Thrums

look, Katie!

On March 10, 2010, In knitting, socks, By Lori

sock #1

The second sock is nearly at the heel part, so I will finish it when I’m in Honduras next week. I’ll mail them to you when I get home! It has made me so happy to make them for you, and I look forward to making the next pair, too. I’ll use a different pattern, of course.

As immune systems will do, mine crashes after a prolonged period of stress. It’s been working and working, carrying me through the stress, and when the stress backs off just a little bit, crash. It’s kind of fascinating, if you ask me. My stress is still very intense; I woke up at 4:45am this morning so I could get to work early. But I guess the relief is coming, so crash. So just in time for my beach vacation: a cold, thankyouverymuch. Still, I’d rather be there with a cold than at my desk with a cold. If I have to have one.

Off to have a steaming bowl of tomato soup and an intense regimen of ColdCalm. And early to bed, so I can early to rise again tomorrow.

Tagged with: cold • Katie • sick • socks

following light

On March 6, 2010, In experience, joy, By Lori

Bliss out, man.

Tagged with: Joy • light • light and day • polyphonic spree • video

catching up – the brief edition

On March 6, 2010, In knitting, socks, By Lori

Yesterday is done for the year, so moving on! Today we’re going in search of a new bathroom light fixture, and we’ll take a trip down to Chinatown for some eating of Thai food – I think that’s the current plan. I’ll take my camera along, so I may have photos later.

My weeks fly by in a blur of stress – my best intentions to post more regularly are just paving the road. A week from today we’ll be flying back to Roatan – I hope you’ll drop in on that blog now and then while we’re gone. I’ll leave a note here when we leave, so the link as at the top.

Sock knitting is about all I’m getting done, a couple of rows on the subway to work, and a couple more on the way home. Still, a row here and a row there, pretty soon you’ve got a sock! Here’s where I am now:

going down the foot toward the toe!

spread flat, with the heel underneath: a bit of green pooling at the top of the foot

I’m kind of brain dead – do you know how that goes? Too much stress at work, consuming all the ATP molecules and all the attention, leaving a drained little husk of a mind. Maybe the weekend will energize me…..possible, since we have SUN!! Hallelujah!

Tagged with: Katie • socks

grace and gratitude

On March 5, 2010, In big picture stuff, By Lori

today is one of those not-so-good anniversaries that people have – one i dread every year. but i find myself feeling like a lucky person today. one of my daughters turned 25 on wednesday and was hit by a car while riding her bicycle. but she was not too terribly hurt, just bruised and sore, and she had one of the best birthdays of her life. i have a surprisingly large number of real friends, people i can and do count on to know me and love me [anyway], people i love and cherish. i get to be in this world another day. daffodils are coming. days are getting longer. banjo music. the beach, in 8 days. i have a job, whatever else i may say about it. my book club. my writing group. authors – “my” authors – whose work i admire and who are people i am so proud to know, and it still surprises me that i know these amazing and oustanding people. i live in manhattan, where i always wanted to live. i love and am loved by a man who shares a soul with me. i get to travel and see the world with that man….still arm-pinching in its surprise, for a homeless girl from wichita falls, texas. i have grown children whose lives transformed mine, and who are very fine people out in this world.

and daffodils are coming. who can be sad when they look at daffodils.

Tagged with: daffodils • friends • gratitude

following light

On February 28, 2010, In big picture stuff, By Lori

Do you know the blog perches in the soul? I can’t remember how I found her blog, now, but hers is one of my favorite blogs in my blogroll. When I see her blog in the old Google Reader, something settles inside me, and I can reliably expect to read something that makes me happy, and to see pictures that make me smile – not least because her beautiful son is usually right there in the middle of it, with his big smile.

Here, on this last day of February, she writes:

In the month of March, we will be following light, reflecting in pictures and words on the details that light reveals in different hours of the day.

I’m in! My spirit fades and gets pretty thin this time of year. My genes are so profoundly Texan, I’m completely hardwired for a very brief winter; the long period of cold and gray up north just wears me down, man. And yet I do know that you can find what you look for, if only you look.

Another blog I follow is needled – the blogger (Kate) lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She’s a professor specializing in textiles, she knits, and her blog is always fascinating. And one month ago she had a pretty serious stroke. Since my dearest friend here in NY had a stroke a year ago, I’ve been closely following Kate and her progress. It’s impossible to make fair comparisons between two people, no matter what – and just as true when people are grappling with what looks like similar problems. Kate has the benefit of much better health care than we have here (so obvious it hardly needed to be said), and I obviously don’t know the extent of what she is facing, AND she’s in the early stages. But I have been so struck by her attitude of ‘ok then! time to work hard.’ Today’s post is about her gratitude for the various tools that help her regain independence. Those things are there – and what they give her – but she is looking at them, and that makes a lot of difference. She could just as easily look at her need for them, and come away with a different sense of things.

So join me, join perches in the soul, let’s follow light. The middle week of March my husband and I will be on the island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras, where the light will be oh-so-easy to follow, but I still have the remaining weeks of March in Manhattan, where following light will require a bit more looking. I think wherever you are, though, there are days when following light requires an effort.

Happy last day of February, happy Sunday.

Tagged with: courage • inspiration • light • perches in the soul

one girl down, another girl up

On February 27, 2010, In knitting, socks, By Lori

The wedding shawl knitting is ongoing, of course, but I’ve just cast on a pair of socks for my first daughter, who lives in Texas. She’s a pretty Irish girl, and so I wasn’t that surprised when the two yarns she chose contained different shades of green. This first pair I’m making for her is a combination of blues and greens – jewel tones, more or less, very beautiful:

"Holes in my Socks" in Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock, Beverly colorway

the colors are spiraling!

I finished the new couch cushions, very squishy and beautiful. They look nice on the brown leather couch, and complement the oriental rug, too. But I was sitting at my sewing table with the window open – we can’t control the heat in our apartment except by opening the windows – and suddenly there was a loud noise and a snowball came through the opening. Scared the living daylights out of me!

Tagged with: Katie • socks

socks and snow

On February 27, 2010, In FO2010, knitting, out and about in NY, photography, socks, By Lori

Finally, I finished the Hedera socks I’ve been knitting all month, just in time for the daughter to arrive home for spring break:

Hedera, in KP Felici, colorway cochineal

a pair of socks for a cold dorm room floor

my rav project page here

The snow has been really amazing here in Manhattan – yesterday we got just shy of 21″ of snow in Central Park! We’re knocking on the top 10 list of biggest snowfalls since 1869 or something like that. Here are some newer shots from my neighborhood…..

CLICK HERE to continue reading socks and snow...

Tagged with: Felici • FO2010 • hedera • KnitPicks • Manhattan • photography • snow • snow day • socks

for my reference

On February 25, 2010, In knitting, out and about in NY, By Lori

Need to find a knitting store in town?

View New York City Knitting Stores in a larger map

Tagged with: map

not me, too!

On February 25, 2010, In out and about in NY, photography, By Lori

I know, talking about the snow is getting SO OLD. Posting pictures of the snow, the same. But I haven’t done so yet this year, and even though I’ve been living in the north for 7 years now, snow is still an exciting thing for a Texan – especially this much snow.

As much as I complain about the soul suck of my job, one good thing about it is that for the most part, it’s possible for me to work from home if I need or want to. And today I wanted to, because of the silly pronouncement of the “snowricane” or “snowrnado” (depending on which weather site you pick). Reports of Gusting! Winds! UP TO 75 miles per hour! Days and days of power outages expected! Watch out! And also: back alert weather. The snow is heavy, and you might hurt your back so watch out.

We haven’t had the winds – at least here in Manhattan – but it has been snowing without stopping all day long. It started snowing before 7am and there hasn’t been a moment’s pause. Some hours the flakes are huge, like monarch butterflies (thanks to my husband for that one), and other times they’re normal sizes. The trees are hanging with heavy snow on the branches – all the way out to the tips, hanging heavy. The snow is so wet, it falls in fists off the ends of the branches. It’s really pretty. I sit at a desk right by the window and work work work, pausing to glance out the window at the beautiful view. Want to see?

practically my back yard

pretty lampposts

Riverside Drive - so empty!

the end of my street

I know they look like black and white photos, but they’re not. It’s just a black and white world right now. Very very pretty – especially since I get to just watch it out my window.

Tonight I hope to get some knitting done, and I have a LOT to get done this weekend: making the pillows using my new fabric, finalizing a syllabus, cutting out that wedding dress I still haven’t cut out, and encouraging my husband to paint. That one might be the trickiest. You know how that goes, right?

Tagged with: Manhattan • photography • plans • snow • weather • work

WOTN Mondays

On February 22, 2010, In recommendations, By Lori

Same as last week. Work (and life) are kicking my butt, man. Nothing new on the knitting front, and not much else to speak of. How boring. I bought some fabric to cover some new throw pillows for our living room couch, from Bolt44. We have hardwood floors, and an oriental rug in front of the dark brown leather couch. The rug has dark blue, some tan, a lot of brick(ish) reddish color. Here’s the print for the pillows, then:

So I’ll do that next weekend, something handy-dandy to look forward to, assuming I make it through this hellish week.

I want these pants, from this store:

soft cotton ticking fabric, soft elastic waistband, lightly rolled bottoms. heaven and red!

OK, I’m doing nobody any good here. My brain she is fried – off to have tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Fancy!

Tagged with: Bolt44 • paisley • pants • pillows • WOTN

tabs I can’t seem to close

On February 20, 2010, In recommendations, By Lori

The knitting goes on – I’m on the 2nd red Hedara sock now (but I’ve encountered 3 color-interrupting knots in this ball of Felici!!), and the wedding shawl moves on, and I’ve balled the yarn for Katie’s socks. Not much to show, really. So for now, here are some tabs I’ve had open all week and can’t seem to bring myself to close them:

Do you know Slaughterhouse 90210? The blogger (or is it more properly the tumblr) posts a mash-up of a TV screenshot with a literary quote, like this one that keeps me coming back:

“What passes for hip cynical transcendence of sentiment is really some kind of fear of being really human, since to be really human … is probably to be unavoidably sentimental and naïve and goo-prone and generally pathetic.” — David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

That concept right there is why I love David Foster Wallace. Have you read his commencement speech at Kenyon College? NO?! Then click here to read it, right now.

Thanks to my 2nd daughter, I am a Moby-Dick-aholic. It is a thoroughly amazing work, full of magnificent imagery and excellent psychology. Lyrical passages that will make you cry, and leave you unable to read anything else for a long time. That’s what happened to me. This daughter has been enamored with sperm whales and giant squids for a very long time, and the images find their way into her work. So when she sent me a link to this story about the whale whisperer, I had to read it immediately. And the images – this one reminded us both of one of the most incredible scenes in the book:

they just hang upside down like this for a very long time

and p.s., listen to this episode - animal minds – of the great podcast RadioLab, for a great story about a man’s relationship with a whale. It made me cry.

And finally – from Seattle Sundries, these handmade soaps look aMAzing. I want to buy a bar of this right away:

Made to clean and eliminate unwelcomed cooking odors such as fish and garlic from hands, this soap truly is bitchin’! The borax adds extra cleaning power, while the ground espresso beans lend a slightly abrasive texture and combine with cinnamon leaf essential oil to counteract strong odors. Unfortunately, now you’ll have to quit yer bitchin’ in the kitchen!

Check out all the soaps, they’re cleverly titled and I imagine that they’ll each smell wonderful.

We’re off to Ikea and Home Depot – we’re repainting the apartment, adding some color to the kitchen, and redecorating the bathroom, for starters. Everything is white right now, but we’re adding some nice yellow to the walls in the kitchen. Photos to come!

Tagged with: David Foster Wallace • Moby Dick • RadioLab • redecorating • Seattle Sundries • Slaughterhouse 90210 • soap • whales

oh yeah! Yoko!

On February 19, 2010, In out and about in NY, By Lori

It means absolutely nothing, but it sure made me laugh. I got this in my email :

To answer the obvious questions:

YES – that says that Yoko Ono is now following my tweets.
YES, it’s the real Yoko Ono. I saw an interview with her and she gave her twitter name so of course I decided to follow her. It’s Yoko! I love her! I follow a few famous people – authors, mostly – and of course I follow them and they don’t follow me. But Yoko followed me back, how bizarre!

I guess I’d better step up the quality of my tweets. Which means doing any tweeting at all. I just don’t get it, as I’ve said before! What would I tweet? “should i have another cup of coffee?” “getting ready to send another email” “i just read a terrible manuscript” “think I’ll knit for a while” PLEASE. I have a twitter account just so I know where the cupcake truck is, and which neighborhood the waffle truck is visiting on a given day.

Still – I’ll probably never again get an email saying that Yoko Ono is following me.

Tagged with: twitter • Yoko Ono

not my scene, man

On February 19, 2010, In out and about in NY, By Lori

What a disappointment. As I mentioned yesterday, I was SO excited about the Night of Knitting at the City Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival. All day long, I kept thinking about it with something like glee. I didn’t have lunch, saving my appetite (and calories) for all the yummy offerings in the evening. I brought my knitting, and was excited about getting to knit with others, in a big room full of knitters.

I had an hour to kill before the doors opened at 7, so I walked around. It’s in an area of Manhattan that I rarely/never visit, so it was all new to me. It was cold, and my backpack was extra heavy since I planned to work at home on Friday, so I had my laptop and sheafs of papers in it, along with everything else. By the time I headed over to City Bakery, I was tired and cold. At 6:35, I thought I’d just walk past it to be sure I knew where it is, and WHOA. The line was already all the way down the block. So I scurried over there and took my place, so far away that I couldn’t see the door of the bakery.

Since the event was sold out, one of the City Bakery guys periodically walked the line to be sure no one was there thinking they could just buy a ticket at the door. And then he said these dreadful words to the women standing behind me: “Yeah, there are 220 people signed up.” A gasp went up in the group who could hear him. 220 people?! Really? There’s no way that many people could fit in that space!

But that’s what they did. The event organizers left in enough tables for people to sit in the various workshop groups, and almost no others. I guess they just took the maximum number of people allowed by the fire code and sold that many tickets…..but I’m telling you, that does not leave a space conducive to a nice evening. On top of that, it’s winter, and people were wearing big coats and having to carry their stuff with them, so it was nearly impossible to walk around the place.

The advertisement said you could take a workshop or just bring your own knitting and sit with that…..but there were no tables for people to sit and knit. So you had to stand (if you could even find a place to stand) and hold your food and drink(s) and knit. And expect to be jostled and pushed around by the crowd. I threw down one little shot of lemon pie hot chocolate (gross) and another of banana peel hot chocolate (not my fave) and left. It was such a relief, getting out of that crushing crowd.

I saw other people leaving, too, and when I was trying to make my way through the crowd, people were angry, rolling their eyes and grumbling. Bad event planning, City Bakery. I won’t fall for that one next year. Since it is an annual event, they must count on a whole new crop of people each year, because surely no one who attended last night would want to go again next year.

Too bad……….dashed hopes for a lovely evening. It happens.

Tagged with: city bakery • disappointment • night of knitting

random threads

On February 18, 2010, In Food, books, knitting, By Lori

#1. Nothing screams “woman of a certain age” like a big fan on the desktop blowing on medium speed. During the month of February. In very cold Manhattan. What’s next for me – red hats and purple sweaters?

festival!

#2. Tonight is Night of Knitting at the City Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival. Am I excited?! I’m restraining myself from rampant and later-embarrassing overuse of exclamation points. I’m a very shy person who rarely leaves home, except to go to work, but I’m looking forward to being in this place tonight, full of strangers who also knit and love hot chocolate. For $30, City Bakery provides a full (and sumptuous, I’m sure) dinner, plus dessert, and unlimited wine, beer, coffee, and 10 kinds of hot chocolate. Plus, knitting workshops galore, local yarn shops representing, and a spinning workshop. The event sold out weeks ago, so I’m glad I hopped on it as soon as it was announced. I don’t know a soul (unless I don’t know that I know you through rav), but I cannot wait.

#3. Very sadly, since there’s just not enough time in the day/week, I don’t get to read nearly as much as I’d like. I belong to a book club that meets once a month, and it takes me the entire month to get the book read. Some months I can’t even accomplish that. Last month’s book was just wonderful – Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri, as was this month’s book – The Partisan’s Daughter, by Louis de Bernieres. It’s not always the case that I like (or can even bear to read) our group’s selections, so it was great having two in a row that were rich and wonderful. I even finished The Partisan’s Daughter a few days early, so I flipped to the menu on my Kindle en route to work this morning and started reading The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life, by Twyla Tharp. It’s written with an easy tone, as if she’s just talking to you, and so far it’s good – about the discipline and routine that feed creativity. I am a creative person, but in the realm of craft, not art. I have loved books and words with great intensity, my whole life. My mind spontaneously produces wonderful images and metaphors. A couple of weeks ago, I described a feeling of being a hollow shell full of birds. Wow! Evocative, powerful, and apt. But when I sit down to write, everything flattens. All psychological depth disappears and I write “and then she blah blah blah, and then he blah blah blah. And then they blah blah blah.” BO-RING.

Like many people, I have a sense that if I could just let go, I could be more creative. Of course, that’s easy to say! But when you sit at your desk, how do you “let go?” I do like the idea of discipline and routine as an entry to a creative process, so maybe I’ll try that. Anyway, the book is good, applicable to anyone who is (or wants to be) creative in any way, and not at all New Age-y or mysterious. You might be touched by God, as Mozart was said to be, but he also worked harder than anyone else, and was much more disciplined than the movie Amadeus suggested, so his gift worked because he worked it.

And, it’s Thursday – halle-flippin-lujah!

Tagged with: city bakery • creativity • discipline • hot chocolate festival • jhumpa lahiri • knitting • partisan's daughter • twyla tharp • woman of a certain age

WOTN Mondays

On February 15, 2010, In Food, knitting, lace, love it, photography, shawl, socks, sweets, By Lori

If you’re in the know, WOTN means what’s on the needles? Maybe I just made that up. Anyway, now you’re in the know too, so feel free to adopt WOTN Mondays for your own use, if you think you might be lazy on Mondays and need a guaranteed post. Ha. Not that I’m lazy today…..

So, WOTN! Item #1, the wedding shawl. Nupps are “fun.” I won’t show the shawl in its entirety, to preserve the surprise, but little bits here and there seem ok. Case in point: nupps.

nupps (unblocked, of course)

Next up on the needles: socks for my youngest daughter (nonrav link), whose dorm floors are very cold. I want to finish them by the time she comes home for spring break in a couple of weeks, so I’m alternating these with the shawl. (Doesn’t that gusset look mighty huge to you? It does to me.)

A's socks

While not technically on the needles, these are destined to be on the needles very soon – sock yarns chosen by my oldest daughter. Katie, which one do you want me to use first?

Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock: Beverly

Knit One Crochet Too: Meadow

When I showed my husband this photo of his blueberry coffee cake, he said “I want some now.” Me too honey, me too….but we’re back on our diets. Too bad:

I. want. some. now.

And finally, in this brief period between snows, we walked over to Riverside Park – our back yard, kind of – and I took a picture I take over and over, in all seasons. Here it is today:

winter view

And here it is a few months ago, and a few before that:

November

May

Seeing the park blanketed with snow, and ice in the Hudson River, made me think about Lent. I didn’t grow up in a church that focused on Lent (ours focused on the fun combination of both fire and brimstone), and I’m not religious in that way, but the idea of it struck me. There’s a longing for life to come – the life that’s pent up in the trees and plant life buried under the snow. The wheel turns, it’s bleak now, but rejuvenation is coming. It’s coming. The world will begin again, as it always does.