white paint and ribbons

Utterly non-knitting related. You've been warned.

After a conversation with a fabulous friend regarding the (insert negative adjective of your own choosing) Open Source Boob Project, I was thinking about the way smart, possibly socially awkward, frequently unattractive men can use their non-threatening status as a shield to try to achieve their sexual goals with women in a less-than-honest way.

It's like they should have tee shirts that say:

"Ladies, make no mistake - though you don't see me as virile, or maybe don't even see me as a man, I want a blow-job just as much as the guy in the frat house, and will use similarly dishonest tactics to achieve said end, but with a completely different set of baggage that often involves shame about my body, unrealistic expectations about women in general and/or sex in particular, an inability or unwillingness to communicate on an authentic level,  and a similarly infuriating ability to look beyond my own wants/wishes/desires/likes and dislikes, though they may be D&D and Comicons instead of football and cars. "

A lovely woman had a brilliant response that made me smile.

I'm sure that someone could write a really well-reasoned argument against the OSBP without getting into the unbearably dull and short-sighted dichotomy of sex-positive vs. sex-negative that is too inanely simple an argument to ever possibly yield any meaningful discourse.  Though I'd like to be that person, I have neither the theoretical knowledge nor the inclination to wage that war when, honestly, I'm content to comment from my corner and ponder the implications without necessarily proving anything to anyone in particular.

My husband made the observation that the sort of man who would be inclined toward active, enthusiastic participation in the OSBP is "clearly too cheap or lazy to pay for the company of different women and feels a sense of entitlement in his objectification of those women directly in his path."

Any wonder why I love this man?

This is my Sock Yarn Confession

Sock Yarn Confession, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

In 12 step programs, for the 4th step, they talk about making a searching fearless moral inventory.

I'm not sure I've done steps 1-3 on yarn yet, but this has to be part of step 4.

45? Pairs of socks, yet un-knitted?

Someone, stop me. Srsly.

A stand against perfection.

monkeyandme.jpg, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

This is me, and my monkey. I will call it mistake monkey because there are mistakes in it. I, unlike Brenda Dayne, do not feel the need to rip back because of a few muffed yarn overs. Imperfection is part of life. If I wanted something that would be inherently perfect, I would buy some mass-produced, quality-inspected pair of socks. I'm noting the imperfection here because, if I didn't, no one, other than me and my local knitting friends, would ever notice it. I'm not "getting away" with anything, and I will not mourn the little holes that should be, but aren't. I love this yarn and I love this pattern, and my inability to do a proper YO while sitting in a theater with 800 other knitters is neither surprising, nor upsetting. You can call my unwillingness to correct my mistake my stand against perfection. I'm not perfect, and neither are my socks. And I like it just fine this way.

xoxo

A

The Harlot's new yarn.

Yarn for the Harlot, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

You may remember me mentioning how the Yarn Harlot had excellent taste in yarn? Here's proof. Pictures of her falling for yarn gifted to her by my indie-dyer friend Dana. Stephanie liked it so much she had the folk at Knitch wind it up for her.



More pictures of this assorted fabulousness as it happens. She did more tonight. Much more.

Mr. Orange and the Yarn Harlot

Mr. Orange and the Yarn Harlot, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

We met her, Mr. O. and I.
I will post more at length tomorrow, but suffice it to say a) She's incredibly gracious, in the face of paparazzi-like knitbloggers b) she's even funnier than the blog in person c) she has excellent taste in yarn. More on that later.

Now?

*collapses in yarny goodness*

me. and my sock.

me and sock, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

I never post pictures of myself.
I figured I'd remedy that.
Sock is the Welt Fantastic pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks.
I'm going to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - aka the Yarn Harlot - in Atlanta on Sunday with my friends. So so so excited!

xoxo

me

Made of knitting win.

spring is coming socks, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

The Spring is Coming garter rib socks are done! I wore them on my way back from FL and they kept my feet toasty warm. I love this pattern - the way it looks, the way it feels - everything about it. I will take better pictures soon, and in the meantime have started on a shawl. Here's the awful picture of that. Thanks, camera phone!



I am contemplating a blanket.
A CROCHET blanket.
Fear me.

Better picture and roadtrip!

Jon's Valentine's Day socks on me again, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

Hello blog folk.

I took a better picture of the Valentine's Day socks today, in addition to uploading a massive amount of pictures of yarn and finished objects.

Tomorrow I embark upon a road trip to see my mom, who is retiring very very soon. She's having a retirement party next Saturday, and I promised her that I'd be there. Alas, Wonderhub has to stay behind because of work, so I'll be without him for a week. I will, however, have my lovely and jubilant Chickie by my side for the trip.

The car is all packed and all that's left is to decide what knitting projects I'm bringing. I'm still being monogamous with the garter rib sock, but I anticipate finishing that while I'm in Florida, so I'll need something to do when that's done.

I'm thinking socks.

I know you're shocked.

Wish me a safe journey with lots of pictures.

I am sock queen.

Spring is Coming Sock #1, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

Fear me.

I cast on essentially on the 22nd of Feb. The sock was DONE on the 28th.

Project monogamy is a good thing.

Jon's Valentine's Day socks

Jon's Valentine's Day socks, originally uploaded by DharmaLemon.

Finished! They would have been done closer to V-Day, but I got the flu. I'm pretty psyched though - despite doing the kitchener stitch wrong on the first one. It's purl bumps instead of knit stitches. I repeated it on the second one just so they'd match.

I think the most exciting thing here is that I get to cast on new socks now!