Tom Daley and his knitting

[ssd]

I bloody love him

@SupermanWithTheGreyHair

I dont care how a baby gets here, the only thing that matters is that it is loved and properly cared for.

I think the woman that’s ‘used’ matters too.

Nobody is saying Toms child won’t be loved. But that is not the ‘only thing that matters’.

There’s a lot of issues around surrogacy such as the rights of the children produced, the exploitation of poor, low income women and the moral and ethical issues around turning pregnancy into a commercial transaction to name just a few.

I’d suggest you do some reading on the subject, the issues and some actual real life cases where the mother has died, suffered a birth injury, the child is disabled and the parents decide they do not want the child, the parents not being able to ‘collect’ the child due to covid restrictions.... there’s lots of issues that matter here.

This. Nobody is saying that Daley doesn't love this baby, nor that this baby won't be well cared for. But the surrogacy industry leaves some women traumatised and disabled, leaves some babies abandoned, and commodifies childbirth as something poor women do, at enormous risk, for the convenience of rich people. It's not a neutral thing.

what a shame this thread is to come back to,
as usual

harry styles cardigan is fab,
10 years ago it would have been a laughing stock

@ArcheryAnnie

Millions of women knitting over centuries: ~crickets.

One young man knitting: OMG he's the best thing ever!

Very bored with men getting lauded for doing perfectly ordinary things that women do all the time.

I agree with this.

I also wonder how many young mums of two small children have the time to knit. Probably not many. But a man does it and we are all fan girling

I also wonder how many young mums of two small children have the time to knit

TD had the time to knit because he was at the Olympics alone and was sat poolside watching the diving with not a lot else to do. I guess if family were allowed to go with him he'd have a lot less free time in which to knit. I have no idea how much he gets done while looking after his 3 year old when he's at home so not sure what the comparison is TBH.

Not feeling the love for Harry Styles's cardigan. I admire and appreciate the amount of work that went in, but Mr Tumble springs to mind. I'm probably too old to find it cool anyway, not to mention the underlying trauma caused by some of the creations my aunt foisted on me. Her dog had a vast wardrobe of coats, while I got some monstrosity lovingly constructed from the leftover wool. I looked like I'd wandered off a production of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat'.

I hate this fawning over men who lower themselves to 'non men' tasks.

And yes surrogacy is exploitation, it does matter very much how a child gets here.

I also wonder how many young mums of two small children have the time to knit

Um, quite a lot? Because, you know, knitting is becoming trendy and quite a lot of people enjoy it? And that's why those people are enjoying seeing someone do it in the public eye?

Young Mums of two small children sometimes do hobbies. I was one once. Still managed to have interests and things to do after their bedtime etc.

But as I say I'm not sure what we're comparing really. TD is not a young Mum of two small children.

@Sparklingbrook

I also wonder how many young mums of two small children have the time to knit

TD had the time to knit because he was at the Olympics alone and was sat poolside watching the diving with not a lot else to do. I guess if family were allowed to go with him he'd have a lot less free time in which to knit. I have no idea how much he gets done while looking after his 3 year old when he's at home so not sure what the comparison is TBH.

Yea her learning to knit to that level isn't something he learned by the poolside

I also wonder how many young mums of two small children have the time to knit.

At one point I had 3 aged 4 and under and knitted....

Yea her learning to knit to that level isn't something he learned by the poolside

I believe he started knitting during the first lockdown?

on jury service one woman was teaching another woman.
it is the time aspect/plus pandemic

Haven't got time to read all the comments but I definitely saw an article saying all his knitting is on an Instagram page to sell and all proceeds go to young peoples LGBTQ+ support.

He is a kind and decent man.

My mum knitted throughout my childhood with two young children, including a long period of time knitting for a pattern designer.

I cross stitch while looking after disabled DS. It’s my switch off.

he was so young when he started training for the olympics

I also wonder how many young mums of two small children have the time to knit. Probably not many. But a man does it and we are all fan girling hmm

I knitted and sewed clothes when my children were small. I'm no domestic goddess, but it's important to have interests beyond housework and children.

My mum knitted with 2 preschoolers and 3 troublesome teens. And looked after her aged parents, plus around 8 cats, a dog and a husband working all the hours (setting up a new business, so with her doing the admin and client shmoozing). And moved into a ramshackle house with mice.

Keeping her hands busy was probably why prevented a massacre...

I have small children and I knit; I’m steeling myself for some tricky wrap and turns on a collar tonight. I am happy to be fangirled over

He is a great role model and it’s lovely to see how mature and stable he is after all he has been through. Wonderful to see him using the Olympic media presence to push for LGBT rights around the world.

Back to the actual knitting (to match my name)--I often get annoyed at how men who knit get elevated when women are derided as "granny knitters" (even seen it on MN!)

However I've looked at his IG and Tom Daley is really quite good. The Japanese characters on that cardigan and possibly some other details (couldn't zoom in enough to tell) are embroidered on, but the back is proper colourwork. He did a child's jumper in intarsia also. Intarsia isn't quite as difficult as it seemsno managing your floats like in Fair Islebut it is intimidating for newer knitters, so good on him for trying!

His crochet has a really nice sense of fun and good colours. Many people find they get on with either knitting OR crochet. Tom seems good at both. Even if he weren't an Olympian I'd think he was talented.

PS - have 3 children and have knitted since they were tiny. I didn't have quite so much time when they were active toddlers, but I still did.

He has knitted some amazing jumpers, I love the one with the rainbow pride colours he did

[quote Sparklingbrook]@ancientgran I can tell from your posts how much that teacher affected you, and you can vividly remember the knitted pencil case.[/quote]
Horrible isn't it. I don't know why anyone would want to make a child so unhappy. I know teachers can't love everyone but if they hate kids they could at least try to hide it.

When I saw him I thought 'oh bless he's just learning'. Bloody hell was I wrong! Completely happy to admit I underestimated him. His work is fantastic!