pieces of history

Some people who buy used clothing become fascinated by their previous owners. They want to know why the person originally bought the item and when he or she wore it.* I usually have no interest in the “personal history” of used clothing, but earlier this week, I had my moment of historical fascination.

After picking up prescriptions, I decided to browse in this thrift store on 19th street between Market and Chestnut. I don’t even know its name, but it’s one of those “real” “hole-in-the-wall” thrift stores. The stuff is cheap, it smells funny and there was a homeless man, or atleast a man who smelled homeless, sitting in the store, talking to one of the employees.

In any case, I bought three 100% wool skirts.** All three of them had ILGWU International Ladies Garment Workers Union “Union Made” “Made in the USA” tags on them.


Founded in 1900, ILGWU was one of the most progressive and important unions in the United States, reaching its peak of power in 30s and 40s. It began to decline in the 1960s and eventually merged with two other textile unions in 90s. Aside from being a union, ILGWU was also primarily a women’s union and given its start date, it was giving women economic and political representation even before they were allowed to vote.

So I feel like I’ve brought home three little pieces of history. (In fact, I feel reluctant to take out my scissors and do my usual round of alterations). I wonder about the women who produced them. Where did they work? What were their working conditions like? Did their union involvement make them feel like they had some control over their jobs?

It’s difficult these days to find union-made clothing. “Made in China” is a far more common label. Yet buying these three old skirts reminded me that this was once not the case.

Speaking of buying stuff, please refer back to last year’s entry for sources for buying fair-trade or ethically-produced gifts. I also seem to regularly rant about labour issues.

And speaking of the holidays, here's some light and pleasant reading suggestions. I actually haven’t read most of these, but they are all on my never-ending to-read list. The first book is political philosophy about community organizing. The next two are written by journalists about working conditions in America, either based on first-hand undercover experience (Ehrenreich) or interviews and research (Greenhouse). The latter three books are written by academics. Class Acts is, if I’m not mistaken, based on participant observation and research at a luxury hotel and is primarily concerned with the relationships that develop between the rich clientele and the hotel workers. The final two are more theoretical works about the organization and structure of labour.

• Reveille for Radicals (Saul Alinsky)
• The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker (Steven Greenhouse)
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (Barbara Ehrenreich)
• Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels (Rachel Sherman)
• The Ownership of Enterprise (Henry Hansmann)
• Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism (Michael Burawoy)

Note: I actually wrote this entry in late November. I just haven’t had a chance to photograph the skirts and post the entry until now.
* I also hate it when people distinguish between “vintage” and “thrift” clothing. To me, used clothing is used clothing. Some items may be better quality than others and some may be older, but I don’t find clothing called “vintage” inherently more valuable than clothing called thrift. (Then again, it could be more valuable in that I could probably sell an old skirt called “vintage” for much more than thrift store skirt). It’s marketing. Vintage shop geniuses who make money off ugly 70s polyester dresses.
** I initially planned to buy two skirts, for a total of $14, but the cashier decided to give me one of the skirts for free. After buying these skirts, I noticed another skirt and decided to try it on. Unfortunately it had a small stain on the front so I decided it wasn’t worth the $10. The cashier was disappointed that I wasn’t going to buy it so he offered to sell it to me for $2. That wool fabric alone would cost me $20 to buy, so I bought the skirt. Three skirts for $8, the price of a Center City lunch. Nice! This is why I love *real* thrift stores, as opposed to pricey consignment shops.

instant gratification

With class starting this fall (I am a teaching assistant for one course and taking another course) in addition to my full time job, I suspect this blog may fall into neglect. That being said, I want to try to update this semi-regularly. So here goes:

After working on never-ending projects with teeny tiny needles and sock-weight yarn, I’ve forgotten how quickly you can finish something if you use thicker yarn.

Project: Gretel Hat Attempt #2
Pattern: Ysolda's Gretel
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Black
Needles: Size 4 for the ribbing; Size 6 for the cable section
Size: Knit size regular but omitted rows 6-9 in the "Regular and Slouchy Only" section
After a failed attempt to knit this hat earlier this year, my second attempt turned out fairly successfully. The hat fits well, does not make my head look like a gigantic balloon, will be warm and does not clash with my coat or scarves. In my book, that counts as a success. More photos can be found here and here.


Project: Very Fetching Mitts
Pattern: Fetching on Knitty.com
Yarn: Patons Australia Merino Deluxe DK (a gift from Australia from Matt)
Needles: Size 4 circulars
Modifications: Added an extra set of cabling at the wrist.
Yet another pair of fingerless mitts to protect me from the cold that will be our house this winter. These ones are thicker, looser and cover less of my fingers than my other pair. We'll see which one ends up being more practical. This project was also incredibly quick to knit! It only took me about 4 days of regular knitting. I believe the hat took about 1-2 weeks of regular knitting.

In comparison, normal socks take me about 3-4 weeks of regular knitting. Fancy socks take about 4-8 weeks. And good old tangled yoke cardigan is probably going to take me 20+ weeks of regular knitting to make, if not more.

I guess if I like instant gratification, I should try sewing more.


*Note: Photos are courtesy of hubby whose status as a rock star has made his blog more popular than mine. I am slightly jealous. Every blogger secretly dreams that he or she can blog full time and earn a living, and then win a Pulitzer Prize for "Serial Online Commentary".

bursting at the seams

I almost forgot that I will be going up to Boston this weekend for a wedding. Aside from good times with friends, the long road trip will translate into plentiful mindless knitting time. This fall may turn out to be insanely busy on the books/words/intangibility facet of my life, so I’m trying to take advantage of these last few summer weeks to spend extra time on the tangible side of things.
On this trip to Boston, I hope to make progress on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I have been lusting after this cardigan ever since I started knitting almost three years ago. I have been working on it since March, even hauling it over to Europe. The sleeves are finished and I am about a third of the way up the body, so perhaps only halfway done overall. I am excited about completing the sweater, but not so much about wearing it. That’s my unfortunate gripe with knitting – there’s no instant gratification, so often by the time I finish a project, I no longer like it. My Ms. Marigold sweater vest is currently languishing in the bottom of a dresser drawer, on the verge of being donated if it weren’t for sentimental reasons (it fits small to medium, does anyone want it?), and my purple short-sleeve cardigan is experiencing the frustrations of being a short-sleeve heavy sweater, weather appropriate for only two hours out of two days of the year.

Meanwhile, I’ve been able to complete two other projects that will hopefully be more useful:
Herringbone socks for my husband which turned out beautifully despite many sloppy errors that I will choose not to disclose. The pattern and the yarn went together perfectly. As beautiful as the final sock turned out, I will never use this pattern again, because it was too annoying to knit. It requires you to knit two stitches, slip them back to the left needle, slip another stitch over, and then slip two stitches back. These socks probably took three times longer than usual to knit. The pattern also requires your full attention and yet was boring to knit. (Usually, boring things to knit don’t require attention so you can watch TV or read at the same time, while things that do require attention are quite interesting to knit).
Blue & blue endpaper mitts to keep my hands warm in the winter, since our house will be kept frigid now that we’re paying the actual heating bill. They are slightly tight, but will hopefully loosen with wear. My first colorwork project.

In examining the stitch quality of the endpaper mitts, I’ve noticed that my colourwork skills seem to atrophy quickly, so I’ve already started working on the gorgeous Selbu Modern hat in lovely lavender and white to keep up my technique. This is all with the end goal of knitting in the distant future the Autumn Rose sweater, which I now anticipate, I will no longer like once I have spent 500+ hours knitting it.

I also plan to re-complete my Gretel hat, after my previous sizing disaster. I’ve started it, but I’m currently stalled in my usual state of indecision about which size to knit.

Otherwise, once the Tangled Yoke Cardigan is complete, I may hunt for another sweater project (currently considering: Farmer's Market Cardigan, Millefiori Cardigan, Oriel Lace Blouse, Carnaby Street Pullover, Lace Cardigan, Printed Silk Cardigan and a few sweaters from Feminine Knits) but I may also get started with stash-reduction and gift and charity knitting. In this pile of lovely yarn, I see socks, lace shawls, hats and scarves! (There's actually two drawers, not just one, filled with yarn). I may even try to design something myself again. If you praise my knitting enough, you may receive something, but no promises.

In the sewing world, I finally mustered up the courage to install my walking foot and quilted two placemats. After weeks of procrastination because I couldn’t find an appropriate quilting pattern, I improvised, which proved to be easy, fun and successful.

Unfortunately, this also means I no longer have an excuse to avoid working on my Bento Box Quilt, which I started in June 2008. The quilt top is complete. I just have to sew and measure the backing and then it should be ready to quilt. I still have no idea how to quilt it beyond ‘stitching in the ditch’ (in other words, stitching along the seamlines), but hopefully if I stare at the quilt long enough, inspiration will strike.

I also need to muster up the motivation to complete this New Look halter dress, which I also began last summer. After frustrating alterations to the bust, I gave up and let the dress sit. It would be nice to be able to wear it before another autumn rolls around.

I’ve also noticed that I’m more interested in alterations to clothing, rather than sewing them from scratch. I’m not sure whether this is related to wanting instant gratification or whether there’s something intimidating about starting with just cloth and tissue paper. We shall see. Meanwhile, despite a few thrift store alteration failures, there have been a few successes. Perhaps I will post pictures in the weeks to come.

Phew! Now it felt good to get that all out! I can pretend to be all intellectual, writing about society and culture and smart stuff like that, but what really gets me going is talking about my knitting, my sewing and what I ate last night. If you don’t believe me, you can just ask my husband. He spends plenty of time listening to my endless mundane ramblings sans theoretical or philosophical musings. Or atleast I think he's listening...

confession: I like clothes*

Lotus Dress

Question: Is it less superficial and materialistic to like clothes if I make them myself?

I’ve spent a lot of time recently altering and reconstructing thrift and consignment store clothing that I’ve purchased in the last few years. (In some ways, I’m on a permanent Wardrobe Refashion Pledge—I only buy used clothing). While this activity is a creative and technical process, it also conveniently gratifies my constant craving for new clothing.

I may escape some elements of shopaholism, but some minor (or major) spirit of clothing consumption still holds me captive.

In any case, I have been working on a blog post or series of blog posts relating to fashion and clothing, which may eventually see the light of the internet. As luck would have it, I got stopped on the street today, photographed in an awkward pose by SnapGlow TV from Philly.com because my outfit “was fantastic”. Now I am the laughing stock of my husband, if I wasn’t already.


* And I suppose I have to add purses and shoes to that list.
** The dress above was sewn by yours truly using Amy Buter's Lotus Dress pattern. Sewing your own clothing from new fabric is unfortunately not terribly economical. I probably spent $50 on the fabric for the dress, though there is plenty left-over. The pattern also cost about $10 or $15. Sewing clothing using fabric from thrift store clothing, however, can be quite budget-friendly.

late night thoughts

David Brooks' article Genius: The Modern View echoes the great words of wisdom of Thomas Edison: Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration. Genius is not produced by inherent, divine talent, but by methodical practice. Which is to say, that my aspirations to be come a world-famous writer will not be realized unless I blog more often :P.

But seriously, my knitting has improved significantly since I first started over two years ago, but I spend anywhere from half an hour to three or four hours knitting every day. To be fair, most of those hours are spent knitting during movies or Star Trek The Next Generation episodes, but I am still practicing. It makes me wonder: How would the quality of my ideas and communication improved had I made a similar commitment to writing?

If Edison's words are true, then I am not sure if we are to be encouraged or discouraged. It is encouraging to know that anyone with slightly above-average skill in some area can become a "top performer", but it is discouraging to confront the amount of time and discipline required to develop that excellence. It makes me wonder if it's too late for me to excel in any area and to reverse my current trajectory of becoming jack of all trades and master of none. But it also makes me wonder how much is it worth sacrificing to become the best of the best?*


* A professor once told my friend that she was capable of becoming a leading history scholar. She would just have to pick a good area and master everything written on that topic. Of course, her research may also require her to spend several months away from her family each year. Not an easy price to pay.

fruits of my labour

In the case of the white-collar man, the alienation of the wage-worker from the products of his work is carried one step nearer to its Kafka-like completion. The salaried employee does not make anything, although he may handle much that he greatly desires but cannot have. No product of craftsmanship can be his to contemplate with pleasure as it is being created and after it is made. Being alienated from any product of his labor, and going year after year through the same paper routine, he turns his leisure all the more frenziedly to the ersatz diversion that is sold him, and partakes of the synthetic excitement that neither eases nor releases. He is bored at work and restless at play, and this terrible alternation wears him out.

~ C. Wright Mills, White Collar: The American Middle Classes

As white-collar worker in a nonprofit institution (which inevitably has its bureaucraucies), I understand my craving and my need for my manual creation. A desire to touch and hold the product of my labour—to contemplate it with pleasure. To partake in an activity that is not mere diversion, but creation that eases and releases. A comfort from the haunting sense that my work is disappearing into a labyrinth of papers, emails and electronic files and meetings.*

Finished product:
Collared Wrap from Sally Melville's the Knitting Experience Book 2: The Purl Stitch. Knit as a mother's day gift. I can't say I enjoyed four months of knitting with dull green worsted-weight acrylic wool. But I am so pleased with the final result that I am tempted to make the same item for myself...





Finished product:
Garter Rib socks from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks
Knit as a father's day gift. I am concerned that these socks are going to be too big for him.... but he will probably wear them anyways. Aren't fathers great?




* Though for the record, for the most part, I do believe my work is valuable. I just have occasional melodramatic days. :) Or perhaps, I posted this to have an excuse to present pictures of my knitting-- Why must the intangible justify the tangible? Actually, to be honest, I'm just crazy about C. Wright Mills. Everytime I read something by him, I end up highlighting every other sentence and resisting the urge to type up his entire book in a blog entry...

speedy swallowtail shawl

It’s been hard, but I’m trying to rely less on knitting patterns. Browsing blogs and ravelry and knitting magazines, I am always finding pattern after beautiful pattern that I would like to knit. It's much easier to follow a pattern without thinking, than it is to try to design something on my own..

But I'm trying to challenge myself to design my own patterns. To do the tedious swatching, the fussy calculations and force myself to learn the basic architecture of different garments instead of relying upon printed instruction. My hope is that it can move my knitting more away from the realm of passive consumption (more patterns, more books, more yarn) to the realm of active engagement and creation.*

So here’s my first design-- though to be honest, it’s really just a pattern alteration. More photos can be found on its ravelry page. My grandma has been very sick in the hospital and I needed something quick to knit up to give to her as a gift. Taking inspiration from Ysolda’s Ishbel, and the Wool Peddler’s shawl, I kept the majority of this shawl plain, but added in the border and edging from the Swallowtail Shawl, a row of gathered stitches (inspired by the Miranda Triangle Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia) and some garter rows for distinguishing the different patterns. I thought this would take me atleast a month but I finished in about 10 days! Thanks to season 1 of Star Trek and my need for distraction from my ongoing crisis about what to do with my life.

The pattern instructions are below. In order to follow them, you also need to download the Swallowtail Shawl pattern from Evelyn Clark's website.

Gathered stitches (worked over 3 stitches)
K3tog but do not slip these stitches from the left needle, yo, then knit the same 3 stitches together again, then slip all 3 stitches from left needle. (From Knitted Lace of Estonia)

Follow Swallowtail instructions up until the end of row 6. Be sure to place marker where indicated on the chart.

Starting row 7:
On all RS rows: Knit 2, YO, Knit until Marker, YO, slip marker, Knit 1 (center stitch), YO, knit until last 2 stitches, YO, Knit 2.
On all WS rows: Knit 2, Purl until last two stitches, knit 2

Knit until you reach 207 stitches, ending on a RS row (207 stitches - 1 middle stitch + 103 stitches on each side)

Next WS row: knit 2, purl 1, knit until 2 before the marker, purl 1, purl 1 (center stitch), Slip marker, purl 1, knit until 3 from the end, purl 1, knit 2

RS row: Knit 2, YO, Knit until Marker, YO, slip marker, Knit 1 (center stitch), YO, knit until last 2 stitches, YO, Knit 2.

WS row: Knit 2, Purl until last two stitches, knit 2 –> you should end with 211 stitches (1 middle stitch + 105 stitches on each side)

RS row: Knit 2, YO, knit 2, make gathered stitches until 2 stitches before the marker, knit 2, YO, slip marker, knit 1 (center stitch), YO, knit 2, work gathered stitches until the last 4 stitches. Knit 2, YO, knit 2. --> you should end with 215 stithces (1 middle stitch + 107 stitches on each side)

WS row: Knit 2, purl until last two stitches, knit 2.

RS row: Knit 2, YO, Knit until Marker, YO, slip marker, Knit 1 (center stitch), YO, knit until last 2 stitches, YO, Knit 2. --> 219 stitches

WS row: knit 2, purl 1, knit until 2 before the marker, purl 1, purl 1 (center stitch), Slip marker, purl 1, knit until 3 from the end, purl 1, knit 2

RS row: Knit 2, YO, Knit until Marker, YO, slip marker, Knit 1 (center stitch), YO, knit until last 2 stitches, YO, Knit 2. --> 223 stitches

WS row: Knit 2, Purl until last two stitches, knit 2

You are now ready to begin the Lily of the Valley Border 2. You should 223 stitches on your needles. The chart has you working the pattern over 219 stitches to begin with. In order to adjust for the extra four stitches in each row, knit an extra stitch in the following places in the chart:
- After the first YO
- Before the YO right before the center stitch
- After the YO right after the center stitch
- Right before the last YO

Purl these extra stitches on the wrong side row and place them in the same locations on the RS row.
The pattern will not be noticeably different.

After completing Lily of the Valley Border 2, you should have 243 stitches on your needles.

RS row: Knit 2, YO, Knit until Marker, YO, slip marker, Knit 1 (center stitch), YO, knit until last 2 stitches, YO, Knit 2. --> 247 stitches

WS row: knit 2, purl 1, knit until 2 before the marker, purl 1, purl 1 (center stitch), Slip marker, purl 1, knit until 3 from the end, purl 1, knit 2

Now you are ready to begin the Peaked Edging chart. You will have 247 stitches on your needles instead of 239 as called for in the pattern. In order to adjust for the 8 extra stitches, make the following adjustments. It helps to mark it on your chart—it will make it a lot more easy to understand.

All WS rows: just purl the extra stitches.

For rows, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 of the chart, knit 2 extra stitches:
- After the first YO
- Before the YO right before the center stitch
- After the YO right after the center stitch
- Right before the last YO

From rows 11, 13, 15, work additional stitches as following:
- Knit one extra stitch after the first YO
- Knit one extra stitch after the first sk2p
- Knit one extra stitch before the sk2p right before the center stitch
- Knit one extra stitch before the YO right before the center stitch
- Knit one extra stitch after the YO right after the center stitch
- Knit one extra stitch after the sk2p right after the center stitch
- Knit one extra stitch before the last sk2p of the row
- Knit one extra stitch before the last YO of the row.

This adjustment will make the peaked edging slightly wider on the side and center peaks, but is not very noticeable.

For the RS row before the bind off,
K2, yo, k9, yo, k1, *yo, k7, yo, k1; repeat from * until 11 stitches remain, yo, k9, yo, k2.

Bind off as indicated in the pattern.




*This is not to say that I won’t knit any commercial patterns at all—in fact, there is still a lot I need to learn from them and I will probably still rely heavily on them—but I need to delve into them deeper and understand them better. What exactly distinguishes the different cast-on techniques? How does a short row work? How does this pattern writer construct a sweater? What are alternate ways to do it?
** Speaking of exercises in futility, Yarn Harlots’ multiple attempts at casting on the 600+ stitches for the Miranda Triangle Shawl can only make me cringe. I would have given up after try #2. I still have not had the heart to unravel my rasta fari hat.

out of ideas

So... it’s the usual link posts, because I’m out of ideas for blog posts, aside from my usual ranting about Wall Street. Perhaps it’s time to give up on idea blog posts and convert this to a full fledged knitting blog? Wouldn’t my blog title “Look at this Tangle of Thorns” be equally applicable? Then again, I've received quite a collection of Mike Davis books for my birthday, which may provide some much-needed blog inspiration.

In any case, I have been collecting these links for a month or so, so some of them may be outdated.

As the Stanford Group’s $8 billion investment fraud was exposed the other day and Madoff’s ponzi scheme remains fresh on our minds and Wall Street’s excesses continue to anger us, this quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt seems appropriate:
“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

But what better way to describe the American economy than a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip?

However, I do believe, aside from our Dick Fulds and Bernard Madoffs, there are plenty of other people who deserve to be punched in the face.

On a side note, I’m glad Caroline Kennedy did not get nominated to Senator. Kathleen Parker accurately describes my sentiments: “The real rub is that she hasn't earned it. The sense of entitlement implicit in Kennedy's plea for appointment mocks our national narrative. We honor rags-to-riches, but riches-to-riches animates our revolutionary spirit.”

Borrowing words from the Oscar-nominated movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that I didn’t like so much, “Nothing lasts”. It’s unfortunate that good things don’t last forever. White Dog Café, a model restaurant for socially-responsible business practices was sold earlier this January. While most news sources report a rosy, PR-friendly story, other sources indicate otherwise. I'm not sure if I will be eating there again.

Likewise, this site illustrates the transformation of the organic food industry over the years—as small businesses end up being acquired by large corporations.

But nothing lasts also means that George W. Bush is no longer president. So instead of complaining about what a horrible president he was, we can now remember with endearment his unique patterns of speech.

Oh my gosh! It’s a utility knife for knitters! And I just got it for my birthday thanks to my hubby!

Speaking of hubbies, for those of you in the midst of wedding planning, this blog documents one couple's $2,000 wedding. It also might be nice to determine to see if your interior decorating styles match up and whether or not you want to have children and invest in a few good cookbooks. And if you really want to feel cool at your wedding, you can hire paparazzi to mob you.


* Knitting details. Two sets of socks. The grey speckled pair above is a pair of Garter Rib socks from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks for my dad. I am fretting that I will run out of yarn. The blue/pink pair of socks are a set of baby socks, loosely based on Two at Once, Toe Up sock pattern. I am using size 0 needles and koigu yarn, which has some of the most beautiful colorways that I have ever seen. I am also fretting that the final socks won't fit. How big are newborn baby's feet anyways?

exercises in futility*

Ohhh knitting, you are such an exercise in futility. I spend hours upon hours knotting you with gentle care and love, eagerly anticipating the beautiful final product and then you let me down. And I must resign myself to the fact that I will have to pull out all those individually placed loops and roll you back into a ball.

My most recent failure: remember the lovely cabled hat that I was excited about? Well, it turns out that it’s just a tad too big and looks like a rasta hat.

So…. whenever I can muster up the courage to unravel it, I will have to reknit it with smaller needles, but I don’t think I have the persistence to do that before warm spring days roll around. So I will be taking a nice long break from it.

Knitting requires quite a bit of unraveling to fix stitch or sizing mistakes. Luckily, most knitting can be undone and redone, but it can be quite frustrating to spend hours working on something, only to discover that it has to be undone and redone again. Unfortunately, making mistakes doesn’t go away as you become a more seasoned knitter (atleast not in my experience). In fact, I rarely complete a knitting project without some unraveling and re-knitting. I suppose it builds character.

So after a failed project that has required quite a bit of concentration, I’ve been unmotivated to embark on anything new. I’ve been trying to finish up some simple part-tedious, part-relaxing gifts.

Since November, I have been working on a Collared Wrap for my mother.


It’s in a jumbled mess in this photograph, because the shawl is over 50 inches long and I’m currently doing the edges, which have probably over 300 stitches. (That sounds like a lot, but gorgeous lace shawls with teeny tiny cobweb yarn often have over 1000 border stitches). While easy to knit, it hasn’t been too enjoyable because the yarn is acrylic, (Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice-- I believe that is Vanna White’s Vanna’s Choice) and not as pleasant as wool. I would love to knit my mother something out of nice wool, but she likes to use her washing machine.

I’ve also started on a pair of Garter Rib socks for my dad out of the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch (a sensational knitting book by the way because it provides charts to help you figure out the sock sizing based on your gauge). Tiny needles, tiny stitches. I have yet to knit my dad anything as a gift and I think these will be nice and useful.



*Or exercises in humility depending on your predisposition towards half-full or half-empty glasses of water.

a simple twist

how can anyone resist a well-formed cable?

In my first few months as a knitting newbie, I saw my mother-in-law knitting cables on a sweater. Having only knit shapeless charity sweaters and scarves, the cables looked incredibly complex and difficult to me. Much to my surprise, my mother said that they were rather easy and encouraged me to try making the same sweater. So I did. After an hour or two of intense concentration, I was pleasantly surprised to see the same beautiful aran cable pattern emerging:

And that is the wonder of cables, and most knitting in general—beautiful, complex-looking but often only a matter of following instructions to create. As some say, knitting requires learning two types of stitches, and the rest is just a matter of counting. Or to borrow the words of former President George W. Bush, it’s not “rocket surgery”.

Cables are made when stitches are knitted out of order—creating the effect of twisting or traveling strands. Many store-bought sweaters, especially the J. Crew and Gap variety, feature simple cables.

For those of you who would like further eye candy, here are samplings of cable designs that go beyond the Gap/J.Crew/Express variety:

• Most sweater designs have cables that run vertically but they can also run diagonally across a sweater.
• Sideway running cables can create beautiful yokes such as this Cable Luxe Tunic and this Tangled Yoke Cardigan (hopefully my next sweater project!).
• A few simple cables can create a gorgeous gathered front or celtic designs.
• Cables can also be used to create elaborate designs such as this wedgewood blouse.
• Twist Collective designs often prominently feature cables. I particular love this sweater coat, but doubt that I'd have the patience (or yarn money) to knit something of that scale.

And for those of you who do knit (I don’t know how many people who read this blog actually knit…I know that I’ve tried to teach a few people who read this blog how to knit in a rather imposing and imperial fashion…), here are some useful tutorials:

• General cable tutorial (in general, knitty.com has excellent tutorials... but really, you could just ask me and I will happily harass you with endless knitting instruction...)
• Cabling without a cable needle tutorial
• Unventing a cable – how to decipher a cable and figure out how it was knit

As for free cable patterns, the Knit for Kids Aran Sweater that I first made was a bit on the complex side for a beginner, but still doable. However, if you're looking for a shorter project, I would recommend trying a headband, a simple scarf or some fingerless mittens. The headband pictured below may also make a good first cable project, but it's not a free pattern. I used the Cabled Headband pattern from the book Knitter's Book of Yarn.**



* The black beret is knit with size 8 needles in Cascade 220 100% wool, based on the pattern Gretel
** The book is actually available from the Philadelphia Public Library, (if any branches still remain open...). I knit this on size 3 needles using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted Yarn. You may see me sporting this around Philadelphia. It looks a bit like a halo because my head is so round.
*** On a side note, does anyone have good recommendations on how to post photos in blogger? I'd like to show more images on my knitting posts but can't seem to get around the annoying blogger interface...

knitting blog?

Sometimes the knitting bug hits hard and all I want to do is stay at home on the couch, watching some illegally downloaded TV series (LOST or Ugly Betty perhaps?), with my fingers wrapped in yarn.

I might write good reports or interesting blog entries, but nothing compares in quality with the satisfaction of creating fabric. From one dimensional string to two dimensional cloth to three dimensional garment. The pleasure of physical creation is embedded in each stitch of this seemingly repetitive and mundane activity.

I’ve been knitting for over two years and can now handle almost any pattern (aside from extremely thin lace-weight yarn and complex colourwork), and am becoming comfortable with the structure and math that goes into making garments. I find myself daydreaming about being a knitting designer—sitting at home producing patterns and then running around the countryside taking photos, and keeping a knitting blog of course. (Though to be honest, it may be another year or two before I will be able to design something on my own).

Perhaps my love of knitting has grown in recent months, because I finally sense that I might actually be good at something. While my previous delusions of writing grandeur have resulted in the beginnings of silly fantasy novels that I will never show anyone, atleast I have a few hats, socks and sweaters to show for this. But then you also have to wonder if this impractical activity is just a distraction from figuring out more important matters, like what I am actually going to do with my life.

But in the meantime, a few practical matters:
1. Should I start posting more pictures and information about my knitting/sewing projects on this blog? This could result in frequent posts cluttering up your blog feeds with flash photos of awkward poses, strange blogger formatting and chatter about what needles were used and how delightful the yarn was. Or, should I start a separate knitting blog? I fear that would imply too much of a split between my brain and my body… but I may be willing to sacrifice idealism for the sake of practicality and retaining readership (!)…
2. Crochet/Knitting group at my place on Monday night! Please figure out how to contact me if you’re interested. You’re welcome to come if you don’t know how to knit or crochet and would like to learn. You can also come if you’re male.

*The cardigan above is from the pattern Cherry, knit with Rowan RYC Silk Wool DK on size 4 needles.

book reviews last quarter 2008

I seem to be at a blank with trying to write blog entries so I decided to post my book reviews for this quarter early, though I will probably end up reading quite a few additional books in this last week of December as I will be on vacation. I'm excited about having some time to read since I have some really fascinating books lined up. A semester of assigned reading has awakened a desire for further exploration of different topics. I’m currently reading Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink as I have been reflecting on individual responsibility in systems of oppression. The book is so far absolutely fascinating….


I seem to be similarly stalled with my more tangible crafting pursuits. Here's a photo of a pair of baby socks I've knit up recently for an undisclosed recipient. I have plenty of "stash" yarn still sitting around, but nothing seems to be inspiring me to knit...




In any case, here are the reviews. I use the lovely non-pretentious rating scale from Goodreads
*didn’t like it
**it was ok
***liked it
**** really liked it
***** it was amazing

Fiction

*** The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz) ~ Having studied minority and postcolonial literature in college, I’ve been wary of reading “minority fiction” since much of it follows a similar narrative format. However, after attending a very interesting reading by the author, I decided to read the book. Using references to popular American science fiction and fantasy and to Dominican culture, the book narrates the life of Oscar Wao, a nerdy boy who cannot seem to get a girlfriend. The book also traces the history of his mother and his mother’s family during the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The ending was a slight letdown but by no means ruined the book. Diaz is a phenomenal writer—his style is engaging and funny and this novel is a fresh take on the traditional immigrant narrative. It is not obsessed with identity, but rather concerned with presenting a story and a history for its characters and the Dominican Republic.

*** Migritude (Shailja Patel) ~ This continues my respect for relatively unknown authors that we never see grace the display tables of Barnes and Nobles. Shailja Patel is a Kenyan poet, playwright and theatre artist. Migritude is the transcript from one of her spoken word performance peaces. In poetic form, it traces the impacts of colonialism and postcolonialism and her own migration around the world. I’m not much of a reviewer or connoisseur of poetry, but I enjoyed reading the poems very much and found the images and phrasing powerful, beautiful and memorable.


Non-Fiction

*** Theories of Development (Richard Peet and Elaine Hartwick) ~ This book presents an overview of major theories of development (a.k.a. why some countries are poor and some are rich and what to do about it)—neoclassical, sociological, dependency, feminist etc… It does an excellent job of describing the different intellectual assumptions that underly these theories and how it influences the solutions that they advocate. Throughout all of this, the authors present their own view on development. While this book is an great primer on development, it can be at times a bit dull and confusing. The authors try their best to coin the development of these different theories, but sometimes end up listing a bunch of scattered conferences, papers and ideas.

** The Mystery of Capital (Hernando de Soto) ~ De Soto argues that what prevents poor countries from becoming rich is the lack of property law that enable individuals to transform their fixed assets into capital. He explores the history of property rights in America and examines the untapped wealth owned by the poor. De Soto’s assessment of the situation may be too idealistic and overromanticizes the potential of the small micro-businesses but his book still provides an accurate assessment to one of the significant reasons why the poor are still poor.

**** Third Sector Development (Christopher Gunn) ~ This book provides an excellent overview of various third sector organizations—credit unions, community land trusts, traditional nonprofit organizations and cooperatives. It highlights their role in American society and in particular focuses on how these organizations increase and create social surplus in their communities and contribute to development efforts.

*** Culture Jam (Kalle Lasn) ~ Written by the founder of Adbusters, this book describes and critiques our consumer and marketing oriented culture in America. The book explains concepts in a conversational and easy-to-understand tone, though at times it appears to be trying too hard to be cool. In particular, the book emphasizes meme warfare, and the importance of changing American consciousness and attitudes.

*** The Meaning of the City (Jacques Ellul) ~ From Cain’s first city to the new Jerusalem, Jacques Ellul traces the role that the city plays in the Biblical narrative. He highlights the city as a symbol and source of man’s pride, the city’s significance as a work of man’s hands and its importance in the new heavens and earth. While conversational, Ellul’s style and arguments can be hard to follow at times. There were definite sections of the book that were skimmed or “zoned” out as I was reading. That being said, Ellul has some real fire in his prose and his ideas were very provocative and insightful. His Biblical exposition of the city definitely provided a better framework for how I should relate to the city.

*** Not Just the Levees Broke (Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc) ~ Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc is from a working class family whose house and home were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. The first part of this memoir narrates her family’s experience of the disaster, including the multiple day grueling aftermath of waiting to be rescued. The remaining portion of the memoir recounts Phyllis’ emotional life after the hurricane as she copes with her trauma and continues to grow in her faith in God and love and forgiveness for others. This memoir is no literary masterpiece but it manages to be very real, moving and powerful.

when words signify nothing

I'm frustrated. I've been trying for months to write something thoughtful about crafting, production and consumption, to go along with these pictures, but I've only ended up irritated with my own writing.

It made me think of this passage from Thomas Merton's New Seeds of Contemplation:

If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy.
If you write for men-- you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make a noise in the world, for a little while.
If you write only for yourself, you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted that you will wish that you were dead.

So perhaps I post this entry somewhere between "writing" for myself, for men and for God: Disgusted with my own words, craving to make some noise, but also sensing a deep joy from being able to create these objects that I know comes from God. And because of that latter joy, maybe these pictures can give you some pleasure as well, as they certainly give me child-like delight to post. (Past pictures can be found here)

So perhaps, it's appropriate that I limit my words in an entry that's designed to be about what cannot be made with words.

(By the way, if you feel so inspired to learn to knit, I'd be more than happy to show you. The offer doesn't stand for sewing though, because I'm still fumbling about. I am writing a lot for an entry that isn't supposed to be about words... )

Note: For some reason, a huge space is showing up between the text and the pictures on my browser. I have no idea how to fix it. Sorry!

	charade socks knit as a christmas present for my mother
	socks knit for matthew during our move-in; they were started during a very tense afternoon of combining and attempting to organize our book collection...
	socks knit for matthew during our honeymoon
	elijah the elephant, also dubbed roger the republican because it is an election year; knit for my brother as a birthday present
	ms. marigold; knit for myself; I started the vest in august of 2007 and did not finish until june 2008 because I was intimidated by the prospect of picking up stitches for the neckline
	the backside
	reversible winter capelet; knit for myself after two failed attempts of using that same yarn to make a halter top
	clementine shawl; knit as a belated mother's day gift this year; this is a picture of it blocking on my ironing board; lace shawls require blocking in order to stretch out the holes and give the pattern more definition
	the finished product
	a quilt made for charity, completed at quilting group at narberth presbyterian church; my real first sewing project
	an apron for myself; the first thing I made with my sewing machine-- this apron is incredibly good use considering the amount of mess I make when I cook & eat
	a rosetta t-shirt converted into a halter top
	a basic a-line skirt made in a class at the sewing shop spool located at 19th and south in philadelphia
	a pincushion :)
	the start of another quilt for charity; this is just the top-- it still has to be combined with the batting and the back and then quilted

there's a whole world out there

Lots of blogs have many entries that consist mainly of interesting links (e.g. The Elegant Variation). Since nothing in this world is truly original, I'm debating whether or not to do this permanently on a weekly or monthly basis, so I'm trying it out.

Basically, here are some interesting links (articles, sites, thoughts) I've stumbled upon recently. Most of them have probably made me want to write a blog entry about them, but by now, I know that I will never get around to it, but I think these links are worthy enough to be shared.

In order to disclaim any credit for my own web surfing skills (though I do probably spend too much time on the internet), most of my article browsing comes from: Arts and Letters Daily (actually most of my links come from here), the Philadelphia Inquirer, Footnoted, Craftzine blog and the NY Times. I occasionally visit McSweeney's, Adbusters, and Slate. I keep the Economist on my bookmarks toolbar folder to motivate myself to read it and keep up with international relations and economics, but I never actually do. I've also started frequently the Daily Pennsylvannian blog, now that my friend Nick is blogging for it. I have now finally started using Google Reader, which wonderfully cuts down on the amount of listless surfing I do.

• The whole Dawkins/Hitchens/Harris atheist debates are raging on. Just as a few Christians may not agree with others of the same faith, the same thing seems to be happening in the arena of non-belief. A Third Edge article presents a more balanced view of religion. And a glowing review of the recent book, Darwin's Angel: An Angelic Riposte to the God Delusion can be found here (okay, this may not have been written by an atheist, but as far as I know, it is a secular publication).
  


• An academic blog debate has spurred as a result of Bitch PhD's ranting complaint about her $5000+/month salary. Oh No a WoC PhD writes an excellent "Shame List" regarding academia in response.


• Since carbon offsets are now morally questionable, the latest development in keeping our carbon footprint small is to stop having children.
  


• Both Madeline L'Engle and Luciano Pavarotti have passed away recently. If you have not read Madeline L'Engle, I highly recommend that you start with A Wrinkle in Time.
  


• Seward Johnson has some amazing trompe l'oeil sculpture copies of famous paintings. Much of his collection can be found at Grounds for Sculpture, a 35-acre sculpture garden in NJ.
  
  
• Knitting is not boring (except when I'm really trying hard to finish a sweater). I want to be able to make this someday. I also wouldn't mind being able to spin out this vest. In the meantime, I will stick to bunny rabbits. There's also been quite a boom in knitting art: These sweatshirts can keep you up to date with the news. There was also that knitted homes of crime exhibit at the ICA.

touchy subject

Being a financial analyst by occupation and a writer/reader at heart, I usually work with the substances that cannot be touched. Abstract numbers, thoughts and ideas, shuttling back and forth from computer screen to paper to words. It is work that I have to continuously interpret to others, with more words, in order to explain its value. Sometimes, it's just so refreshing to just be able to hold something in my hands and not feel obliged to say anything at all.

Tom Wolfe, in his novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, illustrates the simplicity and the intrinsic value of working with the tangible. Sherman McCoy is a hotshot bond salesman at one of the top investment banks in New York, but struggles to tell his daughter Campbell exactly what he does*:

"Daddy... what do you do?"
What did he do?
"Do? What do you mean, sweetheart?"
"Well, MacKenzie's daddy makes books, and he has eighty people working for him."
"Oh ho! Eighty people!" said Sherman's father, in the voice he used for small children. "My, my, my!"
Sherman could imagine what the Lion (his father) thought of Garland Reed. Garland had inherited his father's printing business and for ten years had done nothing with it but keep it alive. The "books" he "made" were printing jobs given him by the actual publishers and the products were as likely to be manuals, club rosters, corporate contracts, and annual reports as anything remotely literary. As for the eighty people-- eighty ink-stained wretches was more like it, typesetters, pressmen, and so forth. At the height of his career the Lion had had two hundred Wall Street lawyers under his whip, most of them Ivy League.
"But what do you do?" asked Campbell, now growing impatient. She wanted to get back to MacKenzie to give her report, and something impressive was clearly called for.
"Well, I deal in bonds, sweetheart. I buy them, I sell them, I --"
"What are bonds? What is deal?"
Now his mother began laughing. "You've got to do better than that, Sherman!"
"Well, honey, bonds are -- a bond is -- well, let me see, what's the best way to explain it to you."
"Explain it to me, too, Sherman," said his father. "I must have done 5000 leveraged purchase contracts, and I always fell asleep before I could figure out why anyone wanted the bonds."
"Your grandfather's only joking, honey." He shot his father a sharp look. "A bond is a way of loaning people money. Let's say you want to build a road, and it's not a little road but a big highway, like the highway we took up to Maine last summer. Or you want to build a big hospital. Well, that requires a lot of money, more money than you could ever get by just going to a bank. So what you do is, you issue what are called bonds."
"You build roads and hospitals, Daddy? That's what you do?"
Now both his father and mother started laughing. He gave them openly reproachful looks, which only made them merrier. His wife was smiling with what appeared to be a sympathetic twinkle.
"No, I don't actually build them, sweetheart. I handle the bonds, and the bonds are what make it possible-- "
"You help build them?"
"Well, in a way."
"Which ones?"
"Which ones?"
"You said roads and hospitals."
"Well, not any one specifically."
"The road to Maine?"

Later on, Sherman speaks to his wife who is an interior decorator for rich people.
"Well... atleast you're able to point to something you've done, something tangible, something clear-cut-- Even if it's for people who are shallow and vain, it's something real, something describable, something contributing to simple human satisfaction, no matter how meretricious and temporary, something you can at least explain to your children. I mean, at my company, what on earth do you tell each other you do every day?"

*This a cut excerpt from the novel. A lot of the detail has been eliminated. This is an excellent book by the way- page turner yet also an incredibly incisive social critique of New York in the eighties.
** Another notable quotable from the book: "She was thinking about the way men are in New York. Every time you go out with one, you have to sit there and listen to two or three hours of My Career first."
*** Perhaps these pictures are evidence of my only real achievements during my own New York sojourn.