KNIT ONE, PURL TWO

A great diversion I've re-discovered is crafts. There was a time in my life when I was a major craft hound: Sculpey, origami, painting, stuff like that. Crochet is a mindless activity that keeps my hands busy while listening to a book on tape (Hello again, Edward *sigh*) I'm a wiz with the crochet hook, but there aren't too many crochet patterns out there. Crochet tends to make the fabric stiff and not as pliable as knitting. For some reason, unfortunately, I've never been able to get the hang of knitting. I have a 13yo unfinished sweater and 4yo unfinished baby blanket in my closet as I type this. My mother, on the other hand, is a world-class knitter, but I find her perfection a little intimidating. To illustrate, she's working on a cross stitch Xmas stocking for our newest family member. It's an amazing mash-up of elements from the stockings she made for his parents. She was relating to me recently that she identified an error she made three days earlier in her work and RIPPED IT ALL OUT to fix it. Folks, she was off by 1 stitch - something that you or I would never notice - and she RIPPED OUT three days worth of labor to correct it. See what I mean? As a beginner, I find that kind of perfection too high an aspiration but I'm OCD enough that if it doesn't look great I don't want to do it.

My kid sister got a baby blanket at her shower that a woman had made by unraveling a sweater she bought on the clearance rack at the Gap. (How's THAT for recycling!) I checked out a bunch of easy knitting scarf patterns from the library (ratio of knitting to crochet books at my library? 35 to 1) and am all jazzed up about giving it another go. But yarn and needles can add up, so I'm considering taking a page from this woman's book and hitting the Goodwill store up the street to see if I can recycle some sweaters, or try my hand at felting. If it works out, you're all getting scarves for Christmas!

A BIRD IN THE HAND
Did you know there was a time when it was considered gauche to wear black to a wedding? To any affair, really. Black was reserved strictly for business and mourning. Enter the LBD (1926, I wiki'd it) and viola! a whole new line of women's clothing was born. We've a wedding to attend this weekend (Hi Molly & Johnny!) and whereas before I would pick up a new skirt/shoes/or top, one way I'm economizing during this time is to "shop my closet." (Don't you just hate that expression? So SAHMommy-ish!) It's a 2-o'clock affair with a full Catholic mass and reception to immediately follow. At this wedding, the spirit of our recently departed and most beloved Gram will be a heavy presence. The groom is an Irishman, Gram was Irish, Molly was her favorite granddaughter, etc. Her absence will be acutely palpable. So, it's important to me to be especially thoughtful of what Gram would have done. Gram was a Capital L lady and would NEVER have worn black to a wedding, much less a midday wedding. Yet, my closet is rotten with black: black skirts, dresses, sweaters. I didn't realize I owned so much black! How I miss the days of college when all my girlfriends would share clothing! This "shop your closet" thing worked much better when my "closet" included the selections of an entire sorority house.

RADIO! RADIO!

My sister and nephew were interviewed for Radiolab. You should listen to it here. I'd like to send the "think things through" message to all those ($#*&$ on Wall Street who thought bundling toxic assets was a good way to make money.