That’s No Irish Spring Commercial

For the past two weeks I’ve been working on Melissa LaBarre’s “Tea Leaves Cardigan” pattern, and I have to say it is one of the simplest patterns to follow. Switching back and forth between needle sizes for the yoke was a bit cumbersome, but the results are really fantastic. And what’s great about the body is that it’s done entirely in stockinette stitch—my favorite mindless stitch. With only one row of increases below the underarm, this really is a great project to knit while watching t.v.

So, while knitting the past two or three projects I’ve become addicted to old Dallas shows through Netflix. I grew up in the late 70s, but my memories of Dallas were kind of faded. I remember the uproar that surrounded who shot J.R. (Sue Ellen’s sister Kristin) and when Pam opened the shower door to see that Bobby (who had left the show at the end of the previous season) was in there just scrubbing away happy as a clam. Interesting story about that shower scene that I learned from the bonus materials on the disc ... Patrick Duffy shot that scene as a fake Irish Spring commercial so as not to tip off any of the actors or crew about his return to the show. Very clever Leonard Katzman.

I’m only about halfway through season three right now and these are just a few of the observations I have:

1. Cars. The family drives a fleet of high-end cars, with the exception of Sue Ellen who for some reason drives a wood-paneled station wagon. With her character’s vanity, having her drive a station wagon completely puzzles me.
2. Hair. I love the Texas 70s/80s hair. Long, wavy, feathered, shiny, vibrant. My mother is a Texas girl and she had that hair. On the show, Victoria Principal’s character Pam has super beautiful hair the first season and a half, but then cut it into this really awful shag that aged her by about 10 years.   
3. Phones. Nobody had cell phones and yet people still managed to get a hold of each other just fine. Imagine that. Lots of payphones being used back then. I remember being creeped out by payphones because you didn’t know just how clean that phone was that you were putting up against your face.
4. Computers. There wasn’t a laptop at every desk and people had to comb through those green-line computer reports to get data. People had to do actual research and it took them days, sometimes weeks. I remember those days. Fast forward to the future ... I was at the Barnes & Noble yesterday trying to figure out who wrote “Madame Bovary” and pulled out my cell phone to access Google to find the author’s name. Thank you sweet, sweet technology.

 A few years back I heard that someone was thinking about remaking Dallas into a movie with John Travolta as J.R. and Jennifer Lopez as Sue Ellen. Really? Jennifer Lopez as Sue Ellen? My eyes can't roll back into my head far enough. Apparently there was no appetite from the younger generation (and likely no stomach from the older generation who actually watched it) so the idea was scrapped. Rumor is that they are reviving Dallas on TNT and will bring back Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray to play their old characters. I guess I need to catch up to season 15 of the old series. Looks like I’m going to be permanently parked on my couch with some knitting for a while.