Rhinebeck Bound
Like many of my knitting friends, I head up to New York State this Saturday morning to enjoy the pleasures of NY State Sheep & Wool Festival.
Particulars
It looks like both Thaddeus and I will go up, which always makes it more enjoyable for me, but for him, not quite as much.
I’m not participating in Blogger Bingo this year, so if you stop to say hi, you won’t be able to fill out a square on your card this year.
Mostly, I’m going to the festival to meet up with friends. I also have a couple of things I’ll be looking for specifically, well, three actually. Any interesting fleece, a drum carder and items from RedMaple Alpaca.
Other than that, I’ll just stroll through the festival enjoying a nice day of fiber-related excitement.
Current Knitting/Crocheting
I continue on with my only real active project at the moment, the crochet lace tablecloth.
You’ll note that Nico insisted on being in the photo this time.
On Ravelry, I found out that this pattern is a free available pattern from The Spool Cotton company called Queen Anne’s Lace. While that’s not where I found the pattern, it’s nice to be able to refer others to it who might be interested.
Current Spinning
I have done some additional work on the brown Corriedale fleece that I bought last year at Rhinebeck.
I still have a box-load of roving to go, but it’s a very nice fiber to be working with and Fingerlakes mill did a lovely job of cleaning and carding it for me.
Readers’ Comments/Questions
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments on cholesterol, niacin and vegetarianism. I am again amazed at the breadth of knowledge of folks that read this web log.
As for me, I have quasi-successfully used diet and exercise to control my cholesterol for most of my adult life. It’s never been incredibly high, but always “borderline.” I understand there are issues with niacin and some possible side-effects. I started taking the non-flush Niacin, which avoids the flush through slow-release of the vitamin. Some folks said that the non-flush can cause liver enzyme problems more frequently, so I switched to the regular niacin. I did get an incredibly “flush” effect, but knowing to expect it, it was just uncomfortable for about 5 minutes.
I don’t recommend or not recommend this therapy for cholesterol control. My real concern is that my doctors don’t even mention it as option without Thaddeus having to find out about ourselves.
Finally…
As non-parents, and as gay men with exquisite taste, Thaddeus and I get to see a lot of great movies. When AFI came out with the 100 greatest movies, I thought I would come out with my own list. Below, I posted it as a separate blog entry, I give you, QueerJoe’s 100 Favorite Movies.
At first, I thought I would never be able to come up with 100, and then I had trouble narrowing it down. I would highly recommend that you take a look at any of the top 20 movies you recognize, and see if you agree with my assessment. The take a look at the last 20 and do the same. If you don’t agree with me on those movies, seeing the other movies on my list might be awful for you.
Suffice it to say, other than Secret of Roan Inish
while I missed the inital cholestorol post (sorry!), a good cardologist friend (and fellow knitter!) commented once that no-flush niacin is probably not nearly as effective anyway, and your body will adjust to the flush after a while. If it is an issue, there are percription versions that are more time release, that are effective…
Or so I’m told.
I found your 100 interesting, and saw a few that I had missed out on seeing. I would go for a few more classics, a few more SciFi (Silent Running – I saw it again the other day and still loved it; Buckaroo Banzai – still a riot) plus a few of my all time favorites that defy classification – Local Hero, Singing in the Rain.
Have fun at Rhinebeck, don’t bring home any sheep – look what happened to poor Franklin! I’m trying one of my dogs in sheep herding, so far her interest is iffy, but you never know.
The Station Agent is one of the movies I find myself thinking about again and again.
There aren’t any movies on your list that I’d disagree with you on. A bunch I don’t know: haven’t seen yet or I’m not familiar with.
Unfortunately, my older son is not old enough to watch the really interesting ones, but old enough that he stays up as late as we adults. Our house really has nowhere private to watch a movie, so I’m waiting for him to go to college to catch up on my movie-watching.
My doctor put me on the non-flush niacin and I had such awful. long-lasting flushes that I couldn’t stand it after 3 sleepless nights. I can only imagine what the regular niacin would do! My cholesterol is actually OK but the triglycerides are bad, so I take a drug for t hat. It’s not too bad as long as I remember to drink a glass of tonic water every night (quinine for the cramping). I think getting older is not for sissies!
My husband is of the car chase/shoot’em up/sports movie type. I am ashamed to say I have seen only four of the movies on your list-my favourite is Kinky Boots. Have you seen 9 Queens? It is my very favorite (but not husband-friendly) movie.
May I echo mehitabel’s sentiment? Me and my eggs-fried-in-butter-for-breakfast-every-day habit are REALLY grateful to have freakishly healthy cholesterol, but the hip joints wearing out are sure getting to me.
Whenever I am feeling a bit moody or sad I always watch: The Secret of Roan Inish and after crying at the end I always feel much better!
And ofcourse Ireland is my favourite Holiday destination.
I’ve seen about half of the movies on your list, and all of them (with the exception of Caddyshack, which I admit is funny but not great-funny) I agree are excellent movies, from Napoleon Dynamite to The City of Lost Children. I have a hard time ranking movies, but thought I should mention that if you liked The Illusionist you might like The Prestige.
I don’t know why family friendly and good can’t go together, but I can’t think of any films that I would consider great and also decent films for kids. Lots of books are in that category, but not too many films. Grayson Perry said great art should remind us of what makes us human. I would think childrens films should teach us what it means to be human.