Saturday, March 24, 2007

'Tween scene...



The Darling Resident Marxist Curdmudgeon vehemently objects to the use of the word
'tween. He feels it to be--oh how does he so lovingly put it?--an example of the "junk language of the corporate boardroom. Terminology developed by advertising drones to be used on focus groups and then adopted by the masses as naturalized and normal." (Seriously, this guy is a riot). Whatever you choose to call the state of hormonally-induced hissyfitdom and general malaise that (mainly, primarily) girls of the 11-13 age group experience, it's a challenge for all involved. For those of you who don't know the thrill of riding this daily roller coaster of joy, I am here to tell you that it ain't easy.

Note the facial expression in the bottom photo, it seems to suggest a feeling of utter disdain and 'I'm so over you'ness. Am I contractually obligated to continue knitting a sweater for someone who says, on a daily basis, 'I hate you', 'Why does your hair look like that?' and, my personal fave, 'Those jeans make your butt look puffy'? Wow. And I thought I put my mother through the ringer with my incessant demands for Sean Cassidy albums and rides to the roller rink. Sheesh! In any case, the daughter involved is (so I'm told) an exact replica of me in general sassiness and overall pill factordom, so it's no wonder that she can get under my skin. But hey, she's my girl...Luckily she's much thinner that I was at that age (husky jeans department, anyone?), so knitting her a sweater was a cinch!

The specs:

Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple Neck Down Children's Pullover

Yarn: Cascade 220 Quattro

Needles: Addi Turbo no. 9

The only modification I made was to do a seed stitch at the edges. I believe the sweater might be slightly too short, but since this generation has never seen a 'belly shirt' that it didn't beg for, I'm sure that won't be a problem.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everthing the ADD Knitter says is true, especially about 'tweens. That look of utter disdain is waiting for a 21st century Nietzsche to explain it.

Anonymous said...

The sweater is really cute, and so is your tween.

Sonya said...

The sweater looks great on her and in the first picture, she does appear to be smiling. Such an excruciating age.

But the joy of a Sean Cassidy album cannot be underestimated. Tiger Beat magazine, anyone?

Karen said...

Great sweater and great kid. That second picture really made me laugh. :)

YawnOver said...

I was a Leif Garrett fan myself, but I hear ya on the Tiger Beat. Great sweater, cute kid :-) We are entering the tween years here too, sigh...

Prof. Knitwit said...

Ah! Teenagers! Well, the sweater looks fantastic - the color is perfect for her.

Lone Knitter said...

Awesome sweater. It looks great on her. You know, when my little sister started grown up (she's 15 now), she started saying mean things to me. I don't know why they do it. Sigh.

Amanda said...

Sweater looks great on her, I love the expression in the second picture, I don't get the mean comments from my son but I do get the "mom your so stupid" eye roll. LOL

Zarzuela said...

It came out great (whether she appreciates it now or not)!

Jessica

Gingersnaps with Tea... said...

SO which do you think is harder… tween girls or tween boys? Seriously, the sweater looks great on her. The look on her face in the 2nd picture speaks volumes ;-D.

Melissa said...

What a fun age. I don't envy you at all. :)
The sweater looks great!! How did you like the Quattro??

Cindy in (un) Happy Valley said...

Re: Previous post.

Who do you use as your cleaning lady. Private or a service?

Desperate minds.........

pamela wynne said...

Wow, it's like looking at myself in 1989. And I am totally quoting the DRMC on "tweens." Right on. :)

akaijen said...

Truth: I think I still make that face when my mom tries to snap photos of me.

Love the color on the sweater!

Anonymous said...

I *so* adore the expression on the second pic - I think I looked pretty much the same for all my teenie/tweenie years! ;)
The sweater turned out absolutely awesome - what a cool colour, and the Cascade Quattro must have been great to work with, wasn't it?

Cindy in (un) Happy Valley said...

Hi there. Thanks for the info re: cleaning service. We are in SC proper, though on the south western fringe, not far from Stitch Your Art Out, so I suspect we may be out of their service range. However, I may give them a call anyway.

As for the Hef, the vet visit was prompted because he was given a small amount of the tainted food. It appears, though, he escaped unscathed.

Alison said...

I don't dare ever complain to my mother any more about any sassy-ness I may get from my girls... she just laughs and tells me I deserve it...
Anyway, we get along great now, 20 or 30 years later...
Congrats on the project completion- looks like a nice and easy sweater to knit, I may put that on a list for my kiddos.
Happy knitting,
ali

Janet said...

I live in constant fear of the absolute certainty that I will someday produce offspring that are "just like me"...
I can hear my mother laughing already.

I just hope that the twinkle-in-my-eye doesn't choose to rebell via a hatred of knitting... oh, I can't even bear to think of it!