Remembrance of Things Future

At My Knits End

My dearly beloved LYS, Knit, is closing.

We all knew it was coming, but the official announcement still stung  a bit, and May 4th is sooner than I'd like it to be.

Play it Forward

Earlier this week, I got a call from the owner saying that if I wanted a sample that I had made for the store a while back, I could come pick it up.

It was the Bonfire Shawl.  I stopped by the store earlier today and recovered her.

As I touched her, a proustian flood of memories rushed in--the colors of the shawl, the orange top with the wonky neckline (fixed later), crocheting at Barnes & Noble and during down time at my brother's wedding rehearsal, giving another shawl away to a fire victim...

It was a good time to take a walkabout around the shop and examine objects and my memories--the Saturdays, Taco Boy, the jokes, the yarn, needles, hooks, projects, and most of all, my knitsibs.

(I have first dibs on these hooks, y'all!)

Sometimes, the way I deal with things is to project myself forward, beyond the event or crisis, and try to see things from a vantage point. As I write this post, my ever so thoughful and weepy May 4th post has already taken hold and become a future memory. 

I can see my last purchase and hear my knitsibs--the stories we will tell. 

Hugs and tears.

I can feel myself drive away one last time from an empty shop.

An end and a beginning. Thanks for the memories.

I did manage to make a purchase--more Addi Swing crochet hooks.

Yes, they are pricey (luckily 40% off, though), but, for me, as "tool sensitive" as I am, the right hook or needle is every bit as important as the yarn or pattern.  I've had projects full of misery because of the wrong tool only for thing to turn 180 degrees with the right one.

I still need a G, J,K, and L hook to complete things, but I have a good start.

The Reel Thing

I love movies and film, and I can watch a good documentary on almost anything.  I also love film criticism.  A good review goes beyond"I like this" or "I hate that." It explains why, gives shape and substance, pedigree and provenance.

I have been swayed to see a good film because the reviewer liked it, or have gone even though the reviewer didn't like it but I knew that I still would, or wanted to go and was stopped by a review.  In short, I make my own decisions, but I find a good review to be a valuable tool.

Roger Ebert's reviews did that for me.

Even after the late, great Gene Siskel, I watched the television show although it was never the same--although I do like Roeper well enough.

Later, I was delighted to later find Ebert on Twitter and Facebook. Cancer had taken away his voice and part of his face, but he remained sharp and insightful, funny and combative as ever.  I may not have always agreed with his reviews, but I always learned something.

His thoughts on life and death moved me the most. The beauty and sadness of this essay still leaves me gobsmacked.

My logical, skeptical, agnostic mind doesn't believe in a heaven or hell, but  my spiritual, meditative mind want to believe that both Ebert and Siskel are in some place, with a projector, films, a screen, and cushy seats, catching up. 

I want to live a life in which I can, in some small way, be remembered as fondly as Ebert.  I hope that it doesn't sound too melodramtic that I'm already mourning the closing of the yarn shop too.

 

From his final column.

So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies.