book report

So it's been a while since I updated about the book project--reading down the EW list of new classics in literature. Here's the link again.

I think I left off with #4: The Liar's Club by Mary Karr. This is a memoir originally published in in 1995, and issued now in a ten year anniversary edition. It is the memoir of Mary Karr growing up in small town Texas with some crazy parents. In the beginning of the 10th anniversary edition, Mary Karr has a new intro where she marvels at how influential this book has been to so many people. Frankly, I kind of marvel at this myself. I mean, the story was interesting, mildly so, but I didn't find her writing particularly fantastic, and in this era of increasingly traumatic memoirs, I guess it just didn't seem particularly traumatic. I mean, it was pretty bad, but a lot of people have childhoods that are as hard or harder than that these days. My own childhood was nothing to sneeze at, including poverty, crazy relatives, moving steadily, fighting parents, and so forth. No, I was not raped, and no, my mother did not set everything on fire, but a lot of what Mary Karr was writing about was familiar to me. And I guess to some people that makes the book more attractive, because they recognize themselves in the experience. I was just left feeling, "So what? And?" And then I mooched Cherry, her sequel about her teenage years. I don't know; I guess I'm a sucker. I started reading it though, and promptly put it down in favor of something else. I guess she spent so much time talking about how dumb her decisions were, and contextualizing everything from her older, wiser viewpoint that eventually, I just didn't care anymore.

ANYWAY. That was #4. I've already read #5 American Pastoral and #6: Mystic River. That puts us at #7, Maus, by Art Spiegelman. As I'm sure everyone knows already, Maus is a graphic novel written about Spiegelman's father's experience as a European Jew during WWII. I found the book at Housing Works and read it again (I've read it before, many years ago...). It was much better this time through. I need to find the second volume now, because I want to know what happened. I think this time, I was better able to appreciate the father's point of view, whereas the first time through I was reading it as the son. I appreciate how he doesn't sugar-coat his relationship with his dad, and portrays them both as honestly as possible, even though it doesn't always make him out to be the good guy.

That brings me up to #8, Alice Munro's Selected Stories, but I've been unable to find this collection anywhere around here. I'm trying to stay local with this exercise--going to the library, buying second-hand, and if possible, mooching them. I don't want to read an Alice Munro novel instead. I want to read her short stories, as that's why she's on the list. She's a consummate short storyist, so...

Anyway. That's where I am, although I did break ranks to read The Watchmen, #13. After I finish the Munro collection, I want to see how the first ten books stack up, likes v. dislikes. I've read #9 and #10 already (Cold Mountain and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles), and I'm not reading either of them again. I just don't have time. But I'm curious to see how many of these 'classics' I actually liked. This has been a really exciting experiment so far!

FO #16 Magic Stripes socks

Just in time for summer, Spanky has a new pair of wool socks. These socks were mostly knit on planes going back and forth on my various trips. I finished them the week after I got home. They are just plain stockinette socks, using up stash yarn I bought a million years ago in a big box craft store in Florida because I had just learned to knit socks, and I thought Spanky would like these colors. I also liked the fact that one ball would make a pair of socks, and that the ball was much cheaper than the other sock yarn I'd bought. And you know what? It isn't any worse than the more expensive stuff. It is pretty soft, and I actually really enjoyed knitting with it and watching the stripes come out. I'm not one of those people who is 'so over' the self-striping yarns. I really like striped socks, and since I am partial to plain stockinette, it helps keep my interest to have something to watch as I'm going along.

Anyway, because I'm lazy, and because I don't keep stuff in my head so easily, I just used the plain pattern on the ball band, and came up with these crazy high gussets.



I am pretty sure my row gauge was off or something, and rather than listen to my gut, I just continued following the pattern hoping everything would just work out in the end. Again--lazy. But it did work out, really. I mean, they look weird when you look at them on the blockers, and one is a bit longer than the other, because when I was knitting the second one, for a while, I didn't have the first one in the bag, so couldn't compare, but Spanky can still wear them because once you put them on, you can't tell.




Yarn: Lion Brand Yarn's Magic Stripes, color #202 Sea Blue Pattern
Needles: I think I used US 2 dpns, although the ball band says size 3 needles. I don't think I have size 3 dpns, and I didn't think they were necessary for the gauge of the yarn.



So all in all, I'm happy with the result. Spanky's got new socks, I used up some old stash yarn, had a project to occupy my hands while on the planes, and didn't have to think too hard about it. I've already started another pair of socks for my mom, with yarn that I bought just for her, so hopefully I can finish them in time for Mother's Day. If not, her birthday is in June!

FO #15 Fred Textured Sweater

Boy, the FOs are just stacking up around here! It's pretty exciting, because I'll have stuff to post about all week, and by the end of the week, maybe I'll be finished with my WIP, which I started on one of my trips, and have been putting off, since you have to sew up the arms before you actually knit the collar, and I'm not used to that. Normally I don't sew up until I block (so the sleeves lay (lie?) flatter), but this is a circular shrug, so the collar goes all the way around. Hence, the premature seaming.

Anyway, this FO I finished before I left:



Pattern: Fred Textured Sweater from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding
Yarn: Jeannee, by Plymouth--not even close to being a natural yarn, but it is really good for baby clothes. The acrylic added to the cotton helps the drape and softness, and it can be machine washed. I think I used 5 balls and a bit, because I bought 7 balls, and I know I have one full ball and one mostly full ball left.
Needles: Size 6 aluminum for the body and size 5 for the bands.



Notes:
I made the largest size, because I didn't know how long it had been since the baby was born. I gave the sweater to the baby's mom last week, and she said she thought it would still fit. Whew! I was going by the size of her first baby, who was still pretty small when I saw her at 6 mo., but apparently this monstrous boy topped out at over 9 pounds at birth! Yikes! She said he's huge.



One other note, I couldn't really understand the neckline directions, and I'm sure I did it wrong, but I ended up making the button placket long enough to fasten on the backside of the sweater. That was the way that made the most sense to me, although I think originally the pattern shows the buttons right on the shoulder/neckline. I still think it looks cute. Buttons, as usual, from my Grandma's buttons. Also, those buttons are evenly spaced, although they don't look like it in the picture.

I'm so glad this is done. I hated every minute of working on this sweater, and perhaps the universe noticed, because the same day that I gave the sweater to my friend Amy my wallet was stolen right out of my backpack in the subway. I got it back, minus the cash of course, thanks to some good Samaritans in Brooklyn. BUT STILL. I love the finished product, but I will never make this sweater again. What a pain in the ass!

Travel Post #3: Murfreesboro, TN

So, I don't have much to say about my experience in Tennessee. Luckily my flight and subsequent SuperShuttle ride were over before the tornadoes started hitting. I was sitting snugly in my hotel room watching the destruction on the news. A few of the conference attendees had some stories though, of seeing semis tipped over on the freeways, and so forth.

I wish I'd rented a car, instead of relying on the SuperShuttle and the conference's promised inter-hotel 'shuttle', which was really just a hotel employee with a van, who wasn't even on a regular schedule until the second day. I got stood up for dinner plans my second night, and if I'd had a car, I could have avoided what was easily the most awkward night I've had in a long time. Here's a travel tip, from me to you: outside of a big city, one cannot easily rely on taxi service. Often, they just don't show up. You may end up having to wait for a long time, or you may end up having to walk.

By the end of the weekend, the Tennessee accent was starting to get on my nerves too. This is not some anti-southern bias. It is just that it was so thick it sounded fake, and I was so stressed and tired that I had to mentally restrain myself from telling people to 'just talk normally.' This also happens to me when I go to London on business though. After a while, you just want what is familiar. This is why I'm not a good traveler. I also found it hard to find vegetarian food.

One of my friends and I went into Nashville for a few hours one night though, and that was fun. We ate at a good bar/restaurant and walked down to the river.



Some of the places I wanted to visit (Hatch Show Print) were closed, but I did end up having a good time anyway. It was nice to see something worthwhile, anyway. There's not much to do in Murfreesboro. I almost missed my connecting flight back, but after a tear through the Cincinnati airport (sorry to the lady I almost knocked down the long escalator! That was an accident! Also, STAND TO THE RIGHT, WALK TO THE LEFT!!! Ever heard of that?!), I was finally on my way home.

And that, my friends, is the story of the three week travel juggernaut that I've been living. Now, I'm desperately trying to catch up on paperwork and getting my personal life into some semblance of order again--gym, how I've missed thee.

I did indeed finish Spanky's socks, as well as 1.5 shrugs and at this point, I'm one DVD away from finishing Stella's blankie. Also, I've been reading a bit, and have some of that to report on. Next time though.

Travel Post #2: Seattle

I was in Seattle a looonnnggg time. Well, it was 9 days, but I only had one day between the Pittsburgh trip and this one. I think I was out there right as spring was springing, because there were robins everywhere, and everything was moist and green. I expect it is always moist and green there, but to me, it felt like spring. It was still cold, but sunny and bright, and there were huge trees:



The last one is a weeping giant sequoia, and I think the other two are types of sequoia as well. They were so big and beautiful. The best part of the Pacific NW is definitely the Nature. It is absolutely gorgeous there, and I didn't even get to leave the city at all.

My first weekend was spent in Capitol Hill, near Seattle University.



Supposedly it is the gay area of the city, and also the most alternative, but I didn't think it was too much of either, although I did see a lot of hipsters, so maybe that's what they mean by 'alternative.' I did like it there, much better than when I relocated down to the waterfront, where all the tourists are. It was definitely a more residential place and definitely easy to see myself living there. There are bookstores and coffee shops all over Seattle. Way more than you'd think could survive, but OMG, what a lucky population! Spanky wanted me to get her some espresso beans from Victrola Coffee, which I did, and later, I also got her a hat from Zeitgeist Coffee, which is down in the Pioneer Square area, and is actually pretty great:



That day, I walked all the way down to Pioneer Square from downtown, which was over a mile, I think, and back, all with my laptop on my back. That area would be an interesting place to live too, although not as residential, obviously. I loved this sculpture, and the building in the background:



Also notable down there is the Elliott Bay Book Company, which is huge and awesome, and where I spent a happy hour or so.
Of course, I also saw all the other touristy bits:


The Seattle Art Museum

Pike Place Market

The Seattle Public Library

Again,

And again... Imagine going to somewhere so beautiful to read. That has got to affect how you think of books. And to think they spent all that money on their library. Those are some awesome priorities. Coffee and books. MY KIND OF PLACE. If only it wasn't so far from Florida.

I saw all kinds of hidden treasures too. It was really fun to walk around and just explore. I did go to a couple of yarn stores too. First, there was Stitches, which is really more of a sewing store, but they have a pretty good selection of Cascade yarns, and a couple of other brands too. I ended up getting two skeins of Cascade Magnum, because I wanted to try making the carie cropped cardigan from Fitted Knits. I didn't know that Magnum was so expensive! That's why I only bought two skeins, but I really should have invested in a third, because this is going to be a TIGHT FIT. I think now that I've blocked it, it is going to fit, but I have never seen so many entries complaining about fit and gauge on Ravelry before. I'll do another whole post about the project later, but I wanted to start it as soon as I bought the yarn and realized that the pattern was available online from Knitty Gritty. That meant I had to get a needle in the right size, so off I went to So Much Yarn. They had moved locations, but thanks to Google Maps on my Blackberry (thanks for making me put that on, Spanky!!) and the tourist map from the hotel, I was able to find the new location. It is a great yarn store too, with a doggie! I didn't find any yarn I had to have right away, so I just bought the needle, and went back to the hotel room and immediately cast on. YAY!

So aside from working all freaking week and living out of a suitcase, Seattle is a great place. I definitely want to come back, bringing Spanky, and renting a car so we can go outside of the city and explore the surrounding area a bit more, a la Lolly. I was very jealous of her trip. Mine was much more stressful. I got a lot accomplished, but I missed Stella and my lady and my bed. Home was definitely calling by the second weekend. I got home around 2:15 AM on Sunday night, and had to go right back to work the next day, because that Thursday was trip number three! ARGH.

Travel Post #1: Pittsburgh

I'm back! I survived! It was rough going there for a while though...

1. The first trip was to Pittsburgh with my assistant. We went on a fact-finding mission to Carnegie-Mellon, but also did some campus visiting at Pitt. In my line of work, I spend a lot of time on various campuses talking to professors and trying to get a sense of how the history department functions--what they think is important, how they're teaching, what books they're using, etc.

I've been to Pittsburgh before--Spanky worked in PA one summer, up in the mountains, and we spent one weekend sight-seeing around the city. I really loved it then, but that was in summer, when everything was green and beautiful. This is what it looked like this time:



Not quite the same. It was freezing in the mornings too. The history department at CMU is in a really pretty building:


And then there's this:


This is one of the best pieces of campus artwork I've ever seen. It's not particularly 'arty', but I thought it was hilarious. Matthew is an alum of CMU and finds it slightly embarrassing. Those people at the bottom of the pole looking up are also statues. The ones walking up the pole are all striding to nowhere. The pole just ends. When we'd come out to leave at the end of the day, someone had put a princess hat on the little kid looking up. Love it.

Most importantly, I had a car on this trip, and used it to great effect, finding two really great yarn stores. Pittsburgh is well-served in terms of fiber locations. The first one:



Knit One was a beautiful store. They had tons of yarn and I could have spent so much time there, and dropped some serious cash. As it was, I bought 8 balls of Debbie Bliss Prima yarn, both so I could try it, and so I could knit the wrap that was on the cover of her spring magazine. I love this DB magazine, because I really like DB's style. She seems to create patterns for women around my age. Not as young anymore, but still attempting to be stylish, but not up for a lot of fussiness. These were my favorites (I'll include the wrap here):



I really love both of those sweaters. I almost changed my mind about the wrap, but I only bought 8 balls, and I think in my size, I'd need ten to do the short-sleeved sweater. I may use some of my stash yarn to make the purple one later. The one thing I didn't care for at this store is that she'd marked up all the pattern books by about 4 or 5 dollars. I wanted to buy Nora Gaughan's volume 3, but it was much more expensive than I remember paying for the other two, and when I went to the next yarn store, I checked, and sure enough, she'd marked it up. That's why I didn't spend more there on patterns. I couldn't trust that I was getting them at a fair price.

Anyway, then I carried on to Natural Stitches, which was in a totally different neighborhood. As an aside, I found Pittsburgh a little hard to navigate, seeing as I don't drive much. The streets are vertically oriented, so people speed up over these hills where you don't expect them to be. The streets are also very narrow. I like that there are so many neighborhoods though. Natural Stitches was a nice store too, but by that time, I was overloaded, I think. It didn't stop me from buying some oatmeal-colored Cascade Eco Wool.



I think I'm going to try to make the Hemlock Ring blanket for the back of my couch so I can lose the green and red ugly Old Navy fleece blankie we keep up there now. I also bought that Rowan Anniversary magazine. I don't really know why. It has some really good patterns, and I like the idea of it being a commemorative anniversary edition, but I've never been a Rowan collector, so it was a little out of the ordinary for me to spend the money to buy it. Sometimes when I'm on these trips I come home with strange stuff though.

I really wanted to go up the incline, but Matthew wouldn't go with me, and I didn't want to chance getting lost in the car by myself. We really didn't have but two and a half days there anyway. I used my one free afternoon to go yarn shopping instead. Hopefully I get to come back to Pittsburgh someday, preferably during the summer, and I'll take the ride then. What a great treasure for the city to have! So verdict--Pittsburgh is a nice city. Everyone that lives there seems to love it. I can't believe it really has the most polluted air in the country. The trip was a little difficult, but I did get to see some of the town, and that's always a plus.