Sneak a Peek at the Activity!

In Design: Scarves (yes, still)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/86092397/shabby-chic-autumn-flower-barrette-brown - Listing for these barrettes!

So, these are what are going to be posted over the next few days. I particularly like the brown flower...And there's two of them! :)  And the headband (last picture) is actually part of a set of four. I figured this would be excellent as a set for a bridal party. They can be more customized if required.

Went home this weekend, since it was reading week. Then wrote three proposals today. At least these short blurb exercises are a good way to practice writing the longer works! And I've gotten really good at them now, since there has been so many this year already!

But at least I've had a breather before the end of the term. I'm still really looking forward to Christmas break, though!

Not much else happening right now. Just figured I would do a quick update and get back to school work and crafting. Or maybe go play some Bayonetta!

Take Care!

Katie =^..^=

Flynn Rider Vest

On the Needles: Advent Calendar
In Design: Scarves

That's right, folks! I made a Flynn Rider vest for Halloween (including under shirt) for my boyfriend~! Here's a picture of us two:

I also made the braid, but the dress is from my grad. :) 

And, of course, I had to almost beat him over the head with my frying pan! 

I am very happy with how this turned out.

Now, what's happening next? Well, I've got more Christmas ornaments to picture, and then I have lots of hair accessories made and just calling my name for me to take pictures, which I'm hoping to do this afternoon! :)

It's started snowing here, which sucks, because now it's cold an there's ice. But at least it isn't a bad as out East...And it gives me an excuse to curl up inside with a blanket and hot chocolate and read without feeling guilty! 

Over two months through the semester, and there's a reading break next week, which I'm really excited for, because it means that I can go home and see my cat and parents and soak in the hot springs! (Whoot!) Well, and work on conference proposals for the 15th...And doing readings. And edit my honours paper for a WIP talk, and get a proposal together for a paper, and...Yeah, my school work doesn't end this semester. And it won't even over Christmas break. Although I will be able to sleep in at that point! And go see "Beauty and the Beast" as the Jubilee Auditorium! (So excited for that!)

I am in the midst of a book for my honours paper right now, but it's taking me forever to read, since it's something I've taking intensive notes from. And, for my children's literature class, right now we're reading Nation by Terry Pratchett! And finally! Someone spoke up in class about the whole "traditional female roles" and said that she felt like they were being devalued all the time. And it wasn't just when women took on those roles, but men, too. Any of the nurturing roles in either sex. I was so glad that someone finally spoke up (and that it wasn't me, because the other girl was much more articulate. If you don't believe me, read the previous blog post where I ranted.)

One good thing about November is that in about a month, we can go get a tree and set it up! I can't wait for it. hehe

All right, it's almost class time, and I need to do some more reading. But have a good day, take care on the roads wherever you are, and keep an eye on the Etsy shop to see new items posted soon! :)

Katie =^..^=

Contemplation on Being a Female Academic

On the Needles: Advent calendar!
Designing: Name scarf, "Untalkative Bunny" scarf

Warning: This post is not particularly about knitting or crafting, although they do figure into what I'm writing. This is more about my academia, something wild and completely different! I'll make sure to do another actual update soon.

This post has been in my mind for a few weeks now. I've been trying to find the right way to phrase the thoughts in my head, and I am still finding the words inadequate. Yet I feel the need to still write this post, so come heck or high water, I'll write it (even if it is a bit incoherent at points).

I feel as though I need to gloss a bit about myself: I am 22, I'm in my fifth year of university, I'm an Honours student in the English department, I'm a woman, I'm a crafter, hiker, and I love cats. Now, the list I just gave falls into lovely theories about "identity politics" that I'm not going to elaborate on that.

Now, I'm currently in a second-year levelled English course for children's literature (it's really interesting and relevant to my Honours project). A few weeks ago, we had a presentation on "boyhood," as we were reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

 Just look at that awesome cover!

Now, there are quite a few contentions that I had with this presentation, and I've discussed this at length with my peers in my English class, and my boyfriend, and they have also brought up very good points that I hadn't thought of at the point. So, this whole post is generated from my ideas and theirs as well.

Within the children's literature class (from now on known as C.Literature), we read the texts (i.e. Treasure Island) and essays about certain keywords within C.Lit. "Boyhood" was one of those essays (from Keywords for Children's Literature edited by Philip Nel and Lissa Paul, 2011).

One of the first contentions, which I didn't have at the time, but that my boyfriend did rightly point out, was that the group was made up of four girls. Who have never experienced "boyhood." As he says, anything having to do with gender really should have a mixed sex group, and I think that is a very good point. Even within feminist presentations, there should be a mixed sex group. Granted, this is difficult in a predominantly female class (with about 1:15 (4/60) ratio of male students, which says something, I believe, about English studies and the study of C.Literature).

Now, there exploration and expansion on the essay and its application to Treasure Island was quite good, I will say. What brought the most contention for me is the fact that they were continually comparing it to being a girl, and that everything that, we as girls, or as women do, is "just" something. We "just" are moms.

I have a real problem with this. Now, I'm not a radical feminist; I am also not particularly versed in area of "Women's Studies." I am, however, still a female academic, and in some ways that gives me ways to say this (hopefully articulately).

When I was younger, my mom and dad always got after me for saying that I was "just" something (i.e. this is "just" me phoning to leave a message); they always told me to take more pride in what I was saying, that what I was doing was something I was doing, not "just" something I was doing. From then on, I always take the word "just," when applied to people or their actions, is taking agency (the power to act) away from the person or their actions.

The example that rankled me in class was that one girl brought in the comparison between these two books:

Now, she said that The Dangerous Book for Boys tells you how to skin a rabbit "and a whole bunch of other cool stuff." But that The Daring Book for Girls tells you "just how to knit and balance your cheque book. Not that there's anything wrong with knitting, since I like it." (The Book for Girls doesn't actually have anything to say about cheques or knitting as far as I could tell from the index; I'll get back to you guys about the Book for Boys, since I haven't found a copy yet.)

In that moment, I feel as though she took a lot of agency away from the ability of what traditional women's roles are. I am for the equality of the sexes, but someone also have to learn how to balance the cheque book and clean the house and sew the buttons on the shirts when they fall off. I learnt those things when I was in Girl Guides. And I take pride in the fact that I am accomplished in some of the traditional women's roles.

Taking the agency from the women's traditional roles instantly says that they are lesser, and inferior, and propagates the circle that so many feminists are trying to overthrow. I am trying to argue that these roles are not lesser and inferior, but that they are something that should be seen as a source of pride.

Now, this comes to the other part of why this whole thing has been bothering me, since it is more personal. In many ways, I am uncomfortable being in classes where these traditional roles are placed in an "inferior" position. As a female academic, and having taken the opportunities that I have worked hard for (going to Japan for an exchange, being in Honours, and hopefully a Master's), I am likely to go and become a mom. In which case, all of these things seen as "inferior" will actually be my biggest ally.

This is where this post has sat for quite a few weeks, because right at this point, I have difficulty in articulating what I want to say on this point.

Maybe I'm running in the wrong circles within the university, but I find that many female academics have very negative attitudes regarding traditional femininity and motherhood. So, as I'm sitting there listening to this, I know that I don't subscribe to these views. And that is my choice, and I know it. I have been educated to read not only literary texts but theories and to make critical decisions about what I want to accept and not accept.

I know that a lot of arguments run that girls should go for higher education, and know their choices, etc. And, again, I am for equal rights. If that's what you want. If you want to go become a mom, I think that you should go for it. There is nothing wrong with it. Yes, I'm looking at this from an very privileged, educated position, but after this, I will be a mom. And what I will need there are those things that I learnt when I was young and being raised by my own mom. I will need to use the traditional female roles that I developed being in the traditional female organizations, like Girl Guides.

And I will be happy and proud to pass those traditional skills down to any girls I have. And if they be boys, well, then they'll also be learning these skills. Because that's part of equality, too.

So, that's my contribution for today. This is completely different from what I've posted before, but I hope that you enjoy. As I said, I'll tell you about the crafting updates later.

Take care,

Katie

Update!

On the Needles: Mittens
In the Design process: Scarf and Advent Calendar

So, lots has been happening! Including, a start up of a new subsection in my shop: Christmas decorations! http://www.etsy.com/shop/NekozukiYarns?section_id=10546630

There's going to be lots more to come, too, like a knitted advent calendar, and more painted ornaments, which I'm working on a bit today.

I've rewritten the ten pages for my honours proposal, which is exciting. And now I'm working on my application for my Master's and for funding for said program. Which is exciting and terrifying.

Other than that, been keeping busy with reading. And my boyfriend, one of his friends, and I finally made it to the Upper Falls in Johnston Canyon! Success. Unfortunately, my camera was too cold to take pictures. Oh well. I'm sure we'll be there again.

And now, time to actually do some reading!

Take Care,

Katie

First Year Anniversary!

On the needles: mittens
Designing: Name scarf

So, today is the first year anniversary of the blog! I can't believe that I made my first post a year ago. Lots has changed in that time. :)

However, life is still not terribly different, although I'm heading into my last year of school, and I've finally started my Etsy shop!

I've been super busy recently. I've probably read 1,200 pages from the start of school, as well as writing my honours project.

Hence, I haven't been posting much. But I'm still working on things. Like, I just posted this scarf: http://www.etsy.com/listing/83129065/scarf-pink-breast-cancer-awareness-for It's made from Bernat Boa "Chick", with part of the yarn proceeds going towards Breast Cancer research!

And, I've got Christmas decorations in the works. I'm not actually knitting anything, but I'm beading, which I'm having lots of fun with.

I went home this weekend, which was good, and I'll probably be back there next weekend for Thanksgiving, which will be nice. I'll have lots more work next week, though, because I have to rewrite the ten pages for my supervisor by the 14th!

But, my boyfriend and I have been out for a few hikes. Like, Grassi Lakes; we're heading out to Johnston Canyon and the Ink Pots this Friday, so I'm excited!

For now, though, I shall leave it there, and I'll post a more detailed post soon! - And maybe a post with just pictures of Etsy items coming up...I even have Christmas trees!

Katie

And So, the End Begins

On the needles: Orange moss stitch scarf, baby hat.
In production: Custom order scarf

OK, so blog didn't slow down quite as much as I thought (actually, this will be a pleasant break from having to think critically about three different courses AND "Beauty and the Beast"). Although I should technically be reading right now, especially since I still have class reading AND 10 pages to write by Thursday (which includes more reading). I won't go into the nitty gritty, but I feel like it's an accomplishment that I cooked dinners last week.

It's cold and rainy here today, which is sad, but OK. I need to concentrate on my readings. And knitting. I need to finish this moss stitch scarf so that I can make a delivery of all three at the same time...And get to visit my coworkers! I'm hoping that I can get it finished this week, because I can deliver it next Monday, or at least next week at some point. (My goal is before Thanksgiving.) After that, I can start on the custom order scarf (which I do need to tweak a bit...I'm having more difficulties than I thought I would). After that, watch out, because there'll be mittens and scarves and new stuff up on Etsy!

I might even be trying to cable in the scarf! And I am working on learning to crochet. I've kind of got it, but then I lost it. But I will persevere, even if all I end up with is dishcloths (for now)!

I found an awesome yarn review site here: http://www.knitpurlgurl.com/ As in, I just found it this morning. It seems like it'll be fun; I'll add the link to the "Online Yarns" as well.

Also, finally looked at this awesome shop in Calgary called "Blame Betty". At least, I looked at their website. I saw them as we were driving through 17th the other day, and I keep hearing about them. Seeing their style, I know where I'm shopping for a grad dress! http://www.blamebetty.ca/

Wednesday I have to stand up in front of my honours class and give a five minute blurb about what I'm actually researching, which is nervewracking. However, I can use it to start the 10 pages that I need for Thursday! I have a general idea of what I'm saying, although it doesn't include anything about the main texts in particular. But I do have quite a bit to say, and I'll ramble on to some measure about the whole thing about there not being much (if any) research in Gothic in fairy tales (beyond the passing mention of "Bluebeard", it seems), and how there is only one book currently about it even in Children's Literature.

It's interesting going back to class, because I am entering my fifth year, and I have been working on this project over the summer. A lot of these people that are in the classes are still so young, it kind of amazes me. Or just don't seem connected to things. I was waiting to speak to my supervisor after our Children's Literature class the other day, and one of the women (she was over 30) had thought that the Disney version of the fairy tales were American. I would say that that's fair, but for the fact that you can see it in their films. Yes, Disney, for a lot of people, is a mega corporation that's destroyed fairy tales. However, (first off, I'm a huge Disney fan, but I can see both sides of the argument), Disney has taken them and made them relevant to a lot of our social concerns today, just as the Grimm Brothers or Perrault did. And Disney clearly states (if you watch in "Cinderella") that this version is based off of Perrault's work.

The thing that seems to happen with a lot of people that bash Disney is that they aren't going outside the box and thinking about it critically. And you don't need to be a post-secondary student to think about it critically. Don't take things passively; even before I entered university, I was exploring the Grimms' fairy tales. And I knew that "The Little Mermaid" was actually Danish (Hans Christian Andersen), which is kind of hard to ignore when you know that her statue is in Copenhagen. Anyway. No, fairy tales aren't only American. There are variants of most of these tales from around the world. I have to say that I enjoy what Disney has done with the visuals for most of these films, and I much prefer their ending of "The Little Mermaid". But I'm also not taking these passively, and I'm seeking out other ways that these tales are told (obviously). However, I've also worked with Disney's version of "Beauty and the Beast" to argue that the Beast is, in fact, reverse objectified, becoming the focus of our ideas of masculine perfection, even more so than Belle being objectified. This is especially apparent which most of the audience also agrees that the Beast is actually better as the Beast than as the Prince. Disney works in getting these tales introduced to a mass audience, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and at least you can take them critically from there.

My argument for this paper is quite different, but I won't get into details here. Although part of it does have to do with Penny Arcade's argument in this webcomic: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/02/28

P.S. Even look at their costumes. It tells you a lot.

/End my side of the debate. For today.

So, on that note, my boyfriend and I also went to check out the "Cut!" exhibit at the Glenbow Museum, which was awesome! And my boyfriend hadn't been to the museum, so we went through most of the other exhibits, too, which was awesome. I still love going to see the geological display (especially all the sparklies).

And Saturday, I went with a friend to shop for her wedding dress, and she found one in the first shop. She looks absolutely amazing in it! I can't wait to see her wedding next year.

I got my card turned over to an "Honours" card so that I can take books about for 4 months (a term) at a time. So I only need to return one book by the 21, and the rest are with me until January! I had asked about this before the summer started, but got a really snarky reply, but then! I found out about last week, which made me happy. So much easier than having to run books back and forth.

Also, one novel down for school: Transmission by Hari Kunzru, which was actually quite good. I think that the discussion about it will be interesting. Hopefully. It's a split level class between senior level undergraduate students and graduate students, so it's interesting to see how it works. It's funny, because one of the girls that I started university with is in the class as well, but as a graduate student, so it's interesting to see how we're actually still at the same level in regards to classes.

OK. I need to go read and actually write my critical works. Having to do how I'm actually meshing together critical theories from Children's literature, fairy tales, and the Gothic, seeing as how there isn't any other literature doing it for me! (Which makes it easier and more difficult at the same time.)

Hope all is well! And one plug for the Etsy shop: I am accepting custom orders. Feel free to message me via the various means of Twitter, Facebook, Etsy conversation, or on here in the comments, and I'll get back to you! I may not be posting as often, but I do spend a few minutes to check everything each day.

Take care!

Katie =^..^=

Knitting, Knitting, Knitting! (And, actually, Honours!)

On the needles: Moss stitch orange scarf
To Cast on: double knit scarf

So that's the moss stitch scarf. I'm really happy with how it's turning out, and I hope that the lady I'm making it for likes it, too! I decided to do moss stitch so that it didn't cult like stockinette stitch scarves do. And it's a really nice yarn, so I wanted to show it off more than I wanted something really fancy. However, this stitch is VERY time consuming. The only reason I have as much done here as I do is because I watched "Gone With the Wind" last night. haha I knew that production would slow down around school. Although the biggest reason I didn't get as much work done as I should have last week was because I got a pretty bad something or another, and had a fluctuating fever for three days. It's better now, but I'm still recovering. I hate being sick, especially with how warm it was in Calgary last week. But at least it was before classes start.

Speaking of which, I start on Tuesday, and I'm nervously excited about it all. I'm working on my honours' reading right now; I have to have 10 pages, and a revised proposal, written by the 30th! I already have ideas brewing in my head as to what I'm going to say, but I probably should be worrying that I haven't actually read my primary texts yet, just the sources I selected surrounding them. Oh well...It's not like there's any specific sources that say, "Yes, there are Gothic tendencies in young adult fairy tales"; the only thing that comes close to saying this is The Gothic in Children's Literature, which only came out in 2007: 

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_gothic_in_children_s_literature.html?id=8dkdAQAAIAAJ

And I'm almost willing to bet that the biggest push for this was Harry Potter. Seems like there's a lot going on in this book about Harry Potter. Which is fine by me. I may eventually even go there myself. 

In some ways, not having previous scholarship on the subject makes it easier (I don't have to worry that I sound like I'm copying someone), but it also makes it difficult because you can't say "xyz said in ABC that "Beauty and the Beast" contains Gothic tendencies, and that is what I'm building from". Oh well. It also made me scratch my head for awhile, trying to figure out the best approach for my research. Am I focussing more on the fairy tale, or the Gothic constructs? My supervisor was awesome with helping me with my proposal, so I'm focusing on the Gothic, with some fairy tale research to fill in the gaps. 

And lots of reading will occur! Yay for senior level courses, and my honours seminar in which 40 pages is due by April. 

But I'm excited. 

And it'll also be the MA applications this year.

But I'm excited.

(Really, I am.)

Other than that, just getting over this ridiculous sickness, and then life will be good.

Even with all the reading! :) 

By the way, also in the process right now is a chunky yarn baby hat, which I'm really enjoying knitting, because it's super soft and squishy! I can't wait to get it a little bit more finished, and then I'll post pictures. Once I finish this scarf. 

Oooh, and this morning, one of my barettes was put into a curated list by another Etsian! Here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NjM3NDM2NHw3MDM1NTU1MjI/you-can-smell-it-in-the-air-fall-is-near?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share 

So happy!

Also, finished reading The Help, which I found really interesting. However, it felt like one of those books that I kept having to tuck away; like it's not something that I could read out in public. Which is kind of ridiculous, but interesting. However, this led to me watching "Gone with the Wind" (Which definitely made me uncomfortable at points), and now I'm reading Gone with the Wind in my "spare" (i.e. not school) reading time. We'll see how this goes. It'll probably take me until April to finish it! 

Take care, everyone. For everyone going back to school (or already finished their first week), good luck!

Katie =^..^=

P.S. I remember September 11, 2001.