The penguin with the pointy sticks

Unravelling NHS

This morning the knitivist GingerKnits of p/hop fame had a moment of genius, coming up with the prefect metaphor for everyone worried/angry about the impact of the current NHS reforms.

The idea is to knit an NHS logo - the bigger the better is how one conversation is going - documenting with video or photographs the time it takes to craft something. I'm keen to get a group together to craft a logo while talking (on camera) about why the NHS is important to them. 

And then to show how quickly it can be unravelled - with a giant version for example this could be done outside a hospital, DH building, etc.

There is also the idea that you could craft other objects that show what the NHS means for you - an inhaler, incubator, healthy limbs - using the same recording and ripping approach.

At the moment this is the germ of a protest idea but @GingerKnits, the Undercover Owl (@UndercoverOwl) and me (@lpurplepenguin) are co-ordinating the suggestions on twitter (#unravellingNHS - my major creative contribution so far), via our blogs and on Ravelry. 

I'm paricularly keen to hear about ideas for recording the projects and showing the passage of time, and for help working out patterns for the letters N, H, S - especially for a freestanding S.

If you are angry or frustrated about the NHS changes, this could be the protest for you encorporating as it does the beneficial mental health and calming affects of craft.

A bad case of sleevitis

Why is that sleeves seem such of a struggle sometimes. Is it simply that by the time I reach the second sleeve of a garment, I know the pattern inside out and there's no real challenge because I've worked out any resizing by then?

In an effort to curb my usual startitis problems, I have vowed to complete my current WIPs before embarking on anything new - unless of course I can come up with a good reason why, for example, nothing is suitable as a commuter knit.

However disaster has struck. I now have three sleeves to finish. One of these is the second sleeve for the fiddly chevron lace top by Kim Hargreaves.

So this is a normal case of the sleeve problem - half way up and just dying to reach the finishing off because I'm fickle and all that lovely stashed yarn is calling out.

But on the other garment I'm still on sleeve one - the problem there is that this is the 2nd version of Sally Melville's A Gray Cardigan I've produced in quick succession. And yes I've said it is a keeper and that I'll probably knit other versions in the future, I'm failing badly on the sleeves.

On the other hand I plan to watch 90mins of political debate tonight so that might help matters (or my sleevitis may turn out to #nickcleggsfault).