The Road
I have been reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and it has put me in a disturbingly apocalyptic mood. To be fair, it is an excellent book, very powerful…but be prepared. Soon, you’ll be seeing signs of the coming apocalypse everywhere.
Case in point: between McCarthy’s vision of a post-apocalyptic America, my own personal health insurance fiasco, the miserable prevalence of SUVs in our neighborhood alone, the burgeoning worldwide human population, and American stores stuffed to the rafters with pleather easy chairs, Sno-Globes, and underpants made out of petrochemicals, I have spent the last few days pretty thoroughly convinced that the human species will be extinct within a few generations.
And when have I ever been wrong? That’s right. Never.
Um, I can think of a couple of times. Like when you wouldn’t let me eat that groundhog I killed. You were WAY wrong that time. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Right or wrong, though, it’s been a dangerous frame of mind, not only because it has been very demoralizing, but also because I’m really just a hair’s breath away from spending my afternoons standing on the street in Harvard Square ranting about socialism.
See? Dangerous.
Like any good American, however, I’ve been distracted a bit from my role as “Prophet of Doom” by consumer goods, although I have eschewed the pleather and, heaven knows, the SUVs.
As far as I am concerned, this is the sock yarn dye-job to end all sock yarn dye jobs. I just love this yarn and I can’t wait to knit with it. And after all, when the apocalypse comes, we’re going to need warm wool socks, aren’t we? Preferably in attractive colors.
And who do we have to thank for this exquisite stuff?
Madeline Tosh. Yarn shown here in colorway Peony.
And of course, I have continued to knit my second Ice Queen, which I want to finish even if we are all going to go extinct. Because, look, even long term extinction does not relieve us of our immediate mandate to “look good, kick ass, and take names.”
Which, now that I think of it, would be hard to do while ranting about socialism on a street corner.
And then there’s Shelley. Nothing keeps you honest, grounded, and fully in the present like a dog. The other night, we were watching Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man together and Shelley was sleeping at my feet, as is her wont during home film screenings.
Those of you who have seen the film will certainly remember the scene of the two male grizzly bears fighting quite violently over a female. As soon as the fight commenced, Shelley sat bolt upright, ears at full mast, and stared intently at the television screen. She cocked her head to the left, then the right. Left again. Right again.
Then she looked at me as if to say, “Well, I’ll be—if you’ll pardon the expression—doggoned. How’d you get them miniature bears in that box?”
I said, “Shelley, Miss Puppy, the same species that got those miniature bears in that box are the authors of the coming apocalypse. And that’s just the awful truth.”
She looked at me quizzically and gave my hand an affectionate lick. Then she yawned and went back to sleep.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:48 am
You’ve got it exactly right … to stay sane in this overly consumer driven crazy world, you find the joy in the important things … sock yarn and dogs! You Go Girl!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Oh, how I LOVE Grizzly Man! It’s one of my favorite movies. The tragicness, the beauty of the animals, the craziness of the man — yes, I always love character sketches about fanatics, I love the stories about how people become passionate to the point of obsession.
That said, I would urge you NOT to become a Harvard Square raving fanatic. It looks cold. And everyone ignores them, anyways.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I agree, Hanna. Grizzly Man is a great movie. And not only for dogs…
February 1st, 2008 at 12:39 am
Hello Knit Sisters! I am a non-knitter who found you by googleing “knitting blog”. I am looking for a knitter-for-hire… is that proper knitting terminology? Anyway, I just need a 24 inch by 24 inch square knitted to use for a photography project. I have photos of what I would like the finish project to look like. Since I don’t knit, I can’t even pretend to make an educated attempt of telling you what kind of material it is made of… I’m doing good to know it’s knitted. I do have several images though. If you are interested in taking on this project, or no someone who would, please drop me an email. Thanks so much!
February 1st, 2008 at 2:06 am
Sherlock the schnauzer loves to watch animal planet [except for the periodic fish stories] and anything with pigs or horses in it. He too, thinks that bears are cool.
Can you get on your husband’s insurance? Sad state of affairs! Please don’t get sick. Wear warm socks.
Sorry, but how is pleather underwear causing the end of humanity as we know it? Is there a specific reference to this somewhere?
February 1st, 2008 at 11:07 am
Hello Knitsisters! Yours is the second blog site I have stumbled across this week. Both are written by people I can identify with – how refreshing! I have been knitting for less than a year, and have many ideas for future projects. I can’t wait to learn socks! Thanks for sharing…
February 1st, 2008 at 11:08 am
In ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, a number of years ago, McCarthy said, “It is supposed to be true that those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it. I don’t believe knowing can save us. What is constant in history is greed and foolishness and a love of blood and this is a thing that even God–who knows all that can be known–seems powerless to change.”
His outlook hasn’t brightened much, has it? He’ll never be one of the “Sunshine Boys.”
Happy February!
February 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Hey –I hope it’s okay I say hello here, I can’t knit. Although I vowed to teach myself this year. Actually I won a darling little purple knit heart (I’ll post a photo later tonight, you’ll like it) on another blog. And might I just add (oooh don’t tell my favorite teacher about my mommy grammar…please?) that I think it’s very cool you and Sarah share this blog. I enjoyed her last post as well.
We’re miles apart politically, no? Somehow I doubt either one of us is surprised, lol! It’s okay, I can love you no matter. I hang out with Kelly Lock often too, you’d like her so much. She’s a teacher now, engaged, and just an amazing example of growing up and living a good life. I drive my SUV to St. Joe every here and then to pick her up for dinner–she hates it too! xo
February 1st, 2008 at 6:38 pm
When I look at how drastically we have changed the world just since industrialization, I cannot help but think that we’re on the path to extinction. Between environmental damage and overpopulation, I don’t see how our impact can continue to be absorbed. You don’t even have to believe in global warming to believe this; just look at the drastic difference in resource consumption between the way we lived up until the 1700s and how we live now. Look at the nearly irreversible effects of our many experiments in chemistry (pleather underwear included).
I find that I’m oddly at peace with the idea of human extinction. If we prove ourselves to be a species that cannot survive for long on earth, so be it. Other species will come along to take our places. The earth itself will eventually recover.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Hi Ellen!
Stacey showed me your facebook. The Road caught my eye. LOVE it. The stream of consciousness in the book is fantastic and frightening. I’ve chosen it for one of my AP Lit common texts for this coming fall. I hope my kids love it as much as we “adults” do. Happy Birthday, too. My 40th is right around the corner. Hard to believe we were just in high school not too long ago! Stacey says happy B-day, too.