Blogging More or Less

I've written 30 posts in 30 days for November Is National Blog Posting Month, although I haven't posted each day. At the same time I've been trying to post more often, a number of people have been posting about why it would be good to post less often. Leslie at The Clutter Museum brought this to my attention through 5 Things Teachers Could Learn From Slow Blogging. Leslie focuses on the uses of technology in higher education, but she links to a collection of articles on "Slow Blogging."

It seems a New York Times article by Sharon Otterman (November 21, 2008) triggered this month's discussion: Haste, Scorned: Blogging at a Snail's Pace

...Ms. Ganley, 51, is part of a small, quirky movement called slow blogging. The practice is inspired by the slow food movement, which says that fast food is destroying local traditions and healthy eating habits. Slow food advocates...believe that food should be local, organic and seasonal; slow bloggers believe that news-driven blogs like TechCrunch and Gawker are the equivalent of fast food restaurants--great for occasional consumption, but not enough to guarantee human sustenance over the longer haul.

Recursively enough, Slow Food (American style) has its own blog, The Slow Food USA Blog. I used to follow it regularly, because I'm interested in agriculture, food, cooking, gardening, old-fashioned skills, recipes, animal breeds, and crop varieties. However, I gradually lost interest in reading their musings on these topics. There's a line between being mindful of what you eat and where it came from and self-absorption, and they crossed it a little too often for my taste.

Unfortunately, as I made my way through the links Leslie provided, that same feeling began to creep over me. Maybe it was too many articles on the same introspective topic all at once. Perhaps if I approach these one at a time in a few days, I'll be able to get through them.

• Slow Blogging: Context, Transitions and Traditions (Back from Illinois, Part Two: Setting Up The Classroom Community) from Ganley's BGBlogging. The 2006 post that seems to have launched early discussion.
• Slow Blog Manifesto There's also a Slow Food Manifesto. I don't know which one came first.
• I Am a Slow Blog
• A "Slow Blog" Or Rather, "Bright Blog" Manifesto by David D. Perlmutter; Slow Blog: Part 2
• Why I Blog by Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic.

I do believe it's valuable to think about what you're doing and why you're doing it, but I'm not sure how interesting it is for other people to read about it, at least in abstract terms. Heaven knows I love my tomatoes, and I slap photos, recipe, and how-to's on my blog expecting that others may enjoy or learn. The tomatoes are wonderfully concrete, and much more interesting than my second-hand analysis of the evils of agribusiness.

Aw shucks. I've gone and blogged about blogging again.

Buying a Drupal Book

I try to avoid buying computer books, partly because I'm cheap, partly because I have limited shelf space, and partly because free online resources are often better. However, I've been having trouble getting started with Drupal--I know how to make it work, but I don't really "get" what I need to know to start working on a real Web site. (By the way, my latest set of helpful Drupal links is listed below.)

• Drupal for Organizations: Part I - Site Architecture from Geoff Hankerson's Web site: "Web developer, Podcaster and Drupal Specialist."
• Tutorial: An Introduction to Drupal includes an explanation of Drupal "taxonomy" and how to use it.
• WebShaq Media's Drupal Resources Nice topics and how-to's but doesn't anybody write articles anymore? What gives with all these videos?
• Transitioning from Plone to Drupal from Marine Metadata Interoperability Some easy-to-follow nuts and bolts details about how their Drupal site is organized.
• What is the Content Construction Kit? A View from the Database

There's useful information here, but not what I'd been hoping to find. That's why I ordered Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6: Build your own professional blog, forum, portal or community website with Drupal 6 by David Mercer. It came in the mail yesterday, and I started working my way through it this morning. Even though it was quite pricey, I'm pleased to have it. The author walks you through developing and implementing a sample Web site. The drupal.org site tells you how to do hundreds of different things, but David Mercer tells you why you want to do a few of the more basic things, and what things you need to learn about first. It was this orientation that I've been missing.

Adventures in Slow Cooking--A Fascinating Blog

Speaking of "how-to" Web sites, I just happened across this blog: A Year of Crock Potting--A New Year's Resolution to use the Crock Pot every day in 2008. Every day Stephanie photographs her ingredients, gives "The Recipe" and "The Directions," and follows up with "The Verdict." I've found that many recipes on Internet cooking exchanges have typos, missing ingredients, or are passed along because they "should work," so "The Verdict" is a very important component.

Like Stephanie, I love my slow cooker, and I use it several times a week to cook big batches of oat groats (and other recalcitrant breakfast cereals), dried beans, deer roasts, and the odd chunk of meat we find on sale. However, her year of cooking slowly is much more adventurous than my bowls of fancy oatmeal. She has slow cooker beverages, deserts, fondue, quinoa, ethnic entrees and cornbread!

How To Do Stuff

In an attempt to get back on track blogging with "30 Posts in 30 Days" I've been sifting through my collection of half-written posts (now spread across three different computers--electronic clutter times 3!). Here's a resource I don't want to lose track of: 80 How-To Sites Worth Bookmarking. The list includes eight topics such as "Become a Technophile in 10 Easy Steps," "Dining on a DIY Diet," and "Every How-To They Can Get Their Hands On." It's a post on Stepcase Lifehack, a blog on productivity and personal development: Dozens of authors posting how-to's on dozens of topics.

"Life hacks" as an information category has alternately irritated me and filled me with pity. The things kids need directions for, these days! How to shop on a budget; how to cook something for dinner; how to iron a shirt--didn't their parents teach them anything? Evidently not. Thank goodness someone taught them how to look stuff up on the Internet.

I started learning how to do stuff from books when I was 10 or 11, and the Internet sucked me in long before the World Wide Web appeared. Those Usenet newsgroups were a gold mine of esoteric "how-to" information, from statistical analysis (where I was legitimately using my computer guest account) through baking, brewing, photography, and musical instrument repair (not legitimate computer use for me, but very welcome). I don't know when directions for simple and mundane things like ironing your own shirts and comparative grocery shopping started to appear.

I guess I feel sorry for people who have to look up these things on the Internet because these are things adults taught me when I was a child. When I iron shirts, I remember my mom showing me how; when I roll out bread dough with a rolling pin, I think of my grandma; when I fry an egg, I remember fixing breakfast with my dad.

Learning how to do something is its own reward, but I really hope the "life hackers" have some knowledge that gives them a connection to the past and their families.

Fabric Shopping Online

Lest I misplace it again, here is the online accompaniment to an article in Threads magazine: Online Fabric Shopping: A List of Resources. If you quilt, there are several places to buy fabric in our area, but for wearables, I've shopped online for a long time now. As the article's author, Carol Fresia, says:

For lots of sewers, the pleasure of wandering through a local fabric shop, touching swatches of fine yardage and dreaming up future garment wonders, is a thing of the past. So where do you go when you need--or just want--to purchase fabric? In Threads #120, I discuss the many advantages of shopping for fabric via the Internet.

Her list includes my three favorite sources: Wazoodle.com, Sew Sassy Fabrics, and Dharma Trading Company, as well as many I've never seen before. This long, unannotated list will mean hours of browsing pleasure (or wasted time--you decide).

Full Bust Alteration on Sewing Patterns

It struck me after the last post that I had buried the useful links on full bust alterations in the middle of a post on another topic. Just to be clear, I think full bust pattern alterations are the cat's jammies, the cream in my coffee, and way, way better than sliced bread. (Feel free to add your own favorite archaic slang superlative.)

One reason I'm so excited about them is that for years I tried in vain to improve the fit of my shirts, blouses, and jackets. I read books, made slopers, bought pattern after pattern, and cut out disappointing garment after disappointing garment. My problem didn't fit the classic full bust diagnosis, and besides, this is America. How could anyone's bust be too large?

I happened on the issue when I was altering bra patterns. It seems that most sewing pattern companies assume a B-cup bra size. The majority of American women require a C-cup or larger, which means that many of us will benefit from a full bust alteration on sewing patterns.

I tried the adjustment to see what would happen, and it made all the other alterations I'd been using unnecessary. I don't have dowager's hump, forward thrusting shoulders, or a sway-back. Instead, I'm a Jane Russell kind of gal!

Now, this is not just a nicer label for my middle-aged figure. I'm reworking my pattern collection, and getting flattering garments with a minimum of fuss. Sewing is so much more fun when the results are pleasing.

Here's how to determine if the full bust alteration might help you with pattern fitting. First, wearing your best-fitting bra, measure your chest at its fullest point. This is called your full bust measurement, or often, simply your bust measurement. Then, measure your chest above your bust, just under your armpits. This is known as your high bust measurement. If the difference between your full bust measurement and high bust measurement is substantially more than two inches, you may find this pattern alteration useful.

Instead of selecting your pattern size based on your full bust measurement, take your high bust measurement, add two inches, and base your pattern size selection on that number. These helpful links give clear, well-illustrated directions on making a full bust adjustment for various garment types.

• Full Bust Alteration on Princess Seamed Bodice from Debbie's Sewing Projects--Tips and Project Instructions. Great diagrams, including animation! Also, check out her other projects and instructions.
• Full Bust Alteration. These are the directions I used for tee-shirts and blouses.
• Adjusting for a Full Bust on a Wrap Top. Photos instead of diagrams, but good instructions, and there are plenty of interesting posts on this blog.
• Full Bust Alterations (or Adjustments) ~ FBA from Sew, Mama, Sew, another blog of sewing tips and suggestions.

Pattern Transformation: Tee Shirt to Sweatshirt to Sleepshirt

Lately I've had a hankering for some new cardigan sweaters out of fleece or velour. As I mentioned before, I'm too cheap to pay for a new sewing pattern when I have already-fitted patterns that can be altered for style. That's why I pulled out Kwiksew 2900, a basic tee-shirt pattern that works well for not-too-stretchy knits. I've altered this pattern to fit and used it a dozen times or more.

My first attempt at a cardigan was quite unsuccessful, so I decided to handle the alteration in two steps. First, I selected one size larger than what I normally use. The bigger armhole and sleeve are necessary for a cardigan to fit smoothly over another garment. However, this produced a too-wide neckline and a too wide shoulder, and the test garment (a simple sweatshirt too unsuccessful to photograph) pulled up in the front.

To fix these problems, I recut the larger pattern using the smaller neckline front and back. I made the shoulders an inch narrower, and I made a full-bust adjustment on the front. The test tee shirt's finished bust measurement was plenty large enough for my measurement, but I've learned that adding a full-bust adjustment to a pattern often fixes the "pulling up in the front" problem. This knowledge took dozens of patterns, yards of fabric, and many hours of frustration to obtain--I give it to you here for free. Here are some good descriptions of the full bust adjustment, also free:

• Full Bust Alteration on Princess Seamed Bodice from Debbie's Sewing Projects--Tips and Project Instructions
• Full Bust Alteration
• Adjusting for a Full Bust on a Wrap Top
• Full Bust Alterations (or Adjustments) ~ FBA

My second and third test garments fit much better. I made one out of an extra-stretchy fleece remnant, and one out of an unstretchy printed cotton jersey. Both fabrics produced well-fitting garments.

While I was at it, I decided to try the new pattern as a nightgown. I extended the length and width of the pattern pieces as described in my "shirt to nightshirt" pattern transformation. It's shown here made from a wicking knit remnant, producing a very warm winter nightie, suitably loose-fitting for comfort. I'll probably use cotton jersey, cut it considerably shorter, and make short sleeves for other seasons.

From Shirt Pattern to Nightshirt Pattern

When I was young, I used to buy a lot of sewing patterns. In those days they only cost a couple of dollars, and I always hoped that the next pattern would turn out just as I imagined, with no messy alterations or disappointments.

Even as a teenager, though, I had favorite patterns that I cut out and sewed over and over again because they were so reliable. Doing that, I learned that it is much easier (and more fun) to make style alterations than alterations of fit. That's why, before I shelled out $10 or $17 for a nightshirt pattern, I thought I'd try and make my own by restyling a pattern I'd already altered for fit.

I've made nightgowns, pajamas, and nightshirts before, and they are generally loose-fitting, for comfort. However, I've often been awakened in the night by an oversized nightie that didn't move with me when I turned over in my sleep. To avoid getting tangled up in my lingerie, I thought I'd try something with less wearing ease. This is the pattern I started with: Jalie 2322. Here are the shirts I made from it, as the designer intended.

Basically, I made the shirt longer, left off the collar and cuffs, and turned it into a pullover when I cut it out. If you're interested in more detail, I've included a list of my changes.

• To plan the bottom width of the sleep shirt, I measured the bottom width of an oversized tee-shirt. I used the finished length measurement from a nightie listed in a catalog. Both these measurements were quite satisfactory--I believe there's a lot of room here for individual preference.
• I omitted all the darts except the side bust darts. If I make another night shirt, I will run gathering threads between the side seam dart markings, and ease in the fullness, rather than sew the darts. I think this will look better. It makes no difference in comfort.
• I turned the front-buttoning pattern into a pullover by folding the shirt front pattern at the center front line, and placing this new center front on the fold of the fabric.
• If you cut your neckline deep enough (and this one is, in fact, deep enough to pull over my head, even with all the buttons buttoned), you don't need a placket at all. However, I like the look of Grandad's old-fashioned shirt, so this time, I made the simplest neckline placket I know, for fastest results. I measured a polo shirt placket for length, and used three buttons because it looks right. Next time I make this, I will make a full-blown tuxedo shirt placket for that old-time menswear look.
• I cut the neckline about three inches deeper at the center front, and about half an inch deeper at the center back. I selected this by trial and error, cutting until it seemed comfortable. I finished the edge with 3/8 inch plush lingerie elastic, because that's what I had on hand. Bias tape or self-fabric bias strips would probably be better in the long run.
• I used the sleeves just as they were, and made up the missing length with a lace edging instead of a cuff, because it was much easier and quicker. It's also less constricting, if that's a consideration.
• I made a shirt-tail finish on the bottom edge by folding the sewed-up garment, free-hand cutting the side vents, and making a rolled hem. (I've made a lot of shirts in my day.) You could make a even hem, or finish it with lace or other decorative edgings to suit your fabric.

Snow On Snow

It snowed twice last week, piling one snowfall on another, and we've had one night colder than any time last winter. Yesterday's rain has turned into today's snow, and we can expect more of the same. The new house looks sad and spectral, and the sky is more like mid-January than the end of autumn. I'm reminding myself how lucky we are to have the old house and a warm wood fire, but I can't help taking in a little gloom from the atmosphere.

78 RPM to MP3's: Amazing Music Collection

Here's another person giving away something wonderful for free on the Web: My Collection of Recorded 78 RPM Records - Free MP3 Downloads. There's a layer of "password protection" to get to it, (He gives you the user name and password.) and here's what he's posted:

The following is a list titles recorded from my collection of 78 rpm records. All of them are linked to MP3 files and will play what was recorded. No sound enhancement, just what was recorded. Right now, there are 3,877 titles on this page linked to mp3's.

You're bound to find something interesting!

LAMP on Debian--Apache2 Tips

These are some Web resources I found very helpful in configuring my Debian Linux box as a server and running some Web 2.0 apps on localhost. Posting them here will keep me from misplacing them, and, thanks to the search engines, may help someone else as well.

• LAMP on Sarge (Apache2, PHP5, MySQL5, phpMyAdmin, Smarty, ADODB) by "ncb" (February 22, 2006) Debian Administration: System Administration Tips and Resources. We're up to Etch now for stable release, and phpmyadmin and smarty are now available the "Debian way:" apt-get install, but these directions worked very well for me.
• Apache Tips & Tricks from MDLog:/sysadmin--The Journal Of A Linux Sysadmin (Marius Ducea). His article Managing Apache2 modules the Debian way is where I found the directions for a2enmod, the program that turns on apache2 modules.
• Setting Up a LAMP server from Debian Wiki by Justin Hartman
• How to Setup a LAMP Server on Ubuntu - Locally run and test WordPress on LAMP Server from Kabatology (aka Martin Kaba)
• HOWTO: Setup a Debian/Ubuntu LAMP Server from Foogazi

Jacket Pattern Redux

I started fiddling with this jacket pattern more than a year ago. I tried several approaches to fitting, put it away, worked on many other things, and got it out again last month. This round of alterations produced a promising muslin (made of old bedsheets, so no photographs).

I've read dozens of books, magazine articles, and Internet tutorials on fitting garments, and found dozens of conflicting suggestions and instructions. Here are the steps that I followed this time, with more success than usual.

• I took a chest measurement just under my armpits--the "high bust measurement." To this number, I added two inches. I used this as my "bust measurement" for selecting my pattern size. There are many approaches to selecting pattern size, but this has worked best for me.
• Since my actual "bust measurement" is larger than "high bust measurement plus two inches," I needed to make a full bust adjustment. This adds inches across the chest, but only in front. Most American commercial sewing patterns use a sizing convention developed around 1950, with a "standard ratio" of bust to waist to hip measurements. From what I've read, women who have this 1950 "standard" figure have become quite scarce.
• Because this pattern--Jalie 2559--has princess seams, I tried Full Bust Alteration on Princess Seamed Bodice from Debbie's Sewing Projects--Tips and Project Instructions. These directions are clear, detailed, and easy to follow, and they worked like a charm. How often does that happen?
• I cut out my freshly-altered sewing pattern from an old sheet, sewed it up, and discovered that I needed to narrow the shoulders (by taking the seams on the princess panels a bit deeper) and lengthen the sleeves (at the "lengthen or shorten here" lines, thank you, Jalie). These are wonderfully easy alterations!
• I've cut out out the pattern in a navy blue cotton-poly twill, although I haven't bothered with the lining and interfacings yet. I'll cut those out if I'm still pleased with the jacket once the bodice pieces are sewn together. And there's always that option of finishing without a lining.

Princess and the Sewing Machine

Cats are notorious for interferring with knitting and yarn. Mine have all shown interest in fabric, patterns, and half-finished garments as well. Princess, however, takes it a step further, and is willing to nap next to a running sewing machine, even when fabric and pins must slide over the top of her.

Drupal In Theory and Practice

I continue to poke around the Web, hoping I'll come upon the Drupal resource that will make it all clear. (That does happen to me sometimes.) I'm actually making a little sense of it, between experimenting with an installation on localhost and reading more manuals.

Drupal.org and many other Web sites have excellent documentation on how to accomplish specific tasks, but the place where I'm hung up is approaching my planned content, breaking it up into content types, and determining how to organize and display it. The documentation skips over this theoretical aspect, assuring us that we can do anything we can imagine, and "don't be intimidated bye the steep learning curve." (I'm really getting annoyed with that "steep learning curve" metaphor--it's so ubiquitous that most of the posters on the drupal.org forums feel obligated to slip it into their questions and answers.)

Here are some resources that have given me some inkling of how to classify and organize my content and begin to plan a web presence of the Pocahontas County local history project.

• Drupal vs Joomla vs Custom Programming has the best comparative chart for Drupal vs Joomla! I've seen, and he makes a balanced case for choosing Drupal. I actually eliminated Joomla! from consideration because it has an exclamation point in its name. (I also take a dim view of names that include a capital letter in the middle of a word. I'm looking at you, GenBank.)
• Drupal Ace: Slogging and Blogging from Newbie to Ace. "A site by, of, and for the Drupal newbie."
• Blamcast: useful articles--Web presence of a busy Drupal developer-
• Drupal Tutorials from Webmaster Tips.
• Drupal entries from Nick Sergeant's blog
• Drupal Developer's Toolbox from Smashing Magazine
• Wordpress vs Drupal Which one to use, and when.
• Drupal White Papers, Cheatsheets, and Free Books
• Create a Killer Band Site with Drupal: A 6-part Tutorial Series. This opened my eyes about what's involved in creating a Drupal theme--and made it seem like something I could do myself.

Basketball Bird

Basketball bird.

CSS Tips and Techniques

While I was cleaning out my blog junk drawer, I came across these links on CSS tips and techniques. In the interests of keeping them where I can find them again (and to benefit anyone else who might want them), here they are:

• Floatorial--Simple tutorials on CSS floats
• TJK Design has a bunch of CSS tutorials, and other interesting things.

Lost In the Archives--Using Drupal

I've been test-driving content management systems, both general-purpose Web site packages and archive/collections management tools. I've decided I really like Archon, The Simple Archival Information System. It works on Mac, *nix, and Windows, its easy to install, and it can work as an archive manager, a digital collections manager, and an online exhibit manager. The other tools I've reviewed and tried out don't suit my purposes, or else, like Omeka, look promising, but are not quite ready for prime-time.

The "regular" content management systems for Web development are more problematic for me. I've narrowed my choice to a couple of systems I've installed and test-driven locally. Wordpress is easy to get started with, but it seems to turn everything I try to do into a blog with a few static pages on the side. I know it can do much more, but I'm not sure it's a good use of my time to bend it to my will. Drupal will do everything I can imagine, but I'm getting lost in the nine million alternative modules, themes, and add-ons. I need to read about what other people have done on projects similar to mine. With that in mind, I've assembled these links:

Using Drupal

• Drupal 6.0: Installation and Basic Usage by Michael J. Ross, 03/18/2008
• Feeling Lost... I Need Honest Opinions, a poorly-named but very helpful thread from the Drupal Support forum "Before You Start." The initial post asks What's a person to do? Is it *really* worth putting all the time and effort into trying to set up Drupal and its modules, or is it just faster to code a site up manually?
• Drupal and The Future of News by Kurt Cagle, May 31, 2008
• Drupalib: A place for library Drupallers to hang out. Drupalib is intended as a place for Drupal implementors in libraries to share ideas, configurations, themes, and maybe even to incubate the development of some modules that allow commonly desired functionality in library websites (both for libraries' principle sites or for secondary or specialized subsites). Drupalib features a blog, a forum, and a listing of drupal sites implemented by libraries. Additional features will be added as the site evolves. Of particular interest is Mark's blog.
• Drupal as a digital library content management system. Interesting essay....
• Solving Obvious Problems: A 60 Minute Digital Library from The Drupal Way, a Drupal Web development company
• Drupal and Digital Libraries, an evaluation essay.
• Getting Started With: Drupal from InformationWeek's Content Management Blog.

Snappy Sewing Projects

My recent fiber endeavors have seemed fruitless. I've intended to make jackets since last year, and for me this involves an iterative process of altering the pattern, sewing a muslin, and repeating until I'm ready to make a test garment. Then I have to work out the remaining bugs in the test garment before using the "good fabric" I wanted to use in the first place.

Last week, I took a brief break to make some actual finished garments as a reminder that sewing sometimes has a practical purpose. The two mens' tee-shirts on the right are from Kwik-Sew 2334. It's a straightforward pattern--it required no fitting or alteration on the designated wear-er, and it is quick to cut out and sew.

Although it's not obvious, the other two garments are by-products of the seemingly endless jacket-fitting project. The long-sleeved tee-shirt on the left also allowed me to practice using my new snap setting tool.

In the 1970's I tried several snap-setting outfits in my search for the perfect denim jeans and jackets, with unsatisfactory results. Sometimes the snaps were hard to set and chewed holes in the fabric, and sometimes they fell out after a few wearings. I gave up on the whole project and stuck with buttons and buttonholes.

Lately, I've been trying to make jackets out of knit and fleece fabrics, where tidy buttonholes are difficult at best. On the recommendation of Beth, the prolific and adventurous sewing blogger at Rusty Bobbin, I tried the "SnapSetter" tool and snaps from The Snap Source. I'm really pleased with the quality of the snaps, and the setting tool works well. The instructions on the Web site also are included with the tool, and if that's not enough, The Snap Source includes a video.

I think the "SnapSetter" tool works as well as it does because the snaps are of high quality. I ordered some large jacket snaps, a snap assortment (light blue ones shown in this photo) and some white pearl snaps. You know what that means--cowgirl shirts! I look forward to getting in touch with my inner Dale Evans.

Relaxing With the Rokon

We love our all-terrain utility vehicles here in West Virginia. Ours is a two-wheel drive motorbike called a Rokon. (Years ago they were manufactured as "Tote Goats.") I've never mastered keeping it upright even on level ground, but it navigates steep, roadless places well, and doesn't tear up the ground like a conventional dirt bike.

Princess doesn't care for anything motordriven, unless it has a comfortable seat, and is safely turned off.

Armistice Day

My dad was a schoolboy during World War I, and In Flanders Fields was a poem he and his classmates learned and recited at school. When I was a kid, he used to recite it sometimes on Armistice Day.

In Flanders Fields
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army

IN Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. 

Wasilla Hillbillies and Self-Loathing

Throughout the presidential campaign, I was perfectly positioned to be insulted by both parties--I grew up on a farm and live in the country, which makes me racist white trash on one hand, and I have an education, which prohibits me from living in "real America" on the other hand. Just when I thought the dual dose of contempt was over, we have fresh insults in Newsweek's "special election project" (Nov 5, 2008):

...While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy....One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000....An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

"Wasilla hillbillies!" I don't see the connection to the southern Appalachians. (West Virginian's official nickname is "Mountaineers.") The Palins look more like wannabe-yuppies run amok. The term snowbilly has been coined for them, apparently one more "white trash" synonym. It's just not an accurate application of our beloved/despised ethnic slur. If a real hillbilly were to loot a department store, wouldn't it be Cabela's, rather than Neiman Marcus? (At least, that would be my personal preference.)

This sort of discourse puts Republicans in an awkward position. For years, some of them have heaped contempt on the "liberal elite" and metropolitan populations, but now, it turns out that small town people are "hillbilly looters." I guess the Republicans are the party of self-loathing.

Recyling Craft Projects--How About a Rug?

I always get on a "recycling" kick this time of year--usually with fabric scraps. One year it was rayon scrap window quilts; last year it was compacting the denim scrap collection; another year it was converting some heavy handknit pullovers to cardigans. Maybe that's why I keep noticing things like Plastic Bag knitting. I've actually tried this, and wasn't that pleased with the results; however, plastic bag crochet might be a little more promising; as crochet gives a firmer fabric.

Cocoknits, the source for Plastic Bag knitting, also has tutorials for knitting bathmats out of rag strips. Her project looks fabulous in her photo, but I have made such, and, once washed, they are quite disappointing. However, this reminded me of the wonderful world of rag rugs. Woven, braided, crocheted, hooked--I've never gotten beyond the initial experimentation stage. I wonder if I have enough denim scraps? Here are a few Web resources on rag rug projects.

• Rag Rug Tutorial from Vintage Chica
• Rag Rug Instructions from Thrifty Fun
• 1885-1929 VARIOUS RAG RUG INSTRUCTIONS from Rugmaker's Homestead. This website has all sorts of information on traditional rug making with dozens of techniques. A lot of fun!

Recycling a Satellite Dish

Another Recycling Idea: Our neighbor made a small gazebo out of an old satellite dish. It's just large enough to keep the rain off a small table and chairs. I've seen them used for bird baths and planters, too, but the readers of /. (slashdot) offered some Alternative Uses for an Old Satellite Dish that really fascinated me, including parabolic microphones, speakers, and antennas. Here are the links I've archived....

• How-To: Build a WiFi biquad dish antenna
• Amateur Radio Astronomy Project Page and Amateur Radio Telescope Plans. How cool, to have your own personal radio astronomy telescope!
• Constructing a solar cooker from an abandoned satellite dish.
• Lyngsat--C band satellite channels; Free to Air satellite

Troublesome Plastic Bag Build-Up

The garden is done for the year. I'm already missing the fresh vegetables, but there is another negative as well: My plastic grocery bag collection is building up again. I use plastic bags to bring in tomatoes, peaches, grapes, peppers, cucumbers...everything. After the bags are muddied or ripped, I can throw them out in better conscience. Since there is no place locally to recycle them, they just pile up the rest of the year.

I have a sense that they "must be good for something," so I'm always on the lookout for ways to re-use. Here's a way to turn them into "fiber" for crochet, knitting or Recycled Plastic-Bag Weaving by Jana Trent. Her woven plastic project is the best looking use of plastic bag "yarn" I've seen, and it makes me want to try it out.

Textile History and the Battle of Droop Mountain

Today is the anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Droop Mountain. The reenactors visited last month, when the weather is more likely to be pleasant, but 145 years ago, the Yankees were bombarding our ridge with cannon fire, and the Confederate troops were dug in across the road, where you can still see the remains of their earthworks in Droop Mountain Battlefield Park.

Pearl S. Buck's novelized biography of her mother, Caroline Stulting Sydesntricker, The Exile (1936) includes an account of that battle, a major event in Carie's childhood memories. This book is out of print, unfortunately, because I think it is one of Buck's best works, and its it gives a vivid impression of time and place. Here's a favorite excerpt:

The postwar period in the life of the little West Virginia town [called Hillsboro now] was one of deep spiritual fervor coupled with necessarily ascetic living. This atmosphere was the air which she breathed in her youth, and which forever placed a check upon a nature that was at heart sensuous and beauty-loving. But it gave also the opportunity for experience of many sorts and in this her varied mind delighted. I remember her saying once, "I have done every kind of work needed to maintain life and I am glad of it. After the Civil War there were no shops, nothing to be bought. We grew our own flax and we spun linen thread and made our own sheets and table cloths and inner clothing. We dyed our dresses from cotton and linen thread we had made ourselves and we wove it. I learned to know what colors could be made from different herbs and barks and from roots of many kinds. Sometimes our experiments were failures and we had to wear them just the same. And we sheared sheep and washed the wool and carded it and spun it and wove it. I am glad I learned how to do everything."

This has been my standard of textile austerity for the Civil War era, but not long ago, I ran across an excerpt from Godey's Lady's Book, 1866, entitled Dress Under Difficulties: American Civil War Fashions in the South During the Blockade. Whoever wrote this had a different definition of austerity.

Let those who have never experienced it set their imaginations to work and conceive, if they possibly can, what must have been the condition of ladies in society - and very gay society, too - cut off for four years from their supplies of new dresses, shoes, gloves, linen, buttons, pins and needles, ribbons, trimmings and laces, not to mention the more urgent necessities of new bonnets, hoop-skirts and fashion-plates! How we patched and pieced and ripped and altered! How we cut out, and turned and twisted; how we made our new dress out of two old ones; how we squeezed new waists out of single breadths taken from skirts which could ill spare a single fold; how we worked and strained to find out new fashions and then worked and strained a little harder to adopt them - all these things form chapters in the lives of most of us, which will not be easily forgotten. Those who wish to learn economy in perfection, as well as those who interest themselves in curious invention, will do well to study the experience of the blockaded devotee of fashion.

Visualizing a Fourth Dimension

I've intended to post these amazing links for some time now: Seeing in four dimensions by Julie Rehmeyer in Science News describes a new series of videos to help people visualize complex mathematical concepts. This is the trailer:

The trailer shows some snippets from the Nine chapters, two hours of maths, that take you gradually up to the fourth dimension. Mathematical vertigo guaranteed! offered on Dimensions: A Walk Through Mathematics. I won't pretend to explain the fourth dimension as a mathematical concept, but there is text that accompanies the nine "chapters" of the film. I don't know if repeated viewings will allow me to absorb the ideas, but it's so engaging visually that I almost don't care. When Hutchinson described an ecological niche as "a multidimensional hyperspace," I wonder if he had any concept of what even one "extra" dimension would "look like."

Here are the credits for Dimensions: A Walk Through Mathematics: This film is the result of the collaboration of three enthusiasts who worked together on all aspects of the project: Jos Leys, engineer turned computer graphics enthusiast, specializing in mathematical imagery (Antwerp, Belgium); Étienne Ghys, CNRS senior researcher, working at the ENS-Lyon, mathematics and the scenario; and Aurélien Alvarez, ENS-Lyon graduate student, technical aspects, and computation of images.

Election Day Wishes

This picturesque old church is our polling place on Droop Mountain. I am so glad Election Day is here. I heartily wish that all the TV "journalists" who have covered the election for the last two years will be unemployed tomorrow, and that their positions will be filled by actual reporters who go out and gather information about events of the day.

I also wish unemployment on all misogynist campaign staffers, pundits, and commentators, whatever their gender or political affiliation. I don't care whether they called an older candidate "shrill" and "shrewish," or a younger candidate a "bimbo." They are ashamed to be called "racist;" why should "sexist" still be OK? Unemployment would give these people time to reflect on this contradiction, and would free up gainful employment for those who deserve it more.

I also hope that everyone else will exercise the franchise in a stress-free, pleasant voting experience.

Rose Again

I have some tough roses here on Droop Mountain.

Even after last week's snow and ice, this rose is determined to make pollen while the sun shines.

November Is National Blog Posting Month

I've signed on for November Is National Blog Posting Month again this year. Other duties and projects have pushed writing and photo editing to my back burner, and I hope this commitment will help me turn up the blogging heat.

I've signed up over at NaBloPoMo, where I found this really cool Cartesian Blogging Badge by Sara. (If you were wondering "Why Descartes?" as I was, she explains how as well as why.

The National Blog Posting Month Web site is a social networking affair where you can, in theory, read the blogs of others participating in the project. Discovering blogs like Sara's makes this an attractive proposition, but the nifty social networking site crashes my browser with some regularity, as it did last year. I don't think Linux compatibility is high on the priority list of the hip young women who run the project.

Un-hip, un-young, and Open Source as I am, let's see if I can't post something here every day.

End of the Season

I'm trying to adjust to the abrupt end of autumn--it's warm and sunny enough to bring out a few sluggish, dessicated flies, but that autumnal glow is gone. Tomorrow's "early" nightfall is bound to be disturbing, too.