The Bluestocking Women’s Pub: definitely full of ludicrous halfwits who refuse to get a grip (with unionised gerbils)

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to The Bluestocking: convivial by design, opinionated in the best way, generously stocked with excellent food and drink that complies with whatever it’s meant to comply with, and any calories, gluten or alcohol are entirely virtual.

Staffed by impeccably trained, unfailingly polite gerbils who run a tight bar with plenty of enthusiasm and good intentions. Quick with the drinks, but terrible spillers spellers and liable to turn an idle thought on existential existence into a full blown musical with Busby Berkeley routines. You have been warned.

All women welcome, just in case that isn't obvious. Men can go to The Staunch Ally round the corner.

Previous thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5477133-the-bluestocking-your-local-womens-pub-warm-friendly-and-not-at-all-unusual-in-any-way

Oooh Fuzzy I felt the same. I had a form teacher who was also a history teacher who personally disliked me for no good reason as far as I could tell. I felt very strongly about various classes in school and history was one of them. We had learned all about the Kings and Queens and blah blah battles et cetera in primary school. When it came to choosing my O levels although I'd had one excellent history teacher for one year, I told the school I wanted extra geography lessons instead of studying history. They ignored me, of course. Trapped in the system, I then deliberately failed my history mock, writing an essay about the injustices in the world instead. The school remained baffled.
I was 15 when that happened. A year after that, I became a feminist officially, when I discovered that there was such a thing.

I love this, inky!

I have three brothers. My feminism was personal, probably from birth. It's only a year or so since I realised my DM criticises me but not my brothers and gaslights me too.

My yarn arrived! And I'm continuing with a garter stitch baby cardigan. I'm annoyed because I successfully picked up 42 stitches from the vertical side and I was working on the right side as indicated in the pattern. But I've ended up with a ridge which will be visible. If they'd told me to pick up on the wrong side it would be on the inside. I probably used a different method than expected.

I will wait till it's finished and see what it looks like and whether my woven in ends are visible, so I might be able to just turn it inside out.

I also bought some yarn that is wound like a hay bale. I hope it is just a style and doesn't indicate that it will be a bugger to knit with.

In other news, the Girl in the Tower (DSD) came down and asked me if her T-shirt was creased. She'd used a hairdryer and steamer. It was creased so I suggested she ask her dad, the Walrus, to iron it. She said she'd only got 15 minutes before going out, so I agreed to do it. He is better and quicker but she doesn't realise that.

Then she commented that she liked the green polo neck I was wearing and wanted something similar or one in white. So I lent her my white version and a tan coloured vest top to go under it. Then I ironed her T-shirt and helped her put it on, and brushed her hair which had got all messy with changing clothes.

The T-shirt is related to a charity that she volunteers for and their event earlier this evening.

I felt like a proper stepmother.

It was also raining so the Walrus dug out an umbrella for her, which I didn't recognise.

Then we worked out it was lent to us by our lovely neighbours on Coronation Day. And we've never returned it!

I'm taking it round tomorrow with huge apologies as it has slid down the side of the coat cupboard. Either that or we'll have to move.

😮

I've sent you a PM.

I've just put out my 'Brat Bhríde', Brigid's Cloak - a piece of cloth put outdoors on the eve of St Brigid's Day is said to be blessed and bring good health and healing during the year.

Of course I don't believe a word of it but it's a tradition and I like keeping the old traditions going
The Christian saint Brigid [ 6th century - there was also a Celtic goddess Brigid] asked a chieftain for land to build a monastery. He said he would give her as much land as her cloak would cover - yes you've guessed, her cloak miraculously spread over several acres...
Hence the tradition of Brigid's Cloak.

Let us praise Brigid Beloved in Ireland, Beloved in all countries, Let us all praise her.

The bright torch of Leinster
Shining throughout the country
The pride of Irish youth
The pride of our fine women.

Hard winter is dark
Cutting with its sharpness.
But on Saint Brigid's Day
Spring is near to Ireland.

Signing off for tonight fellow-Stockingers, new and ..existing -see what I did there?
I hope the Sleep and Dream Gerbils do the biz for everybody, esp for JanesLittleGirl, hope you feel better tomorrow.

G'night all, g'night Batshit - this is you isn't it?

@MyrtleLion My yarn arrived! And I'm continuing with a garter stitch baby cardigan. I'm annoyed because I successfully picked up 42 stitches from the vertical side and I was working on the right side as indicated in the pattern. But I've ended up with a ridge which will be visible. If they'd told me to pick up on the wrong side it would be on the inside. I probably used a different method than expected.

Yay to the yarn, and boo to the design feature of a visible ridge.
At least garter stitch is the same on both sides. It sounds as if you've woven in your ends already, which is an admirable trait but makes it difficult to undo if necessary, or swop right sides.

Here's the way I normally pick up stitches, using a crochet hook. If you use the sort without a fatter handle, like these cheap Pony ones or the more expensive KnitPro ones, you can just slide the stitches straight onto your knitting needle from the opposite end to the hook when you've picked them all up. If you don't have a crochet hook of a similar size to your knitting, try this way.

@MarieDeGournay
I just have a tile decorated with a St Brigid's cross - it was a present.

Will that do? I can wrap it in cloth if needed.

I did it the Purl Soho way following that exact video. I went under the edge and pulled through, which I thought was odd because I would have just picked up the top V otherwise.

Anyway we will see what transpires and I'll post a picture so the Bluestockingers can advise me.

When you think I only started knitting in June and was just knitting blanket squares till recently, I'm doing really well. Thanks for all the tips. I am learning so much.

@MyrtleLion, I think you should be proud of yourself for many reasons.
Being a feminist from birth is pretty phenomenal.
Being a proper stepmother.
Knitting complex patterns when you only started in June.
Wide ranging and rather eclectic knowledge base that you are willing and happy to share.
Magnificent, queenly lionliness.
Pasting the tribunal tweets - for which you are definitely due a rest, as well as a medal.
Steadfast progress and determination in all your endeavours.
Many complex health matters to endure.
Companionship and support, certainly in here, and a happy and successful marriage.

As for me, I have probably mentioned this before, but I was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 67. I recognise that autism has played a big part in my whole life experience, and continues to do so, but now, instead of being worried or confused about how I might be seen to be acting weird, I can understand what's going on. It's a shame that I didn't have any acknowledgement or even any suggestion that there might be a big streak of autism in my family before 2022, despite the obvious traits shared by many family members. My own brand of feminism relates to this autistic world. I was never interested in girly things as a girl. I wasn't interested in the company of girls either. I dismissed them as being boring. It was only when I discovered feminism and wider thinking about women, in my teens, that I started to make good female friends. And over the decades, things have become clear to me, I have taken everything literally and thoroughly and then have had to rewrite all of that when new knowledge appeared.

So just wondering about your mother, and your awareness of being gaslit and criticised, when your brothers weren't. But, you've mentioned neurodiversity yourself, and in my family it has become apparent that pretty much all of us are autistic to a degree, including both of my parents who are now dead. And we did not know, and we did not understand. And our family was shattered by terrible events. But it is never too late to learn, and understand, and in my family, to forgive.

So here is a big armful of awards and prizes for you, for being you, and for all of your energy and pride and intellect.

I think the AI may have overdone the gold, and its spelling is egregious. Apart from that I think it's okay 🥂

@MyrtleLion When you think I only started knitting in June and was just knitting blanket squares till recently, I'm doing really well

This x 1000000. Really, really well. 💐

Why does the MN emoticon library not have any white or lilac flowers?
This is as close as I can get💚💟💜Apologies for being so forward as to send hearts.

Maybe try this video instead?

@MyrtleLion
I went under the edge and pulled through

That's what the video says. When you write "under" do you mean beneath (further down the knitting you've already done) or behind (from the wrong side)?

Your yarn should be at the back of your work and the needle/hook goes in from the front to the back to pick it up. (back = wrong side, front = right side).

@AsWithGlad

I'm interested that you only recently got your diagnosis.

I was diagnosed with OCD in my thirties. It's been suggested that I have both autism and ADHD - which would make a lot of sense for many reasons - but now that I'm retired, I'm not certain that a diagnosis would do anything but confirm what I'm fairly sure of.

At one point, one of our qualifications required children to make eye contact whilst delivering a talk. Where kids had difficulty, I was able to teach them how to fake it, since I've been doing that since adolescence. (I was accused of being 'rude'.)

My cousin's son got a formal diagnosis of Asperger's in the late '90s and that helped make sense of Mum's side of the family. Mum was just deemed to be 'shy'.

I've shared elsewhere on here that Mum had an uncle who couldn't cope with people who weren't close family members. He lived with my grandparents, but bought a field nearby and built a 'hut' (really a wee cottage complete with fireplace - probably illegal) and retreated there when visitors came.

He had a small group of pals who used to go there for card games and - latterly - a Shetland pony which curled up in front of the fire.

When I was still working, our autistic pupils used to gravitate towards me - or maybe it was the other way round.

I used to have conversations about Doctor Who with one lad, any time I was on dinner duty.

One time, I told him that I watched the first episode of DW with my mum when I was three yrs old. "Ah. By that, I calculate that you were born in 1960!"

I had to cut back on the DW conversations, per parental request... Last I heard, he was studying Astronomy at Edinburgh.

The reading was grand thank you folks. I got to read the one newer poem that was in the magazine organizing the reading plus another two from my book. I didn’t sell any books but the audience reaction was great and I made a couple of good contacts while I was there. We’ve had a nice restful evening and we’re meeting up with some old friends of DH in Massachusetts for lunch our way home. Our lovely neighbour is popping in to feed the cats (and make a fuss of them) while we’re away, but we’ll be home by tomorrow evening.

Lá Fhéile Bríde

Happy St Brigid's Day all.

This is the first day of Spring, and some of the sayings celebrate the increasing light - days lengthening by 'the cock's step': 'every second day fine, from my day onward, and half of my own day'; 'you can put away the candlestick and half the candle'.

Like Marie, I put some cloth out to be blessed by Brigid on her travels. It 's a new thing for me, it wasn't a local custom here or for either of my parents, but a bit of blessed cloth to put under my pillow to help sleep, or in my car to keep me safe on the road seems good.

I also have some rushes, having begged from two farming neighbours who I met at the funeral tomorrow. I'll make my own cross today, and take the rest of them to our Brigid's bank holiday bash on Monday morning. The weather forecast holds out hope for the pilgrimage walk being possible as well.

In some places in Ireland the European tradition about the little animal (hedgehog, badger) looking out of its hole and forecasting the next six week's weather applied to St Brigid's day - many places did that on Candlemas instead, and on the far side of the Atlantic the job got given to groundhogs.

After a horrid January it's lovely having three special days at the start of February. I've already had my throat blessed once.

ps, throat-blessing is officially on 3rd February, the feast of St Blaise. In Dublin that was the day for getting a bit of blessed cloth - women street traders used to sell little sets of a tiny bottle of olive oil and a strip of red flannel outside the churches where the blessings were going on.

Glad it went well, @Britinme!

It occurs to me, @MyrtleLion, that a baby might prefer a cardi smooth on the inside with any ridges on the outside. Depending how it looks maybe one could claim it’s deliberate design?

I could do with a throat blessing today- off to sing in the church band, and i have to pace my poor voice!

I discovered during last weeks funeral that my voice is now unreliable and of limited range. I don’t miss religion at all but I do regret that, once the period of nursery rhymes is over, secular life doesn’t offer much excuse to sing.

Sorry I missed this - the tile with cross will do fine as it is - it already has the blessing of being a gift from someone who thought about you

Yes! Thank you for reviving that childhood memory!
I remember going with my Dublin granny to get the little square of red flannel and olive oil, and going to the blessing of the throats in Whitefriar St church
Blessing throats might seem a bit random, but it wasn't long since diphtheria was a feared killer childhood disease, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's how the blessing of the throats became such a big thing. That's just a guess.

That church holds the remains of St Valentine, so Feb 14th is a day of special prayer there.❤

Invoking St Blaise's assistance for patients with things stuck in their throats was first recorded in 500 AD, nearly 200 years after his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Blaise

I remember queues all down Whitefriar Street to get in for the blessing, well into the 1990s - I wonder did that church have a relic?

Anyway, I received mine, administered with crossed candles and all, in the church in the village last evening, and the priest who is coming to the shindig tomorrow has promised to bring his candles with him.

Oh yes, the candles crossed in front of the throat - I remember that too now😄

When I mentioned diphtheria as a possible explanation for the popularity of the Blessing of the Throats, I mean in Dublin, I know it is an old ceremony connected with St Blaise, but I wonder did it become particularly popular because of diphtheria?
In 1891 hospital reports recorded diphtheria for the first time, a disease which became a significant health problem in the early twentieth century with the arrival in Dublin of the virulent 'gravis' strain
Cork Street Fever Hospital and Cherry Orchard Hospital Papers - Irish Archives Resource

I remember the fear in my granny's voice when she spoke of diphtheria, although antibiotics and vaccination had made it a thing of the past by then. Before that, it was often fatal, and especially so for children.

Why Whitefriar St? I don't know. It was in a poorer part of the city, an area perhaps more vulnerable to the diphtheria epidemic? Air pollution, over-crowding, contagion/ infection? I'm just guessing.

Congratulations to @Britinme on her successful poetry reading. I'm glad you found the journey worthwhile in the snow and the audience appreciative.

I'm in awe of @PastaAllaNorma who seems to be setting up her own market garden. It will be good to hear about the fruits (pun intended) of your labours.

I hope the hot toddy last night did the trick @JanesLittleGirl and your lurgy is improved this morning.

I've enjoyed reading about the traditions of St Brigid and St Blaise, whose religious themes appear to be interwoven with folklore. It would be a real shame if these traditions were lost.

After a good run of peaceful nights' sleep, the sleep gerbils finally deserted me at 3.24 am, so I'm feeling a bit frazzled this morning. I thought my cold had gone but I was singing yesterday afternoon in a concert to raise funds for the bells in one of the local churches and this seems to have stirred up my lungs again, making me cough all morning. The concert was in the twin church, which still has its bells and when we left, they were ringing a peal. I am not a regular church goer, but do love the sound of church bells. One of the songs we sang was called "Bells Across English Fields" and it seemed so apt as I walked home in the dusk (and drizzle!). It is sung to the tune of "Oh God, our help in ages past", so was quite easy to learn.