(Art)

It's so true it's trite: you always think up a good question or a witty remark long after the event is over, usually when brushing your teeth before going to bed, or as in my case, walking down the avenue chomping on the last empanada left at La Isla.

Tonite Lynn and I went to a talk at the Museum of Art and Design and to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting show, so as not to be the last knitters in the greater metropolitan area to see it. Let me get this off my substantial chest right now: the show is eh. I liked the pieces that were about knitting, like the very small intarsia sweaters done by Althea Merback and the garments for poor people knitted out of financial newspapers by I forget which artist. I liked Bobbin Lace Lamp, knitted with fiber optic cable, so much I was ready to knit one of my own, until John told me that I'd have to buy the cable at Radio Shack , and you know I'd rather stick a knitting needle in my eye than go there.

Three panelists spoke tonite on alternative yarns but the one I had the question for was Dave Cole. I was only familar with this piece he did at Mass MoCA using two John Deere cherry pickers, some telephone poles and I would like to think acrylic yarn from Woolworths, since that is my idea of real alternative knitting material.

You can check out his site for more information on how he works, but he talked about knitting with lead, kevlar, extension cords, steel wool, fiberglass insulation...you know, manly things. Then, he passed around some of the knitting needles he made out of...screwdrivers, tent pegs, stakes, pipes. More manly things.

And he had to use a lot of protective equipment for his knitting, like asbestos handling bags and respirator masks and, just like me, wrist splints.

Then, he passed around some knitting needles that had ceramic hand grenades at the unpointy end, presumably so that the lead stitches didn't fall off when he was knitting on the subway.

So the question I want to ask him - and if he has a good publicist that is trolling blogland for mentions of this lecture, please pass this on to him - does he have a gender point to make here? Is he telling us that as a man, he can only justify knitting as a medium for his pieces because he uses butch materials?

Also: does he play golf?

VD: is it for everybody, or just for a few?

I spent many a curious hour yesterday reading everyone's Valentine's Day posts, and I mean everybody's because January One (click on the left there) had a little contest about VD stories.
So did Stephanie McPhee (and you know where to click for that), on that resonated a little more to me.

If you remember your haigiography, you know there were two St. Valentines. Both were beheaded by emperors after curing people of gruesome and disfiguring diseases, apparently by laying hands on them, and refusing to pledge allegiance to the pagan gods of those in power. So this is a reminder: it's not about the little angels with the arrows and diamonds in a box, it's about love.

3:24 am

Of all the crafty creations in my life, this one is the very best, born 14 years ago. Looking at this sonogram with last century's technology, I can tell you her head is still the same shape, and her nose has the same tilt, and she's wearing her favorite outfit.

It Depends.

In the 80's, NASA did some experiments with knitting as a way to strengthen the material that covers spaceships. We also know that astronauts play a lot of golf, even on the moon.

Could a little work-sponsored knitting or golf have helped Captain Lisa Marie Nowak?

What Were You Knitting on Feb 4, 1983?

I was knitting a brown, brown, brown sweater for an undeserving boyfriend and was marooned on Sleeve Island. Times were hard for knitters, then; acrylic ruled the earth and Woolworth's was your yarn destination.

I was finishing up this brown, brown, brown sweater for a Valentine's Day present that evening and watching the news when I saw that Karen Carpenter had died a bad death.

Here is a link to that Todd Haynes movie, The Karen Carpenter Story I think in it's entirety, which you can watch at work if nobody's watching you because it's almost an hour long.

The Slave Of Duty

Do you know why I can't find any golf on TV these days? Because all golf has moved to a special TV channel that we can't get here in my country. My country seems to have different media than yours, even if you live only sixteen blocks away.

Happily, one of my all time favorite poorly adapted movie of a victorian musical is available on TV, actually it is available several times a day at all hours for the past week: The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave Of Duty. Who doesn't love a pirate? Even knitters love'em.

Great big knitter Linda Ronstadt plays Mabel in this version, but she can't hit the high notes like I can. And this is why Pirates of Penzance is better than golf today, because you can sing along.