Barb needles local knitters (This dog won't knit!)

Belinda Stronach's use of the K word an insult to 'pretty dynamic bunch' of yarn masters

The nation is still waiting for Belinda Stronach's apology for her vicious, uncalled for slur against those who knit. Not one slur, but two.

The pampered, privileged, millionaire princess wants an apology from Peter MacKay for allegedly referring to her as a dog in the House of Commons.

Never mind Peter MacKay -- you, Ms. Stronach, get off your royal buns right now and show you have what you say he hasn't, and apologize to the knitters of Canada and the world.

She's referring to two comments by Stronach, one the other day in the MacKay dog-dissing dustup when she said: "Why does this government insist on being so disrespectful of women? Is that because it would prefer that we simply shut up and stick to our knitting?"

Now, one could say that Stronach's knitting knock was simply playing off MacKay having told NDP leader Alexa McDonough several months ago to "stick to her knitting," and that Stronach has nothing against knitting, but wait -- this isn't the first time Stronach used knitting as a metaphor that women who knit are old-fashioned, non-feminist, and don't have a life.

In her recent biography by Don Martin, she responds to a question on her sex life with: "Let's face it -- I don't sit home on Friday nights and knit."

Why the K word as a metaphor for social doofus? Tell us, Ms. Stronach, have you ever knitted? Just asking, ma'am.

Nancy Moynihan has a proposition. She's inviting you to the next monthly meeting of the Ottawa Knitting Guild. It's Nov. 20 at Woodroffe United Church, 7 p.m. You might learn something about knitting and the type of people who knit. You might even want to join, $25 a year.

Nancy Moynihan, 51, married, mother of two, university graduate, knitter since the age of 7, owner of a company that designs and manages data bases:

"We have 130 members, including a few men. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, business people, as well as retired people. They range from teenagers to some in their 90s. Knitting has been viewed as non-masculine, and a socially outdated thing for women, but knitters are with-it people who've been known to meet in bars, drink beer, and knit. Belinda Stronach would find we're a pretty dynamic bunch."

So, there you are, Belinda Stronach. In the future, lay off the knitting references, okay? One can knit and still have a sex life.

Talking of insults, one wonders how fast the fragile Ms. Stronach would have melted in self-pity had she been the MP who once said to Winston Churchill in Parliament "Winston, you are drunk?" with Churchill firing back: "Indeed, madam, and you are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober." Or when he rebutted Lady Astor's "If you were my husband, I'd feed you poison" with: "And if I were your husband, I'd take it."

Churchill's retorts didn't railroad his great career, and when it comes to insults, how about you, Ralph Goodale, Liberal House leader, who spluttered about MacKay's supposed dog reference: "After depicting a woman as his dog, how can the minister of foreign affairs pretend to promote women's rights in Afghanistan or anywhere else?"

You were a Liberal MP in 1997, Ralph Goodale, but we don't recall you leaping to your feet with an attack against your party colleague Doug Young, the defence minister, after he rose in the House and called the hefty Reform MP, Deborah Grey, "more than a slab of bacon."

You didn't ask how your defence minister could possibly condone large-size women in the Canadian military if his mindset towards such women was "more than a slab of bacon," as in M-o-o-o-o, as in cows, which I would suggest is a genuine insult towards women as opposed to a dog in that a cow is dopey-looking and slow-moving while I've seen some pretty nifty, classy, upscale dogs that I, personally, would be proud to be.

If you, Ms. Stronach, weren't such a bawl baby, and made of stronger stuff with a sense of humour, you would have countered the alleged MacKay dog reference with: "You got it right, Peter, I'm a high-class Lhasa Apso."

We should knit her socks and tell her where to stuff them.

GREAT IDEA! Right up there with the FReeper campaign of sending puffballs to Wolf Blitzer! Stronach, btw, is supposedly Bill Clinton's new "girlfriend".

Contact Belinda Stronach

Newmarket

16715 Yonge Street, Unit #1
Newmarket, Ontario L3X 1X4

Tel: (905) 836-7722
Fax: (905) 836-4911

Office Hours:
9a.m. to 5p.m., Mon-Thurs. 9a.m. to 12 noon., Friday

email: info@belinda.ca

FYI - Ms. Stronach is the middle of the three sitting down - NOT the person at the podium.

Bill Clinton Spotted with Billionaire Blonde

April 21, 2005

She's been spotted all over town with former president Bill Clinton: a blonde bombshell, who resembles Hillary. Wednesday night, the mystery blonde was by Clinton's side once again at a New York BLT restaurant with Jack Nicholson and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Be sure to catch Thursday's "Extra" to see the pictures of Bill and Belinda that have everybody talking.

So who is the mystery woman? And what's she really doing with the former president? Only "Extra" has the answers.

New York Daily News columnist Ben Widdicombe told us the woman, Belinda Stronach, is a billionaire member of Canada's Conservative Party, and she's very possibly a future candidate for prime minister of Canada.

"She's blonde, she's ambitious and she's in politics, but she's not Bill Clinton's wife," Widdicombe said. "It's Belinda Stronach, his friend from Canada who's been visiting Bill in New York this week."

"She gives money to his pet projects and in return, he supports her projects, for instance, a children's hospital in Canada," Widdicombe revealed.

Stronach and her father donated money to Clinton's presidential library, and she nearly became an investor in his friend, JFK Jr.'s, George magazine, meeting with him just a week before his death.

And Belinda is no stranger to the limelight either. She's divorced from Olympic champion speed skater Johan Olaf Lass and currently has romantic ties to another politician: Canadian Brian MacKay. Still, there have been rumors of a romance between Belinda and Bill since they met five years ago at a charity event.

"Anytime Bill Clinton is seen with a beautiful blonde, there's going to be rumors," Widdicombe insisted. "But in this case, they really are just friends."

And there's more good news for Bill watchers too: his good behavior is carrying over to his diet. While Jack, Jerry and the rest of the party dined on steak at BLT Wednesday night, Bill feasted on a healthier meal of swordfish and white asparagus.

It's not really hard.

The one without the tapered cuff is done this way:

I based it mostly on the pattern below, with the following proportions:

The cuff should be 3 inches long, the leg below the cuff and above the heel flap should be 7 inches long.

I made that sock in Lion Heart Fisherman's Yarn, on size 4 needles. 6 stitches an inch is the gauge.

ANOTHER JOAN'S SOCKS

A pattern in three sizes (women's, men's, and children's) using 1
strand of WoolEase or other DK weight yarn. Will fit about a women's
size 9, men's size 11, children's size 2.

Some variations: use up leftover yarn by making multicolor stripes,
make heels and toes a different color, use a two color slip stitch
pattern for the ankle part, use any two or four stitch texture pattern
for the ankle part and/or the top of the foot part, make entire ankle
part in rib, etc.

Requires about one skein for the women's (medium) size. One set of
size 6 dp needles

Instructions are for women's size with men's size and children's size
in parentheses.

Cast on 40 (48, 32) stitches, dividing them on three needles as
follows: 10-20-10 (12-24-12, 8-16-8). Join, being careful not
to twist. Work K2P2 rib for 2 (2, 1-1/2) inches. Continue in
stockinette or pattern until piece measures 6 (8, 4-1/2) inches, or
desired length.

Begin heel flap. Work across first needle. Turn. Now, working back
and forth only on the stitches on the two needles with fewer stitches,
and turning the work each row: P one row (wrong side), slip one knit
one for one row (right side) until you can count 7 (8, 6) larger
stitches up the slip one rib - 14 (16, 12) rows. End with a wrong side
row (right side facing you ready to begin).

Turn heel. Slip 1, knit 12 (14, 9), slip 1, knit 1, passed
slipped stitch over knit stitch, turn. Slip 1, purl 6 (6, 4), purl 2
together, turn. Slip 1, knit 6 (6, 4), slip, knit and pass, turn.
Repeat last two rows until all stitches have been worked, then work
right side row.

Gussets: Pick up 10 (12, 8) stitches on left side of flap, work across
stitches on center needle, pick up 10 (12, 8) stitches on right side of
flap. Knit half the heel stitches onto this needle, put the other half
onto the needle where you picked up the first group of stitches. Knit
one row around. Decrease row: Knit to within 3 stitches of end of
first needle, slip, knit, pass, knit 1. Work center needle. On third
needle, knit one, knit 2 together, finish row. Knit one row even.
Repeat these two rows until you are back to the number of stitches you
cast on (40, 48, 32).

Knit around until 8-1/2 (10, 6-1/2) inches, or about 1-1/2 inches
short of desired length of foot. Work across first needle so that you
are ready to start with center needle.

Toe: Decrease Row: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to 3 stitches before
end of needle, slip, knit, and pass, knit one, (on second needle) knit 1,
knit 2 together,
knit to 3 stitches before end of
third needle, slip, knit, and pass,
knit one. Work one row even. Repeat these two rows until you have 16
(24, 12) stitches left all together. Weave top and bottom of toe
together using kitchener stitch.

The ribbed one is one I sell....I'm sort of reluctant to post it in an open forum, knowing the secret would be out, but it's basically measure the calf at it's widest, subtract 1 inch.

cast on enough at 6 stitches an inch to make number of inches. rib for 2 inches, knit for two inches, begin to decrease every forth row at the beginning of a round and at the end of a round until you have reduced to the proper number of stitches, and knit for another two inches, do the heel flap, and continue like any other sock.

(that's the basic way I do all knee socks. the length at the bottom may be varied based on how soon your legs taper to your ankles, but that's about the proportions.)

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