. No pathetic late night drunk calls seeking reconciliation. No sad texts or emails. Just go. And take your pain and suffering with you. Sincerely and without affection of any kind, -E KnitNerdRant Dear 2014, You look cute. I'll see you on the 1st. I'll be t...

Apologies for any regular readers who have come along, things have been crazy this summer, and that's really my best excuse.  I have a sweater pattern that I need to go back and write because the sweater is super-duper cozy and snuggly, and I've taken up cross-stitch, and have a couple nerd-tastic samples already mostly completed, so more on those once they are web-picture ready! So my inspiration for today's post was my reaction to seeing the amazing movie, Pacific Rim . (Don't worry, nothing here will reveal any spoilers beyond the basic premise of the movie. I hate spoilers, and refuse to add to them!) First, I had so much fun watching that movie. It was totally amazing and fun and hilarious.  I am constantly in awe of Guillermo del Toro's magnificently warped mind and the way that he can create such imaginative monsters.  While the kaiju are both traditional in their size and fierceness, the shapes they take and the faces (particularly the mouths) are ...

This seems to be a topic of the moment. While chatting with my sister, we started talking about body image and how things seem to be so skewed, and our own issues with our body shapes and our body image. The other day, I had a great experience with a woman at a dress shop. Then today, a friend posted a link to this blog post on Facebook, and it got me thinking. It feels like there's a lot of judgement out there, a lot of mean competition between women that only tears people down.  This benefits no one but the folks at Slim Fast and the successors to PhenPhen, the cosmetics industry, and Spanx. There's also a lot of counter-activisim in a few flavors. There are women who strike back with just reverse judgement, turning the prejudice on skinny women while glorifying the other end of the spectrum.  The perspective that I like best is what came out of the conversation with my sister.  It's that of the authors of Fatcast , a podcast that is looking to breakdown the idea t...

[ via ] Ok, this one has been brewing for a while (there are more long-standing grievances to file, but this is sufficient for now).  I have a deep and abiding hatred for Pinterest.  It's unabashedly gender-role enforcing.  It's basically a place where straight, white women go to collect pictures of aspirational interior design, fashion, recipes, saccharin inspirational quotes, and they accumulate. More accumulation - as if that's what we need to cure the ails of society.  They tack up meaningless quotes that they think are insiprational that are usually historic/literary quotes taken out of context or meaningless drivel. They decorate homes they can't afford, select outfits they will never be able to buy, find makeup tips they will never use, and pin recipes they will never bother with.  It's the ultimate way to feel like a domestic goddess without ever actually trying anything. There are some snarky pins that I run across, including some I don't underst...

As with the millions of other self-indulgent blogs out there, this is simply a means for me to gather some random portions of my life. Topics of interest may include but are not limited to: Knitting, quilting, sewing, reading, pop culture, music, religion, international relations, science, space, feminism, philosophy, consumer finance and credit, disability rights, human rights, gay rights, civil rights, fantasy novels, fantasy novels other than Harry Potter, computers and software, movies, tv, science fiction movies and tv, automotive engines, cooking, fresh produce, psychology, football, the other kind of football, and yet the other kind of football, hiking, kayaking, sunburn, and dealing with family. If your interest continues beyond four hours, you should check with your doctor, because clearly there is something wrong with you. Also, I'll probably want to be your friend. So, a bit more about me so that you have some idea who this particular self-indulgent and at least m...

  [Image credit: totally stolen from an ebay listing for Zippy Pins ] Normally, I bring knitting with me on the bus as I commute to and from work, but the past few days, I've been just reading on my Kindle app, since I got a loaned copy of the Hunger Games .  This means I've been knitting a lot less (I have made some progress on the socks for the boyfriend, but not as much as I'd like) and my hands are mostly still during my commute.  I realized today that my hands are totally antsy and just want to knit up a storm again.  Must knit... must knit! Knit and purl!  Ahem... Worst of all, I just learned about a yard sale at an apartment building about a mile from mine... and both fabric and yarn were specifically mentioned in the advertizement.  This could be a very bad... I have to admit, however, that reading the Hunger Games is getting to be a bit of a stressful experience.  I find it a pretty disturbing reading on a lot of levels.  Fir...

Alright, so how's the old score card? Sew 3 new skirts that are office-appropriate Fixed one skirt that was too big, and made 2 skirts from scratch (details and pics to come). Given how much work the blue/black houndstooth one was, I'm calling this one achieved. Watch my current Netflix (Melancholia) Nope, still need to do that, since it's one I wanted to watch with the boyfriend. Go hiking! Instead decided to go for a 5k run on Saturday morning, and that's about all the weather wants to permit. Forecast has been showing rain out through Friday. Boo.  Thought about a muddy hike, but just didn't have the energy. Clean the apartment A bit... Do laundry Find the fridge light bulb (Someone accidentally un-plugged the fridge, making me think that the light had burned out, since it was still cool and so I removed the light bulb thinking that I needed to replace it. I put it down somewhere and have completely lost track of it.) In my genius, I tota...

So, with the long weekend stretching out before me still a day away, I'm gathering a list of things that I want to do over the 3 blissful days: Sew 3 new skirts that are office-appropriate Watch my current Netflix (Melancholia) Go hiking! Clean the apartment Do laundry Find the fridge light bulb (Someone accidentally un-plugged the fridge, making me think that the light had burned out, since it was still cool and so I removed the light bulb thinking that I needed to replace it. I put it down somewhere and have completely lost track of it.) Knit (specifically the socks from yesterday's post) Make pancakes with the blackberries that thawed in the night of the wimpy freezer and re-froze into a solid mass of frozen-berry-goodness (see fridge light bulb story above) Limit my poking around online so that I can actually get things done! Find a way to get rid of the collection of old books I need to give away, and find a way to get them to any related location Perhaps some...