Knithropology

[This is a long one, folks - blogging as catharsis, perhaps?]

One of the many fabulous parts of my job is researching new software for faculty and grad students to use for research. Zotero, the extraordinary add-on for Firefox, provided me with loads of fun. I needed to do all kinds of research to really push the add-on, so what did I do? I turned to my specialist subject. Though I’m still going through the majority of the resources I found, I’d like to share some bits and bobs from a thesis I obtained via ILL thanks to this experience.

Purls of Wisdom: Motivational factors of contemporary women knitters, a master’s thesis by Catherine A Hunt from Iowa State University.

Much of the material covered in Catherine’s relatively recently-written (2005) thesis would probably be well-known to knitters who have read the few knitting history works out there and who have taken the time to think critically about the needles and yarn in their hands, though if you’d like someone to back up what you already know, or you’d like another source telling you how fantastic knitting is, then this is still worth reading. The text is written in a style that wouldn’t alienate non-knitters or anyone who is not conversant with the social sciences (Catherine’s field is Textiles and Clothing) and has much to offer those who aren’t knitters themselves; I suspect that members of her advisory committee, if they aren’t already knitters, may have a new appreciation for the craft.

One topic in the thesis really stood out to me, and I think it could bear closer examination: the resurgence of knitting in the US as a response to the 11 September 2001 attacks. Hunt’s informants - thirteen in all - were all white, middle-class and nearly all of them highly-educated women (Hunt 2005, p 30) with graduate degrees. Three of them, in interviews conducted separately in the informants’ own homes, mentioned a possible connection between the terrorist attacks and ‘cocooning’, getting back to basics, learning traditional skills that should be preserved (Hunt 2005, p 43-44). I think it is very telling that these women espoused this idea independently of one another, though Hunt’s pool of knitters from which to pull informants may have resulted in these women already knowing each other through knitting groups or other fibre-related places or activities. It would be extremely interesting to know if other knitters of any gender felt this same pull specifically after 11 September, either as a reaction to the attacks themselves or as a reaction to how things have changed since then. A further step might be to take those findings and compare them to how knitters felt after other major conflicts (assuming studies like that were done at the time or could be done now by speaking to those who remember). But it’s an interesting idea and one unique to knitters from the United States.

I have no real complaints about Hunt’s thesis (grammar and punctuation, but that’s for her committee to critique, not me), but reading it makes me really wish there were more knitting ethnographies out there. Perhaps this could be my own clarion call.

Should you have the chance to get this via ILL, I recommend it. I’ll just have to take it back to the library first.

One of the next items on my reading list is I Knit Therefore I Am: An Ethnomethodological Study of Knitting as Constitutive of Gendered Identity, a doctoral dissertation by Kristina M Medford of Bowling Green State University. And it’s online, so you can read it too!

Let’s move on from theses now, as I’d like to chat about a recent project: Alkar. Alkar is an Irish Hiking Scarf I knitted recently - yes, just an Irish Hiking Scarf, nothing special - but he has deeper meanings than anything else I’ve knit so far. I mean, look at him:

The Knitting You Can’t Give Away. That was nearly the title of this post, despite the use of ‘you’ instead of ‘one’, which would infuriate an English teacher I had when I was much younger. I can’t give Alkar away, nor can I wear him. He will probably live on my scarf shelf forever, unused, unloved, but respected. Fellow sci-fi enthusiasts may get the name.

My mother had brain surgery Thursday morning; I think I’ve mentioned before that she had a tumour that was causing her a bit of bother. I won’t go into what happened just before her surgery or since, but I am assured she’s doing well and will probably be out of the hospital today. She and I aren’t currently speaking, so I haven’t heard any of this from her.

I’ll stop there, I think. I don’t know you internet people well enough to go into all of it. But let me tell you how her surgery fits into Alkar’s story. Alkar is…well, he’s the anti-prayer shawl. Sort of. When I was dealing with all of this passive-aggressive nonsense, the rejection by my mother, the worry about what might happen, the resurgence of my feelings about having an alcoholic parent, about how this last course of school has been so ill-timed, how all of my friends are experiencing extreme heartache of their own (so why bother them?), how I’m still so unhappy with myself…ad infinitum, ad vomitum. And all that was poured into a skein and a half of Cascade 220 Heathers in a lovely light purple.

Alkar. He’s on top of my stash cabinet right now because I don’t know where to put him. I suspect that if anyone tried to wear him right now, they would spontaneously combust or fling themselves off a cliff. I wouldn’t gift him to my worst enemy. So he’ll sit somewhere I can see him and he’ll remind me of how knitting can help - wait, we all know the EZ quote. “Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.”

Thanks, Alkar. Just don’t come near me for a while, yeah?

All this has got me thinking about perfection, probably because I’m having my own personal extravaganza of imperfections lately. When I look at other peoples’ projects on Ravelry - tikru’s [insert colour here] Gables come to mind first, as I’m dying to knit one of those - I don’t see the mistakes. I suppose most of us don’t generally see other peoples’ mistakes, knitting or not, unless we look closely - and after all, they’re design features.

I struggle to remember that should I knit something and it is a colossal disaster (sort of like the Titanic, but with string) it isn’t time wasted nor is it the end of the world. Figure out what went wrong, frog, relax the yarn and try again with the newly-learned lessons in mind. If I do this, I’ll be a better knitter and a more patient person. That’s the ideal outcome, anyway.

I’ve also been having some body image issues recently. I live in the thinnest state in the country (she says, sighing, because Colorado is only (!) 19% obese), and I’m not the svelte young woman I was a few years ago. Depression, anxiety, depression and anxiety meds and dislocation have left their mark on me and it hasn’t been easy erasing it. I console myself by saying that, when I’m not languishing in too-large jeans and t-shirts, I sort of have a pin-up’s body - acres of breasts, a small waist and hips you could bake a small pizza on. I don’t think I know quite what I mean with that last bit, but it makes sense at the mo. I’m not obese, I’m not even that heavy, I’m just not the radiant goddess I feel I was in my early twenties. So I’m trying (though not very hard) to lose weight. I eat an amazing diet; we never eat out anymore, we cook everything from scratch, eat loads of fruit and veg, beans and lentils and even our sweets are homemade (though the chai buns aren’t really all that healthy, but the watermelon sorbet is alright). Diet-wise, we’re doing great. It’s just that pesky exercise. I need to learn to knit and walk.

Back to knitting, though. I would like to be thinner for purely practical knitting reasons: garments would take less time, less yarn and less hassle. I could wear things knitted in worsted weight and not cry because I thought I looked like a badly-stuffed sausage. I don’t know. I know I’m not that overweight, and if I put up pics of myself on t’internet, you’d know as well. I suppose those Tomato pics are up waaaaaay back in the archive, but I’m thinner than that now. Hrm. You’ll have to trust me.

And finally, the slight finishing spree. I managed to crank out those coasters (though mine isn’t yet fully…fullled), make a tissue packet holder and finish that Colourwork Bag. Pictures!

The Lad’s coaster:

My coaster (for my massive, massive sheep mug):

Tissue Buffer:

Colourwork Bag (both sides):

When I’ve finished all of the Pi-Topper hats for my mother, I’ll post pics of them here. If you’re on Ravelry, you can pop over to my notebook to see them for now.

Right, it’s time to end this blog entry. I have to revise for my makeup exam tomorrow and there’s no time like the present for reviewing the importance of olfaction for Lemur catta.

Life is somewhat poor right now, but it’s getting better. “Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.”

Yeah.

I am rather dissatisfied with my knitting at the moment. I have loads of big plans for knitting, but it seems I never get round to them. I’m not one of those folks who can have a multitude of WIPs going, so I try to stick to a couple of things - and it usually works out alright. But lately? Nah. Here’s the rundown of what I’ve got going at the mo.

• Razoresque Cami: at 95%, near to hibernating. It is tight tight tight but flattering, but I think I’ve ballsed up the straps. We needed some space, so this is sitting on top of my knitting cabinet.

• Galactica Bag: definitely hibernating at 95%, has been for a while. Don’t know what to do with this one; I’ve reknit it too many times. We also need some time apart.

• Quinny Quinny Quinn Quinn: I have lining avoidance syndrome and I don’t want to give the bag to the original recipient (personal reasons, not because I like it too much).

• Masala Moonlight: Frogged. It didn’t want to be that scarf.

• First Colourwork bag thing: This doesn’t know what it wants either, and all I have to do is bloody attach the pieces and make a handle - but I can’t, because nothing seems to be right. Infuriating.

I’m sure all of these projects will tell me what they want eventually, but I wish they’d hurry. In the meanwhile I’m trying to stick to my stash, but it is raaaaaaaaather uninspiring. Here’s what I’m up to now:

• Tumour-be-Gone hats: for my mother, who is having surgery this month. Easy pattern - Pi-Topper Chemo Caps - but difficult knitting, you know?

• Irish Hiking Scarf in Cascade 220. Mindless but still looks a bit impressive, I suppose. I’m knitting this on our rainy days or when I’m sufficiently air-conditioned. Hardly brave knitting for me, but it keeps the hands moving.

• Coasters. I have a wooden desk at work and desperately need a coaster and some colour in that room. So it’s Noro scraps to the very small rescue. I’m casting on tonight and hope that they’ll be the fibre that…erm. I shan’t go any further with that horrible quasi-gag. But I’m hopeful a small project will do me good.

So, nothing exciting on the fibre front, which is grumpymaking. I continue to hesitate on making a cardi because I’m still steadily losing weight; at the speed with which I’m dealing with projects these days, I’d finish the cardi and have to give it away. That’s not on, folks. So I wait, and keep knitting scarves, coasters and more scarves. And I reckon I’ll do another felted bag soon-ish. Sigh. (I should note that I’ve been toting round my Slice of Sea bag and I love it.)

I hope to have a better update soon; maybe I just need to drink a few cups of coffee and go fibre insane.

In non-knitting news, tomorrow is the first day of my last undergrad lecture, which is exciting. I have also been retained at my job for six months after graduation (next month) - even better. So things are generally looking up, and let’s all remember that even knitting doldrums are passable.

See you soon.

That’s sort of where I’m at right now. I’ve just entered the second half of my first summer class, and straightforward, relaxing (though maybe not as rewarding) knitting has been on my mental menu. Fulling by hand is a great way to get out tension as well as exercise the arms and shoulders - I’ve got fabulous forearms at the mo.

Of course, it all started with Michaela’s Hurried Sidekick. I promised pictures of it in my last post, so here it is, starting with the pre-fulling view (look at that SWS shine!):

It took two goes to get this to the right size; after the first bout of fulling, it didn’t seem the right size for someone as fast-moving and electric as Michaela, so in it went again and aaaaahhhh, perfect:

I’m happy to say she loved it, and she was even using it on a day she didn’t know she was going to see me, so that’s something. You can see - if you squint a bit - that there’s a snap sewn in; I think that was the most difficult part of the whole bag!

Elated by getting some of my SWS stash out of my house, I went on a mission. Fulled bags. First was the Slice of Sea bag (SWS in Natural Denim):

And that was followed by the slightly different Slice of Slate bag:

I might give this another round in the sink, but here it is at its current fulled state:

I have enough SWS in Natural Earth from old projects so that I could do another Sidekick-esque small bag, but we’ll see. I’m still chugging away on my Razoresque Cami (sigh), though I’m concentrating on another fulled bag at the moment - and eek, I’m doing colourwork!

I was so nervous before starting; my very first attempts at colourwork ended in tears and shouting. This time, after a few false starts, I was on my way. I’m making a new mp3 player bag using the chart from KnitPicks’ Come in from the Cold coaster and cuff set. I’m sort of using the Fake Isle technique - my snowflake is in Noro Kureyon (scraps from my Beige-Fighting Bag) and the rest in Cascade 220 (leftover from my Dashing Aubergines). I’m really chuffed at how well this is going. I’m sure that listening to David Reidy talk to Kaffe Fassett recently helped - I was very impressed (and later calmed) by Kaffe’s comfort with messes. All those bits of string!

But so far so good with my fledgling attempts at colourwork. I got over the puckering quickly enough, and I’m really happy with the results.  I’m definitely going to include colourwork in future projects, though I’ve got a long way before I attempt anything by the ‘messy’ Mr Fassett.

I continue to put up old projects on Ravelry; every time I think I’m finished, I look at something in my house and say to myself, “Hey, that’s [crocheted/knitted]!” I suppose it’s like art on the wall - you forget about it, take it for granted after a while. Oh fibre creations, I still love you, you’ve just lost that sheen of newness. But they’re slowly going up on Ravelry. The Even Better than the Topsy Turvy I put up recently has been getting some attention over there, which is really nice. I may make another one of those soon, but crocheting has been giving my wrists a bit of bother recently. I suppose doing a knitted version isn’t out of the question…but first, the colourwork!

Edited to add: the first half is finished! I like the gradual shift in the blue; I’m going to try and get a similar shade shift in whatever colour I choose for the other side.

Colourwork + me = fabulous.