LoopyKnits

I suppose it’s de rigeur of me to criticize those on-the-edge artists whose works exist to shock and titillate, rather than to uplift mankind. But sometimes you’ve just gotta let your jaws drop and share something that’s profoundly weird!

Check out this web page for a look at the Blood Scarf. Never before was a garment that is knit solely of vinyl tubing so aptly named.

Rates about a 10 on the “Eww!” scale, doesn’t it? And I couldn’t help thinking, “Well, it would certainly be WARM …” (Okay, I’ll stop before I further gross myself out.) But you should also check out some of the other off-the-wall postings on this artist’s site, too. Definitely thought-provoking — if not also lunch-hurling.

Technorati Tags: fiber art, knit art, Blood Scarf, wacky knits, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

Oh yeah! It’s postman-hugging time!

I do love getting me a package. I couldn’t wait to tear into this one because I just *knew* what it would contain, and I was right. This was my reward for making one of the two winning logos for Cast On, Cast Off: Jennifer’s Knitting Dojo.

Thanks, Jenifer! As you can see, I got your two skeins of Noro Kochoran (my first-ever) in yesterday’s mail. Scrumptious! I love the smudges of teal, purple and cocoa throughout the light and dark gray yarn, and the little wisps of angora among the silk and wool make the yarn super-cuddly. If I sound like I’m squealing, that is an accurate guess!

I’m following Jenifer’s advice on a simple knitting pattern she provided to show off the yarn. I took a ball of the Noro to Caitlyn’s soccer practice and her game today and knitted inbetween cheers for the Fusions to win (a loss, but they played well). And here are the results so far. I’ve not made such an airy scarf before, but I like how it feels. I had to use size 11 needles instead of the 13s Jenifer recommended because I knit loosely, and I kind of liked dragging out this pair of my grandmother’s needles to make this too. I can already tell this one is going to whip out quickly. I’d forgotten how satisfying it is to make something on uber-large needles.

Cheers, everyone!

Technorati Tags: Noro Kochoran, lace knitting, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

So. Disappointed.

I practically skipped out of the house this morning on my way to the local Tuesday Morning store to be the first in line for 50% discounts on Gefrida yarns. The only folks that beat me there were a handful of retirees, and I don’t begrudge them first place in line anyway. But when I finally popped through the doors and asked where the sale yarn was, they pointed me to the endcap of one aisle in the back of the store. About 25 skeins … weird colors … what, that’s IT?!

Yup.

As you can see, most were unfortunate color choices or low quantities. I did like the denim blue but there weren’t enough to make an ample-size sweater for me, and I’ve got enough scarves and hats to last me a lifetime. I passed.

Doesn’t look much like their ad, does it? (See the yarn photo I snipped from their ad, further down on this page.) I don’t expect fancy displays or the very best color selection when I go to a discount outlet store, really. But it would be nice to have enough of one color to make a garment … or at least a few nice yarn colors. Compare the above reality to the photo from their ad, below. Why would they feature yarn in their flier if they aren’t going to have enough on hand to make it worth the trip to the store? It’s misleading, as I told the sales clerk. (Nicely. I’m not a total jerk.)

So … instead of pouting like an infant, I shopped like an adult and bought a bedspread instead. ;o)

It’s nothing fancy. We’ll be repainting our bedroom in a year or two when we get finished with some of the other rooms, so I didn’t want to invest in something luxe. The only thing I could find to go with the currently way-too-perky pale orange sherbet walls was a white Egyptian cotton coverlet and pillow sham in a neat style (geometric pattern woven into fabric, with no fringe on the edge of the spread, which I hate anyway). Beats the heck out of the hand-me-down pink-and-blue striped bedspread we were using; at least now it looks like we’re trying to live like grownups instead of going with the “scavenged dorm room” decor. ;o)

And besides, it beats the heck out of the peculiar Gefrida yarns they had at Tuesday Morning — especially the chunky black yarn studded with tufts of orange and white. Yech. Hope you all had better luck with the yarn shopping!

Technorati Tags: Tuesday Morning store, yarn sale, misleading advertising, Gefrida yarns, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

My first meme tagging is here, from Nowhere Nick and his Small Town Rambles blog. Here are my responses on what I was doing in the past and things I know and love:

5 years ago: My children were 3 and 10, I was working in a job with a great title and a sharply critical boss, I made less than half the money I do today, my husband was still working toward his graduate degree, I was depressed about my difficult mother still living with my family, and I was not optimistic about improving my life.

1 Year ago: My youngest girl had just started first grade, my oldest girl had just started high school, and I was feeling optimistic about my diet (ha). We also had just celebrated our first anniversary in our new home. (Difficult mom still in tow.)

5 songs I know all the words to (not proud of all these, mind you):

• Evergreen (I can’t STAND Barbra Streisand, but I loved this song a long time ago and memorized it … *still* can’t forget the words.)
• Puff the Magic Dragon (Don’t know why this one stuck. It’s a sad song. But I love it. Have sung it to my children many times.)
• Rock of Ages (those Southern Baptist roots will show, I guess. But I love this song. It’s comforting.)
• Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (My usual “painting the room, cleaning house, and doing chores” humming song)
• Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog (many nights spent singing this to my children … just a happy ol’ hippy song.)

Bonus song: Here’s one that I **love** but can never remember all the lyrics too. My all-time favorite song: The City of New Orleans

5 Things I’d do w/ $100 million dollars:

1. Pay off all the debts owed by me, my family, and my husband’s family
2. Set up trust funds my children’s education, their start in life as independent adults, and our retirement
3. Set up a trust fund for family members’ children’s education and first home down payments (if enough funding, it would be a gift. If not, then zero-interest loans.)
4. Give substantial donations to the small churches of my childhood and my husband’s childhood.
5. Fund a well-monitored and well-run business incubator organization for entrepreneurs — preference given to minorities and the poor. Would include business mentoring and ongoing support for at least first few years.

In short, I’d try to pay what’s owed, give to those who nourished me and mine, prepare for the future, and try to help people in their efforts to help themselves.

5 places I would run away to:

1. Canada (like the medical care and the society and the nice people and the cold weather … and the knitting)
2. Vermont (some progressive legislation and lovely part of the country)
3. Arizona (to satisfy my Inner New-Ager)
4. Seattle (interests me for many reasons. Seems progressive, cultural, fun.)
5. (The most likely) A cabin in the Smoky Mountains for many reasons, including the beauty of the view, the solitude, the nearby fun things to do, and the fact that it’s still in my beloved South — assuming I could still get Internet access! (Gotta get online.)

5 things I would never wear (or never wear again):

1. Gaucho pants (got enough of them the FIRST time around when I was in high school. See catalog image I grabbed, at right. Yuck!)
2. Spaghetti strap tank tops (too skimpy for my physique, too flimsy for the support this 44-year-old needs)
3. Muu-muus (I haven’t given up yet)
4. Nylon undies (gotta breathe). Don’t even buy them any more.
5. Turtlenecks (too “chokey”). I’ve regretted every one I’ve ever bought!

5 favorite tv shows:

1. The Closer (Brenda is a bitchin’ tough woman! Love her! The actress who plays her is married to Kevin Bacon, which still surprises me. Long marriage, too!)
2. CSI (the original)
3. Medium (can’t wait for it to reappear!)
4. Law & Order (any of them)
5. Comedy Central’s One-Night Stand (one-off shows of various comedians).

5 greatest joys (in no particular order):

• Reading insightful and/or witty books, cartoons, and blogs
• Writing something that expresses my views so clearly I can almost hear the “CLICK” as words fall in place
• Observing my children’s innocence and imagination
• Mastering a new skill
• My husband’s ability to surprise and amuse me and be endearing to me, after nearly 11 years. (Who can stay fresh that long? He can.)

5 favorite toys:

• If you’re talking childhood, I would have said: Tinker Toys, Silly Putty, my Mrs. Beasley doll (see pic at right … another webshot, since mine long ago disappeared), Barbies, and puzzles of all kinds. (Books are a category by themselves — my real love!)
• If you’re talking adulthood, I’d use “toys” broadly for anything that amuses me, including huge jigsaw puzzles, any metal/wood interlocking “brainteaser” puzzles, my laptop (not a toy … but my amusement lifeline!), magnetic word kits (to create poems), and art/craft supplies (paints, markers, nice fat pads of good paper, yarn and needles, etc.).

5 people I’m tagging: Do they have to have a blog? I’d say Gail M., Debbie R., Vicki M., Lisa B. and Sherman H. I’ll e-mail this to them.

Cheers! - Carolyn

Technorati Tags: memes, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

Just found this blog-errific tool. Click here to find out your financial standing in comparison to all other people on Earth: http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Did you try it? Isn’t it INSANE? They tell me that my family’s income puts us in the top 0.503% richest people in the world, and the world holds more than 5.9 billion people poorer than me. Are they kidding? I was astonished, because we’re decidedly middle class and we often live paycheck to paycheck. We have to plan for even modest purchases like back-to-school clothes for two kids, this year’s new choir dress and choir dues for my oldest, and little luxuries like that pair of Crocs (trendy expensive shoes) my youngest wants me to get for her. We may be adding gasoline to the “luxuries” list now that it’s at $3.19/gallon (a temporary high, I hope). And I’m kinda dreading telling my husband that I just blew $47 at Blockbusters last night buying and renting some movies and getting a bit of candy for the kiddos. (Hi, honey! Just kidding! It was totally free!)

But because I know we’re not rich, this little online tool this does have the intended effect of showing me just how little some families have. Compared to my average lifestyle, so many people have so much less. It encourages me to dig a little deeper to give back. Thought-provoking, isn’t it?

And to think that just last week I was at one of my favorite yarn shops, contentedly plunking down another $40 for some yummy yarns and feeling a little self-conscious for blowing the money — like I should be hearing “Hey, Big Spender!” blasting behind me as a personal soundtrack and mild rebuke — when I was astonished to hear the woman ahead of me spending six HUNDRED dollars and change on some luxury yarns and needles. Eh, what? I think I gaped like Jethro, because I know I felt wistful, a bit envious and entirely shocked. I joked with the yarn shop owner afterward, asking her why she even bothered waiting on shrimpy little buyers like me. She assured me there were far more small buyers like me than the heavy-hitter shopper who’d just left the shop, and she treasures all her customers. (Smart and kind-hearted yarn shop owner, eh?)

God bless the shopper who had the wads of money to spend on yarn; it’s her money and she deserves to spend it any way she wants — generously on herself and, I hope, generously on others. I don’t mean to imply a criticism of wealthy folks; I’m just talking about the train of thought she cranked up for me.

I’m grateful for the abundance we have in my country, my state, my city, and my household. While I’m not going to stop buying nice yarns for my knitting enjoyment — I know the poor will always be with us no matter what one person does, so I won’t deprive myself of that handicrafting pleasure — I am going to think more about ways I can help others. I think this year for Christmas I’m going to sit down with each family member and pick a charity we can support for the coming year — whatever charity they care the most about — and make a more conscious effort to give. I give painlessly at work with blood drives and monthly payroll deducations for United Way, and my knitting guild regularly knits for local charities, but it would feel nice to make a more deliberate effort more often.

That train of thought that I’m experiencing and that I’m hearing from others is one of the few things I can be truly thankful to Hurricane Katrina for. I’m already seeing local fundraisers up here in the Memphis area to benefit hurricane victims, and it warms me to see it.

As I’ve heard more and more stories coming from the Gulf Coast about people stealing portable generators (our relatives were warned to buy sturdy locks), the rapes and suicides that happened among the squalor and desperation within the SuperDome shelter, and looters shoving aside dead bodies to plunder homes, I’ve also been heartened to hear about heroic efforts to care for others, neighbors checking on elderly people who live alone nearby, businesses that have set up websites to help family members who were separated during the evacuation efforts find each other again (and distant people check on whether Gulf Coast friends and relatives are still alive), people buying supplies not just for themselves but also for friends, emergency workers doing the nauseating but necessary task of collecting the bodies that are rapidly decomposing in the Southern heat and storing them in cool stairwells and other secure areas until proper resting places can be found, ordinary people doing extraordinary things to rescue lives, and friends with chainsaws doggedly cleaning up fallen trees on their own property and then widening their circle to help friend and neighbors and strangers.

I don’t think that bad behavior is excused by a crisis like this, as I’ve read on some blogs, any more than I think people should be sainted for doing what is the good, right, and decent thing to do. Let’s celebrate the good and also recognize that weaker people may need encouragement to change or containment to keep from hurting others. Pressure reveals out the character strengths or flaws that already exist in a person. Strong people have the fortitude to help both themselves and the world around them. Weak people crumble and may even prey upon others.

As the saying goes, “The same fire that melts butter also hardens steel and purifies gold.”

Let’s be steel and gold, shall we?

Technorati Tags: charity, abundance, gratitude, Hurricane Katrina, integrity, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

Our family members head home tomorrow. They should be able to get back to their houses safely, as they live about a 45-minute drive north of Gulfport. They know that their homes survived with minimal wind damage, although they lost many trees. But it’s been a traumatic experience. One family member rode out about 8 hours of terrifying winds alone in a metal building on his property. He said it sounded like a 747 was parked next door with engines roaring the whole time. His hours the day after were spent checking on neighbors, cutting up fallen trees with his chainsaw, and wondering if this was the end of things.

Churches where friends were married are gone. The apartment where my husband once lived is gone. Landmarks … gone.

There are so many people who died on the Gulf Coast in the hurricane (mostly from the rapid flooding) that — as far as I know — officials there are still concentrating their efforts for now on rescuing the living before they continue removing the dead. There are places where bodies are still floating in the water until the overwhelmed emergency workers can remove them; I know, one family member saw them Wednesday.

Whoever deemed this “our tsunami” was right indeed.

Our relatives are heading home with some of the things they’ll need to get through the weeks until power is restored — gasoline generators. Charcoal briquets. Jugs of water. Large gasoline cans that they’ll fill up where they can. Giant packages of toilet paper. The foods they like that will keep without refrigeration. Coolers full of ice for their perishables. They’ll have full tanks of gas and be in secure, sturdy vehicles. And we’ll be running down 1-2 times a month to take them and other family members some of the more difficult-to-obtain items as they run out. They’re already weary as they face the long months of cleanup efforts ahead. But they are alive, and the quiet celebration we’re all feeling in our hearts over that fact still buoys us.

Tomorrow, I return to my frumpy house (love you, house — you just need a better housekeeper than I’ll ever be), my usual family life (for which I’m more grateful than ever to still have), and yes, even my knitting (which challenges and comforts me). And I’ll do so with gratitude, hope, and prayers for those who can’t do the same quite yet.

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Katrina, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm