Month: November 2008

The pictures of everyone’s Pangea shawls are starting to come in—and I’m so impressed with everyone’s handiwork!

Linda took all sorts of beautiful shots. I especially like this one with the shawl highlighted against the autumn leaves.

Here’s Shari’s shawl. Isn’t that deep wine color yummy?

And here’s a beautiful purple version from PugUgly. The solid color really lets the stitches pop.

Remember—you’ve got until noon on the 24th to send in a photo of your finished piece and to be entered in the prize draw.

Thanks to everyone for helping make my first shawl pattern such a rewarding project!

Besides political lobbying and licking wounds, I mean.

Well, I’ve been doing some casting on of smaller projects in preparation for gift-giving. First up is the Qiviut Neck Muff (Ravelry link; I couldn’t find any other pics on-line) from the new Luxury One-Skein Wonders: 101 Small Indulgences, designed by Jackie E-S of HeartStrings. I knit my first one in Fiesta Yarn’s Ballet (my new fave!) and am now working on my own variation of the pattern in a different colorway of the same yarn. Be forewarned that Jackie is a lace-pattern genius, and if your spend much time surfing her site, you’re apt to wind up with a very full shopping cart.

I’m planning on knitting one or more Promenade Scarves (another Ravelry link). I love the tailored look of this piece and the interesting stitch pattern.

I also have a Lace Ribbon Scarf on the needles in Rio de la Plata Multicolor Sock. This yarn is noro-esque in its construction, a marl of different colors that change at different rates, so one color or another predominates at different points. The colorway I’m using mixes black, brown, and teal, so the scarf is masculine and feminine at the same time, and really could be worn by either gender. I’ve seen this pattern any number of times, but was never inspired to knit it myself until i saw Ann’s version of it on Mason-Dixon Knitting (scroll down, you’ll see it). She really emphasized the zig-zags when blocking, and doing that made the scarf sparkle for me in a way it hadn’t previously.

And the exciting lace news… VintageKathleen from Ravelry has announced that in the new year she’ll be charting up and publishing on-line lace patterns from an 1884 sample book. They’re from a composition book she purchased that began with school notes, then moved clippings and recipes, and ended with lace patterns and knitted samples. This book is a wonderful piece of history, and I’m very much looking forward to working its stitches into some of my own knitting. You can read all about it here.

Melissa and I went to bed early last night after a somber and unproductive day. I’m still trying to decide how I can respond to the passage of Proposition 8 in California. But I’ve had a bit of a revelation:

Think of the difference it could make if Barak Obama appointed an out lesbian or gay man to a Cabinet-level position in his new administration. At a time when we’re explicitly being made separate and unequal under law, he could lead the nation in showing respect for the abilities, integrity, and value of all of us with such an appointment. If you agree with me on this, please consider sending him an email, giving him a call—(202) 224-2854—or writing a letter endorsing this idea to your local paper or Democratic Party offices.

Thanks to those of you who have written with kind and thoughtful words. They are comforting and strengthening me right now, and I very much need them.

Not only is this not knitting—it’s political. You’ve been warned.

Like much of the country, I’m pleased with the national election results, but that happiness is completely overshadowed by the passage of Proposition 8 here in California which eliminates the right for same-sex couples to marry. On the one hand, no big deal. So we’re back where we were before June 17, eh?

Well, no.

Before June 17, Melissa and I didn’t have the right to marry, but we also hadn’t been explicitly written out of our state’s Constitution. Written out of the Constitution. As in: you are different from me and I fear you and view you as less than human and will turn my fear into an explicit rewriting of the key document that is supposed to protect all of us, so that I have a right that you used to have and that I have taken away from you without knowing you, without knowing your relationship, and without knowing the value of your relationship not only to yourself, but also to your family and your community, so that you will be treated differently than I am under the law.

And if you voted for Prop 8, don’t try to tell me you’re not denying me anything because I “can still have all the legal rights of marriage with domestic partnership.” That’s like telling someone forced to sit on the back of the bus or to go to a segregated school “you still get to ride/learn/whatever.” The back of the bus is the back of the bus—and any time you tell someone to sit there you are telling that person that you see her as less valuable, less human than you see yourself.

That’s what five million, three hundred and eighty-seven thousand, nine hundred and thirty-nine (and counting) of my fellow Californians have just said to me.

I am experiencing an anguish and an anger that I don’t know how to express fully and that I don’t know how to live with. I have a wife, family, friends, and students who need me to keep going about my usual business of loving, supporting, conversing, thinking, sharing, and teaching, and all I want to do is curl up in a fetal position far, far under the covers as if somehow that could make this monstrosity not to have happened. We are not back to where we were before June 17. We are somewhere else, somewhere much uglier—and must more unjust—than we’ve been before.

Here is Melissa’s rendition of the cats posing by the front steps in their Halloween costumes.

Top row, l to r: Archy as Zorro; Oliver (the next-door’s kitten, who has an unrequited passion for Sparky) as King Kong; Damian as the Pirate from Ipanema (he couldn’t quite make up his mind).

Bottom row, l to r: Beazor under the cloak of invisibility; Mortimer (a rather nervous neighborhood cat) as a dust bunny; Sparky as a cowboy; Maggie as Queen Elizabeth I sending off the troops to defeat the Spanish armada; and Penny as a ninja.

Tomorrow is election day, and we are all looking forward to a happy outcome, not to mention an end to the seemingly endless campaigning!

But we would like to ask your indulgence as we make a last-minute plea. Those of you who are regular readers know that Sarah-Hope and I got married last June, following the California Supreme Court’s decision that it is unconstitutional to deny an entire class of citizens the right to fully participate in civic life; specifically, that you cannot deny gays and lesbians the right to marry.

Tomorrow Californians will vote on whether they agree with this decision, or whether they want to encode discrimination into their state’s constitution. Anti-gay forces from around the country are pouring massive amounts of money into a huge campaign of fear-mongering and outright lies, and polls indicate the vote could go either way.

The No on 8 Campaign desperately needs money to get out the vote tomorrow. Please help them, and help ensure that gays and lesbians are granted their full rights as citizens of the state of California. Click here to make a donation now.

Thank you!!!!!!!

P.S. Even if you don’t live in California, this will affect you. California is considered a vital battleground, and if the far right wins here, they will go after each and every state, and probably even the US Constitution.

Hooray! If you’ve made it this far, your Pangea Shawl is almost done. Click here to print out the final step. Click here for larger Chart H and larger Chart I, if you’d like.

I found the last nine rows—which are true lace, with increases and decreases on both right and wrong side—a bit challenging, but Chris says they went smoothly for her. Just don’t give in to any temptation to sip a bit of wine as you’re finishing up: early celebration could be disastrous!

Here’s Chris’s finished version of the shawl in a holiday setting.

And here’s one more look at my version of the shawl.

Don’t forget to email me a picture of your finished shawl before noon on November 24 (shATwhatifknitsDOTcom). If you do, you’ll not only be entered into a prize draw for some gorgeous hand-dyed lace-weight. You’ll also be eligible to compete for the Test-Knitter’s Choice Award that Chris will bestow.