Monet's Garden and an almost-finished cardigan

Happy Monday, everyone. I hope you all had a lovely weekend :) I didn't do much other than work and go to the footy (Go Saints! Umpires are the worst) but I did go to see the Monet's Garden exhibition at the National Gallery last week.

It's interesting because it develops further the trend I saw at the Dali exhibition last year to feature audiovisual material about the artist and their life as well as the artwork of the artist. With this exhibit, the final two rooms featured a wall of photos of Monet and his garden and studio and an audiovisual installation featuring Monet's house and garden at Givenchy. I wonder if that's because audiences are demanding AV material, if it's seen as value-adding or if it's just to pad out the show?

There was also a photowall at the exit, which I found beyond hilarious. If you do go, though, go first thing - I went at lunchtime and it was so packed that I couldn't get near some of the works, especially the ones featured in the audio guide. At almost $30 a ticket, I'm not sure if it's worth it unless you're a big Monet/Impressionist fan.

In exciting news ... look at this!

The sleeves are finished and blocking! I realised as I was casting off that I'd knitted the whole sleeve using 3.75mm needles instead of using 3.75mm needles for the cuff and 4.5mm needles for the rest, but I just don't care! I'm finishing this damn jumper come hell, high water or incorrect gauge. After five years, it will be done! 

Some thoughts on for-profit companies using charities for marketing purposes

On Twitter today, Clementine Ford (@clementine_ford) tweeted about the One For The Girls campaign, where if you buy a packet of Moxie pads they will donate an equivalent amount of pads to women in Uganda through the organisation AFRIpads. I think it’s a worthwhile campaign and one of the reasons I follow Clementine Ford is that she often brings my attention to issues like these that I miss hearing about through other media. I did not know access to feminine hygiene products was an issue for women in Africa and, now that I do, I definitely want to do something about it. These are all good things.

However, Ms Ford got a major side eye from me when she tweeted: “I don’t use pads, but I’ll definitely be buying some bathroom guest supplies so I can support the #oneforthegirls campaign.” It highlights the No.1 issue that consumers need to remember when a for-profit company donates to a charity based on sales – they are employing a marketing strategy. If you are already a Moxie customer, this won’t change your purchasing patterns. But, if you are not a Moxie customer, for the next few months, you may buy Moxie pads instead of your usual brand because of this. There is nothing wrong with that – if you’re going to buy pads anyway, why not pick a brand that are doing something good? But remember, there is absolutely no reason why Moxie couldn’t have committed to donating a certain amount of money to AFRIpads without advertising it or linking it to sales. They could have done it silently and not publicly but they didn’t, because a) bringing attention to the good they’re doing creates positive associations with their branding and b) it will increase sales and attract new customers. Feminine hygiene products have a high degree of brand loyalty so, once you attract new customers, they are likely to stay with you. Additionally, pads aren’t something that people talk about often – Moxie are very cleverly inserting themselves into conversation and increasing awareness of their brand.

I am not saying that companies shouldn’t donate to charities, only that customers need to be aware of what companies are doing with campaigns like this. Don’t buy a product you will not use just to support a marketing campaign – give your money directly to the charity instead. That way they get all of it and you are still doing good. In this day and age with ubiquitous marketing that comes from all sources, including journalists we admire, it’s more important than ever to be critical consumers.

Tuesday Task: Time to get things done!

It's funny how finally doing one thing can provide an amazing impetus to get more things done. I loved the feeling of finishing the mitts and crossing them off my list of things to do and since it felt so damn good to get that thing done, I'm going to try and make it a regular thing and set myself a weekly Tuesday task of finally doing that unfinished thing that's been hanging around not getting done. To start with, I figured I'd start with something big that's been hanging around for a really really long time...the never-ever-finished big blue jumper.

Look at that - it's almost done! All I have to do is knit the sleeve caps and the button band, seam the whole thing up and I have a finished cardigan. It's absolutely bloody ridiculous it has been hanging around for so long!! Therefore my very first Tuesday task is simply to knit the sleeve caps. That's all. It will not be hard and shouldn't take longer than an hour but I'm already feeling pretty darn good that by this time next week, the sleeve caps will be done.

Mitten Epiphany (2013 FO #12)

Happy Monday morning, everyone! While that is a particularly cheery greeting for a Monday morning, I am particularly cheery right now because today marks the point at which there is less winter to come than there has winter been. We are more than halfway through the coldest, wettest, dreariest season of the year and I am incredibly excited!

Yes, I do complain about the cold all the time and yes, what kind of moron complains about the cold in Melbourne year-in-year-out (it's hardly a surprise when it gets cold, really. Not only does it happen every year, there's a whole season that exists to warn you that winter's coming). That said, I believe in providing solutions rather than just complaining about problems because there is literally nothing more boring than listening to someone complain and complain and complain and complain without doing anything about it (except watching golf. That's really fucking boring). After the disaster of the Endpaper mitts I was making for my sister, I was a bit disheartened about knitting in general and mine in particular. It was cold, I was feeling bleurgh and motivation was in really short supply, so weeks passed without me doing anything to get the mitts done. However, last week in a desperate search for some Vicks Vaporub (it's not winter without a chest infection - fortunately, not mine) I stumbled across a drawer I had forgotten about that is filled solely with bits of yarn left over from other projects. There was 30g of Mountain Colors Barefoot left over from my mum's dream socks, I knew a pattern that made supercomfortable mitts from small amounts of yarn - I had a pattern plus yarn epiphany!

The finished project is fantastic! The yarn is warm and soft and the pattern fits (hehe) like a glove! I lengthened the cuff and finger ribbing to use all of the yarn I had and omitted the cables because I hate them.

Thumbs up to fingers being kept warm and a job eventually being done!

More baby hats! (2013 FOs #10 & #11)

Today I returned books to my local library that were two weeks overdue. This might not seem like a big deal but it is totally out of character for me. I am the kind of person who checks online records daily and puts reminders in her phone so she doesn't forget due dates. In part, it's because I'd much rather use the money for wool or wine than late fees but mainly it's because of my inner drill sergeant - you know, the one lives in my psyche and is  always yelling at me, telling me to get up, be on time, leave ten minutes early to allow for traffic and parking delays - you know, that voice.

Lately, however, there has been a softer, more seductive voice whispering in my ear. Don't go swimming, this voice purrs, it's much too cold. You've sneezed twice today - you'd better work from home in your yoga pants while drinking tea and sitting very close to the heater. This voice tempts me with warmth and comfort and doesn't care about deadlines or staying healthy. It wants me to be warm and comfortable all the time and I have been powerless to resist its temptation. Hence, no new knitting projects, no blog posts and the requirement to switch from buttoned to elastic-waisted pants...

But I'm back! I am not going to give in to my inner winter sloth and emerge blinking into the springtime sunlight five kilos heavier and totally unused to human contact. I will resist!!  As much as I can, anyway - if humans were meant to go outside in the cold, we would have been covered in fur like cats.

Seriously.

In other news

I finished these a while ago but never got around to taking photos. Inspired by my Sisyphian spiralling baby hat, I went through my stash and found some other leftover hanks of 4-ply wool that were too small to make anything other than these adorable baby hats.

First up was this one made with less than 20g of Patonyle - 84 stitches on 3.75mm needles. It's really nice and soft and I think will work well as a hat but the fabric, while super-comfortable for baby-wearing, was too loose for the brim to roll properly, which was a bit disappointing. 

But this one was a massive success!

I used a 20g Waratah Fibres hand dyed pure wool 4-ply sample I got from a Ewe Beaut fibre sample box (It looks like they're not active anymore. That's sad - the box was heaps of fun and a great opportunity to find new vendors, new yarns and new dyers.) The label doesn't say what the colourway is but it didn't look very appealing in the skein. However, the finished hat is totally adorable! The pink and yellow and blue work really well together in a way I did not expect, resulting in a completely squee-worthy hat.

I think these woolly hats warm will result in some warm and stylishly attired babies :)

Kill your darlings: the end of the Endpaper Mitts

On the Tuesday after a long weekend during which I watched the entire first season of Game of Thrones (oh to be the person with the contract to supply the fake blood for that show!) it feels incredibly appropriate to open the week by killing my darlings. Kill your darlings, I have recently discovered, is a term used to describe a particular strategy for writing prose which is based on the premise that if you really really like bits of your writing then you can't be objective about them and, if you can't objectively judge them, you can never be sure if they are any good therefore they must die (is it just me or does the language seem a little overly dramatic for a series of letters on a page? It's just writing, really.) The Thesis Whisperer even detailed ways to apply this technique to a thesis.

Now I think that deleting something just because you like it is actually a pretty stupid strategy but I understand the basic idea behind the concept. It can take a bit of courage to face that just because you really like a piece of writing - even a piece of writing that contains a truly excellent pun or alliterative phrase - doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. And, to stretch the metaphor a bit further, just because you've working on a knitting project for a while and you become attached to it, even if the knitted fabric is really really nice, doesn't mean it's going to work.

So this morning, I took a long hard look at a project that I have been suspecting for a while was not going to work...

..faced up to the fact it was coming out much much bigger than it should have been...

..and murdered my darlings.

Looks like my sister is going to have to wait a little bit longer for her nice warm pair of mitts.

Rescuing a dog: my good deed of the day

On Thursday last week I went swimming. It was a wet, cold and miserable day and on the way home I drove like a 92-year-old grandmother with sight problems (ie very slowly and carefully while constantly peering over my steering wheel) because the road was slippery and other drivers were driving much too fast given the conditions (Hooligans! You stay of off my lawn *shakes fists*). In the distance, I noticed a very wet dog running back and forth across the street. There was no human anywhere with a leash so I figured the poor thing was lost but I didn't know what to do about it - I'm a cat person! I didn't have a leash or anything that I could use to tie the dog up and prevent it from running on the road and getting hit by a car but if I knew that if I drove off and left it there I would spend the whole day worrying about it ... So I pulled over, opened my car door and whistled.

It worked! He jumped in, shook himself to get rid off the excess water (and, I discovered later, the mud - there are mud spatters all over my car including the ceiling!) and installed himself in the front seat in front of the heaters. I called the council, who sent a lovely, friendly woman to come and pick him up. He was microchipped so they were able to call his family and I'm sure he was safely installed at home very shortly (hopefully a better secured home than the one he was able to escape from!). 

Good deed of the day done I drove home (slowly and carefully, of course) and walked inside very pleased by myself. Lucy smelt me, determined that I had been spending time not only with an animal who wasn't her but a dog (!!!!) and peed on my swimming towel while I was in the shower. Stupid, adorable little cat :)