Monday, January 22, 2007

Adrienne Rich & Nanaimo Bars (or 'Life Imitates Knitting Blogs')

It's amazing in a four day weekend how I can do so much, have it seem like so little, and forgot to do many things. I read this entry from the Yarn Harlot about her frustrations with knitting fingerless mitts.... then the next day, without thinking about it (had I thought about it, I would have maybe known that reading that blog entry would have been a foreshadowing technique) I decided to start knitting my fingerless mitts out of my yellow wool. So I swatched a honeybee complicated cable pattern and decide upon that. I do a long tail cast on for mitts because of it's stretchiness and it took me four tries(!) to cast on the right amount of stitches, which had lent itself to a considerable amount of cursing, but I didn't like the bulkiness so I frogged the mitt soon afterwards. Than I decided to let the yarn speak for itself and just do a plain pattern with a few plaited cables going through it (mmm.... plaits). So I swatched again, came up with five stitches per inch, needed 6 inches to begin, so I cast on 30 stitches, joined, started knitting in the round.... 15 inches wide people. I ended up with a tube 15 inches wide. I mean, what the hell? (At this point, I started calling out for chocolate). Madness. Anyhoo, than I decided to just knit it lengthwise, did a neato lace pattern, made some more changes.... and it still doesn't fit! If this wool didn't feel like soft butter than I'd throw it against the wall and jump up and down on it.

In non-knitting related news, I just finished two books, The Girls by Lori Lansen and A Wild Patience has Taken Me This Far by Adrienne Rich. I would recommend The Girls to anyone, it's unlike any other book in that it seems more true than non-fiction, and it's one of those books that you recall like an actual memory and Rose and Ruby just become part of your life unlike any other book. As for poetry, I've always loved Adrienne Rich but now that I'm reading her collections I love her even more. She writes in a language that is plain at the same time as being extremely significant. I don't know but not many poets connect to me the same way she can.

Oh yeah, I know I already said it, but it deserves saying it again, my sister got married! And no, she's not nekkid. Isn't she beautiful? The one with the frizzy hair is me, and yes, that hair is on purpose. Check out that necklace! I just had to blog this photo because it is by far my most favorite photo of the decade. I don't know, I just love it. I think cause I didn't see Hoobers for so long, and I didn't have any really good photos of just the two of us so this bears some sentimental goopiness for me. The picture below is of some flowers beside the cake that Jason made. I like that photo too. Jim made Nanaimo bars. We like that Jim.

I'm made a new ally in my Painful Owful Otupid (POO) class which hopefully will get me through it. We mock the same people for all the same reasons and both got so mad in our last class that we were white knuckled.

Here's a photo of the dragonfly I crochet for my friend's teacozy that I knit her. I had a lot of fun with the dragonflies.

It's amazing in a four day weekend how I can do so much, have it seem like so little, and forgot to do many things.

7 comments:

The Bears said...

Fingerless gloves! That explains all the expletives from the sofa.

*much nodding of Bears*

OK Bye
Noel "Snowflake" Chompsky

Anonymous said...

I adore Adrienne Rich. I need to give you my Modern Feminisms book, it has an excerpt from her essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Amazing essay. Actually, you should just go to the library and read the entire thing! (If you haven't read it already, of course!)

Anonymous said...

ohhhhh what a nice blog (especially that part about your sister who i hear is desperately seeking a hip knit tea cozy...)

Anonymous said...

Sorry. I snickered at the comment about throwing the yarn at the wall and stomping on it. I've been there though. I feel your pain.

You're adorable! Congrats to your sister. :)

jenn said...

Really, given the language you used on the yarn - an asskicking would have been kinder.

But I'm sure you'll get something beautiful from it at one point!

Anonymous said...

I could have sword I'd already commented on this...

Anyhoo, I am having similar issues with a sock. I cast it on the day before going to see the Yarn Harlot, and during her talk I just whizzed around that leg. She even held the sock, and I held hers, for a photo. Since finishing the heel flap I have had to frog the gussett 3 times, and I'm contemplating a fourth. Gah! So frustrating.

Also, you and your sisters are all just so freakin' pretty!

Anonymous said...

Pretty!