Bollywood Calling

Suketu has a strong dislike for undershirts, especially during the summer. He would also like to believe that not wearing an undershirt will give him a Bollywood status. (Look at pictures here--you get my point about Bollywood actors and their chests.). It is besides the point that Suketu does not watch mainstream Bollywood cinema and doesn't know a word of Hindi. So, much to my amusement, Suketu is fascinated with Bollywood clothing AND he never passes a possibility of heading out of the house without an undershirt. Sadly, he has failed to make the latter happen. He tries nonetheless--so much so, that his pretend anti-undershirt/Bollywood wannabe attitude has become a never-failing conversation piece amongst our Bollywood-loving friends.

I must pay tribute to this entire saga. Via Cupcake. I used the Telemark Pullover pattern (Ravelry link) to get an essentialist, very stereotyped version of a "Bollywood shirt." (I can already hear Edward Said and Foucault YELLING in my head). High collar plus a V-neck for ample chest exposure. Varied buttons from stash. My friend, Ami, suggested I put some glitter on the outfit, but that would have been too much for me. The mismatched, slightly weird buttons works better for this already very weird story behind this shirt.

Pattern: Telemark Pullover
Yarn: Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece (1.5 skeins)
Needle: US 4 (I used US 5 for knitting the sleeves in Magic loop. I really tightened up)
Size: 6 - 12 months
Modifications: 1. I knit the body plus sleeves until I reached desired chest size.
2. Instead of doing eight rows of garter stitch for the bottom of the shirt and the sleeves, I did 16.
3. The sleeves were getting big and floppy. So I used the sleeve decreases from the Baby Pullover #214 pattern (decreased four times).

Another One, just like the Other One

Thank you for your personal insights/experiences regarding the previous blog post. Also, some of you asked for an update about how things are going. Long story short--I am exhausted most of the time, but also awake most of the time. People say I should get all the sleep I can get...since October is around the corner, but as you can see, I am still in denial. Fortunately, Suketu has suddenly switched onto a "not in denial" mode, otherwise nothing would get done around here.

Our new home improvement project is organizing the apartment (no drilling yet, so it is a safe environment. I wish Suketu would not secretly aspire to be a carpenter or plumber). He is doing the painting/re-arranging and I am (reluctantly) cleaning. (Frankly, the anal-obsessive compulsive-Type A personality in me is missing in action. I would just love to vegetate on the couch, watch bad television, knit, eat, and aimlessly surf the internet.) We are currently painting the "baby section". Photo updates as the job progresses.

AND, just when you were getting sick of this pattern, and just when you were thinking I would not make one for Cupcake, here it is. I have made three versions of this blanket. Three. Here, here, and here. Please dont ask why. It is a love-hate relationship with mindless garter stitch.

I had 3.5 skeins left from the Law & Order Afghan project, and so I knit with the off-white halfway (that is, before decreasing). Then alternated the off-white and yellow, and when I ran out of the yellow, alternated with the red. When I ran out with the off-white, just knit with the red. You get the point. The ways of stashbusting life. I dont feel guilty that I had to buy the red and yellow--totally worth it.

Pattern: Grandmother's Favorite (this is a dishcloth pattern--I just knit a huge size)
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Chunky in Off-White, Yellow, and Red
Needle: US 10
Size: 35 inches * 35 inches

Through a Different Lens

This post is way off the usual content of this blog. It must be the hormones.

I am finishing up a photography class (It is amazing what a camera can do--when one knows what to do with it. I am still figuring it out). For one of the projects, I decided to photograph the buzy commercial street in Jackson Heights, Queens. It was the most instinctive idea--Jackson Heights speaks to me in multiple levels...one being my academic interest in Indian immigrant communities in the US.

Maybe it was also the most instinctive idea because lately, I have been thinking a lot more about living in the US. When I moved here five years ago, I was hit by the dilemma of status. Here I was--a woman graduate student from India figuring out her space within the United States (and for all that it stood for). I must admit I was overwhelmed, anxious, and perplexed--of how one builds sites of resistance and challenge in dominant spaces.

I was also suddenly "brown", and it brought a new dimension to my already struggling understanding of self. I was now a graduate student from a "Third World" country, elite and privileged by her middle class upbringing, and at the same time, a woman who has to now figure out a new way of understanding race, class, and social divisions. Further, I was an international student, simultaneously trying to find a place within US academy, and critically seeking to understand and challenge dominant western discourses. Many (actually, all) of these issues are a work in progress.

After five years, I find myself in a committed relationship. My partner is an American citizen--and through marriage, I am now a "permanent resident" in the United States. He says he is American by citizenship and Indian American by spirit. And he tosses and turns about this, very uncomfortably, every day. I feel for him--because I have the same discomfort--about citizenship, belonging, and nostalgia. Our experiences are polls apart, and yet we are caught in similar time-space continuums. We spend hours talking about our political sense, our sense of loss and gain, and our tight (im)balance between here and there. We, or I, for the most part, think about what this will mean for our child-to-be, for his or her journey "to belong."

Preggo Friends

Looks like people are getting pregnant on a regular basis these days. Almost every month I hear from some friend or family member--is there some schedule going around that I am not aware of?

So I have a gifting sweatshop of sorts going on. And before you ask--No, I dont craft for all my preggo friends/family. Over the years, I have learned the hard way...initially, I would make something for anyone and everyone...birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, Xmas, babies. Most recipients were truly appreciative, no matter what the outcome. And then there were those--who wanted it, and at the same time, really didnt care much for it. It was just another something. (Hell Yeah. When was the last time someone gave you something handmade. I mean, truly handmade, not store bought, fancy-vancy, "I paid a zillion dollars for this, kinda handmade). I must admit that I was disappointed, border-line heart broken. I think people forget (or dont appreciate the magical phenomenon) that gifting something handmade is to someone is a literal translation of giving away a part of you.

Well. Then a year or so ago, one wise friend, Bitsy, told me that she only crafts for people who are deeply committed to her. Not to her craft, but to her philosophy about social justice and change, and her sensibilities about the ways in which handcrafting radically changes the ways in which we view this world. So simple.

Since then, I think about this every time I set out to make a gift. It has made decision making so much easier. Suketu and I also share similar life philosophies and politics--and he is a constant reminder...of the means, processes, and the ends.

So here is another gift. Anita, my friend from undergraduate school, is due any day. Over the years, we have talked so much about babies--I had promised her that my crafting gift to her would be a baby knit. I made a diagonal baby blanket--mindless garter stitch. Though I dislike the mindlessness, the results from the pattern are always stunning.

Pattern: Grandmother's Favorite (this is a dishcloth pattern--I just knit a huge size)
Yarn: Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in Terracotta
Needle: US 8
Size: 35 inches * 35 inches