snow

Merry Christmas

Lazy Winter

Very hard adjusting to the work week after the Thanksgiving break.  Glad that the weekend is approaching.

Weekend plans: Holiday parties, exercise class, textile conservation, and rifling through thrift stores.  Maybe I'll make that toothsome frittata with swiss chard and fontina I made of Thanksgiving break...  



Recently watched: Cinemania

We checked this movie out from the library expecting it to be bad (there is an act of abandon when checking out library movies because you aren't paying for it, so you find something and think, "This may very likely be unwatchable" as you stuff it into your one dollar library tote bag along with the rest of your random hoard of dvds and books).  But we ended up enjoying it.  Each cinema-obsessed person really came to it from a different angle. 

Recently read: reread The Cat Inside by William S. Burroughs and a lot of Chris Rock interviews.  He is killing it.

New Knit Machine Project

I have completed my fair share of samples on my new

knit machine and it is high time to start a sweater for Jace.

 Picked out the yarns.  I am not 100% happy with the colors I

bought, but the selection at the store I went to wasn't great.

 Then I rolled the yarn into balls and that takes a long time.

*The knit machine manual instructions against this method

of yarn preparation, but I don't have a winder, and I haven't

had any trouble knitting with yarn prepared this way.

Swatches

Neighborhood

Sitting here having a glass of wine trying to finish a recap for work.  Church bells are playing.
Ebe is asleep on the fur and Jace is working on homework.

Every night around 11 pm someone in our neighborhood starts playing the trumpet.  I like it so much that I feel sad when I hear it because I anticipate a time when I will no longer be able to hear it.

Watching: The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting

Eating: Ethiopian food for lunch, salami and cheddar chive cheese on thickly sliced sesame bread for dinner

Reading: Daniel Pinkwater

Erica Iman

Crusties are a must-ys.

Simple System

The best thing out there right now:

Have a Listen and Buy It Here!

I'm Remembering!

One of my favorite works by Bruegel, The Return of the Hunters.  

I was lucky enough to see this in the real at the Kunsthistorisches Museum 

in Vienna.  You can feel how cold it is in the painting.  It's really hard

not to look at it.  It pulls you in.  Even as I write this post I keep

getting distracted and remembering the actual experience of seeing it.

When I first started art school I remember my introduction to visual 

language class.  Basically it was an art history class where students

are taught how to talk about the visual experience intelligently

 learning words like chiaroscuro and grisaille.  This was the first 

class I had to write papers about works of art.  I was terrified 

because I didn't know what I was "supposed" to write about.  It was 

the first paper I had to write using my brain.  There was no format 

to follow.  I ended up enjoying it and looked forward to writing

assignments.  It was a relief writing and knowing that as long as

 I backed up what I was saying I was free to write whatever I wanted.

I was one of those kids that did not thrive on multiple choice tests.

 

A while back I saw Museum Hours, a movie about a security guard

at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  A movie about the art museum

and the experience of being with works of art. 

Maybe I will watch it again tonight.

 

Studio SRP 50N Ribber

Before:

After:

The ribber arrived and I have been busy cleaning it, finding a manual for it,

oiling it, setting it up, and knitting a few samples on it to make sure it works.

Weekend Anticipation

A bit of wilderness

Cooking at home and reading Sons and Lovers again.

Wanting to try these pork buns

Listening

Drinking peach tea listening to choral records

Upstairs

This Sunday I have to myself.  

Fresh coffee, stewed tomatoes on toast and grapes. 

Reading Austerlitz.

Waiting on Jace to get home from work.

Richard Tuttle Watercolors

I guess you didn't know we have a system.

P-I-Z-Z-A

V - I - B - E - S

Vegetable pasta and late night rain.

Going upstairs to watch Spaced

Who can resist that spiky blond hair?

Neemrana Fort Palace, India

I ate lunch here after visiting a towel factory that was situated next to a cookie factory.  The towel factory smelled like warm cookies.

Summer vibes

This past weekend, inspired by TJ and Amanda's

I planted flowers in our courtyard.

Summer vibes.

Productive spell.

Notice this is a new knit machine, a Studio 700.

Work in progress.  Shortly after snapping this picture

I accidentally took off about an inch and a half

of the needles and now I have to re-knit a big chunk

by hand.  Break time!

The work of Christy Wittmer

Enjoyed seeing work at the CAC last weekend.  They were showing graduate work 

from the University of Cincinnati.  I especially enjoyed the works by

Christy Wittmer.

Goose Light

Domicile Conjugal

Getting over a Springtime cold.  Jace is finishing up the semester.

Plans to see Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of China’s Last Dynasty

at the Taft this weekend.

 Enjoying domesticity (as usual).

Ugh

New front carriage for the knit machine will run be $200.  Maybe I will try to fiddle with my broken one first.

:(

Hiatus

After the holidays I spent some frustrating time on the knit machine.  For some reason, the machine works everywhere, except the far left side.  Stitches are piling up on the needles.  I have done some troubleshooting without finding the source of the problem.  It appears to be a tension issue, but altering the tension and the weights hasn't had any affect.

Any time I experience such extreme frustration (which is frequent!) I move on to a different project that I know I can handle.  So, I have been sewing.  Nothing exciting, taking in jackets, hemming pants, general stuff that I know I can accomplish, thus removing my sense of helplessness with the knit machine.  It isn't the most fun work, but I finish off a few projects and feel like I have accomplished something.

As I am ending my sewing projects I know I will be returning to the machine.

Jace's Spring Break this week.  We waited all day for a package to arrive. 

Packages are here.  It's oyster time.

Aquarius

I think this is my first winter where I have anticipation

for the Spring.