continuing with Women in History posts..

Suffragist, historian of women, author and lecturer, painter, woman’s rights activist and theorist, advocate for civil rights, and abolitionist, Matilda Joslyn Gage was a leading theorist and activist in the nineteenth century woman’s rights movement. Her trademark expression, ” There is a Word sweeter than Mother, Home, or Heaven. That Word is Liberty,” summarized her life long struggle for the full equality of all humanity.

Although she operated a way station on the Underground Railroad and decried the brutal and unjust treatment of the American Indians, Gage focused most of her efforts on the woman’s movement. Her suffrage work included helping to form, being an officer in, and co-authoring many of the major documents of local, state, and national woman’s suffrage associations, editing The National Citizen and Ballot Box, the official paper of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association (NWSA), and running petition campaigns. Gage is, today, perhaps best known for co-authoring the 1876 “Declaration of Rights of Women” and the first 3 volumes of The History of Woman Suffrage.

In 1880, after women were given the franchise in school board elections, Gage organized the women of her village, Fayetteville, NY to run for and vote in school board positions where an all-woman slate was elected. Yet, Gage was becoming disenchanted with the quest for suffrage. When Susan B. Anthony maneuvered the merging of the more conservative American Woman’s Suffrage Association (AWSA) with the NWSA, Gage, in protest, refused to join the new NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association) and she formed the formed the Woman’s National Liberal Union.

Still, as an historian of women, Gage was in a class by herself. In an era when most believed that the lives of women were slowly improving, Gage believed in an ancient, prehistoric, matriarchal society and wrote about the accomplishments of women throughout history. She wrote pioneering work on the source of women’s oppression, decrying the unequal treatment of the prostitute and her client, the “practice of non-conviction or of pardoning” in rape trials, unequal pay, the double standard, the incongruity of criminally prosecuting prostitutes and not their customers, wife battering, and the sexual abuse of female children, just to name a few.

Finally, Gage wrote Woman, Church, and State, an history of the church’s oppression of women and an analysis of the mutually reinforcing techniques that the church together with the state use to oppress women, calling it the “bulwark of woman’s slavery.”

Catherine Blake, daughter of a major figure in the NWSA, said “Mrs. Gage was a tireless student, a fine research worker, thorough in all she undertook; she had a deep sense of justice and at times an appalling frankness of speech - which I loved! One was never in doubt as to where Mrs. Gage stood…She was absolutely honest in all her dealings, and I would take her word at any time as against anybody else’s. I always loved and admired her greatly. I think that in some ways she was the greatest of those (suffrage leaders.) Someone should write an adequate life of this great leader.”

To learn about more women in history this month check out pesky apostrophe.

I feel kind of badly that I haven’t been posting about a new woman in history every day like I did last year. I don’t think I’m going to be able to post many detailed articles this time. I’ll probably just have a photo and a short blurb. I’m not up for much more work at the moment I’m already behind with the laundry, litter boxes, dishes, knitting projects, filing our taxes, reading that short story I was supposed to read for Cody, discovering the meaning of life, figuring out what the deal is with Scout’s comment form, and discovering the solution to carbohydrates as self-medication for depression. So. Not much time for this typing crap.

However, I’m still very proud of the articles I wrote last year. And peskymac is trying to write about a woman in history daily as well. So I think that should be a good celebration. At least it’s something right?

In other news I’m completely unsurprised to find out that two of the three people who’ve been burning the churches in Alabama turned out to be idiot asshole fratboy mutherfuckers from Birmingham Southern, a college that I went to for a while. I have a lot of family connections with that school. I watched my parents play in tennis tournaments there when I was a child, two of my childhood babysitters were theater majors there, my mother taught there, my sister and her husband went there. A lot of my friends stayed and graduated after I transferred to Santa Fe. I have a complicated love-hate feeling for the place. But honestly I’m not surprised at all. There is a definite privileged southern white maleness around the place, where “Old South” parties, permanent Bret Easton Ellis style preppieness, social bullies, bitchy comments, and alcohol related deaths and date rapes are still common. In that envirionment they probably really did think they were going to get away with it, that they should get away with it.

Just three deer huntin’, beer drinkin’, SUV drivin’, church torchin’ rednecks. Well shoot if that’s not the main export of my home state I dunno what is. Thanks for reinforcing that stereotype boys!

When I was done with the Clapotis I was happily surprised to find I had leftover yarn. For a while there I wasn’t even sure I’d have enough yarn to finish! But I ended up using about 5 1/2 skeins out of the 6 I’d bought. The half a skein I had wasn’t from the same ball because I’d been cutting in and chopping up different skeins to fit the striping pattern. So I had a bunch of small balls of yarn to play with. And a new shawl that needed a pin. What to do? Well, I made a flower pin! When I showed it to Beverly she said I had to post the pattern because it was the prettiest knit flower she’d ever seen. I love that kind of flattery don’t you?

So after a week of keeping you guys in suspense here it is. Sorry but I was a bit intimidated about writing out exactly what I did because, as you’ll see, it was a bit weird and very hard to explain.

This knit flower is very similar to this pattern and the flower washcloths in Last Minute Knitted Gifts and I’m sure there are others out there. But I made up a funny little trick for joining the petals of this flower that I hadn’t seen before - although now that I’m writing it out, I’m thinking there might be a reason for that. So we’ll see if I can explain it properly. I’m sure ya’ll will let me know if you’re confused!

You’ll need:
US 6 needles (preferably circulars)
US 8 needles (preferably circulars)
A set of US 6 or 7 double-pointed needles
about 1/4 a skein of Silk Garden or roughly 30 yards of a comparable yarn
a small metal stitch holder (the one that looks like a giant safety pin) or a coil-less safety pin
a tapestry needle
cable needle (optional)
seed beads or button, matching needle and thread (optional)

Gauge really isn’t important here this is a “make it work” (hee! Tim Gunn!) kind of pattern. Just have a smaller needle, a larger needle, and a medium set of double pointed needles

Abbreviations:
CO: Cast-on
K: knit
kfb: knit into the front and back of the same stitch
pfb: purl into the front and back of the same stitch
K2tog: knit two stitches together
DPN: Double pointed needle

To give you a good idea of how much yarn it takes for this pattern here’s a photo of how much yarn I had leftover after finishing the clap. And I still had about 1/4 - 1/2 of this ball left after making the flower. So it really doesn’t take much at all.

Making the Petals
Using the US 6s (or whatever your smaller size needle is) and a long tail cast on with at least a 5 inch tail, CO 2 stitches.
Row 1: kfb, kfb (4 stitches)
Row 2: k1, kfb, kfb, k1 (6 stiches)
Row 3: k1, pfb, purl to last 2 stitches, pfb, k1 (8 stitches)
Row 4: K1, kfb, knit to the last 2 stitches, kfb, k1 (10)
repeat rows 3 and 4 until there are 16 stitches (or the petal is as large as you’d like)
Leaving stitches on the needle, cut yarn leaving approx 5 inch tail.
Move petal to the end of the straight needle or to the center bottom of the circular needle.

Make 2 more petals on size 6 needles (so there are 3 altogether).

Make 2 petals in the same way using size 8 needles (or whatever size your larger needle is).

Now there are 5 petals altogether. Don’t cut the yarn when you finish the last petal.

Note: You don’t have to make petals different sizes but I think it adds some interesting variation to the flower.

Joining the Petals
(This is where it gets complicated)

To prepare, arrange all the petals on their needles so they’re facing in the same direction - for example all petals having the “right side” facing away from you.

Using 1 DPN, move 12 stitches for one petal from size 6 needle (Petal A). For the last 4 stitches from Petal A: Hold the needle with the size 8 petals (Petal B) with the right side in the same direction as Petal A. Hold Petal B so the right side overlaps the left side of Petal A. Alternate moving last 4 stitches from Petal A onto the DPN with moving the first 4 stitches from a petal (Petal B). Be sure that both petals have the right side facing the same way.

So the stitches look be like this on a needle: AAAAAAAABABABABABBBBBBBBBB

This makes the petal overlap in a more flowery-looking way. Continue moving stitches from Petal B onto DPN to the last 4 stitches. If you’ve run out of space on your first DPN , use a new DPN to alternate the last 4 stitches from Petal B with the first 4 stitches from the next Petal A. Again, with the right side facing the same way and the new petal’s right side overlapping the old petal’s left side.

Change to a new DPN when you’ve run out of space. Continue moving the stitches in the same way for the next two petals, overlapping with the last 4 stitches with the first four stitches of the next petals. Again, you don’t have to use a specific order with the sizes of the petals from the different sized needles. Just be sure to be consistent in how you overlap the petals each time. I just think that using different sized petals adds a more organic feeling to the project.

When you’ve gotten to the last 4 stitches of the last petal..Use the cable needle (or stitch holder) to move the first four stitches from the very first petal. Holding the first petal in front of the last, alternate the last 4 stitches onto the first needle with the first four stitches on the first petal.

So basically, you’re joining the flower in the round before you even start knitting them together. You really don’t need a marker or anything. This isn’t an exact pattern because really, you just need to do what you think would look good.

Knitting the center in the round
Using the yarn tail still connected to the yarn ball , start knitting the stitches in the round.
Knit 1 complete round.
Next Round: *K3, K2tog*, repeat between *s.
Next Round: Knit
Next Round: *K3, K2tog*, repeat between *s
Next Round: purl (adds a little texture)
Next Round: Knit
Next Round: *K2, K2tog*, repeat between *s

Continue repeating last two round until you have 6 stitches or so. Cut yarn with 8 inch tail, thread the tapestry needle with the tail, run needle through last 6 stitches and pull to close.

Finishing
Use remaining tails of yarn and tapestry needle to stabilize the petals in the way you’d like and to whip-stitch the flower onto the small stitch holder or safety pin. I didn’t block mine or anything but you can if you’d like!

Voila! It’s a flower pin!

A few optional variations:

- Use a needle and thread to sew seed beads or a button in the center of the flower.
- Alternate the petals so some have the “right side” facing up and other have the “wrong side” facing up.
- Or make a larger and a smaller version of this flower and sew the small one on top of the other. Like I did for this one:

Ok, hopefully this is fairly to easy to understand. Let me know if it’s too confusing! At some points I felt like I was typing Esperanto. But I’ve read it out loud a few times. And it seems to make sense.

I used to love watching them. Until I grew old and cynical and realized that it was just a very expensive self-congratulatory marketing machine in an already vapid, self-involved industry. Cynical? Me? I’m glad Robert Altman finally got some recognition from them though. About damned time.

So to celebrate my non-Oscar watching. This is the speech I would give if the earth’s crust opened, tiny humanoid chihuauas came out, and I decided to move to Hollywood and star in the movies.

from the Academy Award Speech Generator found via CheekyProf

Noelle’s Acceptance Speech for the Most Over-Produced Victorian Epic Oscar:

Thank you! Oh! Thank you! I can hardly breathe! I feel so surgically enhanced! And this statue - it’s so suspiciously phallic! Oh, thank you again! I just want everyone to secretly suspect that even in my wildest hallucinations, I never would have frantically prayed that this could ever validate my mediocrity. And to the other closeted homosexual nominees, I want each of you to know how totally vindicated your lackluster applause makes me feel right now!

You know when they first told me I was a God on Earth, I just had to take an epidural and obsess about how freakish my love scenes have been. I guess it all just makes me feel kinda wrinkly

You know, there are so many ass-kissing two-faced harpies to thank! First off though, I want to bitch slap the glorified prostitutes of the Academy, who looked deep within their lint-encrusted navels before giving me this fantastic award! Also, I want to thank Kali, for being such a powerful force in my contract negotiations. And to the US Supreme Court, who taught me to take life by the fifth of bourbon. And finally, to all the sycophantic talk show hosts - I couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you America, and good night!

With all cynical silliniess aside, thanks for all the sweet comments about the collar! I owe ya’ll two patterns now, eh?

Lots of photos. Lots.

First we have my third installment of Yarn Stash Appreciation Sunday. This week? Amazing handspun yarn (usually) bought from the artists themselves.

There are closeup photos in the Flickr Set so I’ll just briefly tell you about each yarn. Clockwise starting from the top left: Two hanks Raspberry Tea by Maisy Day from Hello Yarn, Three different yarns (Pink thick and thin, blue thin, Santa Fe Rainbow thick and thin) from Sandstone Ranch.
Bottom Row from the right: Three big skeins of yarn (two green, one pink) from the Jitterbug shawl kit from Hello Yarn, in the bottom left corner are three skeins of lovely wool and silk from Greenwood Fiberworks, and above that is the unbelievable light sensitive yarn from Material Whirled.

Aren’t they beautiful? I highly recommend each and every one of those spinners. And yes, there seems to be an awful lot of pink there. This wasn’t exactly done on poipose but I certainly don’t think it hoits.

Next, I finished the little collar project for Winter. I ended up just sewing the fabric inside and not making it a collar cover - just a collar itself. We never use her collar for the leash anyway, we always use a halter for that.

It’s soft and it fits her nicely.

Oh, and here’s something else I finished last night..

Yep! Finished my Jaywalkers! I even sewed the ends in. Go me!

Even though I made them a good bit taller than the original pattern, I still only used one skein of that Cherry Tree Hill Birches. Less than a yard to spare but just one skein. Which means I can make another pair of socks in this fun color.

Now, there’s this backyard meme going around but to be honest. You really don’t want to see my backyard. It used to have trees (that had to be cut down due to a fungus or something), and it had a big yard of grass with built-in sprinklers. But we both believe that having a yard is both a pain in the ass and completely an irresponsible thing to do in the desert so now it’s mostly dirt with weeds and a lot of dog poop. So I’m going to show the parts of my backyard that I like.

This gargoyle that guards our back door.

Our only remaining full-sized tree

And this.

No, not the arroyo drainage construction that’s been going on behind our house since last May. Nor the gross red wooden fence. But my little desert savannah camoflage dog.

Of course she makes the den pretty fun too

If you’re curious about what the rest of the house looks like (with a few changes since this was made in early 2002) check out my eerily accurate Sims recreation of our house.

The last week or so Cody has been repeatedly listening to a song that starts with “Her name is Noelle and she rings my bell.” It seems to be about a little heavy metal listening teenager who’s in love with an adult woman named Noelle that ignores him. I think? I’m not sure. Cody’s at work and non-cohesive remnants of the song are stuck in my head tonight.

Which is annoying because I’m trying to watch the Independant Spirit Awards and finish that damn Jay sock.

I get a small bit of satisfaction that if it’s a pop song in heavy rotation all my old boyfriends have to think of me at least three times a day.

You can ring my beeeeeeell.
Ring my bell.
My bell.
Ring a ling a ling.

Technically it’s not Friday but I’m a rebel…Here are some photos of the finished shawl. Still not blocked but I know you won’t mind.

I can’t properly describe how much I enjoyed knitting this. Or really how much I enjoy knitting with anything I buy from Adrian’s shop. Her sense of color and great visual sense of using simple patterns to enhance the beauty of her (and Sarah’s) handspun yarn is unsurpassed. I don’t say that lightly either. I may be a new knitter but I’ve been studying color all my life. And I always find something truly desirable to knit with in her shop updates. You might notice that I had this knitting project interrupted for a few months. But you might also notice that I bought another kit in the meantime. The prices might seem a bit high if you’re unfamiliar with the usual cost of handspun yarn - but it’s important to consider how much wool is actually being used in the thicker yarns. Believe me, if you love unique and soft yarn it’s totally worth it.

Cody said that I haven’t taken enough photos of Winter with my knitting lately. So here’s a gratuitous dog being tortured by knitting photo.

Don’t let that hounddog face fool you. She loves the attention. And she was happily eating a greenie about three minutes after this photo was taken.

I started my besotted scarf but things got a little sloppy. So to get back into the practice of knitting cables I’ve been knitting a collar for Winter. Regular collars tend to rub on her short fur so I’ve been making one that can cover a new one. The idea is based on this necklace and I’m using some old mercerized cotton that I bought at a local store where 80s yarn went to die, or be bought for a dollar a skein by a newbie knitter.

It’s knit on US size 4s and will be sewn into a tube using some fabric on the back then slipped onto a collar.

Technically since it’s pink it fits into Project Spectrum right?

And isn’t it sad that we’ve recently lost both The Old Man from A Christmas Story (as well as Kolchak The Night Stalker) and The Artful Dodger from Oliver (also in that terrifying show HR Puffinstuff)? What great guys they were.

It’s just day 2 of the yarn diet and I get an email subject that reads KOIGU SALE. Yeah. No fair. So it looks like Kaleidoscope Yarns is having a 15% sale of all koigu kppm. Including the kits. Does it count in a yarn diet when someone buys yarn as a gift for you? Anyone willing to buy the Charlotte’s Web #20 kit as a gift for me? Ok never mind. Just go buy something and post photos. I can live vicariously though your shopping.

Edited to add: LOL my friend Juus just bought the kit for me! I really wasn’t expecting anyone to actually buy it so I’m completely shocked. Thank you Ms Juus! Leave a comment telling my friend in The Netherlands what a dear sweet giving friend she is. We’ll get that box of prizes mailed someday I promise.

And please give her your condolences about losing her kitty, Carrot, earlier this week. I forgot to mention that our circle of friends and family has lost another pet. It has not been a good year for pets but each of them were loved and were taken before the pain became too much for them so at least there’s that.

I just finished my Punkin Patch Shawl. Yeah. I suck. But it was just so soft and lovely and I was sooooo close to finishing that I stayed up last night and just kept going until suddenly I was done. Then tonight I figured out how to do a single crochet around the edges. It’s so soft. I can’t stop looking at it and petting it. But I still need to block it so I guess it’s not officially done yet.

I also finished spinning the rest of my Spunky Eclectic roving a few days ago and tonight I wound it up and washed it. All 858 yards. Oh yeah. And I’m not selling it. It’s mine mine mine.

So while I procrastinate picking up the stitches for the gusset on my Jay I’ve been looking around to see what I want to knit with my handspun. This is offically Special Yarn so I want to knit something I will use and enjoy. Now before you start your suggestions please remember that while 858 yards is probably sufficient for a sweater for the tiny people among us remember I am not small. I am a short, wide hedgehog and usually the largest size in a pattern is still not going to fit my generous chest measurements. You don’t even want to know them they’re at their worst with all the recent changes in meds and bad episodes going on.

I don’t think I want to make a bag with this yarn and I definitely don’t want to knit the dog a sweater with it. I’m not planning on felting but I would be open to that if the project is right. Thanks to my last two FOs I’m fairly rich in shawls now as well - unless it was really really different from what I’ve already done. So I’m stumped. I was thinking maybe another loop d loop ballet t (possibly with sleeves this time) or I dunno, Bobbilicious without the bobbles or something. I also have several patterns for top-down raglans too. Or maybe Tubey with a solid matching color for the sleeves?

This is a bulky thick and thin yarn that will mostly self-stripe with brown, pink, and cream. I’m totally open to a big-needle openwork sweater idea. I just want it to fit. Suggestions? Ideas? Please?

Oh, if you’ve noticed strange typos lately please excuse them. It seems like every time I start to type Melon decides it’s time for pets and keeps rubbing her face on my hands and the keyboard. Or blocks the screen with her tail.

Day one of the yarn diet: I’m feeling ok. Learning to ignore any sale emails. I still have last minute yarn buys in the mail so I’m not really feeling it yet.
Fiber is included in this diet. Hardware and notions aren’t.