My week

Busy busy. I'm currently writing an essay so I don't have any classes. *tired* byeeee *graceface*

Considering Men's Rights vs. Feminism.

After a minor debate with a person who "hates feminists because they don't work for equality" I found this:

A List of “Men’s Rights” Issues That Feminism Is Already Working On

Feminists do not want you to lose custody of your children. The assumption that women are naturally better caregivers is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not like commercials in which bumbling dads mess up the laundry and competent wives have to bustle in and fix it. The assumption that women are naturally better housekeepers is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to have to make alimony payments. Alimony is set up to combat the fact that women have been historically expected to prioritize domestic duties over professional goals, thus minimizing their earning potential if their “traditional” marriages end. The assumption that wives should make babies instead of money is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want anyone to get raped in prison. Permissiveness and jokes about prison rape are part of rape culture, which is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want anyone to be falsely accused of rape. False rape accusations discredit rape victims, which reinforces rape culture, which is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to be lonely and we do not hate “nice guys.” The idea that certain people are inherently more valuable than other people because of superficial physical attributes is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to have to pay for dinner. We want the opportunity to achieve financial success on par with men in any field we choose (and are qualified for), and the fact that we currently don’t is part of patriarchy. The idea that men should coddle and provide for women, and/or purchase their affections in romantic contexts, is condescending and damaging and part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to be maimed or killed in industrial accidents, or toil in coal mines while we do cushy secretarial work and various yarn-themed activities. The fact that women have long been shut out of dangerous industrial jobs (by men, by the way) is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to commit suicide. Any pressures and expectations that lower the quality of life of any gender are part of patriarchy. The fact that depression is characterized as an effeminate weakness, making men less likely to seek treatment, is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to be viewed with suspicion when you take your child to the park (men frequently insist that this is a serious issue, so I will take them at their word). The assumption that men are insatiable sexual animals, combined with the idea that it’s unnatural for men to care for children, is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want you to be drafted and then die in a war while we stay home and iron stuff. The idea that women are too weak to fight or too delicate to function in a military setting is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not want women to escape prosecution on legitimate domestic violence charges, nor do we want men to be ridiculed for being raped or abused. The idea that women are naturally gentle and compliant and that victimhood is inherently feminine is part of patriarchy.

Feminists hate patriarchy. We do not hate you.

If you really care about those issues as passionately as you say you do, you should be thanking feminists, because feminism is a social movement actively dedicated to dismantling every single one of them. The fact that you blame feminists—your allies—for problems against which they have been struggling for decades suggests that supporting men isn’t nearly as important to you as resenting women. We care about your problems a lot. Could you try caring about ours?

Excerpt from If I Admit That Hating Men is a Thing, Will You Stop Turning it Into a Self-fulfilling Prophecy?, by Lindy West (vialullabysounds)

Point is, patriarchy hurts everyone. Patriarchy dictates how we, as humans, are supposed to be. And contrary to what people in general seems to believe, feminism and feminists do not want you to be anything other than yourself. If you want to be a lorry driver and identify as a man, go ahead. If you want to be a nurse and identify as a woman, go ahead. It's when someone say that because I identify as a woman then I cannot drive a lorry (because I'm too weak, because women cannot drive, because reasons), or someone who identifies as a man cannot become a kindergarten teacher (because he's probably a paedophile, because he doesn't have a mother's instincts, because reasons) - then there is a problem, according to me, according to feminists, according to feminism. There is also a problem when there is a medial uproar over a woman, in an audience on a popular TV-show, who haven't shaved her armpits. I. Wha. What? I just.. Wha? Why does ANYONE care about another person's armpits? *le sigh*. These things extend beyond everything that is obvious, patriarchal structures are woven into society, to the relations between people regardless of gender identity, to the relations between adults and children. And patriarchy hurts. It hurts everyone.

Oh god I feel so busy!

I'm not though, I think I'm just combining the art of procrastinating with my current inability to start writing an essay... (edit; I've started! Yay me!)
From September up until now, I use Dodopad inserts. I'm not terribly happy with them though, it feels cramped! If I would have had an a5 I'd definitely use the dodoinserts, but in a personal it just feels useless... I'm not a very doodly (that is a word now) person and I like to have dedicated areas for my things because I'm easily overwhelmed - my current state of mind - and it's easier for me to just go with the inserts. I don't like how it feels like I'm wasting a loot of space, which I am.

The reason why I chose the dodoinserts at all is because I want colour and decoration in my filo. Right now I'm contemplating getting LimeTreeFruits inserts for next fall, but I may end up buying them sooner. I like the LTF-inserts because they are fun, don't waste much space on the pages, really pretty and I support an independent artist. Nothing can go wrong with that combination! I don't really have a clue on what the pages will look like, but I can say that the small thumbnail I've seen for the week per view lay out is purrty. I liked the month pages for this year that she made, and now she's improved them by putting mon-fri on the same page - loved it!

For the upcoming weeks I will regress to the cotton cream week on 2 pages from Filofax. I have more appointments than I thought I had since I have two jobs without a fixed schedule, as well as studying full time. It will be easier for me to have a W2P and use a to do-list on the side. I will give you an update next week on how I have set it up (have not decided yet which format, video or pictures).

Have a great week!

My week and what I made.

I crocheted a shawl for my cousin's cristmas present.
Busy week, I have two exams this week and one exam next week. I feel swamped..

My week!

Less busy than usual, still quite busy. I need to write stuff up more often!!

EMERGENCY!

I just received an invitation to celebrate J's cousin's son's second birthday! (Wow, that is a lot of genitive S:s... So much sss). Panic. No birthday present. And no holiday gift either. Ouch. So where do you turn? To Ravelry of course!
I will get some yarn on Monday and start this hat as well as these mittens for the birthday party. I can make those in two weeks, no problem! Right! Right? Please tell me I can! *panic!*
For Christmas though, I will make this sweater. A little more time, hopefully I can finish it.
I am going to bed now.

Quick recap of the week

Oh gosh, this week has been terrible. I was afflicted by a cold from HELL! (Yes, the logic works. Read the Divine comedy if you do not believe me ;) ) I still have a few symptoms and it is my tenth day ill. Sucks. This means that I am behind on my studying, which is never a good thing, but it is a really interesting course (history of the Swedish language) so thankfully it does not matter that much because I will not have a problem with studying a couple of hours extra per day to catch up.
I did go to Uni this Thursday because I had an exam that day. Or so I thought. Turned out that I had written the wrong date in my calendar, the exam was actually on Wednesday... That kinda sucked too. You know, had it been written down on Tuesday it would just be funny, now I will have to wait a month to do the exam. I can say that I am extremely thankful for the Swedish universities' system, if you fail you can always take the test again (and if you write it up to two years after the course, you can still use the old literature).
Knittingwise I have started a pair of socks for S which she will get for Christmas. I use Järbo Raggi Multi which is a woolen blend yarn in a purple/grey/black/white colour mix. I like knitting with it, it is a little rough but it gives just the right amount of friction on the needles for me to be able to watch TV at the same time. The pattern (see link) is an awesome pattern, I have a pair of my own which I love. I have designated the living room sofa for this project - I felt since I have carpal tunnel syndrome that I need to have a few projects of different methods to switch between (I also have a crocheting project, a skull shawl for my cousin, to work with "on the go").
My boyfriend J is a very practical man and have an extreme love for hardware and tools of different sorts, unfortunately, he is organizationally challenged. I have, over the years we have lived together, bought him plenty of tool cases and alike to give him the resources he needs to not have all the tools in the living room. Finally he got the hint and managed to have one case extra. I stole it. It now holds knitting tools. :3

In that yellow tube I have all my aluminium jumper needles. I inherited most of them from J's grandmother who passed away. I got a whole moving box of yarn as well, but sadly I found fur beetle larvae in the bottom so we burnt it all. I did not even want to try to keep some of the yarn after that because I have a lot of woolen LARP-clothes that I do not want to be afflicted by those yucky animals (most of the yarn was acrylic though so I did not regret it that much, not a huge fan of acrylic). In the black pen case I hold my Knitpro (is it the same company as Knitpicks? It's the European version anyway..) interchangeable circular needles, cable needles, crocheting hooks, needle size/ruler/stitchmeasure-thingamabob etcetera.

Underneath the grey lift-out part, I have my stash. Not very much, but it keeps my knitting-need in check. I will probably not buy any yarn until new years when I will start (two, lol) afghan-projects. I will make a birthday present for S (by the way, my bestest friendsis in the whole world :3 ) and one for myself. I am going to use this pattern because we both love Harry Potter. Very much. Oh so much. Love. (Did I say I love Harry Potter?).
My Filofax has been an issue for me for a couple of weeks. I use Dodopad's Acadpad in personal size in my personal spring green Chameleon. Love the Dodo-designs, but... It doesn't give me enough room in the right places. Sort of buying an off-the-rack suit. I thought that I did not have to have that much space for the days, and more for the week, but it turns out that I was a little mistaken. Right now, and a month ahead, I would have done well with a day per page insert, preferably an Franklin Covey type. I think I will roll with the Acadpad until the academic year is up and use my Paperblank notebook/journal to help out when it it too crowded in the Filo. I've been thinking about having a to-do section as well, as a master list or something, but I am a little scared about it... Tried it before and it did not really work... I do not know. I may try it again just because I have to.
During the upcoming week I will have a couple of detailed posts on my current projects as well as a round up post for my beret. (love it!). I will also have a post which will hopefully be featured in Husmorsskolans "symöte", a collection of Swedish blogposts on the bloggers' current projects. We will see if I can make that happen, in that case, that post will be in Swedish.
Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

The paperless society - RANT

I was reading Well Planned Life's blog post about Evernote and Post-It collaborating, and this quote here made me think of the paperless society and its implications:

One thing about CNET’s article that threw me though is the quote from Evernote’s CEO [Phil Libin]: “’Paperless as a concept is stupid… The goal is to get rid of stupid uses of paper.’” 

Let’s break this down.  I agree with the first part—I don’t like the concept of an all or nothing approach to paper versus technology.  [...] However, the second part, that just doesn’t make sense to me.  Who is to say what is a “stupid use of paper”? 

 Mr. Libin's statement actually resonated with me on numerous levels. First and foremost as a lover of all things paper. I am an avid user of Evernote, Dropbox and many other digital and electronic tools such as Kindle, a smartphone etc., but there is just nothing that can replace my beloved paper notebook for class, Filofax for external-braining (yes, now it is a word) and Post-Its for those small reminders that normal people, for some reason, seem to remember without any issues (like bringing lunch, or use floss... It is not just me is it?). Emotional side, check!

Second, I work at a national agency as a registrar, so I am surrounded by paper all day long. However, they are slowly but surely (trying to) convert to all-digital communication within the agency as well as with citizens. As a whole I am a skeptic, I understand what they are coming from, but I am not convinced that it is in the citizens' or the country's best interest 100% of the time. In this aspect, the "stupid use of paper"-part is the best approach I think - and there seems to be a stirring amongst the registrars of my agency to try to eliminate the stupid uses of paper. (Unfortunately I do not want to go in to details of what I do exactly, first of all it would be very boring, very time consuming, and the post would just go on and on.. And my privacy of course ;) ) Work, check!

Third, when it comes to studying, I rarely learn if I do not write it down! I am primarily a tactile learner, I learn by doing. That does not help when you are enrolled in university studying linguistics. The only way I am able to learn what I need to learn (if it is on the boring side) is by writing. It. Down. When I do, I get pretty good grades. When I do not, I fail miserably. Paper all the way it is. School, check!

To respond to Well Planned Life, I think a stupid use of paper is wasting a piece of paper. As an individual, a stupid way of using paper may be to have several copies when there are ways of only using one. A practical implementation of the Evernote/Post-It could be if you have an opportunity to work from home but know you use Post-Its as reminders at work, upload it to Evernote and you do not have to write another to have at home/take it with you/write it down somewhere else. Or if you need to share the post it with a colleague... I could go on. Though I do think that the one who is to decide if it is a stupid use of paper or not is the person using it. If you use Evernote for everything as many people do, it may be an efficiency thing to keep it all-in-one-place without going through the trouble of writing it down yet again.

Ranty McRantRant. I do not know if I make sense. Rant.

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Christmas Rose Hat #2

I finished the beret yesterday, and I am quite pleased with it, with the exception of two things which I am still pondering about... First of all, the ribbing. I just think it's too loose. If I have my hair down, it looks semi-ok, but if I have my hair up it feels like it will be a saggy mess! I have already bound it off, but I think I will rip up the ribbing and downsize half a mm, (or maybe a whole?) to 4 to get it a lottle tighter. Second, I noticed that I knitted instead of purled a part of a row. It is right of the middle of the beret, but it is not very noticeable so I consider leaving it. And honesly, I really cannot be arsed to start all over again :D

While we are on the topic of correcting mistakes, I were knitting a sweater last december, but I felt the arms were just too wide! It is not alot, maybe one, one and a half centimeter too wide, but still.. And the ribbing at the ends of the arms were too loose as well... Mental note, downsize more than the pattern say!

I have not blocked any of them yet, will that fix the looseness somehow?

Christmas Rose Hat

Yesterday I started a project for myself called Christmas Rose Hat by Ravelry designer Linda Irving-Bell, a beret with a flower and snowflake pattern. In this picture I have barely started knitting the rim, and sorry about the picture quality - I only have one desk lamp in my office - I promise there will be a better picture as soon as it is finished! For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to make a beret for myself for this winter. With that said, I have never been a huge fan of them, so the fact that I felt I needed one instead of my slouchy, black-and-neon-green beanie from last winter is odd. (On the other hand, people may not think that I am a teenager anymore if I stop wearing a beanie. I am 25... I do not take it as a compliment when people say I look younger). Anyway, I was browsing ravelry for berets and I found this pattern. It looked a little challenging when it came to a couple of stitch types, but other than that it looked as if I would have no problem at all knitting this piece. I am not a very experienced knitter, I have mostly done the basic/intermediate k, p, k2tog, ssk, and so on, but I have never been remotely close to cable knitting or those levels... So the fact that this pattern requires some cable-style transfers back and forth is great! Moving one stitch is not very hard, and it gave me practise with my cable needle. I will probably have finished the beret by tomorrow evening, I am looking forward to it!

Specifications:

• Yarn: 2 skeins of Drops Nepal 
• 65% wool, 35% Alpaca
• 50 g / ~75 m (82 y)
• 17 st * 22 rows on needle 5
• Colour nr. 8309
• Needles: Knit Pro Symphony, 4.5 mm