Monday, August 4, 2008

If we ran the world......

If knitters ran the world it would be an entirely different place.

I’ve been thinking about this recently. As I am a current affairs junkie, I seem to be up to pussy’s bow with doom and destruction. Bombings, stampedes, dictatorships, the four horsemen of the apocalypse – it’s all go here on Planet Earth.

And then I thought, ‘What if knitters (and crocheters) ran the world? What would it be like?’

Well, let’s see. No-one would be cold. That’s a given. Children, babies and adults – warm and woolly. Have you seen the amount of knitted articles given to charities? – hats for the homeless, for prem babies, jumpers for Mongolia, for Afghanistan, for everywhere you can think of. Multiply this into a national goal and put some funding behind it!

Children would learn to knit in school. This happens in Steiner schools, so why not every other school. It is considered to develop manual dexterity, creativity, colour sense, mathematical skills and it makes a nice line in potholders for Mothers’ Day.

The national sheep flock would not be dwindling – and there would never have been a wool stockpile.

We would have wonderful foreign relations with fibre producing countries. Mongolia (cashmere), Alaska and Canada (quiviut – arctic musk ox fibre), Tibet (pashmina – but only sustainably), Egypt and the Middle East (camel), the continental USA (buffalo – and let’s face it, the whole of North America has fabulous spinners and dyers), India and Nepal (silk), Thailand (banana fibre), New Zealand (possum), the United Kingdom (rare sheep breeds), Germany (Wollmeise), Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union (Orenburg lace), Scandinavia (colourwork) and so on.

The meetings of ASEAN and the G8 would look a lot less silly if world leaders were clad in knitting and crocheting – in fact, do you remember the major conference in which every leader received a traditional pair of mittens (I’m thinking Reykjavik – but am more than willing to be corrected). What a fabulous gesture that was.

As well, a side effect would be a lifting of both the profile of, and respect for, ‘womanly’ arts. Instead of being categorised as ‘weird hobby’, the skills and challenges may be more widely appreciated!

On the domestic trench war – sorry – home news front, Saturday was the Princess’s sixth birthday. 20 children were here, luckily the weather was good and I, very sensibly, hired a magician who also did balloon sculptures. He kept the kids (and some parents) brilliantly entertained until food time, and then it was home time. The Princess was beside herself with excitement, amplified when her Aunt (my SIL) and partner appeared – a lovely surprise, flown in from the National Capital. I didn’t drink nearly as much wine as such an occasion normally warrants, so it was considered a success all round!

My circumstances may also be changing soon, in a very exciting way – watch this space! Off to do domestic things – like check when the P & F meeting is and try to remember to order more gas! Ciao!

14 comments:

Michelle said...

I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing yesterday afternoon while listening to the national news on the radio. I was on the way home from a very gorgeous day sof crafty friends and sewing and fabric and danishes and pretty babies, and I wondered what had happened to our world, and if everyone crafted, wouldn't that be a GOOD thing?

Tinkingbell for PRESIDENT!!!

Lynne said...

Yay for Tinkingbell. You get my vote.

Glad the party went well. Three cheers for surprise visits.

Bells said...

I'd vote for you, my friend. As long as I got a cushy role, too. :-)

Exciting news coming up! yay!

Alwen said...

And another side benefit: since they would have learned to knit in school, when some of the children became archaeologists, they wouldn't look at any old fiber craft and call it "knitting" if it wasn't.

I'm sure you are thinking of the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia - it started with an R!

http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/cats/nid/698/

http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/cats/nid/793/

knightlyknitter.wordpress.com said...

And if we ran the world, break times would be flexible enough to accommodate 'just one more row!' without comment from colleagues - they'd all be doing the same!!
:>

DrK said...

if everyone got to fondle wollmeise 'the war' wouldnt matter, and there might not be any more of them. i couldnt agree with you more, its not that every knitter is perfect, just that people who dont do/appreciate crafty things are mean and nasty. usually. and it drives me CRAZY when people drop in little comments about exciting news and then disappear again... do tell soon!

Rose Red said...

Does this exciting news require someone to mind your house?? If yes, I'll put my hand up!!! Hee hee!

Can't wait to hear about it! And yes, agree on the world stuff, and the knitting in schools!!

DrK said...

im sure i left a comment but its not here! it was something about crafters and world wars, and now i cant remember it. i also said something about tell us the news now!

MadMad said...

Ah, your world sounds like a much better place! Glad the party went well! (20, huh? That WOULD require quite a bit of wine... ) Can't wait to hear your news!

Five Ferns Fibreholic said...

World Unity, one stitch at a time. So when you are power can I get a job that allows me to travel all over the world searching out new fibres???

Georgie said...

Vote 1 Tink - especially if, as Bells suggested, its a vote for neopotism too!

I cant believe you had TWENTY children to a party - its making my toes curl!

And yes, cant wait to hear the exciting news!!

Donna Lee said...

Love a bit of news. And I would want to live in your world. It would be nice if people in general had a healthy respect for handcrafted items instead of saying "How Much Did That Cost!?" when I talk about sock yarn. They wouldn't suggest I 'sell my socks' to coworkers (who wouldn't pay what the yarn costs let alone my time). And the world would be a cozier, warmer place if everyone had a nice soft sweater or blankie or bedsocks.....

JustJess said...

Maybe the Aussie Olympic team would look a little nicer if we had knitted and crocheted for them too? Maybe the crocheted outfit would have slowed the swimmers though... You get my vote!

Amy Lane said...

Absolutely knitters should run the world-- now, if only we could convince those pesky politicians to do something worthwhile with their time and get out of our way!