Ramachandra ki Jai!

Today is a celebration of Rama; of Lakshmi; of Durga and of Kali (depending upon which part of India you choose to represent). Many many years ago my class told the story of Rama's victory, with Hanuman's aid, over the Demon lord Ravana. If you have never read the Ramayana I highly recommend it. There are several versions available which are not the full epic. I started with William Buck's version and am now reading volume four of the series as represented by Ahsok Banker.

Rama, like Krishna, is an avatar of Vishnu - just to give the dear reader some context :)
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This afternoon I finished writing my version of the skully pattern as per the chart. I have also knit 30 of 56 rows, but, I have a row to unknit in order to fix a situation in row 29 which resulted in 73 rather than 75 stitches.

Friday on my way to work I left the envelope with all my pattern notations at the bus stop. I called the studio as soon as I realized what I had done. When I went back after work it had not been found. So I reprinted the patern and started redoing all my notations yesterday.

It does look like lace now :)
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Last night was Kareoke night again. I had a Spainish Coffee and it was the prettiest thing to watch it being made. Sparklers and flambe and all. Very Cinnamony ;)Made up for the lack of cider. I WILL find a place that serves cider though. I am determined.
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Above is a picture of a pose which is becoming a favorite of mine. (NB while referred to as crow in classes it is actually crane posture.) Corvae and Cranes happen to be two of my favorite animals :) ******CV

stuff

Nancy Bush was fun. Such a reassuringly normal presence. It felt like a gathering of realy mellow knitters. I highly recommend attending one of her classes if you have the opportunity. I left early due to a concert so I did miss out on the last two hours.
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Setting out to attend the class was quite fun though. I took the train out to an area of Portland I had never been to before - very suburban, and then promptly transferred to the wrong bus. Fortunately I thought to check with the driver if he was going where I wanted to go and it turned out to be in the opposite direction. So he let me off and I walked back to the train station. Did I mention it was raining? That I was wearing my very open toed sandals? No? I was. Anyway, after much crossing and recrossing to various bus islands I finally found the one I was supposed to be at.

Then chatty boy, "I'm gonna hit on this girl till she goes on a date with me" showed up tailgating a girl he must have set upon on the train. (Poor girl). So he starts making all sorts of side commentary, to impress her with his sociability I guess.(Um dude? It's like not even nine in the morning what is up with the bar speak?) Then he started acting all chummy with the older gentleman waiting in the bus shelter, asking him "What's up old dude?! You a fisherman? You got money? Where you keep it Old dude?"

Then chatty boy decided it was too mellow in the shelter so he started wandering away. When he left the older gentleman said, "About time. He's got way too much energy". Then the bus came. Chatty boy rejoined us and promptly started chatting up the bus survey taker.
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Krishna Das: "It's all stuff. When you got stuff, you're happy. And when you don't have stuff you're unhappy. Then when you have stuff you're unhappy and you're happy when the stuff goes away. But really, it's all just stuff."

Wise man he.

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Oh. I frogged skully this afternoon. I did recast on. This time? I'm just gonna read the chart. *****CV

oh skully my skully

riiiiiip! That is the sound of a sixth skully being frogged.

*rustle*rustle* "What the - !" *grumble *scrich*scrich* "Who the h...!" And this is the sound of written directions being compared to a chart.

With a cast on of 75 stitiches (not 57) and careful comparing of chart with writings I have had to cast on an additonal two stiches on the third row due to a missed K1 needed to psso of the preceding two slipped 2tog . Further I have had to mark for myself just what are the repeats to be repeated out of four lines of directions. Doing this I have so far knit 11 rows today and matched the instructions. At this rate it wil not be done in time.

Someone reassure me that it gets easier in the full repeats once you have done one 56 row set.

On the positive side I have met an Englishman who learned to knit from his mum, possibly persuaded a reluctant ex knitter to help me knit halloween pumpkins and I have met all sorts of knitters by simply KIPing this project.
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Tomorrow I go to the Nancy Bush class and then on to Krishna Das.
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Today a man in a red dress, red and black stockings, sporting a red football helmet was searching NW 23rd for a pink bunny in a red dress. I wonder if they found each other?
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Who put the 'de' in de Balzac? Well it wasn't dear papa despite protestations that it was present on Honore's birth certificate:

"In this ungracious world of ours, unfortunately, matter-of-fact documents have an odious habit of displaying inquisitive hostility to the most flourishing of legends invented by poets;..."

Stefan Zweig, Balzac

*****CV

a reward

"However dificult it may be to knit into one piece the demi-god who gave birth to a world and the fat man who revelled in childish puns, the effort must be made."

Andre Maurois, Prometheus The Life of Balzac

I got 2, count'em two! Balzac biographies for less than ten dollars :)

Of course I needed both of them! What are you implying? I don't think I like you shaking your head that way. Yes I can handle all the books I have so far. It's like I only have ..... excuse me a moment.

(looooong pause)

....well it's my choice, so there!***CV

and along came Skully

The gift of one and a half sox is a marvellous thing :) Well, it is when some of your classs works on it before gifting you and then promises to have the pair all finished before next week.

So the gift was given and retrieved for finalising. Yes the children did help, either in sewing the toes closed or in knitting some or in gift wrapping. One child even played secret agent by getting the acompanying card signed by all the other members of our community.
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Tomorrow there will be no mad dash for the bus as it is a day of teachers working but no children. So I will actually be able to attend a full class including: savasana. Wow!
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I have been soooo good this week. I heard about three books that sounded fabulous (The Siva Puranas; Salon Fantastique; and the Blue God) but have I visited the book temple? Have I browsed the aisles of libro-ation? No.

I think I deserve a reward :)
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Oh and what is this Marie Antoinette film I keep reading about?****CV

beating the clock

As a once famous cat said: "Aaaaak!" I have died. But I took someone with me so that's alright then.
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Moving right along I have put skully on hold because yesterday I found out today was a coworkers b-day. Not much tme to make sonething eh? So I halved the SOD and finished one today (thank goodness she was out). So maybe I can finish the other tonight.
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Excitment and public transport. I left class later than usual due to a slow clock and just caught one bus in time to reach my next stop, and after running just miss my connection. However, the driver behind the bus I needed remembered me from a previous trip so she told e to jump on and we'd catch up. We chased my connection and he kept pulling out just as we reached the stop, or another bus would pull in front of us and slow us down.

For some reason my driver kept calling the way my connecting bus would appear to come to a stop but really be slowing and not picking up passengers a "California Stop". Well I think all us SF'ers can heave a mighty Amen in the direction of MUNI for inspiring such a statement.

So at the last possible joint stop, afer a ten block chase, with my driver honking away (BTW the trimet buses have no rear windows) she pulls in behind my connection with me in the stairwell just waitng for the doors to open...and...they're...OFF!

Pardon me! Pardon me, oh disembarking one but: I MUST CATCH THIS Bus NOW!

So, yeah, I made it to work on time ;)***CV

yo ho ho

In the Secret Agent one of the characters has supposedly blown himself up outside the Greenwhich observatory while another character is in search of the perfect detonator and ... didn't I say this story set in late 18 - early 1900's is amazingly contemporary. Well either that or things don't change.
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I finished Bloody Jack: In the Belly of the Bloodhound on Sunday and if you enjoy plucky heroines sailing on the high seas, singing in taverns while attending posh boarding schools you might want to check it out. I have to say though I preferred the first two books in the series more.

I also stated Pinnochio in Venice last night. It's odd. I'll have to read a little further before saying anything more.
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So row 20 of skully matched the pattern specs perfectly, unlike eighteen of the preceding rows. I just reprinted the pattern so I most likely will rerip and start again. Since I'm using BMF sockweight on #6 needles this really isn't as bad as it sounds.

Thank you Inky for researching helpsites for me :) Those stockings by Severina are fabulous!***CV

the island

Well Secret Agent is certainly an interesting read. It is by the same Conrad as wrote Heart of Darkness but I haven't read that so I don't know how similar or dissimilar the two stories are. So far there has been much physical description of the characters, vague discussions about making the public more aware of security threats by staging an incident and ... hmmm this turn of the 20th c. book appears more and more modern as I read.

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Moving right along I have ripped out Skully five times so far. For some reason the repeats are never complete and always end in the middle of one of the parenthetical pattern bits. Has anyone else knit this pattern? If so could you explain what is going on? I found the pattern as a link on the Knit like a Pirate site.****CV

bookbookbookbook

So did Monty Python ever make up a song for books the way they did for Spam? Wouldn't that be great for all us literary types?
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The local library had a used book sale today and I couldn't find a thing! Not to buy that is :) Kidding. There really wasn't all that much which I knew I would read and lots of stuff that looked good because it was inexpensive. I did find a copy of Uncle Pons (Balzac), a collection of Saki stories, a Malraux, and Germinal by Zola. At $.50 each I think I got a deal. Then I found all thse great writing books. Simple ones like Punctuation and Spelling dictionaries. And a fabulously simple primer on types of poetry according to metrics :)

Of course I didn't want the book emporium to be sad and feel ignored (oh you know you have bookitis bad when you start assigning senticence to shops) so I stopped at Powell's. No Plot? No Problem! was in stock -finally. And while browsing for Victor Hugo I found Pinnochio in Venice by Coover. It's about Pinnochio during his later years when he is grown up and returning to his original wooden state.

I also found a story by Conrad called Secret Agent.

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Skull shawl is so not happening with the BMF club skeins. None of the colours were right and the one I liked? It has splits every few feet or so. I'm glad I swatched.

I will be using BMF but it will be from my stash: Sand and Ruby Slippers. Now if only I can get the pattern straight without having to rip out each new row. ***CV

the blue salon

I returned the Saint-Simon book. Waaaay too much detail. It was like asking someone what outfit they were wearing anad then being told all the types of warp and woof threads and the origin of each microfiber. Fascinating on one level but I am far away from that level and want to peruse the elevator buttons first thank you very much before making a decision *whew*

So now I have The Age of Conversation about the origin of all those fabulous salons in early 17th to 18th century France. It even mentions Madame Sevigne :) and some de Balzac character who is not Honore...well then who IS he?!

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As to the skull shawl I'm busy playing with the colour scheme. Any one who has been receiving the BMF skeins as part of the club will know what I'm working with. I have not used any of the skeins for socks. And I'm thinking that these colours are going to be mighty interesting together but I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. 'Course it could be the Cedar Creek colour way which is making me itch. Blue green and gold brown are so not my colours of choice.

I think I'll undo all those keyring bits and swatch them to see how they do or do not get along.
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I saw the coolest posable furry spider in a store today! Verrry creepy***CV

only the rich get in debt

It would seem that Parisian society of Balzac's time was not that different from the society of Louis the (insert your favorite roman numeral). I started reading a book about Saint-Simone and so far I have learned that if you wanted to be among the higher ups you needed to spend money and dress snazzy and go into serious debt.

Hmmm but maybe that is what we do today?
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Bloody Jack: In the Belly of the Bloodhound is in my hot little hands :) As are many other uncounted books and perhaps I shouldn't mention the library sale happening this weekend where I might find many Balzacs I otherwise wouldn't own .......
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Sockwars: my target is down, my assassin is finished and mailing: it is a race now. However since I joined the Day of the Dead KAL I will be working on my skull shawl in festive shades of BMF. Yes all skeins received so far from the Rockin' Socks club shall be used :)***CV

language arts pet

True English Nerd
You scored 81 erudition!
Not only do you know your subjects from your objects and your definite from your indefinite articles, but you've got quite a handle on the literature and the history of the language as well. Huzzah, and well done! The English snobs of Boston salute you.

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there were some items on this test that seemed out of place: but it is a lovely painting :)***CV

on hold

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

NaNoWri Mo is almost ready for sign ups, but, not, quite, yet. *sigh*. So I will flip through my new library books, delight in my newly purchased Krisna Das ticket :) and ponder exactly how would Grace O'Malley dress for Halloween?***CV

supermellowman

Well, I think I just needed a few days after finishing Lost Illusions before starting anthing new. I am happily involved with Old Goriot and the social initiation of Rastignac into Parisian (you better have money to throw around and be a snazzy dresser) society.

I was chatting with one of the parents the other day and got lots of suggestions of authors to investigate. The next day he thoughtfully brought two of the suggested authors so now I don't have to buy and possibly not like :) One was Neal Stephenson and the other Roald Dahl (who, yes, I have read but his childrens works not his adult offerings).
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Didn't prevent me from stopping at Powell's today though. Fragile Things, the new collection of Neil Gaiman's short stories is available (but Bloody Jack IV is still in the warehouse :( . I also picked up Master and Commander; and Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block.
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Then I went to the dance disk empourium. A new Nick (owned not produced) Henry's Dream; Frank Black and the Catholics; Breeders, Pod; Echo and the Bunnymen, Flowers; and Cocteau Twins, Head Over Heels.
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There's going to be an H.P. Lovecraft movie tribute for Halloween. It looks like so much fun :) This might make up for missing Neil on tour.*****CV

S.of D. bulletin

Casualties are to be found everywhere. Attacks are from the ground and the air and are identified by a peculiar fuzziness. Beware soft packaging and all express or priority labels.

Some victims have described the symptoms as alpaca like or striped. More information will follow as it becomes available. Agent Look On the Bright side signing off***CV

are you blueish?

You don't look blueish. I, however, am. Or rather my hands are. Slight accident with the blue food colouring *oops*
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The chocolate cherry kareoke sox are on their way as of today :) I'm working on a siamese pair now (brown and cream).
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As to whether I don't also think of Oliver Reed or Raquel Welch well yes I do but for some reason more often I see the villains. Honestly the name Fouqquet is just so odd and whenever I hear it I think of Number 6 saying it in The Man in the Iron Mask.

I loved the scene where the musketeers are sneaking through the Sun King's celebration late at night. Or when their having lunch in the middle of an all out siege of a Protestant holdout. Course the King's laundry was pretty fun. Then there is the battle in the church where Lee is killed either on or near the altar. Or the watermill...or the first submarine experiment..or teh human chess set.....

I've said it before: if you have only seen the most recent Musketeer film "Hie thee hence and get the real deal" 'cause that sho' nuff wasn't it ***CV

salt taxes

My henceforth to be called Kareoke Chocolate Cherry socks are done :) Now to actually get to a post office *bleh* I meant to do so today but a staff meeting kept me later than expected. Meanwhile I'm attempting the Sock of Doom on some OJ coloured trekking.
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This week is National Banned Books Week. In honour of which I read aloud part of, A Wrinkle In Time, and later this week plan on reading some, Tom Sawyer to the children.
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I've started paying attention to Madame Sevigne and I keep telling myself that Charlton Heston is NOT involved (even though there is frequent mention of Fouqquet). The Threee Musketeers and the Four Musketeers films made a very large impression on me. So when I read period French history Richard Chamberlin shows up, along with Michael York, Faye Dunaway, Geraldine Chaplin and Heston, not to mention Christopher Lee.
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For some reason Virabhadrasana II is becoming a struggle while Rajakapotasana and Bakasana are becoming doable: go figure***CV
CV

Swift swifter swiftest

The sockwar has begun and thanks to Hurricane Gordon the lines of communication have been compromised: It's every socker for themself!

*g* I can just hear the air raid sirens going. I figure with the way the challenge has been set up no one can "win" but everyone gets a pair of hand made socks in which case everyone does "win". Oh, call me agent look on the bright side :)

Meanwhile, in the den of Kareoke, amidst the swirling smoke of a non smoke free environ as strains of King of Pain, Ring of Fire, Enjoy the Silence and ABBA were blasting full throttle I knit upon my Sock of Doom. While comrades consumed uncounted tequila shots and engaged in bizarre dance practices (y'all know I may be exaggerating for colour, right?) I puzzled over the code which was my pattern.

(So if a bartender tells you that knitting a sock is "hot" do you consider that irony? Or maybe there was another agent and this was a distraction technique.....)

I left the carousal at half past 11 and ended up walking home. Various persons along my path told me, or perhaps their invisible companions -or more likely the nearby garbage cans, that "No bus tonight" and "Don't stop. It's Almost Halloween".

May I suggest when crossing a bridge which is under reconsrtructuion, hence putting the pedestrian walkway into oncoming traffic, and it's late at night, and the bridge has no illumination, to reconsider ones way home?

And who knew that the Maxx stops running at 12:03? Surely not the lovely threesome, two supporting a third in the middle and one of the men fetchingly accessorised with a pink purse, on the lookout for bicyclists. Thankfully there was no traffic when a member of the party decided to have a little sit down in the crosswalk.
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I finished Lost illusions last Friday. Oh my. Lucien meets the devil at a crossroads and he's a Spainish Jesuit diplomat. Thus the story is continued in A Harlot High and Low. No copy of which could I find so instead I Pere Goirot which is where the diplomat first appears.

Yet I haven't really started reading anything new yet. I dabbled in the Parisian Sketches followed by the Ancien Regime, then put both aside for The Black Tulip, then Lies My Teacher Told Me and now I'm carrying around the Letters of Madame Sevigne.

*sigh*

Well there's always my Sock of Doom ;)***CV

nudge nudge wink wink

I used to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus whenever I got the chance. I loved the strange odd and surreal dialouges that would come up and the very bizarre skits. One in particular I call the nudge nudge wink wink skit. It's the one where Eric idle is trying to be very worldly in an oh so subtle way about the intimate relations between a man and his wife. One of his lines is "Say no more, say no more. A nudge is as good as a wink."

Imagine my surprise when the country solicitor in Lost Illusions is the recipient of that exact line from a scurrilous publisher.

So the Python Circus read Balzac?***CV

iced cafe aulait

Only 220 +pages left in Lost Illusions (It's 682pp) and I am becoming very scared of the publishing industry, both journalistic and literary. I once thought Hearst had been the supreme yellow journalist but it would appear that he was simply inheriting a very well entrenched tradition. Admittedly in the preface to Lost Illusions there is some mention that Balzac had issues with the small journals of the day, however, those issues were based more upon fact than fancy.
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What I am observing repeatedly in this second section is how similar the relationship between Lucien and Coralie is with that of the "romantic" couple in the Wild Ass's Skin. Then too there is the resemblance between the chairitable society in The Other Side of Paris with the Cenacle. I do prefer the version of romance in the current read, though the women are rather shallowly drawn. I fear Coralie may turn into a scorned love of Ivanhoe fame (which is why I think Ivanhoe is such a wuss). Perhaps she will stop offering herself as a stepping stone; that would be nice.
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At the studio one of the practioners noticed what I was reading. His wife is also reading classics so we're going to do a book exchange list. And one of my teachers is reading Murakami for the first time and liking it so I think I'll bring in Norwegian Wood :)***CV