I have the best mother-in-law. Technically she is not my mother-in-law because D. and I are not married, but she is awesome. To wit, I just got the following through the post today because "it had your name on it".
I Saw the Best Minds of the Rebellion Eaten by Sarlacc...
Who on earth likes both Star Wars and 20thC poetry? ME! And this is one of the funniest things I have seen on the internet this week:
so much depends upona scarred young jedi
stitched with cyber netics
beneath the black helmet
Or how about
For I have ordered them, ordered them all— Have crewed the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have crewed my life with storm-troop goons; I know clones dying with a dying fall, And Alderaan, beneath the Death Star’s doom The soundless, vacuum-muted boom.
Or indeed
There died Hunter Fugitive. And the best of them, among them For old Boba gone in the teeth For a botched storyline.
There is just a smattering of Shakespeare in the linked post, which is fine by me, but I do think this cries out for some rock'n'roll 17th C poetry. A bit of Andrew Marvell - but sadly filking is beyond my abilities. I can but dream.
Background Details
It's been that kind of morning.
"So, which textile degree did you do?""No textile degree, I'm afraid. I have a degree in English with a specialisation in print culture from a Danish university."
"Okaaaay, why did you move there to do your degree?"
"I'm .. Danish?"
".."
I posted this exchange on a certain social networking site and some good friends tried to reframe things for me.
Can't you just invent an explanation? "Well, I was really going to study in Rwanda, but then the plane crashed and ..."
"and after fighting of the packs of lions and the rabid wildebeests, I thought I'd..."
"... I thought I'd knit myself a fishing net so I could get some food. And then my clothes had got all tattered, so I knit myself some new ones, and that inspired me to go into designing."
"That's why most of my garnments are green. Jungle-inspiration."
Yeah, it has been that kind of morning: quite odd but very funny.
Hang on. Most of my days are quite odd but very funny. Hmm.
Day Five: Song
Hello FLS, my old friend,
I've come to knit you again,
Because pretty yarn came softly creeping,
And I can knit you while sleeping,
And the shawl that was frogged yesterday
Still remains
Within the knitting basket of doom.
In restless dreams I walked alone Wondered if I should knit Cobblestone, 'neath the halo of a second-hand lamp, I turned my eyes to the weather cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of bright light That split the night And touched the knitting basket of doom.
And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand possible projects, maybe more. Projects without assigned yarns, Projects with scary-looking charts, Projects that look fabulous - but not on me And not one made me Disturb the knitting basket of doom.
Head said you do know Your yarn stash like a cancer grows. Find some sweater amount for Hey Teach*, Take these patterns and an FO this month you may reach. But my hands like idle raindrops fell, And rested By the knitting basket of doom.
And so to the great knitting goddess I prayed I looked at items I had previously made. And the signs were flashing, By the sweater amounts I had been stashing. And the signs said, top-down it shall be It'll be easy garter-stitch and fancy-free And suit that lovely wool-alpaca yarn you have kept in the knitting basket of doom..
(apologies to Simon and Garfunkel)
*no longer in my queue as per April 2011
--
Alas, I have suddenly fallen ill and I am currently resting in my bed. I hope you enjoy this little filk which I originally wrote in August 2009. I have updated the links though :)
I hope to be fully recovered in time for tomorrow's blog post. Until then you can find more blogs participating in the Knitting & Crochet Blog Week by googling 2KCBWDAY5.
Day Two: Skilled Up
If you have ever played any role-playing game such as Dungeons & Dragons or World of Warcraft, you will be familiar with a system assigning numbers (your "stats") to indicate how good you are at something. Using D&D as an example, if you are very nimble and agile you will have a Dexterity of "15" (or higher) and if you are extremely clumsy, your Dexterity may be a "7".Your skill levels are modified accordingly, so a person scoring high in Dexterity will receive a bonus when performing acrobatics.
Now my personal stats run fairly average but I do get a hefty modifier to my knitting skills rolls. If only life were like a role-playing game and all the tasks revolved about figuring out knitting patterns..
.. but it is not and the last year has actually been quite odd from a knitting perspective. I can knit pretty much anything nowadays but I have been suffering from a lack of knitting mojo. It is odd: I have a beautiful stash, I'm blessed with fabulous knitting groups and friends, and I have allocated crafting time .. but somehow Mr Mojo just went out the door for a very long time. It felt as though all my knitting was pligtstrik, or 'i-have-to-knit-this' rather than 'i-want-to-knit-this'.
Technically I have not changed much from the knitter I was last year. I have not learned any new cast-ons or improved my entrelac - but I have become much more mindful about my knitting and what I choose to do with my knitting time. I have learned to disregard much of the Ravelry hype, avoid local knitting drama and not be distracted by what others think. Instead I have begun discovering who I am as a knitter and as a crafter. I can do so many different things but what do I want to do with them?
Like others, I am rediscovering plain knitting and I am a huge believer in 'less is more'. I am knitting for myself, to my own taste and in my own time.
To go back to the roleplaying terminology, it is as if my massive knitting modifier is now working in synergy with my WIS modifier. I suspect that means I've levelled up over the past year although I hadn't realised this. Maybe life is like a role-playing game and all the tasks do revolve about figuring out knitting patterns..
Topic: Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Find more blogs participating in the Knitting & Crochet Blog Week by googling 2KCBWDAY2.
The Skies, Now Undisturbed
The wise elders would explain that inside the aircraft, passengers, who had only paid the price of a few books for the privilege, would impatiently and ungratefully shut their window blinds to the views, would sit in silence next to strangers while watching films about love and friendship - and would complain that the food in miniature plastic beakers before them was not quite as tasty as the sort they could prepare in their own kitchens. The elders would add that the skies, now undisturbed except by the meandering progress of bees and sparrows, had once thundered to the sound of airborne leviathans, that entire swathes of Britain's cities had been disturbed by their progress
Alain de Botton wrote his piece in reaction to the last few days' "travel chaos" (i.e. man is not greater than nature). I am reminded of Ben Marcus' The Age of Wire & String, a strange little book which I struggled to understand. I think it is the ritualised language both de Botton and Marcus use.
Completely unrelated: Death Metal Lyric OR William Blake Quote? Go on ..
Meanwhile I am still torn on whether to use a particular yarn for a particular cardigan pattern. When I look at the yarn I think "texture! cables! I have 1700 yrds!" but the cardigan is rather plain and takes 1050 yrds. Woe.