I hit up the pattern section while my dad headed towards the mens clothes and household items. I found a few cute patterns for $0.69 a piece and thought that my night was made. A nice Simplicity shift dress? Score! I walked towards the back of the store where my dad was supposed to be and I found him huddled in a corner texting as quickly as he could.

All I have to say is thank goodness for large, scary looking dads because if not then I might not have a serger right now! Apparently there was a woman pacing around peeking around him at the serger waiting to see if he was going to take it or not. He was, he just needed both hands to carry it and he couldn’t text my mom at the same time.

It’s a Hobbylock 776 by Pfaff. The poor little thing is filthy dirty, someone didn’t bother taking care of it. The knobs are encrusted in dust, as is pretty much every single other piece of machinery. Not to mention the lovely pile of fabric lint that we found hanging out in the bottom of the machine with a few dead bugs. It’s nothing a good vacuuming won’t fix, though, and in fact I think it’s almost ready to start dabbing at it with the brush to get the last of the dust out, then it needs to be oiled. Oh and it needs a new lightbulb, too. Otherwise it seems to be in working order, or will be once we get the thread jam fixed. There’s thread wrapped all around several moving parts and it’s restricting their movement.

As for my hand, well, it’s still really sore, but I have pretty much resumed normal use of it. I think I’ll wait a bit before I start to knit again, perhaps another week, the scary thing about it was that I was unable to use my other fingers, it affected such a large portion of the muscle in my thumb. Thank goodness that it’s over, though, because I have things to serge!

(Ever wonder what I like to sew on? It’s a Bernina 1630 and I love it dearly. It’s an awesome little workhorse and hasn’t failed me yet. Except for that time I used bad thread without realising it. My mom uses it too, but prefers her Elna, no idea what the number is. Now we have 3 machines, one vintage from the 40s/50s and a serger! Score.)

It started out in my thumb and moved to the rest of my fingers within a day or two. I stopped knitting sometime last week, I tried crocheting because I can hold the working yarn in such a way that it doesn’t hurt… much. And you know it’s bad when I’m desperate enough to start crocheting with non-thread weight yarn. Yuck.

Sewing is an impossibility as well, if you need both hands to knit (and to a lesser extent, crochet) then you need both hands and, why not, both feet to help out.

And now that I’ve thoroughly hurt my hand typing this, I’m going to go take a couple of Advil and stare begrudgingly at my wrist/hand brace.

I’ve made cookies, breadsticks, pies and a cake from scratch. It’s a beast of a machine and I’m in love with it. Tonight I made peanut butter cookies, but mistakenly used the wrong recipe. In my defense, though, they all look very similar and it was a well-used page that was torn out of my mom’s favourite cookbook. There was 1 cup of peanut butter to 2 1/4 flour. They tasted so floury that I threw them out and started making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They’re chilling in the fridge right now.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Garfield snapped with my new camera. If it appears off it’s because my monitor is off. Really off.

I still have to finish three more hats, two pairs of fingerless gloves, three pairs of mittens and if I can manage it two more fingerless gloves. It all depends on how quickly I can get through the rest of it.

And to top it all off I have a few things to sew: headbands, an apron for Grandma, a dog coat and a lot of toys for our pets. Thank goodness for the trusty old Bernina 1630, it lets me zip through seams without a lot of extra thought. Unlike the beast of an old Singer I’m trying to wrangle into submission. That thing is… beastly. I don’t know that much about the other machine, my moms Elna, except that I’m not really allowed to touch it. Hmph.

From the pattern Turn a Square. The orange, brown and green one is my fathers, the blue and green one is my brothers.

The pattern was amazing, it`s my go-to beanie hat.

I’ve been frantically knitting since the end of November to try and finish all of my Christmas knitting. I’m starting to wish I’d started back in July.

What I’m Knitting/Have Knit

• Two hats for my brother and dad, both knit from the pattern Turn a Square. Amazing pattern by the way.
• Another hat, this time for my sister. The purple, pink and white yarn above is what I’m using. I found it in the discount section of Walmart unlabeled, I think it might be Satin Sport from Bernat, but I’m not sure. The pattern is All Day Beret. It’s not something I’d pick, lace to me is knitting that looks like something, not just lines of holes, but my sister requested it. I’m actually enjoying the results, the pattern is simple and works nicely with the colours in the yarn. Best of all it’s a relatively quick knit!
• My mom is getting a pair of wool mittens, knit from the yarn on the right. The pattern I’m using is Tweedy Mittens, I’m barely a few rows in, though.

I’ve spent less than $30 on enough yarn to knit 2 more pairs of fingerless gloves, a headband, a scarf (or gloves, I’m undecided.) Not bad for presents for four people, well maybe five because I’m going to make myself a present, of course. But since I’m the knitter mine comes last.

• Two dogs, two cats and a whole lot of fleas. Do you know how annoying fleas are?
• Sewing, sewing and more sewing. Dresses for myself mostly. I’ll post more on those later.
• Christmas knitting! And now I think I should have done that back in the summer.
• I helped put a new floor in the bathroom. Well, I helped lay the tile.
• Garfield was neutered. Boy was he angry.
• Christmas sewing.
• My monitor is on its way out. The screen is yellow and that is why I’m using the default WordPress theme.
• It will soon be the one year anniversary of when I broke my foot. I still walk with a slight limp when it’s damp and cold out.

It’s astonishing how much time gets eaten up. By the time I get to the computer I’m usually too glazed over from overthinking a bodice or hat crown decreases to do much.

OK, so, first off this person is wrong. There’s plenty of science to back up HAES, and it’s endorsed by the Surgeon General of the USA, so it’s not some silly little anti-science thing. It’s a real, proven, approach to health that works. There’s loads of information available to back this up, and it’s all readily accessible, so our sizist friend here hasn’t even tried to form a fact-based, logical argument, seeing as they don’t even understand what they’re arguing against.

The other issue is: SO WHAT? Even if every claim about the health dangers of being fat were true, so? How does that change the fact that fat people still deserve to be respected, acknowleged and appreciated? It’s massively ableist to judge a person’s worth on their health, especially as health is a relative concept that varies from person to person.

This person needs to do their own research instead of sitting around, being a dick and demanding that the people they’re oppressing come explain why what they’re doing is wrong. As a skeptic, I get the need for evidence-based judgements, but this person hasn’t even tried to do that, and has just hidden behind the status quo as a common sense defence sort of marauding as a scientific stance.

Ughhh.

<33

I think I explained my points more than adequately with the following post, so no need to respond to the same claims a second time. The only thing that I will add is that I do plenty of research and reading about the issues I complain about. To not do so would be, wait for it, misleading and dangerous because I don’t have a medical background. The burden of proof isn’t on me, either. The FA movement is the one making claims that go against what we already know as fact, my side is the one that has the medical profession behind it. Say what you want, but having most scientific information back you up is pretty awesome.

(By the way, where are these awesome studies I hear so much about? Time to Google, I guess because I doubt most people have ever even read a study, just other peoples blogs and twitter streams.)

Also, Joanna has apparently deleted my comment, unless it’s under moderation in which case it hasn’t appeared yet. I’ll continue to give her the benefit of the doubt for a few more hours, but I’m not holding my breath. In retrospect, I wish I’d saved the comment I wrote, I tried to be “respectful” and only voiced my own personal opinion.

Before I begin I would like to address the charge that I am “virulently hateful” in my “hatred” for fat people.

vir·u·lent/ˈvir(y)ələnt/Adjective

1. (of a disease or poison) Extremely severe or harmful in its effects.
2. (of a pathogen, esp. a virus) Highly infective

I’m virulent in my hatred of fat people? Really? Let’s make a few things very clear:

I Do Not

• Hate fat people for being fat. I hate some people who happen to be fat because of their shitty personalities.
• Wish to see fat people shoved onto an island somewhere and left for dead.
• Want everyone to be 85lbs.
• Nor do I want everyone to answer to me personally about their weight.
• Think that everyone is a special snowflake who should be treated as such.
• Walk around singing “Hey there, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom / How do you do?” to every fat person I see.

However, I Do

• Want more open discussion about the rising rates of obesity. Especially in children.
• Want less talk about the evils of weight loss and dieting and more about the good aspects of it.
• Want the word diet to stop being used as a blanket term to refer to unhealthy diets. A healthy diet is a very good thing to have.
• Think people need to have personal responsibility. You can be as fat as you like, but why spread misinformation like genetic set points, medications, diseases and other scapegoat scare tactics? To justify your weight? Stop. Just stop.
• People to stop saying “everyone else is fat, so it’s okay!” No, no it’s not. Lots of people are also stupid, that doesn’t mean that being stupid is okay or something to be proud of.
• Think that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. Unfortunately my idea of dignity and respect seems to differ from the opinions of most. I don’t think that you should ignore real problems for the sole purpose of making people feel better, on the other hand: See the last point of the list before this.

Phew! Let’s get on with it already. If you’ll remember I wrote a post about FA absurdity a few days ago and got a response. It’s called Yes, There’s a Difference: On FA, Pro-ana, and Feederism and it’s very long and very eye opening. Not in a good way either.

Before we begin, ladies and gentlemen, I have a very special annoucement.

I have moved up the fat acceptance visibility chain and am now being quoted on virulently anti-fat websites and having blog posts devoted to what a mean censoring queen I am. Two of the most popular search engine queries that have been coming up in the past few days are:

-JoannaDW the big mean censorship queen

-the censoring queen dead of winter

-people who refuse to face the truth

I want to, once again, thank all my lovely troll friends for giving me hits and for ensuring that my heinous, pernicious message of fat acceptance will spread all over the net.

The first two search terms were mine, I used the first one twice (to show other people) and the second one I used only once because I misplaced the address to your blog. You also go on to say that I’m “virulently” hateful, but I don’t see how. Further explanation is needed, too bad there probably won’t be any forthcoming.

Oh, and I wouldn’t count on every person visiting your site doing it because they’re looking for acceptance. A lot of people probably visit, or have visited, your site to laugh at the absurdity of your claims.

Question: Does fat acceptance encourage people to get fatter?

Answer: To those inside the movement, the answer is obvious: NO!

To those outside the movement, an explanation is in order.

Fat acceptance promotes rights, respect, and access for fat people. Promoting respect and rights no more encourage people to get fat than allowing employees to wear Stars of David encourages people to be Jewish. I have yet to hear anyone argue that requiring wheelchair accessibility for public places encourages people to get hit by cars or to not try walking if the disabled person is able and willing to give it a shot. It is there so disabled people can live their lives and have independence. Why shouldn’t people of all sizes have this?

So FA only makes sense to those in the FA movement? Anyone not in it who doesn’t agree with it is… huh? Why are you talking about Jews? What do Jews have to do with being fat? Oh, nevermind I forgot that you’re attempting to tie FA to other “minorities” to give it a semblance of sanity.

You’re right, promoting rights for everyone doesn’t promote anything. However, citing cherry-picked studies and making insane claims is dangerous because it’s spreading misinformation. Remember what you said?

I have said it before and I will say it again. Fatdoes[sic] not cause health or mobility problems, so curing fat would do no good. We could make all fat people thin, or at least less fat, and the health issues would remain. Even if it did, we cannot make people permanently thin in a safe way.

You’re lying. Probably subconciously, but still it’s nothing but a lie. Fat does cause many health and mobility problems (how wouldn’t it?) and it’s an accepted fact by the scientific and medical communities. It’s nice to be able to point to your genetics and say “they did it,” it’s also nice to point to any meds you might be on and say “they did it.” That’s not helping you and by posting your misinformation and using your poor reasoning skills to mold the facts as you please you’re not helping other people.

Some thin women are tomboys or are actually trans-men and don’t want to reinforce the waif-like feminine ideal because it doesn’t fit who they are.

Right on? I’m not even going to touch this one with a 49′ 1/2″ pole

Ordinarily, we think of “healthy” as being low-salt or low-fat. Low-salt is not healthy for someone with low blood pressure and low-fat is not healthy for people with anorexia. Neither low-fat nor low-salt is healthy for children and teens. We posit that diet cannot prevent any disease and that, at best, it can help manage an illness you already have. In other words, you cannot gorge on sugar and eat your way to diabetes any more than you can gorge on gluten and eat your way to celiac disease.

Show me some studies, please, that say that a low-fat, low-salt diet is bad for children. From what I see in the grocery store and at the fast-food joints, pretty much everyone could benefit from cutting out salt, fat and sugar from their diet.

Also:

By the end of the study, the fructose and glucose-chugging groups had gained about the same amount of weight – an average of about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) — but those in the fructose group accumulated about twice as much visceral fat, the kind that builds up around organs (rather than under the skin) and increases one’s risk for developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Scientific American: Not all sugars are created equal

I’d keep going, but Joanna really does just go on and on and on, so I’m going to stop for the time being and spend some quality time with Top Gear USA. I’ll just end with this quote from Joanna:

ETA: I do not “censor the hell” out of my blog. Read through the comments on most of my blog posts and you will see a number of comments that do not agree with me. You will see them being treated respectfully. But guess what. I demand respect in return, and that means respect for my views and for my comment policy.

JoannaDW, the Big Mean Censorship Queen

Respect is earned, not given freely to whoever might want some. To be given respect, you must respect other people as well and quite frankly I don’t see anything respectful about your response to me. However, I will be leaving a comment on the latest blog and we’ll see how that goes.

Oh yeah and my back, too. Something tells me that kneeling on hardwood floors without knee protection was a fairly bad idea and I’m pretty sure I’m going to pay for it tomorrow.

Ah well, I’m nearly done my shirt anyway. Tomorrow I have to take the dogs to the groomers with my parents and that’s sure to be a treat, always is the little wusses.

Internet cookies to anyone who guess which of my favourite songs the title is!

But first here are a few rules that you’ll need to keep in mind before commenting on my site (I know, I know):

1. Cat pictures are only allowed on Caturday.
2. Everyday is Caturday.
3. Excessive stupidity will not be removed or banned, but rather mocked and shamed.
4. Trolls are welcome
5. All trolls should also be trolled.
6. Comments meant to just get a link back, what are they called? Spam? Won’t be deleted, unless it’s obviously the bad kind of spam, but will have their URL removed to prevent them from receiving any traffic.
7. If a URL is not available to remove, mocking and shaming will occur.

Apparently, I have been accused of being closed-minded and of censorship by people with a grudge against fat acceptance. I can’t handle opposition to my ideas and am the thought police.

Why? I won’t acknowledge that obesity causes health problems and mobility problems and that we should try to cure it.

Wow, what a radical idea that has only been expressed and reinforced every motherfucking where.

I don’t know about everywhere. Simple logic dictates that if my frame carries an extra 50lbs my mobility becomes limited, breathing is harder and energy? What energy? I’m 5’4″ and I weigh 150lbs, I wear a size 12-14 in ready to wear clothing and have a cup size of DDD/E. With an extra 50lbs of fat packed onto my otherwise small frame it becomes excessively difficult to perform simple tasks like walking upstairs to my bedroom. (Yeah I used to be 50lbs and a bit more heavier. It’s been two years.)

I have said it before and I will say it again. Fatdoes[sic] not cause health or mobility problems, so curing fat would do no good.

Really? I’d like to see the peer reviewed studies from the scientific community that verify that cute little statement. The last time I checked, fat does indeed do a lot of harm that can be reduced or removed entirely by not being fat.

However, being the open-minded individual that I am, I would like to offer forth this chance: If anyone can come up with a real study that says that being overweight/obese does not cause health problems I will read it through and seriously consider the facts, they must be facts, presented within.

Otherwise, though, I’m going to go on believing that your heart, joints and bones don’t magically all grow to support extra weight that is piled onto the body in a relatively short period of time.

To end, fat acceptance is so ridiculous it’s almost impossible to believe that it’s a real thing. To think that there are people who are advocating being fat because it’s too hard or impossible to maintain a normal weight. That, my friends, is defeatism and it sucks. I can. I did.