In Which we discuss weather, weight, a new sweater, and a “blogday”

Ah, I’ve always been fond of the “In Which…” sort of title, it reminds me of Winnie the Pooh (my favorite book, as a kid, and one which I’ve been collecting in a bunch of languages, because I really enjoy playing with translated children’s books).

On weather: We’re having some absolutely gorgeous weather right now (temps in the 60’s), and I’m soaking up as much as I possibly can with short walks and things, because I know it’s only going to get hot again in a few days. But for now I am really, really enjoying this little taste of fall. Fall is my favorite season, and September (which is approaching at a shocking pace!) is my favorite month. It’s back-to-school, cross-country season, and the beginning of “sweaters and cords” weather (speaking of which, I haven’t been able to find cute corduroy pants in a couple of years now…have they gone out of fashion? If so, that’s really too bad, because I so love corduroy pants), all at once. I just love it. It was always my favorite time of year up in MN, too, because it just got so gorgeous there right when the leaves were about to change. But alas, while we’re getting this taste of fall here in Upstate NY, my poor hometown is suffering under a deluge of rain (after a long, long drought). My town is essentially an island in the Mississippi River, so flooding isn’t unfamiliar territory, but it sounds like things are very, very bad up there right now.

On weight: I’ve been thinking a lot about weight and body image issues lately. I think it’s particularly on my mind because of the fairly massive weightloss I’ve had due to illness, which is sort of blowing my mind on the body image front. Not to mention the glares and rude comments I’ve gotten from other women when I’ve gone out on errands recently…it’s pretty awful, and makes me wish I could wear a sign that says “I am sick” so that these ladies might think twice before sneeringly whispering to each other about “that skinny anorexic chick” when I walk by. But body image is something I’ve always been rather sensitive about, as someone who is a very small person (even when I’m not sick), and it’s been even more on my mind in recent years specifically in relationship to knitting. I’m mostly bringing this up so that I can link to this fantastic post over at Knitting Kninja. She captures, even better than I could, my thoughts on the whole “Real Women” debate that comes up whenever knitwear sizing is discussed. Seriously, go read it. It’s that whole “Real Women” terminology (and the associated slamming of smaller people as “anorexics”) that drove me away from the livejournal knitting community, where I used to be a fairly active member (thank goodness I had the broader blogging community to turn to after that!). Every time there was a new issue of knitty, the comments section in the knitting community there inevitably turned into a nasty place where, as a wee little thing, I feared to tread and often had my feelings hurt (I mean, what am I, then? A “Fake Woman”?). I do understand that larger women are often ignored by designers, and I think that is horribly unfortunate, and I do know that in general, larger women take a lot of crap from society, and that, too, is very, very wrong. But that doesn’t make it right to throw insults at those of us on the other end of the spectrum. And what’s sad is most of the nastiness comes from other women…and we just really don’t need to be doing that to each other. Like Kristen says, what’s important is that we’re healthy, and putting all of this negative focus on both ends of the spectrum of body types does nothing to help that cause. Healthy is what’s beautiful, no matter what size is “healthy” for you! And seriously…I may be model-thin right now (though at 5’3, I’d have no shot in that industry in the first place!), but I’m not looking “good”. I look sick, because I am sick. I’ve been this size before while healthy, and the difference in my appearance between then and now is huge, and it has pretty much nothing to do with weight.

On a new sweater: Because I apparently have a nasty case of “startitis” alongside whatever this mystery ailment might be (that, or I have the attention span of a gnat, take your pick!), I started a new sweater yesterday. Yeah, I know. But when I saw Jared‘s “Cobblestone Pullover” in the latest IK, I fell in love with it. The clean lines, the clever use of garter stitch…so nice. But the man in my life is not a pullover-wearer at all, only cardigans. So I decided I wanted a me-sized version, and cast on (using 20 fewer stitches than the smallest size in the pattern) using some Handpaintedyarn.com Worsted Merino that’s been hanging out in my stash for a frighteningly long time (since well before it became “Malabrigo” and started costing almost twice as much!). I’m already almost done with the body:

I decided to “girlify” it a bit, and borrowing an idea from “Rogue”, I put waist shaping into the column of garter stitch that runs up each side of the body:

I have a feeling that this sweater is going to pill if I look at it funny, but c’est la vie. It will be a soft, comfy sweater while it lasts, and if it works out, maybe I’ll get some sturdier yarn to knit another one in. I hope I have enough yarn to make this; I only have four skeins, and have already used up one, though my plan, should I fear running out, is to buy a single skein of Malabrigo in a complementary color, and stripe it into the garter yoke (which I think could look very cool, almost like illusion knitting). I think this will probably knit up very quickly, so maybe y’all will get to see my sickly self modeling it soon.

On a “blogday”: In 10 days, this blog will be 1 year old (an event I think most people refer to as a “blogaversary”, but I like “blogday” better, because it’s shorter and not so weird to spell, and it sounds like “birthday”, and birthdays are fun!). That’s pretty exciting! I’m hoping to have some sort of contest-type-thing to celebrate, but I’m a bit braindead from exhaustion right now, so I haven’t thought of what I’ll do quite yet. I suppose y’all will just have to stay tuned…