random blogging

I spent the past two Sunday nights watching Tess of the D'Ubervilles on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. It was pretty sad, and made me glad to live in a time when women are treated more equal to men and have more say in their own lives and homes. It was very well done, though, and I am positively enchanted with Tess' shawl that she wears throughout the movie. It is a simple garter stitch brown wool shawl and I really love the way they wrap her in it for this movie. I can't seem to find a decent picture, but if you go on the wedsite you can see a not-so-great picture. I am attending a knitting retreat in the first weekend of February, and I am determined to find a good project to take along. This may fit the bill, I am going to dig around and see if I can find a pattern that would make a duplicate. I somehow doubt that I could contact the Emmy winning costume designer, James Keast, for his pattern...

Also, I found two new knitting books at the library last week, one called Woolbur, about a sheep that refuses to follow his herd, and Knitalong, which has a lot of cool patterns for knitalongs. One in particular that I love is the Pillow of Sei Shonagon. I think it is beautiful, but I wonder what quick work my kids would make of tearing that ribbon out of it. Maybe it would be a good project for a hope-chest for a daughter. Do people even do such things as hope-chests any more? I'll have to check Ravelry to see who is making that pillow, and for what.

One other thing that might interest some budding etymologist out there; This weekend, our family attended a fly-fishing show in Denver, and there was a woman there selling Caddisfly made jewelry. She collects the caddisfly puppa, then gives them gems and gold to build their cases, she then makes it into unique jewlery. What a novel idea! The jewelry can be seen on her website: http://www.wildscapes.com/, and if you want to know more about caddisflies, look here. The cases are made in stage three of the life-cycle. She was so kind, she gave each of the kids a necklace, and me a zipper pull.

How about a picture to make you smile?

Mimi dresses herself these days...

what of the future? shall we look to the past?

I have been off scene more than on in 2008, and when I started this blog almost two years ago (collective gasp ensues), I fully intended it to be a writing and knitting blog...how much has been happening lately? None. Neither, unless I count facebook as writing, which I don't. But, I did post my resolutions on facebook, and one of them happened to be that I planned to blog more. I didn't really add knitting as one of my resolutions, because I really haven't had the desire to knit much, since I made a bunch of micro-mitts for Christmas presents this year, my fingers are still a little cramped. So the question becomes: do I continue to present this as a knitting blog, or just a blog of randomness and a few pictures thrown, in to appease the granny, or do I even continue this blog at all? Can I answer you later? Maybe after the wool-muse returns, or after I get my nose out of facebook and back into a reasonably constructive past time? I know in my heart that the answer is probably the second. That seems to be all I can promise. And since this so-called knitting blog is lacking anything knitterly today, I will admit that it may be a while before it becomes one again. I never even got started on the laughing carrots cardigan that I agonized over all those weeks (or months) ago. Let me say that I have noticed a trend in all blogs, at least the ones that I have kept up with over the years, and it seems that I am not the only one suffering from writer's/knitter's block. Some of the very regular bloggers have simply stopped posting. I know it is a thin excuse, but I am not the only one, which gives me some kind of comfort. I also noticed that there is a general lack of comment on much of anything about blogging these days. Are the winds of change a'blowing? I hope not. I do love reading other blogs, and at one time, it was a simple joy for me to sit down and post an entry. Maybe I just need to find my joy (nod to Lucinda). I'll be looking for it, in the past, and today.