As this is my first foray into the blogging world, I think I will begin with a basic introduction. I am a second year graduate student in the Material Sciences and Engineering department of the University of Washington, and though I have known how to knit for years, I have only discovered the immense joy associated with it about eight months ago. It the short time since, I have moved from recreational user to full-fledged addict. It is a wonderful way to cope with graduate school, as a hobby that is productive goes a long way toward alieviating the frustration of a research career that is refusing to be. This blog will be a running commentary on both my work and my hobby, along with the occasional discourse on my favorite topic of study in the humanities; fairy tales. I love reading traditional fairy tales, retellings of fairy tales, and discourses on fairy tales (their social influence, etc).

Recently I have been amusing myself searching for knitting in fairy tales. So far it is woefully underrepresented compared to weaving or spinning. I have found two; Hans Christian Anderson's The Wild Swans, and one from an unknown (to me) source in which a shepherd knitting on a hillside drops his ball of yarn and it rolls down a hole that houses the sleeping bodies of King Arthur and his court. If you know of any other knitting tales, drop me a line.

posted by Anonymous @ 12:13 PM