Dressed To Knit

Well, you asked for WWKIP T-shirts with David’s terrific logo.  And you’ve got them.

 The cheapest way to provide these would have been to get a local company to print them but I’m not in the retail trade and it was just too difficult.  How many to order?  What sizes?  I’d have to fund these myself and frankly I’ve too much on my plate at the moment so I’ve opened an account with Cafepress.

Although Cafepress now has an Australian site all their goods are priced in US Dollars then converted to Aussie Dollars.  And with the state of the American dollar, this makes the T-shirts a bit more expensive than they would be if I’d sourced them locally.  I think the Cafepress ones are good quality and I believe the service is very good.  To make delivery a bit cheaper, perhaps you could get together with other knitters and place a bulk order.

So click here and look what’s on offer.  If there is anything else you’d like the Cafepress site to sell, just let me know.  It costs me nothing to list the items.   

Technorati Tags: WWKIP

Knitting Chart Generator

Have you seen this? 

It’s a wonderful way to produce a lace chart – just click on the stitches. it converts them to symbols and produces a chart.  Or use it for a cable chart.  Or a fairisle chart. 

No more trying to draw symbols into a spreadsheet.  And how do you produce a symbol for K3 tog anyway?

Type it in, print it out or save it.  It’s terrific.

Thanks to Jen Balfour.

 

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is . . Part 2

After getting a place on the Executive of the Knitters Guild then not getting a place on the Executive, it is now confirmed that I have a place on the Executive (after the AGM of 7th March).

Thank you all so much for your support over this fiasco.

If you’re a member of the Guild, do come along to the AGM. If you’re not, why not?

The View From Where I’m Standing

I know some of you may not believe this but it’s never my intention to be offensive or rude, either here or in “real life”.But I do know that sometimes I offend.  And I think I do that by showing a lack of respect.

I just cannot agree that we have to respect each other’s views.  I respect your right to HOLD those views but I don’t have to respect the views themselves.  And your right to hold whatever views you want doesn’t also give you a right to use them to determine the way I live my life.  If you want to believe that the world is flat, I’ll defend your right to believe that.  But don’t expect me not to laugh.  And don’t be offended when I discover that you’re a Qantas pilot and I refuse to get on your plane.

In some people’s mind, religious beliefs deserve some sort of special protection from ridicule and derision.  We’re always being told that we mustn’t offend people’s religious views.   Why on earth not? 

Why should I respect your view to allow your child to die rather than allow her to have a blood transfusion?  Although I wouldn’t normally condone violence, I’d have a lot more respect for a mother who killed to protect her child than one who just stood by, when she was perfectly able to save her child’s life.

It’s apparently reasonably acceptable to poke fun at the newer religions.  Who, except Tom Cruise, hasn’t laughed out loud at the beliefs of Scientologists?  But what adherents of the older religions don’t seem to get is that there an awful lot of us who find their beliefs just as crazy.  A misunderstanding/lie/fairy story doesn’t become a fact because it’s been passed on through the generations for a few thousand years.  But the Big Three have acquired a protection from criticism in some quarters.

Well, not in this quarter.  If you’re a Nazi, a racist, a creationist or a Christian, then your views will find no respect here.  I may respect your humanity (though that’s pushing it a bit in the case of a Nazi or racist) or the way you live your life, but never your beliefs. 

And if you find that offensive, all I can do is ask that you show some respect for MY views.  And stop reading my blog.

 

With This Selection of Magazines, I Thee Wed.

Reading Mary-Helen’s blog about weddings this week, reminded me of a visit I made to a newsagent a few days ago. 

It was a fairly small,  suburban,  privately-owned shop and I noticed that they stocked TEN bridal magazines (and no knitting ones).  I commented on this to the owner.  He also found it amazing that there was such a market for so many but said that most women buy more than one  -  usually 4 or 5 of them.  I wonder if the cost of all these expensive magazines is included in the average cost of $50k per wedding that M-H refers to.  And what do these brides do with them afterwards? 

Bridal magazines must be the easiest magazines to produce as you can regurgitate all the articles (“Countdown to your Wedding Day” etc) and just update the clothing photos (and costs).

I’ve been married twice, without the help of a magazine (or 10).  I’m either clever or perhaps just arrogant to think I could organise a wedding without the help of a glossy mag. 

 

World Wide Knit In Public

Yes, I know.  It’s a bit early to be talking about this as it doesn’t take place until 13th June.

HOWEVER, Sydney already has its logo which will be printed on calico bags for sale on the day.  And as it’s easily adaptable for any WWKIP event taking place in Australia, I thought I’d offer it to anyone who’s organising an event.    Just send me a message and I’ll get back to you.  We can change the name to the name of your town or event and can supply the logo in any format (pdf, jpeg etc).

David designed it . . . and I think he did a great job.

I’ll let you know all the details of the event nearer the date, but put it in your diary.  We’ll have bags, door prizes and a few things I’ve still got up my sleeves.  I can’t wait. 

Technorati Tags: WWKIP

A Girl! First Time!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about knitting hats for a friend having a baby of unknown sex.  Congratulations, Val and James on the birth of your baby GIRL today.

Before I heard about the new baby, by sheer coincidence on the bus this morning I overheard a conversation which I immediately wrote down so here it is, verbatim.

Man in his early 30’s, talking to a woman of similar age:

“So this is his first grandchild.  And a boy, first time.  He did well.  He must be really proud”. 

I remember thinking that I hoped he hasn’t got a daughter, or has one in the future.  What hope has she got? 

Unlike Val’s lucky little girl for whom the sky will be the limit. 

A Serious Business

A return to the serious business of knitting, after the extraordinary (and time-consuming) shenanigans of the last few days.

Yes, I’m still knitting and managed to finish another Forest Canopy Shawl while roasting in the sun at Opera in the Domain last week.  I really like this pattern as it’s a great use of not very much yarn, it’s enjoyable to knit and the end result looks good. 

90g Handmaiden Fine Yarn Sea Silk  -  4mm needles  -  finished size (after blocking) 141 x 70cm.

Now I seem to have got the hang of that, I’ll look around for something similar but different (if you know what I mean).

Technorati Tags: Forest Canopy Shawl

Older And Wiser

Things I’ve learned in the last 24 hours, in reverse order of importance:

1.    If you ruffle a few feathers, you double the number of hits your blog receives.

2.    Some people are so rude, it’s difficult to imagine how they get on in life.  Are they able to keep a job?  And what about meaningful relationships?  I wrote a perfectly polite and concise reply to the stroppy emaiI received from the Guild yesterday.  The response I received this morning calls me ’stupid’, which I find a bit rich coming from people who aren’t able to count backwards 28 days from 7th March!

3.    I know some of the loveliest people you’re ever likely to meet in a lifetime.  Last night, I received over 20 emails in 2 hours and they’ve kept coming all day today.  Lovely kind and generous friends.  Thank you all so much.   You’re probably not aware of what that meant to me. 

For those of you not in Sydney, the Gap is the name of a favourite jumping off place here for those who can’t face life.  In one email last night to friends I said that if they didn’t hear from me for a few days, I’d probably gone to the Gap.  The response: “Gap?  You’re going clothes shopping at a time like this?”  And off I went to bed with a smile on my face. 

Technorati Tags: Knitting Guild of NSW

STOP PRESS

I no longer have a guaranteed seat on the Executive.

The Guild newsletter and the nomination papers clearly stated that nominations closed on Friday 30th January.  I wrote to the Guild Secretary on 1st February asked that, as nominations were now closed, would she send me a list of the nominees.  That was then emailed to me, with a note saying that there was no need for a ballot.  I wrote my blog and put this news on Ravelry.

Today I received another email from the Guild complaining that I had put the list of nominees on Ravelry, where it could be seen by people who aren’t members of the Guild (I told you that secrecy was a bit of an obsession).  I HAVEN’T put the list of nominations on Ravelry or anywhere else on the internet for that matter.  The Guild also said that if I’d bothered to read the Constitution, it clearly states that nominations must be received no later than 28 days before the AGM, ie THIS Friday, not last.  Since sending the list to me the Returning Officer has received two further nominations.

It’s quite obvious to me that neither the Secretary nor the Returning Officer had read the Constitution either, or if they had, they’d chosen to ignore the election rules to fit in with a newsletter deadline.  But having received further nominations, they’d had no choice but to comply with the rules. Otherwise, why was I sent the nominations list BEFORE nominations had closed?  Incidentally, I believe the latest two nominations to be quite valid in accordance with the Constitution, and should stand, even though it may mean that I don’t get a seat.

The Secretary has also demanded that I “IMMEDIATELY” (her capitals) remove the post on Ravelry.

Frankly, I’ve had enough.  I’m not afraid of a battle and have been involved in all sorts of fights during my life.  I even ended up in the High Court in London once for defending the rights of an elderly woman.  Give me a good cause and I’ll do my best.  But this isn’t about justice and human rights.  This is about KNITTING.  This isn’t the International Court of Human Rights, the United Nations, MI6 or the CIA.  It’s KNITTING.

We were told that rather than whinge, we should nominate.  So I did.  But is this an organisation I really want to belong to?  Give me 48 hours to calm down and I’ll let you know.