fourth edition

This has been the coldest winter in Scotland since the early 1960s. So I have not just been imagining things nor have I become obsessed by that most British of things: the weather. It has been bloody cold and, despite today’s sunshine, it continues to be cold. I am so, so ready for spring to [...]

“Denmark is losing its reputation for being a good world citizen.” – Naomi Klein
Danish police arrest 150 demonstrators as world leaders arrive at Copenhagen conference. Mainstream groups such as Friends of the Earth have been barred from the conference centre (“Every delegate from the international environmental campaign group arrived at the centre this morning to [...]

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god—sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten
By the dwellers in [...]

Sitting here in dark, rainy Scotland does not feel so bad, when I look at the Danish Budget for 2010. Among all the talk about a new super-hospital and whatnot, the government is now going to offer non-Western immigrants up to £12,000 for giving up their legal residency and returning “home”. The Budget also includes [...]

I have a very soft spot in my heart for tennis. Yes, tennis. It was one of the few sports I was ever good at in school and in the early 1990s I watched tennis broadcasts almost religiously. My favourite time of year is still Wimbledon time.
My favourite player was a tall Croat, Goran Ivanisevic, [...]

Yesterday’s protest made the BBC’s news frontpage. Of course the laughing knitters are not mentioned, but we are there between the lines. I can tell we are.
I have spent the day in bed with a hot water bottle and podcasts (currently these) with an occasional nap thrown in for good measure. I have been knackered [...]

I don’t know if I am being particularly bitchy today, but when I came across the following pattern note on Ravelry, I stopped in my tracks:
When I’m knitting a Jared Flood pattern, I feel like he’s making love to me. When I finish a Jared Flood pattern, I feel like I just gave birth to [...]

.. one Halloween costume down, one to go.
Other Half is currently trying to consider whether or not to stab the ear with a palette knife or not.
Oh, decisions…

.. and they lived happily ever after – they being the knitter and her own Liesl.
I frogged a scarf I knitted last year but only wore twice and miraculously I got an entire top out of my three re-purposed skeins of Noro Iro. Liesl is a magical pattern, I think.
Right now I’m really using [...]

I haven’t done one of these in ages. Also: insomnia has struck.

This is my new favourite cartoon. Strong words lurk within, beware.
Robert Barclay Allardice – The Celebrated Pedestrian: “His most famous feat was the walking of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in 1000 hours for 1000 guineas in 1809.”
Fancy Fast Food: “Yeah, it’s still bad for you, but [...]