A complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about Metor's transphobic ad.

So Meteor's new ad for free wifi, it is pretty transphobic, amirite? I have until I run out of credit to decide whether to switch networks, but since just no longer giving them custom without an explanation wouldn't feel terribly effective, I've submitted a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.

(The Advertising Standards Authority make you fill in boxes with your details, I don't just lack the ability to write a formal letter. Here's what went in the "Your complaint" box.)

"Meteor's recent ad for free wifi shows individuals going to ridiculous lengths to obtain free wifi, such as cycling after a bus providing this service. Having established this premise, the ad goes on to show a teenage boy dancing in a bar with a woman while using his phone. The woman turns around, revealing a 'masculine' jawline and stubble. As soon as the boy learns of Meteor's free wifi, he runs from the bar.

This cheap joke is, at best, small-minded and bigoted - in a country where transgendered individuals must receive a formal diagnosis of mental illness in order to have their correct gender legally recognised, it may easily be actively harmful. Meteor have argued that the person the boy is dancing with is a male drag artist - however, the joke contained within the ad only makes sense if the audience has been 'tricked' into misidentifying the boy's dancing partner as a woman, relying on the idea that transgendered women are impostors, and not real women. 

As Meteor have failed to apologise for this ad, or even to acknowledge any wrong-doing on their part, I hope you will see fit to prohibit screening of the ad."

You can complain about the ad here.

Lots of scarves!

Some low-bandwidth projects, as the kids say.*

1-2. Triangle scarf in Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. 3-4. A long neckwarmer in Katia Big Merino. 5-6. A triangle scarf (an early Christmas present for my brother) in Malabrigo Merino Worsted. 7-8. A snugger neckwarmer in  Katia Big Merino.

Woo webcam-quality photos! For such speedy, lazy projects, I didn't feel like going outside in the cold and taking dozens of awkward photos of myself. The first two of these are commissions, the latter two are Christmas presents (one if for my little brother to give to his godmother, which doesn't help me with being organised, but means I get paid back for the yarn, so!). I have finished three Christmas presents, and am currently debating whether to keep going on with them, or take a break and do some craft fair knitting for the end of the month. In any event, it looks like I won't be up until ungodly hours finishing presents this year. This is EXCITING TIMES.

*I am not sure if the kids actually say this.

FO: Doubly nerdy gloves

I had these in mind as a birthday present for my boyfriend (October birthday #3) for a while, but couldn't settle on which logo to go with. I'm not sure if going with 'both' makes it more ridiculous, or ridiculous-neutral.

I have no great love of intarsia in the round, but I couldn't see any other way of doing this other than knitting flat and then seaming up the sides (ew) or a whole lot of duplicated stitches at the end (jesus, ew). So it was the lesser of three evils, and I think it worked out!

I used Supreme Chunky Cotton by Wendy, as my boyfriend is allergic to wool (INCONSIDERATE), and cotton is a definite step up from acrylic. The chunkiness of the yarn meant that the intarsia was quite blocky, so I went over the yellow yarn to pick out the corners and smooth them out a bit when I had finished. 

 

Not the neatest, but I think it's a definite improvement.

I'll probably post the charts for the logos in a few days!

In other news, I have misplaced the llama hat I made before I could give it to its person. It's none of the places it makes sense for it to be, or any of the places I've checked so far that it wouldn't make sense for it to be, so it's looking increasingly likely it fell out of my bag somewhere. Saaaaad.

FO: Button triangle cowl hates button particle cowl

October birthdays are go! The first two were yesterday. My little brother loves his bobble hat, and my friend Steph's present did not get eaten by the post and arrived only a day late, so I can post it here!

This is the One Ball of Rasta Version of the Triangle Cowl. I rarely use the recommended yarn, but the Rasta really couldn't be beat for colours and softness. (Plus I've never used Malabrigo before!) I used a skein of Archangel.

I don't know if the problem was enhanced by having lost my yarn needle with the largest eye, but this yarn was impractically thick.

I was inordinately proud of my solution!

Ta-daa!

The knitting part of this took about two or three hours all told, but the yarn being so thick, it does take a while to dry after blocking, in the order of days.  (I feel comments like this are increasingly useful with Christmas knitting approaching.) Seaming and sewing on the buttons were also a bit of hassle, as detailed above. I think it turned out well - it might be fun to make another and play with different stitch patterns.

It wasn't fair that he be trapped in the Áras.

The other day I got talking with my sister about selling at craft markets.

"I've made most useful things for everyone who's close enough to get handmade presents. This way I get to make more anyway, or make things I want to make but don't know who to give to, and I get some money from it."

"Yeah, that's a better solution than 'Hi, I'm Jenny, we're friends now, here's a hat.'

'Sorry, Mister President, we don't know how she got in. It won't happen again.' "

" 'Here's a hat, YOU'RE FREE NOW!' "

(For the non-Irish who read this, this is Michael D. Higgins, current president of Ireland. This is one of the parody posters that went around during last year's election. I think jibes about a politician's appearance - or anyone's - are the epitome of cheap shots, but Dobby's soul is so noble. Everyone loves Dobby. There's no malice there. Incidentally, the competition in that election included a man who has had people murdered. Irish politics is a strange area.)