Why are people so cruel...?

Well thank you all for prompting some memories!!

How could I have forgotten Blake’s 7 or Red Dwarf? Or Space 1999, or Lost in Space or any one of the others you've reminded me of? One of my earliest memories is watching Doctor Who (the very first Doctor) while recovering from a mump and measles in 1964! (That memory and the one of waiting for the blue balloon I had swallowed to *ahem* reappear are my very earliest).

On the knitting front, stuff has been happening – friends of ours had a baby 2 weeks early and I’ve knitted a top down seamless baby Kimono for him and a certain Canberra Blogger had her bump early on Saturday morning and I have something on the needles for her – will post photos after blocking!

I am always convinced that I have heaps of time (especially for baby knitting) and that it will actually take me no time at all to knit baby stuff (knitting fairies, anyone?).

This is, of course, always wrong. This attitude of mine will explain why the recipients of these baby gifts will get them in the next week or so. Mind you, having a baby 2 weeks early is just inconsiderate, because I really thought I had heaps of time, and I’m sure baby stuff takes no time to knit…..

I must learn to spin. I must learn to spin because I won Mandie’s ‘What’s Ewe Name?’ competition and she sent me gorgeous fibre as the prize. She also sent me some fabulous sock yarn which she had custom milled and has not yet dyed all of. Immediately harass her, because the stuff she sent me was absolutely gorgeous and was indescribably beautiful colours. Here is my loot!

In addition, I had a brain explosion and bought some Wollmeise from a lady who was de-stashing Until I received this skein I thought it was completely mythical- like dragons and people who can knit lace without looking at it. It is real and lovely!

I also suffered some sort of breakdown and bought more Malabrigo – just in case sheep go bald – or it takes them months to build up stock after their fire.


And then my LYS had a 40% off everything sale!

I have no defences against this type of cruelty. How can I resist!

Remember – keep those comments coming- you’ve got three days until my blogiversary deadline. There will be prizes!

Oh – and I think Firefly and Serenity were wonderful, and Angel and Buffy kick ass!

The Alien Weirdness of Kniters (Yay!)

Almost from the very beginning of reading knitblogs I have been amazed at the number of knitters fascinated with science fiction and fantasy. During my childhood, adolescence and rather loooooong maturation, I found it almost impossible to find fellow SFF fans and readers.

I was indoctrinated by my mother into SF at a very early age – in fact, I spent 3 years absolutely terrified of the dark after reading Andre Norton’s Starman’s Son (also published as ‘Daybreak-2250AD) when I was 7. (Don’t judge me until you have read it yourself – the scene where the man is tortured with a rat – and then.. – Brrrr!)

Throughout my teenage years there were no real sci-fi people about. I was considered deeply weird at the rural schools I attended – not only did I read (strange!) but I READ SCIENCE FICTION (geek city!)

Mum and I watched ‘The Champions’, ‘Star Trek’ (the original series), ‘The Guardians (about a dystopian Britain with an exiled royal family, run by its security forces), ‘Out of the Unknown (a very scary British answer to the Twilight Zone – which we also watched), and any other sci fi, alternative history, slightly off beat television series we could find.

We went to any Sci Fi movies which came (briefly) to our local cinema. I still remember going to see ‘Star Wars’ with her when it first came out (not long before her death).

I have never given up my addiction to SFF. I was a regular mail order customer for Galaxy Books for many years, spending chunks of my salary (well, the bits not earmarked for wine and cigarettes) on feeding my vice. But rarely did I meet another person who revelled in my personal favourite genres. I had to make a massive effort to force my husband into reading my library – which he now happily does.

Fast forward to 2 years ago, when I discovered knitblogs. The weird paradox of people engaged in an ancient craft revelling in alternate futures, fantasy worlds, paranormal adventures and weird aliens confronted me. It also made me very, very happy.

Not only did you knit, but you knitted and read and watched the same things I did! (Many of you are also Jane Austen Fans – and that makes me even happier!! In fact, someone mentioned Georgette Heyer recently in their blog – and that REALLY made my day.)

I still primarily read SF – though more slowly now my reading time is curtailed by mothering and domestic duties. I love to watch SF – though I am disappointed the Sci-Fi channels seems to only screen Star Trek and Stargate and their spinoffs.

So as my first Blogiversary approaches, leave a comment to tell me your favourite science fiction or fanatasy (all paranormal subjects included) book, film, and/or TV series (now or in the past). Please, Lurkers, come forward and drop me a line. All commenters between now and midnight on 3 July –Australian Eastern Standard Time (the day after my blogiversary) will get an entry into a random draw. There will be prizes. And I will finally get to meet yet more people who share my addictions!

On the Wonder of Books

Quite exhausted from yesterdays rant.

On the knitting front, I am halfway up the first sleeve – so I may go very close to a two week jumper on this one (yay!) – thank you, Ms Black Dog.

I had some positive feedback yesterday from the rant – thank you ladies – When I work out how to deal with teenage attitude in my not-yet-five year old without screaming and yelling and threatening to cancel birthdays I’ll let you know!

Today I thought we could talk about books.

I love reading – and would like to be better at reading and knitting at the same time. I’m currently reading ‘The Book of Lies’, having just finished the first 2 Lily Bard mysteries by Charlaine Harris. I’d read all the others but not those. I enjoyed her ‘Southern Vampire’ series so much, I just had to check out her others – enough humour and sex, without taking anything to seriously.

You may have gathered that I am a science fiction and fantasy fan, with love of children/young adult books as well as the grown up ones. I adore the classic children’s books – Winnie-the-Pooh (NOT the Disney version – yech yech yech!), Wind in the Willows, Milly-Molly-Mandy, Paddington Bear, anything by Roald Dahl, Alan Garner, and J P Martin’s Uncle books.

I’m very much in love with all the Tamora Pierce series – particularly because they have great female central characters in non-traditional areas, Phillip Pullman (I understand there is a film of Northern Lights coming starring Our Nic), John Flanagan, Joan Aiken and Nicholas Stuart Grey (sadly out of print, but email Penguin Books and keep asking for them – that’s what I do). My excuse is that I buy all these for the children when they’re older, but the truth is that I just enjoy them.

Growing up on a farm as an only child, with 2 TV channels (which didn’t transmit 24 hours a day – no morning TV in those days, and it finished at 10.30pm with ‘Thought for the Day’ and the National Anthem) I read. And read and read and read and read – I read out the children’s section of the local library before I was 7 and then got a special dispensation to take out adult books.

Someone I know suggested that the best way to get kids to read was to give them a torch, and then forbid them from reading after you turn out the lights, and there may be something in that (certainly my children are more likely to do something I have told them not to, than something I tell them to do!)

I envy Taph her ability to set books free into the wild – I can’t give up books (unless I really hated them!). Books, to me, are friends. My favourite shops are my LYS and bookshops – new or second hand, don’t care. My favourite bookshop is Galaxy in Sydney. I don’t often get there, but I mail order regularly (if less frequently than BC – Before Children). I’m currently still working through last December’s order – the local library has been providing me with all the books I requested in the last few months, and library books get priority over the ones I own.

I love the smell of bookshops, especially second hand bookshops of the sort Terry Pratchett describes, where books are stacked and piled in no apparent order, and manage to bend into L-space. I don’t get enough time these days to smell eau-de-tome, but enjoy it whenever it is offered.

I also re-read books – unfortunately if you hoard enough books, you don’t get enough time to re-read all the ones you want to – but I’ll get around to it when I work out how not to mess up my lace knitting every time I get to an exciting bit in Chapter 7.

Enough already. Have think of something wonderful to do for dinner with leftover roast lamb. Unfortunately ‘Delicious’ is a bit light on for ideas on how to use up leftovers, so I guess I’m on my own for that one!