Hooray for New Yarn!

[crysthewolf]

So for the first time in evar and evar, I ACTUALLY have a bit of extra cash. I decided I want to spend a teeeeeeensy bit of it, on this site: http://www.knitpicks.com . The self-striping sock yarn makes me go oooo and aaaaaaaah. I’m so excited. I haven’t decided what I want to get yet tho. Here’s the self-striping sock-yarn section… any suggestions?

For the time being I’ve been working on the ever-elusive afghan project (no, it’s not a suicide bomber.  Elana already beat you to that joke, sorry.)  I picked a color, picked a pattern from “Beginner’s Guide - Knit Stitches and Easy Projects“, and this is what I’ve got so far:

From knitting

It makes me happy. I like the horshoe stitch in particular…

From knitting

it just feels very, flow-ey. Is that a word? And if so, am I butchering it? =)

Been mostly working it while Chris and I get caught up on Battlestar Galactica (DO NOT spoil me. I’m only just starting season 3. If you aren’t sure what you’ve seen in which season, JUST DON’T TALK ABOUT IT. I am SERIOUSLY sick of being spoiled on this show, and I WILL eat you.) I’m hoping to be caught up by the finale… and I’m equally hopeful that someone will throw a finale party.

It’s nice to be making an afghan but it’s definitely an exercise in patience. The therapist suggests DO NOT PULL OUT THE PROJECT AND START OVER.

So NOW the question becomes… do I stick with a solid color, or do I vary??? Hmmmm, decisions decisions…

Love,
Crystal

Originally published at Crystal Knits. You can comment here or there.

Comments

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

But the thing is, a lot of stereotypes do come from *somewhere* - even if the reasons behind them are more complex than just "they're weird" or "they just inherently suck." And I think it's really important to be able to acknowledge that these dynamics exist, otherwise we just shut down the conversation and paralyze everybody. We all *know* that certain cultures have certain tendencies. We can't force ourselves to deny our own perceptions of reality. Jokes, if told mindfully, are a vital way of keeping the dialogue open.

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

*nods* to me, I think it depends on what effect they're having. The joke keeps a dialogue open. However, I would prefer that dialogue be about our culture, even poverty, in general at least as much as it is African American culture (because, like I said, the woman could have been from any background. What I knew about her was that she had a lot of children who were making a lot of noise and that she couldn't remember the name of the father of one of them.) However, if it becomes a point where the joke becomes fuel for a person to think that "all black people are poor" and "all black women have too many kids by too many different babies' fathers," I don't think it stops at being offensive... I think it breaks into territory where you're suddenly dealing with what people think of as a good excuse to put other people down.

One of the reasons I emphasize that I really DON'T know the culture of this woman, is that I believe that her problem goes beyond culture. The depth of complacency about her own situation that this woman was dealing with is a societal issue... and we all know that it isn't just an issue in the African American community.

I also think that where I end up with this whole thing is that I draw a sharp distinction between "racist" and "racial".

I draw a distinction between the two because I think one of the reasons people DO get up in arms is because they think that everything "racial" is automatically "racist". If I'm noticing a difference between my culture and yours, I must be putting you down, and that's not always the case.

I'll tell you something that usually pisses people off when I say it... race is a social construct. It doesn't mean it's bad, it doesn't mean it's good, and it CERTAINLY doesn't mean that racism doesn't exist... or that people shouldn't be proud of their heritage. It means that race isn't where the discussion should end, and it often does. When it comes to the ills of society, they're really only about one race... and that's humanity.

Which sounds completely cheesy I know... but it's true.

Does race, heritage, history, culture, play IN? Of course. Does that make us all a bunch of racists? Mm, no, not really.

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

Just want to say that to me, it wasn't a story making fun of black people - it was just that the way she spoke added a lot of "flavor" to it all. (In other words, don't stop telling the story, cuz it's awesome.)

I agree with you that not everything racial is racist, but I just think that there's a lot of gray area in between the two.

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

*nods* very true.

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

You have these discussions on a pretty regular basis. Where on EARTH do you get the energy to keep going with them?

Maybe it's just that my current job kinda wears me out, but damn girl, I gotta sleep sometime, LOL.

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't have them all that often.

I think my energy comes from the fact that I'm often doing this when I *should* be doing my job. And my job is boring, so this actually *gives* me energy - it's a way for me to stay connected to the world, I guess.

Re: STUPID BRAIN ... LET ME GET SOME WORK DONE!

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

*nods* sometimes I feel like my work is draining the life out of me because I'm not really DOing anything. Just having arbitrary arguments about things that the people who SHOULD be having, aren't. =P