Necessity's a Mother

Mother of invention?  Um...not exactly.  But at the moment I can finally boast 2 finished sleeves for Cecilia sweater.  In fact, here they are in all their unblocked glory.

Unfortunately the reason for this embarrassment of riches is a little, well, embarrassing.

I have to call myself a writer because, well, I write.  Obsessively.  For the hell of it and for no particular reason at all.  I also have to call myself a writer because I'm as weird in my writing habits as any established author.  Mechanical pencil and composition book?  Check.  Massive swathes of erasing and crossing out?  Check.  Word documents on Open Office?  Check.  All saved on a single 10-year-old flashdrive with no other purpose but to contain every poem, story, novel fragment, and brain dump accumulated over an entire decade?  Check.  No backup?  Come on, people, you mean you haven't seen stupider writing tactics?  My hearty congratulations, and may I suggest you stop reading my blog and go check out a real book.  While I wait for a guy named Lou in Irvine, CA, to receive what's left of my flashdrive and recover my collected works from what I can only hope is the damn thing's still-functioning brain.  Figures it's the hundredth or so time I knock my laptop off the couch with the drive still plugged in that the USB connector decides to give up the ghost and snap clean (or rather, jaggedly) off.  Or is it the hundred-and-first?

Anyhoo, here I sit with aching fingers and teeming brain (cross-reference Keats on that one, will ya, and correct me if I'm wrong?), with nothing to save my projects to besides my bastard lovechild of a cockroach and a brick wall, aka my ThinkPad, and no excuse not to make headway on some knitting.  At least while I still have both arms, both legs, and no flashdrive.

Get off my soapbox!

Once in a blue moon I get the urge to talk one of the forbidden subjects, i.e. politics, religion, sex.  Most of the time I find it easily suppressible with a good knitting project and a glass of wine or several.  And then I got bogged down in 1930s tunic sweater (which is going to end up 1980s midriff sweater at the rate I'm going) and started getting distracted by Facebook.  It turns out (to borrow a Douglas Adams-ism) that I've got a lot of very politically minded Facebook friends.  You get those too?  The ones that really don't post at all except to rant about gun laws and race relations and birth control and Obamacare (that's for those of us who live stateside, by the way--the rest of you can just point and laugh if you want to)?  This is my answer to them.  Disclaimer, please stop reading if you are easily offended and/or just wanted to get into the knitting pretty pretty please.

Anyhoo, obviously I'm not one to talk as an American.  I was born outside the country, grew up with my ears full of Chinese idioms and my belly full of rice and stir-fry, and pretty much hung out with whoever didn't judge me by the slant of my eyes or my Oxford English vocabulary.  But if you want to get to know the very core of your country, you check with the people with the least amount of "foreign" influence.  The ones who haven't traveled outside the country--heck, probably haven't left the state if they could help it--who grew up in the same place generation after generation, and whose great-great-grandchildren will probably die on the same piece of land their ancestors were born on.  Horry County, SC, seems as reasonable a study population as any where that's concerned.  And taking an informal poll (readily volunteered, mind) of the more vocal locals (ooh, that was an awful rhyme if I ever heard one), this is what I've found.  Keeping in mind that this is in monetary terms, not idealistic ones, i.e. what will you shell out your hard-earned inflatable dollar for.  You taking notes, Mr. President?

The quintessential American does not want to pay for:
1) anything involving the word "government"
2) healthcare
3) sex ed/birth control/women's issues (still trying to figure out if "children" counts in this category or healthcare)
4) education
5) the arts
6) rainforests in Africa/South America, the hole in the ozone layer, insert latest environmental thingy here

The quintessential American will gladly pay for:
1) guns
2) oil (though at a reduced price like it used to be)
3) religion (do I add "fetuses" to this one, or is that a separate issue?)
4) sports
5) a standing army

On a related note (see category 2, number 4 above), anybody else wonder what would happen if we turned some of the bigger and more frustrating international summits into mud-wrestling matches?  For one thing, I think they'd get a bigger audience.

That might just about do it.  Should be a long while before I do this again, and seriously, I never judge a knitter by his/her political beliefs, so please extend me the same benefit of a doubt and ignore this post if you're easily offended.  And also, get off my soapbox!

Regenerations

As I've mentioned about a gazillion times, this fall I was...sort of gently coerced...to give up my Claudette scarf and wristwarmers for a good cause (yes, I consider funding for the arts a good cause, don't make me get on my soapbox now).  Winter came and went, and I used heavier/warmer stuff while concentrating on lace.  In early spring, I wished I hadn't stupidly offered up nice warm scraps for the price of a discount concert ticket, but projects came and went and I couldn't really spare the time.  But with summer starting to wind down, it was time to re-evaluate my to-do list.

Small victories, indeed, but on the eve of the announcement of the next Doctor, I officially present my "regenerated" scarf and wristwarmer set.  Like the Doctor, it seems to have changed its face (earthier colorway, less crochet-work on the scarf and more coverage on the wristwarmers).  If it deserves a different name than "Claudette," I would completely understand.  One day I might even come up with a good one.

For yarn, I'd estimate this at...worsted-plus?  Novelty/handspun with varying thicknesses along the length welcome.

 Claudette gloves:

Cast on 24 sts and work in the round.
Ribbing: k1p1 around for 9 rounds or desired length.
Body: knit even 6 rounds or desired length.

Thumb gusset:
round 1: k12, place marker, m1, k1, place marker, k to end of round
round 2: knit
round 3: k12, sl marker, m1, k3, sl marker, k to end of round
round 4: knit
repeat increases until you have 11 sts between markers, knit 1 round, then knit to marker, slip sts between markers to waste yarn, co 1 st, knit to end of round.

Body: knit 6 rows or to desired length, then work in k1p1 rib for 6 rows or desired length.  Bind off.

Thumb:
transfer sts on waste yarn to needles.
k1 round, pick up and knit 2 sts over cast-off edge (13 sts total)
next round: k to last 3 sts, knit those 3 together using centered double decrease of choice (10 sts total).
knit 3 rounds or to desired length.
work k1p1 rib 6 rounds or desired length.  Bind off.

 Claudette scarf:
Cast on 28 stitches or desired width.
Knit 2 rows (garter stitch border).
Next row (body): k2, k1p1 to last 2 sts, k2 (the k2s form the garter stitch border).
Repeat body row to desired length or until almost out of yarn.
Bind off.
Pick up last stitch in bind-off on crochet needle, chain 12 sts, attach to body.  Repeat crochet loops evenly across bottom of work (mine formed 4 even loops on each side--see pics).
Pick up 1 stitch at opposite end of scarf and repeat crochet loops.





Well, so much for that.   Seems a bit anticlimactic.  And still not a ginger.