So, just because I didn’t post for a month does not mean I didn’t rant for a month. I bitched about the state of knitting all month long, to anyone who would listen. I shook my fist and I swore that when I returned to bloggery, the world would KNOW of my ire, possibly in the form of three-part epic screeds complete with diagrams, nastygrams, pentagrams… teddy grahams. But it’s been a busy week, and I’m too tired for multi-entry bile. Here’s the highlights reel.

1. SKIF patterns. I’ll admit the sweaters are rather chic. But they’re basically well-contemplated tubes, and the patterns go for an outrageous $19.00 a pop. Oh, but with that we get a metal SKIF label to sew on the outside of the sweater!! Why do we need a name brand tag? On a handknit sweater that we ourselves must knit??
Thought Question: If you knit a SKIF sweater with Tili Tomas yarn, what brand is your sweater?

2. Fingerless gloves, berets. We need to rally together to fight the 80?s instead of feeding it the prized morsels of our yarn stash.

3. My Fashionable Life sample knitting. Ms. Bell’s offer: You knit a sample of her choosing, in size and yarn of her choosing, get paid for your work and receive a namecheck in The Book. And a copy of The Book. I know we all want to help Anna Bell, She Who Giveth Bridie Then Taketh Away. And I daresay that she knows and pays a fair market compensation for a handknit. I don’t think most would-be sample knitters understand what they’re in for, though. Basically, you’d be volunteering to indenture your leisure time to someone else’s project for a fairly low hourly rate. Take it from my personal experience– when you’ve spent the time to knit something, it’s hard to hand it off to strangers forever. Unless it really means a lot to you to see your name in print, keep your knitting yours.

4. WTF, yarn on Etsy. Handspun yarn on etsy makes perfect sense. Similarly, hand-dyed yarn. And I am excessively interested in the trajectories of etsy’s recycled yarn purveyors. But selling name-brand unaltered yarn on etsy as a “supply” feels less like an artists’ marketplace and more like retail. There’s another internet place for that, and it’s called eBay.

5. Knitting Daily Newsletter . It’s like a blog that I don’t particularly want to read, except that it weasels its way into my mailbox. It also pushes advertisements onto me. And I can’t unsubscribe, because every once in a while they throw in a decent free pattern.
Did they really just send us an email last week that described knitting and crochet as two sisters feuding over a Barbie doll? Dude, the knit/crochet schism is SO passe.

I think that it is time to enact a Frown Campaign, for the ultimate benefit of ourselves and the Knitting Dailys of our cadre. If you hear someone reference the Knit vs. Crochet rift, just frown. Draw your eyebrows and shake your head. Let them know that promoting the myth of cross-craft intolerance is just uncool, and that you don’t approve of their sullying of knit culture’s good name. Similarly, if someone in your knitting circle mentions The Boyfriend Sweater Curse. Frown and shake your head. If someone explains that they are buying blue yarn so that their knitted opus will go with jeans. Frown. Shake head. Close eyes and imagine yourself falling asleep amongst one thousand napping kittens. Wake up in a better tomorrow.