Friday, March 15, 2024

Fact-Checking -- clearing up a lot of ignorance part 5

So the latest ignorance on Twitter is about past issues in Holy Land history, and it comes in two parts.

First, a photo has been circulating of an official document with the word Palestine on it. People use it to claim that a Palestine existed before there was an Israel. But as you know, I wouldn't be posting about it unless it was an urban legend. Here's the photo.

This document was issued by the British mandatory authority which, under the Sykes-Picot agreement, took control of parts of the Ottoman Empire after WWI (the one that ended in 1918). The year on the document is 1935 or something like that.

The British named the mandate Palestine for whatever reason. The region was not under control of its long-time residents, not even the Jews of the Old or New Yishuv, let alone the Jews that remained in Jerusalem or the Kabbalistic settlement in Tsfat.

The other is claims about the term Zionist, similar to false claims about the term anti-Semitic.

The term anti-Semitic was invented by Edouard Drumont and his right-Orleanist political associates in France, to describe themselves. Ignorant, bigoted and weak-minded people have tried over the decades to pretend that the term relates to non-Jewish Semites like Arabs, but that is a fallacy called redefinition.

The term Zionist was coined by Herzl and his followers in the 1800s CE, while the Ottoman Empire still governed the Holy Land. The Empire divided its territories into units called, in the 20th century, vilayets. I googled an article which shows that the Ottomans never had a sub-unit called Palestine; Nablus (now on the West Bank) and Jerusalem were part of the same sub-unit.

A lot of things are swirling around in world affairs right now. They come down to two things. Evidence is piling up that the demonstrations and protests are promoted by Russian interests, including the photo of a "Polish protestor" with pro-Russian signs on his tractor. From promoting political candidates like Trump and Geert Wilders; to fostering secession movements including Catalonia and Brexit (ask me for receipts); to allying with existing far-right movements, to sponsoring the French Yellow Vests and, as we now know, Antifa; to the US "trucker's" convoys and Polish "farmers" protests; to embedding ISIS (which is wholly owned by Putin) with Hamas and Russian troops that attacked Ukraine in 2022; to promoting civil war starting with Syria in 2011 and including the civil war bloviating by MAGA; most of the unrest in the world is a result of Russian activities, not spontaneous or ideated movements. Russian criminal maneuvers were unmasked in 2015 with the Deutsche Bank Golbal Laundromat scandal over money laundering going back to at least 2010. Russian promotion of Palestine to the detriment of Israel goes the whole way back to 1948.

And two, a bunch of ignorant adrenaline addicts are committing reckless endangerment by closing down commerce and transport, providing screens to the violence prone and, in airports, to potential terrorists.

If all of this is news to you, don't get mad at me. Get mad at yourself for being 15 years behind the news cycle, and thousands of years behind crucial facts about the Holy Land.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Knitting -- a Summer Victory

Just in time for your summer knitting in cotton blends or linen.

I've been trying to find a pattern for knitting a sleeveless top, top-down, without raglan sleeves, knitting in the round, so as to use up some leftover cotton yarn. Google search doesn't turn up anything like it, not even on Pinterest or Ravelry; the patterns want you to knit a front, knit a back, and sew them together. Well, part of my mantra is "when you're done knitting, you're done" to the maximum extent possible. 

So I finally buckled down and invented it myself. 

Sleeveless, boatneck, with selvages at the armholes and optional mid-back elevation.

This top does not have the gap problems at the neck that you get when you knit bottom-up and knit the shoulders together. You don't knit the shoulders together, you make shoulders with stitch increases under the neck rib.

I used the classic Basque stripe pattern that kids used to wear for play shirts when I was actually a kid. The two versions are here.

http://freevintageknitting.com/spool194/5201-basque-shirt-and-socks-pattern

http://freevintageknitting.com/childrens-clothes-patterns/spool175/basque-shirt-and-socks-pattern

I like the Joan and Tommy pattern with 8 rows of neutral base color and the light and dark of any colorway -- 4 of light color, 2 of dark, and 4 of light again. You can reverse the light and dark colors if that uses your leftovers up better. The more contrast between those and your base, the more this pattern will pop. Or you can use any two colors that contrast with each other and with the base. 

I have calculated (sport/DK) and [fingering] stitch counts below but not tested them.

These materials and stitch counts are for a top that fits a 40-inch chest. Don't change the count for casting-on; you will need that to fit over your head. Don't change the number of rows in the armholes (before you join the round to finish the body). You need them so the top doesn't bind you under the arms.

The target stitch-count at the hem is 200 for worsted, 240 for sport/DK, and 280 for fingering. If you need a smaller size, stop doing increase rounds when you get to the stitch count that is good for you. You may want to do two knit rounds between increase rounds, to get the shoulders broad enough (like for a husky guy).

I think it took me 30 hours to make the first sample after I worked out the stitch counts for the increases.

7 50-gram skeins or balls of yarn. I used Comfy Worsted which has a nice drape and hand.

            4 in your neutral base color, especially important if your selvages will be in base color

            2 in the 4-row color

            1 in the 2-row color

1 size 5 (4) [3] 24-inch circular needle

1 size 5 (4) [3] 16-inch circular needle

Use long-tail cast-on to a 16 inch needle for 140 (147) [154] stitches. Make sure your stitches are not twisted, then join using a SLST/PSSO and put the slipped stitch back on the left needle for a smooth join. 

2.                 Work K1/P1 rib for 6 (6) [8] rounds, setting a marker at the start and weaving in the loose tail of your cast-on. For more flexibility in the neck, you can use KTBL instead of just a K.

3.                Knit one round to stabilize the neck, setting evenly spaced markers for the side “seam” and middle front. In worsted, these go every 37 stitches; in sport/DK or fingering they will more like 38 stitches apart.

4.               Work an optional mid-back elevation: K14 past midback, wrap, turn; P28, wrap, turn; K47, wrap, turn; P66, wrap, turn; K85, wrap, turn; P94, wrap, turn, knit to the mid back.

5.               Change to a 24 inch circular needle.

For worsted weight yarn: 
Increase into every 20th stitch. Knit a round, 147
Increase into every 21st stitch. Knit a round, 154.
Increase into every 22st stitch. Knit a round, 161.
Increase into every 23rd stitch. Knit a round, 168.
Increase into every 24th. Knit a round, 175.
Increase into every 25th. Knit a round, 182.
Increase into every 26th. Knit a round. 189.
Increase into every 27th. Knit a round. 196.

For sport/DK do the following:

Increase into every 21st stitch. Knit a round, 154.
Increase into every 22st stitch. Knit a round, 161.
Increase into every 23rd stitch. Knit a round, 168.
Increase into every 24th. Knit a round, 175.
Increase into every 25th. Knit a round, 182.
Increase into every 26th. Knit a round. 189.
Increase into every 27th. Knit a round. 196.
Increase into every 14th. Knit a round. 210.
Increase into every 15th. Knit a round. 224.
Increase into every 16th. Knit a round. 238.

For fingering weight:

Increase into every 22st stitch. Knit a round, 161.
Increase into every 23rd stitch. Knit a round, 168.
Increase into every 24th. Knit a round, 175.
Increase into every 25th. Knit a round, 182.
Increase into every 26th. Knit a round. 189.
Increase into every 27th. Knit a round. 196.
Increase into every 14th. Knit a round. 210.
Increase into every 15th. Knit a round. 224.
Increase into every 16th. Knit a round. 238.
Increase into every 17th. Knit a round. 252.
Increase into every 18th. Knit a round. 266.
Increase into every 19th. Knit a round. 280.

Knit from the mid-back to the first side marker and cast on 5 stitches. Turn and work P2/K1/P2 into those stitches and purl across to the other side marker. Cast-on again and turn. After this turn is where you will start your Basque stripe if you're using it.

7.               Work the rest of the knit rows as K3/P2, knit across and work the last 5 stitches as P2/K3. Work the rest of the purl rows as P2/K1/P2 in the first and last five stitches.

8.               Working Basque stripe. When you cast-on for the second selvage, start your Basque stripe; you have already worked 8 rows under the neck rib in your base color so start with 4 rows of your light shade, 2 of your dark, and another 4 of your light, followed by 8 in your base color.

You can work the selvages the same color as the body.

If you are going to work the selvage in your neutral base color, first, have a separate ball of that color for each selvage or use up leftovers from the ball you used to make the neck and shoulders. The alternative is to carry it across the row and that’s a waste of yarn.

When you go back to your base neutral color, work a purl and knit row with one of your selvage balls and then use the other to work the next purl and knit rows (or knit and purl, whichever). This, too, avoids carrying yarn wastefully across.

Be careful to lock stitches of the base and other colors at the body side of a selvage that is in your base color. Use your Fair Isle locking techniques. I can't find a good video so if you've never done color work before, put a comment here and I'll help you out.

9.                Work 50 (55) [60] rows of the back in the flat, ending in row 4 of the 8 rows of your base color. Leave a couple inches of tail and cut the yarn. Weave this in when you start knitting the body.

10.            Now make a slip knot in your yarn and with the right side of the front facing you, put it on the right tip of the circular needle. Pass the end (knitted) stitch over it. Turn and cast on 5 stitches. Turn back and work K3/P2 to the body and knit across. Now cast on 5 again, turn, and work P2/K1/P2. Here is where you will start the Basque stripe for the front. Purl across and P2/K1/P2 at the other selvage.

Now work 50 (55) [60] rows of the front in your Basque stripe ending again at row 4 of the 8 rows of the base color.

Join back and front by knitting. At the armpits, working from the right side, knit from the front underarm across the selvage of the back underarm, and when you get to the other side, knit across the selvage of the front underarm to finish joining into a round. Count stitches and add at the underarm "seam" until you have 200 (240) [280].

11.            Work Basque stripe in the round for 95 (110) [130] rounds ending in 8 rounds of the base color. If you run out of the contrast colors, use base color to finish so you don't have to buy more yarn and end up with more leftovers. This is what the photo shows. If I hadn't run out, or you buy your yarn fresh, there would be another band of color above the hem.

  , and  Do K1/P1 rib for 6 (6) [8] rounds. Bind off in rib with one difference. Pick a knit stitch at each of side seam, mid-front and mid-back. K into the front but do not remove; K into the back and pass the front stitch over, then P the next stitch and pass the rest of the knit stitch over. This will make 4 stitches to loosen the hem, otherwise it could be hard to get the top off.

13.          Now go back and sew together the selvage at the shoulders.

In the photo you can see the armhole with the selvage on the left. 

I often use Lindy Chain for summer tops; it is thinner than Comfy Fingering and linen is perfect for the DMV's hot muggy summers. I have some leftovers to work with and will post again when I have the counts right, but you should probably cast on 220 stitches, work 10 rounds of rib for neck and hem, do increases (start at every 22nd stitch and do two rounds without increasing between every increase round so that the shoulders are wide enough) until you have close to 300 stitches (or your target for the hem), 90 rows above the armpits and 140 below them with 10 rounds of hem rib. (I also have a vee neck tank to work in Comfy Fingering or Lindy Chain.)

You can work a Breton stripe instead of a Basque one, with 4 rows of white and 4 rows of French or cadet blue.

You can use 7 skeins of a single color and work lace in front as I did for a bottom-up top a long time ago, or beads and sequins. You can add university emblems with duplicate stitch.

If you use wool, you can work Fair Isle, houndstooth, cable (including Aran or Celtic Knot), and British (gansey) or Bavarian twisted stitch patterns, making vests to go over button-down shirts. (I also have a vee neck vest pattern.) Make sure to increase the target hem stitch count for Fair Isle and houndstooth; the fabric has less give and you need a wider garment to get it on and off easily.

So now, I hope, I've made you crazy to start knitting for summer and get rid of stuff in your stash or leftovers bin. At 30 hours per top, only your real life stands between you and working one top per week between now and the warm weather.

Fact-Checking the Torah -- DH and the "old words"

A long time ago I pointed out that one problem with DH was its claim that P used words no older document used.

I came across my own counterargument to this while re-reading my study Narrating the Torah. On Exodus 6:2, I said that DH assigning this verse to P has no basis in the text.

Every single word in this verse appears in another Torah verse that DH has assigned to an older document like J or E. In fact it uses both elohim and the Tetragrammaton, so it can't be assigned to J or E unless it's a conflation of two verses, one from J and one from E. 

What's more, elohim appears in Amos, a Judean work from the 700s BCE which should, according to DH, use the Tetragrammaton everywhere. And the latter appears in Hoshea, a northern work from slightly before Amos' time which should use elohim everywhere.

With both names, this verse says that Mosheh was a bad writer in the estimation of Jean Astruc -- but since Mosheh took down Gd's exact words, that makes Gd a bad writer. Say what?

It also makes a liar out of Astruc for saying he only worked with Genesis. This verse is not at the start of Exodus and therefore plausibly misplaced from Genesis (which obviously closes with Joseph's death). It is six chapters into Exodus and the actual Egress will happen eight chapters later.

It's been six years since I finished posting about DH but obviously I didn't include every last detail that blows it up. For those of you who missed it, here's the start of my destruction of DH. It starts out with math and logic, and then it goes into details like this one from Exodus 6. It's about 50 posts long and each post is about a page worth in Word. Whether you never heard of it, or never liked it, or just didn't know what a pile of crap it was, you have a chance at learning the truth.

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Fact-Checking the Torah -- Behold! A Second Witness

One of my projects for some years now has been trawling the Internet for articles about the Akrotiri explosion that have bearing on the Exodus.

The relevant Bible verses are Exodus 10:21-23, the palpable darkness that fell on Avaris but not in Goshen across the border. This palpable darkness is characteristic of the Plinian phase of a volcanic eruption like Vesuvius in 79 CE or Mount St. Helens. The Akrotiri eruption was 20x that of Vesuvius in 79 CE which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

The dust streamed SSE on a ruach yam, a sea wind which, for Egypt, meant it came from the NNW. But did it happen in the spring?

Well, it happened before autumn and studies from multiple perspectives have pegged it more and more closely. Examinations of charred insects in jars of fava beans show that the beans came from the prior year's harvest; it contained all stages of the insect's metamorphosis except eggs, which are laid in spring. This pest never develops in stored beans. It can only develop out in the fields. So the beans were picked after they were infested, stored up and left behind when the dust clouds sent people scurrying from Akrotiri, accounting for the lack of human remains. They probably assumed things would blow over and they would come back for the stored food. Instead, KERBLOOEY.

Another important indicator was olive remains found in the ash deposit. This included branches, leaves with parasites on them, and olive stones. The question I always had was, did they find any way to tell if the olive flesh had started to develop yet. Finding bare stones with no trace of even charred flesh would put the disaster in early spring; finding any remains of even charred flesh sets the date closer to summer. The leaves are not enough; olives are evergreens. I haven't found the answer to my question yet.

Now comes an article on the Babylonian Venus Tablets of the reign of Ammisaduqa, containing records of observations of Venus as well as the meaning of the various phases and things. In addition to phases, the tablets record an issue called conjunction. Twice a year Venus disappears into the glare of the sun; there is an inferior and a superior conjunction and you can google about the definition of those terms.

What the tablets record is that in 1627 BCE, the dates of the superior conjunction could not be determined from observation. About 25 April, Venus should have been visible as "the morning star", then reached conjunction and come out by 5 October as "the evening star". But they never saw "the morning star". There's no explanation of unusual storms, the rain clouds of which would have hidden Venus. But given the year, the explanation probably turns out to be dust from Thera. 

It would have taken months for this dust to get thick enough to occlude Venus. American Meteorological Society data shows that historically, the most common wind in Mesopotamia came from the NNW. Ancient maps of cities put this direction at the top and free-standing buildings were oriented to keep out the wind and its dust. The main component coming from the north would have limited the amount of dust coming from Thera, which was located to the WNW. 

Avaris, on the other hand, is about half the distance from Thera as Babylon, and the prevailing wind out of the NNW at that time of the year promoted the volume of dust that produced the plague.

The article on the tablets has another suggestion to make, an eruption of Aniakchak in Alaska. However, this has the same problem as the eruption of Krakatau that I discussed for Gildas. It's thousands of km farther from Babylon than Thera. It's to the ENE. It's just another example of how academics don't take all the evidence into account (like distance and prevailing wind), or don't look outside their pipeline (such as to see the resemblance to the Krakatau claim). 

And now another example of how you can't rely on what people say. I found three tourism websites, all parroting the same text about finding flowers in the remains of the Thera explosion. I contacted one and they told me they had no data to back up that claim. So if anybody tells you that olive flowers were found at Thera, ask them for the archaeological report. I doubt they'll be able to give it to you; Google didn't find it for me, though it did turn up the paper on the Venus tablets.

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Fact-Checking the Torah: clearing up a lot of ignorance Part 4

If the only thing you know about Jews is Fiddler on the Roof or some other form of entertainment, boy have you got a lot to learn.

The feature item for this post is the "go back to Poland" thing. 

As I posted some time ago, Jews have lived in the Holy Land for nearly 36 centuries.

Sephardic Jews from around the Mediterranean (especially Italy and the marranos of Spain and Portugal) live in a number of places, including Israel. The national radio station hosts programs in the Ladino language of Spain.

The Jews of Kaifeng China are natives and have been there for a thousand years. 

After 1492, Spanish and Portuguese Jews who fled the Inquisition wound up in the Spanish Netherlands or Brazil, and the Brazilians moved to New Amsterdam, which is now New York City. The earliest synagogues in the US, such as the Touro synagogue, were Sephardic. 

Marranos came to the Americas with Cortes and other conquerors. Their blood flows in their descendants. 

All of the Arabic nations expelled their Jews after 1948. Where did they go? Three guesses and the first two don't count.

Soon after 1948 Operation Solomon airlifted Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

After 1948, the Bene Israel of India came to Israel.

In 1966 a tribe of Inca converted to Judaism. Some of the Bnei Moshe moved to Israel. One was serving in the IDF on October 7 2023 and was killed defending his nation. 

While the LDS Book of Mormon claims the Native Americans were descended from the Ten Tribes (which is false), some Native Americans have converted to Judaism. 

African-Americans with a Jewish mother are counted as Jews. There are also African-American converts to Judaism. I remember seeing a photo of a black couple at their wedding, the man wearing a Chassidic shtreiml, but I can't find it on Google. I think it was in a Jewish calendar.

And then, Ashkenazic Jews may inherit the m33c mtDNA gene from China, which moved west along the Silk Road. I have ancestors who came from Hungary and, depending on how many generations the Kleins lived there, I might have it.

Genetic Jewishness comes through the mother, except for kohanim who inherit a specific Y chromosome unit. But with both men and women converting to Judaism for 35 centuries, there is no telling which of your acquaintances is Jewish. King Ferdinand of Aragon, who promoted the Inquisition's autos da fe, had a Jewish grandmother. So once again, curb your ignorance. And if you really want to help, use this post to bust the chops of the Jew-haters who say "go back".

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Knitting -- pullover version 3

So over the last 2 years I've learned some new techniques and YOU get the benefit of them without having to evaluate a hundred different Youtube videos.

This is for a long-sleeved worsted (DK/sport) [fingering] jumper, knitted bottom up, in a woolen yarn. 

You need size 7 (5) [3] circular needles in two tether sizes, 24 for the body and 16 for the neck and upper sleeves. 

You also want DP needles in size 7 (5) [3] for the cuffs and lower part of the sleeves. Some patterns call for 6 (4) but let's not fuss with that.

It takes me 1430 yards of yarn for a long-sleeved pullover that fits my 40 inch chest and 21 inch arms. This amount allows for steeking and for a mid-back elevation. You may need less but, remember, if you overbuy you can make matching socks.

Do some math to see what stitch counts are right for you. The paper sleeve of the yarn hank or ball should give a number of stitches on a specific needle size and tell you how many inches that is. Even if you need fewer stitches when you cast on for your hem rib, you might need more rounds in the body under the arms (my back is about an inch shorted than usual for my height). You can always knit a 30 x 30 swatch to make sure your particular yarn will work out the way you want.

You may need three weeks to a month to finish this, depending on how experienced you are as a knitter and how much else is going on in your life. But the sky is the limit for how many colors there are to choose from; there are also hand-painted yarns which are multi-colored, and tweeded and beaded yarns.

If you buy hanks of yarn, wind at least two of them into one ball apiece. You will have to stop from time to time and wind more hanks into balls; it takes far less time than trying to untangle the hank as you work. Don't avoid hank yarn; there are too many nice ones out there.

Tie the ends of the two balls together with a square knot, leave a couple of inches of raw ends; you will tuck this loose yarn in during the first round of the bottom rib.

Make a slip knot near this square knot and put it on the end of your 24 inch circular needle. Now use the long-tail (slingshot) cast-on for 200 (260) [280] stitches. If you want to get straight to the goodies, go to 2:20.

I know that this cast-on seems complicated but a) it gives you a nice edge b) I find it easier to keep track of how many stitches I cast on and c) if you have a pattern that calls for a provisional cast-on, this is how you do it. 

Now make sure the stitches aren't twisted. Make sure the last five or six stitches are tight on the needle (you'll loosen them later) with the loops around the TOP and the connectors between the loops on the BOTTOM. Holding the last stitches firmly, work around to the other end of the needle making sure all the loops are on the TOP. 

Now you can start knitting the rib. Cut one of the balls of yarn off two or three inches from the end of the needle with the last stitches. Slip the last stitch on the other needle to the needle with the yarn ends, pass last stitch on that needle over, move the stitch back to the left needle, and knit it. This makes a smooth line at the join and prevents gaps. You'll use this technique again later. Drape a yarn marker before this first knitted stitch. I often put a slip knot in this marker so I know when I'm starting a new round.

In worsted, unless you are working an Iceland pattern, you will K the next stitch, then P2/K2 around, putting markers at 50, 100, and 150 stitches. For the first 6 to 8 knit stitches in the rib, thread the loose yarn ends into it. 

For all others, P the next stitch then K1/P1 around putting markers at the front center, left side and back center.

Work ribbing for 6 (8) [10] rounds and switch to knitting, flipping the marker yarns over the top when you get to them. This shows where you started knitting. Knit around for 100 (110) [120] rounds. Every 10 rounds of knitting, flip the marker yarn to the inside or outside. It will save time in checking whether you are at the marker, and it will help you count rounds.

I highly recommend Irish cottage or pit knitting for the body. a) You are better off not looking at your fingers while you work it, so you can watch TV or a movie. b) It works fast. c) It is less likely to cause tendonitis than the English hold, but the Continental or Norwegian hold also helps with this.

When you come to the end of a ball of yarn, stop 2-3 inches before the end. Start the next knit stitch and when you have wrapped the yarn around the needle, wrap the end of a new ball of yarn on top of it and pull through for a doubled stitch. Keep this up until all the yarn of the old ball has been used, and continue on. This is a join. Once you finish and wash and block your jumper, you'll never notice it.

On the last round stop 5 (6) [7] stitches before the underarm marker. Put the next 10 (12) [14] stitches on a holder. Use a thumb cast on to add 10 (12) [14] stitches for the bottom of your steeking. Do the same thing at the other under-arm halfway around. Run a marker yarn up the center of the steeking. You will later cut along this marker.

Steeking ONLY works in woolen yarn because it hackles as you wash and wear, and this keeps the cut yarn in the middle of the steeking from unraveling. If you are using a blend or cotton or linen, you want to workfaux set in sleeves.

Continue knitting around for 43 (53) [57] rounds.

Work your midback elevation which will let the hem sit parallel to the floor as follows:

K around to the center back marker and 14 stitches beyond it. Bring the yarn to the front, slip the next stitch, put the yarn to the back, return that stitch to its needle (a wrap), turn.

P 28 stitches, bring the yarn to the back, slip the next stitch, bring the yarn to the front, return that stitch to its needle (a wrap), turn.

K 47, wrap, turn.

P 66, wrap, turn.

K 85, wrap, turn.

P 94, wrap, turn.

K one round.

Knit to the middle of the steeking. Knit together at the shoulders as follows; turn the top inside out. Using one of your DPs, pick up one stitch in front and one in back, and knit together. Do this again and pass the last stitch over leaving one on the needle. 

When you have done the pass-stitch-over 23 (27) [30] times, turn the top right-side out and put the last stitch on the right-hand needle. Pass the next stitch on that needle over it and put it back on the left needle. Knit that stitch. 

Switching to the 16 inch circular needle, knit around to the middle of the other steeking, turn it inside out and knit together 23 (27) [30] stitches. Do the same PSSO maneuver.

Knit around to the other shoulder. There will be a long stitch on top; put your needle under that stitch NOT through it, and knit. This will close up part of the gap. If you still don't like it, you can come back later and fill in with duplicate stitch.

Work ribbing to the other shoulder, the same as the hem (either K2/P2 or K1/P1), slip your needle under the long top stitch and knit, and continue in rib. 

Work neck ribbing for the same number of rows as the hem. Now start a new round of rib, but pull the previous stitch over each new stitch to bind off in rib. 

When you finish, pull a loop of yarn through the last stitch, tighten it, and cut leaving at least three inches of raw end. Using a darning needle, work this end into the top of the first stitch of ribbing to make a smooth join. Poke it through the next stitch down, weave into the inside of the ribbing, knot and cut, leaving about one inch.

Now pick up stitches for the sleeves as follows: 

Using your 16 inch circular needle, knit the 10 (12) [14] underarm stitches from the holder and let this working yarn fall to the inside. Run a marker yarn on each side of the steeking middle marker, 5 (6) [7] stitches to the front and back sides.

Cut the steeking up the middle, taking the marker out as you go. Now using your crochet hook, insert it from outside to inside in the first stitch after the underarm. Pull the working yarn through to the front and put it on your circular needle. Pick up every stitch along the marker, front and back, including one through the shoulder seam.

When you get back to the underarm, slip the first stitch to the right-hand needle, pass the last body stitch over, put it back, and knit it. Knit across the underarm, slip the first body stitch to the needle, pass the last underarm stitch over, put it back, and knit it. This will close up part of the gap that usually develops here. Later you can use duplicate stitch to close up any loose stitches.

Run a marker stitch from the middle of the underarm; usually I pull the "seam" marker below the underarm for this. Count how many stitches you have around. It should be 97 (121) [129] or something like that.

Subtract from that the number of stitches you need at the cuff, 68 (72) [76]. The answer is how many stitches you have to decrease from shoulder to cuff. 

Divide by 2; this is how many rows will have to have decreases. 

Divide that number into 132 (145) [163] which is the number of rounds I need in the sleeves. The answer is how many rounds to knit before you do another decrease. 

Knit that many rounds. When you start the next row, K1 at the underarm marker, K2TOG and at the other end of the round, Slip/K1/PSSO/K1 before the underarm marker. Then knit the rounds to the next decrease.

When you have knitted 100 rounds, count the number of stitches left and do your math again. You may need to leave more rounds between decreases. If you have at most 100 stitches left in a round, divide between your DPs as follows: 35 on N1, 30 on N2, and 35 on N3. Or whatever number adds up to how many stitches you have left.

Finish knitting the sleeve and stop decreasing when you get to 68 (72) [76] stitches. When you have done 132 (143) [163] rounds in the sleeve, work ribbing the same as in the neck, and bind off in rib as you did for the neck.

Check the underarms and the neck rib at the shoulders. Use duplicate stitch to close up any stretched-out stitches. Wash in cold water and allow to drip dry. 

You can work triple the rounds at the neck for a turtleneck.

You can work short instead of long sleeves, which will save you one or two balls or a hank of yarn. In fingering weight, this will be comfortable for mid-spring and autumn. 

You can put any interest design onto this basic jumper. If you want to work Fair Isle, houndstooth or Icelandic patterns, add stitches when you get to the body, to allow whole-number repeats of the horizontal pattern. Also add 8 (10) [12] stitches in the body because these colorwork designs create a fabric with less give than monocolor knitting and you will need the extra stitches to make the upper body comfortable. 

Use the photo album for links to all kinds of beautiful ways to make your jumper. The main thing about them is, you can't work them on autopilot like you can with mono-color untextured jumpers, so they will take longer. But you owe it to yourself to make something that you will never find in a store or that will cost you more than you can afford.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Fact-Checking -- Josephus and Aristeus

So a long time ago I pointed out that the Aristeus letter about the origin of the Septuagint is known to be a forgery and can't be anything but an urban legend in the first place.

I refer to Josephus there and since I'm at loose ends just now, I thought I owed you chapter and verse.

It's Book XII of Josephus' Antiquities, Chapter 4. You can read the English here.

But as you know, translations are useless. Translations of Classical Greek are just as bad as translations of Biblical Hebrew, as I told you on my Greek thread.

And the problem is that while Aristeios is a name that appears in Josephus' Antiquities, Book XII, the chapter 4 designation is an invention of the translator, William Whiston. Book XII of Josephus refers to Aristeios in section 17, 19, and 53, none of which have to do with the Septuagint. Whiston's reference is in a footnote in the English; it's not in the Greek.

The footnote is even worse because it refers to Philo. As we all know, Philo is almost entirely urban legend.

I have said this over and over. If you want to know what ancient sources say, you must learn the language. Even then, you have to suspect that they have been doped to say what later fans wanted them to say. So you have to know the history of the culture, and you have to know the provenance of whatever you are reading. This includes whether it is a record of an oral tradition, for which there will be indications in the text, or invented in writing. Unless you're willing to do all that work, you don't really know anything about what you are reading.