Friday, June 15, 2012

Audio to knit by

Before I share links to some great audio accompaniment I've found for knitting, I want to tell you:

I passed my exam!

(with a pretty strong mark too, a reflection of what a awesome teachers I had.)

Also, I wanted to thank Pauline for commenting yesterday that her other friends in financial planning have creative backgrounds.  I'm pretty sure that is not true of anybody in the office I'm joining, and I've feared that I'm saying goodbye to that part of myself for a while with this change in my workday.  Your telling me that has really helped.

And Gina, you really helped me too by normalizing the notion of stashed yarn as an end in itself.  I really did buy my loom to help use up stash!  It was making me feel SO guilty.  Just that one small anecdote made me feel like it's okay to have a lot of yarn around, especially if I have less time to knit it.

(of course this is less comforting if the moths I keep finding around the house the last few days are raising young to feed on the stash, but that's a problem to sort out after I finish writing this.  I expect to find two or three around this time of year, but I think I'm up to six already, and they seem extremely attached to folded-up clothes and towels. Cotton ones, but still: GAH.)


Audio Links

The last few days, between moth rescues and tests, I've been consumed by a need to hear insightful people share their life experiences. 

It's that old wise man/wise woman thing - as a kid, I loved the stories where a mysterious adult had all the answers but simply guided the child protagonist(s) on his/her own path to their objective.  These days the Wise Person has taken the form of people who know a lot about how the world works from some angle or another, and share their knowledge with wonder, as though they too are enchanted by what they see.

And that is why I cannot wait to sit down with the rest of the 9-part interview I found posted on YouTube with Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  I was the wrong age for that show so I didn't know much about it, or him, and the thought of a 4.5 interview with him would not have made me sit up and take notice until I clicked on Part 1 yesterday when I should have been doing something else.  What a loss that could have been!  And the interviews run in 25-30 minute segments so there's plenty of knitting time before you get up to click the next instalment.

Fred Rogers Interview, Part 1
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 2
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 3
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 4
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 5
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 6
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 7 is missing for some reason, if you find it let me know!
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 8
Fred Rogers Interview, Part 9


In sort of related hunting, I found an 18-minute video of neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor describing the stroke that revealed how humans relate to each other and how to make our lives more loving and happy.  If that isn't what Hugs is all about I don't know what is, so I had to share it even though it's been out a few years and I'm pretty sure I'm the last to hear it.

Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight, via TED


This last one is a sad/happy mix.  Colin Firth reading (happy!!) The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (sad-ish.)  I read this book SO many times when I was young, and while I don't know whether it will play as well for me today after rather a lot of life experience - hello, Colin Firth's voice while I knit?  He could be reading an ingredient list.

The End of the Affair, via Audible.com


Have a great weekend guys, and please accept my best wishes for no moths in your house!

2 comments:

Kathleen Taylor said...

Woohoo for the exam!!!! I knew you would ace it!

Pauline said...

Congratulations!

You're welcome. I meant to say I only know three FP's, so I've begun to think creativity is one of the prerequisites. Wait, I've met their boss and he plays guitar; that's four. So there's some hope for your office mates?