No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace / as I have seen in one autumnal face (~ John Donne)
When we have particularly nice weather here in New York, I always think of my dear daughter Katie, sweltering and cracking with drought in Austin. She and I both hate the breath-removing heat, and she’s been in such a long run of it. So with all my apologies, Katie…..
OH MY it’s gorgeous here. We’re just in this very lovely cool, dry, sunny period right now. The kind of weather that makes you pause, tilt your head, sniff the air a little bit, and go back inside for a scarf. It’s fall, it’s here. The sky is an unbelievably clear blue. For my money, it’s the most glorious time in this part of the world, and makes up for February and March (well…..almost). If I didn’t live here, it’s the time of year I’d miss the most, it’s the thing I’d long for about New York. As I write, it’s 53 degrees — heading to a high of just 65. See?
oh my. perfection.
I just feel a little twinge — it’s really so pretty, I want to do something this weekend, go somewhere, get out in it, revel in it, glory in it. But that would seriously interfere with my knitting time, which is pressing on me, hard. Why can’t there be two of me. Seriously.
I hope it’s gorgeous where you are on this September Friday!
dunh dunh dunh! the return of knitting content!
I promised that knitting content would return, since this is after all (ostensibly) a knitting blog. The truth is that I haven’t felt much like knitting lately, and I haven’t had much time, either. But I have been making steady progress on my birthday sweater, pattern courtesy of my friend Kelly (dark and stormy cardigan, by thea colman, yarn is madelinetosh vintage, in baltic). Knitting the 3″ wide front band takes a long time, since it goes continuously up one side, around the collar (with a big section of short rows to make the wide cardigan collar) and back down the other side, in 1×1 ribbing. Maybe it’s just me, but 1×1 ribbing is the slowest thing to do. ANYWAY. Last night I finished the collar and bands, so I just have the sleeves to do.
cables and twists, so beautiful! and the way the cables drift into the ribbing at the bottom, really great.
look at that great collar - loose bindoff is critical here
the front of my beautiful birthday sweater -- unblocked, obviously!
So that’s been fun. I know I always get bored with sleeves, which seem interminable, but I hope they feel relatively fast, after the long slog of the collar and bands. Stockinette will be welcomed again.
And here are a few obligatory shots out my window, since we’re in Blizzardgeddon, as they call it. Silly.
snow out the back window
view from my front window. in the windowsill: two brass horney toads, a tibetan singing bowl, and a porcelain star-shaped box full of pins. my stuff.
see that van? its alarm went off most of the evening. i really hope their battery died.
The wind is gusting like mad, and I’m watching pedestrians being blown around, or trying to walk forward but being blown backwards. And once again, I’m glad to be working at home.
how was YOUR weekend? mine was thunderblizzardy.
We got that blizzard, the one that gave the mid-Atlantic seaboard a white Christmas. There’s a lot of snow, yeah; every time I looked out the window (which was constantly) the air was filled with tiny flashes — little dots, really — of snow blowing sideways, gusting around in whorls. Not the big heavy flakes, just little diamond dust. It did accumulate, that’s for sure, and I’m glad I work at home. But really, the coolest part was the booming thunder and flashes of lightning in the midst of it, last night. Oh that was neat. Thunder in a snowstorm, satisfies my heart. Living on the plains of Texas, thunderstorms are such a regular part of life and I miss them. Here are a few shots of what we got:
cool - today, anyway. much less cool tomorrow, i'm sure.
cars buried in the drifts
still, so pretty!
it even started filling the subways!
One thing I love about my city is that they organize snow days in the parks — sledding and free hot chocolate. I just love that. So stay warm, y’all! Hope your Christmases and Boxing Days were great.
really? REALLY ME??? i’m THIS goofy and weird because there’s a low pressure system hanging over the east coast? REALLY?????
[insert image of throbbing head here]
If only there were an uncliched image, I’d have inserted it, but they’re all exactly the same. GOOD HEAVENS. It woke me up in the middle of the night, as the terrible weather rolled into town. Are you as strongly affected by low pressure rainy systems as I am?! If so, I am very sorry. I woke up very very early this morning with a terrible sinus-type headache. I drank a little coffee, ate a bowl of cereal so I could take aspirin and sudafed. Stood in a hot shower for a long time, letting it hit me in the middle of the forehead.
Finally, the meds worked and I’m left with just the headache hangover (which, if you don’t know, is something like having an impression that you have a headache but you don’t, exactly). I’m dizzy and dull and weird and off. I feel the way it looks out my window: heavy and extremely still and just hanging there, pregnant and pulsing. Go ahead and rain, just do it, please. Please.
*****
So I frogged my shrug 
but I know how to do it now so I’m looking forward to seeing it work, this time. I also got plenty of yarn, thanks to a couple of ravelers. In fact, I’ll have more than enough to finish the shrug, so I can make something else with the luscious yarn after I finish this project. I think I’ll make the sleeves a little longer than I’d planned, since I don’t have to worry about yarn now. I would go ahead and cast on, but (a) I’ve already cast on for this project a couple of times, and frogged dozens of rows, and since (b) I have this head goofiness, I fear that (c) I’d screw something up and I’m not sure I’d have the courage to rip it out again and start anew.
If you’re on the east coast, I hope the rain isn’t hitting you too hard. If you’re in other places, I hope you’re having a better day than I am!
books and cookies. if that won’t make you read this, i give up on you.
Obviously, I love books and words. I got my first library card when I was 3, and every year I won the award for having read the most books during the year, when I was in elementary school. (The prize was a new book!) My graduate research was all about words. I write a lot, I kind of have logorrhea or something. 
I spent a number of years acquiring books for a couple of publishers. Now I edit books. Me + books = Big Love.
When the first Kindle came out, I was curious, but like so many book lovers I love the bookness of books – the smell, the touch, the thingness of it, the heft, the look, the everything. I have a favorite publisher (Vintage): my favorite because they publish authors and titles that have meant a lot to me, and I really love their designs, both interior and cover. Their books are instantly recognizable (even to the touch) and beautiful.
Still, I bought a Kindle immediately, partly because I’m an early adopter of all things gadget, and partly because I live in Manhattan and don’t have very much room. I’ve spent a large fortune moving my huge library of books all around the country, but since I moved here I had to prune. I didn’t think I could let go of any single book, but I did. Then I had to prune again. And again. And again. One book coming in means one needs to leave. So the Kindle seemed like an ideal option; plus, I can have LOTS of books at my fingertips when I travel. Little did I know it would completely transform my reading……as in, I read even more! It’s fantastic. I love my Kindle. Love it love it love it, wouldn’t go back. I still buy books, but I’m much more selective, and buy a hardback if it’s really special in some way.
Anyway. Now that I’m self-employed, and underemployed at this point, book purchases are definitely a luxury. Definitely. Often I want a knitting pattern that’s only published in a book, but there aren’t enough patterns I’d want to knit to justify the purchase – and that’s especially true now, as I watch my pennies. Then it hit me: GET A LIBRARY CARD!
The last library card I had was a small card made of very heavy cardstock with rounded corners, and a metal plate in the center with my number on it. My name was typed on an old-fashioned hammer typewriter in something like Courier. I can still feel it in my hand, I nearly wore the thing out. Want to see what they look like now?
Library Card: the regular and keychain editions!
There’s a branch of the library 2 blocks from my apartment. I can go online and request books from the entire NYPL system and they get sent to my branch, which then emails me. Easy breezy. I like the electronic swipey thing, but I miss that old metal plate.
Each neighborhood in Manhattan has its own reputation; mine, the Upper West Side, is the literary neighborhood, the cultural part of town, etc. I love that! And since I live a couple of blocks from Columbia University, we also have all that intellectual stuff. Within 2 blocks of my apartment are 3 independent bookstores, can you imagine that? Columbia U has a Barnes & Noble, so that’s right there too.
Book Culture - a great GREAT independent bookstore, and nice description of my neighborhood!
The Bank Street Bookstore for kids, parents, & teachers
So shop independent when you can, yo.
It’s an absolutely letter-perfect day here. Very sunny, bright blue skies, little puffy white clouds, 70 degrees and very low humidity, and that certain feeling in the air….I’m sure you know what I mean. It’s a lovely day to be alive.
my street
So happy Friday, y’all! I’ve got an editing job for a Canadian guy who has written a book for young boys (the story is based on his childhood in New Zealand in the 1960s, so it’s fun for me to read too!), and I’m going to make a big batch of oatmeal cookies, but I won’t eat a single one since I’m on a diet. And you know how good the house smells when cookies are baking…….
who doesn’t love a laughing baby??
And also – Chicago weather!
Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.
it’s RAINING SIDEWAYS
So I’m just sitting on the couch, working, and all of a sudden I smell it – I smell the rain. And it’s blowing SIDEWAYS, at great force. And it’s thundering. Perhaps even lightning? So of course what does anyone think at that moment:
You’re welcome. I’m always doing this for you.
p.s. edit: the intense storm lasted for 2.5 minutes. it was an hour’s worth of storm squeezed into 2.5 minutes, i kid you not!
in which i am grumpy
The title of this post uses awful grammar – I know. Up with? But “with whom do I take this up?” fails to reflect my foot-stomping frustration, because it sounds like I’m standing in a well-mannered query line at some British store. (Note, I work with Brits, very lovely people, all of whom use excellent grammar. But then again, I do work for the publisher responsible for THE dictionary.)
Anyway. Who do I take this up with! It’s mid-May, in the northern hemisphere. What did I wear to work this morning? Thick stockings, warm boots, a long skirt, a blouse underneath a long-sleeved sweater, and my leather coat. IT IS MID-MAY and I’m done with this dreary late-winter weather. I know I’m saying that with my Texas accent, and I know that this is somewhere in the vicinity of the average temperature (on the low side, obviously), and I know that my own idea of what the average temperature should be is calibrated from 40+ years in a hot climate, but good grief. I spent last weekend so cold, I sat on the couch covered in blankets trying to stay warm. The super had turned off the heat to the building, [incorrectly] believing it was no longer needed. Because, you know, it’s MID-MAY.
My son says nothing is more boring than talking about the weather, so apologies for being boring. Instead, I’ll be kind of complainey about something else. There’s a food writer I love, who used to be responsible for one of the best food magazines around, and I enjoyed reading her autobiography. She’s a very nice writer. But boy are her tweets purple! Here’s this morning’s breakfast report:
Misty dreamy day, soft green, tender gray. Breakfast in bed. Tea, challah, sweet butter, strawberry jam. Sliced orange drizzled with Port.
Really? Tender gray? Really? That tweet isn’t as egregious as some that leave me rolling my eyes. Purple prose, look it up – it’s just bad writing.
And I’m one to talk – see the title of this post.
grump grump grump.
it’s a black and white world right now
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, 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, and cutting out that wedding dress I still haven’t cut out.
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