Wednesday, July 11, 2007

trying not to rant

at the risk of sounding like a broken record, i am very agitated today. have been for a few days. since the last encounter with the supervisory-type person, i have been very irritable and, dare i say it, cranky. unfortunately this has manifested as an antipathy towards all persons of the male persuasion, especially when they appear to be criticising, making fun of, or telling me what to do. i say appear, because they may not actually be doing these things.

i had a meeting this morning with someone who is not a supervisory type but is a female academic in my school and she was very helpful. she did however, make me realise that the best way to deal with 'the issue' is to talk, possibly to the supervisory-type himself, about it. i am only 6 months away, less, from submitting my thesis, and we really need to clear the decks so to speak. her advice was to ask him whether he wanted to help or hinder that process. once i had his clear response, i could act accordingly.

this is good sensible advice but it makes me agitated. a, because it means i have to DO something and b, because i feel like i shouldnt have to DO anything. it shouldnt be this difficult!

apparently, it quite often is, however.

so, i hereby issue a blanket apology to all males who i may have been, or thought about being, cranky with. i want to yell and scream and rant and say all sorts of un-pc things, and i am trying really hard not to do that. some of it may slip out the side, however. i apologise in advance for that as well.

meantime i am finding the spider socks very fast going, for someone who allows herself only night-time, tv-watching, knitting, given i have so much work to do on The Book (let alone The Thesis).

here is what they look like today in the grey cold outdoors:


this is a good representation of the colours, they are gorgeous and the wool is beautiful and soft to work with. the picot edges are harder than i thought (bells!) so i experimented on other wool first and i got them right first go this time, its the attaching to the inside of the sock thats difficult, i have trouble knowing which part of a stitch to pick up and knit into.

and i am still really hopeless at corners on three needles. see the litte ladders (circled)?


the yarn harlot says to just pull your first couple of stitches of each needle tighter and i do try and do this but they're still not great. anyone got any anti-ladder tips?

so the only other thing i am not-ranting about it is how frustrating it is to have to do 'real work' when all i want to do is finish my socks.

but you all sympathise with that one, right?

kms xxx

8 comments:

Taphophile said...

Damn and blast real work - you have a sock to finish!

Fernicle said...

So sorry to hear about supervisory type still being a dick. I guess I agree that it is a good idea to confront him about it and get it off your chest and out in the open, although not sure I would have the bravery and energy required to actually do it myself! If you don't do it, I hope you can work out the agitated feeling in the gym or some other way - I used to like to chop wood when I felt that way but perhaps that is not suitable for everyone! xxxx

Georgie said...

I'm very sympathetic - it's enormously hard to actually confront the reason for one's difficulties and stay level-headed and constructive and systematic and not lose it and call them all sorts of rude (but true) things to their actual face. Hang in there!

In the mean time, the socks are looking lovely! I can't offer any anti-ladder tips based on experience, and this may be a Bad Idea tm (on which others more experienced are free to set me right), but could you try changing where the corners are by knitting a couple of stitches from the next set onto the end of the current set every round or two? (does that even make sense?) Choose to ignore that if it sounds really dumb!

TinkingBell said...

Socks look great - and Spidey is right - pull the stitches, but part of it is simply knitting lots of socks (the ladders tend to look better after a couple of washes. Sympahties over the supervisor (my masters super was a pain in the bum) The L&S instructions are the sort that make more sense as you are knitting them (thank heavens) all the best - work work work!

Olivia said...

I've struggled with ladders too. I tried pulling the first stitches really tight and that seemed to make it worse - as I had one loose stitch next to a couple of really tight ones. (though I guess in the wash they can even themselves out). I also tried (and still do) move a couple of stitches around every other round or so - like Georgie suggested. This is fine except when you are doing a pattern that defines how many and which stitches are on each needle.

Finally, I think I'm getting better and it's partly just relaxing into it and clocking up more hours on DPNs.

Good luck with the supervisor. The patriarchy is overwhelming sometimes.

Caffeine Faerie said...

Sympathies with the supervisor. I've had the same - with my MA, and it was such a lot of extra stress, especially with submission looming. Be strong, and firm in your resolve, and be diplomatic - he still has to write a report on your work too, so you don't want it to all go badly.

As for the ladders in socks - wash 'em. I have the same problem with ladders on cuffs, and a wool wash with some nice fabric softner does wonders.

best!
~CF

DrK said...

oh! a new poster! hi CF, and why did i not meet you in canberra? are you doing your phd on the actual poet blake, who, apart from yeats, is one of my alltime favourites? tyger tyger and all that. the book of thel is my favourite tho. and the link to phd comics! hilarious!!! thanks for making me laugh out loud :)

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

re your ladders on your socks, I had the same problem but realised it was the way I was holding my needles. If you have keep your working needle (ie the one you are putting your knitted stitches onto) under the last needle you worked while working the next one, you close up those little gaps. No ladders! Hope this makes sense, I found it worked!

bfn

Linda