Mark Twain, Birthday Boy

Every November 30 I read from my favorite work by Mark Twain (whose birthday I share): Roughing It — in particular chapters 31, 32, and 33. (Pages 213 - 233 in the fabulous Google Books) It's my one life ritual, and I believe last year I blogged an identical post. I need a big laugh on my birthday, especially as the years pile up! This genius is so damn hilarious, and makes the past seem like now. His focus on the absurdities of human nature are absolutely timeless. I love you, Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

My Craft Familiars

These two adorable creatures are my constant companions when I knit. I love my other two cats, but they're not as interested in the process as Bigfoot (top photo) and Bridget (below). Biggie finds Ziplock bags full of yarn and UFOs to be the ideal resting spot, and Bridget likes to nap with a skein or two of fuzzy yarn draped over her back. She hates clothes, but likes coverage. I'm planning a new line of doggie blankets for her: they'll be a good way to practice various laces. Below are two recent hats, Flaming ZiggleZag Hat and Flaming Man Hat. This Flaming Chevron stitch pattern taught me a lot about knitting lace circularly. For this particular stitch pattern, the round always has to start just before the first ssk, and just after the first k2tog, so the marker has to be slipped two stitches before changing direction. If I could articulate why, I'd be a brilliant genius on track for some sort of world-saving prize. The why may even be in a book somewhere, but I'm proud of myself for figuring out the wherefores blind. I really do love knitting! It's even more fun than chain-smoking. I just saw a documentary on disturbed movie star Joan Crawford: she was an obsessive knitter. That'd make a good book: famous freaky knitters of yore.

Mirror Ghosts

Just when I think I'm impervious to the charms of one single more piece of junk, I find something I have to buy. Of course, given my acquisitive nature, I shouldn't be going anywhere near a junk store. Ever. Period. But sometimes I just like to dream about The Past, and junk is my portal. This gorgeous celluloid mirror was selling for $3! Alton has some great old junk, because like St. Louis it's a great old river town. One of my friends believes you can see the ghosts of former gazers in old mirrors. I bet the ghost in this mirror will have big fluffy hair, and a Merry Widow hat the size of a Ferris Wheel. Below are some hats I just knit. I like the wiggling zig-zag stitch pattern. The top design is available free on ravelry. The one on the bottom is the warmest version: instead of yarnovers, I used make one increases (right when paired with ssk, left with k2tog). Work from the same chart on ravelry but using #13 needles, CO 49 stitches for women, 56 for men (this hat grows when blocked!) and only knit 24 rows (1 lace repeat) before beginning crown shaping. I finally got the sheepy stink out of Rowan Country yarn effectively: two shampoos at blocking time.

Wow Factor

I've never had the slightest desire to learn how to knit Intarsia — until I came across this old magazine from 1971 while "organizing" my work room. I wonder if I have time to make this by New Year's Eve? The perfect gown to party in: no one could ever tell if you spill (or worse) on this baby! And the lurid Lurex yarn looks fairly impervious to any environmental influences. Wow! On a housekeeping note: I bought two more filing carts to help me get "organized." But as you see, they're still empty. I seem to have a deep-rooted subconscious belief that if I just buy enough containers put things in, the junk will sort itself out, by magic. I even said an affirmation yesterday, to try to "get with the program" (how I loathe that fascistic phrase): I choose activities that keep me organized and energized. But I must not have put much conviction into the saying of it, because here's what I did: knit and nap. Yawn! Or maybe you have to say these things more than once, and without giggling. I have an excuse for the knitting: my friend Mary came in from Maine, and took every hat I've made this season back with her. Well. It's cold up there. And now it's cold here, too, and the only hats in the house are acrylic watch caps from Wal-Mart!

Vintage Gourmet

The other day, after actually working hard for 8+ hours, I flopped in our attic den with two gingersnaps, a cup of tea, and some vintage issues of Gourmet, The Magazine of Good Living. A feeling of well-being seeped into my bones as I read letters from long dead foodies requesting recipes from various exotic and domestic locales they had visited, such as Corned Beef Hash from St. Louis's own Chase-Park Plaza. And in the late 60s issues, a column by my hero James A. Beard taught me how to cook standard favorites with flair, like oven roasted spareribs seasoned only with salt and pepper. I explored French Chateaux after touring the attached vineyards and getting slightly giddy in the tasting room. I chatted racing form with barons over Turf Cocktails and fashion with contessas over dainty aperitifs. It was one of the most fun hours I've spent in a long while! As the sheep above shows, there is more to life than yarn. There is also food.

Crinoline Lady

This should not have been a mere $5, hanging on the same thrift store rack as chewed-up terry cloth guest towels and Made In China doilies. This lovely lady is a work of art, and I was super-lucky to score it before some other vulture swooped in. Crinoline Ladies were popular embroidery motifs in the 30s and 40s. The craft and time that went into this is amazing. It needs to be framed. I have severely cut back on my junking sprees, because I just have too much. In fact, I am planning to sort it out and sell most of it at a flea market come Spring. Lately I've been craving a clean, minimalist space to think in. I feel a fairy tale brewing, and when I write a long piece, my brain needs emptiness to sound through, not clutter. But this gal stays!

Overwhelmed by Housework

Have you ever studied old Gothic Romance covers? I'd like to write a thesis on their deep symbolism. Every one of them features a scared and overwhelmed woman fleeing a giant pile of house. Why? Probably because it's really dirty, and she doesn't want to clean it. That reason will do for now: I don't want to give away a perfectly good Ph.D. for free! It's amazing how all the painful parts of existence can overwhelm a vital spirit at times. Sickness, ruin, despair... all the black cares of this world can't get you if you're willing to run away. I run from black care by A] knitting, and B} contemplating the Life and Works of Ludwig von Beethoven, stone-deaf genius. Just dial up Symphony No.7 in A Major, Opus 92, Allegretto on the iPod and glory in the triumph of the dancing spirit over this vale of tears. Wagner says it best about this piece: "All tumult, all yearning and storming of the heart, become here the blissful insolence of joy, which carries us away with bacchanalian power through the roomy space of nature, through all the streams and seas of life, shouting in glad self-consciousness as we sound throughout the universe the daring strains of this human sphere — dance."