I Miss You, John

Ok so I’m not normally horribly sentimental but today is the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. He actually meant a lot to me as a teenager even if he wasn’t my “favourite” Beatle. (That was sweet George, of course.) John was totally smart and wickedly funny but also gentle and very childlike in some ways. He wasn’t afraid to be odd, with his little drawings and weird poetry and stories. To this day I still can recite some of his poetry. I even saw the “tiny little tiny pig” for myself. You just have to be nearsighted to get it! And that myopia is the key to what John really did for me — he wore glasses. Wire-rimmed glasses. I could wear my glasses now and not be considered a geek! Ignore those idiots who spouted the old “Boys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses” shtick. Glasses are the height of hot. So I got my dad’s old wire-rims from his WWII army days and had my own prescription put in them. And finally I could see what was going on around me and what was written on the blackboard in class. Better marks and increased cool all at the same time. Thanks, John. And not to worry — that Chapman guy was just nuts. I’m sure you’ve forgiven him and gone on to better things, right? It’s what you would do.

I’ve been indulging in listening to podcasts while I spin. They’re kind of like blogs except with sound instead of print. It’s nicer than the radio I usually listen to — no annoying commercials, no boring politics, no depressing news about who was killed and what burned down. These podcasts that I’ve found are fibre-related. So far there aren’t very many of them but the number seems to be increasing. This is good. They’re all different too. KnitCast is hosted by Marie Irshad from Wales. She is obviously an experienced broadcaster: her diction is lovely and she interviews people with cogent questions. This is the one that has been going the longest. Next we have Cast-On hosted by Brenda Dayne, an American in Wales. (So what’s with the hotbed of knitting podcasters in Wales?) Brenda is a writer and music lover who reads her interesting articles and plays music to knit by. She always includes a segment on what sweater she is wearing from her apparently vast collection. So far she hasn’t interviewed anyone else so this podcast sounds quite different from the first. A new podcast is FiberCast hosted by Caroline Morse from New Hampshire. She has wider interests than just knitting since she also spins, weaves, cross-stitches, bobbin laces, crochets and owns alpacas. Her cast is a little less polished than the first two but it’s still interesting to me anyway. I’m sure her technical ability will improve with experience. The second episode is already better than the first. There are a couple of others but I haven’t listened to them yet. Reviews to come.

What have I been spinning while listening to podcasts? I’ve been plying the 2 different Aurelia singles: flashy Boysenberry Glitter and Tamarillo. The latter does indeed tone down the former. I’ll snap a pic when I’ve wound it off into a skein and washed and dried it. Plied yarn never looks like itself until it’s finished properly.

So can we post pictures today? Yes!

Here’s another one from the vintage slide collection. Doncha just love the way we used to torture our infants in the Dark Ages 30-plus years ago? This is Darling D hanging in her Jolly Jumper and believe it or not, she’s very happy there. The clue is she’s not crying. She always wanted to be upright and this gave her a comfortable way to do it without killing my arms. Probably totally off the current baby-raising deep end but it worked for us. And I just love the box of Ivory Snow behind her. They don’t make that pure soap stuff anymore. Now it’s detergent which is not at all the same thing. I still have an original box with a little left in it in my laundry room. A collector’s item! I’m afraid to use it up because that would be it. Forever. Hmmm…Wonder how much I could get for it on Ebay?