Midori Snyder's Blog, page 22

The Root and Trunk of Cables: First Teachers.

I love knitting cables -- so structurally complex and varied, and I have wondered how in the world did that ancestor knitter decide one day to create such intricate patterns? Hiking in the Colorado Flat Irons revealed a possible answer...Nature has ever been the first teacher in the art of twinning and knotting.

"I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." -- "The Unpublished Journals of John Muir," (1938)

Mournful, Sorrowful, and Lost Until Found

Some stories need songs to write themselves. Still working on "Charon," the Bordertown story of an undertaker, a banshee, and a dead elvin girl. It is a mourful soundtrack, veering between "Cruel Sister," "Dark Turn of Mind," and "I Wish My Baby Was Born...and I in my grave." Waiting for the elvin girl to tell me her story. In the meantime, I hear myself absently singing this Jack White version while doing the dishes, driving, knitting...wayfaring indeed like my unknown girl.

 

 

Sitting Beside Myself With Happiness in a Cranberry Hat

Knitted up a new winter hat out of some Malabrigo Rios yarn (appropriately named "Inferno") I had stashed and almost forgotten about. Turned out rather nice and very warm for when he head North again this winter. As for my selfie--aish, I just can't seem to take a serious one and kind of like this sterioscope result.

Where in the Woods to Write, Think, Breathe, Knit

This is one of my favorite spots in the Flat Irons -- Woods Quarry on the McClintock Trail.  Originally someone had the idea to quarry the slabs of rocks on the mountain's face at about 14k feet. They probably should have thought more closely about the logistics of hauling tons of weight in rock slabs down the mountain. It was eventually abandoned, and now some wonderful hikers have over time, created benches and throned-seats out of the slabs. This one was tucked under a square of four trees and I defintaely plan to return here -- often when we move here -- and bring my books, my notes, my knitting (plan on learning how to knit while hiking -- shepardesses did it all the time in the 19th century) and just breathe in the scent of pine and wild flowers. 

 

Time in the Mountains: Maybe It's time to Move

Over this last year with so many visits throughout the seasons to Boulder Colorado to see the growing family, it has become aching clear that I miss the forests and the seasons and my children and grandchildren. I have so much space here in Tucson, but if feels lonely without them. My daughter and her children have become mighty mountain hikers -- going several times a weeks high up into the Flat Irons. Boulder is mildly insane, crowded, but everyone seems to spend their lives outside, regardless of the weather. The Boulder Hiker Chicks is an incredible group of women of all ages who hike throughout the Flat Irons in groups. I want to join them -- though I may not follow one of their traditions which is upon summitting to strip of their tops and bear their breasts to the view below. (Well....who knows, the euphoria of reaching a 14k hike might be enough to push me into it!). 

Plus, let's face it -- it's hotter than hell knitting lovely wool winter garments in the desert. I have to sit under a fan....in November. 

 

My Sweet Boy Blue

Very happy to see this dimpled smiling face on my grandson -- and how well the sweater fits that I managed to finish knitting just a day before traveling up North to be with our family. 

 

Knitting the Blues

A new sweater for my grandson--beautiful Bobby Blue Malabrigo yarn. Can't wait to see it on him. 

Jack Zipes, Fairy Tales, and Meeting Einstein

The University of Minnesota blog has a wonderful guest post from Fairy Tale king, Jack Zipes -- which rather than an intellectual examination of fairy tales, is instead a personal memoir of the many years of interacting with fairy tales beginning with a fateful (and hilariously written) account of meeting Albert Einstein when he was a child. Do have a read (and perhaps think about your own person encounters -- at what point were fairy tales an integral part of your thinking?

Discovering Fairy Tale Postcards:
The Adventures of a Scholarly Scavenger

 

The Art of the Needle: A Celebration of May Morris at the William Morris Gallery

So wish I could be at the William Morris Gallery for this show!  Just look at this lovely detail from "Maids of Honor"  (Click on for a larger view.) I will be definitely preordering the book May Morris: Arts & Crafts Designer by Marsh and Mason.

Film Archives: Black Cowboys, Ninjas, and Angels

Two wonderful and very different films.

The first "Wildcat" is a gorgeous tribute to the town of Grayson, Oklahoma (whose original name was Wildcat). A small, rural town, (population 158) mostly African American, this film pays tribute to the slow communal way of life in a small town -- the rodeo, the cowboys, the beauty queens, the church, nature. From film maker Khalil Joseph: "Wildcat is a state of mind; an experiment inspired by the composition and performance of jazz music. The characters that populate this world are actual ��� cowboys; and envisioned ��� angels. The town they all inhabit is real ��� Grayson, Oklahoma". (See the large version of this by clicking the link above which will take you to Vimeo -- it's worth it!)

 

The second film is a poignant animated film "Requiem for a Romance" from Jonathan Ng, visualizing a couples' breakup over the phone as a battle between ninjas. It's really compelling and strangely works exceedingly well -- somehow, the sword slashing ninjas and the phone conversation just seem to highlight each other with perfect symmetry. And this film too has an original score -- a collaboration of Vid Cousins and Kid Koala.