Generation X

March 23rd, 2005

Okay, so I finished it this morning.

Andy, who, incidentally has a brother named Tyler, which made me go back and look at Shampoo Planet again, because that book was about a guy named Tyler, and both Tylers sort of resembled each other, but for those of you who were wondering, they don’t appear to be the /same/ Tyler, is a twentysomething guy living his life in a California desert. He and his friends, Claire and Dag lead directionless lives that make the reader lean towards jealous.

Just like Tobias was intrigued by Claire’s secret knowledge, I found myself feeling inadequate – like I had missed out on some party-based, meaningful twenties experience. I was envious of the friendship that the three main characters shared, of the fact that they didn’t seem to have money problems, and if they did, they didn’t care about them. I was envious of the storytelling that went on, of the fact that all three of them were intelligent enough to play. Really, how many of your friends would be capable of such conversation? Maybe I need a friend upgrade or something.

And then I realized why I can’t stand most of Coupland’s books. In past reviews, I wrote that I wasn’t comfortable with the “modern” tone of his stories. I’ve zeroed in on it even more – I don’t like the presumptuousness of the language. Coupland doesn’t seem to have any respect for history, for the past. His characters are all about paving a new way, about thinking that they are so much better than their parents.

It’s unfair of me to judge the author about his opinion of the past. I’m merely trying to explain what I don’t like about his books. I do have to say this, though: Even though I haven’t yet been satisfied by a Coupland book, I continue to read them. I’m drawn to them the way people are drawn to the scene of an accident. His language is great. His stories are original. I have never been able to figure out where any of his books were going to end. As an author you could say he’s done his job – even though I don’t love his books, I’m reading them all. Like a lifetime movie, except without the predictability. “All Families Are Psychotic” is next.

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Back to Mariah

March 21st, 2005

Now that Rogue is done and ready to block (which I promise to do soon, maybe this week sometime,) I am ready to face mariah again. But oh, right. I haven’t shown you any rogue photos, have I?

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close-up of side detail

I never took any pictures of the sleeves – they were actually really fast to do – a nice break from mariah, which is taking me much longer to complete. So as soon as rogue is finished blocking and hemmed, I’ll post pics. All in all I’m very impressed with the pattern. I bought it because only good things were said about it online, and I was not disappointed. Amazing pattern – very well written and easy to follow.

So, mariah. I managed to finish inserting the zipper at some point… But now I think I’ll have to remove it. I’ve decided to redo the sleeves, and since it’s top-down, this means I’ll have to rip the hood and shoulders out too. There’s a good chance that I’ll have to redo the body pieces as well, but those were pretty easy to do.

Along the way I failed to post images of the process, so I am going to do that here. Now. Lucky you!

I’ve already ripped this sweater out a lot… The old sleeves are the longer ones in this photo. At one point I decided to reknit the sleeves because I thought my gauge was off. Then I decided that was dumb. So I started the new sleeves (The short ones pictured here,) and ended up using the longer ones anyway.

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old sleeves and new sleeves

I finished the entire thing. Here it is, before I finished the hood, but after most of the yoke was done:

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pre hood

I took some cloeups of the seaming so people would have an idea of how I did it:

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seam – mattress stitch

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pulled snug

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wrong side, seam detail

And then I tried it on:

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it’s a sweater!

And blocked it:

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blocking

And now, a month later, I have decided that the sleeves aren’t large enough around. Now that I’m not as mad at the project as I was when I last put it down, I can get back to it without being crazy with frustration over how many times I’ve had to rip and reknit the darn thing. Don’t even get me started with the zipper…