Comodification, long words and the exclusivity of political dialogue

(Posting from Blogger as Posterous doesn't want to play with my computer at the moment.)

A lot of people talk about politics, and a lot of them are quite ill-informed.

A lot of people write brilliantly informative political and feminist articles, which are very clever and entirely incomprehensible to the average person.

I posted something up this morning on my facebook page, and someone replied with something in Latin. Now, that may well have been the best and briefest way to express what they wanted to express about my post, but it was entirely exclusionary. In order to reply, I had to search for a translation of what they meant, and even then I don't really know if I got the right meaning.

The feminist movement is particularly guilty of this. Take the word, 'comodification'. I don't know what it means. I've come across this word numerous times in various contexts. I've looked up it's meaning more times than I can recall, but it just won't stick. There are other words which are commonly used in feminist and leftist literature with which I have the same problem.

So, an intelligent and well-educated person who is interested in the subject and comparatively well-read generally does not understand much of the literature due to the use of exclusive words? Guys! You have a problem!

By definition, those who are interested in and writing about politics want to engage in political dialogue and bring others round to their point of view. So why is the language so hard to get a handle on?

I discovered a new word the other day: cyberbalkanization. You should look it up. And then look at your own internal dictionary, and wonder if it might need a little trimming.

AD fucking D

Last weekend I was with my family for a big party in Ireland. There were two significant birthdays and a little baby cousin. It was a lovely weekend.

In preparation for seeing my lovely little cousin (and in deference to my ongoing broodiness), I had prepared a number of little knitted items for her; a cardigan and a set of 70's style dungarees (waaaaay cuter than they sound). Whilst there she was wearing the little booties with the cute coloured ribbon that I made for her a while back.

My family now think I'm some kind of baby-wear messiah. My aunt is looking around for shops which might want to carry stuff I've designed and made, at boutique prices that are actually worth my time. I've got a spreadsheet to work out costings per item (including time) for various of my baby designs. My sister even came up with a name: Mary's little lambs.

This is a really exciting idea.

So why is it that all I've been able to think about or work on for the whole weekend is a simple raglan cardigan, in stocking stitch, for me, at a gauge of 7.5sts per inch? It's going to take forever. It's really selfish. It's not useful. It's almost anti-productive. It's so ADD.

All work and no play...

I like to think that I am incapable of being dull, but in an effort to prove myself right (and fearless), I have done my first stranded colourwork!



This is a jumper for my little cousin Claudia. It broadly follows Elizabeth's Percentage System (EPS) from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop. I used a couple of simple colour patterns from the chart on page 25 (the ones for the gauge hat in part I, lesson three), one before each round of decreases (as per the yoke sweater instructions of part II, lesson two).



I'm really impressed with the way it came out. As you can see in this picture, my stranding isn't perfect, and it puckers a bit. But it's my first try, and I made it in a day, so I'm not too worried.



Olivier DeMeerkat thinks it's swell, and I think Claudia will too.



Happy Mary :)

The blog has been quite quiet recently. There is a reason for this, well, several. Firstly, I am doing a degree and we are almost into April, so things are heating up quite severely, and I'm very busy with that. The second reason is that the main thing I am knitting at the moment is a black, mostly acrylic, very simple jumper for DH; it's not very interesting. It makes for good TV knitting at the end of a long day of accounting, but not very good for blogging about.

So, this blog may go a little black for the time being, but just you wait until the second half of May! I've got SO MANY projects lined up!

Mitten pattern

I was recently given Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac and was inspired by her Mitred Mittens from May. However, I was unhappy with the fact that they pointed in the middle of the hand, instead of pointing where hands naturally point, at the second finger. However, that then leaves no space for the thumb as written by EZ, so I’ve created it differently, on the side, which then means the gloves are also ambidextrous. So, as promised, here is the pattern:

Sirdar Click DK with 3.25mm needles. 18 sts and 36 rows in 4in stocking stitch.
To fit a hand measuring 7" (8") around the palm at the knuckles
Note: To get a nice line up the back and front of the hand, work the k3togs as follows: Put needle in next two stitches as if to knit together, and slip them instead. Knit the next stitch and pass the two slipped stitches over.
CO 42 (46) sts
Work back and forth for 2 garter ridges
Join in the round taking care not to twist
Row 1: k41 (45), m1, place marker, k1
Row 2: k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k7 (8)
Row 3: k41 (45), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 until the cuff is about 1” longer than you want it to end up. I like a short cuff, so only did 9 increase/decrease rounds before starting the thumb, so that’s the row count I’ve used here.
I’ve written out quite full instructions for the thumb, but basically, you create it between the two seam stitches.
Row 22: m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k7 (8)
Row 23: k42 (46), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1
Row 24: k1, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k8 (9)
Row 25: k43 (47), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k1
Row 26: k2, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (13), k3tog, k9 (10)
Row 27: k44 (48), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k2
Row 28: k3, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k10 (11)
Row 29: k45 (49), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k3
Row 30: k4, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k11 (12)
Row 31: k46 (50), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k4
Row 32: k5, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k12 (13)
Row 33: k47 (51), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k5
Row 34: k6, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k13 (14)
Row 35: k48 (52), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k6
Row 36: k7, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k14 (15)
Row 37: k49 (53), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1, k7
Row 38: k8, m1, k1, m1, k5 (6), k3tog, k11 (12), m1, k2, m1, k11 (12), k3tog, k15 (16)
Row 39: k50 (54), remove marker, m1, place marker, k1, m1
Separate off the next 15 sts for the thumb and put them on scrap yarn

Carry on repeating row 2 and 3 until the outer seam reaches to the base of your little finger nail without being stretched. Continue knitting in pattern, omitting the increases on the outside of the glove, but continuing on the thumb side, until the number of stitches either side of the k3tog ridge is the same. Omit all increases and continue decreasing until you have only 10 sts in total. Break yarn and thread through stitches, tighten and weave in ends.

Take the stitches from the scrap yarn and work in the round until level with the top of your thumb. Work a round of k2tog then break yarn, thread through all stitches, tighten and weave in ends.

And there you have it, ambidextrous mittens with an interesting stitch pattern, and that fit the end of your hands properly.

Gees, why does life have to be so busy?

So I'm wimping out on the Ravelympics. Life is just too busy, and I'm away from home for two of the three weekends of the Olympics. So, yeah, life is busy. I've finished a jumper - it's pretty pretty. I'm adapting a Sirdar pattern for a jumper for my Darling Husband Tom (it's being knitted in black mostly-acrylic yarn. Yes, I really do love my husband). I also have some purple sock yarn that I will morph, using my standard sock pattern and magic, into a pair of socks. But I don't deal well with deadlines.

So, given that I have the very large deadline of my degree, I'm wimping on the Olympics. I will do the Hitchcock Blankie, but not today.

Pics and jumper pattern and mitten pattern to follow. Mwah. :)

P.S. I may have slightly had a glass or two of wine, and be a little bit tipsy. I blame my mother's alcohol tolerance for my lack of same.

The mittens will have to wait

I may have set myself up with too much to do...

At the moment, I feel like I have three jobs, one full time and two part time. My degree is effectively a full time job, I'm working two days a week at the hospital, and if I don't do at least an hour of knitting a day, I feel noticeably less sane. (How do people who don't knit not end up in mental health clinics being taught to knit?) So yeah, I may have taken on a bit much.

With that in mind, I'm challenging myself by taking part in the Ravelympics.

I know, doesn't follow, does it? Well, I hate being idle, and I know I work best when I'm nice and busy, so why miss the opportunity for a challenge!

The other day I was working on my sweater (pattern to follow, I'm mega proud of it!) and Hubby and I were watching Psycho. I'm not very good at horror or thriller films, and Hitchcock's the master. I was getting a lot of comfort from hugging my Big Silly Pink Shawl, and had a flash of inspiration for The Hitchcock Blankie.

The idea of The Hitchcock Blankie is that it should be a nice simple stitch that one can easily memorise, and thus knit the blanket whilst watching scary films, that it should be squishy (technical term) so that if you need something to hug, it hugs you back, and that it should have two eye holes on one of the edges or corners so that if you are watching the shower scene from Psycho for the first time (as I was the other night) you've got something to hide behind, but you can still watch.

Of course, because it is called a Blankie, it will be knife-proof, bullet-proof and vermicious knid-proof.

I will be swatching between now and the 12 Feb start date, and will then be knitting the first blankie and writing the pattern in the appropriate designer event, and publishing on here by the 28 Feb end date.

At least that's the plan.

Now, I probably ought to go write that essay...