Reflections of the Past

Some films can be enjoyed again each year. Holiday films are a common example. I know I am not unique in watching the Groundhog Day DVD each February. But July is a special treat for me because of the following films:

• 1776 - I confess that I like the VHS version better than the Director's Cut DVD


• Yankee Doodle Dandy - James Cagney was a very good dancer - also like his brief appearance in the film Seven Little Foys


• The Dish - I can - and do - watch this charming film any time of year but it is good to watch now since it is the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. So much about this film is good. I can thank my local library for introducing me to this film. I -and others - have purchased this DVD due to that introduction.

I was also reading a blog (courtesy of an article in PC World magazine) where the writer talks about creating a photo time capsule. From Google Image Search and Bing Images* you can type in a year and see a wide range of images to represent that year. For those of us born between 1950-1979 the images can be both funny and sad.

* Bing is the new Microsoft search engine - check it out

I was surprised to see an article about a flat screen tv less than 3 inches thick was designed in the 1950s but not brought to market due to licensing and other issues. But then, TVs have been around since the 1930s. Odd that we are going back to antennas (for those of us who opt not to have cable or full satellite subscriptions). I watch so little TV that I dropped my cable subscription. In my opinion "reality TV" and the pseudo news channels (e.g., Fox "news") are the current low point of broadcasting.

I was amused by the older car and clothing designs. Hmmm... car designs usually retire gracefully but clothing styles are "re-invented".

KNITTING

Talking of old clothing styles, shawls are back. A large group of knitters are now expanding their skills by knitting lace. The extra-fine laceweight yarn tends to defeat me so I knit lace with fingering weight yarn (commonly used for baby items and socks). I recently finished the Vernal Equinox shawl (designer photo gallery). The shawl is quite large and wraps around nicely. It may be difficult to see but there are silver threads in the yarn.

I also finished some small items that I will post later. Currently I am working on the Eliini shawl using the Intense Rainbow colorway of the Mini Mochi yarn line (see yarn picture in previous post).