Armed with yarn

I tried my hand (if you'll pardon the pun) at finger knitting especially when carrying knitting needles on airlines was forbidden. After I had done some finger knitting, I wasn't quite sure how I would use the long, thin fabric I had created. Somehow winding it into a ball and then knitting it on very big needles was too ironic.
I read about arm knitting on the Knitting Daily blog. Mmmm, I am suspicious of 'quick fix' knitting, but the prospect of running up a scarf or cowl in 15 minutes was tantalising. It helps that the picture is clear, the tutorial helpful and the yarn close to one of my favourite colours. I didn't have yarn that I thought was thick enough but I came across a couple of hanks of Moda Vera Liana yarn that was being sold for $2 per hank. It is a yarn that is usually made into 'frill' scarves and 15 minutes was about right to finish it after I had sewn the two hanks together.

This is the result

The pattern

Materials - two hanks of Moda Vera Liana
Implements - sewing needle, machine sewing yarn, arms

Instructions:
Unravel the hanks. Trim one end of each hank before overlapping them and joining using back stitch or another stitch that will stabilise the seam. You could probably use two lines of fine stitches if you have an obsessive compulsive bent, but you can tuck any ragged ends when the scarf is finished.

Follow Mari's method to cast on three stitches, arm knit your scarf until the hanks are nearly exhausted and cast off.

Variation: for pointier ends, try casting on one stitch at the beginning  and increasing to three stitches by increasing into the back and front of that stitch. In the last row, knit three stitches together.

Knitting as a political act and therapy

I avoided posting this last year because I thought that anger may have clouded my judgement. Nearly a year has passed and I am no longer smarting, but I haven't changed my mind.

Australia's first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, has made a dignified exit. It was the culmination of a destabilisation campaign that has lasted three years, conducted as much from within her own party as the political party that her government opposed.
While the criticism that accompanied the picture of Gillard knitting in The Australian Women's Weekly a few days ago was the predictable rubbish that the mainstream media churns out, I doubt that it really contributed much to her demise. A cultural cringe about craft is the subtext of many of these news stories.
Knitting was/is therapy for former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. It does not define her any more than it defines Julia Gillard. I love that Albright was able to use a brooch as a metaphor in her top level meetings and knitted bright red beanies for her grand kids to let off steam, rather than uncorking a bottle of wine.