Blithering Knitiot

A Package from Abroad

It's been such a hectic couple of weeks.  Kindergarten Programs, concerts, performances, awards ceremonies...  And some really hot and humid weather thrown in.  Needless to say, not a lot of knitting has gone on, although the red mohair shawl I've been working on only needs to be bound off, and I did knit a chevron bookmark for the Words & Bookmark Swap.  I do have pictures of what I sent to my swap partner, Jackie, in the UK, but until I know she's gotten it, you'll just have to wait a little bit...

BUT, I did get my package from her today, so I'll give you a couple of pictures of what she sent.  The guidelines of the swap basically were to knit or sew a bookmark and send it with a pre-1960's written book that somewhere mentions knitting.  Jackie sent a lovely crocheted bookmark, "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, Jackson's of Picadilly Pure White Chinese Silvertip Tea (which sounds REALLY yummy!), Bronnley English Fern Luxury Soap, Green & Black's Organic Chocolate Collection, and the most lovely blue Jitterbug Yarn by Collinette:

Tomorrow I'm going to a Spin In and Fiber Fair at the Black Bear Winery near Binghamton.  I'm hoping to get to meet some local spinners and maybe get to try a wheel or two.  I've been wanting to try a wheel since coming home from the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.  I'll take the camera and get some pics!

I also bought an iMac last week, so I have to say that at the moment, I'm a pretty happy guy.  I hope all is well with you, and have a great weekend!

It's been a little hectic...

Well hello there!  I can't believe it's been a month since my last post.  And what have I been up to?  No knitting.  Well, not much, but we'll get around to that...

So my kids had their high school production of "She Loves Me".  It was awesome, if I do say so myself.  In a nutshell, it was the right play for this group of kids.  I had options for casting, which was all put to rights during auditions, and it really did become the little Valentine of a musical that it was intended to be.  We also had an adjudication from the Theatre Association of New York State (TANYS), which was a great learning experience for us all.  An adjudication basically is a critique by a trained adjudicator, which looks at ALL the aspects of the production, from the printed program to the lighting, set design, props, costumes, music and acting.  We were given two roving adjudicator awards, one for our lead actor for his performance, and the second award was for the printed program (Since the plot involved annonymous letters to "Dear Friend", the program was written as a letter and was even in a matching pink envelope!).  So, the adjudicator liked that little detail a lot.  The scripts have since sent back, the costumes and props and sets were put away, and another musical came to an end.

We also had another Project Linus event in February.  We have over 100 blankets to donate to the cause this year, and the kids and a local knitters group did an outstanding job!  I'll post some pics this coming week.  One of my favorite blankets this year is a crocheted baby blanket with little blocks of pig faces alternating with blocks of pig tails!  It's just too adorable!

The kids and I spent a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago cleaning out the costume room at school.  actually, we started to clean it out - there's so much to do that it's going to take several days to get it finished.  We threw out 8 garbage bags of old clothing that was falling apart or unusable.  It made quite a nice dent in what needs to be accomplished.

Today was our annual Spring Concert.  The kids did an outstanding job.  I've had bigger choruses than this one, but the sound these kids have is really special and well blended.  The sang the spiritual "Every Time I Fell the Spirit", "The Road Not Taken" by Randall Thompson, and "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by PDQ Bach.  We also recognize our seniors at this concert, which usually involves a little gift and a speech of some sort.  The speech went very well, and then the seniors take over and give a gift to their director.  Well, one of my little "off color" saying that the kids find amusing is when I talk about discipline and say something like "use a brick, don't hurt your hand".  Their first gift to me was a brick that they all had signed.  And the second gift, since I had been knitting at musical rehearsals this year (and I can't believe how it helped me to concentrate on what they were doing onstage - very interesting), they got me the book "Stitch & Bitch" by Debbie Stoller.  The funny thing was that they really couldn't say the title of the book on front of hundreds of people - they can be shy at times.  Not very often, but it does happen on ocaission.  So, I have a brick, a new knitting book, and I've been outed as a knitter to the community by my kids.  The Board of Ed. members at the concert were very amused - and very congratulatory about the kids work.  It was a good day.

Oh, and the mohair shawl?  After doing a little ripping out, I decided to put it away for a little bit.  Ripping out mohair is not a pleasant task, and I think that will have to happen in small amounts.  But I did start another one in reds, rusts and oranges.  I'll be a little more careful this time....

I hope you all are doing well.  It looks like spring might actually be paying us a visit.  Enjoy your Monday!

That Damned Book Thing...

So, Sean, of Wool Gatherer fame, has tagged me to do this little meme.  Which when I read his, I thought was really kinda cool, cause he writes really well, and is very insightful of his thoughts and feelings.  Then I got to mumber 10 on his list, and there I was, listed as a blogger who was tagged to do this.  Ok, Sean.  I'll be a good sport and do my best.  Aren't knitting bloggers fun??  LOL!

1. One book that changed your life:  This is a tough one, because many books have certainly made wonderful impressions on me.  But CHANGED my life?  How about Coats & Clark's book #170-C: Learn How Book.  Remember that one?  It taught me lots of things - Crochet, knitting, tatting and Embroidery (although I never did the tatting thing).  It taught me that I could learn to do anything on my own (hey, maybe I AM kinda smart?) and that it didn't need to involve anyone else as I was growing up (I was quite the loner).  I still have that book, and occaisionally open it up and look at the very dated projects in it.  But I do love the drawings and instructions.  Good times....
2. One book that you've read more than once:  Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  I know, how queer is that?  But, growing up as a kid in a disfunctional house hold (and I read CONSTANTLY as an escape), I was truly amazed by a family that really cared for each other, helped each other and had close relationships with each other.  I still read it on occasion.  Now, it's kinda like a big, warm fuzzy.  And IMHO, think the movie version with Wynona Ryder is by far the best...
3. One book you'd want on a desert island:  I think this is a really dumb question.  Now, if I was stranded on this island, Sean's suggetstion of Survive on a Desert Island by Claire Llewellyn is a great choice.  If I'm on vacation on a secluded desert island, say, at a resort or something, I'd want something fun and light.  Like Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy...
4. One book that made you laugh:  The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian by Phil Doran.  Just a fun, entertaining read, and lots of Italian song and dialogue references.  And Mr. Doran writes with really great timing.  I don't often laugh outloud while I read, but I did quite frequently with this book.
5. One book that made you cry: The Man I Might Become: Gay Men Write About Their Fathers, Bruce Shenitz, editor.  Incredible essays by several authors about their fathers, and their relationships with them.  Laughter, tears, and sometimes even recognition of feelings and situations of my own life.  Awesome book.   Also, a play script:  Children of Eden.  Basically, concerning the relationship between parents and children, told through two stories from Genesis: The Creation, and Noah's Ark.  And there are scenes that just rip my heart out!  Incredible music by Stephen Schwartz.  I've read it several times, and hope to direct it sometime in the future with my kids (when I have the right kids for this play).  And I need to keep reading it over and over to be able to rehearse it without falling apart into a blubbering pile of flesh...  Oy...  It just pushes all the right buttons for me, I guess.  Hmmm...  Parents/children - is there a theme here? 
6. One book that you wish had been written:   How to Recognize Psychotic People at a Glance.  Cause sometimes you just can't tell...
7. One book you wish had never been written:  Although I can't say I wish it had never been written, because I'm sure that people out there read it, and since it was given to me as a gift (and I really wish it hadn't), I have to say Adirondack Country by William Chapman White has to be the most boring, dry, uninteresting history of anything that I have even read in my entire lifetime.  And I mean that in the most kind, positive, nurturing way.  Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I read it, which could be, but OY-NESS!  I do believe I "lost it" in a move .....
8. One book you're currently reading:  Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke.  I'm a big fan of biographies.  I've recently finished Dancing With Demons: the Life of Jerome Robbins by Greg Lawrence, and Rediculous: The Theatrical Life and Times of Charles Ludlam by David Kaufmann and The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: a Literary Life Shattered by Scandal by Barry Werth.
9. One book you've been meaning to read:  From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up, an anthology edited by Ted Gideonse and Robert Williams.  It's recently available, and I can't wait to get my hand on this book.  I really like anthologies and short stories (maybe because I have a relatively short attention span?).
10. Tag 6 people:  Well, they can either do it, or not.  I won't be heartbroken, and I don't think the world will come to an end if they don't.  The choice is theirs: 

Sprite, Ann, Cat, Diana, Sara and Ruth. 

Ok, Sean.  How's that?  Are you a happy little camper?  LOL!  Thanks for tagging me, this was kinda fun.

Saturday Sky

Well, this is my sky today.  Rainy, grey, and it's cold, too.  If you click on the pic and look carefully, you can see the rain as it comes down.  This view is from my yarn room in my second floor apartment overlooking the main street in town.  Sometimes it feels like I'm living in a tree house, which is pretty cool.  I like looking out and seeing trees from my knitting chair.  It's a good day to sit and knit.  or continue reading Jane Eyre.  And take more meds.  The back is still a bother, and finding a comfortable position is sometimes not easy, but I'll live.  I am seeing my doctor when he gets back from Africa (he does a lot of missionary work, which I think is very cool), but I also see my knee surgeon on the 6th, so I'll chat with him about it too (that visit is a follow up visit from the physical therapy I've been doing this summer).  Anyway...

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, have lots of fun, and stay dry if you can!  ;-)

TGIF!

Good Morning!

Well, I'm sure that you're all waiting with bated breath as to the book and author of the last post, weren't you?  Huh?  WEREN"T YOU!  (Just nod your head "yes", and we'll move on...)

Ok, so the book IS Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  Good for Mr. Blakeman and Bugsy!  They must be avid readers!  I bought the CD of the Broadway recording of Jane Eyre the musical last year, and I just LOVE IT!  So, since I had some time before school started, I thought I'd read it again as it had been many years since I had.  I read it once in high school.  My Mom had the book, and it was a gift to her from her 7th grade teacher for having the highest average that year (1942 or '43).  She still has her book, and it is quite worn around the edges, but something that my Mom is very proud of having, as a reward for her hard work.  She wanted to be a teacher, but had to drop out of school to take care of her mother because of health problems.  But I think I wrote about that somewhere in my old blog.

And again, thanks for all the nice comments about the mittens, and for the well wishes about my back.  I am mending, and it gets better every day.  ;-)

So, thank you Tristan and Bugsy for getting the correct answer.  And here I thought that maybe I was quoting a book no one would know.  How silly of me....

From Bugsy

Ok, since I've finished my Bitchin' Mittens (and thank you all for your very kind and supportive comments!), and I have a little time on my hands, I thought I'd do something a little fun.  I read this on Bugsy's Blog, and thought it would be a hoot:

Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 123. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

This is from my closest book:

"It is vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity; they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.  Millions are condemed to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot.  Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."

That's my three sentences.  BUT, the author continues:

"Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more priveledged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.  It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them; if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced neccessary for their sex."

(I just HAD to keep going because of the "knitting stockings" reference.  Hehehe...  LOL!)

Now, any idea the book and the author?  I'll let you stew on that one.  Is this a contest?  I haven't decided, but I suppose it could be, if I felt like it.  I could ponder on what a prize could be...  Is this asking for trouble?  I'm thinking so....  Thanks, Bugsy!