-I put the shawl to soak this morning. First, I rinsed out the dye bucket because I last used it to dye cotton and I was worried about soda ash, which is used as a fixative with those dyes (and is caustic, so can't be good for wool). I put in about six inches of water, swished, and poured out BRIGHT LEMON YELLOW water. Apparently there was still dye in there. Oh my gods, if I'd accidentally dyed that shawl lemon yellow, I'd have to kill myself. Anyway, I scrubbed out the bucket and it's soaking now.
-I've got one of those rubber flooring deals that goes together like puzzle pieces, and covers about forty square feet. I'm hoping that's big enough to block this shawl on. It won't get THAT much larger than the shawl already is, because unlike when I work with plant fibers, I won't stretch it out until it's tight as a drum head. (A lesson learned the hard way with the Popped Stitch of 2006.)
-Was just discussing the morality of government with someone who doesn't read this blog. He called me a post-modern anarchist in denial. He's probably still wondering why I found that so hilarious. And agreed with him.
-I just changed my blog header... anyone know how to make the damn thing fit across the entire column instead of hanging there like a misfit?
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Knitting magazines.
(This is partly cross-posted from a board on Ravelry. If you've already seen it, my apologies.)
The only reason magazines exist is to make money. Let’s be honest among ourselves. And I’ve no problem with that. The way they make money is advertising revenue. And the way they make advertising revenue is directly based on their circulation numbers, or how many magazines they sell. Subscriptions and sales to the consumer barely cover the cost of printing, if they’re lucky. (I used to work at a newspaper. Same deal.) So to bottom-line it further, they need the consumer (us) to stay in business and make a profit. More, they need us to buy a lotta magazines.
To do that in knitting magazines specifically, what they need to do is publish patterns that are reasonably flattering on a decent percentage of the population. That’s not a matter of my own personal tastes or anyone else’s, individually. It’s economics. When I do my reviews, I am in fact looking for those patterns - the ones that are flattering on a good portion of the population - not what I LIKE. I don’t LIKE 99% of commercial knitting patterns. It’s why I so rarely knit them, and so often design my own stuff.
That said, I poked around on the Ravelry database (I freaking LOVE Ravelry) and came up with some interesting numbers. Here in the US, the three major knit mags are Interweave, Vogue Knitting (VK), and Knitter’s. I also threw in Knitty for comparison, though it’s kind of unfair to compare a free on-line, international web site to sometimes locally distributed magazine. But it gives an idea of how popular a pattern can get for comparison.
Of the fifty most popular patterns on Ravelry, Interweave had three, VK and Knitter’s had none. Knitty had fifteen. That sounds about right for me, because Interweave is the magazine that consistently delivers the most wearable, reasonably flattering patterns (not what I LIKE; what is wearable and knittable). And I believe of the three in-print mags, they have the highest circulation numbers. Not a coincidence.
Then I found the top five most popular patterns from each magazine, and added up how many people had knit each of those patterns. Again, it underlines the issue. Interweave had 17,178 projects, VK had 1,232, and Knitter’s had 1,204. Interweave had about fifteen THOUSAND more projects cast on than either of the other two magazines. (To round it out, Knitty had 34,388.)
So when I’m reviewing, it’s not about what I like. It’s about technical skill and what’s wearable. Because truly, to stay in business, these magazines NEED the wearable patterns, no matter what they claim about high fashion or cutting-edge. (The recent shakeup at Knit1 is a fine example. They changed their slant because they realized they wouldn’t stay in business trying to sell patterns that only teenagers could or would wear.) We can’t get the information, but I will bet you if we could add up the profit margins of each of those three magazines, the statistics would be nearly identical to the popularity figures I just gathered.
It’s not all about me with the patterns. But I do wonder how VK plans to stay in business when the majority of their patterns are unwearable. Rumor has it they’re in financial trouble off and on, regularly. Go figure.
A few other thoughts:
-Knitty is run by a plus-sized woman and produces a lot of wearable patterns in a wide spectrum of sizes. Coincidence? I doubt it.
-Many of these magazines are run by non-knitters, who don't understand that for most knitters, if we're going to invest forty or sixty hours in a project, we want to be able to wear it for more than one season. The magazine with the most real knitters on staff ('real' meaning people who knit their own clothes or accessories) is Interweave, and they're the ones who offer the most classic, un-dated styles. Coincidence? I doubt it.
-The vast majority of knitting designers that KNITTERS love, knit themselves. Make their own clothes (Meg Swansen), or accessories, or knit some of their own samples (Annie Modiset, Nicky Epstein), or whatever. I can't think, offhand, of one 'real fashion designer' who does the usual drawing and then hands it off to an assistant to actually construct the garment, who is truly beloved by knitters. Coincidence? I doubt it.
The only reason magazines exist is to make money. Let’s be honest among ourselves. And I’ve no problem with that. The way they make money is advertising revenue. And the way they make advertising revenue is directly based on their circulation numbers, or how many magazines they sell. Subscriptions and sales to the consumer barely cover the cost of printing, if they’re lucky. (I used to work at a newspaper. Same deal.) So to bottom-line it further, they need the consumer (us) to stay in business and make a profit. More, they need us to buy a lotta magazines.
To do that in knitting magazines specifically, what they need to do is publish patterns that are reasonably flattering on a decent percentage of the population. That’s not a matter of my own personal tastes or anyone else’s, individually. It’s economics. When I do my reviews, I am in fact looking for those patterns - the ones that are flattering on a good portion of the population - not what I LIKE. I don’t LIKE 99% of commercial knitting patterns. It’s why I so rarely knit them, and so often design my own stuff.
That said, I poked around on the Ravelry database (I freaking LOVE Ravelry) and came up with some interesting numbers. Here in the US, the three major knit mags are Interweave, Vogue Knitting (VK), and Knitter’s. I also threw in Knitty for comparison, though it’s kind of unfair to compare a free on-line, international web site to sometimes locally distributed magazine. But it gives an idea of how popular a pattern can get for comparison.
Of the fifty most popular patterns on Ravelry, Interweave had three, VK and Knitter’s had none. Knitty had fifteen. That sounds about right for me, because Interweave is the magazine that consistently delivers the most wearable, reasonably flattering patterns (not what I LIKE; what is wearable and knittable). And I believe of the three in-print mags, they have the highest circulation numbers. Not a coincidence.
Then I found the top five most popular patterns from each magazine, and added up how many people had knit each of those patterns. Again, it underlines the issue. Interweave had 17,178 projects, VK had 1,232, and Knitter’s had 1,204. Interweave had about fifteen THOUSAND more projects cast on than either of the other two magazines. (To round it out, Knitty had 34,388.)
So when I’m reviewing, it’s not about what I like. It’s about technical skill and what’s wearable. Because truly, to stay in business, these magazines NEED the wearable patterns, no matter what they claim about high fashion or cutting-edge. (The recent shakeup at Knit1 is a fine example. They changed their slant because they realized they wouldn’t stay in business trying to sell patterns that only teenagers could or would wear.) We can’t get the information, but I will bet you if we could add up the profit margins of each of those three magazines, the statistics would be nearly identical to the popularity figures I just gathered.
It’s not all about me with the patterns. But I do wonder how VK plans to stay in business when the majority of their patterns are unwearable. Rumor has it they’re in financial trouble off and on, regularly. Go figure.
A few other thoughts:
-Knitty is run by a plus-sized woman and produces a lot of wearable patterns in a wide spectrum of sizes. Coincidence? I doubt it.
-Many of these magazines are run by non-knitters, who don't understand that for most knitters, if we're going to invest forty or sixty hours in a project, we want to be able to wear it for more than one season. The magazine with the most real knitters on staff ('real' meaning people who knit their own clothes or accessories) is Interweave, and they're the ones who offer the most classic, un-dated styles. Coincidence? I doubt it.
-The vast majority of knitting designers that KNITTERS love, knit themselves. Make their own clothes (Meg Swansen), or accessories, or knit some of their own samples (Annie Modiset, Nicky Epstein), or whatever. I can't think, offhand, of one 'real fashion designer' who does the usual drawing and then hands it off to an assistant to actually construct the garment, who is truly beloved by knitters. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Friday, December 05, 2008
HAH!!!
Hot off the needles. That's my foot in there for scale.
I hope to have it dyed and blocked by the end of the weekend. HopeIhopeIhope.
The more things change...
I dearly love archeology. Especially when it shows that as a group, we haven't changed much at all. Case in point? The world's oldest marijuana stash has been found. It's 2700 years old, and someone helpfully picked out all male plant parts (it's the female plants that are psychoactive), so it was very definitely intended for recreational, religious, or medicinal use. Or all three.
Interestingly, it was found in a tomb in China, belonging to a group of people known as the Gushi, thought to be a group of Celtic immigrants who settled in China. (I know from past research, their textiles say 'bronze age Europe', not 'iron age China'.)
Details here.
Sometimes it's good to be human, and know we're in good company. Hahahahahaha.
Interestingly, it was found in a tomb in China, belonging to a group of people known as the Gushi, thought to be a group of Celtic immigrants who settled in China. (I know from past research, their textiles say 'bronze age Europe', not 'iron age China'.)
Details here.
Sometimes it's good to be human, and know we're in good company. Hahahahahaha.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Sekhmet, you fucker.
That's about $40 worth of ribbon she's laying in. I did not drag her out by her scruff, because I didn't want to tangle the ribbon. But. She's a fucker. Doesn't she look happy? Fucker.
While I was at it, I wandered around taking photos of the current works in progress.
AAAAAAH!
After two and a half hours of binding off, I have bound off sixteen of the forty-eight wedges in the pattern. Yeah. Maybe I'll finish tomorrow. I'm using the traditional crochet cast-off used on doilies. It's basically slip stitch. Chain seven loops, then 'pick up' three raw stitches from the edge onto the crochet hook, work those three with the next slip stitch, then chain another seven, repeat.
Over and over and over and over and over and over.
It's a good finishing method, allows for a lot of stretch at the edge. And it's faster than a sideways knitted-on edge. But GAAAARH!
I didn't hit the champagne last night. We didn't have any in the house, we're trying to save money, and my liver and the knitting didn't need it. But I really wanted some.
I'll probably be busting out the sweater I need to finish, today. The body is done to the arm pits, and it's being knit on size nines. We'll see how fast I can do it. It's in the round, seamless, so once the knitting's done, it'll pretty much be DONE. Here's hoping I pull it off.
After that, I just need to batik ten yards of fabric. That won't take long at all. Hah.
Over and over and over and over and over and over.
It's a good finishing method, allows for a lot of stretch at the edge. And it's faster than a sideways knitted-on edge. But GAAAARH!
I didn't hit the champagne last night. We didn't have any in the house, we're trying to save money, and my liver and the knitting didn't need it. But I really wanted some.
I'll probably be busting out the sweater I need to finish, today. The body is done to the arm pits, and it's being knit on size nines. We'll see how fast I can do it. It's in the round, seamless, so once the knitting's done, it'll pretty much be DONE. Here's hoping I pull it off.
After that, I just need to batik ten yards of fabric. That won't take long at all. Hah.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
I AM CASTING OFF!!!
The shawl. Yup. Probably gonna take two days, but the endless rounds are DONE!!!
I should get some champagne.
Hmmm.
I should get some champagne.
Hmmm.
The art of the knitted dress.
Since there seems to be a rumor going around that I wouldn't know a good design if it bit me on the, uh, nose.
Here is the dress from Vogue Knitting (winter 2005/2006) that I keep meaning to knit for myself:
Here is the dress from Vogue Knitting (winter 2005/2006) that I keep meaning to knit for myself:
I would leave off the crocheted bobbly stuff.
Ravelry link, here.
The pattern calls for cashmere, but I would knit it with a wool/nylon blend. As I see it, that's the only choice available for winter dresses. The yarn is lightweight (by yard, compared to an equal length of, say, cotton or silk), is warm, and has strength. The big problem with knit dresses - even commercial ones - is what they call 'seating' in the industry, and what I've heard called 'bucket butt' more informally. That's when repeated sitting causes the butt area of the dress to stretch out of shape and leaves a large, sagging... spot on a part of your anatomy that likely needs all the help it can get to NOT look saggy. Nylon helps the wool's ability to 'bounce back' after being stretched repeatedly. That's one of the reasons it's in sock yarn.
Obviously, yarns with no ability to bounce back - most obviously silk, alpaca, llama, cashmere, and plant fibers - are a bad idea for dresses, particularly fitted dresses that WILL stretch when you sit down. Unless you intend to stand the entire time you wear the dress. In which case, go for it. Silk all the way, baby. See you in the hospital while they treat you for heat stroke.
The yarn used in this dress is a DK weight, knit at 3.5 stitches to the inch, which I think is pushing the envelope as far as it can go on weight/fabric thickness. But on the other hand, with all the square footage of a dress, you don't want to be knitting it on zeros or you'll never finish it.
If I were to design a dress, it would look a lot like this one (without the crochet - ha). The ribbing at the sides is excellent; it adjusts the fit to the individual AND adds a vertical line. The styling at the shoulders draws the eyes up and sort of broadens the view of the shoulders, so that it balances out the hips and leaves the impression of an hourglass figure, even on folks who might be a bit more test-tube shaped.
For summer, I'd try for something looser. No sleeves, and a flared skirt so air could move around the wearer, and lace patterns in places that won't let your ass hang out. And I'd use a yarn that was as light as possible, probably a cotton/tencel or cotton/nylon blend. Linen/nylon would be AWESOME, but I'm not sure it's made. Which is a damn shame.
And incidentally, yes, I could wear the dress. I'm five nine and wear a size ten and could wear the size large, as written in the pattern. All those times I bitch about the lack of size options? It's not because I'm a plus size. It's because I'm NOT a plus size, and often Vogue Knitting STILL doesn't offer things in my size. I find that damned pathetic, especially considering what the designers get paid. Cottage designers can turn out patterns with a huge range of sizes and make almost nothing, selling the patterns individually. And here come these great Designers who can't be bothered to do more than two sizes. I think it's a disgrace.
I'd design a knitted dress, but almost no one knits them. I'd rather stick with stuff like the Steeked Jacket that I know will be worn and enjoyed. And adjustable to anyone, of any size.
Topic jumble.
I am halfway through the last round of the shawl and at the least will begin casting off today. Yay!
Thanks to everyone for the advice, yesterday. The Goob DOES have her own supplies, and they are entirely Crayola - Crayola is all washable and non-toxic. It's who they are. (The husbeast was wiping marker off the Goob's hands the other night and said "I love Crayola.") In and of itself, we aren't having a problem, really. I just want to keep it that way. So I'm sticking with calm explanation AND picking my battles. The new, solid rule is, no opening markers. Mum or Dad have to. Honestly I'd have made the rule sooner but I didn't realize she COULD open the darn things.
The few potentially damaging supplies we have in the house - glue, permanent markers, and scissors - are kept out of her reach, and she has never gotten into them. I've also got my own supplies - many of them Crayola - which I'm more casual about, but she is being introduced to the idea of 'not yours'. Which, in my opinion, too many children don't have hammered into them hard enough.
Back in my twenties, I did child care for two of my nephews; when I started they were ages two and two months. At the time it was pretty rough, but I owe the guys for teaching me a lot of useful stuff for when it came my time to have a kid. I've always been as straightforward, honest, and consistent with the Goober as possible. By this age, she knows if I say something, it will happen, whether it's "You can have chocolate after dinner." or "Put your hand through that screen and you're in big trouble." Which lessens the effort greatly.
But I suspect you guys all know this. But anyway. Thanks for the help.
Because I'm officially sick and tired of anonymous hostility, I will be shutting down the comments on all the Vogue Knitting reviews. I will put my e-mail address on all of the posts so anyone who likes can still e-mail me about them. This means you. All comments welcome. It will just force the anonymous hostiles to re-evaluate their pissy little attitudes. Standard procedure from now on, I think, will be to leave comments open for a month, and then shut them off. The jackasses seem to come out of the woodwork later.
Oh, and the great Thanksgiving discovery. This one's a hoot. The night before Thanksgiving, I was thinking of gravy, and how I wind up refilling the gravy boat twenty times (all that dressing) and it gets cold too fast. And the thought process went something like "What I need is a really big gravy boat, with a lid... wait. I have one of those. I call it a teapot." So that's what I did. Put the gravy in one of my teapots. No getting up for refills, it stayed nice and toasty warm, and when the meal was over, we just put it in the fridge and nuked it later for leftovers. Something you guys might want to try, yourselves. Sure, you'll look eccentric, but aren't we all? Already?
Oh, and the Goob found a way to wear her drum, other than on her head.
Pretty sure she prefers the 'space helmet' option, though.
Thanks to everyone for the advice, yesterday. The Goob DOES have her own supplies, and they are entirely Crayola - Crayola is all washable and non-toxic. It's who they are. (The husbeast was wiping marker off the Goob's hands the other night and said "I love Crayola.") In and of itself, we aren't having a problem, really. I just want to keep it that way. So I'm sticking with calm explanation AND picking my battles. The new, solid rule is, no opening markers. Mum or Dad have to. Honestly I'd have made the rule sooner but I didn't realize she COULD open the darn things.
The few potentially damaging supplies we have in the house - glue, permanent markers, and scissors - are kept out of her reach, and she has never gotten into them. I've also got my own supplies - many of them Crayola - which I'm more casual about, but she is being introduced to the idea of 'not yours'. Which, in my opinion, too many children don't have hammered into them hard enough.
Back in my twenties, I did child care for two of my nephews; when I started they were ages two and two months. At the time it was pretty rough, but I owe the guys for teaching me a lot of useful stuff for when it came my time to have a kid. I've always been as straightforward, honest, and consistent with the Goober as possible. By this age, she knows if I say something, it will happen, whether it's "You can have chocolate after dinner." or "Put your hand through that screen and you're in big trouble." Which lessens the effort greatly.
But I suspect you guys all know this. But anyway. Thanks for the help.
Because I'm officially sick and tired of anonymous hostility, I will be shutting down the comments on all the Vogue Knitting reviews. I will put my e-mail address on all of the posts so anyone who likes can still e-mail me about them. This means you. All comments welcome. It will just force the anonymous hostiles to re-evaluate their pissy little attitudes. Standard procedure from now on, I think, will be to leave comments open for a month, and then shut them off. The jackasses seem to come out of the woodwork later.
Oh, and the great Thanksgiving discovery. This one's a hoot. The night before Thanksgiving, I was thinking of gravy, and how I wind up refilling the gravy boat twenty times (all that dressing) and it gets cold too fast. And the thought process went something like "What I need is a really big gravy boat, with a lid... wait. I have one of those. I call it a teapot." So that's what I did. Put the gravy in one of my teapots. No getting up for refills, it stayed nice and toasty warm, and when the meal was over, we just put it in the fridge and nuked it later for leftovers. Something you guys might want to try, yourselves. Sure, you'll look eccentric, but aren't we all? Already?
Oh, and the Goob found a way to wear her drum, other than on her head.
Pretty sure she prefers the 'space helmet' option, though.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
And then!
Because I can't shut up today.
I'm on the last round of the shawl. I hope to begin binding off tomorrow. Tonight I'm celebrating by taking time off knitting to do some ribbon work.
I'm on the last round of the shawl. I hope to begin binding off tomorrow. Tonight I'm celebrating by taking time off knitting to do some ribbon work.
Huh.
Well. Just got a love note from Nanette Lapore (the one who designed the halter dress in super-bulky with holes in it) and apparently she's mortally offended.
Or at least, it's someone claiming she's Nanette Lapore, since they left the comment anonymously and while I can trace it, it's not like it goes back to "Nanette Lapore's server". I can say it's not our friend in Alberta.
Since it's anonymous, I can't address the issue privately, and since they left the comment on the blog, I guess they don't want it private. So I'll say it here.
I stand by what I said. There are things inch-thick fabric will not do. Smart designers face the facts and work with them. Physics is physics. Sorry if it hurts.
ETA: A quick search of Ravelry has shown only three people have knit the pattern for the halter dress, and the two who left comments greatly modified the dress to fix the holes all through it and reduce the bulk. Gee. Maybe I'm psychic?
Or at least, it's someone claiming she's Nanette Lapore, since they left the comment anonymously and while I can trace it, it's not like it goes back to "Nanette Lapore's server". I can say it's not our friend in Alberta.
Since it's anonymous, I can't address the issue privately, and since they left the comment on the blog, I guess they don't want it private. So I'll say it here.
I stand by what I said. There are things inch-thick fabric will not do. Smart designers face the facts and work with them. Physics is physics. Sorry if it hurts.
ETA: A quick search of Ravelry has shown only three people have knit the pattern for the halter dress, and the two who left comments greatly modified the dress to fix the holes all through it and reduce the bulk. Gee. Maybe I'm psychic?
Heeheehee.
It is almost a good day. (Although the Goob just peed on the floor. Hence the 'almost'.)
I am halfway through round 204. There is one 'action round' left on the giant shawl. And some beads. Then I dye it and block it. (Didn't I mention I'm dyeing it light blue?)
My Knitty article will be coming out in the next couple days (regular readers, brace for inundation.)
I will get paid for the article.
And I just posted some flowers and wool to the shop.
I almost hope no one buys the Purple Trainwreck wool so I can keep it and spin it myself. Though I've got the lovely wool here that Bells sent me... I might skip my idea to dye it peach, and go with Purple Trainwreck instead.
I am halfway through round 204. There is one 'action round' left on the giant shawl. And some beads. Then I dye it and block it. (Didn't I mention I'm dyeing it light blue?)
My Knitty article will be coming out in the next couple days (regular readers, brace for inundation.)
I will get paid for the article.
And I just posted some flowers and wool to the shop.
I almost hope no one buys the Purple Trainwreck wool so I can keep it and spin it myself. Though I've got the lovely wool here that Bells sent me... I might skip my idea to dye it peach, and go with Purple Trainwreck instead.
What's a mom to do?
This is an actual dilemma for me, at the moment, though it's not keeping me up at night or anything. Opinions from one and all, welcome.
The Goober is big on art supplies and coloring. I think I've got 2/3 of the stuff made by Crayola. One of the things we've got is their easel. So the rule in the house is, any crayons stay at the easel. Either they are in her hand, being used on paper, or they go in the front of the easel, in the little tray. After the first couple weeks, with a few episodes of her running around with a crayon and me taking them away for a day or two, she's been very good. There was one swipe of green on the couch (right next to the easel) that may well have been an accident, and otherwise, all coloring has happened on the easel (nearly all of it on the paper) and the crayons have stayed just where they're supposed to.
However. She's three, and she's smart, and she's the Goober.
When she spots a pad of paper with a pencil on it, she'll pick up the pencil and do a bit of post-impression artwork on the paper. Yesterday I gave her some paper (directions from something I'd bought - she likes to pretend they're maps) and she took the paper over to the easel and colored on it.
Now, this isn't quite what the rules are - she's supposed to be only using the crayons on the paper I put on the easel, and that's it. But I keep thinking, she's using the pencils ON THE PAPER. And she's taking the paper TO THE EASEL to color on it. Nothing on the walls, on the floor, nothing. This morning she got up early, got hold of a marker, and got it open. So what did she do? Took it to the easel and colored on it. When I got up I about had a stroke and told her she's never to open markers by herself. But again. She went straight to the easel with it, and stayed there.
I can't find it in me to do more than grumble at her about leaving pencils and things alone. There's been no dramatic punishment, because the walls and furniture are intact and she's KIND OF following the rules.
Should I try to reason with her? Or forget it altogether? It also occurs to me that 'kind of following the rules' is likely as good as I'll get with a three year old kid. Maybe it's me who needs reasoned with.
And I'm on round 203 of 206, of the shawl. Eeeee!
The Goober is big on art supplies and coloring. I think I've got 2/3 of the stuff made by Crayola. One of the things we've got is their easel. So the rule in the house is, any crayons stay at the easel. Either they are in her hand, being used on paper, or they go in the front of the easel, in the little tray. After the first couple weeks, with a few episodes of her running around with a crayon and me taking them away for a day or two, she's been very good. There was one swipe of green on the couch (right next to the easel) that may well have been an accident, and otherwise, all coloring has happened on the easel (nearly all of it on the paper) and the crayons have stayed just where they're supposed to.
However. She's three, and she's smart, and she's the Goober.
When she spots a pad of paper with a pencil on it, she'll pick up the pencil and do a bit of post-impression artwork on the paper. Yesterday I gave her some paper (directions from something I'd bought - she likes to pretend they're maps) and she took the paper over to the easel and colored on it.
Now, this isn't quite what the rules are - she's supposed to be only using the crayons on the paper I put on the easel, and that's it. But I keep thinking, she's using the pencils ON THE PAPER. And she's taking the paper TO THE EASEL to color on it. Nothing on the walls, on the floor, nothing. This morning she got up early, got hold of a marker, and got it open. So what did she do? Took it to the easel and colored on it. When I got up I about had a stroke and told her she's never to open markers by herself. But again. She went straight to the easel with it, and stayed there.
I can't find it in me to do more than grumble at her about leaving pencils and things alone. There's been no dramatic punishment, because the walls and furniture are intact and she's KIND OF following the rules.
Should I try to reason with her? Or forget it altogether? It also occurs to me that 'kind of following the rules' is likely as good as I'll get with a three year old kid. Maybe it's me who needs reasoned with.
And I'm on round 203 of 206, of the shawl. Eeeee!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Provisional long-tail cast on.
I promised Bells a tutorial on this, and it's useful, so here you go.
I assume everyone knows the basic long-tail cast on method. If you don't, you can find video of it here. This is how to tweak the cast-on for provisional, removal purposes later.
Instead of using the same yarn for casting on, and the stitch-holding twist, you'll use separate yarns. For the part you're removing later, as always, get a contrasting color, in something smooth and strong, so you can pull it back out. I generally go with a smoothly-spun cotton that's the same weight (or close) to the yarn.
Tie a slip-knot of both yarns, together. Position the slip knot on the top of your knitting needle, and drape the to-be-removed yarn over the FRONT of the needle (in this case, the orange), and the yarn you intend to knit your project with toward the BACK of the needle (the dark blue).
Work the cast-on like you would normally do a long-tail cast on. THE LOOP CREATED BY THE SLIP-KNOT DOES NOT COUNT AS A STITCH. So start counting your stitches AFTER that.
The dark blue loops on the needle count as your first row of knit stitches. The orange loops are the cast-on bit.
Knit yer whatever. I got a closeup so you could see what to expect.
When it comes time to remove the cast-on, first, pull out the slip knot.
Clip off the removable yarn very close to the edge. Tuck a darning needle or a knitting needle under the first of the loops and pull. It'll pop right out.
Then unzip, as fast or slow as you like.
This is my favored method, for, well, everything. It creates a VERY firm edge, which is helpful for doilies and other lace projects with an edge added later, and it's handy for things like a half-graft hem, where you want to pull just one stitch loose at a time. It's not like most provisional cast-ons that instantly unzip, leaving you with fifty million loose stitches to chase down. You can make it go as fast or slow as you like.
Enjoy.
I assume everyone knows the basic long-tail cast on method. If you don't, you can find video of it here. This is how to tweak the cast-on for provisional, removal purposes later.
Instead of using the same yarn for casting on, and the stitch-holding twist, you'll use separate yarns. For the part you're removing later, as always, get a contrasting color, in something smooth and strong, so you can pull it back out. I generally go with a smoothly-spun cotton that's the same weight (or close) to the yarn.
Tie a slip-knot of both yarns, together. Position the slip knot on the top of your knitting needle, and drape the to-be-removed yarn over the FRONT of the needle (in this case, the orange), and the yarn you intend to knit your project with toward the BACK of the needle (the dark blue).
Work the cast-on like you would normally do a long-tail cast on. THE LOOP CREATED BY THE SLIP-KNOT DOES NOT COUNT AS A STITCH. So start counting your stitches AFTER that.
The dark blue loops on the needle count as your first row of knit stitches. The orange loops are the cast-on bit.
Knit yer whatever. I got a closeup so you could see what to expect.
When it comes time to remove the cast-on, first, pull out the slip knot.
Clip off the removable yarn very close to the edge. Tuck a darning needle or a knitting needle under the first of the loops and pull. It'll pop right out.
Then unzip, as fast or slow as you like.
This is my favored method, for, well, everything. It creates a VERY firm edge, which is helpful for doilies and other lace projects with an edge added later, and it's handy for things like a half-graft hem, where you want to pull just one stitch loose at a time. It's not like most provisional cast-ons that instantly unzip, leaving you with fifty million loose stitches to chase down. You can make it go as fast or slow as you like.
Enjoy.
Quick update.
Yesterday was lovely. We all had a good time, the food all made it to the table at the same time, the food was good (except for the roast, which must have come from a sixty-year-old cow, because I roasted it properly, damn it), and the Goob was almost good.
Before the meal, Grandma knit and kept an eye on the Goober, and the two of them sneaked dressing out of the dish of it.
By the time we ate, the Goob was so full of dressing she didn't really eat anything else. And since she wasn't hungry, sitting at the table with us was out of the question (in her mind), and she wound up watching TV in the living room while we ate. Oh well. Usually it works out. And from what I've seen and heard of other three year olds, it could have been a lot worse. (My brother once puked on the table at Thanksgiving, when he was a small child.)
Among other dishes, I made a batch of dinner rolls from scratch. I hadn't intended to, but I went to the store, and all their dinner rolls looked like crap, and, next thing I knew, I was setting dough to rise at eight AM Thanksgiving morning. They impressed the hell out of everyone, to the point the husbeast took a picture of them.
When grandma and grandpa came, they brought along a Tag Reading System from LeapFrog. It's a pen-shaped doohicky that has an optical reader in it. You can run it over text (from certain books, not just everything) and have it read to you. Very cool.
Goober and Grandma and Grandpa have been playing with it. I particularly like how the Goob's using her foot to hold up the book in this picture.
This morning we went out to do some shopping (nothing insane here; not like you've seen on the news) and while at the book store, I spotted a new book on ribbon flowers that I'd never seen before. We couldn't afford it, so I was desperately trying to absorb the information in it at light speed, when my mother-in-law said 'Let us get that for you'. I said 'I'm so glad I made you guys those rolls yesterday.'
If anyone remembers me bellyaching about a book the Goob wants read to her ten million times, the hated book is "That's not my kitten". Well. Today I purchased another book from the same publisher, "That's not my dinosaur." I'm such a damn pushover. I got it to distract her when grandma and grandpa go home and she's bummed, but now I think on it, Christmas is soon enough to break that thing out. Or maybe Beltane. Or Summer Solstice. Or her birthday next September.
Having a good time and a nice visit. Real blogging to commence soon (like tomorrow; they leave for home in the morning).
Before the meal, Grandma knit and kept an eye on the Goober, and the two of them sneaked dressing out of the dish of it.
By the time we ate, the Goob was so full of dressing she didn't really eat anything else. And since she wasn't hungry, sitting at the table with us was out of the question (in her mind), and she wound up watching TV in the living room while we ate. Oh well. Usually it works out. And from what I've seen and heard of other three year olds, it could have been a lot worse. (My brother once puked on the table at Thanksgiving, when he was a small child.)
Among other dishes, I made a batch of dinner rolls from scratch. I hadn't intended to, but I went to the store, and all their dinner rolls looked like crap, and, next thing I knew, I was setting dough to rise at eight AM Thanksgiving morning. They impressed the hell out of everyone, to the point the husbeast took a picture of them.
When grandma and grandpa came, they brought along a Tag Reading System from LeapFrog. It's a pen-shaped doohicky that has an optical reader in it. You can run it over text (from certain books, not just everything) and have it read to you. Very cool.
Goober and Grandma and Grandpa have been playing with it. I particularly like how the Goob's using her foot to hold up the book in this picture.
This morning we went out to do some shopping (nothing insane here; not like you've seen on the news) and while at the book store, I spotted a new book on ribbon flowers that I'd never seen before. We couldn't afford it, so I was desperately trying to absorb the information in it at light speed, when my mother-in-law said 'Let us get that for you'. I said 'I'm so glad I made you guys those rolls yesterday.'
If anyone remembers me bellyaching about a book the Goob wants read to her ten million times, the hated book is "That's not my kitten". Well. Today I purchased another book from the same publisher, "That's not my dinosaur." I'm such a damn pushover. I got it to distract her when grandma and grandpa go home and she's bummed, but now I think on it, Christmas is soon enough to break that thing out. Or maybe Beltane. Or Summer Solstice. Or her birthday next September.
Having a good time and a nice visit. Real blogging to commence soon (like tomorrow; they leave for home in the morning).
Friday, November 28, 2008
Oh, and the shop.
You can get to my Etsy shop here. There's a link in the sidebar, but if I'd had it together the other day I'd have realized a lot of people read this through Bloglines or other RSS feed servers and never see the actual home page.
It is still under construction, I hope to have the rovings posted in the next few days. And a couple flowers.
It is still under construction, I hope to have the rovings posted in the next few days. And a couple flowers.
Husbeast family dressing.
We're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, so the last two days have been spent cleaning and cooking. The most horrific excess of the last... hell, YEAR, has been the dressing, made according to the husbeast's traditional family recipe. (Incidentally, dressing is bready stuff like this, cooked by itself. Stuffing is when you, well, stuff it. Up a bird's butt, usually. Kind of a recipe for bacteria, and it screws with the cooking time of your turkey. So we do it this way.)
Six loaves of bread, three pounds of butter, two large yellow onions, and a lot of salt and pepper. You remove the crust from the bread (and feed it to birds), tear the rest into shreds, mix with salt, pepper, and chopped onion. Pour melted butter over the whole thing and roast in the oven at 350 F anywhere from two hours to the rest of your life. Stir every ten minutes. Yeah. For three hours, today. It was a laugh riot, I tell you.
It looked like this to start; the roasting process cooks it down a bit and the two pans full reduced down to just one.
Considering this stuff exists only to pour gravy on, my mind whirls. But it isn't Thanksgiving without this stuff in the husbeast's family. For years I've wanted to do a beef roast and wasn't allowed to do it until I promised to make this dressing and gravy to go on top. Next year I want to try lamb. You can make lamb gravy, right?
They're lucky they only make it twice a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) or the whole family would waddle to their deaths.
Otherwise I made a couple pies - one experimental - egg-cheese brunch and cinnamon rolls (doing a slow rise in the fridge) for breakfast, and prepped some other stuff so the meal will throw together faster tomorrow.
I'm beat. I still have some crap to clean out of my office before the in-laws arrive, in about an hour.
Happy holidays.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Post-modern bitchfest.
Since it's getting a lot of comments... I did it originally as just something silly (you know, like there's a 98% chance my cat is trying to kill me), but it generated interest. Terby - who started it - and I e-mailed a bit on it this morning, and I finally nailed down why post-modernism annoys the hell out of me.
It's the whining.
Okay, I get that everything's relative. And subjective. And every person re-defines, well, everything, by their own experience. In that, yes, I'm very post-modern. But then we get to the gloomy fuckers like Nietzsche, who stated "God is dead" and then went on to whine about it for several books' worth of gloom and doom. I do not track on the reasoning that since everything is relative, life sucks. In fact, I suspect that if we each build/define our own reality, we could take the opportunity to make it something POSITIVE, or at least NICE, since it's all subjective and in our heads anyway. Call me crazy, but if I'm defining my own reality, why not make it a nice place to live?
So there you go. Why post-modernism sucks oozing rat ass.
A few tangential but vaguely related thoughts.
First, for those who didn't take the test, the question everyone's bothered by is about burning books. Basically, if you're going to burn a book, which one would it be. The choices were: anything that advocates terrorism, the Bible, something by Nietzsche, and something by Descartes. And while I'm against burning ANY books, in principle, when I got into the spirit of the test, my answer to that question was "Hell, burn them ALL."
Second, I took a world religions class from a prof who was actually a philosophy prof and was teaching world religions because the prof who normally did that was terribly sick. He regularly begged me to take one of his philosophy classes the next semester. Finally, one day, I broke down and told him as politely as possible, I think philosophy is just mental jacking off, and if you're gonna sit around and think Great Thoughts, they should at least be your own instead of someone else's. That just made him more determined to sign me up. But I never did.
Can't stand philosophy. Every human since the dawn of humanity has wondered this stuff, and come up with their own answers. Just because some of these wankers got their own answers published in books doesn't make them more right or worthy or accurate. Just makes them published.
This was probably very post-modern, wasn't it?
Heavy sigh.
It's the whining.
Okay, I get that everything's relative. And subjective. And every person re-defines, well, everything, by their own experience. In that, yes, I'm very post-modern. But then we get to the gloomy fuckers like Nietzsche, who stated "God is dead" and then went on to whine about it for several books' worth of gloom and doom. I do not track on the reasoning that since everything is relative, life sucks. In fact, I suspect that if we each build/define our own reality, we could take the opportunity to make it something POSITIVE, or at least NICE, since it's all subjective and in our heads anyway. Call me crazy, but if I'm defining my own reality, why not make it a nice place to live?
So there you go. Why post-modernism sucks oozing rat ass.
A few tangential but vaguely related thoughts.
First, for those who didn't take the test, the question everyone's bothered by is about burning books. Basically, if you're going to burn a book, which one would it be. The choices were: anything that advocates terrorism, the Bible, something by Nietzsche, and something by Descartes. And while I'm against burning ANY books, in principle, when I got into the spirit of the test, my answer to that question was "Hell, burn them ALL."
Second, I took a world religions class from a prof who was actually a philosophy prof and was teaching world religions because the prof who normally did that was terribly sick. He regularly begged me to take one of his philosophy classes the next semester. Finally, one day, I broke down and told him as politely as possible, I think philosophy is just mental jacking off, and if you're gonna sit around and think Great Thoughts, they should at least be your own instead of someone else's. That just made him more determined to sign me up. But I never did.
Can't stand philosophy. Every human since the dawn of humanity has wondered this stuff, and come up with their own answers. Just because some of these wankers got their own answers published in books doesn't make them more right or worthy or accurate. Just makes them published.
This was probably very post-modern, wasn't it?
Heavy sigh.
Re-opening the shop.
I know. Height of optimism, re-listing my stock in the middle of a massive recession. But my Knitty article goes live on/about December 1, and the only reason I wrote it was to advertise the shop and try to sell some of this stuff, so... It's costing about $8 to list everything I've got. One purchase will pay for that. Won't make a profit, but I'll be - barely - in the black. So what the hell. I've got the yarn listed now, and will be listing some handspun and a half-dozen balls of roving later today. And some ribbon flowers. And a scarf.
For those of you thinking, "Oh right. Carpet beetles, and now selling yarn? You must be insane if you think I'm buying." here's the storage method I've used from day one.
That's a sealed box - with a lavender sachet inside. It is always kept in the Yarn Closet, which is also crammed with lavender. And the majority of the yarns are sealed inside zip-loc bags (which is how I ship, so the Post Office can drop them in the mud and we don't care). I've been plowing through the Yarn Closet like the wrath of God(s) for most of the week and so far not a single carpet beetle has turned up. So the lavender works. I inspected the yarns closely before re-listing.
The only yarns that were ever nibbled, were yarns kept in dark corners, outside the yarn closet.
So the stock is safe.
***SILLY BUT KIND OF FUN DEAL FOR ANY BLOG READERS***
If you buy anything from my shop, I'll send you a ribbon flower - color of your choice, so long as I've got the ribbon - fastened to your choice of pin, barrette, hair pin, or plain. Just leave a message for me when purchasing, in the little 'comments' window. I'll probably message or e-mail back about color choices, so make sure I can get in touch. I've got a shitload of ribbon here.
Otherwise, still knitting. I drew another line on the photo of Helmut, to show how close I am to finishing.
See the light blue line? I've got seven rounds to go. Probably won't get done before Thanksgiving, but it's giving me hope that I may get this and the sweater I've yet to finish done by Christmas. AAAAH!
Last night I was doing laundry, and the Goob eyed the laundry basket with some speculation and then told me "I could imagine that into a boat, real easy."
I'm spending the day cleaning and cooking and shelving books. We won't be doing Thanksgiving here until Saturday (that's when the in-laws get here; they're doing the long-but-fun route; they do 'real' Thanksgiving tomorrow with the hub's brother and his family, then on to us and Thanksgiving again on Saturday). We're swinging by some friends' house tomorrow to say hi and unload a cake (I want ONE SLICE - it is not going to stay in my house), and I need to find the office floor by Friday when the in-laws get here so they have somewhere to sleep.
Is it wrong to want to curl up under my chair and play Age of Wonders until it all goes away?
For those of you thinking, "Oh right. Carpet beetles, and now selling yarn? You must be insane if you think I'm buying." here's the storage method I've used from day one.
That's a sealed box - with a lavender sachet inside. It is always kept in the Yarn Closet, which is also crammed with lavender. And the majority of the yarns are sealed inside zip-loc bags (which is how I ship, so the Post Office can drop them in the mud and we don't care). I've been plowing through the Yarn Closet like the wrath of God(s) for most of the week and so far not a single carpet beetle has turned up. So the lavender works. I inspected the yarns closely before re-listing.
The only yarns that were ever nibbled, were yarns kept in dark corners, outside the yarn closet.
So the stock is safe.
***SILLY BUT KIND OF FUN DEAL FOR ANY BLOG READERS***
If you buy anything from my shop, I'll send you a ribbon flower - color of your choice, so long as I've got the ribbon - fastened to your choice of pin, barrette, hair pin, or plain. Just leave a message for me when purchasing, in the little 'comments' window. I'll probably message or e-mail back about color choices, so make sure I can get in touch. I've got a shitload of ribbon here.
Otherwise, still knitting. I drew another line on the photo of Helmut, to show how close I am to finishing.
See the light blue line? I've got seven rounds to go. Probably won't get done before Thanksgiving, but it's giving me hope that I may get this and the sweater I've yet to finish done by Christmas. AAAAH!
Last night I was doing laundry, and the Goob eyed the laundry basket with some speculation and then told me "I could imagine that into a boat, real easy."
I'm spending the day cleaning and cooking and shelving books. We won't be doing Thanksgiving here until Saturday (that's when the in-laws get here; they're doing the long-but-fun route; they do 'real' Thanksgiving tomorrow with the hub's brother and his family, then on to us and Thanksgiving again on Saturday). We're swinging by some friends' house tomorrow to say hi and unload a cake (I want ONE SLICE - it is not going to stay in my house), and I need to find the office floor by Friday when the in-laws get here so they have somewhere to sleep.
Is it wrong to want to curl up under my chair and play Age of Wonders until it all goes away?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Ah, irony.
I love it so. No. Really.
What's really funny is, I think post-modernist philosophers should be dragged into the street and beaten to death with coffee-table editions of their own books. Or, you know, left to die of tertiary syphilis, if that's appropriate. Fuckin' Neitzsche. Guy should have been put down like a rabid dog.
Your result for The Find Your Philosophical Era! Test...
The Post-Modern
19% Ancient, 6% Medieval, 31% Modern and 44% Post-Modern!
Congratulations! You are: a Post-Modern!
Congratulations! Unlike everyone else, you Post-Moderns were born in the right era. You can even influence the further development of Post-Modernism! Post-Moderns like you are bowed down by the weight of all the writers and thinkers who have existed before them; but, rather than respecting the authority of the past, as a Medieval thinker might do, a Post-Modern thinker is more likely to reject or reinterpret everything which came before him. While the Moderns ridiculed religion, Post-Moderns ridicule religion and atheism alike. The parody is the classic Post-Modern art form.
Post-Modern thinkers tend to cast every commonly received notion into doubt. The naive, common-sense interpretation of things is shocked when Post-Modernism declares, for instance, that perfect translation is theoretically impossible, or that the connection between a word and its meaning is merely illusory. The distinction between meaning and meaninglessness is blurred--see the poetry of e.e. cummings or the works of Joyce for an example of the Post-Modern disregard for the orthodox English sentence.
Moreover, Post-Moderns like Freud and Nietzsche, with their psychological insight, cast into doubt the freedom of the human will, and helped to blur the lines previous eras might have drawn between a good person and a bad one, between a madman and a sane one.
Some post-modern philosophers: Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Derrida, Foucault, Freud, Benjamin, Hegel, Kierkegaard
Some post-modern artists: Joyce, Henry James, Proust, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Faulkner, Woolf, Samuel Beckett
Typical post-modern art forms: the non-traditional novel, black comedy, jazz, film, photography, the music video, the psychological case study, the parody
Take The Find Your Philosophical Era! Test at HelloQuizzy
What's really funny is, I think post-modernist philosophers should be dragged into the street and beaten to death with coffee-table editions of their own books. Or, you know, left to die of tertiary syphilis, if that's appropriate. Fuckin' Neitzsche. Guy should have been put down like a rabid dog.
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