FO: Short-Sleeved Cardigan with Ribbing

Meh.

The back looks quite nice though.

I had a hard time choosing buttons, but in the end I think I did good!

The pattern is from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. It's the first item I've made from the book (though I'm working on another). I'll wear it, but I'm not completely happy with it. It's got weird bagginess under the arms which I think is a design flaw since I've heard that so many other people have had that problem as well. Also, using a smaller needle size for the ribbing only causes one to have to block super aggressively so the ribbing will fit around your waist and arms. (Though knitting this on size 10.5 needles means that I had to go down an extra half size. In retrospect I should have gone down a half size less than required, but how was I to know that then?) I also had to aggressively block the button band as I suck at picking up stitches evenly. I don't like how unstructured the button band looks, but to be fair the picture in the book looks the same way. I love the yarn, though - it is Cascade 128 Tweed in the most lovely shade of green with flecks of red, blue, and yellow.

Another thing which made this project frustrating is that there are a number of errors in this pattern which are not in the errata. For example, the horizontal ribbing on the front is written such that you end up making the ribs on the inside rather than the outside and it's difficult to know this before doing it, as the instructions are written in a confusing way. Also, the math on the sleeve decreases make no sense as written, so I just winged it.

I don't feel too bad about the project though, as it did come out well enough to wear and was very quick to make. I think it was a total of 3 weeks, not including the re-blocking and hunt for buttons, and I was also working on a sock at the same time. Not so bad!

Banned Blah Blah Week Blah

I am happy to say that my library is not celebrating Banned Books Week (or BBW as the ALA likes to call it). This is probably because most of my co-workers are so professionally out of the loop and uninvolved that they don't even know about it, but in my little fantasy world it's because they, too, feel only apathy and a bit of irritation at this time every year. I have to agree with the Annoyed Librarian - I see that these so-called banned books are widely available in libraries and bookstores and I just can't bring myself to care much.

Banned Books Week is, of course, a misnomer. None of these books are banned, they are just challenged by parents who don't want their children reading about gay penguins or dog scrotums. We all know that there are scary fundamentalist Christians and their ilk everywhere, just looking for things that upset their delicate moral sensabilities that they can complain about. Why do we need a special week to draw attention to them?

The ALA says that they will continue to use the word "banned" because "A successful challenge would result in materials being banned or restricted." But these are all local actions, and in reality a successful challenge would result in one book being removed from one library in, perhaps, a small town in Alabama. I can't accept that this really constitutes banning. After all, everyone in that town in Alabama can still go out to their nearest bookstore and buy a copy. And if enough people care, they can probably petition the library to return the book to the shelf.

In a way, it's more about taxpayers trying to shape their library's collection, which brings me to a point I mentioned in a previous post: most censorship is done by librarians during the collection development process. Librarians will fight to the death to make sure that Harry Potter stays on the shelves once it's there, but my library just came perilously close to not purchasing a copy of If I Did It because one person does all of our adult collection development and that one person happens to find the book offensive. But you don't see stories about that on the news, do you? If librarians are going to talk about banned books, I think we need to examine what we ourselves are doing that may constitute censorship because ultimately we are the ones who have the most control over library collections.

The ALA says that Banned Books Week "celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them." Well then, let those parents express their opinions on the inappropriateness of the Gossip Girls series because we know that nothing will come of their complaints anyhow. If it is intellectual freedom and access to information that we are so concerned about, perhaps we should turn our attention away from these small isolated incidents and spend a week promoting more timely and relevant issues such as library funding and net neutrality.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini's second novel did not disappoint me, despite the unfavorable comparisons with the Kite Runner. It is the story of two women who both end up, through very unfortunate circumstances, married to the same man. He is not a nice man. It was exhausting just reading about the women's lives and their losses and what they endured just to survive. Without giving away the ending, I'll just say that it is worth it to see the book through to it's conclusion.

I frequently had to remind myself that though it is fiction, the conditions are real and they are recent. Reading about this sort of oppression makes me feel grateful that I have such control over my life. I can work, and can pursue whatever career I want, can go where I want to go, and can marry (or in my case, live in delicious sin with) whomever I choose (even more so, since I live in Massachusetts). I'm not going to get all patriotic because I'm sure I'd be just as happy in, say, England or the Netherlands, but I feel lucky that I wasn't born in the Middle East.

Things are looking up for women in that part of the world though. Just a couple of days ago I learned that Afghan women are shedding their burqas for Kabul's version of America's Next Top Model. Progress at last!

Began the Spicy Fitted V-Neck Tee

I love this turquoise yarn, but am not so crazy about all the errors in this pattern. Luckily, it's easy enough for me (yes, even me!) to figure out. I've decided not to include the eyelet pattern on the back. You can see what it would look like here - I actually really like her finished version, but for mine I'd like a little less of the eyelets. I'm including the back shaping, but otherwise it will just look plain.

I've gotten a bit beyond where I was in the pic above, and because I was knitting while watching several episodes of The Simpsons, I managed to make a pretty egregious error in the front eyelet pattern. Also, I tried it on recently and it's not quite as fitted as I thought it would be. Both of these factors are causing me to reconsider needle size. I'm using 11, but may frog and re-knit using 10.5. The fabric is pretty loose and drapey and I think I could go down a needle size and still fit into the top. I have to be careful though, as this yarn is way more acrylic than wool, so blocking won't help if it does come out too tight.

You know, knitting is far more complicated than I ever thought it was. I'm glad I didn't know this before, or I probably wouldn't have ever learned!

Progress on 4 (!) projects

Just to top off an already bad day, I came home and tried on my cardigan, which had been blocking. Lying there on the table it looks so cute, so comfy.



But guess what? It doesn't fricking fit. The armholes are too tight and then the parts just under the armholes are weirdly baggy. Why are armholes the bane of my existence? I got stitch gauge, row gauge- you name it, I got it. So why is this so wrong? Let me just say that I do love Stefanie Japel's designs, but I noticed that the schematics for this pattern don't include as many helpful measurements as it could. For example, the raglan seams: no measurements indicated. I did, of course, try the sweater on while it was in progress, but it was hard to tell anything about the sleeves as the ribbing was SO tight before I blocked it that I couldn't get it on anyhow. I don't think my shoulders are ridiculously large, but I haven't heard of other people having this problem.

So what do I do? Should I try to block it again? Do I just rip out the whole thing and start again? I wouldn't even know how to correct these mistakes though, because I'd want to knit longer before detaching the sleeves, but that would mean more increases, and I don't want more increases as the bust area is plenty big. Since the increases are decorative eyelets, wouldn't it look funny if I just left them out?

Oh also, the purple blob on the top left of that photo? It's Foliage from the new Knitty.



I knit it the other day to use up some stash yarn and it makes my head look like a grape. But don't let that deter you - I'm sure on a person with a normal-sized head it would look very cute. On those of us with child-size peaheads, not so much.

I do have some good news though. I'm making great progress on my second Baudelaire sock!



Dear, sweet sock! You will fit me perfectly, as does your sister, and will not plague me with weird problems that make me feel like my body is weird-shaped and out of proportion (when in fact it is you who are weird-shaped and out of proportion). No, you will keep my foot warm and look beautiful as a well-behaved sock should.

Last but not least, I have cast on for the Spicy Fitted V-Neck Tee. I showed you the yarn back here in June. I will be keeping a close eye on the armholes!

Oh, one more thing- if you are on Ravelry, I have finally posted most my projects there (my username is threegoodrats). If you are not on Ravelry, I have also posted these pictures on Flickr.

Continuing Education for Librarians

As information professionals, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about current technologies and information trends so we can continue to be relevant to our patrons throughout our careers. (I touched on this subject a bit here) This sounds like common sense, but I think we can all use the reminder. I don't know how many libraries support continuing education, but from my limited public library experience it appears that it is not emphasized enough. Let me just say that I think most of us don't want to end up being this librarian. I'd like to think this situation is an anomaly, but the fact is that many librarians do not embrace change, nor do they think their skills need to be updated regularly. I don't know if it's ignorance, apathy, or some other factor, but it appears that many leave library school and think they know everything they will need to know for their whole career.

This is a subject which I feel strongly about and could expound on at length, but instead I will offer some suggestions for continued learning. There is no one-stop shopping center for library continuing education and sometimes you need to poke around a bit to find something more sophisticated than Email 101 or Introduction to MS Excel. Here are some of the education sources I've come up with:

-Library schools. Many have continuing education classes; many of those classes are online so you can take them no matter where you live!

-Your library's network may have classes for members.

-State library associations also may offer courses.

-Conferences are always good learning opportunities with sessions on the latest trends and technologies. In addition to ALA, PLA, SLA and the other big national conferences, state and regional associations have conferences that are much less expensive to attend.

-Adult education centers. Many will include technology classes.

-Informal learning. 23 Learning 2.0 Things, reading blogs on librarianship, identifying topics you are interested in and picking up a book or going online to learn about those topics.

Any more suggestions? Leave them in the comments!

On Chesil Beach

One of the reasons why I like Ian McEwan so much is his penchant for writing about uncomfortable subjects: obsessions, incest, and in his latest book, the wedding night of two virgins with sexual hang-ups. What could possibly be more awkward than that?

In the early 60s when sexual mores are about to change, Edward and Florence are still very much of the 50s. Rather repressed, neither knows a whole lot about sex and both are rather uncomfortable with the subject. Both are from dubious backgrounds as far as opennes and communication are concerned; Edwards mother was mentally ill and the family took great pains to pretend that she was not. Florence's mother was distant, and Florence was cold to her father.

Florence is absolutely repulsed by the idea of consummating the marriage and does not know how to tell Edward this, so she simply doesn't. Edward is eager, a bit too eager, resulting in...well, some disappointing and unsexy results. The situation is made far worse because they don't know how to talk about it, and just say whatever words comes to mind, which are of course the wrong ones. It is all the more unfortunate as they were quite in love and very much looking forward to spending their lives together.

Despite the awkwardness of the situation described, the prose is very pleasing and the characters endearing. Privy to what's going on inside their heads, the reader knows that their relationship could have worked, but is destroyed because they can't communicate. The story sadly illustrates that love alone is not enough, and lives can be changed simply by misunderstanding and stubbornness. Beautiful and tragic.