I treat knitting, cooking, literature, and history with a light touch and serious enthusiasm here on my knitting blog, Mama O Knits Too Much, on CraftLit: a Podcast for Crafters Who Love Books, and in my books What Would Madame Defarge Knit?, What (else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?, and Grounded: The Seven, book 1.
First, I need to say that I really wish I had my loom back.
I think you’re going to want one, too.
* * *
Tom Knisely’s new book, Weaving Rag Rugs is one of those books that makes you think, “Oh… yeah… THAT’S the thing that I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do!”
The book, if you’ve never woven before, gives you pretty much everything you need (except money for the loom and people to help you set it all up), all the way from first principles (loom types, fabric choice and prep) through the actual weaving process (warping and weaving) and then to finishing (great section on finishing).
And that’s just the first 50 pages.
The next 77 pages are projects!
And preeeeeety pictures.
Coffee Lover’s Rug
Gradation Stripes 2
Pendleton Wool Blanket Strips 2
And a glossary.
If you grew up in a time where rag rugs were there but not noticed, then you’ll probably find this book fascinating. Knisely goes into the history of rag rugs a bit in the introduction and has an easy-going style that informs all the way through, but the book is largely a practical one. He’s quite well-known in the weaving word and with good reason—the book is readable and easy-going and he knows what he’s talking about. That said, the patterns themselves rely on you knowing how to read a weaving-pattern chart (he gives you pretty much everything else), so having a true beginners book (or the Internet) on hand wouldn’t be a bad idea if this is your first warp-ish rodeo.
Most of the projects are for a four-harness loom (though you could do a couple on a two-harness in a pinch) but I think you’d have a tough time using a rigid heddle. They don’t usually have much real estate and the fabric strips, as opposed to fiber/yarn, is bulky.
But don’t let me stop you from getting one. Rigid heddles are gateway looms, and I am a pusher enabler, after all.
* * *
A copy of this book will be on the June 2014 Raffle Page over at CraftLit, so after Midnight June 1st, you can go sign up to win your own copy!
Sorry for the absence! I’ve been packing boxes.
Like this.
I’ve also been doing this:
But mostly, today, I wanted to talk to you about this:
This book is full of fun patterns.
I love fun.
I decided to highlight two for you today.
The first is Coventry:
I admit that I’m a sucker for this color grey, so I’m immediately drawn to it. But beyond that…
…I really like this stitch pattern repeat. I thought it was simple enough but very elegant—and I liked the button on the (left) side (in picture) beyond all reason.
The other pattern I wanted to highlight for you is this kicky number:
Energy Mitts!
The girl is the picture is holding a skateboard, but it is so clear that if you (like me) have boys at home, these would be ideal. I love the detail work and the instructions are nice and clear. Fear not the zipper!
I found the book to be an easy and pleasant read and I can’t wait to hear more from our lucky Raffle Winner (through midnight, April 30, 2014).
For those of you who have been listening to Bleak House with me on CraftLit, you might recognize that line, “move along, Jo…” but lest you worry that we’re being moved into Tom-All-Alones, let me put your fears aside.
We’re just being kicked out of our place to make way for a hyperspace bypass evil luxury condos a bigger place to take advantage of the new Silver Line down the street from us.
So. We’re looking. And that’s why there’s been a bit of radio silence from me. But now I’ll share some pix. We’re looking at PA and NJ (leaning towards PA) and here’s some of what we’ve seen…
Doylestown, PA
Elkins park. Little. Old. Train. Lotsa old stone places.
Doylestown, PA main street . Cute shops, old movie theaters, and setting sun.
Buck’s County Playhouse in New Hope (one of our fave places)
Preeeety preetiness
Awesome pub in Newtown, PA
Village of Newtown, PA.
Jenkintown PA–home of the most awesomest school!!
Recently on Facebook I watched a couple of friends experience pain and not a small amount of sorrow when–after going through serious illnesses with their families–they were met with really appalling rudeness from friends and family members.
Not from internet trolls.
Friends.
Family.
Which leads me to wonder if the —-supportive responses like:
and that sort if thing, are really appropriate either?
Now, if the rudeness came from a stranger or even from a vague acquaintance-type person, I’d be right in the middle of the dogpile. But friends? Family?
What the what?!
Maybe it’s because my son gets easily judgy. Maybe it’s because my head’s been hurting so bad for so long I’m just in a stupidly compassionate state, but I’m wondering if the rudeness comes not from cruelty but from lack of words.
To clarify:
My younger son, when he was very little, would get upset and speechless. Or he’d get into trouble for pushing another kid instead of “using his words”—which seemed odd because my kids are (surprise) nothing if not verbal.
When he got into these situations, I started asking, “would you like some words to use if this happens again?” He was always relieved, practiced the phrases we recommended, and his kerfuffles lessened.
When thinking about the visiting-a-chemo-patient-and-starting-by-greeting-them-with-“Gawd you look like hell!” stories I’m left wondering if this isn’t just someone being overwhelmed and not having access to the right words?
In America, as my husband who worked in Slovakia has mentioned, we keep the infirm, the deformed, the slow, and the ugly well-hidden. Look at how much we spend on making our teeth regular and white. Lots.
Anyway. I’m wondering if we aren’t just too far apart too much of the time. Too many screens and too few faces. I don’t know of many kids going to Cotillion or Ticktockers or etiquette classes. If we never see anyone ill, if we don’t grow up learning how to pay a sick visit or support someone after a death, then where do we get those words from? How are we supposed to know?
Y’got me.
But then I thought maybe we could crowd source a list of things to say when someone is hurting. Just to get over the hump. I’m an expert in open-mouth-insert-foot… But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to improve.
Have you ever been struck by someone’s grace under this kind of pressure?
What did they say?
Please share.
I’d love to learn!
Next week is a very big week for me.
We start Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South on Friday on CraftLit.
I have a whole week of giveaways and fun planned for that week, too! More on that shortly (or to get the info before everyone else…
Then on Sunday, February 9th at 10am, I’m presenting at the
Blogger Book Fair!
Everyone is invited to view (and Q&A after). Lots of really interesting writers will be presenting over the weekend.
Let’s see… what else has been happening…
So! A successful couple of months!
Off to do some planning
Maggots!
In January we took a whistle-stop trip to NYC for Thing 2’s 10th birthday. It’s becoming a thing (we saw Annie last year). This year we saw Matilda.
You must go.
Really, you must.
I don’t know how you’ll do it, but try everything you can to go see this show. My Goodness… it’s a book-lover’s paradise. And oddly, the theater was populated by plenty of folks who (I gather) had never read a Roald Dahl book before by the way they gasped at Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood and Miss Trunchbull (played by the marvelous Chris Hotch in terrifying drag).
Why, you ask, must you run out and find your way to New York?
Because of Tim Minchin’s lyrics and music and Matthew Warchus’ deeply inventive staging.
Minchin (who you may know from this, or this—neither for children’s ears) or from this (which children might not ‘get’, but could probably hear without their ears melting. If you watch the extended, uncut version you’ll hear the whole intro) is the über logical, science-loving, eyeliner-wearing, bed-head touting, happily-married, songster-comedian-genius behind STORM (again, not for children). We might think—based on all of that—that he would be a horrid, cynical lyricist for a play about a genius, quirky, lovely, loving magical, girl.
We would all be wrong.
He is absolutely perfectly wonderful.
Here.
Here is the Royal Variety performance, 2013.
And here is the 2013 Tony Awards.
See?
Lovely.
Do what you can, and if it tours, DO NOT miss it.
* * * * *
Recently my husband and I were able to sneak out for a mid-day movie. He’s been traveling a lot so any time together is a joy and a thing of beauty. We decided to see Monuments Men regardless the humbug reviews.
I don’t know what the reviewers thought they were going to see, but I got what I paid for.
This is a huge story. It could have been a mini-series. I’d guessed that they’d have to condense characters and truncate time-lines (which they did) and that it would be more of a marvelous lightly-done history lesson than a deep Schindler’s List-type movie. And it was. And it was lovely. Clooney’s cast was spot on (anytime you get to see Murray, Goodman, Balaban, Clooney, and Damon together, just go. It’ll be fun) if you have to be both entertaining and heartwarming at the same time, and Cate Blanchette can do more without speaking than anyone I’ve seen lately other than Jean Dujardin (who is also lovely in the film). I thought she was truly amazing in a small (but important, and true) part.
So, short version: if you don’t expect an epic, you’ll be happy to see a movie that makes you want to read the real story and entertains you for two hours.
Let me know what you thought—>
I thought some of you might be interested in this book.
If you, like me, ate Laura Ingalls Wilder books for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a kid, then this book might be… interesting… sobering… sad… and informative.
I could only read it in small bursts (it’s quite sad in places) but very, very interesting. Particluarly Laskin’s description of how this 1888 freak storm happened. If you watch the Weather Channel (or any good weather-caster) you’ll recognize some current news.
the morning of January 12, 1888…
Vogue Knitting Winter 2013/2014
Hugely gratifying beyond my capacity for speech is having Vogue Knitting Winter 2013/14 give praise to my new book, Grounded.
The review also says that I’m creating sock patterns for each of the main characters, plus a bonus pattern. This is true and the patterns are all out, now! Yay!
It also goes on to say:
“The sock patterns… are being rolled out over time and will appear automatically in the Ravelry libraries of knitters who buy the book.”
This was mostly true of the pre-orders (which is when I spoke with Vogue Knitting), but not planned for perpetual sales of the book. Pre-orders received the first pattern (Rosie’s Firestarter socks) of the eBook Novel Socks.
However, because of this mis-print, I’m more than happy to honor the pre-sale offer for post-Vogue-Knitting-reader-purchases. Just forward your receipt for Grounded (any format, any venue) purchased after January 5, 2013 to me at this address. I’ll pop the same pattern the pre-orders got (Rosie’s Firestarter socks) into an email and (if you give me your Rav ID) into your Rav library, too.
Sorry about the confusion but I hope this helps!
And thank you!
I know I could be risking much by reviewing this film, what with hosting a literature podcast and all, but hear me out. I like to judge a film (or a book for that matter) on whether or not the end goal was achieved.
For me, To Kill a Mockingbird is pretty much the pinnacle of book-to-film that you can find. Sure you lose 98% of the subplots and a lot of important subtext — but was the book represented in a way that did justice to it’s soul?
You betcha!
So now we have a film based on James Thurber’s VERY short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.
What do we know before we even see it?
The first four, dead on.
The fifth–woah!!! Now, I saw folks screaming for blood about this on FB, but my 13 year old made an astute observation while we listened to Stiller (very nicely) read the original story on the way home–Walter only includes that sound in his daydreams when he’s driving. It’s the rattle of his car engine.
This movie takes place largely in NYC—trains and walking… Not so much the car thing.
So, no Topaketa…
Smart kid.
And the sixth?
The Hubs and I thought it was lovely. The kids (13 and 9.11) thought it was AWESOME! I thought it was some of Stiller’s best work—gentle and sad and sweet and smart. Yes it pushed the limits of reality in some parts—it is fiction—and the spirit behind it made me not care about the stuff that couldn’t possibly be.
I also thought Sean Penn was fantastic. Quiet and still and funny and light. When was the last time you saw that line written about him?
So.
Soul of the original? Yes, mostly. A little less sad, not completely Thurber-y, but the daydreams were awesome. I thought the first five minutes would have been enough for me. The realities were a lot of fun too.
There you have it. My 2¢.
You?
A year ago I was gasping for breath, making lousy business decisions with too little oxygen fueling my brain, and wondering how—if—I would ever get my fever down.
This year I got to spend New Year’s with friends and family, laughing, telling stories, playing with Tarot cards and Rune stones (research for the sequel to Grounded) and generally having a great time.
What a difference a year makes.
Lots is changing/happening for me in 2014:
I’m particularly grateful for you being on the weird ride with me that 2013 was. Good things like What (else) Would Madame Defarge Knit? and Grounded and Novel Socks, weird things like my 3am crowdsourcing to find a diagnoses after my pneumonia vaccine apparently paralyzed my arm. All of it—glad you were there.
Yeah, it was a weird year. I’m glad it’s past. And I’m really looking forward to 2014 and seeing you there with me.
MamaO is Heather Ordover, author, designer, mother and knitter... not necessarily in that order. You can get posts from this blog sent directly to your inbox by signing up below, Follow her on Twitter and Like her on Facebook if you're feeling friendly-like.
Vogue Knitting Winter 2013/2014
Hugely gratifying beyond my capacity for speech is having Vogue Knitting Winter 2013/14 give praise to my new book, Grounded. Read more...
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