Disco Knitter

After a scare last week, and a mammogram this week, it would appear that I don’t have breast cancer. There is some comfort in knowing that I have already lived through the worst thing I am ever likely to experience, but I am grateful not to have to deal with that particular pile of steaming crap.

But a friend of a friend is. She has two babies, one a little younger than the Squish, and one less than a year old. SHe thought she had a blocked duct, but it’s an aggressive cancer, and she is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Apparently, there is a 90% chance that she will still be alive in five years time.

So after dealing with a metric buttload of misery myself in the past few weeks, I am taking up my knitting in earnest. I am going to knit two chemo caps for two people who need something warm and beautiful on their heads, and I am going to go easy on myself for just a little while, and take the time to knit some love and healing.

Last week, a package came from America. A stunning shawl, knit with love from a dear friend who couldn’t be here to hug me. I wish I had a picture to do it justice, but Cecelia, your shawl has become my lucky shawl. I wore it when I went to have my mammogram done on Tuesday.

I wonder what sort of uniform the nerd superhero wears?

There is still a few glitches (can’t leave blog comments), but I have my calendar back, and I have all my blog feeds! Normality is resuming, and I adore my husband. Not just for his good looks!

And tonight is results night. Pizza and red wine are on the menu, my friend Dionne is coming from Newcastle with her kids, and we are going to cover the kitchen in flour and dough while we wait for those crucial text messages. Dionne was in my environmental peace unit, so we are supporting each other.

And tomorrow I am teaching small children to knit. Give me strength!

And here is a picture of a small boy playing an orange ukelele.

For the uninitiated, that’s World Wide Knit in Public Day. It’s been happening every year for a few years now, and it’s a fun way to spread the knitting obsession with the public.

I’m going again this year – without Mark and Inigo, who will both be at the zoo, cleverly arranged by Mark’s work.

If you’d like to come along, there is more info on Sally’s Blog. Thanks to Sally for being the driving force behind this for a few years, Kris for kicking it off, and Margot for taking the baton and running with it.

So, my mate Miriam is having another baby (she is mama to Inigo’s best friend Oscar, they were born 4 days apart), and I want to knit her something special. Both of us wanted girls first time around, and now Miriam is expecting a much wanted girl. Often second babies get a little neglected in the special handknit items tally, so I gave Miriam a choice of two patterns, both a little special.

I am in love with this yarn, gorgeous colours, amazing drape, and really, really lovely to knit with. So I found this pattern, which uses an unusual cabled construction, and I think is adorable.

The other choice I offered was a cute little cardi with a dachshund on it – and the pattern is raising funds for a little dog to have her leg fixed.

Miriam has chosen the puppy cardi, and three colours of Bendigo Classic 12 ply – 744 Ginger (for the dog), 747 Lipstick Rose (for the body), and 704 Blueberry for the trim.

Can’t wait to finish the never ending Mr Greenjeans, and cast on

And the ringlets bounce as he runs up and down the hall. We nearly died from the cuteness.

Now, instead of going to the AGM, I’m off to ride a steam train with Iggy and his best mate.

Mijal’s comment on the Iggy video reminds me of our flying trip to Newtown to catch up with Mijal and Miya and their adorable 6 month old boy, Marley.

Inigo’s sleep issues continue, and of course he fell asleep in the car, only to be woken up and adored, which rather upset his equilibrium.

And being the evil woman that I am, I took pictures.

Isn’t Marley adorable?

Candide is this years Opera In The Domain.

Any takers?

A few years ago I admired Kate’s version of this pattern, and a few months ago I bought the pattern. On Friday I bought some yarn that might do (it needs a 10 ply cotton on 5.5ml needles), and on Sunday (with expert help – thanks Pom Pom and Gussetting!), I cast on a sleeve as a swatch.

Today, I got out the measuring tape, and what seems obvious to the eye was well and truly proven by the tape. Its huge. My gauge is perfect, but the size of the thing is enormous. The sizes are for a 40, 48, 56 or 64″ bust. I have a bust that is a shade shy of 50″, but the pattern suggests going up a size for wearing as a jacket, so I cast on the 56″ size, which would mean the upper sleeve would have a positive ease of 4 full inches. Perhaps a wee bit too big.

So I’ll knit the 48″ instead, and happily I don’t have to frog my swatch, just rewrite my pattern notes.

Apparently, the Government White Paper on airline safety has been released, and apparently they have listened to the radical crazies like me that sent submissions supporting allowing knitting needles on planes.

What’s next? Making beating children illegal?

A darling friend of mine is pregnant. And absent. She decided that America, despite being full of Septics, was a great place to have a baby. Something about her support system being over there. Or something.

So of course I must knit something for her. My standard baby gift is a cotton hat, a simple pattern, machine washable, cute, and useful (I hope!).

This particular friend fell in love with a man from the Pacific. And many jokes have been made about head size, especially in relation to this baby, and his imminent birth. Since he will be born in the Northern hemisphere spring, I also thought that a larger hat would be useful for longer. So, a larger hat was cast on.

How big?

Big enough to fit the resuscitation dummy at our First Aid for Parents course on the weekend

Tomorrow (Sunday 31st May, 2009), the Powerhouse Museum has a Hyperbolic Crochet Workshop on from 3pm-5pm. Free with Museum entry.

Edited to add – every month on the last Sunday of the month until August.

Although my knitting has slowed to about a row every week, I still have the compulsion to check out what’s new…

And today, I was rewarded with the worst crime against yarn I’ve ever seen.

A conglomeration of abominations.

But to balance that, I found this -

For $5 a meter!

I’m going to make a new baby carrier, the colours are perfect.

Is yummy!

I think this will be my next project – in the gorgeous hand dyed alpaca that Jussi gave me, and I’ve been saving for something special?

Or something a bit more robust and cheap, in large hanks, so I don’t have to join balls together. Bendigo alpaca? Cotton? Maybe I can try painting it after being inspired by the article in the new Twist Collective…

Apparently, there is another craft show on in Sydney, starting tomorrow.

I went to Janome today to get a new bobbin case for my MemoryCraft 4000, in the hope that it might start acting like a sewing machine, and they told me about it. Stay tuned for further sewing adventures…

When I see someone throw rubbish out of a car window, I get very cross.

If it’s a cigarette butt, I get extremely cross.

If it’s anywhere near the bush, on a hot day, I go thermonuclear. It’s really not very pretty, and I have had to be talked down from following these people home and putting prawn heads in their curtain rails.

But now I have a better solution.

Call the Environmental Protection Authority!

131 555 (pollution reporting, environment information and publication requests) for the cost of a local call within New South Wales (mobiles excluded) or (02) 9995 5555.

They sent the offender a warning, and if a second incident is reported, they will be fined. Of course, I’d prefer there was some form of physical torture involved, but a fine is a perfectly acceptable starting point.

It’s simple. Make a donation here.

Email your receipt here.

Go into the draw to win stuff!

I’ve sent in the receipt from my (small) donation already. I’ve also sent it to Mark, his company is matching donations! They are also paying an employee who is a RFS volunteer while he is in Victoria fighting fires.

I promise, sometime soon, I will post about something other than the fires. As soon as I can stop crying every time I hear/see/read news…

Health officials in Leeds are in search of knitters to knit boobs for teaching aids.

New Yorker article – what’s more important, the milk, or the mother?

Women who breastfeed are less likely to abuse of neglect their children.

Salma Hayek (again) breastfeeds a child whose mother is unable to breastfeed. I wonder what will happen to the child when she goes home?

I finally decided to join the guild a few years ago. Guild membership hadn’t seemed relevant to me previously, because my local group only met on Monday mornings – not a viable option for most people who work.

I attended a couple of Blue Mountains meetings, as they are held on a Saturday morning. I enjoyed the meeting, the people were very friendly (hi Lynne!), and if it wasn’t so far away, I would like to attend more regularly.

When I was off work pregnant, I went to a few Epping meetings, and enjoyed them, though I did feel like a total outsider.

Then we moved house, and Inigo was born, and I decided not to renew my membership. Asking my dad for a cheque and a stamp was annoying the first time, but when I was also dealing with a newborn, I made the decision not to rejoin the guild until I was able to join/renew online. BPAY, direct deposit, whatever, I don’t care. But if I actually have to go to a father/bank and a post office, I’m not doing it. If I REALLY, REALLY cared about something, I might bother, but the guild just didn’t seem that relevant.

And there’s the rub. In order for the guild to be relevant to me, and to rather a lot of other knitters, it needs to change. And it seems very resistant to change – if they won’t even consider publishing an electronic version of the paper newsletter in case people that receive the paper version “feel left out”.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish them ill, and I hope they continue to live long and fruitful lives – but I would like the guild to be more relevant to me, I would like to feel that my input (and attendance) was welcome, and that we had something to offer each other.

I am a big believer in Grassroots Democracy – one of the reasons that I love being a member of the Greens is that they listen to me and my ideas. The same doesn’t seem to apply to the guild. New ideas are shunned, forcibly, and innovation is stifled before it can gather a voice.

Some people that I respect and adore are trying to make a change from within, by nominating for the executive. The AGM is still a month away, and already the slings and arrows have started to fly.

So now, we the knitters that want change, find ourselves in a position of opposition without seeking it, and a decision needs to be made as to whether the intention of peaceful, and gentle influence is worth the pain and anguish, or whether it’s better to give up on the dream of change, and start again from the ground up.

As I stated above, I am not currently a member of the guild, and as a non-member, I have no business discussing guild business. But I do hope that someone from the guild reads this, and understands that all we want is to be heard. We don’t want to radically overhaul the guild, we don’t want to knock off the executive, we don’t disrespect, loathe, or despise you, we just want to feel that we have a voice in a guild that is relevant to us, and that the guild respects and values us as members.

Somebody started a group on Ravelry for Lara‘s!