I'm not a feminist, but....

Reading "The Heart Specialist" by Claire Holden Rothman was a glimpse into life before women were treated as the equals that they are today. Agnes White is passionate about all things scientific and aspires to be a doctor like her father. However, the year is 1882 and things like that are just not done. Women don't even go to university, let alone spend many years there learning. They just aren't made for stuff like that. This book is inspired by the true story of one of Montreal's first female physicians, Dr. Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott. It was a page turner and I highly recommend it. Many twists and turns.

Do you ever read any of the blogs in my sidebar? Josh Harris's "Mark Driscoll's: Church is not a restaurant" video clip is right on the mark. Take a few minutes to listen in.

We are having a new baby in our church next month. I made a baby sweater that will hopefully fit in the winter. It's made with a yarn that will be washable for the new mom - Red Heart Eco-Ways, in a soft light teal colour. So soft after washing.

How I cope

Cotton dishcloth knitting is what I gravitate to when life becomes stressful. The feel of the soft cotton between my fingers; the mindless garter stitch. The process calms and relaxes me. I've been knitting a lot of dishcloths the last few weeks. Enough said.

Yesterday I did branch out from my standard Grandma's Favourite dishcloth pattern and tried Eloomanator's Diagonal Knit Dishcloth. Almost as easy as Grama's Favourite, but with a twist. Doesn't it look pretty?

To catch up on reviewing some of the books I've read in the past month, I'll start with "My Life in France" by Julia Child. This book was a birthday gift that I saved for my trip to Mexico. What a wonderful read, on the beach or otherwise. Of course, I came away wanting to be Julia Child, I admired her so much. She knew what she wanted and with energy, just headed there. The descriptions of the food and countryside made me want to travel and cook and eat. The book "Julie and Julia", based on Child's life as well, I quietly returned to the library mostly unread, very unsatisfied with the vulgar tone. Watch the movie, it's far better.

Of hats and hardship

It’s fitting that my first finished project of the new year is a crocheted hat. In 2010 I want to get better at crochet, which I have just dabbled in during my lifetime. The only way to get better at something is to do it a lot, so my hats for the homeless will be done with hooks and not needles. Yarn: Noro Silver Thaw (wool, angora, nylon) Pattern: Cat and the Hat Rib Cuff Beanie

I had lots of time to read over the holidays and pulled out a book that has been languishing on the shelves for a few years. “Gap Creek” by Robert Morgan is an Oprah Book Club selection. Her choices aren’t always my choices, but I like to give them a try. This story of a young Appalachian country couple during their first few years of marriage carried me along from start to finish. Not all of it was pleasant reading – life was very hard, both because of the times and because of choices made. It made me thankful for my life situation and prayerful that my children will look to God for their choices and not necessarily to their hearts and emotions.

Reading about nature

I have to admit that I am an armchair naturalist. Reading about nature; watching nature shows - that's where I'm most comfortable. I enjoy being outside, but have to push myself to get there. So I admire people who are "at home in the outside". Edith Holden was one of those people. She was an artist who regularly spent a good deal of time on walks or bike riding in the great outdoors. "The Edwardian Lady" by Ina Taylor is a biography of her life that gave a great deal of insight into life in the late 1800's and early 1900's, as well as a description of Edith's life. It was also wonderfully illustrated with photos and the artwork of Edith and her sisters . Four interesting points from this book:

1. Edith was 39 years old when she got married, but there was no indication that she was pining away all those unmarried years. She got on with her life and it was a very interesting one, indeed.

2. Most people of the day went to church, but amazingly many were also into occult activities. One wonders how they managed to reconcile that fact.

3. Edith Holden Smith died tragically about 9 years after her marriage. She was attempting to collect specimens for drawing, and fell into a creek and drowned.

4. Edith authored a well-loved book "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" (link is to several copies to be had for $0.10!) When I found this book in a used book store years ago my heart began to beat wildly and my palms broke out in sweat.

What else would I have finished knitting right now but another hat. Again in Paton's Classic Wool Merino and the Classic WWII watchcap pattern. It does have a zig zag pattern on the ribbing, but being black you can't see it very well. I loved working with this yarn and would like to make another to keep.

Ravelry is an online knitting group that has taken the (knitting) world by storm. Being a member opens the door to thousands of other crafters, vendors, patterns - just about anything having to do with yarn or fiber or the people involved with it. I could literally spend hours on there, browsing.

Anyhow...reading a post on the Prayer Shawl group right now reminded me of another book that I read this summer. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

From the Amazon.ca site: If Miss Marple were fat and jolly and lived in

Botswana--and decided to go against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father's cattle to set up a Ladies' Detective Agency--then you have an idea of how Precious sets herself up as her country's first female detective. Once the clients start showing up on her doorstep, Precious enjoys a pleasingly successful series of cases.

This was a delightful and insightful book. My only question is - how does a male author know so much about women?

My Procrastination Hat came about from trying to avoid doing all the Children's Ministry and homeschooling organizing that I KNEW I needed to do. A hat for the kids to wear come winter. Marks and Kattens Eco multi ull yarn done in the standard Classic WWII watchcap.

Memory - friend or foe?

Some books I must have choosen because the contrast between me and the subject matter fascinates me. For example, the allure of reading about the Arctic and Antarctic is that it's unconceivable to me that anyone would choose to spend time in absolute cold. "The Woman Who Can't Forget" is a true story about a woman who remembers everything she ever did or read or heard. It boggles the mind! I have a hard time with several hours ago! She even remembers things from others people's lives. As long as she had contact with the person or information, it's filed away in her brain. In a instantaneously retrieved mind file.

I can often remember information. It just takes my file manager several hours to bring it up from cold storage to the front of my mind. Of course, by then the moment may have passed when I needed it. Such is life - I've always had a memory like this, it just gets worse as time passes. This quote sums up my experience with memory: The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Even more than a look into this woman's life story and what having the most remarkable memory known to science means to her, this book gives a great deal of insight into how the mind works and memory in general. An absorbing read. Three stars.

I learned a new knitting technique the other day. The project got frogged and turned into something else (see Aviatrix baby hat), but it was a learning experience in any case. To get a knitting project started, you must first cast on (CO), which is setting up the yarn onto your needles so that you can proceed with the actual knitting. I have always CO in the manner that I learned as a child - a form called the long-tail cast on. I really didn't know there was any other way to do it until I took up knitting again in the last few years. Now I know that there are many, many different ways to cast on. The cable CO is the one that I just learned. It created a nice looking edge, but was more time consuming than I'm used to, so only if the pattern calls for it will I use it. Here's a video that shows how it's done:

RIP

Since I have joined the ranks of the knitting world I have had to learn a whole new language. Sl1, WS, SSK - who would have thought these all meant something? In the "old days", to decipher such gobbledegoop you would have to page through knitting books or find a knitting mentor who was wise in the ways of this foreign land. Now, however, enter the world of the WWW. A few strokes of the keyboard, a click and you have a simple explanation - often times even a diagram or video. Technology is wonderful.

RIP doesn't (at least, as far as I have so far ventured) mean anything in knitting language. RIP stands for "reading in progress". This is a cousin to the OTN, which is a knitting abbreviation for "on the needle". Projects you are currently working on. Since my reading level has declined since I started my yarn obsession I thought that this would be an appropriate way to chart where I'm at in the world of words.

Bible - Psalms, Mark and Ezekiel (pardon me, but I will really be glad when I'm done reading Ezekiel to the kids!)

In my "study" (also known as the bathroom) - "Chicken Soup for the Soul - Celebrating Mothers and Daughters". My daughter gave me this book and I love it. But I can only take it in small doses as it causes me to cry with almost every story.

"Study" book just finished - Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitter's Almanac". What a heart-warming book! Even if you never plan to knit any of the projects, her friendly style of writing and useful tips are worth the read. She takes you through a full year with a different project for each month.

In the kitchen - "Apple Cider Vinegar" by Paul C. Bragg. I'm reading this book in my never-ending search for a cure for my 13 yo son and his listlessness and allergy (?) problems. No, apple cider vinegar does not taste like apple juice. It tastes like it smells - bad!

In the living room - I'm reading the kids "Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis in anticipation of the movie coming out in May. It looks really good! This will be an exciting boy-type movie with lots of action. My 8 yo son just wiggles in delight when the book describes the swords and sword play that is going on.

By my favorite chair - "Princess" by Jean P. Sasson. This is a true story of a progressive-thinking Saudi Arabian princess and the struggles she goes through bucking the age-old system that keeps women in their low place of esteem. It is a heart-breaking book as it describes what women go through and I have to put it down after a few chapters of reading.

In audio form (best for knitting by!) I have "Emma" by Jane Austen and "Beowulf", translated and read by Seamus Heaney (you must listen to this just for his lovely Irish accent!)

OTN - dishcloth shawl almost finished; Knitpicks Essentials socks about 1/4 of the way done; slipper socks for my husband 1/2 way done; cable scarf (I may just frog this as it sits abandoned and I have no heart in me to finish)

Purim isn't just for the Jews

This weekend I reread a "book within a book" - The Book of Esther in the Bible. What an inspiring story of standing up for what you believe in! Standing up against all odds in spite of danger. I love the celebration of Purim which is the time when Jews (and Christians who call Abraham THEIR father) all over the world remember what Esther did and the freedom that she gained for the Jews of her time. All Jewish holidays have their customs and special foods and Purim is no different. And each time in history brings new ways of looking at old practices. Check out this blog for extraordinary interpretations of traditional Purim and Passover objects.

I made hamentashen cookies for my kids in Sunday School (we watched a NestFamily DVD on Esther). The poppyseed filling they were very leery of but the raspberry and apricot were a great hit. Hamentashen are a somewhat picky to make. The dough is best if you chill it for a few hours and then roll it out in several batches. I used a drinking glass as my circle cutter - make sure to dip the glass in flour each time. Put a SMALL teaspoon of filling on the circle of dough, pinch three sides up to make the triangular shape, bake and enjoy. I like them best fresh, but they're tasty the next day too. Make lots - everyone will want more than one or two. I saw a recipe on the net somewhere for cherry filling cookies - I'll try those next year.

Books for us gals

You've heard of chick flicks? Well, there are some books out there that are meant just for us girls. Books that you curl up in a soft chair with - a cup of hot chocolate or cappuccino on the table beside you. A few pages later you're transported off to another world - another woman's world. But because you are both women, somehow there's a connection. Feelings are shared; minds connect. You can relate to this woman even if she is experiencing something you never have - because you're both women. Or maybe suddenly you see things from a different point of view because she is at a different stage of life than you or just went through something you haven't. But even so, there's a relationship - because you're both women. Whenever I'm feeling lonely or isolated there's nothing like reading a good "chick book" to remind me that all women share common feelings, dreams and desires and so, therefore, we're all bonded together. Of course, having a gab session with a flesh and blood friend is good too!

A few books I've read in the last year that confirmed how unique and special being a woman is (with a quote from each one - some sentences resonate with your spirit and can't be left to the memory; they have to be written down!):
The Year of Pleasures ~ Elizabeth Berg (pg. 160 The older I get, the more I see that nothing makes sense but to try to learn true compassion.)
Eat Cake ~ Jeanne Ray (pg. 122 She was a teacher in her soul and found that inside every action there was the opportunity for instruction.)
Pride and Prescience ~ Carrie Bebris (pg. 174 They began with minor transgressions and escalated their misdeeds, each one making the next acceptable in their own minds until they arrived at a destination so foreign to civilized men that their broken moral compass can no longer lead them home.)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I tuned into an interesting show recently on CBC radio (I like CBC because it makes me THINK). The discussion was about plastic surgery - how much is TOO much? what are the spiritual ramifications? why do we do it? Unfortunately, I missed the beginning and the end but some interesting points were raised. Women seem to do it the most. Why? There is more pressure on women to "look good" longer. One speaker said her plum line was "would I do this on a desert island?" She concluded that she would continue to use make up if she was alone on a desert island because she liked using it, but wouldn't resort to plastic surgery . This whole concept of artificial beautification is foreign territory to me. I've never worn a lot of make up and up till a few years ago had kept my "youthful looks". However...having passed the 1/2 century mark I'm starting to see those tell tale signs of aging and suddenly my mind is starting to wander in new directions. I have always admired old people and their signs of aging - till it became me! Our society is so youth oriented - you do have to be comfortable with yourself and the fact that you are getting older or else you could get swept up in the urgency to disguise your true age. My Mary Kay make-over experience was interesting. Oh, how women can paint themselves up! It just seems like a lot of work to me. I was happy to help my friend out and buy the cleansing system and will try it for the duration of the product. If I see a difference over my regular routine (just plain water, ma'am) then I'll restock. And I'm doing an experiment with the eye firming sample she gave me. One eye gets the treatment and one is left without. If I see a difference - she's made a sale!