Tsuda Masami - Kare Kano, vol. 12-15 (Eng. trans.)

( Spoilers )

Zimmermann, Elizabeth - Knitting Without Tears

(subtitle: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes)

I wanted a book on knitting techniques instead of just going through the various stitches and cast-ons and ways to bind off and etc. I've got another book on sweater design, and I was bored to death during it -- I don't think about these things, and I don't really want to design sweaters. This book is somewhat the same. I feel like the advice would probably be horribly good if I would, say, actually listen to it.

Unfortunately, I knit sort of like I do everything else -- haphazardly, randomly, with much improvisation and really no clue at all what I'm doing. I seem to be really bad at following rules, largely because I will inevitably be lacking a specific piece of equipment, ingredient, yarn, needle size, whatever. I really wanted this book to be like my ideal cookbook, i.e. something I could flip through and get really cool tips and shortcuts from.

Also, while Zimmermann is supposedly (to continue my knitting-to-cooking comparision) like the Julia Child of the knitting world, I don't actually find her to be all that accessible. She reads as very opinionated, which, understandably, she says she is. Alas, I am not the kind of knitter who likes people with strong opinions tinkering around in my knitting and telling me that I really should be gauging and swatching and whatnot. I do know that I should be gauging, but honestly, I'm too lazy. I don't gauge. I just sort of start out on the piece, whip out a tape measure a little later, and see if it's around what the pattern says. If it isn't, I'd honestly rather recalculate the pattern than re-cast-on on different sized needles.

Plus, things just happen!

I am being unfairly cranky with Zimmermann; my general impression is that she is very opinionated on how she likes to knit, but she does indeed encourage readers to knit however they like. She just sounds so authoritative that it turns me off.

But yes, I suppose I wanted something with more nifty tips and tricks, like... if you suddenly have a burning desire to start on a pattern that requires stitch holders and you have none, cut up twist ties into little segments and use those. Or... If you suddenly have the burning desire to start on your new scarf with cables and have no cable needle, just use a random needle out of your interchangeable knitting needle set! Erm, yes, this is stuff I do, and as a result, my knitting looks very ghetto. But I care not! I get my results anyway.

Anyway, I think the Yarn Harlot's At Knit's End will probably appeal to me more.

My wishlist

Almost done with all the book posts! Only Alton Brown to go! (well, Alton and Saiyuki and assorted volumes of CLAMP manga and Angel Sanctuary, but maybe I'll just make giant posts of the series later)

( Wishlist )

Things I have learned from work that apply to personal life stuff

or, Murphy's Law Plus Machiavelli in a Care Bear Outfit

Most of these I figured out the hard way, so the you's are actually notes to myself.

• Waking up grumpy and wallowing in grumpiness means that the gods of the cubicle will have you a) antagonize everyone in your meeting, b) run late the entire day and c) spill coffee on yourself. On the other hand, it's not like one chooses to be grumpy, and sometimes, a crappy day is a crappy day.


• Being nice but firm with people means they will actually listen to you. This is sort of nice if you've spent most of your life never standing up for yourself, and sometimes gives you delusions of grandeur that occasionally make you feel like telling people to do funny things like squiggle the mouse pointer around, just to see if they will.


• Figuring out your Definitely-Not's, Maybes, and Sure-What-the-Heck's is helpful, but only if you don't go around sticking every single little thing in Definitely-Not because then people will just get grumpy. Otherwise, this is very helpful to make people listen to you!


• Explaining what you're trying to do to people and phrasing it in a way that applies to them and is shiny and exciting for some reason makes them want to help. Much more than just saying, "Go do this for me, it will help me out."


• The one day you have to do a million different things at the same time will inevitably be the day every single person on the planet needs your help and/or opinion. Really, there is no good way to do this outside of hiding under your desk and trying to breathe.


• Personal problems and work problems will always collide at the worst possible time.


• People really aren't asking you a million questions to irritate you. Try hard not to snap off their heads. Even though it is really tempting


• Being a jerk to someone will always, always, always come back to bite you in the ass. Always. Being polite even while seething mad will pay off in the long run.


• Not telling people what irritates you ensures that they will keep doing the thing that irritates you. Amazingly, a really good way to cut down on irritation is to actually bring up the irritating behavior or problem in a non-yelly way and come up with a solution that benefits everyone. (I probably should have learned this ten years ago, but... better late than never?)


• If you are trying not to lose your temper, sometimes it helps to separate intentions from actions. It doesn't really change the action, but at least you can sort of feel better about the person and just focus on fixing the action instead of grousing about the person.


• Or vice versa? I forget, sometimes the person is just mean but manages to stumble into doing something nice. Mostly I like to pretend that people are trying to be nice and help in their own way, because it helps me deal better.

Oh dear. I fear I am completely Machiavellian, although I swear, I don't think that people should be nice to other people just to get what they want. It just happens to be a nifty side effect, sometimes.

Sadly, much of this seems to involve me trying not to snap at people. Le sigh.

GIP! + spiderbread house + rat pics

I swear, I'll stop spamming LJ soon. But I made icons!

( Nana, Gokinjo Monogatari, Tenshi Nanka Janai, Utena )

( Spiderbread house )

( Rat spam! )