The “Roller-mance of the Library” Scarf for:
Name: Erin M. Blakemore
Location: Boulder, CO
Occupation: Writer and Director/Marketing/Social Media Consultant at the company I co-founded and co-own, VOCO Creative
A significant difference between California and Colorado: In California, I cry and curl up under massive blankets when the temperature hits 55. In Colorado, I laugh and go bare-legged. Also, rockabilly is apparently still alive here.
My current guilty pleasure: “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.” I keep hoping another one of my friends will start watching so we can have conversations about gender roles, nouveau riche-ism, and the male gaze, but nobody seems to want to play. So I just keep watching for the pitifully manufactured faux-drama and the privileged whining.
Most overrated “literary classic”: A close tie between Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (the end reads like a punch line) and A Tale of Two Cities, in which Dickens confirms that he was, indeed, paid by the word.
Two reasons its okay to be at the mall are: Kittens at the pet store that desperately need visitation. Ample people-watching opportunities hone my snark while increasing my appreciation of the human race.
Something I’ve learned from Roller Derby: The current incarnation of amateur flat-track roller derby is nothing less than a microcosm, a place where people test, replay, and challenge the boundaries and realities of the outside world. Also, if you pace yourself while keeping an eye on the accomplishments of others, you might just achieve once-unheard-of things.
Best thing about writing one’s first book: Giving in to the weird process of calling something into being that only exists in your head, and seeing what happens.
Worst thing about writing one’s first book: Realizing that everyone around me has their own expectations about what my book will contain, mean, or say, and knowing that I’m bound to disappoint a few.
The cover album I secretly want to record features some of the following songs: I Want The Waiter With the Water [for my Daughter] (Ella Fitzgerald), Miss Chatelaine (kd lang), Groove is in the Heart (deeeLite), Memories Can Wait (Talking Heads), Everything She Wants (Wham!), Lucky (Britney Spears), Baby Boy (Beyonce), Odorono (The Who)
Running your own business is kind of like: Being in a long-term relationship. You have to meet great fear with even greater love, day in and day out.
A favorite memory of my precocious childhood: Somehow convincing the powers that be that instead of making up 11th grade English (I was an exchange student as a junior) I should instead write what amounted to a mini-thesis on Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. This turned into at least one semester of languid library-wandering and campus-walking, secure in the knowledge that my obtuse project made me immune from any rules or expectations.
Kj and I: have had a lot of dual birthday parties. She’s part of my childhood in a very intrinsic sense and even though I don’t see her or speak to her often enough, I know that much of who I am is because of her, and vice-versa.
Making The Scarf: What more can I say about Erin that isn’t blatantly apparent in the above interview? That she’s brilliant, erudite, irreverant, astute, luscious, fierce and insanely talented? I think that all comes across pretty well. But Erin and I have been bosom-friends (thank you Anne of Green Gables) since we met in sixth grade. Erin was working on a sequel novel to The Phantom of the Opera and I was obsessed with prehistoric Europe and ancient mythology. Also, we liked to sing along to the radio version of “Beauty and the Beast.” Needless to say, when Erin was the first to reply to my Twitter offer to knit someone a scarf (last summer?), I had tons of inspiration to work from. I ended up starting over three times and I think it finally arrived for her birthday at the end of September.
Some of my first inspirations were the colors of leather book bindings, mixed with the memory of the rust-orange carpet in the San Diego house she grew up in. I also wanted some jewel tones to accentuate her Irishy hair and eyes. But in the end, roller derby pink won out, giving some monster-mama color to the mostly earth-tone bookish scarf. The scarf’s title is inspired by Ann Radcliffe’s late 18th century novel “The Romance of the Forest,” fused with all the images I get when I think of Erin: jazz clubs. open books, knee pads and triumphant laughter. I love you Erin!
Find out more about Erin’s upcoming book and her writing process at The Heroine’s Bookshelf.
1 | Maryann
January 14th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Hold the phone. Are you telling me that to get one of these said scarves made for me, I only have to ask (or beg, or plead, or offer to pay you)? My only fear is how totally inadequate my answers to your surveys would be compared to the amazingly eloquent and witty people you’ve made them for so far!
2 | Eve
January 14th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Erin is so cool they had to redefine the word “cool” to reflect her bloody existence in the world.
3 | Kj
January 15th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Maryann- OF COURSE that’s all it takes! And $25- I think that’s how much I charge, I can never remember. I like when they end up as Birthday gifts anyhoo. But yes, I’ve got a 3 person list right now. Technically, scarves only take me about a week, but given stops and starts, it can sometimes be more like three months. But I’d love to add you to the list. We can chat about it.
4 | Gregory Despain
March 29th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Great. Now i can say thank you