Monday, January 31, 2005
Hiatus
Hey all. I just wanted to let you know that I'm taking a hiatus from blogging for a bit. Nothing long, just a week or so to see how things are going to be in the new semester. I have four classes this time, none of which are "light" like last semester. I'm also starting a job tutoring 7th grade math students (man did they pick the wrong person for that!) this afternoon. It's just one of those things, we'll see if I have time to do knitting much less write about it and take extensive pictures of it.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Midget Couch
Sorry for no post yesterday. I was embarking on a great quest fraught with peril and few opportunities for knitting.
Yesterday Mom, Aunt Phyllis and I sought the perfect couch for a family under 5'7". Mom and I had gone to Kaufmann's and Penney's Tuesday and found absolutely nothing. I swear, couches are designed to swallow you these days or make you feel like Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann character. Therefore, the Morris Couches must be shallow, not deep. They also must be fabric, not leather. They must be firm, not poofy. They must be a color that matches the living room decor, currently dusty pale blue and mauve.
I'm not nearly as picky as my mother. For me, if it feels good, if I can lie down on it, that's all that matters. Color comes second (it has to at least match the decor) and finally material. Wrap the thing in burlap for all I care, just dye it pink and blue and let's be done with it. Although that wouldn't be very comfortable. Shoot. The prime factor is comfort, so no burlap. ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!")
Off to the furniture store! We were expecting to sit in blob sofa after blob sofa, getting sucked down into oblivion with the pennies and cracker crumbs. Instead, we found what we were looking for within five couches. It's gorgeous, you just have to imagine because I didn't take my camera along for pictures. The front edge is curved so that tall people (those of you over 5'5") can still sit comfortably on the ends, but the middle is short enough for me. We also decided to get a matching loveseat that rocks, no seriously, it rocks...back and forth, back and forth. It'll be great, one grandma rocking four babies in what really is a double-wide rocking chair. Not only that, but there was a great leather chair and ottoman (how did the empire get its name?) that Dad needs to sit in to approve.
However, we could not get off this easily. We had at least three stores slated for the day, and dammit, we were going to check out every single one.
Furniture stores are geared towards specific age brackets. I'm not even including IKEA. IKEA we all know is geared towards most of us out there who are a step up from the milk-crate table and chairs, but who don't have enough money to buy anything you'd see on TV. We also have the stamina to build it ourselves in a weekend.
Each furniture store has a flavor to it. Kaufmann's was the ultra-modern, poofy cushions or minimalist geometric patterns. Lots of leather, lots of tall stuff, lots of 50's style accessories and lamps. It's the hipster furniture store for hipsters who can't afford the custom designs found on the now stylish South Side. At the other end of the spectrum is Martin's. Martin's is geared towards your retired/condo set. There were some sectionals, but mainly I was floored by the amount of midget couches we found there. These are couches designed for people who have trouble getting out of things. They're very close to the ground, but not IKEA close, the backs of the couches are all ultra-stiff and have those buttons sewn in to make the back pucker. There's a technical term for that, but damned if I know what it is. And the upholstery is all very 70's. Not cool retro 70's, but like Mama's Family 70's. It was Mama's Family Furniture Store.
Where we found our stuff was a place called Levin's, one of those huge furniture stores that tries to cater to just about everybody, and does a pretty good job of it. We were allowed to wander aimlessly for various intervals, 30 seconds, then 20 minutes, then 5 minute increments until we decided to see fabric samples. I wonder if they have a stop watch hidden behind that little furniture information island in the middle of the store.
Ok, enough about furniture. Back to knitting.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
How do you that knitting's become a fad?
There's a new yarn out there called "Bling Bling."
Antichrist
Antichrist: (Definition from www.endtimes.org) The false Christ led and controlled by Satan....His objective is to deceive people into following him. He imitates Christ, trying to take the position of God.
Your Seminary trivia tip of the day: The word "Antichrist" appears nowhere in the book of Revelation. Take that, Tim LaHaye!
References to the Antichrist exist only in the letters of John (1 John, 2 John, 3 John).
I hereby dub the Fair Isle Hat The Antichrist. Not The Antichrist Hat, just The Antichrist. I mentioned yesterday that if my replacement yarn arrived yesterday that this project may prove to be my savior for the week. Interesting and bright, I am drawn to it like the Wise Men were drawn to Bethlehem. The yarn did indeed arrive yesterday, and I worked on the hat afternoon. Here's the current progress.
However, my trust in the hat as my savior for the week was misplaced. I was led astray. Last night at the dinner table (I was knitting after we had finished eating. YES, I did wash my hands) my mother said, "ooh, that's pretty! Who's that for?" "Me," I innocently replied. "It looks like a baby hat." I've included my tape measure for scale. Sure enough, she was right. The finished circumference of the ribbing is supposed to 18 1/2 inches unstretched. Mine is 14. No, I didn't do a gauge swatch. Why do you ask? :-) I think I have an extra 4 stitches per inch in the stockinette section of the hat, but I hardly have enough done to tell.
I'm going to let The Antichrist marinate for a bit and see if I can come anywhere near to finishing the Farmer's Market Bag. So until I run out of grey alpaca yarn, my soul is safe.
P.S. This blog entry in no way represents how I actually feel theologically. Those who are responsible have been sacked. Thank you.
Monday, January 24, 2005
This Weekend's Big Mistake
I made a pretty big mistake this weekend, at least I think it was a mistake, maybe it wasn't. I'm not really sure and I don't really have anyone that I can talk to about it, so do you all mind if I share it with you?
Actually, I guess my big mistake actually occurred on Friday when I decided to come out to Pittsburgh a day early because of the huge impending snow storm. Nothing seems to have gone right for me since then, the Steelers got blown away for one, but more importantly, I realized something...something that didn't sit well in my gut.
I realized that I had brought home all of the wrong knitting projects. Yes, I realize I didn't consult you about my decision this time around, but I didn't really get much of a response the last time, so I didn't feel like I should try again. I chose the four projects that I am most interested in right now. All you multi-WIP people have this, right? You have several projects which you interchange on a weekly or daily basis, and then you have several others that were larks, those evanescent projects that capture your attention for a couple of inches and then get thrown to the bottom of the basket and forgotten. We shall not discuss those here. They may be picked up again later, or replaced by others that hold a temporary place in our hearts.
Anyway, the four I chose were the BAP (Big Ass Project), the Farmer's Market Bag, Samwise the Sweater, and the Fair Isle hat.
On the long drive home with nothing to do but think, I realized my first folly immediately. I didn't bring the directions for Samwise. Fellow Stitchin Sem. Jen has the book to work on a set of linen washcloths. Damn. Well, I have about two inches work on Samwise before I have to stop for directions, so that might last me a few hours. But that limits me to three projects to attack with wild abandon over the course of the week.
The plot thickened Saturday evening when work commenced on the Farmer's Market Bag. I thought I was in striking distance with this one. I've finished the bag and am about ready to start on the strap. Perfect! I'll be at home to felt it in the top-loading machine. But I'm almost out of the main color. I know I don't have enough left for the strap. I probably have enough left for a few hours before my heart breaks like those of so many Steeler fans who also wander around feeling that business is somehow unfinished. But my business is yarn more than football. Down to two projects that I can work on with wild abandon, not having to pace myself for fear of running out of yarn.
One of these is BAP. I worked on BAP all this morning even though I don't really have any reason to. The soft fibers are comforting, like the presence of a best friend you thought was gone forever. (Man, am I waxing poetic today, oy.) I could work on BAP all week, I guess, but my heart's just not in it.
That leaves us with the Fair Isle Hat. (see picture below) This project could prove to be savior this week. It's challenging, it's bright. Why haven't I been busting my ass working on it? I'm waiting on yarn. Yeah, I thought I had all I needed too. Than I realized that Dale of Norway has a color that might be closer to "Apple Green" than the one I bought last week. It's called "Kiwi". The one I have is "Pale Green." I'm going with the fruit color. I've checked the mail twice today already. I hope it comes today. I hope I hope I hope.
P.S. I'm switching to pop-up pictures (if you haven't noticed). I feel like I'm pretty picture heavy on the blog and I know that the page is taking forever to load on my computer at school. It could just be the seminary's heavily overloaded network, but I'm going to see if doing things this way improves the situation any. Your thoughts?
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Football
Here we go, Steelers! Here we go!
I plan on spending the afternoon watching the Eagles game, then heading over the Pap's, shrine of Stillerhood, to watch the AFC Championship game. Even if they lose, I can say I watched them go down where I belong. If it's anything like last week, I'll be having a heartattack right there along with my family instead of all alone in a building full of people who just don't get football.
Oh yeah, and I'll be bringing knitting along to ease the stress.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Inauguration Day
Well, today is the day we usher in a second term of Curious George. Curious George who pokes his nose into places where he doesn't belong. There are people who are protesting the day, but what that's really protesting is the democratic process. The people spoke, and I don't like it, but the people of America spoke. My job is not to protest what the people of America have decided to do, but to educate as many people as I can in the next four years that this is not the type of guy the world needs in charge.
So on to the more exciting knitting content. The past couple of days have been very productive in terms of knitting.
Here's the finished the Mescarf. I'm able to wrap it around my neck twice which is crucial in the cold Chicago wind. One wrap protects the neck, one wrap comes up over the face with plenty of length to spare.
Mouse made a comment the other day about speed of knitting as a product of comfort in the method of knitting. I'm not sure if she's right or not, but I'm glad I decided to explore continental knitting. Now that I know both, it makes tricks like this possible:
This is the best picture I could get by setting the timer on the camera and sticking it under my chin. "Two-Fisted Fair Isle Knitting" involves holding the main color with your right hand and knitting it English style, and holding the contrasting color in your left hand and knitting it Continental. Because knitting with one hand is SOOO inefficient. :-) The best way I can describe the experience is thinking about high school. It's like going straight from Trigonometry to Creative Writing class. You have to constantly be switching which side of your brain you're using. A seminary metaphor would be switching rapidly back and forth between reading Hebrew and reading Greek. By the way, that's the Farmer's Market Bag that's getting worked on. It's about 3/4's of the way done.
The two-fisted action is going to be a lot of help once the Fair Isle hat gets going.
Right now, I'm about 6 rows into the ribbed edge at the bottom of the hat, and I find myself waiting for more yarn. The color I picked out for "apple" is too pale of a green. Luckily there's a tempting alternative out there called "Kiwi". Keep your fingers crossed.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
I Shall Not Be Moved
Just like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved.
When I see the end of the purple scarf in sight, I shall not be moved.
When I see 8 knit stitches where there should be 6, I shall not be moved.
When this means I've screwed up the pattern, I shall not be moved.
When I have to frog back 2 inches to solve the problem, I shall not be moved.
When Greymatter loses my entry, I shall not be moved!
I shall not, I shall not be moved.
I shall not, I shall not be moved.
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
I SHALL NOT BE MOVED!!!*
I finally finished the Mescarf this morning. That's what I've been labelling my photos, so I guess that's what it's officially called. I have no good pictures of it yet because I've been spending my time baking like a fiend!
Mmm...orange cookies from the PA Grange cookbook.
Final specs of the Mescarf: 4 balls Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed. Can't remember the color, but it's purple. The stitch is called a Diagonal Rib and I found it at About.com's knitting site. It's one of those stitch patterns that looks deceptively easy, but it's hard to tell when you've forgotten to move the pattern over until you're an inch or two away from the problem row. I've ripped out two inches of this scarf enough times to make a whole other scarf. Finally, I started noticing that column of knit stitches shown above. If ever that went higher than six in number, I knew I had to frog back that many rows. Frogging back 8 rows is better than frogging back 2 inches.
I'm hoping that it's a warm scarf because Pittsburgh sounds like a cold place this weekend.
*P.S. I Shall Not be Moved is a famous spiritual that became a great protest song during the Civil Rights movement. "Blacks and Whites together, we shall not be moved." Imagine singing that at a sit-in. Wow. So no, it was not my intention to make fun of the song, but to pay it due homage.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Church Yesterday
I've been having trouble getting to church at school for awhile now. I think it's the small-talk. I can't stand small-talk. I cringe and think about ways to get up inconspicuously for a bathroom break RIGHT BEFORE the Passing of the Peace (Although I do leave the pew now. It means I'm not the first one to sit down. Travel time's a beautiful thing.). I sneak out before coffee hour if I don't have a friend with me that I can talk to. It's so difficult to jump from being ultra-involved in a church to being the casual first-timer. I don't know how to do it.
Yesterday was the first time I went to church in Chicago in about a month. Perhaps more. I thought two of my friends from down the hall were going to University Church, a combination United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ congregation. Some words from the sermon yesterday to give you a flavor, "If you're a visitor to University Church, let me tell you what kind of church you're sitting in. This church was heaviliy involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. In the eighties, the congregation declared itself a "nuclear weapons free zone" and was one of the charter members of the Sanctuary Movement [providing shelter and aid to refugees from Central America]. It was an 'open and affirming' congregation before anyone knew what the words 'open and affirming' meant."
This is my kind of church, racially and culturally diverse, trying new things in worship (though they don't have a drum set yet), ULTRA-ACTIVE in social justice. And it's small. I love the family feel of small churches, but they're even harder to break into. What made it worse was that the academic dean was there. I don't like to mix church and school people. It comes from always going to church outside of the school district. I can't explain it any other way.
It's a church that I know I would make my home congregation if I had four years to get acclimated.
Yesterday was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday (as today is MLK day). The service was full of spirituals used during the Civil Rights movement. Many spoke of remembering where they first heard of Rev. King, times when their parents had stood up in the face of someone using the "N-word". It was an incredibly moving and energizing service to be part of. I remembered where I was 18 months ago, on the Lawn in front of the Lincoln Memorial, listening to speakers and protestors on the fortieth anniversary of Rev. King's "I have a dream" speech.
We ended the service by everyone joining in a circle, holding hands, and singing all 5 verses of "We Shall Overcome." I was standing next to an African American woman in her 80's and shorter than me. She would frequently make eye contact with me while we were singing to the instructions of an elderly African American gentleman at the pulpit. "SWAY! Sway to it! You never would have stood still singing this song! WE SHALL OVERCOME SOME DAY."
So we swayed, we raised our hands in the air, we lifted up our song as a fervent prayer. There was confidence in our voices as we sang. But then when we returned to our pews for the postlude, and the extinguishing of the altar candles, that 80 year old Black woman looked me in the eye with great sadness and said, "Not in my life time. I'll keep praying for it, but it won't happen in my life time." Just then, a little blonde girl processed in with the giant candle snuffer. She was nine at the oldest. I tapped the woman on the shoulder and said, "But maybe in her lifetime. Maybe in my lifetime." "Well, it's up to you then, isn't it?" All I could do was nod. I can say it here, though. Yes ma'am.
Before she said that, I was greatly saddened by the irony of what was before me. Why is it the churches like this one, the ones that are dedicated to their neighborhood and serving the oppressed in it and in the world, that are dying? Why is it that an hour's drive away thrives the enormous Willow Creek Church with three services are held in a 5000 seat auditorium? Where the message is all about helping yourself (to seconds) before you help someone else.
In the large scheme of the country, we are the small. But we are also the fierce. We're the ones who show up to church not to be part of the crowd, not because it's comfortable and the hip thing to do, but because we're dedicated to the cause and the message. We are the ones who are willing to accept the torches handed to us by the previous generations who marched with Rev. King, who shouted with Gloria Steinem, who subverted with Harvey Milk (google him).
So what are we doing today? Perhaps not today, but Some Day, like January 20th.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Dedication
Several of my friends at home have Livejournals. Livejournal has been down for about a day now. It's not unusual for technology to fail. Sometimes I wish I could be Amish, but then what would happen to all 10 of you? Yes, I'm dedicated to this blog, that's why I can't give up technology. Anyway, I digress.
Whoever runs Livejournal, I love them. I love them for this page. Any time you try to access any Livejournal page, you're sent to a page that directs you to these updates. If only the power company, or the water company, or the satellite dish company, or the pizza place, hell...even UPS, if only they could do this, the world would be free of war. I'm convinced. I love being in the loop and I find that I'm not mad at these guys, cause now they're human.
NOTE: I'm willing to bet that this page will go down when the power comes back up for good ol' Livejournal. If you can't get it, that's my excuse.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Knitting Try Outs
I decided to take a walk this afternoon. It was 16 degrees out, 2 with the infamous Chicago windchill. I loaded up with all things knitted: hat, blue mohair scarf, wrist warmers, Morehouse Merino Chunky mittens. This was it, the big test. A half an hour walk up to Boston Market (so as to totally negate the exercise value of the walk) and back. I have to say that everything performed admirably, especially the mittens, I had to remove them on the way home because my hands were so warm. Does anyone have a good pattern for "thigh warmers" though? You'd think there'd be enough padding there to keep them warm, but they got the brunt of the cold, I must say.
I promised yesterday that I would show you the new yarn I got from Arcadia Knitting.
These are eleven of the 14 skeins required for the following project from the Winter Interweave Knits magazine.
Too ambitious? More than I can chew? Yeah, I think so too. :-) I won't have it finished til next winter, but that will be fine with me. I just needed something bright to ponder. I'm not going to start on this until I get all of the yarn in. I still have three more skeins on order and they might take a little while to get here. In the mean time, I'm keeping myself busy with the Scarf that Shall Remain Nameless.
I'm well into the third ball out of four. I'm debating whether or not to use that last one. I want a looong scarf, so I think I will. Unfortunately, I'm at that "man, I should be done with this damn thing" stage. You know that stage, when the scarf is an adequate length, but really should be another two feet long, but you're debating leaving it short just to get it over with. I did the same thing with the Broscarf from this Christmas season. I actually had a whole ball of that yarn left in the stash when I quit, and then I retired the scarf to the FO but Hate It basket for months because it was too short for me. It wasn't until I got to school and unpacked, rediscovered the last ball of yarn, and thought, "geez what was I thinking?" You don't have that problem? It's just me? Oh. Yeah, I have issues.
As you can see, I'm still working on several projects evenly. You'll never get weeks of monotonous one-project entries from me. No sir. I just don't work that way.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
More Weather
It's gray here again today. A light snow is falling, the wind that was wailing last night has died down. It's dismal weather, what the Scots call "blech." No seriously. With the Scottish accent, "bleak" becomes "blech." And you thought it was just a Calvin and Hobbes expression.
Things are so quiet here that it hurts, and not even a bowl full of brightly colored yarn acquired yesterday (thanks again, Mom & Dad, the gift certificate works at the store too) can cheer me up. I'll have pictures tomorrow or Saturday.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Color
Well, the Vision Statement got turned in without fanfare. I had my "credits transfer" meeting which I entered as a Junior and left a Middler. Yay.
Taking that picture of all my current projects stacked up on top of each other gave me several revelations: 1. I use gray waaay too much. 2. My knitting matches the weather, and since this is the time of year that I get disgruntled with everything, I'm assuming it has something to do with the gray and dreary weather outside my window. 3. This would probably help explain why I'm so disgruntled with most of my knitting.
Therefore, this morning I present to you the all color entry. All color, all the time. If I could figure out how to change font color, I would. Unfortunately, determining what combination of numbers HTML reads as "Red" or "Purple" is beyond me, so the font stays black.
First up: Not my own knitting. Bea (y'all remember Bea.) has given me a blog mission. I am in contact with a larger community of knitters than she is and she has a question. Please comment on this one with what you think:
Of course the colors aren't going to come out correctly when you want an opinion on color. Bea got these two yarns for Christmas. She also has more exploratory sense with color in knitting than I ever will (you'll recall all the gray and lack of experimentation). Focus on the two balls of yarn for color accuracy.
Bea's idea for these two yarns to combine them in the following way: four rows all orange, four rows orange + purple for about a foot, then four rows orange, two rows orange + purple for about a foot, then four rows orange, one row orange + purple for about a foot. Basically she wants the amount of purple you see to get less and less towards the middle, then increase on the way out again. Yeah, I had trouble imagining it too (you'll recall all the gray and lack of experimentation). She wants to know from you guys (yes, you guys, so PLEASE RESPOND!) if this idea is absolutely crazy, if it looks ugly and will never work.
Alternately, she wants ideas for these two yarns. Because she got them for Christmas and wasn't able to control how much she got (thanks for that gift certificate, Mom and Dad!). She likes wide scarves, and there's not enough of the orange (Crystal Palace Musique) for a long, wide scarf. ("Why do they make balls this small and charge $6.00 for them???") So your input would be much appreciated.
Second up: Not my own quilting. In contrast to knitting, I do love to use crazy colors in quilting. I love the contrast of black and bright colors. This, however, is not my handiwork. My Aunt Lori (who also quilts and knits) has been making a quilt for every one of her relatives over the past few years. This Christmas, I was one of the lucky recipients of the year.
Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? The block is called "Roman Stripe" I believe. Lori said that the layout of the blocks is in a spiral because the spiral is a symbol of spirituality, particularly feminine spirituality. I love it. It went right onto my bed the minute I unpacked it. I've shown it off to everyone I know here and they have all loved it. They each have a different interpretation. My favorite is that it looks like the creation stories, starting with light, stars and planets, moving to flowers, there are fish, butterfly wings, musical instruments (human culture). And look at all the colors! Sigh. Aunt Lori knows me so well. :-)
Fellow stitchin sem Jen and I are going to a knitting store somewhere in Chicago today. I'm hoping to take along the camera and get pics, but I usually chicken out. Looking for bright yarn. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Cop-Out (A seminary-heavy day, just a warning)
[keep scrolling down, I was busy procrastinating last night. I think the final total was four entries yesterday. I can assure you, it won't happen again.]
I forgot until last night that I had a meeting today at 10 AM, so everything that I intended to do today got crammed into 3 brief hours this morning. So I'm copping out by present you with something I wrote not just for you, but for someone else: my "Vocational Vision Statement" that is supposed to be "guided by" the following questions:
Why are you now in seminary? What experiences have been important in your movement toward ministry?
Describe your call as you currently understand it?
What are your goals for this experience?
What gifts or experiences can you offer to ministry?
What kind of experience are you seeking?
What are your central affirmations of faith?
How do you hope to answer God’s call on your life? What are your vocational goals?
What is your history of relationship to your present denomination, para-church groups and/or organizations?
My answer: (no, no hand gestures! C'mon! I do take this stuff seriously most of the time as is evidenced by the song lyrics that got me all moved to tears last night. Although, sometimes it feels like I want to give the whole process a rude gesture, like when I HAVE to do this stuff on a deadline. Ugh.)
I felt a call to ministry when I was a first year student at the Ellis School for Girls. I was fourteen. At a time when I was enjoying very little about school, I began to take stock of the activities I got excited about, the moments I found myself enjoying. Strikingly, they mostly involved church activities. I enjoyed preparing and giving a homily when I was confirmed. I enjoyed discussions in Sunday School and the chance to take one particular member of the adult class. I thoroughly enjoyed delivering tapes of the service to an elderly woman across the street from the church and the visits we shared. Through the times where I find myself doubting my call, I find myself continuing this exercise of taking stock. God never fails to provide me with evidence of my call through recognizing talents and enjoyable experiences: writing sermons, doing Biblical exegesis, praying with a Baltimore resident, presiding over a mock communion service, singing in the praise team. In the face of tragedy, I find comfort in comforting others. I find God in leading others in worship. That is where and how I find evidence of my call.
I am seeking an experience in a parish ministry that will help to fill in the gaps of my ministerial experience, that will touch on areas that currently intimidate me in ministry. These things include the management and administration of a church (the daily issues as well as the larger issues), delegation of responsibility, conflict resolution, and active engagement of the surrounding community, as well as continuing to grow in the areas in which I have had some experience as listed on my resume.
Up until Christmas, I couldn’t quite articulate my “vocational goals.” There are few people in their twenties who know what they hope to have accomplished by their sixties or seventies. However, over Christmas, this sense solidified in me in the following situation: My grandmother died a little over a year ago at the age of 72. The friend of the family who conducted her funeral is herself a retired Presbyterian pastor, but agreed to do the service because my grandparents had no church affiliation. While she left the job of memorializing my grandmother to the grandchildren, she addressed her part of the eulogy directly to my grandfather. Her instructions were to wrap himself up in the comfort of what he and my grandmother had created: four children, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren. As I sat next to him on Christmas night, singing Christmas songs and old family classics from the Morris repertoire [bloggers note: this includes a vast collection of drinking songs, but I still fear the puritan bent of the church, so I left that out...now, if someone I'm interviewing with reads this, I'm screwed.], I saw the tears in his eyes and knew that he was remembering her instructions just as I was. When I think of my vocational goals, of the impact I want my ministry to have, that’s the kind of impact I have in mind. That a seventy-two year old widower will frequently remember my words to him and continue to be comforted. My goals are simply to live out the central tenets of Jesus’ example in the context of dealing with individual people: to comfort those in distress, to empower the oppressed, to fight for those who cannot help themselves, to challenge those who have grown too comfortable in their lives.
It is my hope that through this experience God will continue to refine the call placed on my life. As of now, based on that continuing inventory of things I enjoy, that I am passionate about, that fuel me, and the goals I have in this world (which I hope I have listed above), it is my sense that God is calling me to minister to people in a smaller parish. I recognize that the church I grew up in is a smaller church, and I am in the process of discerning if a small parish is where God is calling me. There are two approaches to aiding in this discernment: Finding a placement in a smaller congregation in order to intimately learn if God wants me in such a place. Finding a placement in a larger congregation to contrast many of my previous experiences, to discover the challenges and opportunities in a drastically different church. Either will give me valuable experience in developing my sense of call.
LOOK! KNITTING!!!!!!
Holy muted colors, Batman! Ok, need to find way to include more bright yarn in the repertoire. (Yes, that word twice in one entry. I'm a smithy of words, I am.)
Monday, January 10, 2005
Quizzes.
I don't post quizzes all that much, but this one was kinda fun.
| You are 39% geek | You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator.
|
Today's Lyrics
I'm procrastinating from something, can't you tell? Three entries in one day!?! The question is what. Muhaha.
:-) This song came on the radio station I was listening to on Rhapsody today. We used to sing it on Comtemp. Sundays in church. It gets to me every time. One you guys definitely have to bring back so that it can be sung at my ordination one day.
Where You Are by FFH (What that stands for, I don't know)
In this quiet place again,
I can hear you on the wind,
Whispering to me.
In this quiet place again,
I have found a friend
Who understands me.
Where you are
Is where I want to be.
In your arms
You will comfort me.
Far away
From everything I used to be.
You know I have come so far
To be where you are.
In this quiet place again,
You're speaking to my heart.
And I can know your will.
In this quiet place again,
You tell me from the start,
"Follow." And I will.
Where you are
Is where I want to be.
In your arms
You will comfort me.
Far away
From everything I used to be.
You know I have come this far
To be where you are.
Hobbits
Oh my God, I have Hobbit Hair. Must get hair cut when I go back to Pittsburgh at the end of the month. Frodo even has better bangs than I do.
Flying Continental
My unofficial New Year's Reso was to learn how to knit Continental style. For those of you who are not as versed in knitting, there are two schools of knitting: English, and Continental. The Brits hold the yarn wrapped around the fingers of the right hand in various configurations and use the right hand to physically wrap the yarn around the needles to produce the stitch. Those across the Channel hold the yarn in similar configurations in the left hand, the way you would if you crochet. Instead of "throwing" the yarn, you move the needles in order to "pick" at the yarn to produce the stitch.
Yeah, it's even more confusing to see. :-) Some of you dedicated readers will remember my gal pal Bea who picked up the sticks after years of crocheting and fell naturally into Continental knitting. I am still jealous of her speed, which is the main driving force for me to learn Continental. There was also a store in Baltimore (Anyone know it the name? It's down in Fells Point.) that only taught Continental style. The English method was so goshe, apparently. They also looked down on those of us who came in with questions who would demonstrate our problems with the yarn wrapped around our right hands.
There's also a theory that Continental is better at preventing carpal tunnel, less repetitive motion. I think that's bunk.
Two days making a concerted effort of "picking" and it hurts to type. My tension is wicked tight too, but that's correcting itself.
What cute lil thing are you working on, Melissa? Well, it's the first finished project of '05.
July 14th in the Knitting Patterns calendar. "Koigu Fish Ornament" I think I finally found a good use for those two skeins of Koigu. Something tropical against the harsh winter sky. Hmm...these might make a cute mobile...maybe 4 cute mobiles if I can make enough of them. :-) Or if my needles hang in
there.
Looking pretty worse for wear, aren't they? They've looked that way from week one. Sigh. I'm so ashamed. It's like showing a picture of my room with all the dirty laundry all over the place. Haven't I done that too, though? I have no shame.
My own personal jury is still out on the Continental knitting. I think it will be quicker once I get the motions down, my tension adjusted, and trust myself enough so that I can knit without full attention focused on the stitches. As of right now, though, my hands ache, the tips of my fingers are bruised and coated with brush burn from moving ultra-tight yarn across the needles, and my eyest are red from strain. This project was good for the learning, though. Plenty of knitting and purling to change it up, some decreases and increases to practice on. I have to keep reminding myself, "Learning to knit was just like this. Learning to knit was just like this."
Saturday, January 8, 2005
Gettin the job done.
My polity class isn't the most boring class I've ever been to. I don't think someone like me can go to an entire class that's boring. There's always something fascinating to pick up. On the other hand, this class is broken up into four 1 1/2 hour long chunks which consist of going through the Book of Order (PDF) on a page by page basis, and talking about what it really means. This means tons of discussion and anecdote telling.
Ok, I've gone on too long already about this class. The point is, it's dense and potentially mindnumbing. So look at all the knitting I'm getting done! 
Yes, Dad, I'm taking notes and contributing to the discussion. Yes, really. At this pace, Samwise might be done by the end of the month. :-D One can hope.
Weather
I wanted to share with you what the Chicago Dept. of Works does for the residents of Hyde Park after a 10 inch snow storm:
That's the road on the RIGHT, not the left...that was the work of some enterprising resident with a snow blower. THE RIGHT and in the middle, to the right of the red bag. This was the second day after the Rilly Big Snew (Ed Sullivan). Luckily I don't have to drive anywhere and it's supposed to melt today. Baltimore was the same, though. Those of you who are city dwellers, is this a city thing?
I have yet to see the mythical chairs in the parking spaces around here. I wonder if the Chicagoans consider that rude, that it's survival of the fittest out here, whoever comes first. I love my parking space.
Wow, my apologies for the scatterdness of this entry. I don't like doing that "diary" thing.
So one more bit of scattered braininess. Justin got me a month of Rhapsody for Christmas. Through it, I've been able to find a song I've had a craving to listen to for weeks now. I present to you, Dar Williams,
Christians and Pagans, the complete lyrics. (yes, I'm nuts)
Amber called her uncle, said "We're up here for the holiday
Jane and I were having Solstice, now we need a place to stay."
And her Christ-loving uncle watched his wife hang Mary on a tree,
He watched his son hang candy canes all made with Red Dye Number 3.
He told his niece, "It's Christmas Eve, I know our life is not your style."
She said, "Christmas is like Solstice, and we miss you, and it's been awhile."
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table.
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able.
Just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were said.
Sending hope for peace on earth to all their gods and goddesses.
The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch,
Til Timmy turned to Amber and said, "Is it true that you're a witch?"
His mom jumped and said, "The pies are burning!" And she hit the kitchen.
And it was who Jane who spoke. She said, "It's true your cousin's not a Christian.
But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share.
And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere."
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table.
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able.
Now where does magic come from? I think magic's in the learning
Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans, only pumpkin pies are burning.
When Amber tried to do the dishes, her aunt said, "Really, no, don't bother."
Amber's uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and like her father.
He thought about his brother, how they hadn't spoken in a year.
He thought he'd call him up and say "It's Christmas and your daughter's here."
He thought of fathers sons and brothers, saw his own son tug his sleeves,
Sayin, "Can I be pagan?" Dad said, "We'll discuss it when they leave."
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able.
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old,
And making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Thursdays and Fridays
Just so you know, Thursdays and Fridays for the month of January are going to be blog-free days. It's a shame. I have pictures of the snow outside, the quilt my Aunt Lori made me for Christmas/no real reason at all. I also have a class that runs for 6 hours on Thursdays and Fridays. That's right. Six hours. 9-12, 1-4. The topic isn't even something fun like Worship as Celebration or Knitting as Meditative and Healing Practice. It's polity. Church polity. Civics for churches. Ripping apart the Presbyterian constitution and finding the whys and the hows. Therefore I will have knitting progress to show on Saturday as well. That's right, I'll blog on Saturday. See you then.
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Knitting in Fear
My job in Baltimore consisted mostly of cooking, cleaning and distributing medication. To most, this doesn't sound like particularly "skilled" labor. But I found myself living in fear, thinking that I wasn't qualified for this job. For one thing, I had no idea how to cook. Previous places I lived just didn't lend themselves to cooking, dorm rooms with no accessible kitchens. What kitchens were available had sinks filled with month old dirty dishes, ovens and stoves that smelled vaguely like some sort of curry from the vegetarian cooking club who were the only people to use the kitchen on a regular basis.
I felt in Baltimore like I had duped everyone into thinking that I knew what I was doing. I was given difficult cooking jobs such as frying fish and making mashed potatoes at the same time. Or shrimp fried rice. Man, I failed that one utterly.
Anyway, that's what I've been feeling like with my knitting lately. I've done the simple scarves. I've tried socks, but I get frustrated that I spend so much time on them only to have them lose their elasticity by the third wear. So what's left? Right now, I have three sweaters on the needles, one bag, one scarf, one sock, one glove and one slipper. I'm tempted to frog the last three projects.
The scarf is with Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed. It's a diagonal rib stitch, you know, k2 p2 one row, p2 k2 the next, then slide the pattern over one stitch. I'm about half done with it, but I wish I had done some sort of cabling. But I fear cabling right now. The problem that I had with the back of Samwise hasn't sorted itself out. On the contrary, I fear that it's gotten worse as I've grown to know its cause. So I'm afraid to start over and try. Yet I don't want to start another scarf with cables.
I frogged the crazy koigu gloves because when I tried them on, the fingers were so tight it was just ridiculous and the fabric stiff. The glove I'm working on now is the same pattern. I fear I don't have enough yarn for two, so I don't want to continue. I'm like a deer in the headlights.
The sock is the most neglected piece I've every had. I haven't touched it in months, since I cast it on. I just have no desire for socks. Guilt is more the culprit here.
The slippers are a pattern from Lolly (see the button off the screen to the right...yeah, I can't figure out why that is either) and are Jiffy acrylic. My goal was to finish them before going to Mom's family Christmas where it's always cold. I just shoulda frogged them when I got home.
The sweaters I'm avoiding due to the greatest fear: the fear of just plain not getting it right. I just don't know how to do a sweater. I need to finish Samwise and the Harry Potter sweater before I proceed with the BAP. I need to figure out how to do sleeves and decreases...I need to make my mistakes on cheap yarn before I sacrifice the beautiful alpaca silk.
So does anyone else go through a knitter's slump at this stage? When you're not nearly so good as The Harlot, who can knit anything in a weekend, but no longer at the garter stitch scarf stage? Knitting adolescence, when you just don't know who you are. When you're not a mature knitter, but are experimenting with all the things mature knitters do. You like them, but you're just not good at them. I have to will myself to keep trying til I get it right. I'm putting down BAP today, picking up Samwise and watching Jurassic Park.
P.S. Yes, the snow is coming down, pretty strongly at this point, huge flakes blown sideways away from the lake. The street hasn't been plowed since 5 this morning. It's gorgeous in a city sorta of way. No, there's nothing good on TV in Chicago at 4:30, I listened to This American Life on the computer instead.
Sick
I've had a cold for the past few days. Actually, I can tell you the exact time that I got it: Friday morning, 5 AM. The "dry sore throat" that I normally have when I wake up in Pittsburgh had become different, more tingly in the roof of my mouth. I was vigilant with the Zicam for two days, but you have to be vigilant for a week. Mom family Christmas got in the way, so I suffer.
It didn't seem important to talk about, not a big part of my life, until now. Now it's 4:30 AM. I'm up and I'm wired. This never happens when I'm well. Insomnia is one of the cruelest of my cold symptoms. Not "up all night sneezing/coughing" insomnia, just the classic wake up in the middle of the night and feel you're done sleeping type.
I can hear my friend Sarah saying, "so why don't you just take Sudafed or some other cold medicine?" 'Cause I can't stand pseudephedrine. Take away the "pseudo" and you get "ephedrine." Remember all that hype about taking ephedrine off the market as a "natural supplement" because of all the bad stuff? I've never had a dangerous experience with cold medicine, but in college I finally made the connection between that horrible anxious/jittery/tense feeling that I got when I had a cold and the cold medicine I took. Unfortunately, I realized the connection after I chased the pills with two cups of highly caffeinated black tea to warm me up with steam. My hands shook til the next morning.
Have you ever tried to find a cold medication without pseudephedrine? Ask your pharmacist. If they tell you there is one, PLEASE let me know!!! According to my uncle, who has the same problem, Dimetap (sp? sorry) used to, but they deemed whatever was in it "dangerous", took it off the market for awhile, and brought it back containing...you guessed it...pseudephedrine.
So I take vitamin C on a pretty regular basis, if I'm at school, I'm a Zicam fiend when I get that weird sore throat that is my "tell" for the beginning of a cold. I got a cold in February last year, kept up the Zicam every four hours for five days, and it never got beyond the weird sore throat stage. After that, I was believer. If it gets beyond that stage, I force fluids, drink lots of soup and tea, eat hot food, anything that steams that I can breathe in, and switch to Advil and lots of Kleenex.
Luckily (and by saying this, I curse myself to a BAD winter), this is the first cold I've had here. Even when Justin came to visit and came down sick Saturday night, I was unaffected.
But right now, I'm feeling like seeing what Chicago TV has to offer me at 4:30. Pittsburgh had "Date Night TV" reruns. (Why run reruns of a half hour dating service add? Cause the people are all drunk and the hosts ridiculous.) Bring it on Chi-Town.
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
I've got milk, eggs, toilet paper and new yarn...
I'm set. There's a potentially large snow storm headed for the Chicago-land area tonight. We're supposed to get 6-10 inches by tomorrow night. I went to the grocery store this morning and fought all the senior citizens for the last quart of skim milk. It wasn't fair! Who knew that retired people shop in couples? Two on one, man, the metal canes sting worse than the wooden ones.
"Wait! You said you had new yarn!" That's right, my friend. Can't slip anything past you now, can I?
I got a very generous gift certificate to a local knitting store's website. It's unsure if I can actually use the GC at the store, but I may not need to. Behold my first purchase!
Mmm...big bowl of alpaca/silk goodness.
For those of you who lust after the extreme closeup:
That's right. Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk. It's a pretty good representation of the color, a wonderfully slatey hue.
The project:
If you role over the pictures and get the name of the uploaded files, you'll find they're labeled "bap." That's short for Big Ass Project. I don't mean in terms of technical skills, in terms of yarn used, I mean Big Ass Project in terms of getting things right. Even though I have an inch already, I've realized my folly and will be starting a gauge swatch pretty soon. I want it to fit, I want it to be enjoyed because...dum dum dum. It's a boyfriend sweater. Yes, I'm tempting fate. If my boyfriend and I can survive the Boyfriend Sweater (The big BS. Coincidence? I think not.), we can survive anything.
So the BAP starts tonight with the snow.
Life is pretty good right now. My roommate is gone for the next two weeks. I think I've spared you all from hellish roommate stories. They're fun, they're great fodder, but they could easily overrun the blog. Plus, she might be reading (though I doubt it). Anyway, she's gone in rural Iowa for a class for the next two weeks, and I found the first hard evidence that she's transferring at some point while cleaning this morning. Happy dance jig! Ok, enough is enough. I know what it's like to be miserable at seminary, to feel like you absolutely don't fit in. I know what she's going through. I just wish she'd do some introspection instead of blaming everyone else.
But she's out of the state, I'm trying out my new crock pot cookbook with some wonderful "farmer's stew" due to be done in 3 short hours, it's about to snow tons for the first time in my Chicago life, and I'm starting a new project with some absolutely indulgent yarn. It's enough to make you curl up under a huge quilt (pictures tomorrow) in your pajamas and watch all of the Lord of the Rings back to back.
Dad: I watched Spartan this morning. Very good. Plenty of David Mamet twists without all of the David Mamet snobbery. Two thumbs up.
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