A Very Knitted Christmas

This Christmas everyone in the Clement clan who was not living in the desert got a knitted present from yours truly. Here they are!

Claire and Harald the Houseplant Monster

Mom in her Burberry Cowl

Stephen in his Christmas Scarf.

How did this man get so handsome?? His girlfriend Hillary gave him the wooden tie and pipe for Christmas.

Dad in his Clockwork Scarf

I love this pattern; it grows in a circle so eliminates the excess bulk of other scarves.

Absurd things that Laura Weber made me ten years ago...

While sorting through a box of old papers this morning that my mother found in my closet on Rosenberry Hills Drive, I happened upon countless collages which my childhood best friend Laura Weber made me. I was so floored by all the effort that the Binker went to in order to celebrate my birthday, congratulate me on my latest play, or MJ me. I must note that we had an unhealthy obsession with the late Michael Jackson which began on a Girl Scout camping trip where one of us taped a photo to the other's back without their knowledge... Thus "MJ-ing" someone was born. Enjoy these pieces of history.

This is an excerpt from my Michael Jackson scrapbook which Laura made me for my 16th birthday. Yes, that is me and my parents at the BET awards.

That is my crew from Hogwarts. This was a gift to celebrate playing a witch in Macbeth in 2003.

This is me winning an Academy Award. I'm so glad Jennifer Love Hewitt was there to see it.

I wish I'd written this...

http://musicforants.com/blog/?p=6681


I effin' love John Darnielle and you should too... this is him holding a wombat.

My wish for you, dear reader...

Treat yourself to peace of mind this Christmas. Although there are people we've lost and we miss, although work is hard, although our dreams seem distant and unattainable at times, although we are "never quite free," it still is a beautiful world.

It's so good to learn that from right here the view goes on forever
And you'll never want for comfort, and you'll never be alone
See the sunset turning red, let all be quiet in your head
And look about, all the stars are coming out.
-The Mountain Goats, "Never Quite Free"

Shakespeare Quotes about Knitting

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together:
our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not;
and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our own virtues.
-All's Well That Ends Well

I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit, So that but one heart we can make of it;
-Midsummer Night's Dream

To hold you in perpetual amity,
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unslipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife; whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men.
-Antony and Cleopatra

I've never been more proud.

We learned this dance to send as a video Christmas present to our brother Jeffrey serving as a Marine in Afghanistan over Christmas 2011.

Great advice for people in their 20's.

Excerpt from Relevant's article 11 Things You Should Know at 25(ish)

"There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.


Ask yourself some good questions like: 'Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?'


Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe God is good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned.

Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path"