Oolong knits

In a previous post I've mentioned that one of the reasons I've learned to knit so late in life is that I didn't know anyone who knitted. Actually, I still don't and that is also the reason I've learned it through the internet. I was thinking about the reasons for this decline on the number of people who do, despite the claims that it is now fashionable. Which is true but only up to a certain point, knitters are still a very small tribe, no matter how many of them claim to be legion. On my own I found a few reasons for this. 1. Technological progress aka. time and money With the development of more and more efficient knitting machines, there is no longer a justification to spend so much time and money on something you can simply buy. The fact that knitting takes time is evident. The fact that it is expensive is not so obvious, but it is still true. Take the example of the sweater I'm knitting right now, I've spent more money on the yarn alone than I...

EL James following Kant. You cannot accuse me of being highbrow after this one. I'll start with an introduction to my experience of the 50 shades sequence. Some years ago, probably before you ever heard of James' books (unless you were an early reader), I was interested in BDSM books for a very simple reason: I think that novels are often a better way to understand human psychology than psychology treatises. Why BDSM? because it is so foreign to my experience that I could not even begin to phantom the reasons people might be into it. My curiosity was aroused by Sacher-Masoch's "Venus in Furs",  which I'd read because I wanted to know what was so influential about it that it generated the word masochism (and it still surprises me that we didn't have a word for it until so recently!). So I'd started reading, but did not finish because I'd got really bored with it, Ann Rice's Sleeping Beauty. I'd also began reading "The story of O...

While I'm at it. I just want to add the following to my previous post .  Why are the media and our society so worried about the consequences of mother's working on children's welfare? Isn't it more than obvious that, in our society, it is the fact that most fathers do not feel more responsibility for their children's upbringing that is causing the greater damage on children? Why are we not talking about this instead then? What justifies the attention given to the responsibilities of motherhood in place of those of fatherhood? Why so much pressure is put on women, making them feel guilty about not being better mums, dedicating more time to their children, sacrificing their lives and careers to them? Why none on men? I repeat children need their father too.

This is about this article Not every woman deserves equal pay By Amanda Platell for The Daily Mail (I know, I know it's the Mail, but let's get beyond petty arguments and to what is really important). The point of this article is that equal pay is a lost cause, because when a woman has children, she must take a break from her always-upward career path and that just means she will necessarily damage her next chance for promotion and consequently the rest of her career. Platell goes on to say that In fact, research shows that female graduates and full-time working women in their 30s actually earn more than men — until they have children. I wonder about this research. What country, what sample? But let us suppose this is true. Then, she says: But the uncomfortable truth is that there is a very good reason for the gender pay gap that no amount of social engineering will change. As I have witnessed throughout my 35-year career, women are predominantly the ones to step...

My critique of Kant was cut short by running long. I mean, I thought the post was already too long and decided to finish it, but then there was one more thing that I wanted to add. Argue as much as you like and about whatever you like, but obey! Is it just me? Or is this the crux of the matter? Obey! Only a Prussian could write it. The problem is that even Prussians have a conscience. And I use conscience in a broader sense of the word, not only in the do-good one. What I call conscience is the thing that makes it so difficult for a human being to act against its own beliefs, whether these lead him to do good or evil. This is precisely the reason that control of what people think,     whether through the most powerful method of all, religion, against which Kant argues with zeal, or the control of the press,     is so important for government. It is also the reason why religion is so often used for evil as recent history continues to prove over and over a...

Knitters are usually divided in two subspecies, the process and the product knitters. The first enjoy the process of knitting above all and don't care too much about the finished product, the latter don't particularly enjoy the tedious process of moving needles and yarn around, but knit for the sake of the beautiful finished result. I haven't decided which one I am, I do get frustrated and anxious at times, wanting to get to the end and be able to wear the product of my knitting, but at the same time I may find it tedious, I also find knitting is amazingly relaxing. So I'd say I'm right in the middle: a perfect balance between process and product. What does this have to do with frogging? Well, I've just figured that the most obvious proof that I'm not a product knitter is how unfazed I'm about frogging one month worth of knitting. My dear one is amazed at how relaxed I am about it. On the other hand, this kind of proves that I'm a product knitter...