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Damn it, I knew it was wrong! First of all, yes, isn’t this cute? But there’s a problem, and I finally admitted I’d have to frog the borders and redo. The pattern doesn’t specify that when you pick up stitches for the right and left front edges, you shouldn’t pick up along the top colour. I guess this should have been obvious, but it only gradually became so to me as I was finishing off the last row or two of the seed stitch. Still, I ignored my instinct and pushed on stubbornly applying the i-cord. After all, it’s a baby sweater and they don’t really have to fit very precisely, right? Well, maybe not, but this one was going to look as if the poor little one was getting strangled. So, let the frogging begin . . . rip-it, rip-it! probably not much more than two hours’ work to redo so I may still have a completed Tulip by week’s end.

I came across this in Stephen Henighan’s article on Central America’s poets’ confrontation with globalization (in the June 2007 issue of The Walrus: Henighan argues that the “culture of globalization is a culture of aliteracy: a consumerist amnesia dependent on the suppression of the historical memory inscribed in poetry.” He remarks that the huge shopping centre, Metrocentro, which forms the new core of Managua, capital of Nicaragua, replicates North American shopping malls and “is adored by well-off Nicaraguans.” Wandering through the mall, he realizes that there is no bookstore, and comments that “in Central America, bookstores and shopping malls exist in opposition to each other; to include a bookstore in Metrocentro would be to negate the mall’s identity as the purveyor of globalized postmodernity. While the mall strives to be timeless, reading instills an awareness of language and history, and in the Central American context these values remain subversive.” I think of the students in my First Nations literature class reading themselves to an awareness of language and history and then negotiating their way through globalizing/ed malls in commercial centres where land claims remain unresolved. The subversive possibilities of literature in Canada seem considerably flabbier than those Henighan documents in Central America– are they any match against the tempting commodities of globalized capitalism? (says the woman with a weakness for shoes!)

Started this post–up to here–yesterday, but decided to wait and add to it today. I’ve just finished the baby sweater and it’s soaking right now. Once I finished writing, I’ll go block it and it should be ready to show you by tomorrow or Monday. Meanwhile, I’ve started a pair of socks and this photo shows you what I’m doing now as the first step in making a lace shawl — either Icarus from Interweave or something from Jane Sowerby’s gorgeous, gorgeous book, Victorian Lace Today. The yarn is a lovely Misti Alpaca lace 2-ply in a cherry red. 100% baby alpaca: it’s sooo soft! The photo attests to my need for both swift and ball-winder, neither of which I’m likely to buy for myself, so husband readers could take note of the gift possibilities here — swift has to be gifted first as I can’t imagine how the ballwinder would work without something to keep the skein opened and straight ( see parikha’s comment below–she got her ballwinder first and substituted a cardboard box for a swift — innovative!). If you’re thinking of buying one for a knitter in your life, the sites I’ve linked to are just to show you what these are — an easy starting place to look for one would be your LYS (local yarn store if you’re not up on knitting lingo).

I was out in the garden this morning trying to capture a shot of the gentian sage. Didn’t work, unfortunately, but I’ll try again later. The flowers are such a beautiful shade of blue and I’m looking forward to comparing them to the actual gentian flowers — those are still tight buds but they should bloom within the next week or two.

My fellow kayaked to town this morning and is now back with both the weekend papers (we like to read The Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail on Saturdays). Sounds as if he’s just put the baking powder biscuits in the oven and I’m starting to smell them baking. I’m just going to squeeze out that baby sweater, set it out to block and relax with breakfast and the paper. Have a good weekend!