Balance

Sometimes I think my whole life to date could be summarized as a struggle for balance. This weekend, for a short time, I achieved it.

Knitting

There was knitting.

At KnitNY, C spotted a green tweed that he liked and said he would enjoy having as a scarf. I bought one hank of it and have been working it in broken 2x2 rib using a US8. The pattern called for knitting the ribs for 8 rows before breaking them, but I've been varying depths of 6, 8, or 10 at random. The pattern of uniform lengths as called for in the Vogue Knitting Reference looked machine-made and sort of dowdy - a scarf you would find in a very uninspired church bazaar.

The needles are larger than the recommended size, which is making the fabric slightly loose. C gets too hot when he's hermetically bundled up, so I'm hoping this will keep him warm but still let his skin breathe to keep him comfortable.




I also cast on and worked about 4 repeats of a stole that I put together from the patterns and design theory of Nancy Bush's Estonian Lace class at Stitches Midwest. Of all the lace knitting I've seen, the Estonian pleases me the most. I'm going to keep this stole at home for working on at odd moments, a treat to myself when I've made progress on

The Rhinebeck Sweater

I would like to show up at Rhinebeck in something (not a bunny hat) that I've made myself. My gauge swatch for the sweater is finished, and I have all the needles I need. Now, for the push to finish. I think I can get it done if I make it my primary focus between now and the trip. To that end, I'm clearing the decks of all other projects.

Setting forth that goal in here, thereby risking public humiliation if I should fail, should provide me with ample motivation to start clicking.

Photography

There was also photography and photography-related work. I started assembling actual pages in my portfolio, captions and backings and what-not.

The light on both Saturday and Sunday was marvelous, and the air was cool and dry. I'm willing to undergo a lot of physical discomfort to get a good shot, but I'll admit it was nice to be out with the camera and not frying or steaming.

In the afternoon, down in the Loop, the light on the marquee of the Chicago Theater was as perfect as if someone had lit it specially.

I wasn't just shooting randomly, though. I was on a mission. I needed two shots for a poster that first saw light two years ago as a Christmas present for my folks, and which can now be put into a finished form and sent off to print. Once it's printed, I'm going to try shopping it around to see who might carry it. Maybe I'll also sell it online.

It had better pay. Getting one of the shots meant visiting an iffy neighborhood where I was harassed on the street by a group of ill-intentioned kids before a Chicago police officer scared them away. Note to self: some places are not for shooting without somebody to watch your back.

Writing

I'm still at work on my article for the new menknit.net magazine - and it's nearly finished. The mag is still happening, right boys? Right?

Companionship

Knitting and photography were both solo occupations. I was happy to also spend time with a dear friend I don't get to see much, who came up to Chicago for our gay rodeo. I didn't go to the rodeo, which thanks to the boys from Boystown usually doesn't feel like a rodeo but like a circuit party where horses are welcome. Instead, John came up to the city and we went to the Toulouse-Lautrec special exhibit at the Art Institute.

If you are in Chicago, or can get here before the show closes on October 10, do it. The Art Institute is on a roll. John was up here last year and we saw the special exhibit surrounding Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It was revelatory. This exhibit packs the same wallop.

Then, as if that weren't enough, the photographic galleries have a show up of Paris before 1950. Kertesz, Atget, Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, Lartigue, Germaine Krull, Lee Miller. A roll call of my favorite photographers in their prime. I was sticky wet by the time we were through.

Sunday night, C took me as his guest to a party celebrating ten years of the monthly Prince Night at Berlin. I've been a few times and always enjoyed it, even though I know next to nothing about Prince. He took this shot of me, which for once I quite like. (One of the reasons I enjoy being a photographer: When you're behind the camera, it can't see you.)

Since I started dating C, I've de-aged. I swear I'm starting to look almost my own age. Or maybe it's just the salutary effects of dim lighting.

The shirt I'm wearing is from the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit. The Art Institute usually does different two shirt designs for the special exhbitions, one for adults and one for kids.

The kids shirt, which you see here, is always far better. I suspect this is because the museum's marketing people shut up and let the designers put together the children's design with less interference.

I fit better into the kids medium than the adults small, and it's five dollars cheaper. It's good to be short. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Toulouse-Lautrec and Prince in the same weekend. Small guys who made it big.

Maybe I'm next?