Knitting as historical protest

While looking for something to blog about today I noticed that Google News offers an option to check the archives and not simply the latest reports. While most of the results I received lead to links that require payment to access the stories, I did find a curious little piece that, I think, is an editorial about peace activist knitters in the August 8, 1931 Milwaukee Journal.

If I'm reading the article correctly, the idea, which the newspaper writer took none too seriously, was that women could try to prevent war by refusing to make socks and such as contributions to the effort.

It's hard to know the context. A quick search for the woman mentioned in the piece turns up nothing. Perhaps, per the reference in the editorial, the protest had something to do with the World Court, a.k.a the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague. Fascinating, nonetheless.

Happy 4th

The 4th of July is usually a work day for me. It was again this year, so I'm just going to post this short video and try to get some rest out of the remainder of the day.

Windy with a chance of scarves

Using wind power is talked about as an alternative for generating energy to be delivered to homes and businesses, but what about putting the wind to use knitting?

The Wind Knitting Factory is an art project that harnesses the wind to power an old knitting machine and whip out a scarf in supposedly a couple of hours. (This page has a short video of the machine in operation.)

This isn't particularly practical, especially with the limited knitting it can do, but it's a charming idea executed in a creative way. That's enough for me.

Strays

-I find it distracting, if not downright bothersome, to be driving on the interstate and encountering passengers in the car in front of me seated facing me.

-Exercising outside in early July on an overcast day that feels like fall and puts a chill on your skin? Wonderful.

-I can't explain it, but there was something really cool about walking out of a movie and seeing the lighted underside of a jet as it passed directly overhead in its descent to the airport.

Kerplunk

I get the feeling that I've hit the wall or am coming close to doing it--in other words, I need some vacation time--so in lieu of anything reasonable to write about, you get a couple videos.

The title of yesterday's entry referred to an early 1980s new wave band known primarily for their hit "Love Plus One". I expect that videos from today will look just as dorky twenty-five years from now as this does, but the current ones sure seem to have their cost splashed all over the screen. I don't know that you can say the same for the Haircut 100 video.

Looking up a little info on Haircut 100 led me to their former lead singer Nick Heyward, whose "Kite" was a minor alternative rock hit in the mid-1990s. I'd forgotten all about it until seeing this video, which someone must have tried to sync (badly) with the song:



And just in case you're getting your 80s Nicks confused, this is Nik Kershaw in his chroma key suit:

Haircut 100

When I read this brief reminiscence about haircuts, I felt like I had to write a response. Here it is.

If my dad ever took me to a barbershop for a haircut, I can only remember one instance, and even that I'm questioning whether it really happened. I can see the dark wood floor and walls and a table of magazines, but my memory of this place seems more like a saloon from an old Hollywood western. The main reason why I distrust this memory is that dad didn't go to the barber. My mom cut his hair and the hair of us boys.

Mom continued cutting my hair until junior high, or so I'm guessing. Until this time I had a regular, plain haircut. Not a bowl cut but nothing styled or anything. She took me to the place where she had her hair done--which also cut men's hair, I protest--and gave me my first "real" hairstyle, which had *gasp* a part.

Effectively this is also the only "real" hairstyle I've had. Sideburns have been added to the mix since, but the rest has been pretty much the same and is to this very day. Short of shaving my head, which is the single viable alternative with my unfortunate prematurely receding hairline, it will be the only hairstyle I've ever had.

The fact that I've kept the same hairstyle all these years obviously means that I'm not (and never was) concerned about it being the only one. Having something else done just seemed too rash.

Going bald is another matter. I don't like it, but I'm resigned to it. Nature has chosen to thin out what's up top before its time, so although I wince when catching a glimpse of what it looks like, what can I do? Pretty much what I've done about my hairstyle all along. Nothing.

Frogging

File this under "if there's a possibility it can be knitted, someone will do it": a dissected frog.

Brings a whole new meaning to "frogging", doesn't it?