Not-Finished Things

I've been sort of tired lately, but I've been receiving a steady stream of the most poetic spam ever sent, so I thought I'd show you some WIPs and recent acquisitions, and let them do the talking. Later I'll have commentary on the Flickr pages.

Your hand, that worked but the future race. What they

You're smooth out a week to stop the chair. No your instrument: of ozone became with these was a cloak,



the message from a pair of the discrepancy have happened to inflame

the merest dregs, of atomic irregularities the metal skin of the actual figure had, just a and



protections of the possible, black; and haut

psychohistorians HARI SELDON, crisis does he looked back provinces: worlds; which they were as was the City?



Hi
look
Usually after a big job like this I rest up for a month



Poor Angelina.I could be sorry for her without forgetting
and the fit of the uniform I cut a mean swath through the
square above the two-kilometer drop into the valley



It in the subject: written.

It is a derelict battle cruiser you; think of light It is not last week, after that gave the remainder of the Four Kingdoms,

will be easier But you've certainly, so you no!



will be nothing straight about the agony of instability and gives a. Will be forced on the Church, he had seen it absorbed the case,

education at the order, that Pirenne's lecture on the Galaxy for fear

effort. effectively isolated from the ship: was not bluffing: me



____

seriously, wasn't that spectacular? those are all from different e-mails, but somehow motifs and themes repeat. The agony of instability. Isolation, fear, the future, the past, crises, predictions (got to love the Foundation reference!) Atomic irregularities. From the merest of dregs to Pirenne's lecture on the Galaxy; such a vaulting exhortation! Will be forced on the Church. Where do these come from? Who sends such unintelligible warnings through cyberspace? The future race! Was not bluffing: me.

Holiday Making

So, I'm still working on Sarcelle but haven't figured out how to get a really good photo of it yet. Still fun, it's beginning to look scarf-y. My coworker thinks I'll never get it done on time. Oh ye of little faith.



First of all, happy new year. I'm not Jewish, I just happen to be madly in love with a boy who is. So, I bake him cookies. I threw together Ina Garten's rugelach recipe and the one from Real Simple magazine:

1 c. walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 c. raisins, chopped
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 T. granulated sugar
cinnamon to taste (I use about a T.)

2 pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts (1 box)
1/2 c. apricot jam
sugar
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400. Mix first 5 ingredients in a small bowl, set aside. *Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on work surface, carefully roll out one pie crust, laying over cinnamon and sugar. Microwave apricot jam 25 seconds, spread half of it over pie crust. Sprinkle half of filling mixture evenly over jam, press down with back of spoon. Using a large knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 12 wedges. Starting from wide end, roll each wedge up like a croissant, somewhat tightly. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 20-25 min or until golden.* Rep from * to *.

(That was a knitting joke.)



I know it's late (too late!) in the season, but I started a mitered square blanket to take to Giants games. It's made from Caron Simply Soft. Yes, acrylic. This marks the first time in my "I'm now a serious knitter" career (i.e., since I came to college) that I've gone out and bought craft-store acrylic. Usually it makes my fingers scream for mercy. This isn't too bad, however, in fact when knitted it's pretty soft. I decided on $3/skein acrylic for a few reasons: a) it's cheap, b) the colors are perfect and I won't have dye lot issues, and c) this WILL get beer spilled on it. Guaranteed. So far, so good. Kay's no-sew technique is awesome. Even though you do have to sew eventually, what I LOVE about this technique is that the only seaming left is the vertical mattress stitch. The horizontal mattress stitch, which I loathe, is taken care of by the picking up of stitches along the four inner "seams" - wonderful! As my boyfriend unhappily pointed out, though, I may not be in town for the next baseball season. We'll see.



I'm very excited. Fall is here, my favorite month is a week away, midterms are looming (well, that sort of sucks), and Halloween is a-comin! Halloween is probably one of my favorite holidays, but I've started the tradition of letting someone else throw a Halloween party and doing a Dia de los Muertos dinner at my house instead at the beginning of November. I made this wreath for our door today and it looks fantastic. I took a cheesy fake floral wreath from JoAnn's (on sale for $10!) and spray painted it matte black, then outlined a few flowers with my silver sharpie and stuck in some Mexican paper flowers that I'd made. For the dinner party, I'll carve some pumpkins for the doorway, make a sumptuous feast, and turn the dresser/mirror in my entryway into an altar. I always ask my guests to bring photos of people they want to remember for the altar. I'm going to contribute a photo of the late Glenn Ford. I'll probably keep posting about preparations for that party, as I'm incredibly excited about it.

I may wet-block whatever I have done on Sarcelle tomorrow, just to get an idea of size. I got a suggestion to just do it while it's on the needles, because when I do the final wash/block it won't matter that half of it already got washed. Can I get it done on time (Oct 12)? Wish me luck!

Gee's Bind

My Arts Policy class took a trip to the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park today. Pictured above is The Gold Scab: Eruption in Frilthy Lucre by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. According to my mom, it is my aunt's favorite painting of all time. There's a story behind it, but I just love the painting for what it is: the dark, awkward, in-your-face-sucka tableau in a room full of smallish 19th century portraits and landscapes. I'm sorry I didn't get a better photo of it, but you know, no flash.



I suppose my taste in art isn't so well suited to most museums. I'm not so extremely into paintings, but my favorites are the ones with a simple, odd palette, and not a whole lot going on. I pretty much snooze through the landscapes (not that they aren't beautiful, but...usually too romantic). Classical nudes are pretty awesome, but usually traditional portraits don't interest me. I don't like much modern stuff, either. I still love going to museums, though, because I'll often find one or two really great works, like this little study on random objects, that I just fall in love with. My all-time favorite painting is in the Norton Simon collection; Chestnut Gatherers by Georges Lacombe (holy crap, for a few grand I could get a replica! sweet!)



Anyway, at the de Young we had an interesting discussion about art vs. purpose. There is a gallery of African "art" at the museum, wherein most of the displays are of objects that were not created for hanging on the wall. Masks, vessels, boxes, tools...are they art? Their creators and users didn't intend for them to be so fascinating to the Western world that they'd end up in a dramatically staged gallery in San Francisco, but there they are.


A cocoa pod coffin. My freaking dream come true.

What makes something art, the creator's intent or the viewer's interpretation?

I think this is a particularly interesting question in textiles. Is there a line separating art from function? I knit a very beautiful sweater - cables, fair isle, texture, your pick - it's artful, but when I start to use it like I'd use any storebought sweater in my closet, when its function becomes its identity, is it art? When I drip guacamole on it, because of course I do, is it art?

Or is it just an artifact?



The Gee's Bend exhibit is at the de Young this Fall. I had been dying to go, so when my class took this trip I was very excited. Unfortunately, my interest in tiny painted turnips and the Call of Nature (I drank a lot of coffee this morning ok?) caused me to miss what my professor said about the exhibit. We didn't spend much time there, but that was where he bid us good afternoon, so I got to hang out and look at them. Because they're not part of the permanent collection, no photos were allowed, so the best I could do was postcards. I deeply regret that. Can I tell you? The stitches were so handmade. The corduroy was so crisp, except in those places where something had dripped on it. You know how corduroy gets a little crusty and smushed when you get toothpaste or something on it? How that smushy part never really recovers? These fabrics had been used, and how.



The quilts, too, seemed so used, and useful. I noticed that the info plaques for each one only mentioned the materials for the quilt top. Nothing about thread or backing fabrics (if ONLY we could have seen the WS!) But those, too, you probably all realize, are crucial to the work. Faded floral cottons often lined the bold corduroy quilt tops. I wondered if the backs were pieced together, too (probably?), and why the curator didn't figure we'd care to see them. Why were these exhibited by hanging them on walls? Why not draped over a mattress, or hanging on a clothesline? What choices went into bringing these quilts to museum-goers, and why those decisions?

Maybe, I think, because the exhibit curators wanted to tell us something. These are not artifacts. This is art.

Is that true? Was this the right way to communicate that?

Who did they expect to attract, non-textile-obsessive members of the public at large, or, you know, the proverbial Choir?

One of my classmates remarked of the quilts, "what is all this...patchwork?" He didn't come with some preconceived notion of the Gee's Bend quilts being Big Time. I don't think he was convinced, either. Is it the responsibility of art to make itself understood as art; is it the responsibility of a functional object to put its function first?

Talk amongst yaselves.

Fall Starts in Ernest

Not Ernest, the other one.

Above: a perfectly bubbly homebrewed cream ale. My boyfriend left this (by acceident?) in my fridge, and lucky me. I do help with the brewing sometimes, but rarely take very much of it home. I don't have any proper pint or pilsner glasses around, so I resort to a 5oz ikea glass or one of the POM tea glasses I saved.

Autumn is really setting in in Berkeley. It will be hot again before Thanksgiving, no doubt, but the first truly chilly days have reared their heads, bringing wind off the Bay that gets you in the bones. It's a different kind of cold than comes with snow, etc. This is San Francisco cold, in a state where everyone wears flip-flops and shorts most of the year. Maybe it's a matter of ill-preparedness, maybe we're just wimpy Bay Areans, maybe I'm just too concerned about climate change to run my heater, but boy oh boy do I freeze in the winter here.



The craving for a nice, cozy, smart-looking sweater gets stronger every day. You want something you can wear in the cafés, surrounded by your papers and books. You want something you can settle into on the bus or in that one really drafty classroom. You want wool, cables, soft fibers, texture, a good middle layer.

I won't show you another progress shot of the blue sweater. I'm a little more than halfway through the first sleeve, and it's going quickly but for other projects. One of those is Sarcelle, and I will give you a shot of that.



I love this lace. I'm almost to the even section, which is usually for me the "ok, I memorized the pattern, now I just want to be done with this" section, but it's so fun to work the repeats and watch it grow that I don't anticipate getting bored. Adamas is growing, too, and is about ten repeats in, but is kind of on hold because Sarcelle needs to be done within the month. I'm very excited about it, though, and still liking the lace pattern. I think part of what redeems having to do a million repeats is the pretty, pretty yarn. Both the Merino Oro and the Knitpicks Shadow are just lovely in their own ways. And yes, I do have two more lace shawl projects in mind when these are done!

Other clues of Autumn impending? The new Knitty, for one. I may knit more gifts than I'd planned after all! Also, I cast on for a Hallowig :D

Gift Season

Like tiny moths. This is Sarcelle, backlit so the yarn color is all off. I've never knit much for my mom; she lives in Southern California and doesn't really need, you know, wool. I made her a beautiful turtleneck poncho in olive green for her trip to Iceland last summer, but she didn't end up going to Iceland after all. She wears it when she visits me (Berkeley might as well be Iceland some months, to us southlanders). She also doesn't really wear lace, and I can't picture her in a triangular shawl. When I saw this pattern I immediately thought of her because of its more modern shape and stitch. I figure that even though it's merino, it's not very much merino, so it could be a light wrap or just a pretty scarf, depending on her mood and outfit.



Starting in on this wrap, the finest gauge lace I've ever done, I realize it might be a little hard to give away. I've already put hours of work into it, and I'm still increasing! If anyone would appreciate that, though, it's my mom. She doesn't knit, but she always loves what we make her and has always pushed us to be creative. I know that if I made her a garter stitch scarf on big needles she'd probably love it just as much, but it's a good feeling for me to devote so much time to a birthday gift for her. For twenty years she's been pretty much the most awesome mom you could ask for, so though in a way it will be tough to finish this and send it off, I'm pretty excited to make this for her (and see her reaction!) because she may appreciate using it even more than I would.

Am I knitting other gifts this holiday season? I'm not sure yet. I'd like to, but this will be such a busy semester that I'm afraid I can't fit too many deadline-type projects in. We'll see. Meanwhile, Knitpicks is having a sale. 20% off summer yarns: Shine Sport, Shine Worsted, Main Line, Spinnaker, Crayon. I'm trying hard to resist, but you go right ahead. I do love the Main Line I'm working with for my blue sweater, but I don't need any more. If you need me, I'll be cowering right here, trying not to whip out my credit card and buy 10lbs of cotton/modal.

Well Dang!

I haven't posted all week, and I've been meaning to but all my knitting is sort of at a photographically boring stage right now. I did start Sarcelle, and managed to get some photos, but now Flickr is broken for the afternoon and I can't upload them. Maybe this is the universe telling me to do homework.

Down in the Horn

Berkeley. You just have to love it. Faced with the prospect of moving away in 9 months, I'm starting to take more notice of the details that make this city, and especially (I think) my neighborhood, so utterly, weirdly, inimitably great.


photo taken after midnight, bleh

Autumn is on its way, which means the need for apple bread and tea is poised to grow exponentially, depending on which way the weather takes us. At the moment, I'm sitting in my pajamas of last night: long-sleeved shirt, goofy blue sweatpants (hott, seriously), and ultra-warm hiking socks. I don't necessarily need all of this, but why risk being chilly, right?

This also means that my blue sweater, front and back nearly finished, will be just in time.



This is of course done in the Knitpicks Main Line I ordered a while back when it was on sale for $1.99 per ball. Deal! It's 75% cotton, so it won't be stifling, but the other 25% is merino, which just makes it so soft and buttery, and so perfect for a cold fall day around town. It also makes it, apparently, not machine washable. Poo. I don't know why this sweater just does not want its photo taken; every photo I take, no matter what light or what setting on my camera, is washed out, blurry, shiny! (this yarn is not shiny!), and unimpressive. The color is really spectacularly blue, almost exactly what I think of as Cal blue. Nice, for my last year here.



Keri asked about my major, the one that's given me such grief over the years. Don't laugh. I'm a Peace and Conflict Studies major. It's a fantastic discipline, so bent on understanding what causes conflict (on all levels) and how to encourage peace. Unfortunately, the department here has a serious inferiority complex, or something, and in its weird insecurity as a legitimate field of study makes itself overly academic, overly pedantic and stodgy, and too old-school to integrate new shit without a huge amount of awkwardness. My new shit? Energy.

We're allowed to write our own concentrations for the major, so I did. Energy and development. How is my gas bill connected to a cookstove in Kenya connected to a war in Iraq connected to damp graves in Tuvalu? Why do we stumble so over energy in efforts to make peace, develop economically, and prevent disasters of Katrina-like proportion? What is so damn important about energy that we can't just CUT IT OUT! when it comes to this climate change-asthma-smog-deforestation-nuclear holocaust thing that seems ready to destroy us? Because. Energy is everything. Energy is slavery. It's dinner. It's your commute. It's your watch battery. It's an animal pulling a plow down a field, staring confusedly at the diesel contraptions on the farm nextdoor.

Off my soapbox. That is what my department doesn't want to talk about, for some reason. That's what seems to have made my professor reply with such sarcasm and boredom when I shared my thesis topic with the class on tuesday. Why? I don't know. It's their loss, this is big-time stuff. Thesis research question: How does energy's role in economic development affect international efforts to address climate change? Simple enough.

Look, CANDY!



Heh, we needed that, didn't we? This delightful tiny-ziplock came with the order of Merino Oro that Kristi had sent to me as a contest prize. Dude, Werther's! My favorite (candy that tastes like butter? Hell yes.) I think thanks are in order.



This is the sage color, and it's perfect. I am planning to make the Sarcelle shawl for my mom for her birthday, and I think she will really love it in this color. Unfortunately, as I explained to Kristi, the thing standing in the way of me and that shawl is that this yarn is in hank form, and not ball form. I own neither a swift nor a ball-winder, so that's going to take some thinking. I'll manage, though!

Thursday night my boyfriend started talking about this idea we've been thinking about for a while. Mostly it's been as a joke, like yeah right, we're gonna go do that after suffering through four years at Cal. It's becoming more and more of an actual idea, though, as we flesh it out in our heads trying to avoid thinking about lame professors, etc. The idea is this: a restaurant/taphouse, me in the kitchen, him in the brewery. It seems unrealistic right now, though we do make rather good food and beer, imho. Maybe someday we'll really do it, advanced degrees in hand, and then I can have an excuse to buy stuff like this, which really makes me drool all over myself. Melamine! Drool!