FemiKnitMafia

Did anyone else notice that the woman in the Your Inner European is Irish picture has hot muscular legs? It must be all the step-dancing. I just love the line that forms between the two muscles on the outside of a woman’s thigh. Any woman. Did anyone else notice that, or is it just me? Just curious…

Last night was a festival of indulgence. I held my own personal Mardi Gras at one of my LYS (Wolcott and Co.) last night. I bought and bought and bought, with no regard for my minimal bank account balance and my responsibilites to feed and clothe one small boy.

I needed some Cascasde 220 for the two Nantasket Baskets, as well as some new Addis to make the project truly dreamy. And boy do I love the sock yarn that LocalEgg is knitting up right now, so I had to get some of that, on the off chance that I’d never see it again. It’ll be knit into a pair of socks for a secret, much-deserved gift (shh!). And then I found the perfect yarn for my 2005/06 winter hat and mitten set. I’ve been on a quest for a couple years to find yarn that will match this incredible scarf that I bought in Ireland that gets wrapped around my neck in October and doesn’t come off until April. I found a great alpaca/wool yarn called Reynolds Alpaca Regal in color #50 (a beautiful blue/purple), and it was on sale. How could I resist?

So I putting down the Branching Out scarf temporarily to focus all knitting attention on the two Mother’s Day gifts that need to arrive at the US Postal Service no later than next Thursday. Wish me luck.

I have officially made progress on Branching Out. Pictures will be posted once I get off my lazy ass and take them. Branching Out is my first lacy project. My humbling little bitch. The pride of my week. My commuting companion. She’s a tough lady. And after 22 repeats, I’m still making mistakes here and there. As the Yarn Harlot says, just when you start to get confident, the goddesses of knitting reach out and smack some sense into you. Well, she didn’t say that exactly, but something along those lines.

Speaking of … I bought At Knit’s End this weekend, and I’m laughing my way through it. She’s a funny woman, that Harlot. I shared her most recent hilarious diatribe with my Mom and wife. Mom claimed that she could’ve written it. And she’s right. I was a pain in the ass as a teenager. And Yes, I am still always late. Always. Everyone knows it. They talk about it. And yes, there is a victims association (aka my entire clan).

In other knitting news, after weeks of agonizing over Mother’s Day, I am newly in love with this Nantasket Basket pattern. I plan to make one for Mom and one for Gram within the next few days and get them in the mail in time for a Mother’s Day arrival. Think I have enough time? eeekkk. I’d better run (not walk) to my LYS today and procure my wool. This is also an excuse to enhance my collection of Addis.

Hooray Eric Berndt. And thanks to Vanessa at Feministing for posting it.

Bittersweet it is, but Connecticut is about to accept gay couples declarations of love and commitment in the form of civil unions. They didn’t fully support marriage, but passed civil unions as a compromise measure. I am of two minds on this issue. I’m psyched that CT adopted civil unions, but I’m pissed that they rejected marriage. Isn’t it nice to have second-class status? Well … sometimes. Yes… No… I mean, yes!… no!… ?? Should I drive down to CT on October 1st and add Connecticut to the list of ’states we can live in’? Or should I await a decision in the GLAD court case, and hold out for full marriage rights? I envision the certificate from our Vermont civil union hanging on the living room wall next to the Massachusetts marriage license next to the Connecticut civil union certificate, and it makes me happy to be a part of history. But … second-class status is still uncomfortable. Why should I have to frame each additional legal state and decide where I can live based on marriage rights, when all heteros can easily move from place to place with no legal impact? It would be nice to know that my basic civil rights are consistent across this fine nation.

My favorite blogger, Pinko Feminist Hellcat, deserves a swift kick in the arse for tagging me (with all due love, of course).

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums by Sonia Sanchez. Her poems are so musical, lyrical and beautiful when spoken, that I would happily memorize them for the benefit of future generations.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
LOTS.
Scully on the X-Files.
Jordan on Crossing Jordan.
Nan King in Tipping the Velvet.
CJ on the West Wing.
Queen Maeve of Irish mythology.
Most of the characters in The L Word (except Jenny).
I’m such a dyke.

The last book you bought is?
Elmo’s Big Lift-and-Look Book for my son. He LOVES it, and since it kept him busy for long stretches of a recent 6-hour car ride, I love it too.

What are you currently reading?
I just finished Work, by Louisa May Alcott. I have always poo-poohed her writing because I only think of Little Women. But she wrote Work for an adult audience and it’s actually a very politically charged book. I’m so glad I gave her a chance. After all, my wife said it was a life-changing book for her, so how could I deny that pitch? She was right, as usual.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller
a boxed set of Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker
a boxed set of The Bean Trees, Homeland, Animal Dreams and Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
I am not sure who is actually reading my blog, but if you’re reading, I would like to hear from:
The Writer Who Never Writes
MamaCate
PippiKneeSocks

Oh, I am so happy about this! Ireland is in my blood and my blog. tee-hee.

Thanks to Pinko Feminist Hellcat for the fun link.

Branching Out
Originally uploaded by The Feminist Mafia.

Yes, yes. I am branching out into the foreign land of lacy knits. After spending some time watching videos on the ever-fabulous Knitting Help.com, I was able to figure out all the crazy stitches that this pattern requires. And of course I’ve made a few mistakes. What handknit project is ever truly perfect? If it were perfect, it would lose it’s charm. Overall, this is a great pattern. Very well written. Easy to follow. The pattern repeat is every 10 rows, so you see the results pretty quickly. And it really keeps you on your toes. This is not TV knitting, and I catch my breath every time my son comes within 10 feet of my little WIP. I’m using some random pale pink stash yarn. I have no idea what it is, but I have 3 balls of it in my house. It’s knitting up fairly well, but if I make another for my Mom (shhh! don’t tell her), I would go shopping for the perfect yarn.

Finished Gray Socks
Originally uploaded by The Feminist Mafia.

Here is the promised picture of my super sexy legs. Wow-zah!

I am officially done with my boring gray knee-high socks. I’ll post a picture within a couple days. Both socks have holes at the heels ‘cuz I’m wicked bad at short rows. The cast off on one sock is a little tight and requires carefully wiggling said sock over my not-big calf muscles. The cast off on the other sock is fabulously loose for pulling it over my calf, but slides down while walking. So … does anyone have a good suggestion for my next pair? Please don’t say that I should frog and reknit these. I’ve been so bored by them that there’s no way in hell that I’m putting them back on the needles. They shall remain a flawed project, like virtually everything else I knit. But for my next pair, which could be started soon, I would like to hear some suggestions.

In other news, today I will officially start the Branching Out scarf from the new Spring 05 Knitty. Perhaps I’m a boring knitter, but overall, I was not impressed with this Knitty. In every other issue, I downloaded at least 3 or 4 patterns that I loved. But in this issue, well … there were a lot of weird patterns. Or perhaps I’m not a spring/summer knitter. Maybe I’m an old-school heavy wool cable trekking through the snow piles of New England girl. But I do love the Branching Out scarf. And perhaps once the temperature is regularly above 50 in Boston, I’ll be ready for those slinky little tanks.