Why Can't We Be Spuds

For those who don't know, there has been an ongoing controversy about the name of the Washington football team: The Redskins. Columnists and media outlets are refusing to use the name, because it and the logo featuring the head of an Native American in feathered headdress, is offensive to Native Americans. Native Americans have protested, even the Prez has weighed in. The point is well taken, and one which I agree with: no other racial group in this country would be so portrayed. Lots of other teams and organizations with Native American names and logos have changed in response to protests.

Now I do get it that there are millions of dollars tied up in all the ancillary gear that a sports franchise and the league manufactures to sell and the current owner isn't considered to be the nicest of people. And I can even concede the point that the name, nowadays, isn't intended to offend. But we all know which road is paved with good intentions.

During last night's game, Bob Costas, NBC sports commentator and guru, delivered a commentary on the continued offense the team name causes. The team name, in my opinion, needs to go. But then what to replace it with? The best suggestion is in the comments section of this article on the Costa's commentary. Change the logo to the Redskin Potato. I like it! If Green Bay fans can where hats in the shape of a slice of cheese, why can't we be spuds?

The Hogs can give up their dresses and wear potato sacks instead. Smash potatoes could replace French fries as a unique stadium food. Sacking the quarterback would take on a whole new meaning. Instead of stripping the ball from the running back, commentators could say he peeled the football away. Instead of losing a game, we could be mashed by the other team. With a logo change, yesterday's game could have been described as the Cowboys roasting the Redskin Potatoes.



 

On My Soapbox

Slightly frustrating week. Working on a database for my sister, cut into my knitting time. I’m usually not bothered by the weather, but the rain from Wednesday finally got on my nerves by Friday night. It was like living with a nature sounds tape in continuous loop. I found myself wishing for the silence of snow. I stayed in yesterday. My umbrellas thanked me. 

Vote for the Loopy Ewe
This is cool: Intuit is running a contest to give a small business a chance to place for a Super Bowl advert. The Loopy Ewe has entered. How wonderful it would be to see a yarn store advert amongst the beer, car, computer, and chip adverts.  Vote for the Loopy Ewe here

 

The Helen Skirt Update

Yesterday I finally joined The Helen Skirt in the round. This is really a very nice, well-written pattern.

 

Love Yarn Day
October 11 was International Love Yarn day. I celebrated by taking advantage of Vogue Knitting’s pattern sale. I bought Shirley Paden’s Fitted Jacket, which is the first garment, featured on her website. Speaking of Shirley Paden, she returned to Looped Yarn Works last weekend. I attended the Friday evening workshop where we worked on the rib and smocking stitches using the pattern on the cuff of the Duster pattern on the front of her book, Knitwear Design Workshop. On Saturday, I attended the Lace Knitting class. Just like the takeaways from the Cast-On class in February, I am now confident that my lace knitting will improve as I apply the skills and knowledge gained.

Knit Pro Karbonz

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a Knit Pro Karbonz needle. I have finally found a knitting needle worthy of buying as a set. The needles are light in the hand, the yarn moves easily, and the cable is great.

Knit Edge Magazine—the only knit magazine I buy and read the articles before getting lost in the patterns—had a fascinating article on the origins of From the Mountain yarn company and how the yarn is sourced and providing livelihoods in Afghanistan. As well as an article on the mad vilification of former Australian Prime Minster Julia Guillard for being “a knitter”.

 
Some Thoughts About Knitting
Yes, in most of the West, knitting is seen as “women’s work” and historically, especially in the 19^th century seen as a way for women to “respectably” earn money. Those who are not involved in the craft see it as part of the post 9/11 nesting phenomena or some post-hippie, redefined feminist, anti-commercial, anti-cookie cutter fashion movement. While these arguments may have some validity, I think there is another impetus at work: The Internet.

As I have said in posts before, I have seen my knitting skills improve by leaps and bounds with the advent of blogs, Ravelry, You Tube, and most recently Craftsy. The Internet has removed the barriers to the transmission of skills, creativity, and materials. The resources in a knitter’s community have easily expanded from the knowledge and skills available in the guild, the class, and the local yarn store. Even language is no longer the barrier it once was. Individuals, sometimes without monetary compensation, translate patterns. There are groups and individuals on and off Ravelry supporting those knitting patterns in Japanese. The list of regional knitting techniques and traditions now available on the Internet is legion—Estonian, Peruvian, Turkish, just to name a few.

Why has knitting spread beyond the knitting nana or those with a family history or a chance encounter sparking an enthusiasm with the craft knitting? I argue that it is fun to create. The fun includes the work, meeting the challenge of commitment to completion, learning new skills, being a member of community where skills, achievements, and like in any community, life experience is shared. Knitting is not like building a miniature railroad or cabinetry, it’s an easily portable craft. You can knit on public transport, in the grocery queue, the doctor’s office and even in a darkened movie theatre.

Knitting is not mindless. You need to be able count, add, subtract, divide and multiply your stitches to create patterns and shape a garment. Unlike sewing where you are imposing a form on a fabric, in knitting you are creating and shaping a fabric. Could be why so many knitwear designers in the last 20 years have backgrounds and often graduate degrees in math-dependent sciences.

Lastly, there is the product. Yes, you can invite your family and friends over to view your model railroad, your sideboard etc. But knitting allows you to give: to family, to friends, to complete strangers. Thousands of hats, gaiters, and socks have been knitted for soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq; hats, prayer shawls and other items for hospital nurseries, cancer patients; hats, scarves, and blankets for the homeless. Fiber craft has been employed at N Street Village to help homeless and abused women earn income, gain self-esteem and entrepreneurial skills and is helping prisoners.

Just think how different the ongoing acrimony over the US government shutdown would be if Boehner needed Obama’s help with the intricacies of entrelac?

Angry Hour

We're on day two of the government shutdown. The sole affect on my life has been less rush hour traffic and the shops and restaurants have been full of patrons in the afternoon. This is a much more interesting experience so far than the last government shutdown 17 years ago. Hard to believe that the Internet was in its infancy then and most of us who were online were on BBS systems. This time around things are very different. There's lots of FB and Twitter traffic arranging meet ups and advertising specials (free/discounted drinks and food for those with Fed IDs). Here's one

There are goodies for knitters: Looped Yarn Works is offering 10% of all purchases until Friday. Fibre Space is offering free knitting classes in the afternoon. Wendy Johnson is offering 50% off on all her patterns for the duration.

Me, I'm envying the Fed fiber fiends who are having hours to knit, crochet, spin, weave, and sew. But despite my envy, I am making good progress on my Helen Pencil Skirt. I've also signed up for a workshop with Shirley Paden on Friday at Looped Yarn Works.

Russian Join, Crochet Provisional Cast on and Other Fun

Russian Join

Another arrow in my quiver of knitting skills. I used this join for the first time while knitting the Lengthwise Cable scarf.  Where has this been all my life? It’s a wonderful join that eliminates the need to weave in ends. It makes anticipating joining a new ball easier and faster for me.

Crochet Provision Cast On

The latest arrow in my quiver of knitting skills. I’m knitting the Helen Pencil Skirt using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. I used the Lucy Neatby video to learn the provisional crochet cast on. Used another circular to pick up the 210 provisional cast on stitches and was able to unzip the crochet cast at the end. Used a third needle to knit the stiches on the needle and the cast on stitches together. Totally Cool!!

I celebrated International Coffee Day with two cups of Trung Lam Café. I order all my coffee from Vietnamese Coffee Online.

Cooperative Press is keeping me excited these days. Knit Edge continues to go from strength to strength with interesting articles to read and patterns to knit. Pen Hemingway (PenelopeSpider on Ravelry) is coming out with two new books: River Ganseys and Old Hand Knitters of the Dales.

Swatch Week

I have only two rows left till bind off on the Lengthwise Cable Scarf, but this week I left off finishing to swatch.

I bought three skeins of Cascade Eco+ in Lavender to knit a skirt. In January I'd bought some Black Welsh Mountain yarn from Countrybyrd on Ravelry. The yarns made for interesting knitting even if I only knit swatches. The Eco+ is commercially produced and knits up nicely as a Aran-Heavy Worsted weight. The Black Welsh Mountain is rustic, sheepy, and minimally processed, but it worked up wonderfully firm on size 4's in stocking stitch and the 2x2 ribbing was perky. At 12 wpi, I guess it to be a sport weight. What I don't know is the yardage. I suspect I have about 1500 yards.

The next couple of weeks are going to be quite busy. Deva Premal on September 24. In October,  Buddhist relics on display and Robert Thurman -- not together--and a lace class with Shirley Paden and then a weekend class on Rigden.

Slow Adapter

I’ve known for sometime that I was a slow adapter. What is a slow adapter? A slow adapter is someone who doesn’t jump on the latest technology bandwagon. What sparked this realization? It was a BBC radio show on technology about the new cell phone wrist watch and one of the interviewees described herself as a slow adapter. That gave me the language to explain what I am.

I don’t need a 40 inch television or cable because I rarely watch television. But I love listening to the radio and once I discovered that satellite radio was available for homes, I was on it like a shot. Never really got into DVDs or CDs; digital music has given me the music library I always wanted without having the need for the shelf space. The PC was a no brainer. It provided way to create your own content without paper, whiteout and with the advent of external portable storage devices, it is easy to physically store the content. Walkmans were great but the Nano is even better. A mobile is a must have and is convenient when charged, but I don’t have a smart phone. I figure any emergency can be conveyed by a phone call or a text message. I’ve always hated fax machines. They are like the microwaves of office technology. They either have basic features or a cornucopia of features that are never used. But I love e-faxing. It does what the first facsimile machines did: sends and receives documents with the added bonus of the capability of blasting faxes to hundreds or thousands without having to dial in each number.

This brings me to my latest gadget: the tablet. I wasn’t sure but went ahead with the purchase. I knew that I could and do download .pdf’s of knitting patterns and magazines use those instead of paper when knitting. Okay, so I am re-addicted to Tetris. But this week I found an amazing app that allows me to record by BG readings with notes. The data is charted and both data and notes are combined and can be emailed in an Excel spreadsheet. And since the clinic has an online patient portal, I can send this information electronically to my doctor for her review before my appointment.

Knitting this week

Still working on the lengthwise scarf. Just about at the end of the cabling. Fifteen rows of ribbing and then cast off.  It’s not going to make the dent in this particular stash of yarn that I anticipated, so I suppose a hat and gloves will be knit to use up the rest of the yarn.

I’ve found a pattern for the 8 skeins of blue yarn. It’s a skirt and I will have just enough. I’m going to do elastic for the waist as I don’t like the idea of a leather string tie for the waist.

All this has been a valuable lesson. I bought this yarn not because I was at all interested in knitting the pattern that came with it, but because it was on sale. There is nothing wrong with the yarn; it’s actually a yarn I like working with. It’s the colours and the quantity. I don’t have enough of any one colour to knit anything sizeable and I can’t really combine the colors with anything in my stash and to make a garment with both colours would mean making or buying something to match.

Back to The Blog

Where has the summer gone? For me it’s lost in a fog of work. I didn’t realize it was over until a week ago when it was brought to my attention that this weekend was Labor Day weekend. Could have sworn there was another week in there…somewhere.

I did stay on for three days in San Antonio to visit with Val, Tony and Courtney. I did visit the Alamo and highly recommend the PBS documentary although the John Wayne film is fun. I did visit the Yarnbarn of San Antonio and bought some Lone Star Arts Yarn, which I had been coveting. San Antonio was hot, but it’s a dry heat and nowhere near as oppressive as heat with humidity.

My birthday came and went as the BOD meeting started the day after. But I did scurry away in the evening to Looped Yarn Works. Their stock is expanding (YAY) with delicious selections of Habu and Harrisville yarns among others. Below is my birthday present to myself.

 

About the current issue of Pompom Magazine: It was really nice to see a UK knitting magazine feature a woman of color model.

Despite the press of work, I did manage to get some knitting done. I completed a Pi Shawl using Dragonfly Fibers Squishy Lace. The yarn is squishy but has lots of body and doesn’t split. The colours are rich and saturated. The shawl is more of a mini-pi. I should have used larger needles.

I knit Nougat by Susanna IC using Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca Fine. This yarn is loosely plied requiring a dull pointed needle to avoid splitting. With such loose plies, I was a little worried—needlessly as it turned out--about stitch definition. It is soft and bouncy with a generous 473yds at around US$11.00 per skein. I liked it so much I bought two more skeins—in the photo above—to knit another Liz Lovick’s Cowls pattern in fingering weight. By the way, Liz has a book coming out: The Magic of Shetland Lace Knitting. I can’t wait.

With the remaining Ultra Alpaca Fine, I’m knitting the Bonbons fingerless gloves. Both will compliment the Odessa beret knit last winter.

On the needles is a pair of socks to be finished and the Lengthwise Cable Scarf from Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the Caution Colorway. I have 700 yards of the yarn and should have enough left over for a hat and maybe some fingerless mitts. These should compliment a rather drab olive wool jacket.

After deliberating most of the spring, I finally bought a tablet, the Google Nexus 7. It has renewed my addiction to Tetris. But it is great for downloading .pdf’s of patterns and using those instead of paper to knit from. Besides Tetris I have downloaded a few knitting apps and a Georgette Heyer novel to read. Odd thing is, Toupie doesn’t like the Nexus and settling down to read in bed a night becomes a tussle as he continually tries to paw the device.

Toupie was well behaved while I was on my travels. No pictures of freaked-out kitty on FB. No attacking the pictures on the wall or his auntie who kindly consented to mind him for two weeks. He did push his food bowl to different parts of the apartment each day (he’s never done that when I am at home) and there was one renegade incident of ripping open treat bags. I did have the vacuum treats in every part of the apartment including the bathroom.

 

A summer highlight was the opening of Each Peach Market. Really good artisan breads, out of the ordinary sandwich meats (as well as really good sandwiches) and a selection of fresh fruits and veggies and their own spice mixtures. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable making this a must shop stop.