Deconstructing Einstein

Given that this is a literary month for me, I thought I'd take some time and examine a few literary terms, using knitting to illustrate. Won't that be fun?

Let's talk about literary deconstruction. A quick definition says that deconstructionism means considering the impact of the language of a work on the work itself, suggesting that the true meaning of the work is not necessarily the meaning that the author intended. In other words, a literary work, whether a story, poem, play, or novel, cannot mean only one thing, because language can never say exactly and precisely what we want it to mean. So deconstructionist critics try to find a variety of meanings in a literary work that could be attributed not to the author's intentions, but to the language itself. (And no, I did not know this off the top of my head. I had to Google it. I only got a Bachelor's, people, I always meant to get that Master's but it never happened.)

Tricky stuff, language.

All righty then. Moving on to the graphic part of this entry. Let's talk about the Einstein Coat. Let's start at the very beginning; it's a very good place to start.

Cascade Ecological Wool. Three skeins, 450 yards/skein. A deconstructionist might say, she chose the yarn out of a concern for the environment. Or, she chose it to reflect a colorless world. The truth is--at least as I define it within confines of language--I chose it for its economical properties as well as the fact that cream color goes with everything. The Einstein Coat calls for a whole lotta yarn, people.

Ah--and here is the Einstein Coat in progress:

This is the bottom half of the coat. All garter stitch. The stripes at the bottom appear vertically, as they appear here, then when the bottom part is done, stitches are picked up along the edge, and horizontal stripes are knit up to the top.

So what a deconstructionist might say is that this represents people or situations at cross purposes to each other, yet finding a way to meld. Or they might say it looks like a warm blanket, a soul protector. I say, this is a very simple coat. All you do is knit. Knit, knit, knit. Pick up some stitches, then knit some more.

But it turns out that's not all I have to say.

Can we talk, for just a moment, about how BLOODY BORING this coat is? Knitknitknitknitknit. In cream. No self-striping, no developing textures, no unexpected patterns. Just knitknitknitknitknit. Making ridged stripes. Woop de doo.

In my own deconstructionist way, what the Einstein Coat has come to represent to me is sheer, utter, complete, devastating, eye-glazing, mind-boggling boredom. Normally if something is boring, I knit it while watching TV or having coffee with friends. But this is even beyond that kind of boring. Because there's no end in sight, people. It just goes on forever. Remember when I talked about language not always able to precisely present meaning? There is no way to linguistically present how boring this is. In the time since I started ol' Einstein, I've made a cap, started two more, started three socks, finished two felted bags, started two more, made two Christmas tree dishcloths, and nearly finished a dropped-stitch scarf.  And there's Einstein, in all its creamy ridged boredom.

So I sat down, considered my options, and thought about deconstruction.

Chaos, say the deconstructionists.

Buh-bye boredom, say I.

Rebuilding meaning, creating order out of chaos, say the deconstructionists.

Flattening out my kinky yarn, say I.

Thinking of a different sweater, smaller, more intricate pattern, more colorful yarn, say I. Must acknowledge my knitter's ADD, say I.

Thinking of Kool-Aid, say I. Hmmm...perhaps a Friday night Kool-Aid and yarn party, with wine. Mmmm, wine.

Tune in for tomorrow's installment of literary terms: the unreliable narrator.

Comments

[bezzie]

Hee hee! Great post! Even though I'm a regular reader now--I don't read archives (hooray for yarnival!)

[Jane]

The shop you mentioned on my blog sounds wonderful. I think I'm actually better off just fantasising about my shop as I'm sure I'd be fat & bankrupt if I had a real one near me.

[beth]

Oh no! All that work...not that I blame you, I'd go crazy with miles & miles of garter stitch. I like the Kool-Aid idea...fun, fun, fun!

[lisad]

Yup,it's hard to frog something that you've spent a long time on......but don't you feel so much better now, knowing that you don't have that boring old einstein weighing on your shoulders..........AND.....

Did you say Kool-Aid and Wine? I am sooooooo there!

[MBT]

That posting was a thing of beauty! Life is too short to knit projects that make your eyeballs bleed - good for you!

MB

[Kellene Duerksen]

OMG I can't even look at you right now. I need a moment.

[Carole]

I've been working on Einstein for over a year. I know it's boring as hell, believe me! I've got the bottom, one side and the middle almost done. This thing never ends. Sigh. But I don't have the heart to frog it because I know I'll love it once it's done. If it's ever done!

[Heidi]

Ohmigod! You frogged Einstein???