Knitting in the Time of Corona

I started the year with nine WIPs with a plan to finish those as well as use the yarn I had bought in the closing down sale and knit for charity. The only projects I should start that do not fit in those parameters is gift knitting. So I had no right starting two new projects just because I'm self-distancing. OK to be fair one is a CAL with my two knitting buddies that I meet on a regular basis. These meetings are now video. We thought it would be fun to have a knit-along (except we ended up with a crochet along). This involved us agreeing on one pattern that we could make with yarn in our stash. Not an easy job; although we each had a few suggestions. Then I was going through yarn I had been given because somebody was going through stash and getting rid of leftovers and I thought, I could make a shawl of many (OK 3 or 4) colours with this yarn. So a pattern that was an early suggestion was chosen. And, thus, three Virus Shawls were started.

But not to be beaten by this extra time I have and actually finish something, I found a mystery KAL. This is hosted by Arne and Carlos, designers out of Norway known for their colourwork. I have never made any of their patterns, but this was a way to use up leftovers as you are making a square every day. The KAL was already a week and half in when I found it so I just started on the current day and will catch up when I can. For example, there are no squares on the weekend so I can get two extra worked on those days.

This is the first square I made. I made slight changes to the way it is worked. Two edge stitches either side are worked in garter stitch and the first three and last three rows are all knit to give a small garter stitch edge.



This was before blocking - I have been very good and sewn in all ends when I have finished the knitting - and the yarn is in the photo to show how much of the background colour I had left when I finished the square - not much.

And Now For Some Knitting

Way back in February I said that there had been gift knitting and charity knitting going on. I have made a hat for charity in each month this quarter and I will try to post all three hats before the end of the quarter. I have finished the project I started with the first batch of yarn from the closing down sale (and cast on the next project) and finished my oldest WIP, the cardigan. As with the Advent shawl, no decent photos yet. I do have photos of the gift knitting.

But before I talk about that, lets have a recap of the many (LOL) projects on the needles. I still have seven WIPs that were on the needles at the start of the year and two WIPs cast on this year and two WIPs cast on while in self-distancing (and my mitred squares). So in my effort to reduce WIPs, I know have two more. Oh my, what am I thinking?

Anyway here is the gift knitting.

I have a drop spindle, which I try to use most weeks because practice makes perfect, although real life doesn't work that way. I have been very careful not to buy fiber until I need it; I have also been very bad at noting when I start and finish spinning the fiber. This is fiber I purchased in May 2018 after I finished spinning some practice fiber.



I did not make any notes about how I split the braid for spinning but as I ended up with two plyed balls I guess I split the braid into half and each half into two. I decided not to worry about the colours when I plyed, so in some places it is barber poled.



That was August 2019. But what to make with it? Something for my mother which I finally started in January. I had an idea of making a hat with the yarn and settled on a pattern from Drops Design. I like the way the top of the hat came out.



Having made the hat, I still had quite a bit of yarn left so I decided to make the fingerless mitts from the same pattern. I don't know how much my mother will wear them but I know she is pleased to receive anything I make.

The Problem With Social Media

While I was drafting my last post something happened on Facebook which summed up the problems of the online world.

It involved pasta sauce, which I have found to be a big on-line shamer by those who make their own sauce.

A very good friend posted on FB a picture of some pasta sauce that she had found that did not contain certain foods that her child is allergic to. (As background her child has numerous allergies and food sensitivities.) People made comments about liking that particular brand, great that you’ve found something, shame your kid can’t eat that. I commented, which is something I rarely do, a joke about how much she bought.

Someone asked “why not make your own sauce?” An innocuous comment on its own. The response - “I’ve got enough on my plate.” The only possible responses are, nothing, I’m sorry to hear that or anything I can do to help. But this is pasta sauce. People who make pasta sauce cannot leave pasta sauce buyers in peace. So does the commenter say I’ll make you some? No she replies “it’s pretty simple.” And that made me incensed, so from rarely commenting on FB I now comment twice on the same post in a short space of time. I thought before posting – what would I do if this was a real life interaction I was part of, I don’t know this other person, I should support my friend – she said she has enough on her plate not that she doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to or doesn’t have time. So my response was “give her a break”. Then someone else posted if it works for her family it’s a win. And that’s when I got worried. You see it so often, one comment becomes so many, and that was certainly not what I wanted to happen with my comment. It was not to be the start of a long line of jar is best.

The make-your-own person quickly responded with a back off and her comment was for the OP not anyone else. I could have responded to that but I didn’t because, it was not my thread, I didn’t want to spend time pointing out that she was not listening to the OP, I didn’t want to make it uncomfortable for my friend and anyone else following her. She knows I’ve got her back.

What I have learnt from this is:- as it didn’t involve yarn there was no piling on in the comments, never admit you buy pasta sauce, don’t comment on FB.

Hypocrisy, Laziness, Superiority

I haven’t written anything for a while, not because I have nothing to say or nothing to show but because of what is (still) going on in the yarn industry. And I feel I need to address that before, literally, getting back to my knitting.

In November I wrote that pointed attacks have died down but now it is new year, new attacks. I am not going to say sides but people of all beliefs are being attacked or being the attackers and most of what is happening falls under one or more of the categories used in my title.

Let’s give some examples. Hypocrisy – calling a designer names when another person posts how bad that designer is but you have kits in your online shop to knit various of this “bad” designer’s patterns.
Laziness – stating that Ravelry’s policy upset 50% of knitters. This is lazy extrapolation from voting data whereas we do not know how many people were upset by Ravelry’s pronouncement.
Superiority – watching a troublesome video and telling black people not to watch it. Because I am protecting you.

There are many more examples. Complaining about being called names while deliberately mangling a person’s name; stating that I’ve met some Trump supporters and they are nice people but democrats are not nice; (Hello, there are nice and not nice people of all political persuasions.) piling on the abuse to show that you are a good person; using the proscribed words when you have to write an apology; lauding people that have been bullied, bullying is not good (see pile on) and should be stopped but that doesn’t mean the person being bullied is not a racist; telling a Japanese person who is not offended by the use of Kimono that they are wrong; telling people that you are going to block them if they are following certain people but you are still following these bad people to check on their latest (racist) deeds; complaining about comments being deleted and people being blocked and then doing the same thing; being exactly what you are complaining about.
These are just examples that I can recall while writing this. There have been others which have gone out of my head as I did not take a note of them at the time. But my favourite act of hypocrisy was being blocked by a white instagrammer who was writing against racism because I had the audacity to tell her what racism was like in real life. And that, for me, was the point when I knew that these SJWs are not concerned about racism but just want to be seen as the good guy.