Crochet Bears & Animals

BEING STREET SMART

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Sy Harding

INVESTORS SHOULD PAY NO MIND TO JOBS NUMBERS! January 9, 2009.

On Friday, the Labor Department released its employment report for December.

You’re no doubt already aware of the data; 524,000 more jobs were lost in December, making for a total of 2.6 million lost in 2008. The losses have been accelerating, with 1.9 million jobs lost in just the last four months. The unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in November to 7.2% in December.

The comparisons being made are bleak. For instance, it’s being pointed out that the 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008 were the most since World War II ended in 1945, when servicemen returned from the war and defense plants were closed. The loss of 524,000 jobs in December was the worst monthly loss since 602,000 jobs were lost in December, 1974, since 629,000 were lost in July, 1956, since 834,000 were lost in October, 1949, and since a huge 2,000,000 jobs were lost in September, 1945.

The December report showed job losses spread across the economic spectrum; construction, financial services, manufacturing, retail, etc. The only exceptions were healthcare, education, and of course government, which collectively added 52,000 employees in December.

The additional large loss of jobs in December certainly supports current expectations that the recession, which saw GDP negative by 0.5% in the 4th quarter of last year, will worsen to a hugely negative 5% or more decline in GDP in the 1st quarter of this year.
So if you’re worried about losing your job you may have reason to do so.

But if you are using the jobs numbers to determine what is likely to happen with the stock market, fagetabout it.

Not only can you not time the stock market by looking out the side window at what current conditions are (since the stock market looks ahead six to nine months), but of all the current conditions that are useless in that regard, the employment picture is one of the most useless.

Meanwhile, comparisons to the number of jobs lost in previous periods, particularly to the 1940’s and 1950’s are misleading and fear-mongering. The population and labor force were considerably smaller then, so similar job loss numbers in those decades represented a much larger percentage of the work force.

The loss of jobs in the current cycle, as bad as they sound and have been, has only returned the labor force to its level of February, 2006, a level of employment that had the economy humming along quite nicely thank you.

However, more importantly, the employment picture is not the place to look for early signs of the economy bottoming anyway. Employment is a lagging condition in both directions. Remember how employment remained strong right through last summer, which had economists (and the Fed) saying there would be no recession because employment remained strong, even though as we now know, the recession had begun in December, 2007.

In the other direction, as always the stock market (which always looks ahead six to nine months) will have already recovered significantly before the recession bottoms and the economy begins to recover. And the economy will have already recovered significantly before employment will begin to pick up again.

But as always, investors and TV analysts worry a lot about the employment numbers, not only legitimately about what they are saying about the economy, but uselessly what the jobs numbers are saying about the stock market going forward.

For instance, let’s go back and see how the stock market fared after the previous terrible monthly job losses to which the December numbers are being compared.

When that horrible report of September, 1945 was that 2 million jobs had been lost, the stock market had already bottomed in 1944, and was up 35%. After the jobs report it added another 17% over the next five months. When the terrible report in October, 1949 was that 834,000 jobs had been lost that month, the stock market had already bottomed in June and was up 12% when the report came out, and then added another 22% over the next seven months. When the terrible report came out in December, 1974 that 602,000 jobs had been lost that month, the stock market bottomed three days later, and the Dow gained 53% over the next ten months.

By all means market-timing is going to continue to be important if you are to make, and keep, profits from the market. But the jobs picture has no place in timing the stock market.

Sy Harding publishes the financial website www.StreetSmartReport.com and a free daily Internet blog at www.SyHardingblog.com. In 1999 he authored Riding the Bear – How To Prosper In the Coming Bear Market. His new book is Beat the Market the Easy Way! – Proven Seasonal Strategies Double Market’s Performance!

You can use either Aida cloth or line for Celtic cross stitch, but Aida is the preferred fabric because the holes are already in the fabric for you. It is also bets for beginners and for those who may have poor eyesight. It is available in 8, 11, 14, 16 and 18 blocks per 2.5 cm. The fabric count will tell you how many blocks there are in a standard square of Aida cloth. This fabric also comes in many different colors and you can also dye it to your preferred color. Linen has very few holes counts, which is why it is a difficult fabric for beginners to use. However, there are irregularities in linen, which gives the finished product a more unique look.

 
The basic stitches you need to learn for this cross stitch design are:

 

* X. The X stitch is the basic stitch in any cross stitch pattern. To make this stitch you first have to make a small knot in the end of the thread. Bring the needle up through one of the holes from the wrong side of the fabric so that you now have the needle on the right side. Insert the needle in the hole in the diagonal corner of the square and then bring it back up through the opposite hole. When you once again pass the needle through the corresponding diagonal hole, you have an X pattern over the square.

 

* /. This is the half-sticth pattern and represents one half of the basic X stitch. You simply bring the needle up through a hole and then pass it down through the hole in the diagonal corner.

 

* The Quarter stitch pattern is one half of the half stitch. When you bring your needle up through the hole, put it down through the fabric halfway between the hole and the one in the diagonal corner.

 

* A three-quarter stitch is a combination of both the half and quarter stitch designs. First you make a half stitch and then you proceed as if you were going to make a full X. Instead of making the second half of the stitch you put the needle through the middle of the half stitch.

 

Once you know how to make these stitches, you can create your own Celtic designs that you can use for cross stitch. You do need to have graph paper for such a project. Using a felt tip open make prominent dots in the corners of the squares on the graph paper. Highlight every second dot with a pen. Once you trace out your design in this way for the length of the sheet of paper, then you can start doing the same thing horizontally.

 

Use one section of the graph paper where you have five regular dots and four highlighted dots. Make sure you measure so that your square is even. Each highlighted dot will be the place where the threads intersect, so you can place a small X over these dots. Continue marking these dots with an X all the way to the border but do not mark those that lie on the line of the border. When you have all the highlighted dots crisscrossed, you can join the knot lines along the sides. You will see how they bow out towards each other. Make a double line to connect them to make your circle.

Tapestry needles or cross stitch needles are blunt-pointed so that they can pass between the threads. One other characteristic is their large eye to hold many threads of floss. They come in different thickness. You can find different sizes of needles for many counts of fabrics. Needles for cross stitch are the smaller size - 24, 26, 28.

Needles will eventually discolor and mark hands and fabric so remember not to leave the needle in your fabric. There are different qualities of nickel plating. Gold needles are the best as they will not discolor. However they are more expensive.

Different sizes below for aida and evenweave fabrics:

Needle size 18: 6 count aida fabric

Needle size 20: 8 count aida fabric

Needle size 22: 11 count aida fabric AND 22-25-27 count evenweave

Needle size 24: 14 count aida fabric AND 28 count evenweave

Needle size 26: 16 count aida fabric AND 32 count evenweave AND 22 count hardanger

Needle size 28: 18 count aida fabric AND 36-55 count evenweave

If you are not sure what size of needle to choose for your fabric, do this little test. The needle should be small enough to pass through the fabric easily but it should require a little pressure to push it through.

Tip: If you are stitching with French knots, use an embroidery needle. This is a sharp thin needle that will assist with securing the knots into the weave of the fabric. The embroidery needle also has a smaller eye than the tapestry needle.

I hope you found this information useful when choosing needles for your cross stitch projects.

 

Products

 

Free dating web sites makes some of the revenue it needs to run efficiently by selling advertisement space to companies and individuals who have products and services that relate to romance, dating or similar areas. For example, you may find an advertisement for a cruise dedicated to singles to romantic areas of the world. You can sometimes find links to products such as jewelry, adult toys, lingerie or even candy and resorts dedicated to romantic getaways. The business involved hope that you will see their advertisement on the dating site and choose to patronize their products.

 

Specialized sites

 

Another common link from a free dating web site is to other free or paid dating sites. The individual sites pride themselves on some aspect of their theme or characteristics in order to attract you from the original free site to another site. For example, you may prefer a *** site, or one that specializes in members from other cultures or regions of the world. These ads at the original site may help you to decide on a more specialized group of members that would be closer to your own interests. Because the original site is free, you can follow any of the links to the specialized sites with no additional funds required.

 

Services

 

Free dating web sites may have links presented that will provide different types of services to you as you follow the links. Some common examples are links to write romantic poetry for greeting cards, taking pictures to place on your profile.  Sometimes links lead to sites where you can place personal ads in newspapers, either online or in print. Another service link is reviews of various websites related to dating and romance such as chat rooms, matchmaker services and age specific online dating.

 

Romance

 

Free dating web sites are all about romance and most, if not all the sites have many links that promote romance in one way or another. You can read about romance, find romantic cards, stories, pictures and jewelry by following various links. You can schedule a romantic cruise for two or an adventure style cruise with other singles. These links and the dating web sites are intended to bring together information on all the people, places, things and ideas related to dating and romance. You can enjoy socializing without ever following a link, but you can also help the web site owners by purchasing items from the site sponsors and advertisers.

 

Articles

 

Another thing you will find on almost every free dating web site is information. This information is usually presented in the form of various articles on a multitude of subjects. You can learn how to pick a web site, what to look for in a profile and how best to write your own profile. You can learn tips on security and how best to implement it. How to spot a phony on the member profile and how to avoid getting scammed by another member or by the site itself are other articles that can be found by using the site search capabilities.

  

 

Vertical blinds are manufactured in a variety of colours, patterns, and washable fabrics for use in Kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, patio doors or French windows. The blind louvers hang freely from their track mechanism and hence they can be manufactured using fabrics, screens or rigid PVC. Traditional louvers are interconnected by a clip and chain which in turn is connected to the keyhole punch in the vane. Modern vertical blinds have dispensed with these interconnections.

Since the louvers of vertical blinds hang loosely from the track mechanism, they sway and bang against each other and could cause undesirable noise especially in the case of PVC louvers. Fabric louvers are less noisome and would be an excellent choice for bedrooms and boardrooms where noise can be distracting. Additionally, fabric blinds come in a variety of shades and patterns that can be used creatively to enhance the beauty of the room and match with the general décor. If high quality fabrics are used, the longevity of the blind, the translucency factors and ease of cleaning will be ensured. The way the louver hangs will also be straighter and more graceful.

The louvers of the vertical blind fabric are manufactured by weaving or by stitch bonding. Stitch bonding is a process in which the fibres are compressed and stitched through. The stitch itself is decoratively linear, running the length of the fabric and creates a pattern on the louver. This type of louver is generally favoured by those who do not wish to use liners with their louvers.

These are also cheaper than woven fabric vertical blinds. Woven fabric louvers are manufactured using high end, fast weaving equipment. The initial threads are pressed down while the next thread is inserted with speed and accuracy. This makes for durable fabric that can be decoratively and creatively enhanced in a variety of styles and patterns. These louvers also last much longer and retain their newness for longer periods of time.

Vertical blinds today are made form fabric, vinyl and aluminium. Several other types of fabrics are being used for their flame retardant, light reflective, glare reductive and dim out properties. Anti static finish is used on the fabrics to prevent the fabrics from gathering or attracting dust. A few fabrics are specifically selected as they are water resistant and heat reflective.

The greatest advantage that is derived from vertical blinds is that they do not gather dust. The vertical slat does not allow dust to settle on them. Moreover, they are extremely easy to clean. A light duster will help keep the blinds dust free. Use of dust or enzyme spray on the vertical louvers is also recommended if the louvers have become very dirty. They can also be taken down easily for extensive cleaning. The blinds can also be soaked, scrubbed and rinsed to remove stains using soap and water. Household solutions can also be used to clean the blinds.

Vertical blinds can be mounted inside or outside the window frame. They can be used on awkward windows that are sloped or split. Curved head rails are available for use on bay or bow windows.

The vertical blind louvers can be drawn to the left or right or gathered into the centre of the window to get a clear view of the outside. These options are known as split, stack or draw.

Split option allows the vertical blind to be opened in the centre like a drape with a part of the vertical moving to the right and the other part to the left. The stack option moves the vertical blind to right or left side of the window. The cord controls will have to be selected in accordance with the direction of movement of the vertical blind.

Vertical blinds are available in different price ranges. The style, design, fabric used and the accessories will be determining factors. The accessories can include decorative head rails that are stand alone and do not require to be covered up with matching fabrics. Standard vertical blind sizes are less expensive than the ones that are custom made.