Daylight saving

has ended. I can now officially think about autumn, perhaps a little winter and knitting something other than lightweight lace. Socks are mindless so I have some of those on the go for 'in-between' and 'out and about'. They are small and can be stuffed into unlikely places.
We had a Guild meeting yesterday and there was a long discussion about the judging at last year's Royal Show. It made me realise how little most people know about knitting - and how much some older members of the Guild have managed to learn over the years.
The same is true of other areas of craft. Dad spent most of the weekly 'phone call from my brother in Sydney talking about woodwork and how to solve a problem with the kitchen cupboards my brother is making.
There is a generation coming up which will not have too many of those opportunities. There is no Working with Wood show in Adelaide this year. It is too expensive and there are too few people. There will be a Quilting and Craft Fair but I wonder if it will be the last. There were fewer stalls last year.
At the same time interest in knitting still appears to be high. It should have been on the wane by now according to the natural cycle of such things. The Guild has eleven new members. More knitting is being taught in schools. There are still new knitting books being published and some older ones have been reprinted.
But, looking at what was in the knitting section at the Royal Show, there is still very little creativity. The garments were, with rare exceptions, knitted from commercially available patterns. They were often well executed but only part of the work has been done by the entrant. We should be able to produce something more unique. Perhaps now that daylight saving has ended people will do more?
Kevin Rudd has had yet another meeting with the Chinese leadership. There is also more evidence emerging of large donations to the Labor Party from the Liu family. People do not give donations to political parties without the hope of something in return. I think we have the right to be concerned. To date there has not been a referendum asking whether we wish to become Chinese.