:: The End of the Line...? ::

...well, the ball of wool to be exact. As chronicled in her own blog, Hypatia proved a patient and willing teacher at the V&A's Craft Rocks event. I'll be honest, folks, the surrealness of hundreds of eager needle-clackers lounging about in such a gradiose venue got to my head a bit. So much so, that at first the mere effort of casting on proved almost too much. When I arrived, needles and a ball of wool were thrust into my hands and with Hyp nowhere to be seen, I headed past the mêlée in the Entrance Hall to the cool, tiled sedateness of the Gamble Room (see below for a glimpse of its arch-Victorian Gothicity):

I sat at a table with a dynamic mother-daughter knitting powerhouse (Ann and Susan) and an older lady from Hemel Hempstead called Marjorie, who was desperate to learn how to make tassels. There were far more men around than I had expected, (the crochet and French knitting teacher for one), but being something of a novelty act, I was naturally picked on by a magazine photographer who posed slightly disturbing questions ("Do you come here often?" - "Yes, but not to knit") as I failed to make the next stitch. When Hypatia rolled up, I'd managed to cast on and I got into the swing of things pretty quickly as she taight me how to knit properly. As the time came for me to leave, Marjorie greedily eyed a bright pink ball of wool carried by a passing funky fashionista. "Where did she get that?" the tassel ttwiddler hissed. "It's my favourite colour." I was just pleased that I'd managed to knit a couple of rows with my dark blue.

Awaking irritatingly early on Saturday morning, I picked up the needles again, and with a little practise became quite fluent. Resolving to knit a chunky scarf (just as the weather gets warmer), I'd finished off the ball of wool by Monday evening. Only one problem remained - where can I buy wool at minimum embarrassment so I can finish of my scarf? Hypatia may well turn out to be my handicrafts saviour again...

Other weeked activities included drinking sloe gin on Primrose hill with Jude before heading to a Russian café for authentic Slavic stodge.

Back to the news agenda. Two stories regarding the US media caught my eye today - both concerned with presenting "Liberal" (I hate American usage of that word) antidotes to right-wing media: Air America started broadcasting. The aim is to come up with a viable alternative to the fascistic windbags (Rush Limbaugh anyone?), who currently dominate the syndicated airwaves of North America with vitriol. However it will only be possible to pick up the station in selected locations, so this isn't achievable yet. It also emerged today that Al Gore has bought a cable channel with which he appears to achieve similar ends. In the light of the impending presidential elections, this could get interesting. I just hope that this analysis is accurate and that humour, rather than bald lies will be key elements of the respective presidential campaigns. Some how I doubt it.

Plans were announced today, regarding the possible rebuilding of the Skylon on the South Bank. Another recently approved exciting erection is the London Bridge Tower, already dubbed the "Shard of Glass" and soon to be known as "That Great Big Prick".

And finally... a Baby Giraffe, was named after Justin from The Darkness, a beer taster successfully sued his company after he became an alcoholic, and Nestlé told the world what it really puts in its chocolate bars. And if you need to buy a tiger, just head down to your bank to sort out a loan for it.

well, there it is...