The Bluestocking: All You Need to Know About Risk Assessments, Jazz Hands, Battenberg and Sourdough (But Were Afraid to Ask) - and gerbils. Lots and lots of gerbils.

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the perfectly overblown, gloriously chaotic all-women’s pub where you can have a bit of a lie down if you need it.

Expect serious debates on musicals, cake and knitting, and whimsical musings on women’s rights and why the world’s on fire (again), all under the calm supervision of our support staff: gerbils, capybaras, and the occasional quokka on secondment.

The alcohol won’t get you drunk, the pastries won’t make you fat, but the conversation will digress, and that’s the point.

Remember to namechange before posting if you’re sometimes someone else.

I'm with you, Boily. I can't knit or crochet either and am in awe of those than can.
I quite like a bit of sewing/embroidery/ dressmaking/patchwork sort of stuff.

Aw @Boiledbeetle
@FuzzyPuffling surely there's a little crafty corner for non yarn?

I'm sure the Bluestocking craft room is like our community hall meeting space, where the patchworkers, with their ironing boards and sewing machines sit in their corner being awesome, the crocheters, knitters and embroiderers mingle at long tables, the occasional foray into doing stuff with pine cones and glue guns is greeted with interest, and we all mob the tea table as enthusiatically as we do the occasional donation of a no-longer needed stash of yarn or fabric.

All female, oldest early 80s, youngest (every week during the school holidays) 12 and 13.

Too many occasionals but you get the picture

When the Bluestocking was established (or was it re-established?) after the first great scraping scandal and the acknowledgement that attempts to stop us enjoying ourselves had been for the convenience of AI, did we invite the gerbils (who had been addled by Foucault) or did they sneak in? In any case, giving them a nice time and a purpose in life has melted their sense of grievance.

At heart they are agents of chaos, and being socialists and devotees of the great dramatist Sean O'Casey can earn a medal that honours him and their own fine qualities.

So far we have managed to conceal from them his habit of walking through Dublin on Sunday mornings wearing a kilt and playing bagpipes.

They are all girls (the boy gerbils live at the Staunch Ally with the men) but are on the pill after the great safe-sex misunderstanding last winter. There is a big safe in a room beside the reception area, delivery gerbils from the Ally sometimes came in the back door (against all the rules) and after a little talk about the importance of - well, we know what happened to Glenda.

We are conflicted as to whether to admire or admonish those of her sister-gerbils who dumped their own shameful furry bundles in her basket and scarpered. But relieved the Ally took in all the boys.

The gerbils have checked the gerbil Who's Who...

MAUD (b. 2025)
Gerbil-in-Residence, Bluestocking Pub; Community Liaison and Knitting Circle Patron

Born: Bluestocking Pub, 2025

Family: Only child. Regarded as matriarchal figurehead.

Education: Informally tutored in textile arts and moral philosophy by pub regulars and visiting mystics

Career:

• 2025–2025: Steward of the Lower Shelf, Bluestocking Pub
• 2025–2025: Field Ambassador to the Real World; Oversaw charitable initiatives including sock distribution, knitted squares assembly and emotional listening services
• 2025–present: Returned to Bluestocking Pub; appointed Keeper of the Quiet Cupboard and Chair of the Gerbil Ethics Committee

Honours:

• 2025: Immortalised as festive ornament “The Maud,” commissioned by the Bluestocking Craft Guild; will be hung annually above the fireplace at Woolly Hugs HQ.
• 2025: Named “Most Respected Gerbil” in the pub’s informal census, with unanimous acclaim

Recreations: Knitting (notably miniature scarves), battenberg cake appreciation, silent contemplation during pub quizzes

Address: The Bluestocking Pub, behind the biscuit tin. Base of Peak Woo.

I remembered it was you (I mentally drop a small curtsey now, every time I see one of your posts), but I meant I don't know who you are IRL.

I fear we may have lost proximalhumerous and VeraAtkins, it's just too gerbilish for them here😞
I hope they pop in again, because unlike a clique, we love new people turning up in the Bluestocking bringing... whatever it is they bring to add to the ambiance

Are you perhaps ‘1d’ in an entry such as ‘Venerated Person, 1d’ ?

Definitely, @ChristmasStars! In fact, the snug has all the yarn your heart could desire, and plenty of cake to speed the needles/hooks.

I love the snug!

Gerbil Ethics Committee

brain melted

I have felt very welcome. It's very cosy in here.

I was wondering why I hadn't got any notifications. Then I realised, new thread and I hadn't posted anything.

I found this article from Le Monde, actually Google showed it to me

https://archive.ph/9iXc1

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2025/11/11/poppies-and-cornflowers-became-symbols-of-november-11-thanks-to-women-forgotten-by-history_6747339_1

gPeanut felt like popping in to say hello.

I'm on my way!

The AI is drunk today. It has to be.

The AI just picked the Gerbils Gilates class for you to run through.

Like Pilates, but with more Gerbil. And less gravity.

I hardened my heart (or at least reduced my expectations of myself) yesterday and donated a large stash of wool to our local prison. I used to do voluntary work there, running workshops for the Alternatives to Violence Project, and lots of the women in the women's unit spend a lot of time crafting and do beautiful work. They used to bring completed projects to the groups sometimes. Unlike in the men's unit, the staff don't worry about giving them knitting needles.

That was very kind of you @Britinme

@Britinme what a brilliant thing to do.

Ah, of course! The gerbils in the corridor were just the overspill from the gym. They love their Gilates & Yoga session.

Mind you, the Zumba class is even more popular.

Colin (the dachshund, for anyone who hasn’t met him yet) is excellent at some yoga poses - downward facing dog obviously, but sometimes although he can perform an upward facing dog pretends to misunderstand and rolls over for a belly rub.

Anactor? namechanger or newbie? I don't think I know an Anactor..

Assuming you're new, may I bound up to you in Tigger-like fashion and welcome you enthusiastically to the Bluestocking. From your post it looks like you'll fit right in. A bargerbil will be along any minute to take your order for anything you fancy - bath-tub size G&Ts are possible, as are swimming-pool size hot chocolates with kerjillions of marshmallows... no calories, no ill-effects, no erratic driving patterns, cos it's the Bluestocking

If you're not new and are a regular with a new name - well, you know all that already, and you'll be pleased that I did my meet&greet - I failed to do so with proximalhumerous and VeraAtkins yesterday and look what happened😒

You'd all be proud of me, I kept my temper at the meeting!
I think that calls for a celebratory hot chocolate please, bar gerbil.

Would you like a drop of celebratory brandy in your hot chocolate and a sparkler?