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February 28, 2005
February 25, 2005
Shawls!
The first of my shawls is complete and I've begun work on the samplers for the beginning lace class. Yesterday I picked up a copy of Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman--what a tremendous resource! I can't believe I hadn't gotten it before!
The book is really a how-to on shawl construction, covering the triangular, square, rectangular and circular shaping methods--sweet! I'm going to design a triangular shawl tonight with a simple lace pattern (maybe Cat's Paw) as the ground and some equally simple lace edging. I'm having way too much fun with this!
February 23, 2005
Knitting Pleasure
Last night I had a singularly pleasurable knitting experience. One of my lace classes, Shawl Construction, is being offered at Main Street Yarns & Fibers in May, so I'm trying to get my mini-shawl samples ready for display. I'm using a variety of yarns, including Frog Tree Alpaca, which I've fondled and purchased even, but haven't yet knit with. Last night, I cast it on.
Wow. That's some mighty fine yarn! Silky, light, dreamy. I wanted to spread it on a cake and eat it.
Between that, my ongoing love affair with the now-discontinued Balmoral, and the Cotton Patine, I may be headed toward yarn snobbery. Mmm...silky fiber...
February 21, 2005
Knit All Night
Saturday was the knit-in lock-in at Main Street Yarns and Fibers. I wish that I could say I'd spent the whole night gabbing it up with my knitting sisters (and brothers). Alas, I was too tired to go the whole nine yards.
Steve and I went to the Gwinett Co. Home Show Saturday afternoon. It was fun, but very tiring.
After walking around at that all day and then going to church, staying up was not too appealing. I went for a few hours, though, and had a blast!
Here's the group of us--I'm on the bottom right:
And to get a sense of the "flava" of the night, here are knitters and spinners hard at work:
February 20, 2005
Pics!
I feel as though I need to prove myself as a knitter. I am knitting. Lots. Too much, in fact, if there is such a thing.
First, the Leaf Lace Shawl, ready for its edging:
Here's a closeup of the lace:
I've enjoyed knitting this, but am looking forward to finishing it.
I've been working on a little sweater for me. I've had 12 balls of Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patine in Sloe staring at me for months. It's finally decided it wants to be a short sleeved cardi. Here's the work so far on the back.
I started with a madeira scallop border, taken, of course, from Knitting on the Edge. Very sweet, but curly. We hope the miracle of blocking will win out.
The yarn is turning my fingers a bit blue, but I have faith that a vinegar bath upon completion will set all to rights.
February 18, 2005
Actual Knitting Content!
Dear Readers:
At Wool & Words we try to hold ourselves to the highest standards of blogging balance, if not in a political sense, then at the very least in a wool and words ratio sense. Lately, we've been remiss in meeting this standard, and have been focusing heavily on words. With this post, we hope to begin the march to equilibrium.
We begin with a recap of recent events:
Last Wednesday, Nicky Epstein, of Knitted Embellishments, Knitting on the Edge, and the Barbie books fame, paid a visit to Main Street Yarns & Fibers. I got to take an Edgings class with her, and it was great fun.
Here's a shot of Lisa Boone, shop employee and Local Laugh Riot, doing her best Vanna impersonation with the Barbie models:
And here's a shot of the whole gang. You can see Nicky up front, third from the left. It's a blurry pic, but it's what I've got till I can do some photo magic:
I had a blast at the class. We were making items that I wouldn't usually consider: corkscrews, knitted tassels, knit flowers. It was fun and I felt like I was at a kid's camp! Unfortunately, I also had a raging headache, I think from a bit too much sugar that day!
Sigh. I miss cookies.
I was absent from the shop until the following Tuesday due to Valentine's Day festivities. On Thursday and Friday, I diligently worked on the scrapbook I made for Steve, driving, I'm sure, my neighbor to absolute distraction as I pounded away at the cute little heart shaped eyelets I was using to fasten the vellum journal spots to the pages. On Saturday, Steve and I exchanged gifts. He made me the cutest little pair of pocketbook slippers! Pics to come as soon as I can get home and upload them! He also brought flowers and a bunch of heart-shaped mylar balloons, which, I must confess, I absolutely love!
On Sunday, he took me to La Boheme. I worked on (gasp!) a sock during the breaks. Yes, my SKFD is in full bloom. There are 3 pair in the works at my casa and more to come.
On my usual Tuesday shop visit, I was asked if I'd be willing to teach a lace class at the shop. How exciting! I've proposed two classes, a beginner's class and a shawl construction class, and I'm busy working up designs for both. I've also got a cotton floppy hat pattern in my head that I'm planning to work up within the next week or so. So much going on....
And I'm still knitting the Leaf Lace Shawl. I'm on the last leaf pattern repeat, which I should finish this weekend and then it's on to the edging! Whew! The Stripeosaurus is truly a dinosaur and I have a very hard time convincing myself that I want to work on it when there are so many cute socks around begging for my attention!
Shoes for Kids
I just read this on Neal Boortz's site. If you have some shoes, please send them on.
Dear Mr. Boortz,My name is Sgt. Lamar Price I am currently with the 278th. Regemental Combat Team at Camp Caldwell Iraq. I am writting to ask you for help with a project I am trying to start here. A few weeks ago the 278th. opened a school in the area near here. I became aware that a lot of the children did not have shoes and were going to school barefoot in 50 degree weather. I am asking people to mail one pair of children's shoes to my address in Iraq. They can be any size boys or girls. They do not have to be new just servicable. I will then collect them and give to our patrols and convoys to pass out. My address is Sgt. Lamar Price RHHT278RCT PLT7 Camp Caldwell Iraq APO AEO 09374 As you know the United States does more good for the people of Iraq than ever gets reported in the media. Mr. Boortz, any advice or help you can give to get the word out will be deeply appreciated.
Thank you
Sgt. Lamar Price
February 16, 2005
Tasty Spam
Wondering what's in your email? Marc Eisenstadt archived 12 years worth and did some analysis. Interesting...very interesting.
February 11, 2005
Rant Redux
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the young woman depicted in the mural that was the subject of my Wednesday rant, wrote an eloquent column for the independent newspaper at UGA. The most moving part, to me, was the following:
As a journalist, I don't usually take positions, but as the direct object of the offending phrase, I will take this one: I am in favor of allowing it to remain in the exhibit.I take that position on the grounds that I believe those who are offended by it are nevertheless wrapped in the same suit of armor that I was when the words were spewed towards me -- the armor created out of the values my family -- biological and surrogate -- crafted in their careful rearing and nurturing of a black child growing up in a society that tried to impose on her a position as well as a feeling of inferiority.
As I have said on many occasions, when our black parents and teachers could not themselves give us first class citizenship, they labored day and night to give us a first class sense of ourselves.
So, when I walked through the Arch to the unwelcome calls of "There goes the nigger," my first instinct was to look around for "the nigger."
I believe those students of color who have made it to the University must surely be wrapped in the same armor.
I felt such a huge connection to her in this moment. When I was 11 or so, a neighborhood boy made reference to my brother and I as "niggers" when we were getting off the bus one afternoon. I, too, had been "wrapped in armor," and while I told my mother about it, I carry no scars and nothing more than a memory of some boy being mean to me and his apology after my mother contacted his mother and the bus driver.
To this day, I am Anita first, and everything else second. I applaud Charlayne Hunter-Gault for having the courage to step onto that campus in the not-so-long ago, and for continuing to maintain that armor, even when it was brutally pierced by hateful words. With any luck, I'll be able to get a photo of the mural in its entirety for a post.
February 09, 2005
Calling All Georgia Knitters!
If you can make it, hoof on down to Main Street Yarns & Fibers in Watkinsville, GA tonight. Nicky Epstein will be signing her books from 5:30-6:30 p.m. today!
My copy of Knitting on the Edge is patiently waiting in the car! So thrilling!
Shop Info:
Address: 16 N. Main St.
Phone: (706) 769-5531
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
And while you're there, check out Margaret Heathman's newly revised book, Knitting Languages. I picked up a copy last night and I can't wait to start translating Norweigan patterns...
A Wee Rant
Warning: Not Knitting, Poetry, or Kitty Related. Continue at your own risk.
Read
OK. I'm all for being sensitive. Sensitivity to each other is crucial if we are going to be unified. But as a black woman, I am offended that the university has covered up this statement in the exhibit. Yes, "nigger" is an offensive word. It should be offensive because it is a reminder of an offensive time in our history. Students at UGA should be offended by the very notion that this word would have been freely hurled at this young woman as she bravely broke the color barrier that had kept blacks out of this state university.
When I heard about this on the radio, I was really upset that our desire to avoid being offended would cloud the fact that we should be offended. Some things should offend us. We should feel offense, experience it, so that we can do what we can to ensure that it never happen again. The incongruity of the image of this young woman and that hateful word should be foremost in our thoughts when we encounter such an exhibit.
In the local paper (the article is from the Atlanta one), there's an editorial that chooses to focus on the fact that the quote in which the epithet appears is unattributed, and that officials at the university should have to come up with some person to attach the quote to in order to make it factually accurate. This really set me off, mainly because calling for a person to attribute the quote to ignores the whole rhetorical point of the display. To say that the phrase "Here comes the nigger" (I think that's what it says) is only usable if we can say someone said it absolves the historical community from the reality of its past attitude toward this woman and others like her as they challenged the structures that barred them from the university.
While I don't know that they made the best choice of phrases, this notion that because we're offended and hurt by the use of the word "nigger" we should avoid it denies us the chance to heal ourselves and the wounds that this word causes.
On the Other Hand
I was really saddened by this story.
I can only hope that the student in question learned something from the very real responses he must have received to his artistic endeavor. Some statements are too real to be made in reality.
I sense a connection between these two incidents and a reason why one is less odious to me than the other. I'm grappling with that. Any thoughts?
February 08, 2005
Read This
Go right now and read this beautiful poem.
"Life's Rendezvous" by Countee Cullen
I read this and was moved by the urgency and the seduction and the sense of "sneakin'" as the poet recounts living.
Happy Mardi Gras!
A very happy Mardi Gras to you all! I'm sporting my purple-green-gold striped polo and feeling a bit of sadness that I'm not on some street corner yelling my lungs out (but not baring my bosoms) to get a cheap string of beads.
Of course, Mardi Gras means that Ash Wednesday is on deck, and I've got to create a plan of action for my Lenten penance. In years past, I've refrained from icky gossip, which has been useful and good. This year, I think I'm going to focus on discipline.
A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. I'm in a "good" place according to my doc--my sugars are slightly elevated and my pancreas is still working--it's just working too hard. I've been making dietary changes and trying to be more active so that I can keep medication out of my daily regiment. The dietary changes alone have really lifted a fog from my mind and I have much more energy to do what needs to be done.
I'm aware, though, that I've been horribly remiss in tending to professional areas of my life. I need to discipline myself to work during the hours I've set aside for working so that my "play" hours are more fun and, well, playful. So I'm going to hold myself to the plan and from 8-5 M-F will work. On my dissertation, on my grading, on all things academic. Sure, there will be some time spillover during particularly hectic weeks. But there's no reason why I can't treat my weekdays as workdays and weekends as weekends.
This application of discipline extends to my spiritual life as well. I am a secular member of a religious order and when I'm "off schedule" in my life, I seem to be off schedule all over the place.
And my knitting? Well, I'm working on the second sock of the second pair for my friends, so that is looking near completion. The Leaf Lace Shawl is 2 repeats and a border away from being done. I'm chomping at the bit to start on some real sweaters. I'm doing the Fisherman's Knits Knit A Long (considering Kinsale or Inishmore), and I've got to come up wtih a plan for Steve's sweater. And, of course, my SKFD is still active, so there are socks planned for mindless respite from Major Sweater Construction.
Oh, and my LYS is hosting Nicky Epstein tomorrow and I'm taking a class with her tomorrow night--how cool is that?
So today, I'm kicking back and enjoying my day. Tomorrow begins the push to discipline. I've got to work hard from 8-5 so that I don't feel guilty during my Epstein class!
February 07, 2005
An Apology of Sorts
To atone for Friday's poetic horror, I offer you this lovely, haunting poem by the late Donald Justice, a tremendous poet you should all get to know.
"A Map of Love"
Your face more than others' faces
Maps the half-remembered places
I have come to while I slept—
Continents a dream had kept
Secret from all waking folk
Till to your face I awoke,
And remembered then the shore,
And the dark interior.
Lovely, isn't it?
February 04, 2005
Tres Amuse
If only I could write poetry like this: