The Bluestocking - where the laugh emoji is sorely missed.

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to the Bluestocking Arms!

The company is always sparkling, the drinks are always sublime, and the cakes are mysteriously free from gluten, sugar, calories, and troublesome booze… not that you’d ever notice. 😏

Our enthusiastic team of gerbil waitstaff is ably supported by capybaras, quokkas, and other charming creatures who excel at their jobs while looking outrageously adorable.

You will find many things to laugh at - usually out loud - so take care not to spit out your tea. We are considering a petition for the return of the laugh emoji - just as soon as the AI gerbils learn how to spell.

New Bluestockingers are always welcome. Men can pop along to The Staunch Ally nearby.

Currently also knitting a Woolly Hug blanket for Bluestockinger Swashbuckled. Details here if you can knit or crochet a square before the 18 July.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5350941-woolly-hugs-desperately-sad-news-we-are-afraid-making-a-blanket-for-lovely-swashbuckled-whose-son-has-tragically-died

How fabulous! Congratulations!

These are ace!

I am quite overcome.

The dedication of the cheer gerbil teams!

All the good wishes!

Thank you xx

My post is still hidden. It was just two sets of instructions to knit a square when you’re not sure how many stitches to cast on.
It’s also good as your rows get shorter and shorter as you finish the square.

I’ll try again with the simpler version, and hope I don’t get zapped.

kfb = knit into the front and back of the next stitch
K2tog = knit the next two stitches together

To start with you knit a (-n isosceles) triangle
Cast on 3 stitches.
Row 1: Knit 1, kfb, knit 1.
Row 2 : Knit 1, kfb, knit to the end of the row.

Repeat row 2 until the two shorter sides each measure 6”.
I usually have about 45 stitches on the needle at this point.

Next two rows: knit all stitches.

Now you decrease on each row, to complete the square.
Every row: K1, k2tog, K to end.

When you have 3 stitches on the needle, K1, K2 tog
Cast off.

Admire your beautiful square.

My last post has been hidden. I thought I was just posting instructions to knit a simple 6” square, with no lurking bad intentions.

I love the cheerbil training. They all look so dedicated!

I just finished my first square, a plain stocking stitch one in grass green as a Bluestocking square. I also have yarn in sage and will do a few more with some patterns.

like our smooth green lawns

What? Isn’t that the second knitting instructions post of yours which has been hidden?

I’ve just asked mn about the hidden posts - the one from yesterday is also still hidden. My theory is that a knitting pattern could be mistaken by a filter for possibly nefarious computer code and automatically hidden.

Exactly like those :)

I don't know if I prefer the version where MN have mistakenly imagined that @JuneShellChangeHerTune is an international spy passing secrets disguised as knitting patterns or the version where she actually IS an international spy very cleverly passing stuff on in plain sight.

Eat your heart out James Bond

I bet James Bond never had knuckledusters disguised as embroidery scissors.

I'm having problems with the Bluestocking page again, I keep getting the 'page not responding' message, and it stays 'refreshing' until I get fed up and close the page!
It doesn't appear to be happening with other pages. Hmmmmm..
Maybe that's why Junes...'s knitting pattern is putting the fear o' god in HQ

The Cheerbils are so keen, aren't they? I very rarely use the expression 'Ah, bless!' but nothing else will do when you look at those keen dedicated concentrating little furry faces..

I'm wondering about the Cheerbil who was wearing a green top and no skirt in one of the pictures - a gender-non-conforming gerbil who said 'I'm not wearing a skirt' with all the disdain in the world condensed into that one word, 'skirt'.
A bit like me when I was a kid😀

I see she didn't make the final cut anyway.

As this is my third go at trying to open the Bluestocking page properly, and I may be frozen out again, I should gather rosebuds while I may.. let's see.. what else..

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!☀
I read this morning that there are 9 and a half more hours of light at the summer solstice than at the winter solstice.
I also read that according to the ancients, while we are frolicking around in the sunshine, we should be aware that it is the tipping point of the year and from now onwards the light is decreasing, so we should be prepared to accept the darkness.

I bet that went down a treat on the Hill of Tara - 'Oh STFU, have another beaker of mead and a wild dance like everyone else!' 'Yeah, have a day off!'

Deano, that's a fine-looking bird, did it knit its stripey jersey itself?
What kind of bird is it? A woodpecker could be trained to operate as a knitting-machine, I reckon..

Thank you to everybody knitting hugs💙

Hurray! Both my posts with knitting instructions were hidden when I went to bed early this morning, including the one I’d made at least 24 hours earlier I think, but MN must have looked at them and approved.

Perhaps the algorithm thought “k2tog” was code for something rude or hateful.

Apologies for lack of linking. I could get neither my phone nor my tablet to charge overnight and they are both very short of energy. How like me they are becoming.

What kind of bird is it? A woodpecker could be trained to operate as a knitting-machine, I reckon.

I asked Bing for a cuckoo because that's who changes tune in June, but Bing gave me some strange-looking cuckoos.

I thought it was a cuckoo. Cuckoos never need to knit baby clothes.

. 😆

I've completed my 3 Woolly Hugs squares. Knitted with love, and there are several mistakes, but I hope they will be comforting to Swashy.

The two abstract-looking ones are supposed to represent different kinds of water.

I used circular knitting needles, but they are from a set (many different size options) and the middle section unscrews itself in the middle of a row if you're not checking it, so the needle comes off and the stitches hang feebly in a dropped row until you can ease them back on. More mistakes! But only small ones.

Now I just need to post them off. I've got wool left over, let's hope it doesn't sit in the wool drawer unused for the next decade

Those are amazing, Inky, especially with badly-performing needles (if you can't trust your needle to at least stay in one piece, well, what can you do?).

Keep an eye on Woolly Hugs & use the yarn if it's the right colour for someone else. I've used some yarn from a couple of other blankets, as well as having a quick splurge at Wool Warehouse.

Thank you Android! I thought that at the time, when I realised the needle had come off its stalk ... untrustworthy tools! Humph 😂

Inky, your squares are beautiful💙

They are passionate about their art.

Marie:
I also read that according to the ancients, while we are frolicking around in the sunshine, we should be aware that it is the tipping point of the year and from now onwards the light is decreasing, so we should be prepared to accept the darkness.

DH used to tell me this every year, but I think my reaction has finally stopped him.😂

Merci beaucoup, Marie!

The Woolly Hugs blanket is going to be amazing 🩵 - so much love and care and imagination going into the making of it