Something you can't do while knitting....
Discovered something you can't do while knitting.......
OK. Honestly there are a lot of things you can't do while knitting. (Yes, the picture is a hint but perhaps not what you think. Probably not what you think......) Here I'm talking about watching a silent movie. I was trying to watch Bardelys the Magnificent a silent movie from 1926 on Turner Classic Movies last night. I have a soft spot for silent movies (and movies from the 1930's) as well. I think because they represent a time capsule of a sort, a snap shot of what stories people wanted to tell some 80 years ago before so many of the major historical events of the 20th century had taken place. And even with a rudimentary number of cinematic tools available, they were able to tell remarkably sophisticated stories. I also enjoy that the movies are seasoned with the fashions that were popular. Even the French revolution-esque pieces often have a bit of flapper sneaking in.
Anyway, I was trying to watch Bardelys the Magnificent while knitting a sock from a charted pattern.* Charted means exactly what you would think: the pattern of stitches are represented as symbols in a chart. Not a particularly difficult pattern but one that requires looking down at the chart periodically. Guess what? Unlike a movie with, oh, I don't know, dialog, there is no way to keep track of the action in a silent movie without actually looking at it. (Yeah. Duh.) So at one point, Bardelys, our swashbuckling hero, was in the swooning heroine's boudoir giving her a kiss she would (presumably) never forget. I looked down to see whether pattern says yarn over, knit 2 tog, knit or yarn over, knit, knit 2 tog and then looked up again to see our hero flat out lying in the dirt barely alive. What? Thank goodness for the DVR so I could back up the movie about 30 seconds. Seems I missed Bardelys, climbing out our lady's castle window, misplacing his foot on an ivy covered wall and crashing to the ground below.** Perhaps really not such a magnificent move on Bardelys part.
After this, I tried watching and knitting for a little while longer but, well, here is the synopsis of the movie which I think explains why a switched over to House Hunters International while working on my sock.
Synopsis:
"King Louis XIII sends Chatellerault to win Roxalanne de Lavedan, hoping to keep the girl's fortune within the kingdom. When Chatellerault reports that Roxalanne is unapproachable, Bardelys, a courtier, wagers his entire estate against Chatellerault's that he will capture the girl within three months. En route, Bardelys finds a dying man and is given a miniature and some letters bearing the name Lesperon, whose identity he assumes. Finding that Lesperon is a traitor, he seeks shelter in the Lavedan estate, and though she is frightened, Roxalanne allows him to court her. Another suitor, St. Eustache, warns her that Lesperon is engaged to Mademoiselle Mersac. Bardelys is arrested for treason, but the arrival of the king saves him from execution. Roxalanne marries Chatellerault to save Bardelys' life, but Chatellerault is killed in a duel with the courtier, who is thereafter joined with his beloved."
Got that?
* The sock I'm working on is the Rivendell sock by Janel Laidman and will eventually look something like this:
Only out of a different yarn and different color.....
**Actually the "special effect" used to show Bardelys' fall was quite clever. It was a quick cut from Bardelys' foot slipping to a shot straight down over the lady's balcony as the actor went from standing with his hands in the air to a quick straight collapse accomplished by a rapid crumpling at the knees. It worked. Today I'm pretty sure a green screen and stunt man would be involved.
OK. Honestly there are a lot of things you can't do while knitting. (Yes, the picture is a hint but perhaps not what you think. Probably not what you think......) Here I'm talking about watching a silent movie. I was trying to watch Bardelys the Magnificent a silent movie from 1926 on Turner Classic Movies last night. I have a soft spot for silent movies (and movies from the 1930's) as well. I think because they represent a time capsule of a sort, a snap shot of what stories people wanted to tell some 80 years ago before so many of the major historical events of the 20th century had taken place. And even with a rudimentary number of cinematic tools available, they were able to tell remarkably sophisticated stories. I also enjoy that the movies are seasoned with the fashions that were popular. Even the French revolution-esque pieces often have a bit of flapper sneaking in.
Anyway, I was trying to watch Bardelys the Magnificent while knitting a sock from a charted pattern.* Charted means exactly what you would think: the pattern of stitches are represented as symbols in a chart. Not a particularly difficult pattern but one that requires looking down at the chart periodically. Guess what? Unlike a movie with, oh, I don't know, dialog, there is no way to keep track of the action in a silent movie without actually looking at it. (Yeah. Duh.) So at one point, Bardelys, our swashbuckling hero, was in the swooning heroine's boudoir giving her a kiss she would (presumably) never forget. I looked down to see whether pattern says yarn over, knit 2 tog, knit or yarn over, knit, knit 2 tog and then looked up again to see our hero flat out lying in the dirt barely alive. What? Thank goodness for the DVR so I could back up the movie about 30 seconds. Seems I missed Bardelys, climbing out our lady's castle window, misplacing his foot on an ivy covered wall and crashing to the ground below.** Perhaps really not such a magnificent move on Bardelys part.
After this, I tried watching and knitting for a little while longer but, well, here is the synopsis of the movie which I think explains why a switched over to House Hunters International while working on my sock.
Synopsis:
"King Louis XIII sends Chatellerault to win Roxalanne de Lavedan, hoping to keep the girl's fortune within the kingdom. When Chatellerault reports that Roxalanne is unapproachable, Bardelys, a courtier, wagers his entire estate against Chatellerault's that he will capture the girl within three months. En route, Bardelys finds a dying man and is given a miniature and some letters bearing the name Lesperon, whose identity he assumes. Finding that Lesperon is a traitor, he seeks shelter in the Lavedan estate, and though she is frightened, Roxalanne allows him to court her. Another suitor, St. Eustache, warns her that Lesperon is engaged to Mademoiselle Mersac. Bardelys is arrested for treason, but the arrival of the king saves him from execution. Roxalanne marries Chatellerault to save Bardelys' life, but Chatellerault is killed in a duel with the courtier, who is thereafter joined with his beloved."
Got that?
* The sock I'm working on is the Rivendell sock by Janel Laidman and will eventually look something like this:
Only out of a different yarn and different color.....
**Actually the "special effect" used to show Bardelys' fall was quite clever. It was a quick cut from Bardelys' foot slipping to a shot straight down over the lady's balcony as the actor went from standing with his hands in the air to a quick straight collapse accomplished by a rapid crumpling at the knees. It worked. Today I'm pretty sure a green screen and stunt man would be involved.
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