Neglect and the New Year

Happy Holidays to you all.

I've been neglecting this blog because I've had an enormous amount of holiday knitting/crocheting/spinning to do.

However, I did make:

1 luna moth shawl

1 autumn leaves wrap

1 baby blanket

1 beard hat

2 fish hats

1 pair of cuffs

4 washcloths

5 pairs of owl mitts

and 1 ball of handspun yarn

Pretty good, right?

For Christmas, I got all kinds of goodies as well- a ball winder! blocking wires! gift certificates, and....wait for it...

CASHMERE. 3 WHOLE SKEINS OF CASHMERE.

My boy is the best boy in the whole world.

12 in 12 on 12

It's the first day of December.

Do you know what that means?

It's World AIDS Day. I encourage you to donate as much as you can afford to a worthy AIDS-related organization. Steven over at Bitches Get Stitches has organized a project for the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force- you can go over there and donate to them, and be entered to win some incredible fiber prizes.

Or, you know, you can just donate, if fiber's not your thing.

Don't forget to share it with your friends. AIDS isn't any less important an issue than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

The beginning of December also means that NaNoWriMo is over. It's been over for me for awhile, but I should check in with others and see how it turned out for them.

December means that I should be working on holiday crafting and not blogging.

I'm making progress though...see?

That's Gabriella's sunflower blanket blocking on my dining room floor. She's not supposed to make her appearance in the world until the middle of January, but her mom is getting a box of baby-knits (crochets, but knit has a nicer ring) for Christmas.

Finally, in keeping with the 12 motif I have going, I present my rather vague project list for the 12 in 2012 thing that I'm going to participate in on Ravelry next year.
I intentionally kept my list vague because I can't be distracted looking at patterns at this time of year. I need to focus on clearing out the yarn that has been accumulating in boxes around the apartment before the boy gets annoyed. (I don't think he will, clutter bothers me more than him anyway, but I still need to get it done for presents).

So my 12 projects in 2012 will be:
-3 shawls, wraps or cowls
-3 garments with sleeves (or at least armholes. vests count)
-3 pairs of socks (as I am a new knitter it could potentially take me a year to make three pairs of socks)
-3 wild card projects

Again, donate!
Off to do some more crocheting before work.

The Saga of the Beret

I made this beret for Ashley, in gray. Maybe you remember it.

When I made it for her, I had to go back and rip the slip stitch row at the end, because it made it too tight. I could get it over my ears, but it was just a little too tight to be comfortable.

So I ripped it.

Last week I made the same beret for myself. I was hoping that my gauge was the same, because for this hat, I wanted it snug on my ears to keep out the city wind.

My gauge was not the same. It was much too loose, pre-slip stitch row. After, I couldn't get the thing on my head.

What the hell?

So Ben said, "what if you put the slip stitch row farther up the band, where there are more stitches?
Brilliant.

When I finally got around to ripping the slip stitch row, which I did not do right then because I was cranky, I screwed it all up and cut the wrong ends, and ended up ripping back three rows to find a place where I could start again.

So instead of moving the slip stitch row up, I just decreased the single crochets on the last round. It's a little loose. I might try to add one more round and decrease some more.

I might just leave it alone and find a different pattern altogether for the other ball of purple that I bought to match my coat.

But, ultimately, I did end up with a hat.

NaNo Fail

Perhaps fail isn't the right word.

Well...

in describing the 50,000 word goal? Yes, fail. Epic.
My novel is entrenched at 10k. And I have no enthusiasm for it anymore. I do like the idea, deep down, and I'd like to continue with it at some point, but this month, it just isn't going to happen.

So I have a new goal.

One query letter for The Smell of Rain sent, for every remaining day of the month.
Originally, the second half of my goal was to finish the first draft of my He and She fairy tale novella, but now that I'm thinking of quitting my dog job, I'm thinking of changing that part to writing as much of my dog-walker memoir as I can, while it's still fresh in my head.

And the holiday crafting continues...

NaNoProper

We've come to the end of the first weekend of National Novel Writing Month (the original month, as opposed to CampNaNo which I did this summer) and now it's, regrettably, Monday morning.

I am behind. On everything, really.

I have not made my word count, but I'm really only a day behind, and I have a light dog schedule today, so there is hope that I might catch up after work.

I have not registered for the GRE. Or begun putting things together for my grad school applications. And really, the reason for this is...I don't know if I should.

WHAT DO I DO WITH MY LIFE?!

That up there, is also why I've been putting it off. When I start thinking about it, I get a little panicky and my head starts to hurt and I want to cry. So I've been doing lots of holiday crocheting instead.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to see pictures until after Christmas.

In addition to writing and crocheting, I managed to cook and freeze all my pumpkins yesterday.

Advice on what I should do with my life? I'll take it.

In the meantime, I'll continue to knit.

Dark December

I decided that I was going to cast on one last selfish project before I commenced Holiday Crafting in earnest.

It's getting chilly now, so I started with the two skeins of thick wool for a nice shawl. The pattern is called Sidewalk Shawl (and I'd link for you, but I'm lazy and don't feel well) but I'm calling this one Dark December. I love the very subtle blues, greens, yellows, and rusty reds mixed in with the black.

I got the yarn from the Briar Rose Fibers tent at Rhinebeck. It was the skein that I saw from about forty feet away and said to my mom, "over here! I have to have that, it's perfect!"

And now, I'm off to walk some dogs in the rain, and hope my fever goes away.

Yarrrrrrn, ho!

Rhinebeck was almost a complete success this year. It was a fabulous day, and I got nearly everything on my list.

I did not get to go to the Yarn Harlot's book signing because we got to the Rhinecliff Bridge (literally four miles from the Duchess County Fairgrounds, where the event is held) and it was bumper to bumper to bumper the rest of the way. It took us an hour and a half to go FOUR MILES.

Rhinebeck is not equipped for the sudden arrival of ten thousand knitters.

I did see the Yarn Harlot though. It was one of those walking by "Ohmigod that's HER!" moments. To which my mother replied, "Which one? I'll go tackle her for you."

I discouraged this.
It would have been a wasted tackle as I had no book for her to sign.
...Aaand, I might have been banned from Rhinebeck next year and that would be tragic indeed.

I did not get to take a nip with Steven, about which I was disappointed, nor show him the vest that he motivated me to finish.

And I did not bring home a broom as I swore to the boy that I would. This is because the people who were there making Shaker brooms last year were not there this year. Also a slight disappointment as the head of our shitty plastic broom falls off every time I sweep.

However.

I got to show off my Rhinebeck ensemble:

I got an abundance of glorious yarn to keep me occupied (and sane) this winter. Here's a small sample:

I got to watch Border Collies playing frisbee.

And I got to pet a PUPPY!

Oh. And I came home with a big bag each of Kettle Corn and Maple Cotton Candy.

Epic. Win.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

Well, this is it. Rhinebeck is tomorrow, and I'm so excited! It's like Christmas, except better, because the things I'm going buy will hopefully last me all winter, so it won't seem as fleeting as Christmas.

Time to examine the list of things that I've done this week. It's small.

Frog bib for Gabriella? Check.

Frog hat for Gabriella? (Her mom really loves frogs.) Check.

Pattern/shopping list for Rhinebeck? Done.
I won't show you a picture of that- I'll show you finished objects eventually.

Hat of the month? Not quite. Working on it now, and it's possible that I could finish it before I leave today. We'll see. I have hope. So I'm going to end this now and get back to work on that. Socks and yellow crayon didn't happen. Oh, well. I knew it was an ambitious list.

PS- I did finish the book club book. Short review next week sometime.
See you all after the Festival!

The Rhinebeck Cometh

One week from tomorrow until the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck! I can't wait!

Unfortunately, I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked, but there is still a week left.

I finished my vest.
I finished that small skein scarf.
I made myself a pair of owl mitts from scraps to match my vest.

I balled up 600 yards of alpaca that I bought last year, and have a pattern picked out for it.
I made some progress on Rosa's crayon blanket.

I did not finish the alpaca lace shawl, but I'm getting there.
I did not start a pair of socks, but I'd like to.

This week my goals are:

1) Finish the yellow crayon to have 3 of 6 crayons done.
2) Make the frog bib and frog hat for Amanda's baby to use up some yarn
3) Do at least one, maybe both of the hat of the month hats to use up some yarn
4) Make as much progress on the alpaca lace shawl as I can
5) Start the socks
6) Finalize my list of projects I'd like to buy yarn for at Rhinebeck. My goal this year is to not buy yarn for which I don't have a project in mind. But we'll see. I have been known to pick things by color and texture alone.

Oh, and one final goal: I need to finish the book club book, since that is the same day as Rhinebeck.  Off I go to cast on a frog bib. Pictures to follow, of course.

Rhinebeck Vest Finished!

It's done! It's done!

I'm so stoked that this came out wearable. This is my first successful three dimensional object- I started a sweater years ago, and haven't finished it because I royally screwed it up, but this one was a success. Yay!

I can't wait to wear it to Rhinebeck.

This picture makes me look freakishly tall. I love it :)

On Nothing

I'm having a really hard time getting motivated to do anything.

I wasn't feeling well yesterday, and while I'm not in pain anymore, I still feel slightly off. Add that to the fact that work was a complete and utter joke today, and I'm feeling distracted and noncommittal, and like I'd rather drink vodka/cranberries and putter around with this puzzle I've been working on for the rest of the day, than do things that I should be doing, like working on Rosa's crayon blanket, narrowing down my grad school list, and writing/revising.

I also have fencing lessons later tonight, and I'm not sure that I'm feeling up to that either.  I might go to the Thursday adult class instead.

I won't waste more of your time with my rambling about nothing. I'll just leave you with a fun quote that I think I might tape up somewhere where I'm forced to look at it as I revise.

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs."
-Stephen King

Rhinebeck Vest

Just a quick post to say...Look!

It's starting to look like a vest. That's a head hole in the middle, and I have since done the row that makes the armholes and joins the front to the back. The rest of it is worked in rounds, which I believe I'll start before I go to work.

I love Doris Chan's patterns....they make sense! I'm so stoked to (hopefully) meet her at Rhinebeck. Thanks to Steven over at Bitches Get Stitches (fabulous blog, go read it) for motivating me to work on this with pictures of his handspun for his Rhinebeck outfit. I hope I get to meet him, too!

Off to do a round or two, then work, and later...fencing lessons! Excitement!

Room

You've probably heard of Emma Donoghue's Room at some point in the last year. It made a huge splash, was an international bestseller and one of the top ten books of the year on almost everybody's list. I finally got around to reading it.

Room is the story of Jack, a five year old boy, and Ma, who live in a twelve by twelve room. For Jack, it's the only thing he's ever known and is thus, the whole world. To him, Outer Space is beyond Room. But for Ma, who's only been there seven years, it's a prison.

For those of you already turned off by the idea of a story about something so horrible, there are several reasons that you should try it anyway.

-It's told from Jack's point of view, so his lack of understanding softens the situation.

-She's created a really unique character and voice with Jack- he's still little, and doesn't understand a lot of what goes on around him because Ma has spared him an explanation, but he's also incredibly bright and articulate for his age, because Ma has the time to teach him everything she knows.

-SPOILER ALERT- but I don't think it will ruin the book for you, especially if you have reservations about reading it:


They get out. Only the first half of the book is spent in Room.

Finally, overall, it's just really interesting. Gripping, actually.
Because it's the only thing he knows, it's just as hard for Jack to leave Room as it is for Ma to stay. It creates a thick tension, and lots of interesting situations as they try to adapt to a society filled with other people, when for so long, Jack's whole life, it's just been the two of them.

I flew through it, and had a really hard time finding a good spot to put it down at night.

I highly recommend it, if you're looking for something thought provoking, unique, and very well written. 

One Thing Done

I've accomplished one small thing on my list. The smallest, actually.

A decorative, rather than warm, scarf from a pattern called Hundred Yard Dash. I bought the yarn at Rhinebeck last year, when I was extra poor, so I could only afford the one, 112 yard skein, but the colors were so lovely that I just had to have it. It took me forever to find a pattern that was perfect for such a small amount of yarn and would still make something useful that I could wear. I certainly wasn't going to waste my pretty yarn on amigurumi. (Not that amigurumi is a waste, it's super cute, just not the right project for my merino in gorgeous colors).

I also made substantial progress on the shawl that I'm working on, but it is no where near done. And it seems like for everything I can cross off the list, something else pops up. Granted, I can only cross this scarf off the list, but I found out last night that the friend whose daughter I'm making the crayon blanket for is pregnant again, so another baby blanket needs to be made. Both baby blankets can wait until after Rhinebeck though, because they're not due until January at the earliest.

Weird noises outside. Sounds like someone just put a ladder against the house. Off to investigate.

Later...

I have no idea what the noises were.

In other news, it's time to look at grad schools again. I'm making slow progress through that list. It makes my head hurt. Speaking of headaches, I need to go make some tea and have my daily intake of caffeine so I can function.

Back to working on lists.

Lists

Before the lists, a review:

The Girl Who Played With Fire.

I loved it. I need the next one. NEED, I tell you.

This one picks up about a year after the last one left off, Millennium magazine is back on top after the expose and subsequent downfall of corporate giant schmuck Wennerstrom. They're taking on another hot topic: human trafficking.

Lisbeth Salander, "the woman who hates men who hate women" of course gets involved. 700 pages and several major plot twists later, it leaves you with an evil cliffhanger.

I repeat: I NEED the third book.

YOU, if you haven't read them, NEED the first book.

And scene.
On to lists.

Writing Things to Accomplish Before November:

1- Finish Halley's Comet
2- Finish/make substantial progress on He and She
3- Preliminary edit Letters to Myself
4- Polish and send queries for The Smell of Rain
5- Don't forget to have at least a vague idea of plot or characters for NaNoProper.

Fiber Things To Do Before Rhinebeck:

1- Finish Rosa's blanket
2- Finish the Evening Mist shawl
3- Finish the brookstick lace tank
4- Use the yarn that I bought last year at Rhinebeck. (which will be two as yet unstarted projects)
5- Start my first pair of socks.
6- Make an effort to incorporate as many scraps as possible into the ugly afghan, to free up space in the yarn basket.
7- Start planning Christmas projects

See those lists? I'll be (hopefully) blogging regularly about things as I complete them.
But now, I have to go work on them so...I'm out.

Wrapping Up

Irene has come and gone in Philadelphia. There's still some rain and wind, but we came through unscathed and with power. From the lack of damage chatter on the radio this morning, I'd say the rest of the city did all right too.

I had a very productive day yesterday, despite all the hurricane panic. To our credit, we didn't panic. We filled up bottles with water, put some extra containers of ice in the freezer, bought a few non perishables, and put down the storm windows. There was none of the mass hysteria that I saw on facebook from friends and family elsewhere.

I did race against Irene to get my August novel finished, in case we lost power. I made it! I hit 50,000 words and wrapped up the whole thing yesterday afternoon. It's short, and will definitely need more added to it, but the basic plot arc is there and ready to work with during my months of revision before November.

I also finished a pair of knitted baby booties. Thanks again to Lizzie, over at Books and Sushi for alerting me to the pattern. It was a perfect, simple first 3 dimensional object pattern.

On Friday after work I bought materials for my first pair of socks. I'm excited to try them, but first I really have to make some substantial progress on Rosa's 2nd Birthday blanket. (She turned two on the 22nd, but we couldn't make it up there for the party. We're planning on going soon though, so I really need to get going, or it will be a Christmas present instead.)

I have so many projects. The next post will probably be lists of all the things I want to do writing-wise before NaNoProper and all the things yarn-wise I want to do before Rhinebeck.

For now, I leave you with a picture, as I go off to work on a little girl's crayon blanket.

Beret, as promised!

I'm almost at 35,000 words. I'm struggling to get there. The big turning point of the novel just happened, and while it should be smooth sailing from here on out, it isn't quite, yet. I also haven't really gotten through the big climax. But it's getting there.

The more I write, the more I think people are going to freak out about it. And by people, I mean the general public. Because people tend to freak out about student/teacher relationships.

Anywhooo...

Ashley loved her hat. I love Ashley's hat. Eventually, I will have a purple one that matches my winter coat.

I'm Still Here

Follies is on Broadway. Or it will be. I think it doesn't open until October. It's never been my favorite Sondheim show, but I'd still love to see it. It only costs me $20 round trip to get to the city from here, so I'd like to see as much as I can while we're so close.

In other random news:

- The novel is progressing nicely. I have slightly over 27,000 words.

-I actually like it. I'm fascinated by this concept of relationships that, in any other realm of society, would be perfectly acceptable, but when you stick them in a high school setting they can't happen.

-or can they? Probably not in high school. When I first came up with this idea, I asked Liz Rosenberg, my highly respected creative writing teacher, if student/teacher relationships were too much for YA. She replied that she didn't think so, but then, she'd married her creative writing teacher.

-yes, it was in college, and yes that writing teacher was John Gardner. Yes, the man who wrote Grendel and is one of the most esteemed writers of the 20th century.

-I'm getting off topic.

-I'll have new crochet pictures to post on Sunday. I can't post them until Ashley has the present in her hands, which will happen Saturday.

-I'm going to see Dan Radcliffe again on Saturday. Be jealous :)

-Still chugging steadily through The Girl Who Played With Fire.

-It's long, and I have a lot of things I'm working on, currently, so it maybe be another week or two before I'm finished.

-Finally, a picture. Someday, this novel will be printed by a printer that isn't related to me.

Overcoming Week Two Doldrums

I've crossed the 15,000 word mark in my second of two Camp NaNo novel-writing months. Despite the fact that we are entering the middle of the notorious, infamous, evil week two doldrums, I feel like my novel is actually taking off. And I'm enjoying it.

I'm still struggling with the first person part of it, but it's good practice. Here's the cover I designed to celebrate the first 15,000 words. Does it make you want to read the book?



In other news, I'm a couple hundred pages into The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's just as good as the first one so far, but I'll let you know when I finish it.

Odds and Ends

I haven't updated in almost a week. I don't have too much exciting to say, but I thought I'd write something quick, just to keep in the habit.

I should be writing for CampNaNo Round Two, but I'll do that after work. I don't have enough time right now to really get involved.

This idea, like last months novel, has been kicking around in my head for awhile, and I suppose it could be considered....wait for it...Young Adult.

WHAT?!

I know. I don't even like Young Adult. That said, I think it would only fall into that category because two of my three main characters are in their senior year of high school. I won't tell you too much about the plot, because it's a little hazy right now and because I don't want it stolen, but I will say that it involves a student/teacher relationship.

Oooh, le scandal.

And now, before I go off to eat some cereal and take care of some dogs, I'll leave you with a picture of my latest shawl.



Baby Alpaca Lace....sooooo yummy :)

Ender's Game

I have less than 4,000 words to go for this month's CampNaNo novel. This makes me excited. Here's the primitive cover that I designed for it:



Does it make you want to read it? I hope so. It won't be nearly finished in the next 4,000 words, so don't hold your breath. But hopefully someday you'll get to read it.

For a smoothish transition, we'll now turn from books that I'm writing to books that I'm reading. Or rather, have read recently.

Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro

I'm pretty sure I spelled his name right. I'm sorry if I didn't. This was a book that I was told I 'had to read.'

It was. I loved it.
Set in a dystopian-ish society, it is the story of Kathy, a carer who is caring for her old school friends. As she does, they remember their lives as children at Hailsham, a private boarding school somewhere in England.
Through their memories the reader discovers more about them, and how very different they are from the rest of the society, and eventually, what their purpose in that society will be.

Of course, I can't tell you any of it, because it would ruin the whole book. Written beautifully, and paced beautifully, I've read that this is the weakest of Ishiguro's novels. If it is, I'm dying to read the 'good ones.' The book is like learning a secret about a friend, from little pieces gathered from other people. I thought it was wonderful, couldn't put it down, and highly recommend it. It would be a great book club book; there's a lot that can be discussed.

Next, Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card

I've had people telling me that I should read this for about ten years. I feel like if I had read it ten years ago, I would have thought that it was a lot better. It wasn't terrible, and I didn't hate it, but my overall reaction, and Ben's as well, was: meh.

It's interesting, though we both guessed the twist. The characters are good, mostly round. The story is engaging, and the world that Card creates is similar enough to be thought provoking, and different enough that it's science fiction at the same time.

What bugged me (hah, no pun intended. Buggers...see what I did there? :p ) the most, was the end. Ben and I agreed that it was weak. Card tried too hard to leave it wide open for a sequel and that was annoying. It reminded me a little bit of J.K Rowling's infamous epilogue. Just a bit.

If you haven't read it stop for a second:

I like that the buggers had been watching Ender through the computers the way that he'd been watching them, and that they built the End of the World. That was interesting. Him becoming the Speaker for the Dead I thought didn't ring true to the character that he had become.

Okay, come back people who didn't want spoilers.

Weak ending. Not the best book ever. I recommend it to little kids. They'll think it's awesome that kids are running the world.

Finally, I've finished a scarf that I've been working on for months. I love it!

HP Reflections

Do you ever wonder if maybe you're going the wrong way with your life?

I think everyone does, sometimes. It's happened to me a couple of times in the last several weeks. First when Ben took me to the city to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying for my birthday. I was sitting in the theater, watching them all dance around with big smiles and bright colors and thought to myself "Man, I REALLY want to be down there with them. On that stage."

Then it happened again when we saw HP 7 Part 2 on Monday. I was sitting in the movie theater, watching all those incredible veteran actors thinking "I'd give anything to work with those people."

It made me a little, (okay, a lot) depressed afterward to think that maybe I was pursuing the wrong dream. Maybe I should have gone to Post, maybe I should have pursued acting. People told me "have a fall-back career." Well, an English degree isn't much more stable than a Theater degree.

I suppose it could just be that I'm unhappy with my dog-walking job and the lack of better options and that the depression I feel is just my coming down from the adrenaline rush that live theater and great acting gives me. Or...I could be at the completely wrong place in my life.

As far as HP goes though, it was fantastic! I honestly hated the 7th book- I thought it was horrendously written, and that the ending was total cop-out because she was too lazy to plot it so the kids could figure things out for themselves, instead of bringing Dumbledore back from the dead to explain things. Someone did a really good job adapting it to screen. It was engaging.

Of course, the acting was incredible. That's what started this whole post. Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman...amazing, talented people. They bring so much to these movies. Honestly, I don't think they'd be nearly as watchable if they had a different supporting cast because, let's face it, Harry is the most flat character in the whole series. Does anybody really care what happens to him?

Especially in this movie, they brought so much. Even with a fraction of the screen time as the younger actors, they brought exponentially more depth and emotion to the movie. Ralph Fiennes gives a master class on acting with his performance. Think about it: that's not his face. He has ONLY his eyes to work with. Now, go back and watch what he did with them.

Even Michael Gambon, who I'd always thought was a terrible Dumbledore, did a nice job in this movie. The scene in Limbo at King's Cross was the most like Dumbledore he'd ever been.

And Maggie Smith is one of my favorite actors ever, so I'll just leave it at that.

I'd give damn near anything to work with such wonderfully talented people.

Luna Moth

Remember the shawl that looks like a Luna Moth? I finished it!



This picture is a little dark, but with flash it went right through the holes in the shawl, and all you could see was the shirt I was wearing underneath.



I'm really pleased with the way this pattern came out. And now... because I'm feeling generous...

A SNEAK PEEK!

At the next pattern I'm going to work on. It's Doris Chan's Broomstick Lace Shell (which is a tank top, but since it has holes, probably more like a vest since you need something underneath) in KnitPicks Cotton/Linen blend. Harbor blue.

Here's the gauge swatch:




Stay cool, y'all. In every sense of the word.

Books, Books, Books!

I've been stockpiling reviews. Okay, not really, I just haven't gotten around to blogging about them. CampNaNo will do that to you.

Book Numero Uno

My French Whore- Gene Wilder

Honestly? A disappointment. Cute story, but that's about it. His memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger, was soooo good that I had really high expectations for this book, and the writing just didn't reach them. It was simple, unelegant, not that funny, just...not Gene Wilder. Not the way that I know he can write.

That said, it wasn't a horrible book. It was a simple, easy to read novel. Great for those hot days when your brain feels like it can't commit to anything too strenuous. If you want a look at Gene Wilder's actual writing skills though, pick up Kiss Me Like a Stranger.

Book Numero Dos

A Year in Provence- Peter Mayle

I have a soft spot for travel memoir. Especially when the travelust is particularly strong. This memoir from the late 80s, and the first in a trilogy that I will undoubtedly read because this is, after all, the year of the trilogy, is about the first year in Peter and his wife's life after they buy a house in Provence and move away from their life in England.

Expect to encounter old houses, strange neighbors, the token contractor/architect that you find in all books like this, and lots and LOTS of food. Food is what the French live for, and I guarantee reading this book will make you hungry. If you haven't had the pleasure of french food, get yourself across the pond at some point in your life. This from a person who doesn't even like food. It's amazingly rich though, so if you have a sensitive stomach...just be aware.

Highly recommend the book, especially if you are like me, and long to be wherever you're not.

Book Numero Tres

V for Vendetta- Alan Moore

The first graphic novel that I was exposed to was Alan Moore's Watchmen and I was pleasantly surprised that a comic book could have such a good story, in addition to meaningful pictures.

Again, Alan Moore's writing is solid. The story is a good one, about the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust in which England becomes a fascist state, disposing of people of color and homosexuals the way the Jews were exterminated in World War II. Only V, a survivor of the concentration camps has the ability to engineer an overthrow of the government and create anarchy.

As I said, the story is good. Engaging, thought provoking, Alan Moore quality. The pictures were not as good as the ones in Watchmen. Evey, the orphan girl and heir to V's empire was so inconsistently drawn that I occasionally had a hard time recognizing her. The pictures were also colored dark, which I know was intentional because it was meant to convey the tone of this dreary fascist England, but sometimes they were so dark I had a hard time figuring out exactly what I was looking at.

Still recommended, because again, the story is good. So are the characters. In fact, so is the movie. But obviously, read the book first.

The Simplification of Jay Gatsby

What do Jay Gatsby and the American Education system have in common? Well, they're both living in the past, for one thing.

The real topic is not so much what they have in common, as what education is doing to Gatsby. Consider this article:


Someone decided that there should be a simplified version of The Great Gatsby, for intermediate readers. Gatsby is very simple to begin with. Not in content, but certainly in vocabulary. There are roughly 50,000 words, short by novel standards, and as the writer of the article points out, the most complicated word you're going to run across is "orgastic," the definition of which can be guessed at with decent results.

To change the wording of Gatsby eliminates every reason to use it in a classroom. The article gives the example of the very last sentences of the book. They're famous for a reason. If you haven't already read them, and don't want it to be spoiled, skip down past the italics.

The original ending reads like this:

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an æsthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.


And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning----

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

The "intermediate reader" ending is this:

Gatsby had believed in his dream. He had followed it and nearly made it come true.

Everybody has a dream. And, like Gatsby, we must all follow our dream wherever it takes us.

Some unpleasant people became part of Gatsby's dream. But he cannot be blamed for that. Gatsby was a success, in the end, wasn't he?

Excuse me??

THE REASON Gatsby is taught is for Fitzgerald's absolutely gorgeous prose. It's not taught in elementary schools or middle schools because they're not ready for it. They won't appreciate it.
Granted, most high school students won't, either, but it's worth a try.

Changing the words to "simplify" it, renders it useless as a teaching tool.

Not only that, but the second reason it's taught is for the discussion about whether or not Gatsby WAS a success. To end with a question mark is not only the most irritating thing in the world, but answering the biggest question posed in the novel doesn't make anyone who reads it think beyond that answer.
Was Gatsby a "success?" Does he deserve the respect and idolization that Nick bestows on him?

Read it, and you tell me.
Of course, you'd need what Fitzgerald wrote, and not this woman's interpretation, for that.
Here's a thought: let's teach kids to READ, instead of handing them simplified versions.

Outrageous.

Aha!

I love those aha! moments when the plot falls into place and is unexpectedly more profound than anticipated.

I had one today, in the shower, because water really does help me think. I tend to get my best ideas at 10.30 at night, or in the shower, or while doing the dishes. Now the plot for this month's Camp NaNo novel has been worked out, and it's rather deep.

I'd still like to teach a class on Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome, because I stand by the fact that 99% of the time, things like profundity and symbolism just HAPPEN in a book, not because the author meticulously plotted it that way. I think we generally read WAAAY too much into stuff.

But I suppose that's okay, because I couldn't be an English (or CompLit) professor if we didn't. I'm leaning very, very heavily toward the PhD in CompLit, some kind of CompLit...I don't have the slightest idea where to begin looking for a direction to go in search of a dissertation topic.

I do know what direction my novel is going however. So I think I will leave the pondering of the rest of my life for another day, or at least a couple of hours, while I bang out my word quota for today.

Out of curiosity, what sort of classes could you see me teaching at a college level?

Washcloth #2- Shows Improvement

I didn't block this because...it's a washcloth. It will get blocked every time it's used.







Also! The new joint blog project did indeed launch today. Check us out, and click the follow button HERE.

DUDE. Wait...what? Shit, really!?

Such was my thought process when I received the email from one of the Phila Scriptfrenzy MLs that Camp NaNoWriMo, an extension of regular NaNoWriMo, begins tomorrow.


TOMORROW.

CampNaNo, as I've just found out (because the last I heard of it the website hadn't even launched yet. Thanks for the heads up, OLL) is regular NaNo: 30 days (or... well, 31 since July and August have 31) and 50,000 words except the website is in its test run and it is for the month of July.

And then again in August.

with supposedly a new and improved website, which probably means we can all look forward to an epic collapse similar to the one that kicks off NaNo every. single. year.

Really guys, don't you PLAN ALL YEAR for this?! I guess it must be harder than it looks. You're doing a fabulous job, we still love you, don't worry.

So anyway.... since I've jumped into NaNo with less time and planning before (yes it is, in fact, possible) I will be starting the first of three, THREE!, epic novel writing months this year.

I'm so fucking excited!
This is just what I need to break the writer's block I've been having since...oh, scriptfrenzy? Maybe even before.

And I do actually have an idea what I'm going to write, since I failed miserably at last year's NaNo because I was drowning in a sea of crocheted tablecloth. I got about a thousand words, so I'm going to edit them and keep going tomorrow.

Also!! My dearest writer friend Ashley is leaving me for Budapest in the fall, where she will be getting her master's at Central European University (don't even ASK how jealous I am, I will not be held responsible for what happens to you) and we're going to start a blog in the style of Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows. It was supposed to launch tomorrow. Hopefully it still will. Stay tuned.

I am off to shower and clean the apartment because that will not be happening again until september 1.

Did I mention I also want to submit 3 short stories (as yet unfinished) to Glimmertrain for the July open submission?

Museum of Natural History- A Small Sample

Some Book Reviews

I've finished two books recently, that I haven't reviewed for you. I've been slacking, sorry. I avoided the first one because I didn't really have much to say about it, and now that I've finished another book that I also don't have much to say about, I figured I'd lump them into one short-ish post.

I don't really recommend either of them. Just putting that out there. You can stop reading now if you like.

The first is I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill.
While it's about little kids, I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be a kids book. Edmund Hooper, a little boy with mommy issues moves into his grandfather's house with his widower father. The father employs a woman and her son (who is the same age as Edmund and has daddy issues) to stay and take care of the house, and be a companion for himself and a friend for his son.
Of course the boys hate each other, and thus begins a war between them while the parents remain blissfully ignorant and think the boys are best friends.

It reminded me a lot of that movie, The Good Son, except both these boys are Macaulay Culkin's character, so you can imagine how it ends. The end was really the only part that made me sit up and pay attention, just because I didn't think she'd actually go through with it.

The second book is The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd.
I was warned about this book. My friend Erin said "the set up is good; the second half is terrible."

I mostly agree.

It's narrated by a boy who is in his freshman year as an art major at state university, who knows nothing about art because he really didn't want to go to college, so art was the easiest, least like work major that he could come up with. He meets Himillsy Dodd and the two of them set off judging and critiquing art in their own way.
Think about how stuffy and pretentious people can be about art. Now take that to the other extreme, and that's these two. Except they're so extreme in their making fun of art that they're annoying.
The book reminded me too much of The Catcher in the Rye, which is why I didn't like it. These characters, like Holden Caulfield, spend the whole time judging the other "phonies" when they, like Holden, are the phoniest of all.

I just kept hearing his voice in my head the whole time I was reading and we all know how much I loathe Holden Caulfield.

So there you have it. Next on my shelf to read is Gene Wilder's My French Whore.
I adore Gene Wilder. Review when it's finished. Stay tuned.

Misshapen Washcloth

I learned to knit!

I'm terrible at it.

And I still like crochet better.

But. I am on a quest to make Ben some socks. So here's my first misshapen washcloth, done entirely in knit stitch.

(I started practicing purling last night, and it's a bitch. I don't think it would have been any harder if I had hooves. Opposable thumb FAIL.)



Ta da! Hopefully I'll be back more regularly. I had some health issues, but 8 days of high test antibiotics seems to have taken care of things. Fingers crossed!

A Short Story

A drabble, really.

When they told me that Lucy the Italian Water Dog was terrified of cats, I didn't really believe them.

Turns out, it's true.

We were walking along today, minding our own business, when a big orange cat comes out of an open door and hisses and spits at us. Apparently we got too close to his territory, even though we had no idea he was there.

I processed all of this after the fact though, because when it happened all I was aware of was being dragged down the sidewalk so Lucy could cower behind a flowerbox.

After the fact, I had to laugh at her because the irony was too great. But I did give her an extra treat for surviving her traumatic ordeal.

Evolution of Wool Part 1

I tried this last night, but blogger was being a jerk, so let's try it again.

Remember how I got all that wool as a gift? It looks like this:



Because it was a gift I can't tell you what kind of sheep it came off of. It was a black sheep, though.

Several hours were spent washing and picking bird seed out of a small amount of that bag. Apparently something had nested in the bag at some point, because I made a mess all over the porch with bird seed and corn that came out of it.
Anyway, after about 2 hours, maybe a little more, of washing individual locks of wool, I had this:



I know, they look like rodents.

Next is carding, which can be done on a drum carder (which is crazy expensive and so not in my budget right now) or on hand carders (also rather pricey). OR...it can be done on dog brushes, which is what I used. It would be easier with actual wool carders, but since I got two brushes for half the price of one carder, I'm going to stick with the brushes, at least until Rhinebeck this year.

Carding aligns the fibers so that they're all the same length and going in the same direction. Then they can be rolled into rolags and spun.



That's all I've got so far. It's a time consuming process, but it's fun. When I've got some spun, I'll show you!

A Photo, a debate, and a heartbreaking story

3 things, today. We'll start with the light stuff, and leave you with the heavy. Why? Not because I'm mean, but because the heavy is the most important. It's been proven that people remember the first and last things in a list, or a variety show, whatever. I want you to remember this last thing.

First:

the shawl that I just started totally looks like a Luna Moth. Right?



Next up, a debate on YA books.

The Wall Street Journal posted this article, or blog I guess, since it is entirely this one woman's misguided opinion on how "dark" YA has become, and should we be (she says no, we shouldn't) be letting our teenagers read this.

Read that first.

Then read THIS response to it by the wonderfully reasonable and funny Linda Holmes of NPR Books "Monkey See" blog.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, I completely agree with Linda Holmes. I usually do. Especially on her opinion of Twilight, but that is not what we're talking about here.

Tell me: if we shouldn't be letting teenagers read dark books, should we be letting them watch television at all? I'm not even talking tv shows. I'm talking NEWS. The WORLD is dark, especially when you're a teenager. And yes, some people had gloriously happy, stress free, golden teenage years. This is not the norm. It's why every YA book has, at its core, the same damn plot (something that I find endlessly irritating, but again, not the topic of discussion).

Girls feel enormous pressure to be pretty and skinny, and yes, it leads to eating disorders. I can think of two without really trying from my graduating class of 80 kids.

Teenagers cut themselves. Again, can think of two without much thought.
They think of suicide, they try alcohol, sex and drugs.

Letting them read only books about butterflies and rainbows isn't going to change this. Letting them read books about tough and, to a certain extent taboo, topics will make them feel like they're not alone.

And I agree with Linda that reading these things isn't going to turn them all into any crazier people than the overload of hormones already has. Just like as an adult reading Misery will not turn you into Kathy Bates.

But maybe they'll realize that they're not alone. Maybe it will scare them straight. Do they want to die like Alice, or should they seek help for their addictions?

YA has its place. And while I do think that the majority of it is cookie cutter drivel, there are some that are worthwhile stories that need to be read. But that's just me. I am a firm believer in parenting, not sheltering.

Sheltered kids are the most dangerous kind, because they know nothing, and that will always, ALWAYS get them into trouble.

Finally, I present you with a blog post about AIDS. It has been 30 years since the first reported cases of AIDS, and it is no less heartbreaking and important a topic than it was then.

You can find the article HERE. It is beautiful, and painfully sad.
I leave you a quote from it, from an anonymous person who put their thoughts into a time capsule 30 years ago:

Look back in wonder. Prepare for the next time.
Do not forget us.

Finished Llama Friday!

Oooooh wait. It's Saturday. Yeah, I meant to post this yesterday. so it goes.

I've finished the wrap that I made with the burnt orange Baby Llama yarn. I love it!! Soooooo soft and lovely.
Also, the pattern, called Autumn Leaves Wrap, and available for free(!) on Ravelry is lovely. So easy, and it worked up so fast, that I do believe it will resurface at Christmastime.

In other news, I've begun work on one of the MANY bags of fleece that I was given, but that is a post for another day when I have more progress to show you. I just washed today, and I think I'll probably just wash tomorrow as well.

And now, may I present...

...Baby Llama!

Thoughts From a Tiny Computer

Seriously. I'm on Ben's mini, and it's so tiny. If there are a lot of typos, forgive me. It's because my fingers are stomping around the keyboard like giants.

And you know me; I have munchkin hands.

We came home to Upstate New York for the holiday weekend, and it's amazing the difference in temperature. It's pleasantly warm here, still a little humid because like us they've been getting too much rain, but you don't feel like a wax figure in a kiln.

Also, it's so GREEN. Last time I came up it was basically still winter and it wasn't nearly as pretty and blooming as Phila, where we're a whole month ahead of the New York seasons, if you can call them that. For those of you who aren't aware, we have three seasons. Summer, Winter, and Mud.

Spring was a new experience for me in Phila.

But now that NY is almost out of the threat of a snowstorm (ask people who have lived here awhile, they'll tell you about snow in june and july) the grass is green, and most of the trees are leafed out. Birds are singing...or screeching.

I can hear one out the window right now that's saying "doo doo doo waaaaaaaah!"
It's like someone trying to hit a high note that can't do it.

And last night the peepers were out! Such a soothing sound. "peep peep peep." Not like chicks peep, a different kind of peep that I can't really explain. You just have to hear it.

It's nice to be home, but I'll be glad to go back too.

In other news, my baby llama yarn came!!!! It's sooooooo lovely, and I've started the wrap that I'm using it for, and I'm just far enough to start seeing the pattern. I think it's going to be very nice.

Jane Eyre

Amazingly, up until now I had not read Jane Eyre.

I had the...pleasure...of reading Wuthering Heights at least four times in high school and college, but not Jane Eyre. (yeah you're right, Wuthering Heights isn't a pleasure. In fact, I don't really like it.)

This post is about Jane though, not how much I dislike Catherine.

My book club picked Jane Eyre for this month, and I went into thinking that it would be similar to Wuthering Heights, and that I wouldn't really enjoy it. Not so.

I ended up really liking it! It is slow at times, and skimming the long and overly drawn out bits of repetitive dialogue is necessary, but for the most part it was not as difficult a read as I expected it to be, and the story was very engaging.

The book is a bit long, and if I were Charlotte Bronte's editor I'd have demanded that she cut 200 pages...300 if possible, but it was still very enjoyable.

I like Jane, she's a good strong, educated female character. She doesn't need to RELY on Mr. Rochester, in fact she loves him best when he needs her more than she needs him. I like strong women, which is why the part of the book that I liked the least was Jane's whole encounter with St. John Rivers.

Who names their kid St. John, anyway? That seems a bit odd and pretentious even for Victorian England.
My point though, is that Jane falls into this submissive trance around him for quite awhile, and that was the only part of the book that really annoyed me.
She doesn't take shit from Mrs. Reed or Mr. Rochester, but she does from this obnoxious, self righteous and rather whiny parson?

Seriously? Seems very out of character, in my opinion.

That aside, I won't tell you how it turns out, because if you don't already know you should read it and find out for yourself, but I think my favorite part was the last couple of chapters. The dialogue between Jane and Mr. Rochester is great!

Go forth and read.

Finished Object Monday!

I did it! I finished, and blocked, my alpalca/silk blend lace weight stole.

It's so incredibly soft and warm. Here's the picture that Ben said "looks like it should be in one of those wedding magazines."

Hal Squared

56 years ago a little boy named Harold took his purple crayon and went on a series of adventures.

Today, Ben and I set off for the Prince Music Theater in center city to see a theater production of Harold and Purple Crayon. Upon arrival, while Ben was in line for popcorn I noticed a picture on the wall across the room.

It looked like Hal Prince, famous director of such Broadway hits as Sweeney Todd and The Phantom of the Opera.
It was!
The Prince Music Theater is named for Harold Prince, and the picture was the original Hirschfeld caricature! I proceeded to turn my phone back on and try to get a picture because I had neglected to bring my camera. No luck, sorry. He was lit in such a way that it was impossible to get a picture of him.

After completely theater-dorking out, we went in to see the show. Whatever I was expecting, this wasn't it. All of the Harold stories had been strung together in a series of adventures with no dialogue at all. The entire production was done in mime with a narrator, masks, dance, puppets and projected animations. Very postmodern.

I was really impressed with how well choreographed it was, especially with the projections (imagine him tracing the air with his crayon, and what he's supposed to be drawing appearing on large screens behind him) , and also how the person who did the animation of Harold's drawings stayed incredibly faithful to the original illustrations.

Also! The theater company (Enchantment Theater) began as a magic show, and the man in charge is a master magician. There were magic tricks in the circus part that made Ben and I feel like little kids. The ribbon into wand trick made me think "oh, that's cool" and the flowers completely disappearing off the table that did not have a tablecloth with which to hide them made me think "holy shit, how'd they DO that!?"

I said it on twitter earlier, but I'll repeat it here:
If you ever have the opportunity to see Enchantment Theater's touring production of Harold and Purple Crayon, take it.

Your childhood will thank you.

F.O...wednesday

It's Wednesday, which means in the crafting blogosphere most people are sharing their WIPs. Because, obviously, WIP Wednesday has a nice ring to it.

I, however, have been working on the same projects for weeks now, and they are no where close to done so I won't bore you with those again. Instead, I'm going to show you a little thing that I whipped up just to feel like I can finish something.

It's a cell phone cozy.



As you may or may not be able to tell from the second picture, my phone already has a scratch on the screen. I need to get an actual screen protector at some point, but until then, my phone has its own little cozy place.




It's a little wider than it needs to be, but that's okay. The phone can go in either direction now. Initially it was a little short, because I didn't account for seams, and then I guess I added too many stitches.

Ah, well. Live and learn.
In other exciting news I ordered some baby llama yarn this morning, and I can't wait to get my hands on that! I'll let you know when it shows up.

And who knows? Maybe I'll buckle down and make progress on something so I can have a Fairly Complete Object Friday, instead of a finished object friday.

Don't hold your breath.

Phila Zoo in Pictures

Okay, you only get two pictures, sorry. Blogger is being a pain today. I just felt the need to post something, since I haven't in a week, but I don't really have anything of interest to post. So there you go. Now I'm off to spend a day working in the rain.

Oh, how I love soggy clothes.

Spinning Bug!

I've caught it. My knitting friend, Rebecca, said that it would be addictive, and spinning definitely is. Even when you're not very good at it.

Here's my progress so far:



So that fluffy stuff on top, that's fleece. That's how it starts (well, after a long process that I'm too tired to explain right now, you get fleece)

Then you draft it (pull thin strips of fleece from the larger chunk) while spinning the spindle to get twist in it, and twisting fleece is what makes yarn. What's on the spindle right now is a single ply of yarn. To make anything, I will need to spin together at least two plies of yarn to actually make a yarn that weighs enough to make something with.

Pretty cool, eh?

I have a new obsession :D

KV as in Jailbird

I know, that title makes no sense unless you know the Murder, She Wrote episode entitled "JB as in Jailbird."

But today I'm talking about Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Jailbird, so there you have it.

Or, in a more Vonnegut appropriate phrase,

So it goes.

I'd never read any Vonnegut until I met Ben. He loves him, and convinced me to try The Sirens of Titan. I loved it.
I had to read Slaughterhouse Five for my Lit of War class last year. I loved it.

I just finished Jailbird, which is one of Ben's favorites, and not surprisingly, loved it.

Ohh, and I almost forgot. My favorite Vonnegut so far is God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian. It's genius.

The thing about Vonnegut is that, by most standards, he's not a good writer. His structure is a little odd, and at times seems unplanned, and his grammar can be awful.
However, he has a great VOICE. His writing is very much like he's sitting there telling you a story. It's very conversational. Full of humor, irony and satire. Not always easy to read, but always worth the effort.

Jailbird is told by Walter F. Starbuck, a man created by a rich mentor to be someone that he really isn't and thus, he gets himself into a lot of trouble, because he basically spends his whole life out of his depth. I don't want to spoil it for you, but Watergate is involved, as is a fictional conglomerate in corporate America (lots of commentary about the absurdity of that world, too)

So go, read Vonnegut, for all of the above reasons. He's quite wonderful; I'm a fan.

Tomorrow look for a blog post about the drop spindles that I got for my birthday (which is also tomorrow, if you care) and my adventures in learning to spin. I'm sure there will be many posts about that- it's not as easy as people like Abby Franquemont make it look.

So it goes.

Look, I'm doing it!

I unknowingly started my first entrelac pattern this week. That is, I didn't realize that this scarf pattern was entrelac (or interweave, is what it's called in crochet, but that's just a translation of entrelac, and I hang with knitters, so there you go).

Anywho. (Still working on my daily caffeine intake, sorry). I've thus far avoided entrelac because I was a little daunted by it. I mean, following a pattern to make a shape is one thing, but making shapes WITHIN a pattern to create a more elaborate pattern seemed scary. It sounded suspiciously like geometry, and we all know that I have an English degree for a reason.

But I started this pattern, and it seemed a little weird and crooked to begin with, but I kept at it for a few rows and then I realized...entrelac! After that it was easy.

Look, I'm doing it!



In other news, I gave in a got a twitter. I was reading the latest issue of Poets and Writers and apparently lots of publishing industry discussion happens on twitter, so...I caved. Plug: follow me! @completewtypos

And finally....it's MAY. Like, whoa. Where did the time go? My birthday is a week from tomorrow. Crazy.

Pattern Love

Mostly, I just want to share with you how in love I am with this scarf I'm making.






The pattern is called Athenian, I think, and I'm working with Noro.




Love, love, LOVE IT!