Making, Reading, and Being Green

Made: Springtime Serving Platter



An update before I disappear for the weekend...

Making

Happy to announce that I have a MADE object to show off this week, though it isn't knitting and it only took a few hours, so it's not as impressive as I'd like. This Springtime Serving Platter came about as a result of being 'widowed' by the 3/6/2012 release of Mass Effect 3, which had Westley so excited that he was literally dreaming about it for at least a year in advance. I relented my favorite knitting chair (which also happens to be his favorite gaming chair) for the night and took myself out to a super-cool pottery painting studio called All Fired Up! (http://www.paintatallfiredup.com/) A week later, I stopped back in and picked up my beautifully fired platter. I love it. It's colorful and manages to go with the hodgepodge of kitchen stuff I've already got. And doesn't it just look like the perfect resting place for an Easter ham?

As far as knitting goes, I have five WIPs at the moment, but I'm hoping to be at least one down by the end of the weekend. I'm VERY close to finishing both my Hey, Teach sweater (pattern by Helene Rush, available at http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/PATTheyteach.html; I am knitting in KnitPicks Shine Worsted Sky) and my Folded Tweed Bag (pattern by Kathy Merrick, available in Interweave Presents: Knitted Gifts; I am knitting in four shades of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Tweed). Hopefully, I will soon have progress pictures and updates up on my profile at http://www.ravelry.com/ - I'm DMluvsPrufrock there, as well. :)

Reading

I have a LOT of books and audiobooks going at the moment, but the one I plan to finish ASAP is Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.

This is one of so many books that I have wanted to read for years, but could never 'find time' to do it. I remember the huge impact it had on its initial wave of readers, particularly within the Irish-American community. I think every woman in my family read this book back in 1996. (The men in my family, for some reason or another, didn't read much back then.) I also remember going to see the 1999 film when it was out in the theatres, though I can't for the life of me remember a single scene. I can't decide if this means I should watch it again or assume that it bore virtually no resemblance to the book and move on.

In any case, I am enjoying it so far, though I'm taken aback by the juxtaposition of hardship and a really queer sense of humor. Frankie is clearly a wit. My Kindle tells me I'm at 84%, so I'm looking forward to finishing this weekend in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Being Green

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm going to say that this week's Being Green challenge is to learn a little bit about the dangers of our current state of agriculture and specifically about the fast-food-feuled propensity toward monoculture. Why? Because it killed around 1 million people in Ireland in the 1840s. It's true. There are five thousand varieties of potato, but only one variety was introduced to Ireland. When Phytophthora infestans infected the crop, therefore, everything died. We know this today as the Great Famine.

So learn, then go out and have some green beer or something!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!