BLOG: For some weird reason, my blog has suddenly become a destination for people from all over the world, I have no idea what that’s about:

visitors in the last 24 hours

The searches that bring people to my blog are varied; ~50% are about knitting, and the rest are about such a mish-mash I wonder what the searchers think when they get to my blog and see that perhaps I used one word in their search somewhere in my whole site.  Anyway, it’s new, this global deal. I have a reliable cluster of visitors from the UK and from Paris, and then usually just a random one here and there. Late last week I had a flurry from Africa, which was particularly startling because I never have African visitors and I’ve wondered why.

KNITTING: I finally finished the body of Marnie’s sweater and have started a sleeve, which is going pretty quickly:

whee! starting sleeve #1

I think today I’m going to go ahead and soak and block the body of the sweater, so I can seam the shoulders and do the turtleneck. I worry about hitting a slump with the second sleeve, so I want to have something else to do, and I also want to see it so close to finished that it pulls me forward. It’s been such a mild winter I really hope she gets to wear it.

READING: If you’re the same kind of nerd as me, you might like the book I read yesterday (Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, by Mark Garvey). It’s a loving look at The Elements of Style, at E. B. White and Harold Ross and The New Yorker, and the world of people who are passionate about this little book including a host of famous writers who talk about their relationship with the little book. It’s a quick read (about as quick as The Elements of Style, for that matter), and you may — like me — read it with a silly grin on your face. Since I didn’t go online yesterday, I read that book, I read this week’s issue of The New York Review of Books, I pulled everything off my bookshelves and reorganized (and found of bunch of surprises, wowie), I cleaned the bathroom top to bottom, I did some shopping, and I spent a lot of time keeping my husband company. We watched Thirteen Days, that 2000 movie about the Cuban missile crisis — much more his kind of movie than mine, and I was only 3 when it happened. But when the spy planes flew low over the Cuban stockpiles, my heart raced and that surprised me.

HELP: A friend here in Manhattan is heading up a project called Legal Aid Society Trafficking Victims Legal Defense & Advocacy Project (she’s a lawyer for Legal Aid). Victims of sex trafficking are removed from their circumstances and hidden away in safety; she has organized a number of small knitting groups for them and is seeking donations of yarn and needles. Many of these women are from other countries, but some are US citizens. Their larger needs are more urgent, of course, but the knitting efforts are designed to help their spirits, and we know how well this works. The women have nothing and the woman at Legal Aid who is organizing this for them has no specific wish list. Just think about what any new knitter might need/want — yarn, needles/hooks, a nice project bag maybe, notions, anything at all. Others are organizing clothing and coat drives for the women, so we’re the lucky ones who get to give them this kind of joy. If you have any interest in helping, just let me know and I’ll give you the mailing address for the woman at Legal Aid. I posted a note in a couple of Ravelry forums and several knitters are sending boxes, but [unfortunately] there’s a steady stream of women so the need doesn’t stop.

Have a wonderful Sunday, whatever you’re up to! I’m looking forward to spending a few hours with a certain humpbacked wicked king.

visit rightbrainterrain.com to learn about this symbol

I often laugh at myself over the concept of fear — oh, the things I will be afraid of. Heights, I don’t laugh at myself for that one, it has evolutionary origins and is designed to keep me alive, even if I overextend it. But reading Moby Dick? REALLY? I was “afraid” to read Moby Dick, which is just silly. And I was “afraid” of spending a day in my normal life without going online. Of course I’ve spent days in my adult life without going online: there was the day I spent on Machu Picchu; the days I spent floating through the Mekong Delta; the days in Enkhuisen, The Netherlands; a day on a small island off the coast of Croatia. The obvious deal there is that I couldn’t get online, and I was on vacation.

So yesterday was my second normal day spent without going online. My original plans had been to ban the Internet and knitting. I decided to allow knitting, but only after I’d done a bunch of other stuff, only in the evening after dinner.

The goal of this exercise wasn’t to wield a Draconian whip — “Thou must NOT!” — but rather to help me move away from compulsive rut-dwelling and out into the other things I really long to do. So particular exceptions were allowed, to focus on the spirit of the exercise. I needed to share some good news with friends and family, so I opened Outlook, wrote that email, and logged off.

This progress report has two parts: the feelings of it, and what I did. I was worried that I’d feel like a junkie in need of a fix, only able to think about getting online. Consumed by wondering who was saying what on facebook. Consumed with certainty that great stuff was flying through my Google Reader. Curious whether my statcounter would reveal another visit from my assumed stalker. But that’s not what I felt, at all. Those kinds of thoughts would intrude now and then, especially when I was doing something quiet, like reading; it felt like an ADD brain, trying to make me jump from this thing! to that thing! what about the other! But it was easy enough to quiet by returning my attention to what I was doing. One thing the experience helped me see is that my constant multitasking is not my friend. It’s good to be able to do it when you need to, but I do too much of it, and nearly all the time. I’ll knit and watch a movie and read a book on my Kindle and answer emails and texts on my phone, all at the same time. No wonder I feel like I’m drowning in noise. So if nothing else, yesterday’s digital break helped me learn that lesson that I can implement every single day. The bottom line: It wasn’t a horrible feeling, willfully staying offline all day.

The ‘what did I do’ answer is satisfying. I had an unexpected early breakfast with a friend while my husband slept, then a nice conversation on the phone with Marnie (we talk every Saturday, a highlight of my week). My husband got some news that absorbed us for a couple of hours. I read — cover to cover — the current edition of The New York Review of Books. Made a cup of masala chai, pulled back my hair, put on my fleece jacket and wrapped my legs in a handknit blanket (it’s very cold here this weekend), sat at the table with the huge magazine spread out in front of me, and read every word (including a personal ad at the back from a woman who’s looking to date a man 75-80 who is ambulatory. Maybe she should set her sights a little higher?)

I did a writing exercise from my favorite prompt book, The 3am Epiphany. I worked on it for about an hour and a half and am pleased with it; I started making notes for the next chapter of the book I’m writing, trying to work out something I’m not sure about yet.

At this point my husband was making our dinner — chili — and it smelled so good, and made our apartment so warm and cozy, so I felt like watching a movie and knitting. After I recommended The Guard (a wonderful movie, y’all! watch it!), Marnie recommended The Trip, a Steve Coogan movie about two guys on a road trip through beautiful northern England, eating at foodie restaurants (it’s available streaming on Netflix). So I settled in with Steve Coogan and Marnie’s sweater (which — by the way — I had to frog completely, and start all over. Don’t ask, it’s too painful. OK: I had the side seam off on one side, by a lot.), and a cup of green tea. It’s a hilarious movie, and worth watching if only for their competing Michael Caine impressions.

I definitely got more done yesterday — and did a wider variety of things — than I usually do, when I’m plugged into my computer all day. I’m going to keep doing this, taking Saturday internet breaks, and sprinkle in smaller breaks throughout the week. Just like reading Moby Dick, it’s not really as hard as I’d imagined it to be. If you feel similarly scatterbrained and info-overloaded, it’s worth a try!  [edit: i just found this BBC article on the ways in which "Internet addiction" rewires your brain....this is a topic I could rant on, the too-easy naming of things as "addiction," but it's an interesting and pertinent read!]

Stay warm y’all -
L

There is someone in the Bronx who googles “Lori [last name] blog” to arrive at my blog every day or so. I’m about to ban that IP address, so if you see this, you there in the Bronx, get in touch with me (thrums.ny {at} gmail.com) and let me know that you’re a nice person and unaffiliated with my nasty stalker, and we’re good. Otherwise, I just have to ban you and I really don’t want to do that unless I have to. I’m going to leave this post at the top for a couple of days to be sure the Bronx visitor has a chance to see it. Sorry for the unpleasant interruption of All Things Thrums (or do you prefer the House of Thrums — equally and overly pretentious, it makes me laugh a little more).

Over the years, my subscribing habits have reflected ongoing passions. A few years ago, when I was a very-involved food blogger, I rabidly consumed other food blogs; now, if I don’t have much time, I just mark everything as read in the food blog folder and don’t bother. Now, if I don’t have much time, I limit my reading to the personal blogs, followed by the knitting blogs, followed by the reading blogs. Actually, it depends on my mood, the specific order, but I generally try to make time to at least scan through those categories.

Today I thought I’d share the reading sites with you, in case you find something of interest. In some cases the site offers criticism, in other cases it provides longform reading. At any rate, these are sites I really love for one reason or another, and share them gladly:

A.V. Club — this site is run by the people behind The Onion, but there’s nothing fake or jokey about it. I particularly love the tv and film criticism (here’s a post about the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad), which is always thoughtful, even if I don’t always [necessarily] agree.

Big Think — this site focuses on a range of topics including arts and culture, belief, ethics, history, identity, life and death, and a bunch of others. It’s not my favorite site in the list, but there are gems now and then, like this interview with Joy Hirsch, a neuroscientist who talks about the mysteries of her own brain, and making it as a lady scientist (my words, not hers!).

Brain Pickings — I mentioned this site at the end of last year as my favorite (new to me) website. The posts are always interesting, and the blogger seems to have an endless supply of ideas and topics to explore. I’m very eager to read this post recommending 9 books on reading and writing. In addition to great information, I love the site design, which is fresh and clean.

Gangrey — the site’s subtitle is “prolonging the slow death of newspapers,” which makes me smile. Each post presents a newspaper article the blogger appreciates for one reason or another; s/he provides the link and a small bit of context, so it’s really a curated set of links but I often really enjoy the pieces and might not have found them, otherwise. For instance, this piece titled Salt is “a tale of Texas justice and mysterious salt poisoning.” Well, I want to read that one!

McNalley Jackson Bookmongers — this is a book shop’s tumblr, so the posts are very brief….often just a literary quote, or a link to a post from another site, but I enjoy it often enough to keep it in my list.

Melville House — the Moby Lives site, if you know it by that name. I can’t wait to check out the books on the Man Asia Prize shortlist. The site offers literary criticism, insider-publishing posts, interviews with authors, everything you might expect from a smart publisher.

Pageviews — the books blog on the NY Daily News website. The Daily News isn’t a hotbed of intellectual rigor, but this blog is consistently thoughtful and takes on interesting books and writers.

This Recording — very new to me, so I don’t know much about the site except that I tend to love it. You can just follow the posts on books if you like, but the posts on tv and film have been quite good, so I just follow the whole site.

The New York Review of Ideas – a digital magazine of NYU’s graduate ‘Journalism of Ideas’ class of 2011. Another new-to-me site, but I’ve enjoyed it so far.

To Be Shelved – with the subtitle “judging books by their covers since 2010″, this blog is written by a woman who really loves books, and who works in news design. I bookmarked this post she wrote last November about John Updike, and just haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

Longreads — along with Brain Pickings, my favorite site in this collection. With word counts greater than 1,500 words, these are the articles you want to read when you have a bit of time. It’s another curated collection of writing found around the web, and I count on this site to collect stuff I want to read. They never let me down.

Obit Magazine — bear with me on this one. It’s about death, yeah, so it’s really about life, of course. There are book reviews and a blog, and I consistently enjoy the pieces that grab my attention.

If I’m in a rush, I just focus my attention on Brain Pickings and Longreads and let the rest go, but they’re all worth a look!

***

Just a couple more things to share and then I’ve got to get busy; this Gandhi manuscript isn’t going to edit itself!

it snowed our last night in Atlantic City, making the sad, worn-out place seem even sadder and worner-outer.

the lobby of Caesar's -- a little something for everyone! Fake Roman ruins, a Chinese New Year tree of lanterns, and a giant snowflake hanging just off to the left. They're taking no chances.

for Veera Välimäki's new shawl, Color Affection, I just received these three skeins from The Plucky Knitter (MC Fingering -- top to bottom: elegant elephant, Sammy Samerson, and flannel). Too much knitting, too little time, man!

And on that note, I say ta-ta! (for now, of course)

Well, perhaps I didn’t give it a real try, because I spent most of the day working on a couple of manuscripts I needed to finish before our mini-trip. I woke up and started editing, and worked straight through until 5pm, without stop. When I finished that, I had a bunch of chores to do, in preparation for leaving: laundry, shopping, baking [brownies and cookies for my husband], house cleaning, etc. Even if we’re just gone for a couple of days, I know how wonderful it is to come home to a spotless place, so I always leave clean sheets on the bed, the bathroom shining, the kitchen cleaned, the trash taken out, the floors swept. So I had all that to get done, which meant I was so busy all day it didn’t really feel like a digital sabbatical. Did I go online? Once, to send the completed manuscripts to my two authors. I didn’t do anything else, didn’t “just check facebook,” didn’t “just take a run through my Google reader,” didn’t “glance at Ravelry.” Nothing. But I didn’t feel tempted, either. I’m going to do it again next Saturday. We drove yesterday and got to Atlantic City, and in the way these things go, expensive hotels charge a lot for the internet and cheaper ones give it away for free; even though our room is not expensive, the hotel is so the charge is outrageous for the Internet, which means I didn’t go online all day yesterday, either. So two days offline. It feels good, it feels less noisy in my head. I’m curious.

Sham

So, Atlantic City. It’s a very strange place, and sad — probably a little sadder-seeming than usual since it’s winter, and so many places are closed. The summery places — saltwater taffy shops, ice cream parlors, miniature golf — they’re all closed and what’s left are half-empty casinos, psychics, and malls. Each hotel is a large complex comprising casinos, showrooms, shopping malls, and restaurants, and they all merge together. Just behind the boardwalk are rundown-looking tattoo parlors, check cashing stores, pawnshops, and shuttered businesses.

When I was first married, when I was 21, my then-husband was working for CBS News doing election research. We traveled to 20 states, and in the states he worked, he had to gather data at every county seat. One of our states was Nevada, and we got stuck in Las Vegas for more than a week because their records were so poor (surprise!). It was my first time encountering gambling, and I learned that I should not do it. I spent my little bit of cash and found myself glitter-eyed staring at my wedding ring, wondering what I could get for it. I walked away having learned something about myself. So I came to Atlantic City knowing that I didn’t want to gamble, but I don’t even want to. Now I look at the casinos and see them as oh so sad. Sad people sitting in front of tables or machines, giving their money away, and being blitzed by flashing lights and ringing bells, to keep them doing it. Or to disguise what’s really going on. They feed their money, they keep reaching into pockets and bags and handing over more and more. For the most part they’re older and I don’t know if that’s a difference between Atlantic City and Las Vegas, or if it has to do with this time of year. Or something else. Anyway, I haven’t been tempted.

We went into one place which was set up with an old west theme. Inside there were fake oak trees with tables underneath, and saloons and taverns along the outer edge, complete with swinging doors. All kinds of ‘buildings.’ And then, if you happen to look up, you see the ceiling tiles painted black, and you see so clearly the constructedness of it, and you realize it’s a giant warehouse that could be stripped of the old west theme and turned into anything else. It’s such a strange place. People love to be fooled.

We ate dinner last night at a hamburger place, and it felt as sad as the rest. It had a 50s theme, and the other customers seemed tired and worn down. It was someone’s birthday, so the lights dimmed and a waiter shouted that it’s always a special day, but today is most special because it’s Annie’s birthday, let’s sing! The entire restaurant joined the song, which very quickly drifted into a minor key and stayed there. I swear it was the most forlorn version of that song I’ve ever heard, and it fit the vibe. Minor and sad.

Because we’re here Sunday and Monday nights, the room rates are quite low; ~$70/night as opposed to $300+ for Friday and Saturday. We’re on the 41st floor with an ocean view, and the view really is beautiful. I love the ocean. We’re so used to New York, though, that last night the utter quietness was disturbing. There was absolutely no sound, at all. Bizarre! So we’re here tonight and tomorrow we’ll head home, back to the other world.

Last year I grew in a very specific way: I became more self-possessed. That’s a very neat word, especially for someone who has always been other-possessed, past-possessed, history-possessed. Self-possessed means I take my own counsel, I have integrity and take my time, consider myself, pick and choose with the confidence of my true self. But I’m allowing myself to be overwhelmed, and it’s definitely time to stop, to take stock, to turn away from the easy seduction of immediate gratification and instead move thoughtfully and mindfully ahead. Easy to say, hard to do. I hope Saturday’s experiment gives me a start.

On Sunday my husband and I are driving to Atlantic City for a couple of days, to get out of town and keep ourselves busy and distracted while we wait for some news. We’re going ironically, and we’re Atlantic City’s worst nightmare: we don’t drink, we don’t gamble, we intend to lie around the pool or walk on the boardwalk or chill in our room, and we plan to eat.

It’d be much more interesting to go when Nucky was there, and Chalky, but alas. That’s a tv show. We’ll have a good time together making fun of the whole thing, the gamblers, the Snookies, the plastic glam and fake glitz. I’ll be taking my laptop, and since it’ll be after Saturday, I’ll be reporting live. From Atlantic City.

For the month of January, 2012, on Saturdays I will not open my laptop at all, and I won’t knit.

I KNOW!! Isn’t that a terrifying idea? And honestly, I don’t know which part is scarier, the computer or the knitting. Can I really do it? Why should I? Would you attempt such a crazy stunt? I may need to think this through a little more; I may want to write (and in fact I do want to write), so should I instead say that I will not be online for that month of Saturdays? But if my computer is open and on my lap, how could I not just do one little email check, just take one little glance at facebook? Am I a woman, or a mouse?! [in fact, i am a mouse. a woman mouse.]

What would I do, instead? Well, actually, there’s quite a long list:

• take a walk
• do yoga
• write by hand
• read (read, read, read!)
• watch a movie
• go to a museum
• paint
• sew
• housework
• go to Central Park
• go out for coffee or brunch
• cook / bake
• meditate

And that’s just what comes to mind right off the top of my head, things I always want to do but end up not doing because instead I knit and poke around online the whole day. I think I’ll be a little bit of a weenie and just challenge myself to one Saturday, for starters. But let me take a kinder stance to myself: rather than seeing it as my being a weenie, I’ll decide to give myself the best possible chance to succeed! Yeah! Saturday, January 7, I will not open my laptop, and I won’t knit. I make this promise to myself, to encourage myself to explore more of what interests me.

Do you think I’m nuts?

I’ve seen this on a few blogs and really liked it, so here’s my version. 2011 in review — the first line of the first post each month, with my favorite photo from that month. The photo doesn’t necessarily (usually doesn’t) come from the same post. Here we go:

J A N U A R Y

an urban snowman, with baby beets for buttons, and that's probably an organic carrot. this IS the upper west side, after all.

Ah, New Year’s Eves I have known. One little night, fraught with such imperative – must have fun! Must be memorable! AAAAGH!!

F E B R U A R Y

will and katie, 4 years ago

I’m looking at gray skies, gray buildings, brown-gray-black-filthy snow everywhere, and ice-coated trees that look like glass.

M A R C H

giant moon over NYC

Moody. The dreadful and misleading-sounding labile. All over the place (which sounds like it could be at least partially good, doesn’t it?).

A P R I L

sib play

I finished Katie’s socks — the pattern is Angee, by Cookie A, and the yarn is the ultrasoft and super washable KnitPicks Felici (colorway: green vegetables, in the most obviously-named color ever).

M A Y

I was here just a few days ago! This was shot behind the Greco-Roman amphitheater at Myra, in Kale, Turkey

Turkey was wonderful — in almost every way, it was a perfect vacation.

J U N E

all done by hand. Every tiny leaf. The hatching on every tiny leaf. Thousands of tiny bunnies. Really. Marnie is a genius.

Remember that old Steve Martin bit about how to be a millionaire and never pay taxes? Basically, it was: first, get a million dollars.

J U L Y

lovely gorgeous NYC

I hope it’s been a good summer for everyone — it’s been a good summer for me! Thank you to everyone who said something here, or on facebook, or via email, about my seeming disappearance from good old Thrums.

A U G U S T

i love this color so very much

Aside from fire ants, I don’t mind ants — regular old in-the-house ants. I know some people are freaked out by them, but I don’t mind them. I try to get rid of them, but I don’t mind them.

S E P T E M B E R

picture swiped from Marnie's facebook wall, so it's a copy of a copy of a copy. But that's me in Chicago, holding a Bitter Woman Ale and smiling at Marnie and Tom before digging into a giant sandwich. And being 52 the whole time.

This is the whole point with this daily gratitude thing, I guess. Sometimes you have to make a hard effort to find something to be grateful for, and that’s the very time it means the most.

O C T O B E R

my last evening in the Mekong Delta

We got home around midnight from our wonderful trip to Vietnam and Malaysia. It was just amazing; if you are interested, here’s a link to the flickr set.

N O V E M B E R

central park, so artistic

So there we were last night, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, waiting for our wonderful dinner, listening to scary music, talking with a friend who came over to spend the evening with us. We munched on Katie’s roasted pumpkin seeds, Trey tended to the smoking pork, it was lovely.

D E C E M B E R

such great texture in that front panel

Are you in a book club? I really want to know — if you are, tell me about it, and if you aren’t, tell me why! I’m in a book club and I love it so much. Although the true number of members is much larger, there are 6-10 people who reliably show up. There’s no reason we don’t have men in our group, we just don’t.

* * *

So what I’ve learned is that my first post each month is usually quite banal; I need to take more photographs, since I included few of my own across the year and many more scrounged off the Internet; it was a rollercoaster year, with some real highs and some extraordinary lows. But it ain’t over yet, the fat lady sings in 14 days and 14 hours!

Instead, I just plug 1 and 15 into the little website and I get this:

Kristie! Kristieinbc posted the first comment.

I already contacted Kristie, but in case my email went into her spam folder and Kristie, you see this, just let me know your shipping address and it’ll go out on Monday. I secretly wanted everyone to win, which makes little sense but there you go.

I finished Laurayana’s second sleeve last night (whee!) and cast on Audrey in Silt, so things are popping in my sweater wardrobe. This morning I’ll sew in the first sleeve and stitch up that side seam while the second sleeve is blocking.

Here’s the giveaway prize: a skein of Artyarns Cashmere 5, which is worsted weight, 100% cashmere.

I'll ship it anywhere, so don't worry if you live outside the US

I know at least one person who loves purple (hi Kty!), but even if you don’t, it’s a beautiful shade. Good luck!

p.s. — I’m not responding to comments, so as to keep my own grubby mitts out of the comment list, but yeah, I’m sure…..I had two skeins and made a gift with one, so I know just how gorgeous the yarn is, but I’m ready to let this one go. And if I gave away something I hated, that wouldn’t seem much of a giveaway!