Happy New Year!

Yeah....I know. I am a few weeks late but hey, I'm here. It's been a bumpy start to the new year. I kicked it off with bronchitis and and an upper respiratory infection that kept me in bed for four days past the start of school. My mom said "Well it's nice to not have to go back!" and I had to disagree with her. Even the doctor said that I looked like I wanted to die. I did. I was coughing as though I was going to hack up a lung. Then I read somewhere that a woman did actually cough up part of her lung and it terrified me.

I didn't cough up a lung. I made it back to work. I somehow, miraculously started 2012 in a bona fide, adult relationship that only gets better and better. And Hector the cat still likes to sleep in boxes. Things are good.

I'm also starting the new semester with some good writing news. I applied to the Jenny McKean More Community Workshop at The George Washington University using a sample from Until the Heart Stops Beating and a letter of interest that I will post later. I'm pleased to say that I've been accepted into the class! Hooray! This is both a good and terrifying thing.

Terrifying because I have to commute to DC every Tuesday: Yuck. It's also terrifying because I have written with any regularity in a year and a half (it looks sooo bad when I see that written down). I keep anxiously checking my email to see what my homework assignment will be! Homework! Ack!

But...It's a good thing because I do my best work when someone demands it of me. I'm really, really excited about writing for a small group of people. I can only hope that they are as excited about writing and read as I am. They must be if they took the time to apply, right?



That reading challenge I started? Oh yeah, that...Well, I'm going to try and finish up Yiddish Policeman tonight and tomorrow. And I'm reading a ton of short stories in preparation for the unit I am about to start with my class and hopefully this weekend I'll get to The Marriage Plot. But it's the Airman's birthday weekend so I make no promises.

I did begin and mostly finish these:

So I will have at least two knitting projects done! And I'm busting down my stash. Yay me again!

And because it's my blog and I can be obnoxious and gross and annoying here as much as I want, I'm still madly in love. #winning

What I'm reading and What I'm knitting

I'm taking a break from Oedipus and Macbeth.

In addition to the books I'm teaching. I've also been reading these gems:

1. Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer
2. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
3. Mentor by Tom Grimes

Each of these resonates with me for a variety of reasons.

I adore Scott Spencer. I was lucky enough to study with him for a semester. I just think he's the bees knees.

Danielle Evans' book has been on my "I want now" list for a long, long time and now that it's here, I'm taking my time to get through it. I'm three stories in and I think she's amazing. I can't wait to finish and I especially can't wait for her reading in DC next month.

Tom Grimes' book is, in a small way, a trip down memory lane. Iowa, the workshop, all the pressure and the emotions that come with being there. It's all in his book and it's so good that I've been carrying it around for days as though I were trying to recapture something of Iowa  or something of the writer I was when I was living in Iowa.

Knitting....I finished my fishnet socks and I knit a baby hat with owls!!!

WIP's

I've been so neglectful of this space and I know why. My life, for the last year has been fairly uninteresting, meaning that I haven't really had any major changes. Usually, when life feels calm, I have little to say to the internets, my feeling being that the people I love and know are around to hear most of what I need to say so why post it online?

Well, now there's some news. After nearly three years in Iowa City, I'll be leaving at the end of July to take up a post teaching English on the East Coast. Home at last. But this change does lead me to think about my time here in Iowa. Although I'm leaving, I realize that my connection to this place is a lot like some of my knitting projects, the ones I start and will probably never get around to finishing, on Ravelry, they call them WIPs (Works in Progress), I'll never quite be done with Iowa City.

I came here to write, which I did, maybe less than some but more than I could have hoped to accomplish in New York.

I cam here having fallen out of love. While I was here, I fell in love. Fell out of love. Fell back in love, with myself. Fell in love with writing. Fell out of love with writing. Fell even further out of love with writing, only to get close to the end and fall back in love with my writing. Can you say DRAMA? I can. I also realized that you never really fall out of love, you just move on and discover new (and hopefully) more fulfilling love (I know, it kind of sucks but really it's kind of awesome).

I learned to live alone. Learned that I love living alone, learned that I should probably learn to live with others.

I learned to knit (a skill I will always treasure).

I learned to drink whiskey (a skill I will always treasure and a skill I'm sure I'll regret time and time again).

I learned how to be a teacher. I even wrote (for a failed job application) a statement of my educational philosophy from where I got this gem of a line: "What I learned about the classroom environment at Sarah Lawrence is the very thing I try to make the foundation of my classes at Iowa: that while we have university-designated roles—teacher and student—we are all learners."

I learned to knit a cardigan. A freaking cardigan.

I learned more about friendship that I ever did before. Taking those failed friendships in New York, the friendships that are still so dear to me from the time I live in NYC, and the amazing people I connected with here in Iowa, I learned what it mean to have a friend and to be a friend.

I learned how to be a writer from some really good teachers. And I hope I can pass this on to other young writers I will encounter in my future.

I learned that even though you will continue to lose the ones you love, life goes on.

In all these sentences, I used the past tense when really, I should have used the present. Like the unfinished baby blanket, the socks that have no mates, and well, the cardigan (it's missing a sleeve) I'm a work in progress. I'm hoping the finished product will be last long and look awesome.

New Writes, New Reads and New Knits

I'm just returning from a whirlwind trip to Philadelphia and New York. Not only did I get to celebrate my own fabulous 30th year, but also I wanted to celebrate with
von Hottie and
May in the Bay And let me tell you, these ladies know how to get down. We are all 30 and FABULOUS!



I did get some things done (other than celebrating). First, while I was in Philly, I spent my days at the Chestnut Hill Coffee Co. So far it is my favorite place in Philly to have coffee (it's where I get my espresso for homemade lattes)and write. There's no internet, it's quiet, and no one talks to you. It's perfect. I wrote a draft on one of one of my novels short chapters. Yay!

I finished Yiyun Li's newest novel "The Vagrants". One word people: Phenomenal. Okay, maybe a second word: Devastating. I mean that second word in the way good fiction should knock the wind out of you. I finished and I though. Jesus H. Christ that was hard. Admittedly, I didn't really get into it at first. I was interested in most of the characters, but there were so many that I sometimes needed to take a break and pick up something else less complex. When I finally went back to it, I couldn't put it down. There was something kind of enrapturing about the strong convictions of some of these characters and the knowledge that their convictions will do them no good by the end. And for those without conviction, without loyalty, well, I felt for them too.

A good read people.

And as for the yarn....well...I visited three yarn shops. Purl Soho (of course), Loop in Philadelphia and The Tangled Web also in Philadelphia. Purl, has just moved from it's teeny tiny shops on Sullivan St. to an expansive and beautiful location on Broome St. They never, never disappoint. Also, I had a lovely conversation with Joelle Hoverson, one of the owners. I was seriously star struck once she introduced herself. While I was there, I picked up some Habu textiles raw silk lace weight yarn. I'm planning on making my mother some lacy thing with it. Jared Flood has a pattern or two I'm thinking of. At the Tangled Web--which is a nice shop--I picked up some Jojoland Melody sock yarn in a pretty reddish pink, that I am going to turn into cute lace anklets, the pattern on the Purl Bee site. Seriously, that website makes me want to knit all the time. Lastly, I picked up some lace alpaca yarn from Loop. I met a friend there and while it was nice to be reunited after two years, I did not love the shop and that made me sad. Their website is so delicious that I thought I'd walk into Philadelphia's version of Purl. I work in a yarn shop, and I try to give my customers space, but I at least talk to them a little, ask what they're working on, if they need help, or ideas. at Loop...Well, the woman working behind the counter was way more interested in her computer screen than the only two customers in the shop. Also, I wasn't super impressed by their stock. I think it's because I'm spoiled by the shop I work in and also the other shops in town. We all have different, but exquisite yarns and the people who work at the shops in my area are all awesome. Seriously. Still it was a lovely yarn adventure.

Before I left for the east coast, I was gifted some really pretty yarn. A Funky Zauberball (I have one already and I can't wait to knit them both up!!) Some Jojoland Rhythm, Lorna's Laces sock yarn in a sweet pink, and a skein of Mini Moochi. So it's basically been a good two weeks for my stash.

What's next? Knitting anklets, a baby blanket and some finishing some socks. I've started reading Arvind Adiga's "White Tiger" and working on one of the more challenging parts of my book.

I have to say, I'm loving 30!

New Hat!

Every couple of months, I get tired of my hair and I march myself down to the local beauty school and pray they have a Black girl on staff who can blow my hair out. Currently, I'm sporting a curly afro. But this is not hair that goes well with all the cute little berets that I've knit. On Saturday I started Jared Flood's Beaumont Tam.  I'm about 25 rows away from finishing. It's my first adventure with Fair Isle knitting (where you knit with both hands) and I'm excited about in the way knitters are excited about these things. I took a picture of the project! And because I haven't written in a couple of days, I took a picture of the tam in progress. It's sitting on some of the books from my binge last week. 

An Editing Break

So, I'm taking a little break to show off some projects that I'm working on/finished.
Here are Patrick's completed socks!

And here is the Clapotis scarf I'm working on for me!

 

The clapotis is a drop stitch scarf (I'm only half done) the pattern can be found for free at Knitty. The yarn is Ella Rae lace merino purchased at one of my LYSs. It's kind of a dream to knit with.

Belated Birthday Socks for P

Well, I have what feels like a million projects on my needles. I've put most of them aside to work on some belated birthday gifts. These are socks for my good friend Patrick. The yarn is Araucania Multy Itata, a lovely yarn made of silk, wool and bamboo. Patrick picked the yarn via cell phone pictures and clearly he has a good eye. The pattern is one I found on Ravelry and the pattern is called Globe Trotter socks by Jodi St. Clair from Strings and Yarn. 

I've already turned the heel on the first sock and am working on the instep. Hopefully, sock number one will be done by Monday and it's on to sock #2

Fresh Start

I recently shut down the blog I'd been writing for nearly four years. The title of that blog was The Indulgence of Self and prior to that, I called it Voglio Essere, which is Italian for I want to be. At the time, it was a necessary space. But as I move into my *gasp* thirties, I realize that I know what I want to be and self absorbed ain't it. So I decided it was time for a blog that focused on the things that were really important.


So a bit about me. I'm a recent graduate from an MFA program in fiction writing and while I'm enjoying a year long reprieve from the "real world"; that is, a 9 to 5 job and life in a big city (aka my former life) I'm working on my novel, a few short stories, a stack of unread book, and a lot of knitting projects. I might even throw in a word or two about my attempts at personal fitness and some pictures of my work as an amateur cook.


When I left the city, I was really excited to learn how to knit. When I was eight or nine, my grandmother taught me how to crochet and I never really learned anything beyond basic scarf making. But since my move, I've taken up knitting in a serious way. This picture is of one of my favorite projects so far, The Daphne purse from Knitting Little Luxuries. It's a herringbone stitch pattern and the yarn is Hempwol from hemp for knitting My gauge was off but I liked the way the bag came out in the end. The pattern was easy to follow but a little repetitive.  Totally worth it in the end. I machine and hand sewed the lining, with a beautiful turquoise and fuchsia fabric I bought at one of the LYSs in town. The original bag was embroidered, but I don't have the patients for that, so I went on a button search and sewed on these beautiful and unique buttons I found in a couple of different states.

This is a scarf I made when I was just starting to get back into the habit of handling yarn. I made this light green scarf for one of the writers teaching during my first semester of grad school. He's doing splendidly now, and I like to think of him wearing the scarf I made into fancy parties with other writing luminaries. It's crochet even though the book under it is a knitting essential.