November 19, 2003
Knitting As Domestic Abuse
In September, I posted a series of entries about Cultural Icons That You Think Are Creepy. With help from My Dear Readers, I ended up with this marvelous list: Sock monkeys, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Roger's meow-cat meow-puppet, Curious George, Winchel Mahoney puppets, Howdy Doody, Betty Boop, Lamb Chop, and anything that is made out of a sock and has a face. K and I have one more cultural icon to add to the list, our mutual loathing of which I think has brought us closer over the years: Teletubbies. This is a serious, Class-A Loathing of a Cultural Icon, complete with creeping flesh and slight feelings of nausea. In fact, one day, by mistake, we walked down the Teletubby aisle in a toy store. When we realized where we were, we glanced at each other and, without a word, ran out of the aisle. What a sight that must have been—two forty-something women fleeing from children's toys! So, to keep K in check, I have threatened to knit her this for Christmas. When I emailed her about her new Damocles sword, her email back to me said something along the lines of "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!!!!" Heh, heh, heh, I say, as I twirl my Mustache of Evil.
On a completely different topic, a moment of silence for the corncam. The corn has been harvested, soon to appear on a Thanksgiving table near you.
Knitting Knews
I am trying to self-medicate myself out of my knitsnit with liberal doses of fiber but I seem to be taking one step forward, one back, to wit:
As I mentioned in my last entry, I finished the baby socks on Sunday expressly in order to bring them to work on Tuesday when the Mother and Wee Bairn were to visit. One step forward.
Forgot to bring the socks to work. Mother and Wee Bairn have come and gone.One step back.
I frogged the World's Largest Sweater, cast on fewer stitches and started knitting it up again. One step forward.
Took this photo to put in the blog and noticed the big loose, lumpy loop in my cast-on. One step back.
Started an eyelash-yarn scarf. One step forward.
Got about a foot into it, my Denise needle and cable came apart, and three stitches ran straight down through the scarf in an unrecoverable eyelash-tangledy fashion. One step back.
Loved the comment by Vanessa about her current knitsnit. She was wallowing in a full-blown snit, indeed, punishing her knitting by doing needlepoint instead, until, that is, a thrummed mitten kit arrived in the mail. Then, as if by magic, snit? What snit?
I suspect I will get yanked bodily out of my snit by the mere fact that tonight is Guild night. If you are a sock knitter, you are most likely familiar with Cat Bordi who wrote "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles." Although I am sticking stubbornly to my dpns and refuse to be Bordi-ized, I'm intrigued to see that she is the Guild speaker for tonight. Apparently she recently debuted a new novel ("Treasure Forest") and is coming to speak to us about it. I will report!
Dye Garden Dyegest
As an antidote to our current truly weird weather, in which the temperature dropped almost 30 degrees in a very few hours, and we went from enjoying a balmy warm evening to waking up to 1" of snow, some summertime daisies from K's front yard:
I agree with you on Teletubbies = Yuck, but I will also go as far as to say, the Teletubbies are not a cultural icon, but a mere fad, a flash in the pan of nonculture.
I am sure their creator would be devastated by my bold statement. :-)
Posted by: Fran on November 19, 2003 05:25 PMI think it's VERY MEAN of you to torture the lovely K. with the threatened knit Po of the Teletubbies, but, alas, pretty damn funny.
Of course, darling K, incase you read this, please notice that in order to MAKE Po for you, Ryan would have to KNIT it, which would cause her grat grief and pain, and hell will freeze over first.
much love.
will report after Sunday on what the hell happens to dear insane Senta, who's been in love with the Dutchman's Ghost for YEARS, even though he's only a myth, and is going to be Surprised on Sunday instead of just dying, which would probably be better than whatever they've got planned.
Posted by: Anne on November 19, 2003 05:43 PMcan the snit be punishing me? i have knit the same mitten 3 times now, and don't have enough yarn to finish the hand :-( 4th time the charm?
Posted by: vanessa on November 20, 2003 03:31 AMAhh - the knitsnit - a real pain in the tuchus, isn't it? One of the tricks I've used is to just STOP knitting and sit down with the new magazines or a new book (knitting related) and read. Eventually (and it never takes very long for me) I run into something I just HAVE to try.
Presto! Knitsnit over!
Myria and I, absolutely DITTO about the Tubbie-monsters!
Posted by: Robbyn on November 20, 2003 08:02 AMFran, I have to agree. Teletubbies=flash in the pan. But I was so exhausted from thinking up "cultural icons" to describe my weird list that I didn't have it in me to think of something else to describe flashes in pans. Still, you're right.
Anne, what's this? Have you thrown down the glove? Are you DARING me to knit Po? (I have informed K of this dare and she says, if I DO knit Po, it/he/she will start showing up in unexpected places, causing me to emit high-pitched screams at the exact moment when I am trying to be my most professional.)
Vanessa, now I'm scared. I had no idea there was such a thing as snit-revenge! So far, Snit 3, Vanessa 0. Argh!!
Robbyn, based on what I've read on your blog, we share a passion for knitting research as well as just plain ol' knitting. I had myself a big ol' wallow in the Guild library last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Not quite out of my snit yet but the wallow helped.
Any new thoughts on knitting socks on circs after your Guild guest? It sort of mesmerizes me, but I like my wooden dpns too much to try. Or I'm too lazy, or a combo of both.
I bought 0's for the next pair, but the sad thing is......now I am so SICK of knitting forever on the socks with the 1's I can't imagine using 0s. Almost, a-l-m-o-s-t to the heel. I have been working on this sock exclusively for over a week now, and haven't even had to rip it! 0's might send me over the edge....oh wait, already there.
Posted by: Lisa on November 20, 2003 09:15 AMoops, actually almost DONE with the heel, not to the heel. See, I'm losing it!
Posted by: Lisa on November 20, 2003 09:18 AMLisa, reflections on last night's meeting and presentation in tomorrow's entry...
Posted by: Ryan on November 20, 2003 09:47 AMARgh, I have to wait??? What about my needs Ryan? What about ME? MY instant gratification? Hmmmmm?
Speaking of instant gratification, I want to go to Stitches West........this year. Not "some day."
Feeling pouty and knitsnitish....It must be catching.
Posted by: Lisa on November 20, 2003 10:09 AMNow I am going to weigh in with a fondness vote for the Teletubbies. However, it may not count because what I love about them is the weirdness of them that is lost on the target audience (one year olds). Like, what's up with the periscope that comes up out of the ground and calls out orders in an American female voice (when all the other voices are British)? Also I think their landscape looks like Doctor Who.
On the more positive side, the way they say 'AGAIN! AGAIN!' and totally rerun the video is just exactly what toddlers do. I have to tell Emily the same little bedtime story 5 times in a row because she says AGAIN.
Posted by: CarolineF on November 20, 2003 12:15 PMCaroline, that showerhead/periscope-y thingy is one of the creepiest things about Teletubbies! What a cold and robotic way to call your "children" to bed! And where are the TeleParents? And why have they let someone surgically implant cathode ray tubes in their childrens' stomachs?
However, I must say thank you for weighing in on the "con" side of Teletubbies. I know there a lot of children and parents who swear by 'em. But remember, I don't even like Mr. Rogers, so you can't go by me!
Posted by: Ryan on November 20, 2003 01:34 PM