Saturday, October 29, 2005
Confessions of a Yarn Snob
One thing that I like about myself is that I can tell the percentage of wool in a gauge swatch from 20 paces.
Seriously, before I got into knitting, back in the days when I hated wool (before I discovered Merino), I'd go shopping with my mother during the fall for sweaters. One touch and I could tell if a sweater was all acrylic or if it had the least bit of wool in it.
But that's not the point of this entry, I just thought I had to explain.
I feel like visuals might be the best way to confess my status on yarn. I didn't start out as a yarn snob. I learned to knit using Red Heart Super Saver Yarn -- Economy Size, colorway Ocean.
These were my first needles:
Size 9 "Hero" plastic needles. You truly had to be a hero to work with these things. I mean...seriously. Excuse the blur, but NO NEEDLE should bend like this. Especially a size 9!
<\center>Acrylic yarn + plastic needles + new knitter with too tight gauge + the bends = Acute Acrylic Linonophobia (that's the fear of string...I won a radio contest with that answer in 7th grade). For whatever reason, I blamed the yarn. I see now that I should have blamed the needles. They're clearly the inferior product in this scenario, believe it or not. However, I had a previous experience with some "smoked" acrylic that left my hands feeling dirty and sticky after each use. It had been sitting in the collection of a chain smoker for years, I think. But what I was feeling I believed to be acrylic chemical residue and not 20 years of tar build up.
Thus, after my first project (a square) with the acrylic, I swore off of the Red Heart for the rest of my life. I never considered myself a yarn snob, though. Yes, I know Red Heart wears like iron, but it also feels like I'm wearing plastic. But I only condemned that black labeled yarn hidden in the dark corners of my local Michael's. LionBrand was still ok. I have almost a full sweater out of WoolEase (Samwise has achieved museum status. Most of you don't know who he is. Look at last October's archives). I highly recommended the LionBrand Homespun to the prayer shawl knitters. Until I discovered Rowan Soft Baby at Knit One only last week, I had never found softer baby yarn than in the all acrylic section of Joann's.
But from the first trip to a real yarn shop in Baltimore (WoolWorks on Falls Road), I was hooked on the good stuff for most of my projects.
Yarn Snobbery, to me, is not in what yarns we shun, it's in the yarns we choose. I denied my yarn snob status until this past summer. I was sitting at the table in my brother's house, working on the Harry Potter Sweater, worrying out loud to my sister-in-law (a fellow knitter) that I was going to run out of yarn. That I wasn't going to finish in time for the book release. "Can'tyou get more yarn?" "I can, but it only comes in kits of 5 balls and up. There's only one place you can get it, from this factory in England that made the original sweaters for the movie. They make the yarn on antique spinning machines, kinda like Williamsburg in England. So I have to order this yarn from England in a kit, and it's going to take a long time for them to ship it...." I literally stopped mid-sentence, looked Geana in the eye and said, "Yeah, I guess I'm a yarn snob." I coulda just bought the pattern and used TLC Heathers or LionBrand WoolEase DK, but no. I had to get the tweedy stuff used to make the original sweaters in the movie.
When yarn becomes a souvenier and not raw material, you might be a yarn snob. When you walk into a new yarn store, see real Koigu for the first time, and get a stirring in your heart like you're spotting a celebrity, you might be a yarn snob. When you're willing to spend $20 a skein on a yarn recommended in a pattern because you simply "like the way the one in the picture drapes," you might be a yarn snob.
But it's a good thing. :-)
Friday, October 28, 2005
Interesting Knitting
One thing that I like about myself is that I'm willing to enter the fray.
For my field education site, I've started a prayer shawl ministry. Just a bunch of folks with sticks, getting together with some yarn to think about and to work on shawls for people who need a big hug of fiber. As we knit, we're supposed to be praying for the recipient and sharing joyful conversation.
At the first meeting, everyone was a beginner or had fallen off the knitting wagon decades previously. The first session had less praying and more pseudo cursing at split yarn (well, if you didn't get LB WoolEase you wouldn't have that problem), difficulty casting on, and other beginning knitterly problems.
At the second meeting, I was amazed at the progress. One woman commented that it was just like riding a bicycle, and she had made half of a garter stitch scarf in the two weeks. Another whose mother had been trying to teach her to knit for years finally had the hold of it. She was another case of having crocheted first. Holding the yarn with English knitting had been a brain fryer, but suddenly Continental made all the difference in the world. HER daughter, all of 8, was still struggling with very loose stitches, but she's making tremendous progress.
Then there was Bea. That's not her real name, but we'll call her Bea. Bea is in her early 70's, and Bea is having trouble. At the first meeting, it took her a long time to get the hang of the Long-Tail cast on, even though she was once a knitter, about 20 years ago. When she finally did get the handle of it, she knit 3 or 4 rows, and just threw her hands into her lap and said, "oooh, I can't DO this! It doesn't look RIGHT." I went over and had a look. Bea was knitting a pale yellow acrylic yarn on pale yellow plastic needles. The yarn is splitty so she wasn't always picking up whole stitches. No wonder. She couldn't see them! I told her to just keep on going, to check the back of each stitch for a row or two, just to make sure she was picking up the whole stitch. But that that was the only problem, and easily fixable with a more contrasting yarn or needles and just a little added attention. But instead, she said, "No, no no," frogged the whole thing, and started struggling with how to hold the yarn for a long-tail cast on again. Repeat that cycle 4 times in one session.
This last meeting was more of the same. "Why doesn't mine look like yours? I need to start over" was Bea's refrain the whole evening. She was back with her pale yellow yarn and needles, but she was back. That previous Sunday she said she didn't know if it was worth it to come. I told her we'd miss her, and lo and behold, she was there. I told her to stop looking at my knitting, at Barb's knitting, and to just keep going. "No, no no. I need to start over."
In my other life as a blogger, I've been following the discussion that's going on on Marilyn's blog in the entry dated October 25th. Some entries take on a life of their own, as many of you know. In this entry, Marilyn discussed a new endeavor of Interweave Knits, focused at more "hip" knitters, in her mind. I knew there was a divide between the Fun Fur crowd and the Kidsilk Haze crowd, and I knew there was a divide between the large needle and small needle crowd. But I perused the new issue that Marilyn so vehemently objected to, and found that, on the whole, it wasn't that bad. Maybe my standards are low, but I've seen more offensive uses of yarn, patterns that were more beyond hope, patterns that were more brain dead in execution.
Personally, I see knitting as a series of challenges, of new things. But I've only been knitting for a year. I haven't reached the "there's nothing new under the sun" stage yet (that's Biblical, btw, Ecclesiastes). I continue to press on with my knitting in new directions. New directions FOR ME may be ancient with ease for others. After an initial garter stitch hat, nothing more than a square of knitting folded and sewn into the shape of a head, I moved onto a knit/purl keyhole scarf. I saw cables, I thought they looked cool, so I found an easy pattern, and knit a basic cable scarf. The same with socks. But I didn't like the strictness of the first pattern I found, so I searched for one that was more organic, a "feel your way along" pattern.
Today, I was catching up with the comments to Marilyn's post, and I came across this one of hers.
"I honestly think that many knitters are intimidated into thinking that they can only knit easy things. After all, when you knit with a fashion yarn, the yarn does the talking. So it's easy to make stuff that appears impressive to non-knitters by learning a few basics.
Whether it fits, whether it looks good, and whether it lasts for more than a year is immaterial. This is not "scary" knitting. It's safe, it's easy, it's quick and it's dull."
Bea instantly popped into my mind. Intimidated into thinking that they can only knit easy things. Well, wait. What causes intimidation? Sitting next to a knitter who's speeding along with a cable needle in her teeth, using 5 different types of yarn at once? Is intimidation the fault of magazines such as IK's new mag that print good intermediate patterns to challenge one group of knitters but perhaps not another? Good stepping stones from your first sweater to an Alice Starmore? Or is it the fault of magazines that print patterns with yarn choices that are discontinued after a month's release or are impossible to find outside of Luxembourg, or cost way more than a hobbyist can afford? Do you know how much Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb costs??? Patterns that look and sound intimidating with three different size needles, and k5tog, with three different charts that start at different times so that you're on row 5 of chart A, but row 17 of chart B? Is it the fault of knitters who look down upon the plebian efforts that it takes to make a scarf with fun fur, who think you're not a "real knitter" until you've tried...God, I don't even know what?
I've been intimidated by all the lace knitting that's going on lately. I even pressured myself into buying some lace weight yarn. "You're not a real knitter til you've knit a Birch shawl." I found an easy pattern, got lost, tried again, got lost. Finally thought "Wait a minute. I don't even like lace! I hate blocking! Why am I banging my head against a wall for something that I'm not going to enjoy in the end? Because the blogosphere said I should? Screw that!" and went back to the washcloth I was making for the Fiance's new apartment.
If I run out of blue fun fur for my niece's poncho, I can go back down the street at 10 AM to Joann's and get 5 more skeins in that EXACT color for under $20. If I run out of Kidsilk Haze, I have to drive an hour to the nearest LYS that sells it (cause only one does in the tri-state area), PRAY that they still have the dyelot or that the current dyelot is close enough, fork over the money, and then go and turn the heating off in the house cause I won't be able to afford the gas bill. That's the reality and the choices that most knitters face.
Safe knitting, easy knitting, cheap knitting is ok. Say it with me now. Safe knitting, easy kniting, cheap knitting is ok. Maybe not for me, but for someone else...it's ok.
When they all showed up for prayer shawl ministry with their Red Heart yarn and compared prices ("Wal-Mart had em for 99 cents!" "Mine was $2.50 for a whole pound!"), I cringed, because I knew that the acrylic wouldn't look as nice as my Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk in Slate. I knew it would split, like Bea's. But it's safe, it's attainable. What's wrong with knitting being safe? What's wrong with yarn being safe and not a stressful quest for the Holy Grail? With patterns being like a warm embrace of meditative repetition? Why do we have to bang ourselves over the head trying to figure out that damn chart? Some people love the challenge of it, like I do, always looking to try something new...and the more new things you've tried, the fewer there are out there. Classic and timeless yet new and challenging...is there such a thing? But then there are others that want their hobby to be a comfort and a joy in a different way. Not a strain on the brain and the budget. We may not understand them, but they're out there. And they're ok.
Safe knitting, easy knitting, cheap knitting is ok. Say it with me now. Safe knitting, easy knitting, cheap knitting is ok. Maybe not for me, but for someone else...it's ok.
But I'm bringing Bea in an extra skein of Noro Kureyon so she can see what the hell she's doing!
And if I only get 5 hits in the next week and no comments, I'll be fine. I know Stacie's still reading. :-)
Thursday, October 27, 2005
For all you mathematicians out there...
One thing I like about myself is that I've always been good with letters. I've always been the English Nerd, but never a Math Nerd.
I've never been big on the math part of knitting, hence the reason I've either run out of yarn or had 4 balls left over at the end of every project that requires exact measurements.
So help me out here.
What would be a good Christmas present to make for someone, anyone, with 900 yards of orangish tweed worsted weight yarn. Approximate gauge, 20 stitches per FOUR inches on size 8's.
You do the math. I don't have the energy.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
One Thing I Like About Myself Is...
I have a class on Tuesday mornings that stresses an awful lot of pastoral self-care. Those of you out there who aren't pastors, did you ever think about that? Oftentimes pastors are the ones who are taking on everyone else's problems, but have no outlet to deal with their own. So, if you have a pastor, give that pastor a hug the next time you see her/him.
Today's activity was to pair up with someone we didn't know (thus making things more awkward) sit across from them with "open posture," look them squarely in the eye and do one of two things: 1. In a minute's time, state things that you like about yourself. or 2. Listen to the other person, repeat what they said, and ask "Are you satisfied?" If person 1. is not satisfied, they say no and then come up with new things that they like about themselves to jog person 2's memory. The focus is on the listening, on giving the person who's speaking your absolute attention. The focus for person 1 is to hear repeated back to them good things about themselves.
I have to admit, I was in no mood to say positive things about myself. The answer to the question, "did October 'break' break her?" No. But coming back did. Go home, feel like a princess for 10 days. Go back to school, 400 miles AWAY from the Fiance, and become a poor student again in a place that shuns white women feeling like princesses because of how women of color are treated in third world countries.
Yeah, I felt pretty bitter about coming back. But today's exercise helped. It's going to become a regular feature of the blog. Something all seminarian-like. Feel free to respond back in the comments with one of your own.
Today, I like about myself that I'm thinking ahead to Christmas presents...already.
Did I finish the Fiance's scarf? Well, you'll just have to wait and see as the evidence is locked safely away in some corner of a memory card that for some reason is unaccesible.
I'm not letting that deter me, though, I've moved on!
I will say this much, though. I loved that yarn. So much so that, as Woody Allen said, I loaf...I lufe...I luurrrve it. I don't remember how I came across it, probably on a random search to see if anyone online carried it. Lo and behold Woodland Woolworks had some on CLEARANCE!!! Down from 10.95 to 6.00!!!
This is nine balls ( I ordered 10, but they called me up and said they only had 9 left) of Fileates King Extra Stampato This is by far the softest merino I have ever let touch my skin...well, no, I have to update that. I wore the Koigu Hall of Fame socks today to class and I just gotta say that after one wash, no flannel baby blanket I EVER owned could hold a candle. But this stuff is just as tremendous. It's 8-ply 100% "merinos." My mother, the wool connoisseur (in that she can smell scratchiness at 20 paces) had no idea it was wool. None. Whatsoever. "I'm assuming it's wool...but is it wool?" The colors are just as muted yet brilliant as the previous colorway. I have no clue who it'll be for for Christmas, but someone's getting an ultra-soft something. :-)
I also started one of the Fiance's gifts. One out, one in. What can I say? If I can't stand not to work on it in front of him, I'll have to get something store bought so there's a surprise.
In addition to the mystery project for the Fiance (which isn't much of a mystery), there are three scarves on the planning list, some mittens, a teddy bear, and a BUNCH of felted fish. Fun. I've got yarn for all of it, now do I just have time?
Monday, October 17, 2005
Melissa Needs
I've been seeing this meme going around in which you google your name + the word "needs" and type the top ten results. I figured it would be a quick way to cover a Monday morning.
1. Melissa needs maintenance manuals!
2. Melissa needs to board the blob ship that is hovering overhead.
3. Melissa needs athletic promotions.
4. Melissa needs blood will you help me? (I vant your BLOOOOD!)
5. Melissa needs someone from near Galveston who will work with her today to get a van...
6. Melissa needs to increase her votes from 25% TO 50%
7. "The new slave-girl Melissa needs a shoulder to cry on."
8. Melissa needs some more shoes! (Took care of that last night, actually.)
9. Melissa needs to toughen up. (yeah, I agree with this one, I'll tell you the story below.)
10. Melissa needs your help to understand tar. (black, sticky, bad when from cigarettes. Anything else??)
"BEAT UP THE BRIDE DAY"
Friday the the Fiance and I went to get engagement pictures. We decided to go with the local photographer who did both of our senior portraits (sentimental value) with which we were both very happy (artistic value) despite the fact that he no longer does weddings. When I called to make the appointment, he said, "is there someplace outside you'd like to go?" Why yes! There is! We could use the picnic grove we got engaged in. We were both excited Friday morning. I think it took us about an hour the night before and that morning to pick out exactly what we were going to wear, what would coordinate, etc. We pulled up and saw our names on the little slate board with a heart. Awhhh.
Then we went with the photographer to the picnic grove to set up for pictures. I'm not quite sure how it started, but the guy entered into his schtick. "C'mon, act like you're in love. You're happy! Act like it!" I can handle this stuff recognizing it's supposed to loosen us up. And, as is my nature, I can't let any remark go unanswered in jest. So when I didn't understand where I was supposed to be for a particularly cheesy pose and he said, "No, turn around towards him, y'know, like you want to look at him." I let loose with an incredibly exaggerated 6-year-old voice of "Ewwwww do I HAVE to?" I guess that's where it all went down hill. A selection of comments:
[in response to the above comment] "Oh that's just cruel. You're one of those cruel ones aren't you? Well, I guess you're all cruel. [to the Fiance] Is she cruel to you?"
"All women are crazy."
"Why did you want that diamond?" "Because it's my grandmother's." "Yeah, but why a diamond? It sparkles. Glass sparkles. You know why you wanted a diamond? Because women are all socially conditioned to be materialistic bitches who live to drain our resources. I've never had a woman give me a logical answer to that question. And you know why? Cause you're all NUTS. You don't think logically. And when you get pregnant? It's only going to get worse..." (that one went on for about 3 poses)
When we got back to the studio, I played the pastor card, I guess to let him know that I'm not really into all the materialism. I want simple stuff, (I found two pairs of shoes for the wedding last night for less than $75), but I want to get married in a church, not on the beach or in vegas like he suggested to the Fiance and I. And he said, "Well, I'll tell you what, Miss PAAASTOR. That service you're going to be conducting, it's a CIVIL ceremony. They don't need you. So it's not about YOOOU. I had a pastor friend who was complaining to me about how this one wedding party had EIGHT bridesmaids, how over the top that was. And I told her, 'hey, just because YOU don't have eight girlfriends doesn't mean you should hold that against the bride!'"
At this point, I was holding in the tears. I'm damned if I have 2 bridesmaids* cause I'm a loser with no friends, and I'm damned if I have 8 because that's cheesy, schlocky and playing into the whole materialistic nature of weddings.
(Speaking of bridesmaids, I got some quarter yards of fabric at Joann's later in the day. When asked by the fabric cut girl what I was doing with the fabric, I told her that it was for swatches for bridesmaids dresses. I like the color, but I want to let them think about texture, shininess. Her response: "Well, if it was me, I'd say none of them. I can't stand anything blue. I've always hated it. My whole life. I don't understand how people can like it.")
I think this is why he struck a nerve: I feel like I'm teetering on the edge here. No, not of sanity. I'm feeling ok in that regard. I'm teetering on that Father of the Bride edge. Have you seen that movie? It's the edge between wanting a simple wedding, really WANTING that, but still recognizing that I don't want to get married in a barn. I want a dress that comes to the floor. I want to see the fiance in a tux. I want to have non-carnation flowers, even if they will be arranged in garden water pails (Wal-Mart 77 cents a piece). I want a reception hall that doesn't remind me where the high school band-banquets were held. That evening, I let it all out to the Fiance, begging to agree to just leave town right now. Go for a week's vacation and head up to Niagra Falls and just abandon all of this planning crap. The main thing I was stressing over was the guest list which is hovering right around 250 right now and how huge a number that feels. The Fiance said, "Well, you have a big heart, you care about a lot of people and you care about them so much that you want them there with you when you get married."
And THAT my friends, is why how he got to be the Fiance.
*Speaking of bridesmaids, I got some quarter yards of fabric at Joann's later in the day. When asked by the fabric cut girl what I was doing with the fabric, I told her that it was for swatches for bridesmaids dresses. I like the color, but I want to let them think about texture, shininess. Her response: "Well, if it was me, I'd say none of them. I can't stand anything blue. I've always hated it. My whole life. I don't understand how people can like it."
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Blog Fodder
I'm not going to start posting a picture of my pet every day like a famous blogger. But this one was too cute to pass up.
"Pleeeeease let me come with you! You could shove me in your suitcase, and by the time the fiancee found out, it would be too late!"
Not being able to take the dog aside, there are many good things about a trip home.
1. The fiancee's apartment is so cold that a 60 degree day means it's 50 inside. I'm packing every scarf and sweater I own...to be worn all at once.
2. Plenty of knitting time while waiting for bridal appointments to start.
3. Did I mention the chill in the apartment?
4. I get to return to Knit One to see what's stirring.
5. I don't have to ask you guys what to take this year as there are several hard deadline items (that cannot be revealed) that will be going along.
The Packing Mania continues. Must remember the card reader...and the battery charger for the camera...and the one for the phone. 'Lectronics rule my life.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Administrative Stuff
Can you get the flu from another blogger? Seriously. Norma, way up there in Vermont, has had some sort of flu bug for a little while now. Now I've got a lot of the same stuff. Hmm...
I'm leaving for Pittsburgh this Thursday. I just wanted to warn you that this blog may take a detour from knitting into the realm of the disgusting wedding business. We've got like 10 appointments in less than 10 days with all sorts of wedding propagandists. The quest to maintain non-bridezilla status continues.
With the Gorgeous Yarn that haunts my dreams...
Even though none of you guys commented positively on it, I decided to continue with the mock cable pattern. I have to say, I think it does a pretty good job of showing off a flash of color here and there while still maintaining the overall drab effect. Afterall, wasn't that what the yarn was designed to do?
Saturday, October 8, 2005
It's Always the Good-Looking Ones
I met him on the first of October. There were plenty of different ones to choose, but it was love at first sight with this one. We barely spoke before I took him home with me. He was absolutely gorgeous, gentle...soft. I thought, "wow, how lucky am I to make such a find!" It was his coloration. So subtle and understated, yet betraying a liveliness and brightness. Like a robin in the winter, that combination of bright and drab just sang to me. I was lucky. He had just started hanging out there. If I had been there a week earlier, I probably never would have had the opportunity to take him home.
But now that I've been seeing him for a week, (has it been a week??) a problem has developed that, quite frankly, has me worried. With him being THIS GOOD LOOKING, I feel so inadequate. He deserves to be shown off so that everyone will notice him and make compliments to ME. But there's nothing I can do to accomplish that.
I started out with stockinette just to see how his color would work up. (This is the best picture of his coloration.)
Basketweave doesn't do him justice.
Right now, I'm working him up in a mock cable stitch after trying various x by x ribs and the broken rib that has been my staple for drab/tweedy scarves. This one isn't sitting quite right with me either for some reason.
You know, sometimes you find such great raw material lurking out there in the world. But it's all about how you mould it once you've entered into a relationship. I'm not ready to break up with this yarn or send it to "time-out." But I feel like I definitely need some counselling.
Friday, October 7, 2005
The Most Kick-Ass Thing About My Seminary
A couple of you know that Chicago is not my first home. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. I'm only out here to go to seminary. None of you will be asking (but you all should be), "Why leave Pittsburgh? It's got a top-rate seminary right in town!"
I know, I know. There are many reasons I chose to leave Pittsburgh for Chicago. My seminary here afforded me the opportunity to have a more cross-cultural experience, to take classes on Paul's letters NOT taught by a homophobe, to engage with people who desired seminary to be an EXPERIENCE and not just a hoop to jump through on the way to achieving fortune and fame as the next Jerry Falwell. The main reason, however, was the knitting. :-) Yes, I know I didn't learn how to knit until after I assumed I'd be going to McCormick. I had no idea that acrylic was bad, although Red Heart just sat wrong in my gut. Yes, I know the knitting nights only started AFTER I got here, and things only took off in a major way around Christmas last year when the VP of student affairs picked up the sticks. But honestly, can you turn away from a seminary that has a BALL-WINDER & SWIFT in the administration wing???
Normally I rely on the good old swivel chair as a swift and just wind your arms off method to produce perfect "outer-pull" balls of yarn. But when I've got six skeins, five of them sock yarn, it's worth the half mile hike to the school for no other reason than to wind some balls. The horrible thing about the administration wing is that the cubicles, while sound proof, each have a window out onto the main corridor. It's supposed to foster "community." It fosters a lot of weird looks toward the girl who is having too much fun with what looks to me some sort of miniature amusement park ride. And why is she taking PICTURES???
So here they all are, the aquisitions from Arcadia as well as some leftover's from Jill's shop that haven't made it into socks yet.
It is a great day for knitting! The sky is horribly dark (ok, maybe not for lace knitting then), the wind coming off the lake borders on winter in its temperature. There's a light mist that's falling, and I had to stand out in it for 20 minutes waiting for the bus in order to go get my now-fixed car up. Sounds like a recipe for Toy Story and some socks.
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Top 10 Reasons to Knit Today
10. No classes scheduled.
9. No need to catch up on four weeks of reading for 3 different classes. I've got a break coming up in a week.
8. Why no, I don't have a paper due on Monday. Ignore all those books on the desk.
7. Knitting should be a crucial part of the wedding planning. I can't believe it hasn't been up to this point.
6. Knitting will help me figure out the Prayers of the People that I'm doing on Sunday.
5. The Fiance's birthday is in two weeks, and I'm so close to finishing his gift.
If I just give it an hour or two, I'll be set.
4. Since the Clapotis's (how the HELL do you make that possessive???) completion Clapotis done got finished, I haven't been able to hunker down and dedicate myself to a project. It's time to step up.
3. Gotta use up all the yarn I have before the dog decides to have a buffet.
2. I don't have a knitting night at my place on Friday that I have to clean up for.
1. What else have I got to do today?
Monday, October 3, 2005
Are You a Tarzan Knitter?
When I was 16 and in my full Bible-thumping glory, (it was my way of rebelling against my democrat votin' parents) I went to a brain-washing camp cheerleaders for Christ youth conference starring this guy. Yes, I still remember his name. That's how effective the brainwashing was. One of the questions he asked us, in his superior wit, was "are you a Tarzan Christian?" See how effective the brainwashing was? This was 10 years ago! "Do you go to a conference like this and get all pumped for the Lord? But then you go back home and you start back-sliding. You start sinking lower and lower into your old life. And then you go back to another conference and get pumped up again. And so [you just have to imagine the hand gestures here] you just go swingin' from one conference to another, like Tarzan on a vine. Never able to maintain that energy when you go home."
His point was, you should be able to. You're not a good Christian if you're not. You're a "backslider" and need to make every opportunity to recommit yourself to Jesus. I gotta tell ya, as a future pastor (with that coming closer every friggin day :::cringe:::) I've never been able to do that. Why? Because it's easy to feel pumped up over something when you're surrounded by people who think like you do, who share your passion.
The difference between that conference and last night, was that every knitter I met was pretty damn genuine in their love of knitting. It wasn't as if they'd grown up with it all their lives and just do it cause they discovered fun fur after years of knitting peach acrylic air freshener cozies (have you SEEN that commercial???? ). It wasn't as if one bad project was going to send any one of us running away from knitting. We weren't all working on the same projects (despite the 3 or 4 Clapoti I saw), we don't all have the same idea of why we do what we do. Some of us love color, others love texture, collecting yarn, starting new projects, finishing projects. I saw socks on size 1's, and a scarf on size 15's. A baby blanket full of oaty beige cables, and more than one sweater that boggled my mind as to how she knew those colors would go together.
I'm not down off my mountain experience of Saturday night. I'm reliving it every time I check my statcounter. I had 263 hits today. Last Monday? Twelve. 12. And half of those are usually me making sure that everything's ok. I really loved meeting all of you.
If I come back down the mountain, it will be because of Christmas presents. I finished Clapotis and you wanna know how many things I cast on "in her place"? Three. With five more eagerly waiting in the wings.
Although one's half finished already.
Rahr!
Sunday, October 2, 2005
She's Even Better with Hand Gestures
Hello to all of my new friends out there in blogland! I just have to say, congrats on finding me because I gave most of the you the wrong damn address. :-/ See, now there's competition to post about the "Canadian Invasion" of Saturday night. I plead church as my excuse. I'm required to go...for class credit. If I don't, my career's in the shitter. If I say "shitter" too much, my career's in the shitter. Dammit.
On to business.
I had a friend named Monica in college. She lived down the hall from me and even spent some time with me in Pittsburgh over a Thanksgiving break. She labeled one of those days a "red circle" day. If she has a tremendous, inspirational day (like the day in Spain when she saw Ralph Fiennes in an art museum and he commented that he liked to see her journaling about the paintings, nobody ever does that), she puts a red circle around that day on her calendar. At the end of each year, she transfers all of the old red circle days onto a new calendar. Her goal is to have every day of the year be a red circle day by the time she dies.
I think I would classify yesterday as a red circle day. It takes me about an hour and a half to get up to Arcadia Knitting to see The YarnHarlot (if you haven't read any of her stuff, you non-knitters. Go immediately to her site. We'll wait. Ok, welcome back) using all the public transportation Chicago has to offer. I'm riding the L, and two stops before the Knitting Stop, who should get on the train? I do a double take. I've seen that face before. Is that? Really? Could it? Nahh. But if it is, I know where HE'S going. Sure enough, he took out some knitting at the other end of the car. It was all I could do not jump up and say "a-HA! It IS you!" Instead I waited til we got on the same bus to head to the knitting store.
If it seemed like I was so excited when I met you that I was peeing myself, well, I apologize. I've only met one other blogger in my life, and I sought her out. Shamelessly went to the store that she works at and said, "Now, who's Purl Up with a Good Yarn?" As I commented to Franklin, Melody, and Emily, we're like truckers on the CB's. (Did CB's make a brief comeback in the early 90's? Or was it just in my neighborhood?) But most of my friends (knitting and non-knitting alike) just don't get the blogging. I was finally with "my kind."
I think that knitting and crocheting authors have it made. Seriously. The Harlot was a tad on the late side, but I know I certainly didn't notice, I was too busy spending my gift certificate. (Thanks Dad!!!!!) Nothing better than meeting a blogging legend AND getting yarn FOR FREE! (And, Fiance, you'll note that I bought myself another pair of 16" Addi Turbo #8. No pressure to finish your project and get the other one back to me now. Aren't you relieved?)
I know I know, showing the haul before the Harlot. Sorry. The Lorna's Laces in Purple Show is already half wound. Not by choice, but because of The Dog.
This was the scene that awaited me after church. Thank God he looked so guilty and downtrodden, otherwise he'd be toast. Yes, the Dale of Norway's been picked up too. The yarn was completely intact, but it took me 2 hours to wind it into a ball. No stiffness, thin spots or fraying. I think he just likes taking hanks apart.
Oh right! Back to the Moment. So after chatting with many new friends and making new connections.
She arrived. I was just in awe. Her wit is as sharp in person as in the writing. It makes me wonder how much she edits her posts. As some twist of fate would have it, I somehow landed right in front of her, with NO OBSTRUCTIONS! Amazing for a short person like me.
When I came home, my roommate (unenthused angel chorus) didn't quite understand who she was. So I forked over her first book. Then she understood. I can only describe Stephanie as the Paula Poundstone of knitting. But without the really weird speech impediment and the ultra 80's clothes. Her deadpan dry wit was so invigorating. And the hand gestures! She talks with her hands more than I do! Every post I read now, I'm going to imagine her doing this to her computer:
I'm really sorry, Steph. I just had to use it. You were hilarious and your passion for getting people to understand "Our Kind" is really expressed in this picture.
We chatted, she signed my two books. I was in all of my introvert glory.
But it's just like the rest of you are going to say Monday morning, or already have. She is incredibly down to earth and can't believe this phenomenon is occuring to her. That people want pictures with her. I had to go soon after I met her. I didn't want to be hanging out at the Garfield Red Line station much after dark. BTW: You took this picture, you taught me how to do cabling without a third needle. Give yourself credit in the comments! For I have forgotten your name!!!!!!
Luckily, I met Allison on the way home! This was the icing on the cake, that took the day from a red circle day to a "God, this is your doing, isn't it?" day. Allison had the tell-tale Arcadia bag at her feet while waiting for the L. Allison rode with me all the way to my bus stop, patiently knitting her sock next to a woman who had the distinct hunched-over posture of being high high high. Allison is a Pseudo-Stitchin Sem (she's in Divinity school. There are so few of us, we don't split hairs.) Allison, you are SO invited to come and knit at my place! Drop me a line!
I think that was the best experience I've had as a knit-blogger. Thanks to all of you guys for helping me to get out into the social aspect of blogging (ain't that an oxymoron??). This is The Stitchin Seminarian signin' off. 10-4 good buddies, catch you on the flipside.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
How's the Epic Battle for Salvation Going?
Many of you have been wondering -- alright, only I have been wondering -- about the fate of the Antichrist. Has the Seminarian been waging war against the forces of evil fair isle?
Nope. The Antichrist has been pretty much stuck in a bag all summer. When I started knitting socks, I would take a quick glance into its cave bag and think about all of the sockweight yarn just lying there fallow. If I was lucky, I would finish this bad boy just in time to give it as a gift for my first grandchild's high school graduation.
Ever since I got the new yarn bin and thought how great it would look with the myriad colors of the Antichrist peaking out from the glass, I've considered just giving up and frogging the whole thing.
But then I realized just how much work I've put into it. Maybe I'll just frog it back to the striped border and make it one of those headband ear cover thingies. Then I actually pulled it out and tried it on.
Hmm...if I get my act together with the decreases, this could make quite the nice winter cap! (By the way, my eyes have NEVER looked that green! The color of the cap looks fine, but for some reason I have green eyes from the side. Why has no one ever told this to me?)
I mean, it'll be nothing like the glory it could have been.
But if I can do it, it will be the first pattern I've ever dramatically altered in my favor, and I can add something else I've learned to the list of knitting things. That's what this is all about right?
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