PoMo Golightly

Still Here

The week has been buzzing by.  My workshop ended today, and after a bbq dinner, I'll be at the bar to see if anyone wants to dance.  Tomorrow I head to Albuquerque, then on Monday, back to Connecticut.  I can't wait to be back home with my Neal and my dogs.  My bed, too.  That's going to be nice.  And my chairs.  And different clothes. 

I just wanted to say hi, let you know that I'm happy, my brain is full, and that I know I'll miss New Mexico as soon as I land in Connecticut.  I'm a girl with a foot in the east and west of our country now, which I finally realized this week.  I like NM an awful lot and wish I could divvy up my time between my two homes.  There's always next year's conference!

On Getting Ready for a Conference

Tomorrow I head to New Mexico at 8:30 a.m.  I've spent the day washing and folding laundry, getting the house in order, and deciding what to bring with me.  I'll be gone for ten days, most of which will be spent in Taos.  Books and projects always present a quandary for me when I travel.  Inevitably, I think I'll have far more time than I actually do for reading and knitting.  My outward bound flight's reading is selected (the last of the master class's novels), and I have three books to keep me in material while I'm there.  Never mind the book table at the conference where, no doubt, I'll spend a huge portion of my budget!  I'm bringing the slim Epic of Gilgamesh (can you believe I've not read it?), Shame, and The Monsters of Templeton (I thought a first novel would be appropriate for my purposes).

I've yet again gotten to the point of my knitting cycle where I have too many projects going at once.  At least now, thanks to my decision to rip those I don't love, I'm excited about everything on my needles.  I have two small surprise projects that I'll bring, and I'm adding Tuscany to the mix, just in case I finish the smaller ones.  I may break down and through a sock in my bag, too, but I'm trying to have some restraint!

I'll have my laptop with me, so never fear!  You'll be hearing from me.  I'm off to decide what to wear for the next ten days.  Besides my dancing shoes.  Those fellows in Taos sure know how to dance!

Midsummer Night's Apron

 

I've been working away on an apron for a swap-bot Shakespeare swap.  My partner wanted an apron, and I thought I could push the theme a little...I used a vintage pillowcase with a lovely crocheted edging, cut it in half and then cut it to the length I wanted.  From there, I used Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing for instructions on making the waistband and ties.  Last night at SnB, I embellished the pocket with some yo-yos and embroidery; they're meant to represent Titania's bower.  I thought the pillowcase refashion kept with the theme of sleep and dreams.  I have a stack of these vintage pillowcases, and I can get two aprons from each, so I'll be making more!

By the River and a Little Froth

As a break from manuscript reading for the Taos Conference, I've been indulging in some delicious novels.  The first, The River Wife, is by my workshop leader, Jonis Agee.  The story follows the fortunes of several women with one thing in common: a bond to the river pirate Jacques Ducharme.  The scope of the novel is tremendous, and I'm impressed that Agee has made each of the women unique, even while certain elements of their lives repeat and build.  On the sentence level, the writing engaged me, and, in the same way I have a crush on Jack Sparrow (who doesn't?  What, you don't?  Do you have a pulse?  Or, what, you just don't like dirty boys?), I am a little bit over-fond of Jacques Ducharme.  There is adventure, tragedy, a ghost or two, and even a cameo appearance by John Audubon.

As a part of my 1% Well Read Challenge, I  read  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson.  If, like I do, you have a soft spot for Nick and Nora, for gowns and cocktails in the afternoon (in the films, silly, not in real life!), then pick up this delightful novel.  While the excessive use of adverbs put me off at first, I sank into Miss Pettigrew's adventures rather quickly.  Lovers, cocaine, fashion, fists...it has all the makings of a fun, summer read.  I recommend a tall, cool glass of lemonade (oh, add a shot of vodka if you must) and a hammock as the perfect accessories to this frothy, sweet Cinderella story. 

I'm off for a quick bike ride before it gets too hot.  Oh, wait, it's already too hot.  I'll ride anyway, then I'll spend some time at my sewing machine.  With the air conditioner on, no doubt.

As always, let me know what summer delights you are reading!

Happy Independence Day

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.
~William J. Clinton

With the upcoming election, I feel hope for our beautiful nation.   Today I celebrate that hope.

Happy Birthday, USA!

Strawberry Jam

I took the strawbs from last week's farmer's market and turned them into freezer jam.  Easiest thing in the world.  How wonderful will it be to pull out a little container on a snowy January morning and slather my toast with a taste of summer?

I hope to get one more batch in the freezer before the local berries are done.  I'm a bit alarmed at the quantity of sugar needed, so if you know of a recipe that uses less, please share. 

In knitting news, I'm on my second take of February Lady Sweater.  I am pleased with the kfb increases in lieu of the m1 increases called for by the pattern.  I am not so pleased with the results of my first buttonhole, though.  A-frogging I will go...third time is a charm, right?

And just because it's a little oddity that amuses me, get a load of this.  Sometimes I mis-type my name as Bevelry.  It's like Ravelry for my name. Isn't that funny?  Or do you think I need to get out more?

At the Loom

Saturday I took a rigid heddle weaving class at Webs with Leslie Ann Bestor (Ravlink).  If you live in the area and have considered this class, good news: they've added a second section for July.  More good news: Leslie Ann is a fantastic teacher.  She did an excellent job with defining terms, explaining the process, showing it, and having us apply it, one step at a time.  You know how on Grey's Anatomy they always say "Watch one, do one, teach one."?  I came home, and explained the entire process of warping to Neal.  I think it's pretty well cemented in my head, but we'll see what happens when I get the tools I need to start weaving on my no-name loom.

I'm excited by how much there is to learn and by what I know that I want to be able to do. 

If you're interested in the nitty gritty details, here they are:

Sheep Shop Yarn Co. Sheep Three Yarn, one skein.  Woven on a Schacht Flip with a 94" warp at 10 epi, 12 picks (average).
There's talk of a monthly rhl drop in (please??) and a more advanced class next spring.  I can't wait to learn more!

As if all that new knowledge wasn't enough to keep me floating on air, I got an e-mail today telling me that I've won a yard of fabric in the Sew, Mama, Sew! Free Friday Fabric contest.  How happy am I?  Pret-ty happy.*

What is making you happy this Monday?

*Anyone else here have a Larry David crush like I do?  CYE fans, can't you hear him saying "pret-ty, pret-ty good"??

Farmer's Market Bounty

Take a look at this bounty!  Strawbs for jam making, garlic scapes (after seeing them on Norma's blog last year, I had to try them!), tomatoes (hot house, but soon there will be field tomatoes), chevre and goat-gurt, and a mystery veggie that looked too good to leave behind.  The woman selling them said they're sort of like radishes, and that I can eat them over salad or sauté them.  Anyone help me remember what they're called?

The weather was too uncertain for me to take my Africabike to the new Simsbury Farmer's Market.  I anticipate going back week after week, though, so I'll have ample opportunity to ride her there.

If you're local, this is a lovely little market with music, a fiber table, and way more yummy goodness than I brought home.

Middlesex

I read this novel as a part of the 1% Well-Read Challenge that I joined in May.  Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for Middlesex.  The novel is both a coming-of-age story and an intergenerational saga, both of which appeal to me.  The narrator is Cal, an intersexed person who is raised as a female, but later identifies as a male.  Cal traces his genetic difference by relating the fascinating story of his grandparents. 

The writing is strong and specific, never overdone, but often witty.  I'm interested in the faux memoir (I guess what we once called first-person narrative, but with a difference) as a genre, and I took a lot away in terms of how to work this form.  I also, in part because of the unpublished novels I'm reading for my master class in July, interested in how a writer successfully integrates history into a novel without becoming didactic.  The research is there; the trick is to make it a natural part of the story, which Eugenides does with grace. 

I was so immersed in the story, so attached to Cal and his world, that I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish the novel, and I was bummed when I finished.  I'm going to have to return to The Virgin Suicides, which I listened to on tape years ago.

In between manuscripts, I'm reading Jonis Agee's The River Wife, which I'm enjoying so much. Jonis is leading the master class I'm taking, and before this I'd only read her short stories.  As I read her novel, I'm even more excited for the class.

Rain, Rain, go away...

I know, I know, it's good for the garden.  I had plans for biking this morning, though, and I won't bike in the rain.  No, I'm not all afraid I'm going to melt.  It's a safety thing, people.

I guess instead of biking, or even weeding (I don't do that in the rain, either, because I fear I might melt), I'll have to tackle something else.  But what? What?  Sure, there is reading to be done, but what I really want to do?

Start on February Lady. 

Sit down for this one: I swatched in my yarn last night.  This morning, in fulfillment of my promise to Laura,  I washed the swatches.  Now I'm all sorts of confused as the gauge changed (aha, that's why the washing!!), and I don't know which way is up in terms of my next move with needles.  In any case, the 8s and 9s are giving me washed fabric that is 4 sts/inch instead of 4.5.  I'm playing dumb here a little, but not entirely.  I'm going to knit up a swatch on 7s next and see what happens.  I'll let you know!

ETA: I swatched on the 7s (which, btw, I did last night and ripped out as I got 5 sts/inch.  Shoulda washed and blocked!), washed, blocked, and perfecto gauge!  Wait until you see how pretty the red, red yarn is on my ebony needles.