Don't cry

Including yesterday's aborted attempt to knit a baby hat on circs, it took three tries to get it on the needles without any issues. My first attempt using dpns had to be scrapped when I noticed that I was knitting the tail.

In preparation for knitting the hat on the circs I was overthinking things. I had the opposite problem knitting it on dpns. For some reason, I convinced myself that knitting the hat in the round on dpns required following the same instructions for knitting it flat. (That's how it is for the coffee cup cozy, but there's no right or wrong side with it.) So I happily knitted along and wondered why it appeared that garter stitch was being produced where stockinette should be. Hmm.

Of course, I understood the error when I paused to think about it. What else is there to do in this situation but to correct my flawed thinking and chalk up the wrongly knitted portion as a stylistic choice? Oh no, there will not be frogging. It should look fine, although I admit to being perturbed with myself for messing it up. I have a way of not doing anything right the first time.

None of this is anything to cry about, but speaking of shedding a few tears... When Donna temporarily relocated her daily entries from her primary blog to her craft blog, she piggybacked on "Songs That Make The AV Club Cry" with her own list of musical weepers and invited others to share. Since I've been in a grouchy mood of late and have another tale of knitting woe above, what better time to play along? I've listed them in the order in which they occurred to me or I found them in iTunes. By no coincidence, the words "cry" and "tears" appear in many of these songs.

1. Sufjan Stevens "Casimir Pulaski Day" from Illinois

The opening lyric ("Goldenrod and the 4-H stone/the things I brought you/when I found out you had cancer of the bone") primes the tears, and it's all downhill from there. This heartbreaking song mingles adolescent love and religious faith and confusion ("Tuesday night at the bible study/we lift our hands and pray over your body/but nothing ever happens") in a way that never fails to kill me.

2. Big Star "Thirteen" from #1 Record

A defining song of teen angst regarding first love and the generation gap. Elliott Smith's cover compares very well to the original.

3. Matthew Sweet "Don't Go" from Girlfriend

The simple yet urgent words pleading to a loved one on the deathbed are so direct that they're like a slap to the face. The dark melody and Sweet's desperate keening add to the sense of the world crashing in.

4. R.E.M. "Everybody Hurts" from Automatic for the People

All of the songs on this list are about death and/or loneliness, but here's an uplifting one. The exhortation to take comfort in friends and understand that no one lives a pain-free life seems obvious enough, but R.E.M.'s waltz serves as a lullaby for nights when that reminder is needed.

5. The Beach Boys "God Only Knows" from Pet Sounds

There's probably been more than enough written about this song in the history of rock criticism that there's nothing I need to add. Bonus points for jerking tears in a major key.

6. Son Volt "Tear Stained Eye" from Trace

Life is hard, and so is finding the purpose of it all. That's just the way things are in this country weeper. Don't go looking for help from above either ("Sainte Genevieve can hold back the water/but saints don't bother with a tear stained eye").

7. Bruce Robison "Travellin Soldier" from Bruce Robison

If you've heard this, most likely it was The Dixie Chicks' cover of this original from Robison's 1995 debut album. In this story song an 18-year-old being shipped to Vietnam asks a teenage waitress if he can write her while he's away at war. Predictably, he's killed and she's heartbroken. What makes the song so effective is how the lyrics evoke the simple connection between the boy and girl, the details of how they keep in touch, and the way she learns of his death.

8. Laura Cantrell "When the Roses Bloom Again" from When the Roses Bloom Again

A soldier promises to return to his sweetheart when the roses bloom again. He makes it back but not in this world. This song was intended for Billy Bragg & Wilco's Mermaid Avenue project but turns up on here instead. Cantrell's sweet voice and the vintage country arrangement add a delicacy that I'm not sure they would have brought to it.

9. Neko Case "I Wish I Was the Moon" from Blacklisted

Few can conjure the mood of late, lonely nights like Case can with her big, expressive voice.

10. Jeff Buckley "Lover, You Should've Come Over" from Grace

Buckley's operatic voice heightens the drama and emotion in this song of romantic longing and confessing shortcomings that have harmed his relationship, perhaps irreparably.

Bonus instrumental track: Michel Legrand "Générique" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

The main theme from Jacques Demy's musical (and one of my favorite films) swells with sadness, especially in the final scene. While it's impossible to hear the music without thinking of the film, Legrand's composition says everything in the melancholy notes. Images and words aren't necessary.