A Matter of Life and Death

Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas doctor, was shot today in his local church. Apart from being a family doctor, Dr. Tiller also ran an abortion clinic. He had previously been shot and wounded by a pro-life* activist. His clinic had also been the target of a bomb. (*pro-life? I'm pro-choice which doesn't make me anti-life. I love life and detest imprecise language. Besides, if you shoot someone, can you still be pro-life?)

This little comment comes courtesy of Metafilter user XQUZYPHYR. I may not agree with all of his points, but his comment makes for thought-provoking reading.

Tiller was one of maybe three clinics that performed late-term abortions. There will likely now be only two, and several years' worth of medical students are now pressured into considering not even entering the field.

The government, no matter which party is in control, does virtually nothing- nothing- to monitor and prevent terrorist attacks on women's clinics. For godssakes, nine times out of ten they won't even refer to it as terrorism. Animal rights groups get labeled as terrorists more frequently than anti-abortion militants. Federal funding for clinics is minuscule and every act of damage and violence committed against one is a drain on their already limited resources. And if you think President Hopey McChangethroughhugs, who can't even lift a pen to stop gay people from being blocked from volunteering to defend our country, is going to do anything about this beyond signing a strongly-worded letter, I'd also like a pony.

Operation Rescue- monsters, all of them- delivered their pithy, enraging statement saying they of course were outraged at the murder but added a nice little line about how they wanted Tiller "brought to justice through the proper channels." Let's emphasize that- the leading anti-abortion group in America responded to the cold-blooded murder of a doctor who performed legal medical procedures by saying they merely wish he was punished differently. Tomorrow morning, they will be be considered a legitimate and respectable organization.

Alpaca Punch

There she is, that Ishbel. The shawl blocked out beautifully and post-blocking I only had it in the house for about an hour before sending it across the Atlantic to a friend who needs a big hug.

So, yes, I was very pleased with the finished object - it looks lovely, works out larger than you think and has an interesting Faroese-like shape - but I did not enjoy knitting it. Overall, I must have knitted this shawl twice over with all my tinkering and re-knitting - and, honestly, I would rather have spent that knitting time on something else because the project just wasn't interesting enough to warrant that amount of effort.

But Ishbel does make for a warm, knitted hug which is the really important bit.

Now I'm working on a different shawl and it is really interesting to note the differences between the two projects (and the two patterns).

I have been admiring Laminaria ever since I got bitten by the lace bug. It is an insanely beautiful shawl made out of complicated Estonian stitches I had never seen anywhere before. Instead of "knit", "yarn over" or "purl", the pattern tells you to knit "2-into-9" and "3-into-3". Furthermore, the pattern notes tells you it is a modular shawl, so you can shift the blocking blocks around. The designer has even posted a huge yardage chart, so you can track how much yarn you need for the sections (which is important if you decide to mix things up).

Thing is, I'm finding Laminaria an absolute joy to knit. So far it has even been a really straightforward knit: charts are crystal clear, the stitch definitions easy to understand and it works up very quickly. I cast on Monday night and I'm through the first three charts without with nary a hitch. Even the fabled Transition chart which has its own thread of heartbreak on Ravelry .. I got through it first time with no mistakes. What gives?

If Laminaria continues to be this much fun, I foresee a lot of 'em in my future.

However, one thing does have me worried. The yarn. I'm using a 1-ply kidmohair/merino which I bought in Denmark. Stunning shade of red. Plenty of yardage (I think). And in the middle of knitting the second chart, the yarn literally fell apart in my hands. I am not a tight knitter and I'm knitting the shawl at a loose gauge - and the ply just came apart as I was knitting. It has me worried about how it'll hold up to blocking, I tell you, and I'm also terrified about putting too much stress on it as I'm knitting (which those 3-into-9 stitches will invariably do).

Finally: Alpaca Punch? Alpaca Punch? Well, Other Half and I were talking about the perfect name for a Glaswegian yarn shop and there you have it. Wool, violence and a bad pun all rolled into one. That's very Glaswegian. I'm going to use the name for a pattern I'm going to write up (I've had a request, what can I say?) and hopefully that pun will stick to me like a big sticky stick.

Yes, Words Matter

BBC has a Poetry Season which means I am watching far more TV than I usually do. So far Gryff Rhys Jones has explored why poetry matters, the Orkney poet George Mackay Brown has had his own programme, and last night I got a full hour of Simon Schama and Fiona Shaw reading John Donne to each other (phoawr!). Armando Iannucci is looking at John Milton later on and, get this, there is an entire programme devoted to my favourite poet, TS Eliot. Thank you, Auntie Beeb. It is such a pleasure to listen to and experience precise language when the world is so full of imprecise language. Poetry matters because language matters.

Which is excatly why I find it so troubling that the Danish government calls their crackdown on Christiania (as well as the earlier eviction of Ungdomshuset) "a process of normalization".

Just One Of Those Things

I could listen to him all day (and frequently do if nobody else is around). Just listen to that phrasing..

(I was raised on a diet of Sinatra and ABBA - and Other Half maintains this fact explains my psyche perfectly. I have no idea what he means by that. Any takers?)

The Art of Being

After spending the afternoon drawing, laughing and singing at Dr Sketchy's (brief nudity, beware), it was a bit of a downer heading back onto Glasgow's streets to find that Rangers winning the football league equalled people heckling other people and a lot of drunken aggression. Sectarianism is such an ugly thing and never fails to scare me just a little bit. It's been a week of settling back into Glasgow, then. I have been a bit quiet - much preferring my book and my knitting projects to social interaction. Saturday we did go out to West Kilbride - which markets itself as Craft Town Scotland - to visit the Old Maiden Aunt Yarns workshop. Following my recent yarn adventures, I decided against buying any yarn but I did commission Lorna of Chookiebirdie to make me a customised handstitched needle case. Weakness, thy name is Karie Bookish.

Finally, our good friend Gabi Reith has been involved in a big, big art project on the East Coast. She has taken a derelict building, covered it in fabric and decorated it with a giant sketch. It's very cool. See for yourself, if you don't believe me.

Oh, the Yarn Fumes..

As I am finally getting to the last Ishbel chart, let me round up some of my yarn purchases. First, though, a few comments on knitting Ishbel. It seems every time people are touting a pattern as "really easy" and "you'll knit this up in a few days", I struggle with said pattern. Ishbel was no exception and I cannot for the life of me understand why as I'm used to knitting lace.

My first yarn choice was a brown merino and I was constantly two stitches short or had three stitches too many. I frogged this attempt and began over again using a 2-ply lambswool in beautiful teal. I took the project with me on holiday and disaster struck: during the first Eurovision semi-finale I dropped a stitch and it took me five days to unknit back to the point where I could start again. So, nearly two weeks from when I began this "weekend project" I can finally see the end of this little shawlette. I have no idea why it has taken me so long.

Yarn purchases then.

I must admit that I have a real weakness for laceweight and light fingering yarns and while my laceweight/fingering stash is already bursting at its seams, I indulged myself. I really indulged myself. I bought three different colours of SuperSoft, a light fingering lambswool with a tweedy look (pictured). I also bought some 1-ply Icelandic lace (black) and some discontinued 1-ply kidmohair/merino (red and teal). The kit for the Topstykke tunic also found its way into my suitcase (and, yes, it's knitted in 2-ply lambswool). Finally, 2 modest balls of my beloved Drops Alpaca in an amazing orange-yellow-red fell into my basket. I predict plenty of shawls in my future.

On the heavier side of things, I got hold of enough Létt-Lopi to make myself a cosy sweater, I bought a skein of "homegrown" Gotland wool from a sheep farm I visited and I could not resist some balls of Drops Silke-Tweed in that shade of green-yellow which I love so much. Uhm, then maybe I also bought two skeins of  BC Lucca (one grey, one pink tweed) because I already have four skeins and I didn't know if it were enough for a pullover. And maybe also some yellow Fritidsgarn and some Kauni. And some KnitPro needles and some patterns and stuff.

Uhm.

I'll probably not buy more yarn this decade. Really. Honestly. Honestly, honestly.

So .. anyone for a lace shawl?