A Love Letter to Jane Eyre

I get rather, um, verbose beneath this cut. And, if somehow you have neither read nor seen Jane Eyre and haven’t absorbed the story just by being alive, I guess I should warn you that here there be spoilers.

art imitating life

“A job,” I said. “At least I could wait tables. Something.”

Stuart said, “Let me tell you what happens at restaurants. No matter how hard you resist, your coworkers take over your social life. You can fight it all you like, you can promise you’re just going to work there, that this isn’t a social thing. But it happens. Drinking at work segues into going out after work. And because you don’t know anything about what these new friends do when they’re not at work, you find it literally impossible to have a conversation outside of work that has anything to do with anything other than work. It’s one thing when it’s just two of you–because it is again literally impossible that you’re not going to end up dating or at least going home with at least one coworker–but when there’s a whole group of you somewhere, then it’s even worse, because now the only thing you all have in common is the restaurant. And at some point the conversation deteriorates into a chorus of personal slander against whatever employees aren’t in attendance. Trust me. It will take over your life.”

- The Slide: A Novel by Kyle Beachy

This is a clever, bizarre, funny, sad little first novel about families, the Midwest, baseball, and life after a liberal arts degree. I don’t know if I’m just noticing stories with that last theme a lot more lately because I’m a recent graduate with an appalling lack of direction, but books and movies about this pretty crappy limbo seem to be abounding lately. Generally I’d say all these people need to try to think outside the box a little more, but in this case, I’m selfishly glad that I’m not the only one completely confused about what’s going to happen next.

My friend Marya has an excellent post on this subject from a cinema standpoint right here. I definitely encourage you to check it out if you get the chance.

Carrying the Fire

Did anyone actually go see The Road? The movie itself is pretty good – maybe it’s great and I’m just being difficult because the book made me cry in the middle of a long, boring, winter shift at a frozen yogurt store. But Kodi Smit-McPhee, who plays The Boy? This kid deserves major props.

I read somewhere that during auditions, the strongest contenders for his role had to do three scenes with escalating emotions/energies. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he must have blown it out of the park, because this kid is wonderful and diverse. This story is about a father trying to instill and maintain humanity in his son in the most inhumane of circumstances, trying to raise a child when the most important skill you can teach him is how to kill himself before cannibals do it for him. Smit-McPhee had to work within the filthy clothes and the desaturated landscapes and, well, cannibals, and be a normal kid. And then the next scene would start and he had to be completely desperate, terrified and convinced he was about to die horribly.

He was nominated for a BFCA Critics’ Choice Award for Best Young Actor, but lost to Saoirse Ronan for The Lovely Bones. I haven’t seen that yet (and might never get around to it), so I can’t say with any certainty that she didn’t deserve it, but I’m still disappointed for him. And not just because his name is delightful to say.

I was, predictably, unhappy at the prospect of an American remake of Let the Right One In, but now with Smit-McPhee (and Richard Jenkins) in the cast, I’m going to try to approach it with a slightly more open mind.

Teddy

This post has nothing to do with the rest of my blog. It is not about knitting or gardens or baking or pretty things (well, we could argue about Bobby Kennedy). Feel free to skip it if you’re not interested.

I love the Kennedy brothers fiercely. I’m 23, so John and Robert were both gone long before I was born, but I’ve never been able to resist the masses of beautiful black and white photos, the texts of amazing speeches, the passion they inspired. I believe that they were deeply, deeply flawed men who grew up with more money and influence than most of us can imagine, and who were, probably without even knowing it, very confused by the warring examples of strict Catholicism and a father with ties to political giants and organized crime. I also believe that they knew right from wrong, in the largest sense of the words. I believe that Robert Kennedy would have been a wonderful, if unorthodox, president, who would have pissed off a lot of people but made a lot more happy and healthy and less hungry. I believe that, though they made personal mistakes and used methods we might not approve of, they always had America’s best interests at heart, and were generally successful in furthering this country.

Despite this love, I was only dimly aware of Ted for a long time via a mention of Chappaquiddick in a book I loved as a kid. It wasn’t until fairly recently that I began to see how important he really was. RFK was never very good with people. He was sort of arrogant, sort of oblivious. When he was elected to the Senate, it was Ted who told him how to act, how to succeed. When JFK died, it was Ted who went home to tell their mother. When RFK died, it was Ted who gave the speech at his funeral. The Kennedys call him, their youngest brother, the heart of the family. The heart of the family, the lion of the Senate. I’m sad because he’s gone, I’m sad because he’s been working for health care reform since the 60s, but had to sit this stage of the fight out. I’m sad because he made a horrible mistake when he was a young man, and I’m sad because so many people refuse to forgive him for it. I’m sad because politicians who quote poetry in their speeches are few and far between. I’m sad because the Kennedy era has finally come to an end, with the death of Teddy – arguably the most influential of them all.

There are books and articles aplenty about him, all written by people more talented than I am (this New York Times obituary is fairly thorough). So I guess all I’ll say is that it took me a while to figure it out, but Ted Kennedy filled his brothers’ shoes admirably. Flawed, but smart and compassionate, he was a Kennedy man.

Photo sources: here, here, and here.

Samantha Reitmayer’s Super Dreamy House

Wow, how gorgeous is this sneak peek on Design*Sponge (click on either of the pictures or the links to view their original post and tons more pretty photos)? It’s not something I could ever pull off in my own home, because I am too obsessed with ridiculously bright colors, but it’s so beautiful. I covet this kitchen. The ceiling! And, I can’t lie – I’m not exactly a clotheshorse, but I wouldn’t mind converting an entire bedroom into a dressing room/boudoir.

Oh, D*S. You make me feel guilty about the fact that the closest I have come to home improvement DIY in the past few months is buying a cheap bed frame from Ikea and painting it purple. Oh well.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts!

Way back in the day (okay, probably just a couple of years ago, but I can’t remember exactly when), I decided I wanted a Harry Potter scarf. So I made one! God, knitting is awesome and straightforward.

This is just a big old tube, and it’s sort of impractical because I (sadly) am not a teenaged wizard living in the Scottish mountains, but I love it. Longer than I am tall, and too wide to wrap around my neck more than once, and nerd nerd nerdy. Just what I want in a scarf!

• Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Brick and Mustard (?) – not really the yarn I would choose if I were to make it today, but it works.
• the (free!) pattern
• ppparasol’s Gryffindor Glory! on Ravelry

Sweaters spring eternal.

Please excuse (a) this awkward picture and (b) my messy bedroom. Further details to come later, but I thought this deserved to be revisited.

Remember this sweater? Or, more accurately, remember that close-up of stockinette? Well, it’s about 95% done now! Yes, that’s right. Four months later, I am still not finished with this baby. I knit the body up to the sleeves, then decided I didn’t like the hem, so frogged it and started over. When I moved, I had two sleeves and a body done. Then I zipped through the rest, boldly refusing to try it on before binding off. Which was obviously a mistake.

Basically, I’ve knit this thing eighteen times. It’s worth it, though! I’m in love already. And I’m so close to the end now! I just need to buy some buttons and block it and then I’ll be free to fold it up and never wear it because I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Hmm.

On aspirational crafting.

The internet has done wonders for my knitting. When I started knitting, I was pretty content to make 2×2 rib scarves until I died, just pleased to be turning string into fabric. I made a couple of floppy hats for myself and a friend, and that was about it. And then I discovered Ravelry, and pictures, and zillions of other knitters, and fancified yarns, and I was a goner. And now, having gone after cables and garments and lace, I feel pretty safe saying I’m a Knitter, rather than someone who knits.

Next step? Become an Embroiderer! Is that a real word? I do not care. I have been a Flickr maniac, browsing through pages and pages of embroidery photos, dreaming of, I don’t know, pillowcases and journal covers, whatever. Here are some of the photos I’ve been drawn to.

Just you wait – one day soon, embroidery will enjoy the same hipster-fication that knitting has been undergoing in the past few years. I’ll be ahead of the game this time.

1. crewel embroidery – elsy965
2. an embroidered pillowcase – sonnetofthemoon
3. Alfhidd Fågel – Ikea
4. Embroidery Skeins – incurable_hippie
5. sachet – alisontauber

My Triumphant Return (and a scarf!)?

Okay, so it’s been a while.  In my defense, I did quit my job and move to another state in the many months since I last posted, but that really didn’t take up that much of my time, so the sad truth is that I have not been blogging because I am lazy. But that all changes today! Today I begin the backlog of posts about knitting projects, harebrained schemes, and aspirational crafty plans I’ve been hoarding since April 7th!

To begin: my current knitting obsession is plain, simple garter stitch triangle shawls. I made a textured shawl (post to come soon – I swear!), and it was all downhill from there. This one has no pattern – simple increases, and the edging/bind-off Jared Flood uses for the Hemlock Ring Blanket (does this have a name?), and voila! My mom saw it and joked that I should give it to my 3-year-old cousin, but I think the size is perfect for wearing it as a scarf, rather than a shawl. I did have to block it somewhat aggressively to get it to this size, though – more yarn would have been nice.

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Golden Heather, about 1.75 skeins
Needles: I wish I remembered – large enough for a fairly open knit
on Ravelry

And now, blog, I promise not to leave you alone again. But for now I have to go nurse the head wound my recycling can gave me while I tried to wrestle with it in these ridiculous Phoenix monsoon winds.

mellow yellow

I know you’re all holding your breath until I tell you what books I read in March (not many) (also, I am practicing sarcasm!), but for now, here are some daffodils.  I got a little carried away and got 30 stems when I went to the store yesterday, and had to improvise a little on vases.  Those glass jars got some use, as did some old (empty) Limonata bottles I have had sitting on a bookshelf for, oh, a year (well, they are pretty), and now there are six bunches of daffodils placed strategically around our apartment to hopefully make us forget the fact that is cruelly, inexplicably cold and rainy outside.

I am pretty sure they are the prettiest color in the world.

Practically luminescent, right?

If only more of my favorite flowers were ludicrously cheap and sold in bunches outside of Trader Joe’s.  If only.