The Selfish Gene, my current book, is the source of the word “meme” — you know, like the things people tag each other with on blogs. One blogger wrote that “meme” meant “Me! Me!” which struck me as a revealing piece of folk etymology. Really, a meme is a cultural bit that can be passed along just as the biological bits called “genes” are. Language. Songs. Knitting.
My knitting may or may not have gone awry. Brooklyn is waiting for reinforcements of ecru Den-M-Nit, so I am just doing my holiday knitting right now.
As I was puzzling over the Headline News cap, I remembered that one of my English knitting books recommended dressing tams (blocking caps, we would say here in Humburger-a-Go-Go Land) over a plate. Choosing a suitably-sized flat circular thing, I pulled the cap right over it, and found that it was indeed time to decrease.
So I went to the pattern, and found — a single decrease on the leading edge of each stockinette section. On alternate rows. Surely not, I thought. This would give you nice spiral decreases, wouldn’t it? And while I rather like spiral decreases, they would surely interfere with the cables. I am doing paired decreases. On every fourth row, in an effort to keep the speed of the decreases the same as the pattern.
I realize that I have, at this point, essentially given up on the pattern. Who knows what I will end up with?
There are still shawls sitting in my knitting basket. And, as I wait for wool to arrive in the mail, my stash of Highland Wool is calling to me, “Remember us? Fair Isle! Fair Isle!” I am resolutely ignoring all those hot wooly cries. It is easier than you might think, in this heat. Cotton, and small things. That’s all.
It sounds to me like you will end up with something wonderful, and/or a “learning experience.” It’s always a “learning experience,” isn’t it?
I’m also working on that fair isle hat. Oh, yes, I found instructions for flat fair isle in “Vogue Knitting.” I thought of you, of course.
Ha ha! BE a rebel! Refuse to conform to the stifling confines of a pattern!
Afterall, authority only makes recommendations.
Yes we do have a parliament and we vote for those who will go (back) into parliament. Our govt is formed by the party that has the largest proportion of the country’s votes. The leader of the governing party becomes Prime Minister. The Governor General is supposed to be the Queen’s representative in NZ and is not voted in. She/he is chosen, usually by the govt. The GG is a more ceremonial position than anything else, she/he has nothing to do with the governing of NZ. Appeals made to the Queen go through the GG I think.
Oops, didn’t answer the full question. Everyone, 18 and above, has 2 votes – a party vote and an electorate vote. There are 54 electoral seats in parliament and about 66 party seats (it varies depending on how the vote proportions turn out) Our party vote determines the number of seats overall any party has in parliament, our electoral vote chooses our electorate’s representative in parliament. Any party that gets 5% or more of the national votes will get the appropriate proportion of seats in parliament. Any party that gets at least one electorate seat also gets a proportion of parliamentary seats depending on whatever their total proportion of the votes was (this is why the number of seats in parliament can sometimes get a little higher than 120) Is much more fun than first-past-the-post and the major parties fought against proportional representation (only thing they have ever agreed on) until a national referendum was called sometime in the 90s. Those of us who supported proportional representation won, just. And so now we have it.
I never questioned that meme meant “Me! Me!” I’ll have to pass that bit of knowledge on.
That hat is so cute. I want one. I may have to find that book. If I do, I’ll take your advice – paired decreases make a lot more sense.
A degu is a medium-sized rodent from South America that looks a little like a big gerbil. It’s sometimes called the Chilean Squirrel. There’s more information, as well as a wealth of cute pictures, at http://www.degu.org .
I’ve been knitting with wool all summer, but small things like purses. Yet I’m using the heat as an excuse for why I haven’t finished that checkerboard scarf yet. I’m terrible.
you know, you’re right i do often try to generalize about not easily generalizable things in my posts, but I think the other alternative would be something very close to an academic paper which I would not have the time, mental stamina, or willpower to do. i think its one of those cases of trying to cater to a certain audience. in any case, i really appreciate your thoughtful comments. i don’t seem to get too many of those. keep it copasetic. peace.