Baby Hoodie and some thoughts

 Completed a baby gift

The pattern is here, done in Cotton Comfort from Green Mountain Spinnery, knit from stash, oh yeah!  I ran out of the natural and did the button bands in green, saving some natural for the last row.  I like it. This yarn is not springy and due to the cotton it's stiff to work with.  I did put it in the washer and dryer, both for short periods, and it softened up nicely. It still needs buttons..in a plain natural mother of pearl, I think.

This last week marks the passing of Levon Helm.  Levon was the drummer for The Band, who kept on sharing his music through his life.

Here he is with friends at the Ryman (that's in Nashville, y'all) three years ago, smiling and singing well  following radiation to his vocal cords for cancer (never let cancer co-opt your smile or your attitude...).

A fan of The Band since college, I listened to their albums relentlessly.  I am a fan of live albums, The Last Waltz (1976) on disc or DVD is not to be missed.  For me, their music exudes American roots and gives me a sense of nostalgia and, somehow, patriotism. 

My hands down favorite album of theirs, also a live one, is Rock of Ages, recorded in 1971.  It got a full listen this last weekend. 

An interesting note:   if you saw Elizabeth Zimmerman's obituary in the New York Times, December 12, 1999, then you will recall (well, I might be the only one to recall this...) that Levon's band member Rick Danko's obituary appeared on the same page.  His was above EZ's.

Other people whose passing this week one might ponder:

Dick Clark (never let a stroke co-opt your smile or your attitude, or your business sense, either...)

Jonathan Frid (on Friday the 13th, you KNOW he did that on purpose; despite my ambivalence to Tim Burton's extreme gory visuals, I'll look forward to seeing the new Dark Shadows movie to see Jonathan Frid's cameo, if nothing else...)