stripes & semiotics

I just couldn't resist a little knitting on my RibbyCardi sleeves, and then once I'd done a couple inches, I needed to see how a stripe would look. Not sure about it. Does a stripe say something sporty about the sweater?


and while I'm on the subject of semiotics... we watched About a Boy . I'm not a big Hugh Grant fan, he plays the same guy in every movie, but we're working our way through the local library's dvd collection. The first time one of the main characters appears, played by Toni Collette, she's wearing a handknit hat (possibly that cat-eared one from the SnB book), sweater and bright scarf and her son's in a knit sweater jacket and earflap hat. Here's the son:

I think of her: "cool, I like this character". It quickly becomes apparent that the handknits are meant to telegraph to us that she's loony, goony, self-indulgent, a neo-hippy out of step with mainstream culture not to mention she's depressed. It gave us a good laugh. Hmmm. Should I be worried? I have the same haircut...if not the hairy sweater.