"They're here already! You're next!"

I've become a pod person.

Despite using the famous last line from the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I'm not referring to that kind of pod.

I mean a iPod and listening to podcasts type of person.

Necropolis gifted me with an iPod Shuffle this holiday season, and I've been using this past week with a frequency bordering on obsession. Music is okay, but the podcasts have become my particular manna. I started with knitting and crafting podcasts. Some are better than others, but I've not really found my niche there. Yknit and StashandBurn seem to be the ones I go back to listen to past podcasts more regularly.

When I started browsing further on iTunes, I discovered some of my Saturday NPR favorites, and I have listened to every available episode of Michael Feldman's What do you know and Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. Now, one of my personal goals is to have Carl Kassel's voice on my answering machine.

Then, I found my holy grail of podcasts: CraftLit. CraftLit is hosted by Heather, a former High School literature teacher. In her own words, she says:

I wanted to welcome you all to CraftLit, a Podcast for Crafters. I imagine you’re here because you like to work with your hands, but you also like to read. If so, this is the place for you! Our program will follow a similar pattern every week. After some introductory comments, a web, magazine, or book review, and perhaps a song, I will include a chapter or two from a book. We will listen to that book until we’re done with it. And because I’m a former English teacher, I’ll give you some things to listen for in the chapters we hear--just to give you something else to do while you’re knitting, spinning, crocheting, weaving, or sewing. Any painters?

As she was on hiatus during the holidays, I went back and listened to sets of older podcasts/books. Her first selection was Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I knew this was going to be a match made in heaven! I finished that series of podcasts (about 20) in less than 3 days, and now have moved on to the set of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Oh, and she's also begun her newest set, Robert Lewis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde. Fun! Fun! Fun! I can listen to great books and knit or spin at the same time!

All CraftLit's books come from Librivox. LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain and has 2000 books in its library. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

If you have any bit of bibliophile in your soul, I suggest you join us.

You're next.

All I Want for Christmas....

My last post gave the not so subtle suggestion to resist the urge to buy gifts for the holiday season, and instead, to try your hand at a self-created gift. It occurred to me that some people, while otherwise intelligent and brilliant in their own way, irons on the head not withstanding, may not have any idea where to start to even begin to have a glimmer of a suggestion for a handmade gift. So, I did the search work for you.

I found a couple of really nice, informative and quite groovy cool sites out in the ether that may be of benefit to those whos artsy-cratftiness may need some small assistance.

The first is Go Make Something. Not only is this site well designed and easy to follow, but the suggested crafts are fun, useful, artistic, beautiful and generally made with 'stuff' you may have on hand. If you already have a craft drawer (or several rubbermaid containers. Or a whole room), here's your chance to drag out all that stuff you bought but never used, and can now put it to good use, making thoughtful and smart gifts for your friends and family. My personal favorite from this site is the altered books. If you're not familiar with an altered book, take a gander at this:

Another site is Craftster.org. This site is able to be a little more personalized, and you can log in, go to the groups/forums/etc. But, if you putz around, you can really find some neat ideas.

However, if you're still afraid you'll burn your palms or somehow crush every toe you have, then I suggest you do the next best thing: Give to a charity. Buy local. Buy simple. Or Buy Handmade. You can do the last by checking out those of us who sell our handmade items on Etsy.

Happy Holidays.

A-Maze-ing Challenge

As one who can never turn away a challenge, I find myself embroiled in yet another one. A few posts ago, I mentioned being a member of Knitting 20th Century Novels on Ravelry, and this ‘round’ we’re reading Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose. Also part of this group is to knit an accompanying work, if so desired.

Already, very early in the reading (by the first chapter), a labyrinth is featuring prominently in the reading. There’s constant reference to the idea of the monastery library being a labyrinth (more a maze really, but the theory is the same in this case). Discussion on the project board centered at first on some brave soul who wondered aloud on how to incorporate semiotics into her knitting. Semiotic is, in really, really, really shorthand terms the study of signs and symbols, a huge sub-plot of the book and is, in fact, Eco’s area of expertise in the collegiate world.

From this first brave (in my opinion) board post, discussion gradually moved to the idea of creating an afghan or blanket based on a labyrinth, and me being me, I had to add my two cents about Latin text and hidden meanings. Now, the project is blooming into a life of its own.

Further discussion and research had one member discover Eco actually based the library labyrinth from the maze on the floor of Rheims Cathedral in France (1211 destroyed 1779).

Conveniently, it has places to place some secret symbols, and my imagination is going full throttle.
At this point, everything is still in my head, but I do have plans to put it in ‘fit for public consumption form’. I hope. I’ve already resigned myself that this is not a project that will be completed upon the specified time limit of the book group. However, I’m not deterred. I thought there might be some here who were interested in watching this unfold.

A Novel Without A Hero

Once Upon A Time there was a blog entitled Knitting the Classics. It's now defunct, but it's purpose (at the time) was to read some great books and knit inspiring piece of works based on said book. Unfortunately for me, I discovered this little gem too late.

Being the voracious reader I am, I have no lack of books in my dining room/studio that have been sacrificed at the altar of my literary muse this summer. Perhaps my greatest accomplishment was in reading the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series. Yes, I read all 6 book, incompassing some 6800 pages, in less than two weeks. And, I broke up the monotony of Claire and Jamie's story with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I was a busy girl.

The trouble, if you want to call it that, is that I read for myself, but generally have no avenue of discourse regarding these books. I read, digest and internalize these books. Most often, this isn't an issue. My ideas would probably set people's backs up and frighten small children. But, every so often, I have the desire to read, discuss and exchange.

A book club doesn't really appeal, and isn't all that conducive to my life, given The Things. If I want to have a discussion about The Spiderwick Chronicles, I suppose I'm set. But, if I want to talk Pride and Prejudice, I'm a little short on method and opportunity, despite the motive.

Enter Knit the Classics. It would have been the perfect balance and compromise. If it still existed. Luckily for me, there's a fair compromise. On Ravelry, there are two groups, Knitting 19th Century Novels and Knitting 20th Century Novels which hold basically the same function as KTC: Read a major work every two month (and discuss in the forums) and knit a project inspired by the novel.

I've picked up my first two novels, Vanity Fair by Willam Makepeace Thackery, and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I'm reading along and already have the beginnings of knitting inspiration for Name of the Rose, as you can see by the photo below. I'm thinking ideas along rose windows. Not sure how, exactly I'm going to pull this off yet, though.


So, now I can discuss and talk, as time allows, and not worry that my ideas are strange or weird or whatever. I have the time to really think about what I say before I type my ideas out, and I can pose these theories in the best light. Right?

Well, you would think so, but apparently, I'm just that much of a freak. When I brought forth a point in Vanity Fair, where one of the characters is labeled a misanthrope (a word that's popped up repeatedly for me this summer), I somewhat challenged it. I asked what others thought. And only one person replied with a sort of wishy-washy response.

Maybe I'll just go back to lurking and keep my mouth shut.

Eat, Pray, Love - This Is the Meaning of Life?

First, let me say I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual. It's not that I'm arrogant or superior about my acumen. I don't claim to have any ability equivalent to Stephen Hawking or Einstein. I'm no dummy either.

Secondly, I'm a voracious reader. There are always a few books I'm in the process of reading at any given time. Currently, I'm in the middle of one of the Florence King essay compilations, a biography of Abigail Adams, the letters of Abigail Adams and John Adams (I'm working on those concurrently), as well as a couple of pulp novels that have no particular literary value at all. I just use them as void fillers. In the past two and a half months, I've also read Jane Austen's Emma, three other Florence King books, both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (by the same author and I recommed them highly), The Red Tent, a Christopher Moore book (whose title escapes me at the moment), The Count of Monte Christo ( for the innumerable time), Friday Night Knitting Club, a collection of O Henry stories (again), and several others, including the latest Laurell K Hamilton.

I recently read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, which is unusual for me for a couple of reasons. I don't really care what everyone else is reading, and I don't follow the best sellers as a matter of course. Also, I'm not into the whole self-help, 'here's the way to find yourself' thing. Why I actually picked this book up is a mystery. Maybe it has something to do with WHERE she went as opposed to WHY. Her travels took her to Italy, India and Bali, places I happen to find fascinating, and perhaps that is what lead to my interest. At any rate, I picked it up, plunked down my money and bought it. Once purchased, I slogged my way through it, regardless of whether I liked it or not. Rare is it for me to put a book down in total disgust before reading it through. I gave this book the same courtesy. I read it, and I did enjoy reading it, although it did get a bit tedious at times. It was a nice little book about one woman's personal journey to self-discovery.

Do I find it revolutionary and groundbreaking?

No.

This is where I'm having such difficulty. This book has becoming some sort of textbook on how to discover yourself. The author has been on Oprah where much to-do was made, there are reading group guides, the reviews tend to be over the top and I just don't get it. There's just not that much there. It's not an instruction manual. It's not even really a "how-to". It's more of a "year in the life".

Let me back-track a bit here and say, I do understand, fully, a person's need to search for personal or higher awareness. I totally 'get' what Gilbert was about and what she was doing. I don't necessarily agree with her methodology, but I understand the exercise. But, I (and from what I understand, she, too) feel that the journey for this self discovery, or discovery of a higher power, is so totally personal, there's no way to to emulate her journey. Every journey is unique and must follow a unique path.

Besides, we know the answer is 42. However, if you have any ideas that may enlighten me, feel free to post them.

One more small, totally unrelated note. I received word that two people important to me and mine are very sick. Dr. Lucy, whom I've referred to in this blog before has some bizarre, weird thing that I don't understand at the moment, since I haven't talked to her directly as of yet. All I know is she went to the hospital, where it was discovered there were blood clots in her lungs. She's now at home on bed rest. Secondly, The Things' Assistant Principal gave birth to a baby boy earlier in the week. The baby is healthy and fine. After delivery, something happened, and Parks had a heart attack, necessitating open heart surgery and a triple-bypass. For a while, she was being kept in a drug-induced coma, but the latest I heard just this afternoon was she is to be moved to a private room next week. This is really good news for both of my friends, but they are not out of the woods yet, so to speak. So, if you could keep these people in your thoughts and prayers, it would be much appreciated.

These butterflies are the Gulf Fritillary and the Black Swallowtail, both in my yard over the past week.