forgetgutenberg

I’ve always liked the idea of moving to Texas as metaphor for disappearing entirely. It’s totally unrelated to any of what’s going on, but there you go. Non-linear connections in thinking make things more interesting.

Lately, I’ve been wondering what direction I’m going, or if I’m just wandering in ever-decreasing circles. Pretty soon I’m going to run into myself, and that’s just going to be confusing.

So I cooked. Instead of finishing the scarf I have on needles, I made tortillas with an old friend. They came out pretty well, and other people who wandered through the kitchen seemed to like them. I need to practice some more, and I think if I keep this up I need a new piece of cast iron cookware. I seem to have also managed a reasonably useful batch of biscuit mix.

And, well, that’s something. I don’t know what I’m doing, but food helps with the thinking. (And having tasty lunch for tomorrow makes the idea of getting up and going to work less vile.)

There’s still the question of what I want to do, creatively, now.

I’ve always wanted an art car. I don’t know what to do with that piece of knowlege, quite, but I’m going to let it simmer a bit. Maybe I will make one. Probably subtle, painted on. Not too glittery. Menin under one headlight, andra under the other? Something will occur to me.

I finally got around to watching the documentary about Helvetica. I don’t know what I was expecting, exactly, but it was a very nice bit of work. Also, some of the type people were excessively entertaining. Well, that’s another movie I can check off the list, and I need to go muddle around with some type.

Also, I cast on socks in Panda Cotton (bamboo, cotton, spandex, and maybe some other stuff, but no wool, which is the exciting part). Wouldn’t you know it, these are going to be great socks. It’s a good thing I cast on for socks that will be way too big for me; I’d want to keep them for my very own if I hadn’t. Oh well, there’s more where that came from and I can make myself a pair when I’ve knitted the stash down to a reasonable level.

I’m doing a hat in Malabrigo (merino), and I can’t decide if it’s going to want cables or not.

On the not-knitting front, well, I read A Coffin For Dimitrios (Eric Ambler), and it was charming. Precisely the sort of strange political spy novel I was looking for. (I love it when asking random bookselling-people for recommendations works.)

Perhaps that’s overstating things a bit, but for some reason now that I’ve realized that no, really, it’s actually December, I feel a little bit … frazzled.

It might have something to do with light. It gets dark so early I feel like I don’t have time to do anything. I don’t think that’s unusual, in the grand scheme of things. I talk to a lot of people who feel shorted by the short days.

So I ignored the problem and did some more weaving. The warp I’m working with right now is terrible. It’s not the yarn’s fault. It’s actually going to be lovely. There’s something going on with the tension, though, so it keeps snapping loose. I think it’s the paper I used, or maybe the adjustment knobs are on backwards (I don’t think they are.). The good thing about it is the sheer quantity of handspun I’m using up. I’ve got all this elderly handspun (and by elderly, I mean it’s been in the stash more than six months) that I know I’d hate knitting with and it’s not nice enough to sell as yarn, but it weaves up into some fascinating color/texture combinations.

Of course, it’s not getting done right now. I feel like I’m disorganized, unfocused, and running around in a blind panic near-constantly.

Which, if I’m right, is just what faking being a grownup requires.

I don’t mind being busy, but man do I mind feeling like I’m working constantly to no discernible effect. …Clearly, I need to go out and get more commissions to do art. That gives me a realistic goal and a clear project, as well as being something I can classify under “gainful employment.”

Any takers?