Knit 1, Zen 2

Thanksgiving Zen

2011-11-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Nothing fills the mind with peace quite like a belly full of yummy food.

Turkey, herb dressing, oyster dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus, peas, hot rolls, yams (didn't eat those, myself), and four kinds of pie: pecan, apple (from scratch), pumpkin, and lemon icebox. White wine. Lovely conversation.

Burp.

So I totally indulged myself and then pretty much went to bed and slept for 12 hours.

BLISS

OK, seriously

2011-08-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of having to defend the name of my blog. I can be all zen and pretentious if I want.

SRO

2011-04-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

I think I've finally found my seat at the bar here at NOHSC. I'm not at the corners, which threw me off, because I like sitting at corners. And it's right near the beer taps, which again, I don't usually like. But I can't see my fat face in any mirrors urging me to order some sort of lite beer crap, and I can turn and see Musetta through the window when she's on her perch. It's a nice middle seat, protected, or at least settled between the embankments.

I like it.

Halfway up the stairs is a stair where I sit.
There isn't any other stair quite like it.
It's not at the bottom, it's not at the top.
But this is the stair where I always stop.

Halfway up the stairs isn't up and isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery, it isn't in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts run round my head.
It isn't really anywhere, it's somewhere else instead.

-A.A. Milne & Robin

fish sandwich

2011-04-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

Current fave thing on the menu at NOHSC is the blackened fish sandwich. Fortunately, the "blackened" is very low-key, basically just nicely seasoned, not that crusted with pepper stuff. They use the fish of the day, so today it's Mahi Mahi. Very nice. I see this sandwich and me having a good relationship. I know most people are ga-ga about the burgers, but that's a little heavy IMO. What Elmo would call a "sometimes food."

The best part of knitting is the giving

2011-04-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hee. I just made another knitting pact -- you know, where you are friends with someone, and you pledge to make them something knitted. I just told Aha (I have no idea how she spells it in real life, but that's how it sounds) that I would knit her a Toorie hat in gray and black for her daughter.

It's kind of odd when you start knitting. First, you make stuff that isn't very good. You make a scarf for yourself and your mother, or a friend. Then you make a hat for yourself and your mother and your sister and maybe a friend. Then...suddenly, everyone you know has a hat and a scarf and a purse or something like that, and they really don't want anymore.

Now, a lot of people at this point find new recipients. They make prayer shawls and stuff for the homeless and all that. And then other people (like me, and I'm sooooooooooooo special) decide to kick it up notch and make CLOTHES.

Seriously, it's a different world, making clothes. You have to worry about gauge and bust size and all that. But it's also way more cool. A scarf is nice, but a sweater...that's clothing.

So what a treat to find a way to make hats that people want. The bartender here is a sweetie, and she wants a hat for her daughter. What a gift!

80s Music

2011-04-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, seriously. I don't get it. When I was young (you know, before the flood), I listened to contemporary pop music, and I loved it. I also loved classical music and jazz and other stuff, but I recognized the value (however unconsciously) of being a part of my world and listening to the music of...I dunno know how to say it. Music of the now, of right this minute. I knew 99% of what I was listening to would fade away into obscurity, and that was fine. It was new.

Take on me.
Take me on.
I'll be gone.
In a day or two!

(The lyrics themselves seemed to acknowledge that tomorrow's music would take care of itself.)

Frankly, if you liked something two years old by the time I was a senior in high school, you were WEIRD. You weren't allowed to like a song much past the time you managed to memorize the lyrics.

And so I made a sort of pact with myself that I would never become one of "those people," the kind who end up only listening to the music they grew up with -- leftover '60s people, or people still stuck on big band jazz and bemoaning "the devil's music" when they should be enjoying the new stuff that comes along. People who still think Elvis is corrupting the young with "Hound Dog."

So I listened to Eric Clapton, Yes, Duran Duran, Foreigner, Van Halen, Billy Joel, J. Geils Band, The Go-Go's, Culture Club, The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, Soft Cell, Cyndi Lauper, Adam Ant, David Bowie, The Thompson Twins, Dire Straights, The Police, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Wham!, Pat Benatar, and Men at Work, and I enjoyed the tunes, confident that they would be replaced by other tunes with different musical influences. Back then, I envisioned an ocean of music and a lifetime of musical pleasure.

And then rap came along. And I'm sorry. Ew. No melody? Just percussion? Bitch-hating lyrics? Impossible to dance to? (unless you're a noodle on crack) And then hip-hop, which to me sounds just like rap. And then...

OMG! I realized I had become one of "those people" after all, someone who thinks contemporary music is junk.

So, I retreated to the generation before mine, listening to a lot of classic rock. I was a denier of reality and proud of it. An old fart in support hose. A droopy fogey unable to deal with the hip new generation behind me. A stick in the mud. I cranked up the Eagles, America, The Guess Who, Three Dog Night, Norman Greenbaum, even disco, and David Bowie ('70s version), and I reveled in my totally-not-hipness.

And now here I am, 2011, in yet another bar/restaurant/whatever, and they're playing '80s music.

WTF?

Is it possible that contemporary popular music is, in fact, bad? I mean, there are people are in their teens, 20s, and 30s in this place with free wi-fi. The music is meant to attract them. Why aren't they listening to the music being made right now? You know, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Usher, Akron, Snoop Dog, and all those people?

Personally, the problem for me is that the contemporary pop music that I do like basically sounds like '80s music. Pink. Adele. Isn't that Duran Duran again? Could this aversion to the music of 2011 (whatever that's supposed to be) possibly be true of...other people?

I would really like to blame this on my being in some old folks' place, pathetically listening to the AM Radio and debating whether Clinton were a good President. But I hear '80s music, it seems, wherever I go. It's in the mall, on the street (you know, when they broadcast from the back of a truck to draw a crowd), in bars and restaurants, and on about half the radio stations. (Satellite radio is too niche-vertical to give me any clue.)

So, what the hell is going on?

Why isn't popular music popular?

Or is it somehow just me?

Wow, I'm about as far from Zen as can be

2011-03-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

I'm about as far from a Zen state in my life, mind, body, and heart right now as I have ever been, and I had a dream last night that proved it.

I'm in Japan -- Tokyo. There's nothing in my dream about the recent horrors and tragedies there. I'm excited to be there, and I'm looking forward to shopping, dressing in something extreme, going out, etc.

However, I'm there on some sort of business, and there are other people from the company with me. I have these very specific times and places to be, yet when I get to them, there's always something wrong -- things are rescheduled, people don't show up, etc.

My hotel room is far away from the places I need to be at the hotel. So I start using other places to change in and out of business and casual clothing. I do this once on a balcony, but I hate it because I'm visible to others.

Eventually, I start keeping my clothing and other things I've brought in an elevator. There's a closet there and some shelves, and I hang my clothes all around. But I have to keep an eye on everything, because I don't want the staff or thieves to take my stuff -- including my computer, my fancy iPod that reminds me of stuff I need to do, and shoes. Lots and lots of shoes.

I remember one demonstration at the convention clearly. They have a model of a tall building and some computer graphics to show why the building wasn't destroyed, only damaged, by a bomb. I remember seeing this sort of origami rendering (in computer graphics) of watching the building's insides rise up through the building due to the explosion on the ground floor. But the debris didn't actually overflow over the sides of the building, so the speaker was talking about how this did minimal damage, as opposed to what happened at the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that it did a lot of damage, IMO. I thought about all the office equipment and furniture and stuff crushed inside the building. I didn't think about the people.

Okay, so some people I've become friendly with are going on a train trip to a cool part of Tokyo, and I'm invited. I want to get dressed in my fancy, cool clothes, which include a wonderful white feather boa with black feather at the end. I get a special haircut to match it, but I totally screw up my make-up. With effort, I wipe most of it off.

The dream shifts here. I'm talking with a woman who is excited to be there, but new to the area. Instead of being in Tokyo, we're at the UCLA campus. I offer to show her around. I take her up the right side of the big, red, curving staircase in the lobby, then show her all the twists and corridors to come down the left side. I offer to show her my favorite spot in the whole campus (this place in Royce Hall where you can look up the bell tower), but she's not interested and not impressed with the staircase thing. She decides she'd rather go it alone, and we (now back in Tokyo) part ways in the lobby.

In the lobby, a crowd has gathered around one of the women I've met at the conference. She has a knife and has gone insane, threatening everyone. I skirt around her and get back to my elevator.

I need to be ready at 4 PM to go with the others on the train. I go into the elevator, and it's full of my stuff. I start sorting, and at first it's a large, but doable task.

Then I realize it's 10 minutes to 4! I look around. My bed is in the elevator now, and tons of stuff. I start throwing things in bags and boxes, but there is so much! I have all these little do-dads and things. And it seems to get bigger when I turn around.

Then I realize that I can't take the elevator back to my room directly. I have to relay my stuff through the express elevator that goes to the 15th floor. So I take the stuff out of the first elevator and put it in the second elevator (the office workers don't like that, but I promise I'll be just a few minutes). The doors to the elevator start sticking, but I'm muscling through them now.

Back to the first elevator, where I get dressed in this rad outfit and then run around looking for the people going on the trip. I finally find them, and they admire my outfit, but they know about the elevator problem and offer to help, but I can tell they don't want to. I take their help anyway.

We run around trying to unload the first elevator and then put the stuff in the second elevator. I don't understand how I have so much stuff. How did I get it packed into my suitcases for the trip to Japan?

Finally, I get a load to the hotel room, which is a mess and chock-full of stuff. I decide I can leave the bed in the elevator.

I miss one of the elevator cars, and I get into another car to find that two guys are using it themselves, with two little beds of their own.

I get on the train to the fun thing in my outfit. I don't have fun. I wear the wrong shoes and my feet hurt.

Nope, not Zen.

In the room the women come and go

2011-03-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Chocolate and Cheese

2011-03-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

My two favorite foods are chocolate and cheese. But I cannot stand it when they are combined. I guess they're a food version of yin and yang to me. Sweet and salt. They circulate my palate. I find when I want one, I want the other, even though I want them separately.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice. -- Robert Frost

Why Can't Life Be Like Knitting?

2011-03-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

The best time of my life was also the worst.

I had no money, no friends, no social life at all, actually. I made no money. I was buying groceries and paying rent on credit cards.

Six days of the week, I woke up and made a shake for breakfast, then baked a potato or something else for lunch and went to the library. I had all sorts of stuff in my graduate carrel that I wasn't supposed to have, particularly a little electric kettle, with which I made soups and tea and stuff.

Around 2 PM or so, I would go for a walk around the park. Then I had to get some sort of dinner (Arby's was the only thing on campus back then, apart from the horror of the actual cafeteria, so I had a lot of chicken sandwiches) around 7. Then I played a game -- if I worked until 11 PM, I could go home and watch Letterman, and then go to sleep.

On Sundays, I drank beer and watched sad movies.

And this was life for about a year or so. It was...disciplined. I thought of it at the time as having no life.

But it was also wonderful. I had one thing to do, and one thing only: write the dissertation. I mapped out the chapters, did the research, wrote up the conclusions. And it was great.

It's occurred to me that knitting gives me some of that same singularity of being. The same focus. I have a specific goal and a map to get there. I know exactly when it's done and exactly what it takes to succeed at the task.

Compared to real life, that's paradise.

Insufferables

2010-12-09T15:13:00.001-08:00

I'm insufferably proud of myself.

Okay, I love cookies.

No, I lurve cookies. (Annie Hall reference -- I'm so ashamed.)

And I like making them even more than eating them. I love the whole potion-like chemistry of them, of the way they're almost impossible to ruin unless you overcook them. I love that -- like a vinaigrette -- they're a mix of a few staple ingredients with a million variations. I love that when they're done they are so easy to share, unlike cakes and pies. I love that people smile when you give them a cookie (except for people I don't want to get to know).

But as with so many times in affairs of the heart, I had a lost love.

I was a junior in high school. A girl (pretty, blonde, popular) in my chemistry class made this batch of incredible cookies. I ate one and went into instant cookiegasm. I asked her to bring me a copy of the recipe, and she said she would, but she never did.

I also have a memory of seeing the cookies on the cover of one of those magazines at the checkout line -- Woman's Day, probably. But I didn't have the money to buy it, and thought I could find it later.

And then, for decades, I've been looking for that cookie recipe. Not constantly, of course, but it's been there, lurking.

It was sort of a sugar cookie, but thick, and nicely cut out as a star, and frosted.

I make a good sugar cookie (courtesy of Fannie Farmer), but to make the dough so you can cut it with cookie cutters you have to add a TON of flour, which kills the taste and texture. The cookie from chemistry class girl was moist, and flaky. And yummy.

A couple weeks ago, I saw something about making cookies with sweetened condensed milk. Wow, I thought. That might be the key! So I found some SCM cookie recipes online, bought the stuff, and made them.

They were...okay. But they were not the ubercookie I was looking for.

So I said to myself, "Julia. You've been making cookies for 30 years. What do you think was in those cookies??"

So I fooled around with a few batches and adjusted and experimented and...

VOILA!

I don't know that these are exactly the same cookies, but they're close enough! I've now made two big batches (including pathetic attempts at frosting), and my butt is about three inches bigger and I may go into a sugar coma at any minute.

In other words, it's Cookie Heaven.

And I was thinking about what to name my original cookie recipes (for which I will have pictures as soon as they stop looking like a three-year-old fingerpainted the frosting on them). A friend suggested "Surprise Cookies" and I was thinking about "Sugar and Sugar" cookies.

But considering how full of myself I've been these last few days (and how full of cookies), I think I might call them Insufferables.

I'm so cool!

2010-11-18T12:56:00.001-08:00

Fixed my own bike chain! Wheee!

Where does the time go??

2010-11-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been almost a year since I published something.

Did I really have nothing to say? I don't think the people who've had to listen to me yap yap yap for the past months would say that.

Mostly, I've been trying to earn an actual living working from home. It's not easy, and I might just give in and go work somewhere, but I have to say, I really love working from home, and I've recently gotten much better at it.

It's a combination of things that makes working from home difficult.

1. Loneliness. I have to say, I enjoy being alone for the most part, but working from home has taught me that if I'm home alone for days on end, I go a little nuts. I've learned to take the laptop to a coffee shop, or Skype people, or go for a walk, or something. I've also learned much about how to cherish my friends.

Fortunately, I have the yarn store, so three days a week I do actually leave the house and go hang out with other people. I make a little money, and that's nice, but if I didn't have the job at the store, I'd have to volunteer at some youth place or something. I'm just not the hermit I thought I was.

2. Discipline. This should probably go first, and in all caps, or something. It's just so dang easy to procrastinate when you're surrounded by dishes that need cleaning and TV that needs watching.

3. Creating a work space. As awful as offices are -- cubicle hell!! -- they are created from the floor up to promote work. Homes are for living, not working. I've found the solution by creating two specific work spaces -- one for being comfortable while I edit and write, and one where I'm surrounded by tools and resources for doing Website and publishing work.

4. Making up one's own hours. This one is super-tough for me. Frankly, I don't do well trying to force and nine-to-five schedule on myself. Instead, I have learned how to keep an eye on the clock to make sure that I work a collective number of hours a day. My actual problem is working too many hours (once I get going). I can put in a fourteen-hour workday and get a lot done -- but then I'm useless the next day. It's very hard to do other things than work when you have energy and time.

5. Budgeting on a freelance pay schedule. Okay, I'll admit, I still haven't really figured this one out. But I'm trying!

6. Recognizing that the state of my home influences productivity. This was a real firewall for me. I hate housework. Just hate it. If I had the money, I'd hire a cleaning lady. But I don't. Dirty dishes, dust bunnies, overflowing trashcans and general clutter lower my efficiency. I've had to learn to set aside "productive time" to deal with these things.

There's more, of course. I feel guilty all the time when I'm not working -- which is very much like when I was a student and felt guilty all the time when I wasn't studying. Organizing work projects continues to challenge me. Just today I realized I'd forgotten something important and I'm now rushing to make it up. And, always, there's anxiety about money. Money, money, money.

To the Complete and Total Asshats at Orient Expressed Imports

2009-12-06T00:42:00.000-08:00

This morning, I walked outside my house to go to work and found that my car had been totaled by some kid driving his father's Lexus. He had to swerve across a lane of oncoming traffic to get to my little 15-year-old Toyota parked against the curb. The left front fender is just gone, along with the part of the engine behind it.

An hour later, I walked up to Magazine St. I was numb, I was freaking out, and I still needed to get to work. The Magazine bus travels the 2.5 miles up from my house to where I needed to go. I'm now late for work, and I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to get through the next weeks without a car. It's the freakin' Christmas season. My parents live up in Hammond. I have work during the week at a place that does not have a nice direct bus line. I am, in short, completely screwed and very, very cold.

I reach the bus stop and find that I have 11 cents. I was planning to go by the ATM on the way to work. There is no ATM now in the immediate vicinity. I am literally shaking with cold because I didn't think about how cold I'd be back at my house, I have 11 cents, the Magazine bus (of course) is in sight and coming towards me. I think about begging the bus driver to let me on the bus anyway or begging the people on the bus to help me put $1.25 together with spare change.

Instead, I think, "Hey, there's a store across the street." I have passed by ORIENT EXPRESSED IMPORTS at 3905 MAGAZINE ST. phone number (504) 899-3060‎ many times and smiled at the workers through the window. I thought that I could explain my embarrassing situation to them and beg $1.25 with the promise -- which I would keep -- to pay them back the next day.

Still kind of numb, but hopeful, I walk into ORIENT EXPRESSED IMPORTS. It's warm and filled with women. I walk up to the counter. There are three women who work behind the counter and three women who are obviously customers. I start to speak:

"Hi, I'm so sorry. I just had my car totaled and I have to get to work."

At this point, to my ABSOLUTE HORROR, I start crying. I never cry in public. I had no idea I was about to start crying. I say while crying:

"I just need to get on the bus to get to work. Could you possibly loan me $1.25? I --"

I am now crying too hard to speak. I have weeks of difficulty ahead of me. I have no idea what this guy's insurance company will do, what they'll pay me. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next week without a car. And I loved that damn car. Some idiot kid has smashed up my car.

I stare at the six women in front of me, devastated.

They stare back.

One of them says, "Ma'am, we don't..." All six now continue to stare at me.

Okay, so they've all decided I'm some street urchin who's worked out a scheme to beg them for money. I realize this is going nowhere, I apologize, no one answers, they continue to stare, and I leave, continuing to cry and totally humiliated. I end up walking to work.

So, to the six women who looked at another woman (in her forties, dressed for work, and crying) and refused to help with so much as a compassionate word, let alone $1.25:

1. So what if I were some street person in nice clothes? I was CRYING. I was OBVIOUSLY NOT DOING WELL. Couldn't you have at least handed me a tissue??

2. I wanted bus money. Between the six of you, that would have been about 22 cents each. You are in a store that sells decorations for $100 a pop.

3. Yes, you probably donate money to your churches. Charity isn't always presented to you in little sealed envelopes and a formal tithing tray.

4. Did you congratulate yourselves after I left for not "falling for that scam"? Guess what? It wasn't a scam.

5. You had a chance to do a tiny little thing today that would have helped someone.

6. You failed.

Again, this story comes courtesy of a teenager driving his dad's car and the women at ORIENT EXPRESSED IMPORTS at 3905 MAGAZINE ST.

Fourth and Final Day Temping

2009-09-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well, dang. I was getting settled in, and now it's over. I've got the timesheet signed and no more free food for moi.

Today was Mexican food. yummy

It's just as well. All the free coffee was making me hyper. I called Diana, so tomorrow I'll do the yarn store. Hopefully, Kelly Services will call soon with another position.

I've started up a scarf for a friend. It's looking good, though the yarn's a little busy for the pattern. Who cares? It looks nice and soft, and it's done in what she says are her favorite colors.

I've started The Bourne Identity, which so far is a little gothic but a good read. I wish I could stop comparing everything to the movies, though.

Well, so long, Omni Royal, and thanks for all the fish!

That was weird

2009-09-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, one of the total hoots about this assignment is that I'm working for the head honcho. I don't usually notice the "rank" of my supervisor, but in this case...

I noticed it first on the first day. While everyone was friendly and all that, there was this weird vibe going on too. I chalked it up to the fanciness of the hotel.

But the second day, I definitely noticed a little extra "hat doffing" when people spoke to me.

I am a temp. No one ever doffs the hat to the temp. Tell me to clean the restroom, yes. Act concerned about my opinion, no.

But seriously, this one guy is giving me the mail on Tuesday and being all, "Oh, here's the mail!" And when I got my car at the end of the day yesterday, there was this special, "Oh, here you go, ma'am."

So I made the connection. I am a temp, yes, but I'm the temp to THE BOSS. hee hee hee

It's the only time EVER on a temp assignment that I had status.

But today...I don't know what to make of what happened when I was leaving. My car wasn't in the garage. It was waiting for me, right there, in the front.

WTF?

The car valet guys had my car right there.

Was it there all day?

Did they...you know, actually get it ready for me? That's not possible, is it?

Maybe it was blocking something.

But seriously. It was right there.

More info tomorrow.

Temping Day Three; Finally Got that Lace

2009-09-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the third day here at the super-snazzy hotel, and I'm still doing fine. Have a gallon or so of free coffee buzzing through my veins, and they had these monster cookies at lunch. YUM

I did make a silly typo on a report I typed up for the boss. Thank goodness people expect nothing from temps.

After several attempts, I have finally gotten through a complete rotation through the shower stitch lace pattern. Im going to try working it upside down in blue mohair for what I think will be a really pretty shawl.

Okay, for the record, I hate this keyboard. The backspace arrow is tiny and RIGHT NEXT to the "insert" key, which means I keep missing the backspace and turning off the insert function. That is super annoying, people. Also, the board itself is curved all funny -- not as badly as though ergonomic ones, which I think were invented by total retards on a government payroll -- but still bad.

I read today about a SA tick that may cure cancer, that the star of a TV show I loved as a kid had sex with her dad for 10 years, and that Georgia is under water.

We live in interesting times.

NCIS was excellent last night. Tony under truth serum was quite a sight to see.

Okay, day two of the temping

2009-09-22T06:32:00.001-07:00

This job really is great. First, everyone here is just a little sharper, friendlier, and more...on the nose than I'm used to. I pull into the CORRECT parking lot this morning, and the valet guys recognize my name from someone telling them about me -- even named my supervisor -- and asked me how I was doing. They gave me the employee parking rate, which really helps. Then, I came early to get the free coffee, and there it was -- beautiful free coffee! They didn't have the pastries out this morning -- which bumps the perk from free coffee to free breakfast. So I went a-hunting, and found the BOX back in the kitchen area. I kept waiting for someone to look at me funny or something, but instead it was just all, "Yeah, get the free food."

Today I come a little better prepared, knitting-wise. I brought a bootie, which is just CO and go.

The only bad thing, which is pretty standard, is that many of my sites are blocked here. No Facebook, no Fark, no Pogo, no Crossword, no eBay. Moreover, when I try to go to them, I get this message that my action has been logged.

Seriously, can't people be trusted only to use these on their break?

The computer also has no games on it, which I guess answers that question.

First Day Temping in a While

2009-09-21T11:47:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm back in the clerical temping game. It's good, honest work that doesn't make me moulder away in some office forever. I don't really know why it makes so much difference to work three different places in three months (or whatever), since I'm doing the same work, but it does.

I guess it's because I don't get into the office politics, and I get to see the way different businesses work.

Well, yes. That is why. Never mind. I do know.

This week's gig is the Omni Royal Hotel in the FQ. It's one of those places where they do whatever they can to make the guests happy, so -- wow, this keyboard is noisy -- I have to wear my jacket at my desk all day, in case a guest sees me.

The best part of the job is that I get free coffee and lunch! The worst is that I have to pay FQ prices for parking. It's a bummer when you're working by the hour, and the first hour you work just pays for parking your car.

What's that? I could take the bus? Whatever, hippy.

Everyone here has been very nice so far. I only made one mistake, and that's in picking what knitting project to bring. I could have brought this scarf I'm making for a friend, or the booties I'm doing for a store sample. But no, instead I brought this complicated lace pattern I'm working out for a new shawl idea. When I get interrupted mid-row, I can't remember what I was doing when I come back. BLEH

I'm almost done with the back piece of the red sweater. I might get that finished tonight during the House season premiere.

McCardigan Worked Out!

2009-09-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is a commission for someone who doesn't knit, but has many knitting friends. She told me about an old favorite sweater of hers, which she drew out and I patterned (is that a word?) and knitted up.

I am definitely working this up for a Ravelry/store pattern. I want to make myself one, but in a color, with maybe a second color for the trim? I'm not sure.

How can it be so many months?

2009-09-20T11:54:00.001-07:00

Seriously, it doesn't feel like it's been that long since my last post.

Wow.

25 things

2009-02-06T02:50:00.001-08:00

Hey, it was kinda cool trying to come up with 25 things to say about myself. Feel free to try it yourself.

1. Here are some of my favorite things, in no particular order:
Long afternoons of sunlight, a new song I can listen to 25 times in a row, a wicked knitting pattern, making people laugh, those moments when I suddenly become aware of everything, Erte prints, solving a tricky puzzle, a bottle of wine with a friend

2. Some days I go all day without talking.

3. I used to be convinced I would be famous. I still think it's likely.

4. I make my biggest mistakes when I'm trying to be helpful.

5. If I could have a superpower, it would be super-hugging.

6. I love T-shirts with funny sayings, and sometimes dream of having 100s of them in my closet, but I never actually buy them.

7. I hate to clean the kitchen. I hate a messy kitchen. It's a problem.

8. I could stare for hours at a beautiful blue glass bead...except that I get distracted by the red bead next to it.

9. I love that my middle name is Grace.

10. I firmly believe that everything in life can be explained by a Saturday Night Live skit.

11. I tried being a professional organizer, and found out all my clients were freaks...and not in a fun way.

12. I love Johnny Cash, my cat, and baking cookies.

13. I've never been in love.

14. I adore trivia, especially useless trivia.

15. I procrastinate to a ridiculous degree.

16. I sing just well enough to wish I could sing really well.

17. I laugh at bad smells.

18. I live in a swamp, but the desert feels like home.

19. I grew up listening to people tell me I'd never make it because I can't spell. Discovering spellchecker made me cry with joy.

20. I'm stupefied by the bravery of people who have kids.

21. One of the coolest things I ever did was learn to play the cello, which I totally miss, because I can't find a teacher and don't have the money anyway.

22. I was always the last around the track/picked last for the team, except for tennis.

23. I know calligraphy.

24. My dissertation was totally bitchin'.

25. My favorite word is "iguana." Say it out loud. That's so cool.

Cool fact

2009-02-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Capitol has 365 steps from the basement to the top of the dome - one for each day of the year.

Dave Barry is Hillarious Sometimes

2008-12-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

Dave Barry Year in Review: Bailing out of 2008

::whine:: Why can't I write like this??

Fave bits:

In politics, Barack Obama addresses the issue of why, in his 20 years of membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he failed to notice that the pastor, Jeremiah Wright, is a racist lunatic. In a major televised address widely hailed for its brilliance, Obama explains that . . . OK, nobody really remembers what the actual explanation was. But everybody agrees it was mesmerizing.

and

In economic news, the price of gasoline tops $4 a gallon, meaning the cost of filling up an average car is now $50, or, for Hummer owners, $17,500. Congress, responding to the financial pain of the American people, goes into partisan gridlock faster than ever before, with Republicans demanding that the oil companies immediately start drilling everywhere, including cemeteries, and Democrats calling for a massive effort to develop alternative energy sources such as wind, the sun, tides, comets, Al Gore and dragon breath, using technology expected to be perfected sometime this millennium. It soon becomes clear that Congress will not actually do anything, so Americans start buying less gasoline.

and

. . . Congress passes, and Technically Still President Bush signs, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, and everyone heaves a sigh of relief as the economy stabilizes for approximately 2.7 seconds, after which it resumes going down the toilet. As world financial markets collapse like fraternity pledges at a keg party and banks fail around the world, the International Monetary Fund implements an emergency program under which anybody who opens a checking account anywhere on earth gets a free developing nation. But it is not enough; the financial system is in utter chaos. At one point a teenage girl in Worcester, Mass., attempts to withdraw $25 from an ATM and winds up acquiring Wells Fargo.

Nose

2008-11-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

Do you suppose
That those
With a rose
In repose
On their nose
Knows it shows
When their nose
They blows?

I want to live here!

2008-10-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

Kitteh House!

One of the most impressive things I've seen ever.

2008-10-03T12:10:00.001-07:00

Steven Greenblat on The Cobert Report!

2008-10-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hey! How cool is that? I wonder if I should get his new book. Shakespearean Negotiations was great, so I'm guessing Will in the World has gotta have something going for it. Hmmm, Amazon has a lot of good and bad reviews, and I've certainly had my fill of Renaissance biographies. Still, this might cure the indigestion I've had since Shakespeare in Love.

Anyway, go Stephen! Nicely played.

Zen and Bugs

2008-07-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, and I blame it on the bugs.

One of the main problems with being "mindful" and "achieving oneness" and even "going to your happy place," is that pretty much all the techniques I've been able to find involve withdrawing from the world -- physically, mentally, emotionally. We're supposed to find quiet within and without. This works fine, IMO, for somebody on a mountaintop, or in a temple, or someone like, say, a long-distance runner.

But my life is full of little bugs. Yesterday morning, for example, I was feeling pretty good, making my morning cup of coffee, when there was a GIANT COCKROACH in the damn sink. Ew.

Just.

Ew.

It is simply beyond me to look at all those legs and that little head and those long feelers and feel at one with the universe. Instead, I got the hand-sprayer and turned on the disposal and tried to shoot it down the drain. It didn't want to go, frantically jumping up and away from the drain. I was reminded, because I'm a big ole nerd, of the giant pit in the Star Wars movie where our heroes were to be slowly digested.

Eventually, I got the roach down and the disposal ground it up. So much for zen.

I work from home mostly now, which is wonderful, but requires that I actually put in the hours while surrounded by all my toys. The only person watching out for me is me, which isn't the greatest thing in the world when you're a world-class procrastinator. I even put off putting things off.

I'll be working hard, and a little bug will come buzz in my ear, "The kitchen is so dirty. You should take a break and wash up." or "Hey! Deadliest Catch is having a marathon! Let's watch!" or "It's been forever since you went to Ravelry."

Stomping on these bugs is particularly difficult, since they only quiet down for a moment, instead of dying. Frankly, like the real cockroaches, they play possum for a while, then spring back to life with a reminder that I have some of the yummy yogurt in the 'fridge. Just a little push, and I can be a mouse potato all day long. If I could only be paid to sit around on my spreading butt all day, I'd be a millionaire.

But the biggest bug is fear, always fear. Movies make fear glamorous, exciting like an amusement park ride. But the bad fears aren't of monsters, they're of all-too-ordinary little bugs, like failure, disappointing others, making mistakes, achieving nothing. Sometimes, reading Dilbert just depresses me.

And the worst thing about bugs is that you can just be sitting there, minding your own business, being good, and one comes doodling along, getting in your stuff, nibbling at your ear, crawling up your nose. Perhaps the only worse thing is when you have to go looking for them. Open one drawer and -- Yipes! Hundreds of the little crawly things.

Zen tells me to embrace the bugs, to recognize that they aren't evil or deserving of being sprayed down the disposal. But my hatred and fears are instinctive, even, I have to say, healthy.

Bugs are full of germs, you know. Embrace the wrong germ and you die -- the ultimate non-productive act that leaves you food for more bugs.

As a knitter living in New Orleans, I have been waging a war against wool moths for some time now. I know, as long as I value my wools and mohairs and alpacas, that the wool moths will never really go away. At least the cockroaches are just disgusting. The wool moths cost me money. If I try to embrace them, they'll eat my sweater.

My idea of a zen temple always places it on top of a rocky mountain far above the world. Not a lot of wool moths or cockroaches on top of a rocky mountain, either.

It's raining outside now, and I have a damp spot on my ceiling in the closet. I have a friend coming over for dinner tonight who's allergic to my cat, and I have cat hair everywhere (which the wool moths also love to eat) that I need to vacuum up. I think I'll make raspberry tilapia, so I'll have to buy some more raspberries. Bugs got in the last ones.

Good One

2008-05-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

e.e. cummings

2008-04-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

It's so easy to say, but what does it mean to "believe in ourselves," anyway? I believe I exist. I believe I mean well...but...

I am reminded of how other people will mock you if you show wonder or delight. There's a vulnerability in spontaneous reactions, and we learn to stifle the appearance of simple joy. And since feeling something is directly and reciprocally connected to showing something, we purposefully stifle our ability to feel simple joy, and all those other wonderful things, because they are "child-like." They show a strange and unfair social weakness others cannot seem to resist. To coo over something new and wonderful is the same as crying at a movie -- others are "allowed" somehow to put you down for it.

So it that all there is (to a fire)? "Believe in ourselves" means "not care if others make fun of us"? If so, I'm not sure I'm going to get there anytime soon.

Butterflies

2008-04-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a fluttering butterfly. What fun he had, doing as he pleased! He did not know he was Zhou. Suddenly, he woke up and found himself to be Zhou. He did not know whether Zhou had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly had dreamed he was Zhou. Between Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is what is meant by the transformation of things.

It started with deciding to organize my stash...

2008-04-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

But, eventually...

Whew!

Oh dear, Ravelry is here...

2008-04-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, after getting a new gig and dealing with family stuff, I've been letting my extra curricular (i.e., non-paying) online stuff just sit there...lonely and sad. :-( No new HFs in weeks, and no new blog stuff, even though I have been knitting up a storm. (Not so much with the meditating, though. Bad Julia.)

Anyways, I'm getting completely sucked in by a site that's just made for anal-reten....uh, organized knitters like me. Ravelry! This site is insane! I've already used the chart to note my needles and now I'm entering in project and stash info. And look at all the little discussion groups! Seriously, they may find me a few days from now, cobweb-strewn and dusty, my glazed eyes staring at the computer while I read about people around the world working on the same patterns I am.

Okay, I've Found My Soulmate

2008-02-25T08:16:00.001-08:00

How It's Made

2008-01-22T06:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have a new TV show of love. How It's Made on Discovery. It has a pleasant narrator who keeps the cute comments to a minimum, innocuous music, and a great premise: show how things are made.

Did you know that the average North American child will go through 730 crayons by the time they're 10? The best-selling packages of crayons are those of 16 and 24.

Did you know that the modern trumpet is made with five feet of tubing? Before they bend the bell, they fill it with soapy water, which they freeze. The ice keeps the bell tubing from buckling when they bend it, and the soap keeps the ice from shattering. So cool.

The factory machines are often ingenious, but I think it's even more fascinating what they don't do, and what the factory needs people for. You can see the jobs that will eventually be automated, and what will probably always (or at least until we have super-robots) need people.

Okay, this one isn't zen at all...or is it?

2008-01-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

BREMERTON The 27-year-old Poulsbo woman told police officers she promised sexual favors to a man if he bought her alcohol early Wednesday morning.

But after getting two bottles of inexpensive fortified wine, she used one to hit him in the forehead.

Quote for the Day - Not Zen, but Close!

2008-01-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

The fabric features a brocade pattern that is a no-no. My couch would rather stand and not have lunch at all than eat with this fabric. That's how not cool this fabric is.
Jeff

NOOOOOO! (Darth Vader Emphasis)

2007-12-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

I just found out that Three Olives Vodka has discontinued their chocolate flavor!! Terrible! Horrible! I'm so SAD!!!

Oh, and I made it home, but, so far, my luggage hasn't.

I did pretty good!

2007-12-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the day after Christmas, which means it's time to go back over my loot. I got some lovely stuff. which I really hope I'll be able to fit into my suitcase!

Let's start with the biggest surprise. You know how you want something, but it costs way too much so you know you'll never get it? Well, I hinted for something almost as a joke -- sure, I wanted it, but I knew no one would ever get it for me. It's primary purpose was basically something to yearn for from afar. Well...my sister actually got it for me, which just about shocked me into silence (an unheard-of event!) before I decided it's my fave present for the year.

Seriously, this thing has about a thousand little pieces. It's going to be a total hoot to put together -- basically a 3D puzzle with stickers and little Lego heads. Of course, it doesn't fit in the suitcase, so it looks like I'll have to check the bag (I usually carry-on, but what the hell?) and put this in the overhead compartment.

A+ on the coolness rating.

In the more adult catagory, I hinted very strongly for those mondo-cool accessories that fit on the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. In particular, I wanted the pasta maker attachments, because I used to have a pasta machine, but the motor burned out fairly quickly. The idea with the mixer attachments is really sensible. If you have one of these babies:

...then you've got a super-strong motor in your kitchen (mine's 350 watts) that can be put to multiple uses. So they have meat grinders and veggie choppers and sausage stuffers. But I wanted the pasta ones, and I got them! Neato. :-)

They're super-heavy! So I'll definitely be checking my suitcase, Lego's or not.

My mom and my sister also got me some clothes. And I got a box of 72 10-hour lavender candles (I love lavender) and some lavender blotting papers, and a little apetizer cookbook. My dad got me a kick-ass abalone and sterling bracelet from ColdwaterCreek.

So, not a bad haul, eh? I also got some candy and nuts from a friend, and a shawl from another friend, and a really cute jingle-bell ornament from another. I got free cat-sitting from another.

And, I have to admit, even better, people seem to like the things I got for them -- Webkinz and Ninendo games for the nieces. Mug warmers and a wireless mouse for Dad. Needlepoint kits and a huge sudoku book for Mom, and Sister actually seems to like the hat I knitted for her. Maybe I can get a pic of that up later.

People like to complain that Christmas is too commercial, and it's not right that material gifts should be so central to a Christian holiday, but I kinda think they're missing the point. It's difficult to tell people how you feel about them. Gifts are a great way to show that you're paying attention to what they do, what they think about, what they like. If gifts weren't so important, we wouldn't stress about them so much. And when you enjoy presents, you think about the person who gave them to you.

So it's with more than material concerns that I can say for Christmas 2007, Santa was very good to me!

Tea & Zen

2007-12-08T21:11:00.001-08:00

The Zen master Hakuin used to tell his students about an old woman who owned a tea shop in the village. She was skilled in the tea ceremony, Hakuin said, and her understanding of Zen was superb. Many students wondered about this and went to the village themselves to check her out. Whenever the old woman saw them coming, she could tell immediately whether they had come to experience the tea, or to probe her grasp of Zen. Those wanting tea she served graciously. For the others wanting to learn about her Zen knowledge, she hid until they approached her door and then attacked them with a fire poker. Only one out of ten managed to escape her beating.

Hear me roar!

2007-11-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have this fantastic car that is now 12 years old and still runs like a dream. But it is starting to show wear and tear. Most noticeably, the side mirrors were cracked/missing. So I bought some replacement parts on eBay and -- I'm so cool!!!

Seriously. Someone bring me a Bud while I scratch my butt.

I'd talk about the cat, but...

2007-11-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

At the yarn store on Saturday, Lee said she never sees a knitter's blog which doesn't have pictures of a cat or two on it.

Is there something to that, I wonder? Do knitters HAVE to have cats? Surely there must be some knitters who don't have cats, but maybe none of them blog.

I love Erte tremendously. The Father of Art Deco does such wonderful things with lines and colors, half-fantasy, half The Cruel Shoes. I have a scarf with his print of a knitter on it, and, you'll notice:

Yup, there's a cat.

Also, I got my cat and a took up knitting within a short time of each other. The worm. The spice. Is there a relationship?

I went to ask Musetta what she thought, and it turns out she did give me an answer in her own way.

It's not just that many knitters may have cats, but that cats become a part of knitting. They love the yarn, they invite knitters to make ridiculous things for them to destroy. They're so warm, and and they're so fun to stroke and cuddle -- yarn and cats both. What are you looking at?

Of course, knitting and cats are both a way to snuggle into one's home, great enhancements to one's domesticity. They are sources of tactile delight as well as demands upon one's care and attention. They can both be incredibly pissy, and they both tend to react poorly to water. Maybe cats were God's first knitting project.

Speaking of, my own blue yarn project is coming along nicely.

I'd really like to get this one to the wearing stage as quickly as possible. The lattice design took a little getting used to, but now that I've mastered the knitting/purling motion while keeping the cable needle in my left hand, it zips along pretty well. I think I've got another three or so inches to the back (I always make the first piece the back piece, for obvious reasons), then I can start the front.

So...I thought I'd teach my mom to knit

2007-11-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

Mom's pretty handy with handicrafts. She does needlepoint and cross stitch and she's hooked a rug and chrocheted, etc. So when I got into knitting a while ago, Mom thought it looked like fun. I got her some yarn and needles, and she started on a sweater (she decided to skip the scarf stage).

When the sweater turned out to be a pain, she started on a pair of socks...then a tank top in ribbon yarn. Then...well...

Mom has decided it's just not her thing. However, she bought that yarn, and since I, er, encouraged her so much, she's now returned everything tain -- uh, touched by her knitting experiment to me in the mail.

I'm doing the ribbon tank top first.

I feel so smug -- don't spoil it

2007-11-14T11:54:00.000-08:00

Diana, owner of Garden District Needlework, pulled out a skein of Noro Kureyon a couple weeks ago and told me to work up a Christmas stocking pattern for it. (Well, she asked/told me, if you get me.) I decided that this challenge was really about making the EASIEST Christmas stocking pattern, and therefore, was much knitting and purling and frogging and gnashing of tongues and eating of orangutans, until I came out with what I'm fairly certain is the easiest way to produce a stocking (not one you could really wear, but good enough for hanging on the fireplace). And there was much rejoicing.

What do you think?

I think I will keep him and love him and name him George.

Er, actually, I think I'll name it the "In a Twinkle Christmas Stocking" and put the pattern up in the store. (If anyone reading this wants a copy of the pattern just say so.)

Now, I know for a fact someone else has come up with this simple slip-short-row pattern, but I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT. Thanks right. I'm feeling all smug and proud that I invented something, so I don't want to know about the 1,000,000,000,000 knitters who have come before me and figured it out already.

I celebrated my triumph over the stocking by starting up a new project. Can you guess what it is?

A little zen to start off the rest of the day

2007-11-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

If you understand, things are just as they are; if
you do not understand, things are just as they   
are.                                             

- Zen proverb

The First Thing I Did this Morning

2007-11-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

...after coffee, anyway.

I spend way too much time just goofing off on the Net, and one of my favorite waste-times is Fark.com. So there's a link to a story about a fat hedgehog, and someone starts fooling with the fat hedgehog's picture, like it's a Photoshop challenge, and suddenly I'm doing one too.

I can't remember my last date. Coincidence? I think not.

Tea at Windsor Court

2007-11-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Most people visiting New Orleans know all about Bourbon Street and the music and Commander's Palace, and all that. But one of my favorite things to do when I have guests (as I did for about a week) is to take them to tea at Windsor Court, New Orleans' five-star hotel.

My guests were my mom (on the right) and mom's friend Pat (on the left), who was a total hoot. They were both total sweeties, and they treated me to breakfast at Brennan's and lunch at Commander's in addition to the tea, so I made out like a bandit.

First, if you get the Royal Tea, the waitress offers you a choice of bubbly wine, chardonnay, or sherry. Then you get to pick a tea from the selection, which includes Darjeeling and jasmine and (my current favorite, even though I usually hate fruit-flavored teas) peach-mango. Then you get crustless sandwiches, scones, and then sweets. At first, you look at those little sandwiches and scoff, "Oh, this is hardly any food!" But, inevitably, by the time the sweets come around, you're all full and holding your belly. I don't know if it's how rich the food is, or all that tea, but very few people leave without a doggy bag.

I was sad to see them go, but now I'm absolutely buried in work I should have been doing. Bad Julia. No more treats for a while.

DONE AT LAST!

2007-11-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

Seriously, between the scarf and my basic laziness, I thought these would never be done!

They look pretty good, and they feel great, but, actually, despite careful measuring on my part (by which I mean eyeballing it a couple times), they're not as long as I wanted them to be. I'm thinking about maybe picking up the stitches at the top and doing a couple more inches.

Hm.

Speaking of the scarf...I'm happy to report that it got there on time and passed muster. My younger neice, Isabel, looks about as much like Dawn Pokemon as a 3D figure can.

Meanwhile, my older niece, Jenna, was a fabulous witch.

Yes, this pretty much sums it up.

2007-10-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

The cartoonist is Simon Tofield. You can see some more of his stuff at Tandem Films (tandemfilms dot com).

Is there anything better than finding a fabulous quote?

2007-10-26T17:01:00.001-07:00

“Gossip is hearing something you like about someone you don’t.”

~Earl Wilson

Fire, Air & Water

2007-10-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

My parents, sister, and nieces live in San Diego County, so it is with great concern that I'm watching the news.

Wildfires in So. Ca. are kind of like hurricanes in New Orleans -- horrid and dangerous, but a little routine. So when I first heard there were some flames on the hill, I didn't worry too much.

But these are getting vicious, and my sister just called from her car after having driven through near-zero visibility smoke on the highway.

Mom says they'll be okay and aren't in a danger zone, but I sure wish I could send some of what I'm getting to them!

Yes, it's been raining steadily for about five hours now, and my street is quite flooded. My front yard is underwater, and it's lapping at my steps. I just saw some joker driving on the sidewalk.

Halloween Knitting

2007-10-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, my younger niece, Isabel, is going as a Pokemon character, Dawn, and I'm getting to knit up that two-tone pink scarf. :-)

Usually, I'm not much help for costumes.

It's coming along pretty well.

The main thing is getting those points on the end, which I'll either knit or crochet when the body of the scarf is done.

Meanwhile, the Saints are up over the Falcons! I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

You see what I have to put up with?

2007-10-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so first, it's raining again. At first, I didn't think much of it. As I've noted more than once on this blog, it rains a lot in New Orleans. A real lot.

But then, the rain got a little heavier, then a lot heavier.

In a few minutes, I'm staring at a flood. I mean, that's my yard, but that's not my cup that floated into my plants, you know?

Meanwhile, my poor car is parked at the curb, and people don't really slow down, so now I have a totally soaked car which probably got more than a little water inside.

Meanwhile, I'm knitting away on my second sock, and it's looking pretty good...

And I'm measuring it up against the first sock, when I SEE IT!

SON OF A B...oobie.

When I was doing the kitchener stitch, I miss a loop. That just sucks, seriously. I know I can fix it, but ::whine:: it's not the same.

So...I need somebody to blame for my wet car and my crummy sock. Global warming and the football that distracted me while I was doing my sock will do for a start, I suppose.

Nuh.

Oh, and the Saints are crummy too.

thoughts...

2007-10-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.
The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over
and let the beautiful stuff out.               

- Ray Bradbury

Rain

2007-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

It's an odd thing here in New Orleans, the rain. The Big Easy is a swamp, so there's a lot of rain. Usually, it's warm rain. Usually, it comes down pretty hard, pretty fast. Sometimes, rain clouds wander through alone, so it can be raining on one side of the street and not the other for minutes at a time.

One time, I was garage-saling. One of my favorite things in the world. This was before Katrina, so I had over a dozen houses on that morning's list. It was sunny when I got in the car, then rained on the way to the first house, then sunny while I was actually at the sale, then rainy while I was in the car...all morning! I felt like the Rain Goddess, bidding the clouds to hold on a sec while I tried out the latest round of Corning Ware and bad '70s albums. As I recall, that was also the day I bought my Morticia Addams chair for only $15. So a great day, all 'round.

But today, the clouds were being mischievous, and when I poked my house out my front door, I just saw a few drops of rain on the sidewalk. I bolted for the car...and instantly got soaked. I mean, it's all of about five steps to my car from the front door. And the rain was cold, too!

October is my favorite month in New Orleans, all breezy evenings and falling leaves. I think New Orleanians look forward to Autumn the way most of the world welcomes Spring. Everyone is just so tired of the heat. Cold rain was irritating in the car, sure, but it almost promised a break from the relentless hot-humid of summer, as well as a chance, soon, to wear some of my hand-knitted sweaters!

Quote for the Day

2007-09-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Nothing is more impressive, in our time-poor era, than the man with time and attention to spare for others. --E. Jane Dickson

One Sock Down...

2007-09-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

Musetta Agrees

2007-09-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

The snail's on the thorn

2007-09-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

Song, from Pippa Passes, by Robert Browning

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his Heaven -
All's right with the world!

The Sock Cont'd

2007-09-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I like the way I did the shaping at the top, and won't until I try on the finished version, but otherwise this is coming along nicely. The yarn is SO COMFORTABLE. These are going to be perfect on autumn evenings, curled up on the sofa...knitting more socks.

I think I've finally gotten a handle on that hold at the gusset join -- did it correctly with a twisted stitch on one side, then did it wrong on the other, so I grabbed a crochet hook and fixed it. You know how sometimes you need to get it in your head, see the whole thing in your mind before it really clicks?

Hopefully, I'll be able to do the same thing for the class on the 29th. I'm working up these socks in a step-by-step pattern, with pix. If the class likes it, I'll make more copies to sell at the store.

Attention New York Times: Duh

2007-09-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

I worked at About.com for ten years, and it went through a lot of changes, but none, I think, as pervasive as when the NYT bought the company. It didn't seem like it at first, but slowly the company changed, finally to the point that it and I were no longer a match. I miss About, but the About.com I miss no longer exists...which is why I have my own leetle corner of the Web now, at Scifix-ile.com.

Anyways, a recent article lends further insight about The Times, particularly how the newspaper doesn't really seem to "get" how the Internet works.

From - here

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight tonight.

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.

The Times said the project had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying subscribers — out of 787,000 over all — and generating about $10 million a year in revenue.

“But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low, compared to the growth of online advertising,” said Vivian L. Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of the site.

What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.

“What wasn’t anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some others,” Ms. Schiller said.

--

And so I say again unto thee, NYT: You didn't know people don't walk through the "front door" of a Website by first clicking on the front page? Duh.

Heaven and Hell

2007-09-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today I'm getting to do one of my all-time favorite things: knit and watch football. Football is the best thing on the tube to watch while knitting. Everything is narrated, and important stuff is replayed, so if you can keep 50% of your gaze on the knitting without missing anything. So, my fave team, the Saints, are playing and I've got a great sock going...I'm in Heaven.

And I'm in Hell. 21-0, Tampa Bay. What is this? Saints defense is the suck, and the offense couldn't get anything going except one drive that stalled out for a missed field goal kick. Duce isn't being used at all, Reggie's most impressive play involved the ball's popping out straight up during a tackle.

Oh, well, the second half has started. Maybe I can upgrade to Heaven and Purgatory.

It has been raining ALL DAY

2007-09-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

It rains a lot in this town, sure, but yeesh! I work up this morning to heavy thunderstorms, and here it's eight hours later and the rain has not stopped. I may be dry here inside, but looking out the window at the water-gray world for so many hours has made me feel sympathy soggy.

Fortunately, in addition to all the work I have to keep me busy, I'm working with some fabulous yarn. Doesn't it look like a confection?

It's Fiesta's Baby Boomerang, which is wool, superwash, sock weight. Knitting with it is heaven. I'm making, of course, some knee-high socks.

I haven't done knee-highs before, so I had to make a couple tries before I got the increases done the way I wanted. After that, I'm planning a heel-flap heel and your basic stockinette foot.

Coffee

2007-09-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

Why is coffee so wonderful? Seriously, I totally didn't like it as a kid, and in college, actually, I drank tea. Wonderful pots of loose-leaf tea that I would mix up myself...often in preparation for a very long night of studying. You know, a pot of oolong and a Snickers bar, and I was good until about 2 AM.

Then I had some blood sugar troubles and couldn't deal with caffeine for a long time. When I could drink whatever I wanted again, I tried to get back into tea, but somehow I started drinking cappuccinos, and...coffee.

Delicious coffee. So warm in the tummy. The perfect way to wake up.

As you can see, I'm a PJs girl. In New Orleans, you either drink PJs or CCs. Yes, there are Starbucks all over too, but we think of those as sort of foreigner places to go. I don't like Starbuck's coffee, myself. It tastes burnt. But then, I have friends who think that PJs tastes muddy. CCs tastes like paste, IMO.

But, whatever. Mmmm. Coffee.

Dreamland

2007-09-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

"Our schoolmaster used to take a nap every afternoon," related a disciple of Soyen Shaku. "We children asked him why he did it and he told us: 'I go to dreamland to meet the old sages just as Confucius did.' When Confucius slept, he would dream of the ancient sages and later tell his followers about them.

"It was extremely hot one day so some of us took a nap. Our schoolmaster scolded us. 'We went to dreamland to meet the ancient sages the same as Confucius did,' we explained. 'What was the messages from those sages? our schoolmaster demanded. One of us replied: 'We went to dreamland and met the sages and asked them if our schoolmaster came there every afternoon., but they said they had never seen any such fellow.'"

Decisions, decisions

2007-09-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

The fourth season premiere episodes -- the first two are parts two and three of the cliffhanger -- came a couple days ago, and I watched them and was IN HEAVEN. I can't review them yet for the site...where is that letter?...do I just have to say WOW. Way to go!

But the thing is, review copies aren't really finished. There's no music, some of the effects aren't finished, and the sound balance is way off. I think they still need to loop a few scenes, too, especially one with Sheppard. For the most part, you don't really notice, except for the lack of music, which really intrudes. I mean, you notice the actors are sort of standing there, staring at each other, and you're straining to hear the music go DUM DUM DUUUUUUUM! and it doesn't. It's odd how much more movies are like operas than plays. We've all gotten so used to the music telling us when something's gonna pop out or when something touching is happening that without the score, the episodes just feel so raw.

So now, here's the decision. I've got an hour or so before a friend of mine's coming over for dinner (sushi, yuuuum) and I could pop one of the ole DVDs into the computer and rewatch an episode...and unfinished episode. Or I can wait and watch it for just the second time when it's on TV and has all the parts up and the music playing.

What to do???

Also I think I slept on my jaw funny. Hurts.

I have the cutest cat in the world

2007-09-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Damn Pissants

2007-09-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

New Orleans is full of bugs. Lots and lots of bugs, big and small, quiet and noisy, really gross and really, really gross.

The cockroaches are the thing you fixate on at first. They're three inches long, with four-inch-long antenna, and they fly. They fly at you. They fly at your head.

Some smart-ass will come along and say, "Those aren't roaches. Those are palmetto bugs."

Whatever. Who cares? They're flying cockroaches when they're coming at your head.

But at least if you don't have too many cracks in your home, you don't have to deal with the flying cockroaches of death all the time. Unlike pissants. Pissants are a constant in the summer, and they're driving me out of my mind.

Now, don't think I don't keep a clean house. I do. It gets a little untidy sometimes, but it's clean. But the pissants don't care. From what I can tell, every time I get out the Clorox, they think I've cleaned up the place so they can have their friends over for a party.

A few minutes ago, I came back to the computer to do some work and picked up the Zone bar (I love Zone bars) I had set down just an hour or so ago on my desk and it was absolutely covered in damn pissants!! I HATE THAT! ARGHHHH!

You may wonder where they're coming in and why I don't stop them. But I my house was originally built in 1849 and I've got the original hardwood floors, and they just don't fit together well enough to keep out something so small. I'm planning to get the floor insulated, hopefully before next winter, but I don't have the money and that was my ZONE BAR!

At least pissants are easy to kill...except when I find one carrying something back home in its little mouth. It's disturbing to kill something that's being so industrious, even if it is making off with my lunch.

Fabulous Friends

2007-08-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

It's so great when friends do cool things. You get to enjoy the friend, the thing, and talking about the friend and the thing they're doing.

Check out the best candles and other wonderful things at http://www.somewhereinthyme.us.

Wystan Hugh Auden - Funeral Blues

2007-08-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Wystan Hugh Auden - Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Images on my walls

2007-04-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

I like to think I'm so arty-farty, but when I look around my walls, the images are pretty familiar...

But then, I guess it's just a sign people agree with me!

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

2007-03-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

An interesting article, but kinda...I dunno. Don't we really know this stuff already?

"Human nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we were put on this earth to overcome."

David Letterman Lists Funny

2007-02-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

1. Top Ten Least Exciting Superpowers for Comic Book Superheroes

10. Super spelling
9. Lightning-fast mood swings
8. Really bendy thumb
7. Unusually natural smile when posing for photographs
6. Ability to calm jittery squirrels
5. Power to shake exactly two aspirin out of a bottle
4. Ability to get tickets to Goodwill Games
3. Power to score with other superheroes' wives
2. Ability to communicate with corn
1. Magnetic colon

Layers

2007-01-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

Up - cotton wool colors
Down - skin muscle bone
Out - you them us
In - now before always

We chat between layers
Pulling at words
Muting touch

And this you know as well as I
Another layer
In out and through

Last few months' projects

2006-12-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Denim by Design - my second pattern!

2006-08-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

So, after having a total blast at the yarn store this Saturday, I got homework. :-)

The yarn is this totally cool denim cotton that shrinks up a bit and fades like blue jeans. Diana (the owner) asked me to cable up a purse to show off the yarn.

I think it came out pretty nice! Here's the pattern:

Materials:
Materials:
Size #6 USA Knitting Needles
Cable Needle
5 Skeins Rowan Denim (404 yrds)
Tapestry Needle

Gauge: (before washing)
4.5 stitches per inch

Dimensions: (after washing)
11" high, 12" wide, 3.5" deep
24" straps

Pattern:

Back and Front Panels:
CO 68 st
Row 1 & 3: K across
Row 2 and all other even rows until row 76: P across
Row 5: K4, C6B, K20, C4F, C4B, K20, C6F, K4
Row 7 & 9: K across
Row 11: Repeat Row 5
Row 13 & 15: K across
Row 17: K4, CB6, K4, CB6, CF6, K4, C4F, C4B, K4, CB6, CF6, K4, C6F, K4
Row 19 & 21: K across
Row 23: K4, CB6, K4, CF6, CB6, K4, C4F, C4B, K4, CF6, CB6, K4, C6F, K4
Row 24: P across
Repeat 1-24 twice
Row 73 & 75: K across
Row 76: K4, K2tog 3 times, K4, K2tog 6 times, K4, K2tog 4 times, K4, K2tog 6 times, K4, K2tog 3 times, K4
Row 77-81 K across
Row 82: BO

Gusset:
C O 14 st
Knit garter for 41" to fit sides
and bottom of purse

Straps:
CO 100 st
Knit garter for 9 rows
BO

Finish:
Stitch pieces together
Weave in Ends
Toss into the washer and dryer a cycle or two to tighten up the stitches and fade the color a bit. Fun!

Print this out easily here.

Afghan

2006-08-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the yarn came in for Mom's two afghans, and after three weeks of knitting on it, I've got about 20% of the first afghan done (plus finishing). Looks pretty good!

The nice part is that I've finally gotten the pattern in my head, so it's basically now a matter of watching TV, or whatever, and KKK PPP KKK PPP...

A Professional?!

2006-08-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

Wow.

Saturday I went to lunch at Juan's Flying Burrito, which is the only place in New Orleans for good Mexican food. Afterwards, I couldn't help my usual stop-in at the Garden District Needlework Shop, which is the only place in New Orleans for good yarn and needles and stuff. I didn't really need anything, because I had been there the week before to treat myself to yarn and needles for my birthday, but I'm making a small clutch for my niece, and I wanted kitty-cat buttons. I got these little metal ones. So cute!

Anyway, there's a gal in there who's learning to knit on these ginormous needles (size 15, I think), and the poor thing is just all over the place. I'm chatting with Diana, the owner, and we're trying not to say anything about the SIZE OF THOSE NEEDLES, when I finally ask the young lady if she would like some help controlling her tension. She readily gives me the needles, and I show her how to wrap the yarn around your hand to keep the skein from controlling the tension. She picks it right up and thanks me. :-)

So, a couple minutes later, Diana asks me to come to the back of the shop to ask me a question. Get this: she wants me to come in on Saturdays to teach knitting classes! Wheee! The pay's $8/hour, but the important part is that I get 25% off stuff in the store! I doubt I'll ever actually be taking cash, here. wheeee!

So, next Saturday I'll go in to learn the ropes. What a hoot!

(A grammar note: The ?! is called an "interrobang." hee hee)

Plaid Golf Club Cover - My First Original Pattern!

2006-07-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

And here's my first-ever original pattern! (Well, except for the scarf, but come on...) It's a golf club cover in the Houston Tartan. I've mailed it to Dad, and he'll tell me if it's the right size, etc. I'll be making two more, as he wants three in all, and I'll make the others with different colored pom-poms so he can tell them apart.

If you'd like to see the pattern, I tried to put it up here in the blog, but the chart wouldn't work right, so it's here instead.

I'm in Love

2006-07-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this yarn (Zara, Filatura di Crosa). It's wool, but it works like a polyester and feels like heaven.

Only problem is that I didn't get enough for the sweater. Grrr. Fortunately, I've found some more on eBay. Ahhhh. Yarn on eBay...

Oh, and speaking of sweaters, I finished the pink one for Mom. Now I need to make another one for Susan, but that's down on the list right now. I have a huge cone of that pink chenille, about enough for ten more sweaters, and the pattern is super-easy.

Skeleton Woman

2006-07-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

A woman is driven into the sea by her village, and she drowns. The fish eat her flesh away, and the water washes her to and fro, until she is nothing but a bunch of polished bones, a skeleton turned over and over in the currents.

One day, a fisherman casts his net out in the water, waits a while, then pulls up a catch of seaweed and flotsam, some fish, and a bunch of bones. Seeing them, he gets frightened and runs back to his home. In his haste, he doesn't notice that the net is caught around him, and he's dragging the whole kit and kaboodle home with him.

Once he gets home to his fire, he calms down a bit and even feels a little foolish. He sorts out the fish he's caught in the net and places the bones in a pile. After awhile, he organizes the bones and sees he's got a whole skeleton there, so he puts it all together, chanting like a mother to a child, "Oh, na, na, na." (This is one of the places you beat the drum.)

As soon as she's together, however, the Skeleton Woman demands that he put a blanket over her, because she's very cold. He says, "I don't have to do any such thing! I could just throw you back in the sea!"

But after a bit, he gets her a blanket.

The she demands something to eat. He says, "I could just throw you back in the sea!" But, after a bit, he gets her something to eat.

Night falls, and he gets into his bed and falls asleep. Deep in the night, he dreams, and a single tear peeps out from the corner of his eye. The Skeleton Woman sees the tear and drags herself over to his bed. She drinks the tear (drink! drink! drink!).

In the morning, the fisherman wakes up, and there in his home is a lovely young woman, and they live together after that.

There's an animated version of this story here. For more versions, just Google it.

Mornings

2006-07-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

I have always loved the mornings (when I'm not hungover, I admit, but that's not the point).

There's an opportunity to each day, a recognition that you can make plans, but you don't know what the day will bring to you.

When I was a kid, the mornings were about cartoons and cereal. Now they're about my cup of coffee and reading the news, or fanfic, or knitting patterns. The cat wanders around, occasionally demanding that I run some tub water for her to drink or refill her food bowl. I check the weather report on Google and think about what I'll wear. But mostly I drape myself along my sofa and just let myself wake up.

Sitting still, doing nothing.
Spring comes, and the grass grows underfoot.

Current Projects

2006-07-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

I used to do one project at a time, and then I sorta had to stop one because I didn't have the right needles, and now I have another one that's just for work...

I think I'm up to about six now. Yeesh.

1. I'm knitting a scarf for work in a two-color herringbone seed stitch. (pix soon)
2. I'm knitting a sweater in ecru cotton from Stitch and Bitch (fabulous book -- this is the one that needs different needles)
3. I'm knitting up some golf club covers in the Houston tartan for my dad, though I only have the pattern worked out at this point and am waiting for that last skein to come in from eBay. See pattern here.
4. I'm knitting a hat for a friend, but haven't figured out which pattern, because the one I was doing looks bad with the yarn.
5. I'm knitting a pink swearer for a friend. Pattern's here. I've made this pattern many times. So easy!
6. I'm knitting that green sweater for Mom.

Yeesh! I think I need to pare it down a bit. But there's so much to knit!! So many patterns, so little time!

Zen Master Ryokan lived the simplest life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.

Kyokan returned and caught him. "You may have come a long way to visit me," he told the thief, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."

The thief was bewildered. He tool the clothes and slunk away.

Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."

Little Cat Feet

2006-07-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

Carl Sandburg (and I totally thought the author of this poem was T.S. Eliot)

Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Of course, I have a cat.

2006-07-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

She decided I needed to adopt her about three years ago, when she looked like this.

I named her Musetta, after the character in La Bohème who sells her earrings to buy the dying Mimi a soft muff for her cold hands. She's also a bit of a flirt. Sometimes, I wish I'd named her Jane, or something. "Musetta" can be a mouthful. But it does suit her.

Here's what she looks like these days.

When the task is done beforehand, then it is easy

2006-06-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

When the task is done beforehand, then it is easy.

-- Yuan-tong

So true. Sometimes I actually like to work out the pattern as I'm knitting, especially if it's something complex I haven't done before. But the pleasure of doing an easy pattern or one I've done before is that I can knit the piece in my head first. Then my hands just have to catch up.

Mom's Golf Sweater Vest

2006-06-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

I love it when a simple pattern turns into just what it says it will. The "Boogie" pattern from Knitty
has a picture that's a little unclear about the neckline, looking more like a V-neck than it actually is, but when the sweater's on, it works out just fine, especially with a collared shirt, like a polo shirt.

Made with Brown Sheep, size small, so it only took two skeins. Mom wants another one, so I got some nice green sage from Zara, Filatura di Crosa. I should be able to get to that in a couple weeks.

Here's a scarf for a friend who was graduating.

2006-06-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a scarf for a friend who was graduating. I made it for her just as the weather got warm, so she hasn't really worn it yet, but she says she likes it! She's a tall, thin girl with smooth white skin and black-brown hair, so I got this gauzy veragated mohair and did it up in a seafoam pattern, a little over six feet long. The yarn and pattern really work well together, I think.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water

2006-06-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

-- Dogen

The first cool thing I knitted

2006-06-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

You can see a bit of my first scarf up there at the top, but the "cool" thing is the pattern on the purple square. I made about a dozen of these squares as knitting practice, and this was the first hard one that came out right.

Oh, I did think eventually I was going to take all the squares and knit them together to make a throw, but then I realized that the different colors I was knitting with should never be made to exist together in time and space.

Humble (and then some) Knitting/Zen Beginnings

2006-06-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

I remember a brief attempt to knit sometime around age seven. I finished a scarf for my Barbie in blue wool, then forgot all about it.

Then, in July of 2004, I read The Martini Diet: The Self-Indulgent Way to a Thinner, More Fabulous You!, by Jen Sander. Now this is totally not my usual kind of book, but I adored the title (because I adore martinis), and the Amazon reviews showed it wasn't really a diet book. (As far as I can tell, the only way to lose actual weight from a diet book is to buy one heavy enough to use as a barbell.) Among her nuggets of wisdom -- which include advising us to swim for exercise, because "underwater your diamonds look HUGE" -- was the idea that if you snack while watching TV, you should try knitting as a better way to keep your hands busy.

I thought that was a clever idea, so I bought some ecru cotton yarn and some size 8 needles at Wal*Mart, read over the basics on knitting.about.com, and made another scarf -- this one about seven feet long, in stockinette. The first foot or so looked a little like ass when I was done, but by the end I had those stitches down.

Since then, I've been knitting with a passion. I probably have avoided a few pounds from not snacking in front of the TV, but that stopped being a motivation about half-way through that first scarf. So great a part of my life has this little hobby become that I have had to ask myself, "What the heck is going on?"

Is it the yarn? All those beautiful colors. Al those textures. I love the feel of alpaca, the fuzz of mohair, the strength of wool.

Is it the knitting books? All those cool pictures to inspire one to knitting greatness. The coded patterns that make one feel like some sort of knitting spy.

Is it the concept of making something useful with one's own hands? My job is about knowledge and service. I have no product when I'm done. And yeah, I have Websites that I run, but you can't put on your Website and go out to dinner

Is it the endless possibilities for making gifts? I love giving hand-knitted things to people, making them something that really is unique (that's such an abused word), hoping they can wear it and enjoy it.

And well, yes, it's all these things...and none of them. I can read pretty books on anything, play with colors and textures in paints or fabrics, and make useful things with wood. Ultimately, it really just comes down to the actual knitting itself.

The concentration and manual dexterity required for knitting has an almost magical quality of uniting mind and body that is just soooo relaxing, so soothing, so...zen.

My interest in zen philosophies has an even more embarrassing origin than a diet-and-lifestyle book: Kung Fu.

Remember the show? With David Carradine? Some of the stuff they talked about just blew my tiny mind.

As with knitting, I had a renewed interest as an adult and struggled my way through things like The Sixth Patriarch's Sutra and The Miracle of Mindfulness. Eventually, I grew comfortable with the understanding that I would always view Eastern philosophies with a Western mindset.

For one thing, so much zen thinking is expressed for some male monk in a temple on a mountain somewhere. Sitting for hours, letting go all worldly goods, social withdrawal, etc., just isn't practical for a gal living in the big city, you know?

For another, I don't believe in the tao, or in nothingness. I have no desire to become a Buddhist, as much as I admire so much of Buddhism. I'm definitely a God/Christ/Heaven/Earth kind of thinker -- though much of organized Christian religion appalls me.

Understanding and accepting that, however, has allowed me to learn so much about living a happy and productive life with such ideals as finding my "original face" and "having a mind like water."

The more I learn about zen precepts, the more I understand my love of knitting. The more I knit, the more zen I feel. And that's why I decided to try this blog: to celebrate the zen of knitting.

I made this for a friend who loves soft pinks and blues.

2006-06-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

I made this for a friend who loves soft pinks and blues. The pattern is simple, and the scarf wraps nicely around the neck, holding its shape so you can tuck your chin inside when the wind blows.

Materials:

2 Skeins Light Blue Cashmere (190 yrds each)
2 Skeins Light Pink Chenille
1 Skein Pink Baby Cotton
1 Pair #8 Needles

I worked all but the fringe with both chenille and cashmere yarns at once, with a basic stockinette stitch 32 stitches across. For the pattern, I did 5 rows of RT, worked 6 rows stockinette, then another 5 in RT.

I knitted the long stockinette part until I was about done (left a few yards to make sure) with the first skein, then called that "halfway," repeated the same number of rows, then repeated the RT/stockinette pattern. Then I added fringe and viola!

Hello

2006-06-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction
between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure;
his mind and his body; his education and his recreation.
He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision
of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves
others to determine whether he is working or playing. To
himself, he always appears to be doing both.

- Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand