Skip to main content

Knitted for Life

Due to my new upstairs neighbour playing music at 5:30am (why? WHY?) I arrived bleary eyed at the Race/Knit for life. I'm grumpy enough as it is after four hours sleep but seeing a sea of lurid pink t-shirts and hearing overly cheerful pop music didn't help, I'm not good at enforced joviality.

And why pink? I know the Race for Life is a female only event (and I have my own views on that but anything that raises money for cancer research is good) but the mass of pink t-shirts was reminiscent of an enormous tumour. I was pleased to see that the rest of the Stitch London team ignored the pink thing too (unless they chose pink because it suits them - I do not have a problem with that). Anyway, enough of my grumpiness, after some much needed caffeine and an expensive fruit salad I was ready to go.

Knit for Life with Stich London

We were knitting Batternburg cake squares for cushions which will go to Bart's Hospital. We somehow started off in the runners lane but managed to get to the back. I walked most of the course with Jenny, who I've met at various Stitch London events and shares my love of travel. We nattered all the way around the course so I'm not too sure where I went but we did go past St Pauls cathedral.


Knit for Life with Stich London

We waited at the 500m marker for the rest of the team to catch up. I wish I'd raised an extra £10 every time someone said "You making me a jumper?" or "You better be finished by the end". We did get loads of good feedback including a race marshal who stared slack jawed at us and a woman doing the race in a wheelchair who said she couldn't knit and walk at the same time which made me feel awkward.

Knit for Life with Stitch London

We stopped for a team photo outside the Lord RAGLAN pub...

Knit for Life with Stitch London

.. and knitted together to the finish line.

Knit for Life with Stitch London

One of the knitters brought a delicious home made banana cake with her which went down very well

Knit for Life with Stitch London

The funniest part was when the race had finished and we'd eaten cake we all carried on knitting.

Knit for Life with Stitch London

I did eventually leave and carried on knitting my cushion on the bus home and on the sofa for the rest of the day while watching the World Cup. It was a really fun way to spend a Sunday morning and raise some money to kick cancer up the arse.

....................................................................................
As well as being a good walking project the Cake Makes it Better Cushion is a good mindless TV watching project, the pattern can be found here, just remember to donate to cancer research or a charity of your choice for it.

PS: If you would like to sponsor me click here. Thank you very much.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

We have a winner...

Check out my pea seedling, how intact and un-nibbled it is. My mysterious object, as correctly guessed by Madmurdock and Montyknits, is a gastropod guard. It seems to be working. I'd heard that slugs and snails don't like slithering over hair. I tried using hair clippings a few years ago as a barrier. It worked for a few days, til I found chewed, leafless stems and on further inspection a guilty slug covered in ginger hair. Hopefully the fleecy barrier will stay in place and mean I get a good late crop of peas. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who took part.

Unravelling the NHS

If you follow me on twitter you'll already know I have a healthy interest in politics. Our current government is slowly and steadily dismantling our beloved NHS (National Health Service) from one with full public accountability to one which is more dependent on profit margins rather than evidence based medicine. THIS MAKES ME VERY ANGRY. There's a lot of despair at the moment, many of us feel our government is not listening to us, the people, or experts in the field such as the British Medical Association or the Royal College of Nurses. Yesterday our unelected second house, the house of Lords, voted through the government's ill-advised health reform bill. We all felt hopeless, then I read this blog post . You should read it too. Many of us are working out what to do. How can we reverse this disastrous decision when essentially the democratic process is failing us. "The NHS reforms did not appear in either the Conservative or Liberal ...

TOTOROOOOOOOO!

I finally handed over the Totoro hooded top to it's two year old recipient today. It also fits his four year old sister which is good as she likes Totoro too. They both looked very cute in it. We met up at the Wellcome Collection which has a lovely airy cafe and free exhibitions. The Totoro kids mum is a fellow scientist so we went round the Exquisite Bodies exhibition explaining why calves are sometimes born with two heads, how babies are made (the four year olds current interest) and lots of other science fun to the kids. If you visit the Wellcome centre with kids ask about their young investigators pack. It's really cool (I was disappointed I didn't get one) and it's free. Brilliant. The staff were really helpful and pleasantly surprised at seeing young kids enjoying a strange exhibition, rather than being freaked out by it. Personally, I did enough human dissection as part of my degree to make me not want to see another cadaver ever again, although the models wer...