Thursday, January 25, 2007

Are we ready?

Are we ready for a woman/black/hispanic president? This question was all over the news the past few weeks, and it's been slowly eating away at the patience in the back of my brain (that's where I store my patience, that's why I show so little of it). The fact that NPR (a "liberal" news media, though if they were so liberal why was this issue even a question?) did weekly segments on this topic for a month frustrated me. But what really threw me over the edge was the content of interviews from across the country. Women claiming that a woman couldn't be a good president, people of color denouncing a black man as president. But the most frequent complaint I hear isn't that female/black/hispanic individuals wouldn't make adequate presidents - (I mean come on, could they be worse than a guy whose basic qualification is a penchant for the game Risk?), it is that they aren't electable. Is that a reason that all of these countries should remain more progressive than the US? Bolivia? Panama? Freakin' Serbia? It is my belief that if the news media would quit making gender/race an issue, it would fall away. No, people won't neglect to realize that Hilary is a woman or that Barak is black, but maybe if we quit trumpeting the idea of "firsts" we could pay attention to what they say. "The first" is always scary (Remember pedaling your bike for the first time without mom/dad holding on? Wasn't it easier if you didn't realize until after you were halfway down the driveway that you were doing it on your own?). And if we must talk firsts, how about the first husband/wife couple to both be president? The first President born in Hawaii? The first president to have been raised in a foreign country?

In knitting news, things are going to be all socks all the time for a bit, so I'll be posting some finished objects that I haven't officially posted before:
me at 31b
in progress (the real color is somewhere in between these two pictures):
aran in progress
Aran Skirt from Vogue Winter 2005. Completed just in time for Thanksgiving 2006.
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style in Nutmeg, about 10 skeins (much less than the pattern called for)
Needles: Size 5 and 6 circulars
Modifications: Row guage was off, so fewer rows. I don't like sewing seams, so I sewed the sides and then picked up stitches to knit the waist section in the round. I also kind of made up the crochet stitch that attaches the elastic at the waist, and was pleased with the result (not sure I'd be able to replicate it, though). I've blocked it gently once, but might try again with actual pins. The weight of the yarn really lengthens the skirt, and the hem is uneven as the seams are more rigid than the rest.
Would I make it again? Only for a lot of money. I loved the cables and it's beautiful, but I was ready for it to be done long before it was wearable. Don't think I'd ever make another skirt out of 100% wool; it needs some cotton or other fiber to give more structure and reduce weight.

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