The Beast of Bray Road

What is it about American folklore that makes for such silly movies? They try so hard and then just fall short.

The Beast of Bray Road is a piece put out by Asylum Films. Based on an urban legend out of Wisconsin, the movie is a creature feature about a not-quite werewolf. The main character, a transplanted cop from Chicago, is hamstrung by a series of stereotypical locals, a police team who is more concerned with budgets and appearances than solving crimes, and a ‘werewolf specialist’ from out of town who has some weird mannerisms. Locals are being torn apart in their homes, and there doesn’t seem to be all that to do in Wisconsin other than drink and eat Manwhiches while waiting for the Beast.

For all of its weaknesses though (and there are many, this is definitely B horror)…I really liked this film. I mean, I really enjoyed this piece. It’s not quite silly enough to be slapstick or a horror-com, but it doesn’t take itself so seriously that the movie gets bogged down with stilted acting. It’s like it knows that it’s a bad movie and just doesn’t care.

Autumn Rose

The sun came out a little today, so before Mid took me out for our Sunday afternoon date (ice cream and a little bit of shopping-I was good though, the only non-practical purchases were a ball of yarn and some blood orange tea) I tried to get some photos of the Autumn Rose fiber I’m spinning.

The colors aren’t true, due to my phone making everything bluer and the winter light.

*The dyer is CJ Kopec (cjkopeccreations on etsy).

(I really messed with the above picture, which is probably horribly obvious. But the color is at least approximating what the roving actually looks like now).

Sunday Legends-Jumping the Broom

via morgue file

Brooms have a long standing place in superstition and folklore. Brooms are such a simple item, but have such importance.

Brooms are like water, they can bring energy into or out of a home. In that sense, most of the folklore has to do with being careful in using a broom to make sure that you don’t bring luck into or out of a space.

-When a person or family moves into a new home it’s considered prudent to gift them with a new broom, to be hung over the most used doorway. Similarly, a new couple should be granted a new broom as well. The old broom should be washed with clean running water preferably and discarded with intent.

-Don’t store a broom upside down (resting on its bristles). Breaking a broom’s bristles are considered to be bad luck.

-Brooms can sweep luck into and out of a house. Don’t sweep during early morning or after dark, or on a Sunday. Don’t sweep your house on New Year’s or you’ll sweep the new year’s luck away. Depending on tradition, either sweep your dust and debris from the entire house (or the rooms with hard flooring anyway) out of the back door, or never sweep debris out of the house.

-Wash a broom with water and vinegar or water and citrus juice after a fight or bout of negativity in the house and throughly sweep all hard floors to help clean out the energy.

-Even broom straw is considered to be good luck, keeping negativity and bad dreams out of the household.

-A broom falling through a doorway will mean either a storm or a stranger coming to your door.

-Don’t hit a person with a broom. They’ll be in prison within a week.

-Likewise sweeping in front of a person means you wish them to leave.

-Try not to sweep your own feet. It’s considered bad luck.

-Stepping over a broom is problematic except in two cases: in several traditions it’s considered possible to mary someone by jumping the broom-the literal act of jumping over a broom would be enough to bind two people together. Jumping over the broom backwards would act as a divorce. Also, stepping over a broom is considered to break the veil and force any ghosts that may have been troubling you out of your home.

Seasoning Mixes

…And then there was Freyr, but to be fair to this great city, I’m not sure if the snow we got this time was the next named storm or if it was lake effect. Either way, we weren’t supposed to get it until I woke up to a changed forecast.

I was puttering around the kitchen, and I sometimes will go to extreme, creative lengths to avoid cleaning. I’m not going to deny it. I hate cleaning. I got poking at all of the half-filled jars of spices I have in my kitchen-some of which are old enough that I have no idea how long they’ve been sitting there.

I was recently informed by my health team that I have to move more and eat less salt or it’s back to the hypertension meds for me. I’ve been off of them long enough that I’m looking for places to cut salt-so I decided to empty some spice jars and make some basic pantry staple spice blends.

Ranch

1 tablespoon each:

Black Pepper

All Purpose Dill Mix (or 1 tbl each parsley and dill)

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Mix into mayo and milk for salad dressing, or greek yogurt for a veggie dip.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

(large batch)

5 tablespoons cinnamon

7 teaspoons nutmeg and cloves (each)

6 teaspoons allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

I put pumpkin pie spice into everything-coffee, baked goods, my jam recipes. Everything. It’s easily the most used spice mix in my kitchen.

Seven Below

Murder is melodramatic. Infidelity, especially when one is caught indecent, is melodramatic. I’m not sure why you would feel the need to throw both together-but have the acts remain unrelated-before you have even rolled your opening credits.

I will admit to being biased coming into this film. I’m not really a fan of the ‘storm throws people into a haunted house’ subgenre of ghost and hauntings horror. By definition it’s a forced trope, with an obvious lead up. One of the main characters has a slouchy hat. That’s a plus.

The characters in this one are painfully formulaic. The dreamy musician, the cheating husband, the bitter wife. If you’ve seen a few B-horror films, you’ll know these people.

I did like the ‘ghost in broad daylight’ angle. That set up is fairly rare, and it’s a nice change from the thunderstorm at midnight. This film did grow on me a little. It’s like an episode of Scooby Doo. It thinks that it’s so many films, and it never really goes in any given direction because it’s being pulled in so many places at the same time.

Snowy Spinning

Hey there Draco. So nice of you to join us.

The lake’s wakig up and it looks like Buffalo’s actually going to have a winter after all this year-which I refuse to be bitter about considering how warm and dry last winter was.

Being trapped indoors means that I’m looking things to do. I’m probably going to tackle the myriad of cleaning projects that I need to get done. Depending on my landlord’s stance on heating this weekend, I may weatherproof the windows. The less productive thing I’ve been doing this weekend is spending lots and lots of time on Pinterest, especially the art catagory where I’ve discovered Alphonse Mucha.

My color choices have always run to the rich and highly saturated-which Holly of the Knitting Kraken is more than familiar with, considering my rants bizarre obession against strong opinions about dressing babies and small humans in pastels.

She bought me 4 oz of BFL in a colorway called Autumn Rose (browns, pinks, and wines) for Yule this year-if the weather cooperates this weekend I’ll update this entry with a picture. I’m not holding out much hope. Draco hasn’t done nice things for the light. I’m spinning it with just enough twist to hold it together, and will chain ply it for hopefully 150-200 yards of light worsted weight. Assuming that I get that much I’m going to make Wanderlust.

It’s going to be mitts regardless of yardage, so if I don’t hit what I’m aiming for I’ll mod University with a fat cable and go that route. I spin with generalities in mind, so it’ll work out whatever happens.

Fall Into the Holidays #15

Welcome to the last round of Fall Into the Holidays for the year! Since we’re starting a new year, and moving out of the ‘big’ holiday season, I thought that it would be nice to start a new blog hop next week. Starting next Friday, I’m opening Weekend Inspiration-a free for all style hop with no rules. Link up you’re favorite content!

This week, feel free to link up -any- seasonal or holiday content that you’ve posted this year!

2012 was rocky for a lot of people, and I hope that 2013 will be better!

Last week’s featured post

Last week’s most viewed entry was Posh Pink Giraffe’s Shimmering Snowman craft.

Fall Into the Holidays #15

Feel free to share your seasonal recipes, diy, crafts, and other related material! Click on the button that looks like a blue frog at the bottom of the page to view the collection.

Please link to entries, and not your blog main page.

Click around the list and leave a few comments! If you’re early to the party, read through the last few weeks (here).

I’d appreciate it if you would follow Horrific Knits on Facebook, Twitter or by email (optional). Please leave a text link back to Horrific Knits somewhere on your blog.

The View From The Porch

9 Months Ago

6 Months Ago

3 Months Ago

1 Month Ago

2 Weeks Ago

Timbit says Hi, I’m a placeholder.

1 Week Ago

This Week

Small Space Woolens Drying

This is one of those ideas so simple that it borders on the silly.

When I was in college, Oswego was having a spat of exceptionally bad winters. I was living on campus and faced the dual problems of wet mittens and no space to put up a drying rack. The answer that I came up with was a chain stitch cord and a pair of alligator clips. The clips held the mittens and once tied to the cord, I could hang the dryer wherever I could find space.

I’m facing a similar problem this winter. I have a decent heat supply this year, but I don’t want to have put up a drying rack during Christmas. Remembering my clip trick, I tried it in my bathroom last night-which oddly has its own radiator built into the wall.

I washed my thrummed mitts (I love having an item where not only is felting not an issue, it’s the desired result-no gentle care needed there) and looped a cord and clips over my towel rack. My mitts were almost completely dry by the time I woke up this morning. And the project was essentially free-the yarn was left over and the clips were in my junk drawer.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Americans generally don’t associate Christmas with horror, but there is actually a long standing tradition of ghost stories being told at Yuletide. I imagine that whole darkest point o the year thing has long played games with the human mind.

The ghost story that modern Christmas fans will most likely be familiar with is Dicken’s A Christmas Carol-which I sadly have to admit that I just heard in its entirity last night for the first time. However, the story is so situated in the modern celebrations of the season that the basic story, with its emphasis on charity, hope, and change, that even without hearing or reading the original novella many Americans can tell you the basic plot.

I’ve read that the story, originally published in 1843, ignited the spark that eventually grew into the modern expectation for charity and care during the Christmas season. The story certainly expresses a deep desire to highlight the plight of a class of people who would not have a merry Yuletide without the concern of the higher class. Dickens had firsthand experience with families like the Cratchits, which shows throughout his work.

The book was accepted almost immediately, receiving postitive reviews in both Britain and America. The story was quickly adapted for theacterical production, and was first put on screen in 1901. Dickens himself read the story outloud for public performances for close to 30 years prior to his death.

A Christmas Carol