Organized Surprise

09/11/08 Update: All done!

Special thanks to Shelly Hattan for her awesome row counts chart!

---

I have been continuously irked by the fact that everyone but me seems to know about knit-a-longs; where to find them, when they are starting, how to join them, etc. After months of failing to get in on one, I decided to bring the mountain to myself, and so, I have started a KAL for the Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket for the South Bend Knitwork group on Ravelry. As I have never KALed before as a participant, it could be described as ill-defined at best. However, I found an awesome BSJ Row counts chart that has proven very helpful thus far.

I am about 14 rows in and so far so good. I am using my hand-dyed Fisherman's yarn on size 6 circulars, and while it looks pretty, I am a little disappointed the yarn isn't patterning as much as I would have hoped. That said, the pattern calls for huge changes in the numbers of stitches per row, so I am optimistic that the pattern will pick up at some point.

If anyone wants to get in on this, come see the South Bend Knitwork and share your progress.
Here's mine:

There IS a Doctor in the house!

Customer: Help! This man is choking!
Waiter: Is there a doctor in the house?
Organic Chemist: Why, I am a doctor.
Waiter: Help this man!
Organic Chemist: Oh, I am not that kind of doctor. I have a PhD in chemistry and I am on the tenure track at a local liberal arts college.
Customer: He's dead.
Waiter: Well, thanks for wasting that 30 seconds, "Doctor"!

Don't worry. Thanks to the Associated Press, such tragic scenarios would never play out in real life. Despite the fact that the AP has no role in awarding or stripping degrees, the AP Stylebook states that when referring to people who have been awarded academic PhDs, they should be referred to as Mr. or Ms., with the Dr. prefix being reserved for medical doctors. Like this one:



This is in spite of the fact that the word "Doctor" is from the Latin word "teacher" (doceo, docere, docui, doctus – to teach), and was used to refer to the most learned people in a society. Back in the day, it was the case that the most educated person in a village would likely have been the local physician, but I should point out that this was at a time when phrenology was considered the wave of the future!

What, to me, is more interesting is that the AP, for the most part, comprises people who have only received a bachelors. This means that a group of people lower than me on the academic totem pole have bestowed upon themselves the right essentially to strip me of the academic reverence that I have earned.

I can only conclude this means that any group, who have no particular role in awarding academic titles or honors, can, at their discretion, decide to refer officially to others as they please. So, with that precedent in mind, I will henceforth be referring to members of the AP with the prefix, Lobotomized Peon.

"Leg To Stand On" Fail
Pay attention to how the journalist refers to Dr. Baldwin.

10 Things #1: International Edition!

I finally finished the Butterfly Cardigan from Sensual Crochet. It was an awesome pattern and I love that it is assembled in one piece because seaming is probably my least favourite part of knitting. I'm also very excited that I did a lacy crochet pattern because I had never attempted one before. The instructions where so easy and by the time I was working the front patterns I had the stitch memorised.

It's currently blocking and taking its sweet time to dry, which has lead to me walking a few pins into my feet... ouch! I finished it here in Ireland where I am currently vacationing. It wanted to finish it in international airspace, but the peons at Aer Lingus wouldn't let me take it in my carry-on for weight reasons. Instead, the wouldn't-be Archimedes's made me pack it into my checked luggage which was nowhere near the weight limit. So, me, my cardigan-free carry-on and my cardigan-ful checked luggage all went on the same plane to Ireland, and I worked on it in a zombie-like state of jet lag. I did manage to get my Neapolitan yarn onto the plane so ripped out the project I was using it for that wasn't going so well and started some Jaywalkers instead.

In other related frogging news, I eighty-sixed the original 10 things #1 project (hence the numbering on this one). I had ambitiously started adapting a pattern from Hot Knits to be in the round, and while it would have worked, it required better note-taking than I was willing to do. Also, I didn't have enough yarn to finish it, and the store I got it from doesn't stock it anymore! I'll definitely revisit the pattern, because it's awesome (i.e. it's a Melissa Leapman), but I'll buy enough yarn and RTFM!!!

That's Two!

---

Addendum: Awwww, fits perfectly!