On Kool-Aid and Uncoolness.

Due to some sort of Cool Knitters politics Kerstin has created a new blog AND removed comments from her knit blog. I'd link to the new blog but for some reason it's not opening for me right now. You can find it. Good stuff there.

The politics of knitblogging - the cool vs. uncool knitters, the ones people flock to and suck up to like they are goddesses, those who in turn behave like divas because they are somehow seen as cool, and they develop a legion of flying monkeys to swoop down on anyone who pisses them off, writing bitchy little girl things in other people's comments - it's just freaking hilarious. I mean, blogging about knitting is Nerdism per se. If you are reading this now, you are a nerd. You could be doing any number of really cool, exciting things right now, but you are sitting in front of your computer, reading a knitting blog. You're a nerd. We're all nerds. No matter how cool the cool knitters think they are, they, too, are nerds.

Yet somehow a hierarchy develops, the "cool" bloggers rise above the rabble, they develop followings, acolytes, ass-kissers, whatever you want to call the worshippers. A code of behavior develops, these people have power, often for inexplicable reasons. Kerstin definitely was one of the elite, but for a reason - her blog has style and she's witty and talented, always worth reading. She didn't have any flying monkeys.

Now there's trouble in Knitblogger Land, and she's removed her comments from her knitblog. I can only speculate as to why, but it's a damn shame.

Now, me, I don't have that problem - I'm uncool and I'm glad. Here's how uncool I am - today I woke up with an obsession. A couple of years ago, when I was at home being caregiver and losing my mind, I self-medicated with yarn from eBay. I bought two 10-skein bags of Lamb's Pride Worsted - incredible bargains, they were seconds - one in winter white and one in pale yellow. I had hoped for a buttery golden yellow, but when I got it, yep, it was baby blanket yellow. I am in Florida. Even if I had a baby on the horizon I wouldn't make anything for it from worsted weight wool. So I put it aside, figuring I'd find some use for it someday.

This morning I woke up and my brain screamed, "KOOL-AID!!" After church and coffee I went to the supermarket and grabbed a few experimental colors - pulled out the swift, skeined up the white Lamb's Pride, and it's been a dye-fest all day long. Photos tomorrow - right now the first experiments are hanging to dry in a very dark garage, no way I can take a picture there. But I am HOOKED on this. I experimented with a flavor I can't even identify - it's one of those weird-ass color changing gimmick things called Switchin' Secret. It's orange until you add water, then it's green. It made the loveliest yarn, a delicate green, like green tea. I think I may have to overdye the yellow with that, considering the source, it's amazingly sophisticated. Rockin' Raspberry made robin's egg blue. Yes, I'm old and my kids are grown, I'd forgotten Kool-Aid's incongruous color-to-flavor matches. I do believe this Rockin' Raspberry was called something Smurf-related when my kids were small, because at our house that color was called Smurf Pee.

But the absolute winner color was good ol' classic black cherry. I am making a sweater out of this. Seriously. It's gorgeous - it needs to be rinsed and rinsed and rinsed some more, it's bleeding like a guest star on ER, but when it finally rinses clean, it's so worth it.

So that's how this uncool knitter/knitblogger spent her Sunday - dyeing with Kool-Aid. Tres tack-ee. But so much fun. I highly recommend it. All you uncool knitters - go to JoAnn's (how icky) and buy some Lion Brand (oh, please) Fisherman's Wool, and pick out some interesting flavors of Kool-Aid - the kind that don't appear in nature - and have some fun. Because we're all nerds here. Get in touch with the Nerd Side. And don't be afraid of the flying monkeys.