actual knitting content!

First of all, I need to get this off my chest: where are all the feminism-oriented podcasts? We have Bitch and BUST and Ms. and Venus and what have you, but we can't get our shit together to have a podcast? Is feminism just that boring? The "news and politics" section of iTunes Music Store is a total sausage party! I'll have to check the other podcastilicious places like podcast alley before I totally give up.

Next, the promised before and after pictures. Nothing says "feminist fury" like dyed red hair!

Before:



After:



My wise and alert readers will notice two things: the first being that I am wearing handknits in both photos. (Yes I wear shawls around the house. It was cold on Friday night!) The second item being that my hair doesn't look that different from one photo to the next. I agree: the corrective color treatment was not very drastic, but Ms. Helpline Lady wanted to "deepen" my hair color without coloring it over and turning it completely black. And it worked. It's not as dark as I expected, and way redder than I had wanted, but most of us bottle-reds know that red will fade quickly enough without any help. So I guess it will be okay, I won't get made fun of too much at work tomorrow (although I know which jerks are going to laugh right in my face (thanks, guys)), and it makes me look less boring than I did in the pictures from the cruise that I see on other people's blogs. (And yes, I colored my brows, too. I always do, don't you?)

Now that I look at the "before" picture a little more, I realize that my hair was that color, insane pinky-orange with wacky red bits, for most of ten years, a block of time we refer to my "youth." I think maybe I was just better suited to it at the time. These days I have to think about looking "professional" "presentable" and "credible." (Speaking my misspent youth, I made a playlist on my iPod today consisting entirely of songs I listened to in high school and college. What a hoot! This has taught me that my music tastes have only become more refined.)

So let's talk handknits, I know you want to. So in the after shot you see "the other red mistake" I've made recently. You know, it's hard to write when you have "Parents Just Don't Understand" playing in the background. Anyway, I am using the Cable-Down Raglan pattern from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits, with Goddess Yarns Mia cotton-linen blend (from stash!). It fits, which is not a surprise because I knit and washed a 6x6 swatch first. (Yes, I swatch, don't you?) I think a smoothly-spun cotton-linen blend is appropriate for a textured 3/4-sleeve sweater, and I just might have enough to make this project. It knits up pretty quickly (size US6 needles are considered "large" if you're used to working on US1s) and I hope I will be able to finish before the summertime heat really starts going. However, look at this junk-ass neckline!!



Ass!! I am only partly responsible for the way this looks. You see, there were red flags all along on this one. First of all, the neckline is not shown clearly and fully in the magazine, which makes me wonder if that's on purpose. (Maggie Righetti warns about this very problem, trick photography, in the book that taught me to knit oh-so-many years ago, Knitting in Plain English.) Next, the pattern does not instruct the knitter to use smaller needles for the edgings, which we all know is "how it's done" in all the patterns, probably because it creates a clean, tidy edge. Lastly, one knows that plain stockinette spreads laterally more so than a panel with cables, however there is no adjustment of stitch number between the neck edging and the cable panel begun just below it. I saw all of these red flags immediately and LIKE A FOOL I ignored them and followed the pattern. Duh! So even though the pattern misdirected me into knitting stupidly, I allowed myself to be misled and must be held accountable.

My first impulse after trying on my half-knit sweater was to rip the thing out immediately and find a completely different pattern to work, or write my own (the original intention for this yarn, which is why it remained unknit for years). Then I tried it on again for the tragically blurry "after photo" above, and decided that if I did in fact rip it out (which I'm glad I did not) then the yarn would probably stay unknit for another two years or so. Nothing makes me hate yarn more than an unsuccessful project, although in the past I've been able to suck it up and reknit the offending yarn into a more pleasing product. And I do think that I would like the finished sweater except for the neckline. So, I'm just going to keep plugging away at it, and when I'm done, I'm going to rip out that neckline and rework it with smaller needles, adjusting the stitch number so there won't be that regrettable boondoggle around the top-center of the cable panel. I've had to reknit something at the cast-on edge before, and in this case (thank goodness) it won't matter that the re-knit part will be a half-stitch off. So, folks, what do you think? What would you do?

More knitting --> I worked on this while on the cruise:



Look at it! It's just gorgeous! I take no credit for how lovely this piece is going to be. (I know it looks like a pretty pile of broccoli barf right now.) I am using the Alpine Lace pattern from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today, which now rivals Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting for the title of Best Knitting Pr0n. The yarn is from Just Our Yarn, and I bought it at MDSW in 2006. (My posse from that trip might remember this purchase.) I have a little more than is called for in the pattern, so my shawl will be just a bit longer, but I don't mind because I love love love this yarn. I will say that for cashmere, it's not any softer than a very soft merino, but I have a feeling that it will bloom and soften after I wash it. (Wash and block a swatch? Now why would I do that?) This yarn is exactly what I want from handpainted yarn: deep and vibrant color without wild swings in value, so the pattern can be seen beyond all the variations in the yarn, but enough variation that it isn't a flat solid. Let's face it, this pattern is pretty but repetitive and uncomplicated. If I'd chosen a plainer yarn then this shawl would probably be only 10%-knit and wadded up at the bottom of a knitting basket. This project is the perfect marriage of yarn and pattern. And I have plenty more gorgeous laceweight yarn waiting to be knit up once I finish this project.