Disco Knitter

The one post I remember, and really missed, is the link to the Disco Knitter .mp3. And you can find my new favourite song here. Please, if anyone has any contact details for Eric ‘n Sam, let me know!

The whole blog went strange when the host upgraded their servers, and I lost a couple of posts. Damn. The adorable husband fixed one of the errors, but I fear the posts may be gone for good.

I cast off last night

It is a little shorter than a normal scarf, but just long enough to fold and wrap, and it sits very nicely on a slim person, and the person that I intend to send it to is rather slim, so I hope she likes it !

This morning I sewed in the ends, and have given it a bath in Martha’s Wool Wash, and it is now resting on my dining table on a lovely turquoise towel. I wouldn”t exactly call it blocking. I have no pins to speak of, and no real inclination to spend an hour trying to get all the edges straight.

And here it is..

And again, with the little stone bunny Mark gave me for Christmas 2003

Please send them to Paige, C/- Singapore….

Paige took her teenage son on a big adventure, they visited America, and the UK, and were on their way home via Singapore when Paige had a dizzy spell and fainted, knocking her head on a metal cabinet in the ladies. She has a severe concussion, double vision, a loud ringing in her ears, and a massive, continuing headache.

She has been told she is not allowed to fly, so she is stranded far from home until she gets better. But she isn’t getting better.

The lovely Vicki has put Paige in touch with a local friend, whose brother just happens to be a top neurosurgeon. He says Paige needs an MRI, but she has bad claustrophobia….

I am very worried about my dear friend. She could use all the help the universe can muster right now.

I really thought I’d end up in Hufflepuff or Slytherin, but….

Congratulations on making Gryffindor!

Basically, you’re brave, daring, chivalrous, and pretty much.. an all around good person. Of course, some see you as a goodie-two-shoes. But hey, it’s true! You’re really good at winning, and normally always come out as the hero. Everybody likes you.. except, maybe, the Slytherins. You’re too perfect. No, really.. You’re too perfect. It’s annoying to watch you win, repeatedly. Oh well. Be proud anyway.

be sorted @ nimbo.net

Brendan Nelson, the Federal Minister for Education, popped in to watch his daughter play hockey in Sydney this week. Bad timing Brendan….

Though I am kinda getting the hang of the lace pattern, I decided that colouring each row differently will help me keep track of which row I am on. And I have a new iPod gadget, called the iGrip. It’s a kind of sticky pad that keeps my iPod from sliding all over the place while I drive. And guess what ? It works with knitting patterns too ! Genius

But the cat got in the way. And he looked so peaceful that I had to photograph him…

Well, close enough. There was a swing away from the Labour Party, and the Greens had a swing of about 1%, despite not really running a campaign.

And lets face it, Macquarie Fields is hardly a hotbed of dope smoking peaceniks (how the Liberals described the Greens yesterday), and more than one person heckled me by saying “I hope that’s printed on recycled paper”, (about the Green how to vote). Of course it’s recycled paper. Of the very lowest quality, and the cheapest printing we could find. Of course these same people happily took the Liberals glossy broadsheet and dumped it in the bin afterwards. We recycled. Some of our leaflets were used 3 or 4 times. Anyway, enough about recycling, but I do find it amusing that the Greens are open to such pointed scrutiny, yet members of other parties are allowed to be complete assholes and no-one bats an eyelid.

There was an old saying that a woman has to to a job twice as well as a man to be considered half as good. The Greens have to be 1000% more involved, passionate, active, and enthusiastic. We’re expected to carry a green bag with us at all times, ride a bicycle, have a thriving permaculture garden and wind farm in suburbia, volunteer for bush regeneration on the weekends, chain ourselves to trees regularly and save endangered wetlands on public holidays.

Well stuff that. I believe in social responsibility, and I believe that each of us has the power to make a difference. I believe in Grassroots democracy, I believe in Environmental Sustainability, and I believe in Social Justice. I also believe in having a lie in after a long week, having a beer at the end of a long day, and generally being as lazy as I can get away with.

Does that make me a bad Green ?

There are three by-elections in NSW today. Maroubra, vacated because of Bob Carr’s resignation, Marrickville because of Andrew Refshauge, and Macquarie Fields, because of another resignation.

Marrickville and Maroubra both have a strong Greens presence, but not so in Macquarie Fields. Last state election Labour won by a huge margin, the Libs were second, and Greens a distant third at about 4% of the primary vote.

So Mark and I are off to hand out how to votes at Hoxton Park Primary School, and hopefully increase the Green vote by a small margin.

In knitting news, the lace scarf is about as long as my arm, and though I can see two mistakes, they are so far back that I refuse to frog. I admire perfectionism in others, but in me it only leads to procrastination, and I have enough of that already, thank you.

OK - I won’t win awards for the language, but hell, I don’t care ! My lace scarf now has 6 pattern repeats, and I think I am getting the hang of it
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Because I guess this means I can be a real knitter. I haven’t gone far beyond the dreaded garter stitch scarf, but now I have finally got the courage to prove to myself that I can

Yesterday I started some Lace. Nothing too ambitious, it’s the pattern from Knitty called “Branching Out”. You can see the link here.

And here is my version after 2 pattern repeats…..

And a close up.

Though I do feel very clever and pleased with myself, I couldn’t have done it without the wonderful Emma.

This is a picture of Tyler, (my cousin Katie’s little one) wearing the Elizabeth Zimmerman Jacket I made while my grandmother was dying. Although I had intended for it to be for another baby, this one was knitted during a time that was very emotional, and I felt that it should go to the first of a new generation of our family, as the last generation fades away.

Underneath Tyler you can see the blankie that I also made for him That was made from one 200gm ball of Bendigo wool/cotton/lycra in a stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch chequerboard pattern. It is finished with an i-cord loop for attaching to strollers etc…