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care_faith_hope is an auction being run to raise money for a friend who needs to cover medical expenses for herself and her husband. (More info)

I have an offer to knit a pair of socks if people are interested...

(the pricing and everything is v. random since I have not done this before)

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It's been forever since I've knit! Last year school was basically too busy, and I just got out of the habit during the summer. But then I finished the socks I started at Wiscon, started a baby hat for my high school teacher, and proceeded to cast on a billion projects.

Well, two socks. But it still feels like a lot!

And now, I have started a Fair Isle tam! OMG people! I have avoided doing it for years after promising my sister one because I was scared of stranded knitting, but it is much easier than I thought! I feel so accomplished! Exclamation point!

Of course, I am sure I will discover in a few rows that my gauge is completely wrong, that I am pulling too tight on the strands, and that I'm holding the yarn wrong or something. But right now, I AM DOING STRANDED KNITTING!

(Also, 1x1 rib in stranded knitting? Sucks!)

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( Giant knitting pictures )

( Giant rat pictures )

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( Giant knitting pictures )

( Giant trip pictures )

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I think it's been forever since I've posted picture spam, especially of my knitting! Giant pictures under all the cuts!

( Mariposa, April 2008 )

( Knitting )

( Ratties! )

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• desdenova has started to watch Damo! Whoo! I pet my shiny new obsession and beam as it spreads. Come on, people, make me feel better -- who else is out there watching kdramas?
  
  My current kdrama sources are meganbmoore, shewhohashope, rilina, vonnie_k, The Stack, Dramabeans, and of course d-addicts for information.


• For the other Sekrit LJ Smith fans out there, shewhohashope pointed me at this. New short stories! And a promise that Strange Fate is not dead yet.


• I'm not blogging about elections because most of the press surrounding them make me blow my top. Also, I assume everyone's already reading delux_vivens, but for those who aren't, she has been posting a lot of articles and links about Obama and race.


• Via rilina, who already highlighted Asia Pacific Arts' best music of 2007: best Asian films, best Asian-American films (I really want to see Munyurangabo now), best wordsmiths, and top 10 places to see Asian films in CA (most in Bay Area and LA). I'm just sad there aren't more in Bay Area and even more jealous of rachelmanija and her LA-ness.


• I've long been frustrated by the lack of visibility of non-East-Asian knitters of color in the knit blogosphere -- I'm sure POC knitters are there, but their blogs and designs and culture definitely get much less focus if they're not East Asian. So I was delighted when SistahCraft pointed out Black Purl Magazine and its venture into the print world.


• And David Welsh gives a wonderfully snarky tip sheet for journalists writing about women in comics. I hope they read it and actually listen.

I tend to forget that people don't read my mind and instantly realize what I'm reading; is anyone interested in knowing my blogroll? Also, since I can't telepathically figure out what you guys are reading, what are some of your favorite blogs?

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Yay yay yay! My vacation starts today! I actually wasn't going to take any, but then the company shut down the entire office for the holidays for some financial thing having to do with vacation time.

Other things that made me happy:

One of my knitting circles has been knitting at an indie coffee store for nearly three years now. This week, we went and gave the baristas and roasters there a stack of hats we had knit for them. (Well, some of us knit six times more than all the rest of us, but it's the effort that counts?)

I got the idea about a month ago just as a fun and nice thing to do, given that we've been camping out in their store for so long, and, honestly, I really just wanted the excuse to make hats. I love making them -- they're small, they take less than a skein of yarn, there were two patterns I desperately wanted to knit (Koolhaas and Foliage), and it only takes me a few hours to finish one. Except I don't really wear hats. I adore all kinds of brimmed hats and the occasional cloche, but I tend to accumulate them and then let them gather dust, and I never wear the knit beanies.

Turns out my whim has paid me back tenfold, because it was just awesome going over there with everyone and our stack of hats, then watching several baristas immediately start trying them on. I have no way to express how happy it made me to see people actually going through stuff we knit and wanting the stuff! And trying things on! And attempting to do trades! Like, I helped make that! So cool.

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I spam LJ today!

I found the SD card I thought I had lost, and so I have some old pictures, plus new ones of the rats and knitting.

( Giant food pics )

( Giant knitting pics )

( Giant rat pics )

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( Giant knitting pictures )


( Giant NYC pictures (mostly food) )

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Alas, no rats knitting.

( Knitting and rats )


( LA trip pictures! )

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( Giant food pictures )

( Giant knitting pictures )

( Giant rat pictures )

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Wow, I feel like it's been a while since I've posted picture spam. Part of it is because I took some pictures, and then lost the memory card. ARGH.

Anyway, I actually finished some knitting!

( Knitting )

And here are some random dorky rat pictures.

( Rats )

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• I finally got my invite to Ravelry, a social knitting network, customized to let you organize all your projects and your stash! Given this, GoodReads, and Flickr, I am in a cataloging frenzy. Alas, I haven't quite figured out how I want to tag all knitting stuff yet, but I am sure I will find a methodology soon.
  
  I also finished my purple KPPPM Hedera socks yesterday in knitting circle. It's so nice to finally have time again! I haven't been to knitting circle for months, and tonight I will go swing dancing, which I've also not been to for a while. Hopefully there will be pictures of the finished Hederas, my one finished Baudelaire sock, rachelmanija's finished tatami kimono, and the beginnings of yhlee's tatami kimono, but I can't find my camera right now. Woe!



• In other news, hysteriachan linked me to.....
  
  LOLRATS!
  
  BEST. THING. EVER.
  
  I want to put my rats on there now, except I can't think of any good captions.



• I have also been watching vids like mad, but since my brain seems to have completely shut down post-IBARW, I can't think of any feedback, save "SHINY!" There will be a longer post full of my incoherent reactions once I rewatch and figure out which vid is which.



• In conclusion, all you people going to Japan for Worldcon? I hate you I am insanely jealous of all the fun you will have Can I come with you in your suitcase? Have lots of fun!.
  
  can i has souvenir?

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Yaaay! I have finished the knitting part of rachelmanija's tatami kimono!

It still must be blocked and seamed, which may take a while, but the knitting part is done! I think that took roughly two-and-a-half months, since I didn't get the pattern till mid-April.

Pictures to come.

So, octopedingenue, I think you're next in line. Let me know if you're still interested, and if so, what size you think you are and what yarn you want. There are some suggested yarns and prices in the original post.

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This was a really interesting read. MacDonald explores the history of America knitting, just as the title says, going from the arrival of Europeans in America. I am guessing American Indians didn't knit? Since knitting from all accounts seems to have originated in the Arabian peninsula? Though I suspect MacDonald is operating under the unexamined assumption that America began with the arrival of the Europeans.

Anyway. She covers knitting as a means for women to earn money, as by the 1700s, knitting had already moved from being a men's craft to a women's craft. Much of the book is on knitting and its ties to war; namely, how women used knitting in war as a means to contribute to war efforts, from the American Revolution to the Korean War. I don't particularly remember if there were any concerted efforts to knit socks for soldiers for the Vietnam War; I suspect there wasn't as much. The biggest push seems to have been for WWII; after that, knitting died down a little as a craft. And the book was published before the Gulf War.

Part of me wishes that MacDonald came to her source from a more feminist POV; she clearly loves the craft of knitting, but because of that, I feel she doesn't examine some things as critically as she might. I am thinking mostly of knitting as a symbol of hearth and home and traditional femininity. I would have loved to see how this changed over the years (or didn't). MacDonald writes a little about the industrialization of knitting, particularly of knitting as one means women could earn some money, though she notes that knitters were paid horribly. She also covers the (still) rare spectacle of knitting men, along with women knitting for their boyfriends and husbands. One of the things that I found interesting was how knitting was a vehicle for female social activities (which I knew) and how husbands complained about this (which I didn't know) -- it's a neat reverse of knitting as a symbol of traditional femininity. But again, MacDonald reports more on knitting trends instead of examining underlying social principles, which I regret a little.

The book was valuable as a history; there are a lot of things in it that I didn't know. I only wish that it had a "twenty years later" update; it was published in the eighties, when knitting had a bit of a downturn. I'd love to see MacDonald's POV on knitting's current resurgence and how the knitters of today are the same as or different from knitters of previous times.

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I missed swing again last night because I fell asleep in the bathtub with the rats. I awoke to panic -- there were two furry lumps huddled next to my feet, but where was the third? After depositing Bya and Ren back in the cage, I went around in what is now routine inspection, checking cables and cords and every nook and cranny I could think of.

Ru finally poked his little head out. I think he had been sleeping under my yarn stash, as he emerged from that corner of the closet. I am beginning to suspect that the Yarn Harlot is right about wool fumes, although I doubt she knew that they had effects on certain rats as well!

Thankfully, no yarn seemed to be harmed by this excursion.

Also, I am going to be in NYC for July 4! Whoo! Knitters and/or dancers of NY: where should I go? What yarn stores should I visit? What good lindy hop clubs are there?

Also also, I found some very old diary entries from my trip to Florence and Rome back in 2004. Would anyone be interested in reading them if I typed them up?

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( Giant rat photos )


( Giant knitting photos )

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Not that I was gone long...

I finally went to my library knitting group on Friday, whereupon I learned that Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day. (I am guessing that like so many worldwide and international things, this one is largely "worldwide" in America? Have not seen many knitting blog posts to the contrary.) And I actually went and knit in public with a local yarn store group (ok, largely because it meant I got a discount at said yarn store, and possibly that means I have increased my stash again, but I will not admit that).

And I ventured out to the farmer's market! The peaches are getting sweeter, so I bought some, and I got cherries and peas and white corn (!! finally out!) and blueberries, which are sadly nearing the end of their season. This farmer's market is smaller than my usual one, but it was still nice.

Then I headed up to visit sophia_helix, watched many, many episodes of Honey and Clover, knit a lot, and admired her many socks. And now, I think I shall collapse like Nomiya because my eyes hurt from the TV watching and from concentrating on the road.

Also, apparently I missed another fannish kerfuffle, but I am ok with that.

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I feel like it's been a while since I've picture spammed people! In the meantime, I have been relentlessly knitting the tatami kimono, which takes so long!

( Giant rat pictures )


( Sock and tatami kimono giant pictures )

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Have I mentioned that I love knitting? I take it back! I hate knitting! I particularly hate my stupid toe-up Jaywalker that has 68 -- yes! 68! -- rows for the gusset increase and the heel turn. My gauge is 10 rows/inch! That is a 6.8 inch heel turn! Minus 1.5 inches if you assume that half of the heel turn will be on the leg side, but still! I would have to start increasing 5.3 inches from my heel!

I mean, my feet are big, but even so, having a heel that is actually longer than the foot of my sock seems a little weird.

Ok, I don't actually hate knitting. I sort of more hate myself for not carefully charting out all the rows required for the gusset increases beforehand while knitting two socks at a time and making pretty damned good progress, if I say so myself.

Of course, that is all moot, now that one sock has been torn back to the toe and the other lies there forlornly, waiting for me to decide if I should tear it back or not.

And because I was doing two at a time, I really do not want to wait to relax out the kinks in the yarn. So now my reknit sock is less pretty. But I am too irritated to start over for the billionth time. But I waffle because it is my beautiful Blue Moon Socks That Rock yarn. But -- billionth time!

In conclusion: #$(*&$@#)(#$!!!!!