Wednesday

WTF, Random, Walk with me, Hump Day – whatever you want to call it, it’s still freaking Wednesday.

I’ve been wholly unproductive this week during a time when I should be doing NOTHING but working. The weather sucks ruining my one and only plan for the day (I may actually have no choice but to get work done) and my knitting is only blah. I fixed the Pomatomus sock out of desperation yesterday (I can only go so many days without knitting) and that was only because I’m at a standstill on the Casino shawl. Yup. You heard me. A standstill. After a WHOPPING three chart rows. In my defense, each row is 300+ stitches.

I ended up starting it on 7s, but I’m not feeling the love all of a sudden. I’m worried that when I block it the 7s will be too open. I want the pattern to show, not be a cobwebby mess of holes. So. Do I continue on in the 7s doing one whole repeat and then decide to rip, or do I rip now and go back to 6s. My swatch isn’t helping at all, to be honest. I washed it and sort of blocked it and it’s softer than soft but when stretched it looks down right meshy all over the place – 6s and 7s. One of the things I liked about the 7s pre-wash was the drape. But really – once it’s all done and blocked will that even be an issue? It’s Merino/Tencel. Isn’t that just another word for drape?

So it will sit and I will continue to feel uneasy about it.

There’s been talk of odd feelings around the blogs today – I saw it in at least two places – and I have my own oddness on a regular basis but today I’m feeling almost angry. Don’t get me wrong – I’m deliriously happy that the election process went the way it did but I can’t help but feel an extremely guarded optimism. ATTENTION DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP: DO NOT FUCK THIS UP. A win is only a beginning. We, as citizens of this fine land, have done the best we can and given you the power – not because we have so much faith in your abilities but because the alternative was untenable. Do not think that this administration will go gently into the night. You must be dilligent and focused. We need CHANGE NOT VENGEANCE, as tempting as the latter might be.

ETA: Okay. Maybe I’m feeling a little bit better about things. But just a little.

And this article in the New York Times yesterday? As scathing as it is, it doesn’t even come close to how bad The Gilmore Girls has become. Dude it’s like the fucking Waltons.

Comments

  1. But Cara – Wednesday is the belly-button of the week. It means you’re halfway there! At least in my case it does! It’s my favorite day of the work week (Monday thru Friday). I love it even more than Friday! πŸ˜€
    I think you should change needle size now before you knit another 1000 stitches! I bought the Schaeffer Trenna from Little Knits (LUSCIOUS yarn) to make the Casino Shawl. I can’t wait to start it! I’m looking forward to reading about the progress on yours. When I read you had to cast on 300 stitches I about choked. I bought the pattern but haven’t read it.
    Silly me!

  2. I couldn’t agree more Cara. Though I woke up practically giggling this morning, and never so proud to be a native Pennsylvanian watching so many congressional districts go blue… There is much WORK to be done. As I’ve said for a long time, the damage done so far will take such a long time to fix, but we must, to use a republican phrase, “stay the course” πŸ˜‰

  3. I can’t even talk about how bad Gilmore Girls is lately. It makes me cry.

  4. yeah whats up with the gilmores??? Last night I was soo expected her to feel uncomfortable with it all, loreli, i was hoping maybe in this future episodes she will be like dude I got away from all this crap for a reason, I’m not going to marry you and maybe go back to luke, but then I think what luke did to her was crappy considering he was GOING to marry her.. so uh.. yeah.. that show pisses me off to!! (yet I watch it!).

  5. GG is BAD this season. BADDDDDDD. I actually found myself cringing last night while watching. It’s quite sad.

  6. Whoa. That 1000 stitches got me.
    Stop a minute.
    Truth be told, I couldn’t figure out how a stockinette stitch swatch (hard to type for some reason)could help you make decisions about something made up chiefly of holes. Maybe, before you switch you swatch in pattern? 1000. One thousand. 10 one hundreds. Dude, swatch.

  7. I share your feeling of oddness. Wonder if it has anything to do with the democratic win. Maybe the entire earth just shifted. Anywhoo…your Sea Pearl yarn is just beautiful, I love the Casino Shawl pattern. May have to be the next on my list. I love your blog. It’s one of my daily reads!

  8. I don’t watch the Gilmore Girls anymore. What’s the point? Without the same writer, you’re watching the inside of someone else’s head. If someone wrote a book to chapter 18 and then abandoned it to a lesser writer for chapters 19-24 you’d never buy it.
    It seems to me that Amy Sherman-Palladino should have stuck by her creation to at least wrap things up decently. I don’t know how she can stand to see someone else finish it off so poorly.

  9. My sentiments EXACTLY Cara! If the Dems don’t really step up to the plate and use this gain to right some of the innumerable wrongs of this administration NOW, they won’t stand a chance in 2008!
    As far as the shawl goes, go down to the #6! Your feeling of unease will only get worse and you’ll end up ripping later.

  10. I’ve been disappointed by GG as well. And I completely agreed with your earlier post about Lorelai always looking sad. I do not like how things are going at all. The only hope I saw last night was the Luke seems to realize what he’s lost…maybe he’ll start fighting to get her back and things will get lively.
    And I just about turned off the tv when Lorelai said that cheesy line about Christopher being there now to help parent Rory, “Now we’ll be facing it together.” (or something like that).

  11. Omg, yes. My mother and I watched GG together last night (she was the one who originally got me into it) and we were both bored. She actually started to fall asleep! My theory is that they’re deliberately making this season so bad that we won’t be disappointed when they take it off the air.
    As to the election, I’m right there with you. Although I’m still ecstactic about my voting experience — every single person I voted for won! That’s never happened! Now let them please, PLEASE do good things for the country.

  12. Yes oh yes…guarded optomism. I’m hearing some of the ‘right’ things today but them Dem’s can be as fucking stupid as any other political party. We need to write, speak up and make sure we’re heard!

  13. Having just discovered GG this fall, and after being glued to Seasons 1-6 on DVD, I’m just hoping that it won’t be cancelled after this year. I’d rather have even mediocre GG than no GG at all.

  14. Gotta love show that tell you how you’re supposed to feel by playing songs (apologies to those who love Grey’s Anatomy, but I don’t need help understanding when a story is sad, or funny, or romantic. please.) Yup, GG is rather pathetic these days. Happy rainy Wednesday.

  15. Re: ATTENTION DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP… HERE HERE!!! (or is it here here? Either way, DAMN STRAIGHT!)
    And speaking of GG, I have loved this show since the beginning and I cannot watch it. A sad sad state of affairs.

  16. I was telling Dale that I’ll be gloating until January. And then we just have to hope that the Dems keep their backbones strong and deliver what they’ve promised.
    As for the shawl, could you do a mini swatch in the pattern and then block it and see what you like?

  17. These elections are the one bright spot for me this week.
    As for the article, I find this sentence completely hysterical: “But like Elizabeth in Stephen Frears’s movie β€œThe Queen,” Lorelai has a humanity that is perfectly apparent precisely in her unwillingness to betray her stoicism in favor of a therapeutic catharsis.”
    Um, come again? It’s the freakin’ Gilmore Girls. And the author JUST got finished writing about how the dialogue can force the actresses into Mamet-like trances. Takes one to know one, I guess.

  18. Good advice for the new leadership. Looks like we gave the current office the royal finger! I’m seeing the oddness too, but not feeling it myself, but then I was always kind of odd. good luck on the shawl, you’ll pull it off (or on as it were). I wouldn’t doubt your knitting for a minute.

  19. Tammy Deloach says

    well if you think you are going to rip out what you already have knitted, i couldn’t tell by the way you worded it… i would switch needles and keep going for a bit… see what 6s look like in pattern then rip it out. but i wouldn’t rip it out just to reswatch it. heck, what’s a 1000 sts! it’s just knitting! you’ll reknit those 1000 sts somewhere else millions of times in your knitting life. πŸ˜€ it’s just 1000! πŸ˜€

  20. You are putting much more thought into the Casino than I did. I picked out a needle and just started knitting. Sometimes, I just go with things. Other times I worry myself into a tizzy. Take a day and see how it feels tomorrow.
    About the NYT article about Gilmore, I was just happy that somewhat else noticed that Sam Phillips’ strummy-la-las were gone. I’ve been missing them but I thought it was just me!

  21. Before you go any further on your shawl knit 2 swatches in the shawl’s stitch pattern — one using 6s and the other 7s. Wash, block, decide, and don’t look back. Hopefully this will dispel any lingering doubts and will allow you to enjoy-joy-joy the beautiful yarn. BTW, I think you might be missing your green blanket?

  22. Huh. I always liked the fucking Waltons better than the Gilmores anyway. But you already knew that… cue my theme song.
    ; )

  23. I agree that you should make a swatch in the pattern repeat to decide on the needles.
    I am a happy camper here in Philly, since Santorum is out. Casey Jr may not the best choice for me, but I could not handle the idea that Santorum was supposed to somehow represent me.

  24. here here! on the political front, that is πŸ™‚ i can’t even begin to describe how happy i am that the dems have taken over but now i am also anxious to see if they can do something with it. we’ll see.
    i’m so glad that the CW has not messed up my veronica mars! it’s still just as good as it was the last two seasons.

  25. Sorry to get all political on your blog, but I don’t think this is the great win that we were all hoping for. Conservatives and Democrats alike have made a decisive shift to the right, especially on social issues, which is the worst time to move right. Today’s liberals were yesterday’s conservatives.
    Here in Michigan, within the past 2 years, we (as a state) have said that there should be a constitutional amendment that prohibits gay marriage. Yesterday, they voted in a constitutional amendment to ban affirmative action statewide, and voted against educational funding. All this in a strongly “Democratic” state.
    This kind of stuff is happening all over the country. South Dakota has stripped woman of her rights. California banned Affirmative Action. Gay marriage, stem cell research….I’m disgusted. Perhaps this has something to do with your “odd feelings.” I know that, personally, I am very unhappy with the events last night. I’m worried that if our Dem’s continue to shift right, the US will become a very scary place indeed. It’s time to finally abolish this two party system.

  26. I am concerned as well about Democratic leadership, i.e. whether we will be able to call it that.
    As for the shawl, I have no good advice. I’ve been frogging left and right lately. But if it were me, I would probably frog now than later, since you can always get a bit more space in the blocking if you are on 6, rather than trying to make it smaller if you are on 7…

  27. That NYT article about GG finally helped me see the light.
    But I *adore* your take on it. πŸ™‚
    (I’m having shawl woes too, but I’m too embarrassed to post them…)

  28. Amen about feeling off center today. Like, I *should* be happy like so many others are, but I have little to no faith that the Dems are actually going to be able to accomplish anything substantive, and that on too many issues they’re only republican-lite anyway.
    very guardedly hopeful

  29. I’m feeling exactly the same about this election. I woke up euphoric this morning, and maybe it’s the rain, or maybe it’s just the jaded person I’ve become after 6 years of rubber-stamps on everything the White House wants to push through, but I am not as euphoric this afternoon.
    I did, however, write letters to both of my Senators and my Representative telling them that while I was very happy with the way the election went, I wanted them to remember that they represent people, and that we have demands, too. I blogged about it far better than I’m talking about it here, but I’ve realized we all need to take a more active stance in politics every day if we want this to work.

  30. I noticed your swatch was in stockinette. Do another swatch in pattern and just dry block it see what you think of the openess then. – This way you can figure out whether the 6 or 7 needles.

  31. GG has gone away that is making me and my family sad. My husband, a last season convert, even yells at the screen – “Talk for goodness sake”. The rapid dialogue has gone away and we are not liking the pregnant pause with the characters waiting for a reaction. If we wanted that we would watch oap operas.

  32. GG may not be the way it once was – but it is so much better than last season with Luke being a jerk and Lorelai standing around and taking it.
    Lorelai has always been flighty and fickle and I have faith that this is just a phase.

  33. Thank you! You made me feel much better about not being able to watch TV this fall. (I didn’t read the article… for some reason I refuse to sign in to read the NYT and some other sites.)

  34. i know what you mean, i know what you mean, i know what you mean. about the open-meshy-ness of lace, the political landscape of 2007-2008, and the gilmore girls. why is everyone rich all of a sudden? boring.

  35. I admit it. I was one of those people that was like, “Oh, GG isn’t *that* bad now. Just give it time!”
    Uhmmm…no. I was just in denial. Last nights episode was bad. It’s not the same. Not at all. The only thing I laughed about was the intro with Lorelei pretending to get Emily’s machine. Otherwise, it just doesn’t have the same quirky-ness.

  36. About the GG. Really??? I’m addicted to it. I just started watching. I mean I’ve been netflixing them. I’m still on season 1.
    I’ve not seen any of this seasons though. I hope it get better by the time I get to it.

  37. I’ve been prowling the political blogs and newspapers all day. Even spoke to my like minded sister on the phone. Things are looking up. But what is it with Bush putting in Gates!? Can’t he think of anyone except his dad’s cronies!? What an ass.

  38. I concur with Carla. I am so glad my native PA kicked Santorum to the curb. Even though I now live in Chicago, a hotbed of questionable politics/politicians in its own right, the ousting of Santorum got a big cheer in my house!

  39. No. More. Rumsfeld. I can’t believe it. I’m with you, it makes me anxious, this change – I want it but I want it to WORK.

  40. Ugh. That was my first thought as soon as NPR said the Dems won – “Oh please don’t fuck this up…” It’s going to be so hard to get out of Bush’s mess in Iraq. Last election, even though I was disappointed the dems lost, I wondered if it might be better to let the repubs deal with their mess so we didn’t have to get blamed for it. Now, I just hope they have a good plan. But even my red state of KS, the dems cleaned up – the governor, the atty general, two congressional districts. That *has* to send a message.

  41. The last few years I’ve been embarrassed to be American — painful as it is to say that. Something had to be done. I agree that this is not an end, just a beginning, and since I want the Dems to stay in power for a while they’d better earn it.
    As for the shawl, if it were me I’d go all the way down to a 5, do a swatch and block the hell out of it, and see if that helped.

  42. Cara, dear, for your unending delight and enjoyment…a KNITTING MOVIE! Julia Roberts as a yarn store owner with a KNITTING GROUP! Check out my blog…the link for info is there! “We don’t need no stinkin’ Gilmores!” πŸ™‚

  43. i’m knitting the casino shawl as well, in cashmere laceweight – i second (third?) the suggestion to do a mini-swatch in the pattern repeat to see what it looks like. personally, i’m using #5s (3.75mm) & i love how it looks, but then i prefer my lace to not be too hole-y. if you look on my blog at the 1st november posting you can sort of get an idea of how it’s shaping up. and yes, the 300+ cast-on is a bummer… but once you get going, the rows get shorter & shorter until you’re whizzing along! πŸ™‚

  44. I am so with you on the Gilmore Girls – I have only been a fairly regular viewer for the past 2 years because our local station had it on at 10:00 on Tuesday night – with the new CW I was thrilled that it was moved up to 7:00 BUT SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT – Lorelei and Christopher – YUCCCKKK!@! everything’s just off – I’m seriously considering getting the DVD’s for the first 4 seasons and watching them now instead of the new stuff. Thrilled about the Dem win EVEN though in my state, TN we just couldn’t pull it off – Harold Ford Jr would have been a fabulous senator and I hate to say it but I just feel a lot of my race had trouble voting for his – Corker ummmmm – YUCCCKKKK!!! Having never done any lace knitting I wouldn’t have a clue what to say, although the comment re: use the smaller needles and block the h— out of it makes sense – you can’t get it any tighter if you go with the 7’s. Your previous shawls are fab so I’m sure you’ll get this right too!

  45. i’m late to the party here,but i wanted to give my 2 cents on gg. i HATED last season. it made me angry. (i’m still not sure if angry is better than sleepy) and i agree with laurie m when she wrote
    “It seems to me that Amy Sherman-Palladino should have stuck by her creation to at least wrap things up decently….”
    have you seen the commercial for next week?
    “the propsal”
    gag. πŸ™

  46. switch to doctor who!!!