librivox love
thanks to the librivox recording of Diary of a Nobody I got lots of stuff done while ‘reading’ one of my course books. Unfortunately, most of my courses this year were on 20th C literature that isn’t on Librivox because it’s still in copyright. Some of the other books for my Victorian comedy course are on it, but the reading quality annoyed me. Despite the hit-and-missness free audio books are great. Especially when they help me craft while I study. The catalogue is huge though, so if you haven’t encountered the project before I’m sure you’ll find something to listen to while you craft, and some of the readers are actually really good. The craftlit podcast, which I love, has featured a few of these. That even got me to listen to Pride and Prejudice - which it will most likely horrify you to hear I’ve never read and actively avoided reading for a long time. It was better than I was expecting, considering both the adaptations I’ve seen and the only other Austen book I’ve ever read (Northanger Abbey). I still think I would have got bored reading it though, even if it was far wittier than the insipid chick lit I was expecting. The packaging of Austen as chick lit is kind of interesting, because until I encountered other opinions of her writing while studying that period at uni I’d never considered that that might be misleading. I think this was something brought up on the podcast actually and it does seem to be something that’s happened fairly recently. A while ago there was a documentary about female romantic fiction (that’s a great term!) on tv and they interviewed a publisher who had re-packaged Austen’s books in pink, girly covers which were truly hideous. (I’ve seen them on sale actually - far away from the dowdy ‘classics’ in a cutesy display stand). They were marketing them in a very specific way, and it’s interesting to consider how that changes the way in which the books themselves are read and thought of. For me, at least, it was a total discouragement and it makes me kind of angry that they’re treated so patronisingly. ‘They’re’ being both the books and women. Presumably though, it encourages people who wouldn’t normally read them to, but does the packaging change what they read?
Anyway here’s what I did while studying:
I picked up a couple of hundred? stitches and knit the edging for the noro bolero, from the inside. This is the wrong side, although I love how it looks from this side too.? Went back to being a cheap knitter and used my swatch to finish it. Which means I can return two balls of the expensive yarn and feel less guilty.
I planted out my little lettuce seedlings, some of which appear to have doubled in size over the course of this afternoon. I think that means they like their new, more spacious, home.
I baked brownies, which are very good but I think I need to invite some people over to help me eat them! Want to come?
And, best of all, this is now blocking.
I love my dressform, but I love that this seamless set in sleeve worked out perfectly even more. Admittedly it’s kind of a simplified set in sleeve but still. Very satisfying when things work first time. The sleeves, however, are longer than I intended and I have a sinking feeling that they grew more when wet. Crossing my fingers that they’ll be a wearable length, but I might shorten them which I suppose would be relatively straightforward. I found the perfect cast off in Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s Handbook and there isn’t a single seam in the entire garment. If only it was dry. Sigh.
The fact that I can combine a rant about the marketing of Austen as ‘girly’ with something this cutesy and pink within one post probably says a lot about me.
Posted: April 7th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 26
Comments
Comment from India
Time: April 7, 2007, 10:27 pm
I think packaging does matter when it comes to selecting a read, even though it ought not to. ANd I do think that anything (well, almost) that encourages people to read has to be a Good Thing - well, that’s how I rationalise Harry Potter - I really dislike the books, but it sure has got a load of folk, young and old, to pick up a book.
Love the bolero, btw,
India
Comment from Shannon
Time: April 7, 2007, 11:01 pm
Yes, people judge books by their covers. I certainly do - I’m far less likely to buy what I know or suspect to be a good book if it’s contained in a frivolous jacket. I hate it when I go to the bookstore for “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” for example, and find only one copy in a floofy pink cover. I refuse to buy it. I’ll take a black and red “Penguin Classics” edition any day.
I always laugh when I find a barely-touched Harlequin edition of a good book in a used bookstore - I imagine some eager female has paid the full $8.99 for it in Chapters, assuming it to be a bodice-ripper, only to throw it aside in disgust when she realizes it’s actually literature and contains no trace of a bare chest, a heaving bosom, or a throbbing manhood.
Beautiful bolero.
Comment from Reve
Time: April 8, 2007, 3:08 am
lovely bolero.
Comment from Caitlin
Time: April 8, 2007, 3:13 am
Beautiful knitting. And as to Austen, there’s nothing I hate more than romance/chick lit sequels to Pride and Prejudice. There are thousands out there, and that, combined with the floofy pink covers you talked about, is ruining the good reputation of one of my favorite writers.
Comment from Karma
Time: April 8, 2007, 4:06 am
The bolero is lovely. I’d like to know more about the seamless set in sleeve. Was it picked up from the armhole and knit from the top down? Do tell!
Comment from Kelly
Time: April 8, 2007, 4:38 am
I just read Northanger Abbey for a lit class this semester and I’m sure Austen would have been just as irritated with the chic lit covers–a lot of the book voices her irritation of novels in general being looked down on and specifically novels women write and read. Although I hate fluffy covers–my personal pet peeve are books made into movies and then all the books you can find have a movie pictures on the cover–drives me nuts! Anyway, beautiful bolero!
Comment from katie
Time: April 8, 2007, 10:17 am
cash iroha is such a gorgeous yarn!
do you have any good resources for learning to do seamless set-in sleeves?
Comment from Kathryn
Time: April 8, 2007, 2:32 pm
Your bolero is fabulous. I love the puffed, seamless set-in sleeves; that’s something I’ve yet to master.
Comment from anushka
Time: April 8, 2007, 6:40 pm
Northanger Abbey is, in both my own and the author’s opinion, the worst Austen book out of the lot. P&P is excellent, as is Sense & Sensibility. Both books say a lot about the society it describes. I can’t believe you haven’t read any Austen before…P&P is on our GCSE syllabus, and Emma on the A-level, so I’m surprised that you didn’t have to do Austen for highers or whatever…Your bolero looks cute, very 1940s with those shoulders. Happy chocolate day!
Comment from Webbo
Time: April 8, 2007, 6:58 pm
Ha! I avoided Austen for too long as well, because I imagined that she would be soft and simple. My first was Mansfield Park, and I felt chastened when I realised how badly I’d misjudged from a position of ignorance: it turns out she is sharp, and witty, and very funny indeed (some of her juvenilia is hilarious, I think, and shows how much of a satirist she really was). I am really taken with the bolero. It looks very elegant and soft.
Comment from Judy G.
Time: April 8, 2007, 11:12 pm
I see no dichotomy in your post. You are just exploring your own perspectives.
I love the bolero. What a beautiful fit! Your photos also make me want to run out and buy a dressform (aren’t they also called “Judy’s”?).
Comment from lupinbunny
Time: April 9, 2007, 5:15 am
Perhaps you’d like these classics covers better? (I’m dying to get a set)
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/mypenguin/index.html
And i’m also guessing youd be aghast that some publisher (can’t remember which - don’t think it was penguin) recently photoshopped the only portrait of Austen in existence to make her more attractive! though, in defence, apparently she was a looker, and comtempory comments on the surviving portrait said it was quite inaccurate and rather ugly.
in my opinion (i’ve never read an austen either…) stick to the brontes. can’t pretty up their covers, nosir. nothing like beating oneself senseless against a tree, or keeping one’s mad, mixed-ethnicity wife in the attic for gloomy covers.
and, um, finally (why do my comments end up as essays? i like springboarding off your posts) i like the gatheredy-puffed-pleated-whateverness in the sleeves.
Comment from charlotte taylor
Time: April 9, 2007, 2:27 pm
thank you for the librivox recommendation! have been desperate for more things to put on my ipod to listen to rather than music whilst i am buzy. brilliant!
Comment from pinsandneedles
Time: April 9, 2007, 2:52 pm
I agree with you on the marketing scheme of books, targeting certain audiences for sales. I think that if you read and have heard great things about these books, then you’re most likely going to pick that book up. You are not going to pick it up because the book cover looks like something you’d read. I’ve worked at a bookstore before and you’d be surpise on what they’d do just to sell books.
That bolero is absolutely adorable! I need to get myself into gear and make myself one too.
Thank you for the tip-off on librivox. I’ve been needing something to listen to while I craft.
Comment from kate
Time: April 10, 2007, 1:59 am
what a beautiful little sweater….so impressed, as usual!
I am wanting more and more a dressform of my very own…although I live in the US, can you tell me where you got yours? I love the idea of the one that you can make your exact size!
Comment from Katie
Time: April 10, 2007, 2:01 am
Love the pink bolero. For the books still under copyright, you might try your local public library - mine has an excellent audiobook selection.
Comment from Elaine
Time: April 10, 2007, 2:16 am
Very nice bolero! What yarn are you using?
Comment from Penny
Time: April 10, 2007, 5:25 pm
I really enjoyed P&P in the Craftlit podcast. I thought the reader was extremely good, with just the right arch tone.
I’m not bothered by the pink fluffy covers (as long as there are editions with better covers). It sounds more appealing then the old-fashioned covers of my youth, which had some dull painting by a famous artist.
(And don’t get me started on the movies which entirely change the plot of the book: Rob Roy springs to mind as a particularly extreme example.)
Comment from Helen
Time: April 11, 2007, 10:38 am
Hey! Great easter blogging, creative knitting, Jane Austen, Gardening and baking! For a full house the wonderful weather should get a mention (does anyone blog about the weather?). I think should she have had the opportunity Jane Austen would have been happy to wear your creation it would look lovely over one of those beautiful white muslin dress wouldn’t you agree? Happy reviseing, I recently came upon a revision picnic, walking by the river Thames at Runnymede near Windsor 9 young ladies were enjoying the sunshine in various stages of repose whist taking turns to test each other swotting for their GCSEs! impressive I thought Jane Austen would have approved I think.
Comment from blogless Jessica
Time: April 12, 2007, 3:04 am
Yes! I remember being skeptical of Jane Austen before I read her, then ended up writing my thesis on feminist and queer themes in Emma. It seems like many people, including those in the publishing industry who get paid to know better, totally miss the sarcasm and universal themes of her work. I think what pisses me off most about frilly pink Austen covers is that they are implying that her books are only pertinent/interesting to women.
Great bolero! I’m also a big fan of your Snow White sweater, which I dream of knitting someday. Until then, I just visit the pictures from time to time and sigh.
Comment from Barbara
Time: April 12, 2007, 4:17 am
My lettuce seedlings are coming up too - it’s so exciting! Rather strange to think that their season will be finished here in about 6 weeks and they are barely on their way!
Comment from Michele
Time: April 14, 2007, 3:04 pm
your seemless sleeve is amazing. it looks so tidy! i’d like to learn how to do a sleeve like that.
enjoyed your book marketing comments. from a biography i saw on jane austen it seems she turned down a marriage proposal and financial security. instead she kept writing. i imagine she would horrified by pink chic lit covers.
Comment from cari
Time: April 14, 2007, 8:20 pm
“Presumably though, it encourages people who wouldn?t normally read them to, but does the packaging change what they read?”
I don’t know, I think the kind of person who is persuaded by a fluffy pink cover will be reading chick lit regardless of what’s actually written. Interesting question. I don’t think your lacy pink bolero contradicts your point, either. You don’t have to look drab to be smart.
Comment from Michele
Time: April 15, 2007, 3:47 am
opps, i made a mistake on my website url when i posted my previous comment about the tidy sleeve join and jane austen’s personal choices. sorry for the sloppiness in case anyone was trying to find it and got the wrong page.
Comment from Katie
Time: April 18, 2007, 12:12 am
Longtime reader…first time comment, because: The exact same thing happend to me with Pride and Prejudice! Although I am quite “well-read”, Jane Austen bores me and I couldn’t get through a single book. When I found it on LibriVox, I decided to give it another chance, and it was the perfect compliment for knitting on a long trip. Who knew Austen was so whitty? And so modern? I felt like the sisters were me and my best friend, analyzing our love lives.
Comment from Carol-Ann : Liverpool, England
Time: April 27, 2007, 3:41 am
I absolutely love Diary of a Nobody. Did you know there is a
“Mrs Pooter’s Diary” by British journalist, Keith Waterhouse?
It is in the same format, recording the same incidents but from Mrs Pooter’s point of view. It is hilarious and so clever.
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