tangled up in blue

You like? It will look even better once I weave in the ends.

Inspired by the Thrifty Knitter's Stash Shawl http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=135 and my ever increasing stash sprawl I decided to knit a blue shawl. Unfortunately, the process of following the pattern caused tangle upon tangle and so slow going.

Still it did a fine job eating some of my stash and I'm pleased with the results.

ACOG's witch hunt

First Ricky Lake made a movie, the Business of Being Born, inspired by her own homebirth and actor John C. McGinley (Scrubs) and his wife Nichole had a baby at home and People magazine wrote a nice blurb about it.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175819,00.html

Then ACOG (the American College of Obs and Gyns) felt so threatened they issued a press release reiterating their "long-standing opposition to home births" http://acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-06-08-2.cfm in which they state:

"Childbirth decisions should not be dictated or influenced by what's fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause célèbre. Despite the rosy picture painted by home birth advocates, a seemingly normal labor and delivery can quickly become life-threatening for both the mother and baby. "

Apparently childbirth decisions should only be influenced by celebrities choosing planned cesareans.

ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) has published their response at http://www.ican-online.org/, in which they publicly condemn ACOG.

The Big Push for Midwives also responded calling ACOG out of touch with the needs of childbearing families and accusing them of trying to play the bad mother card. http://www.birthpolicy.org/pushnews.aspx

All of ACOG's press release is infuriating, but to me the low point is when they say in the last paragraph:

"Choosing to deliver a baby at home, however, is to place the process of giving birth over the goal of having a healthy baby."

Not only does this basically call any woman choosing a homebirth selfish, but it creates a false dichotomy by suggesting that choosing the best birth for her is somehow separate from what will create a healthy outcome for her baby. What is good for the mother is good for the baby, and what is good for the baby is good for the mother. It is outrageous to suggest that homebirth endangers babies, when homebirth promotes empowering births for women, without medication (which we know carries risks for babies), and with a much lower risk of cesarean outcomes (which also carries risks for babies). By guarding against the unnecessary separation of the mother/baby unit (which decreases the risk of postpartum depression and increases the colonization of the baby with healthy bacteria from the mother, among other benefits) and promoting breastfeeding, while protecting the mother/baby from the antibiotic resistant germs that are most commonly found in hospitals, homebirth does much to ensure the health of the baby.

ACOG propagates the myth that birth is likely to turn unpredictably dangerous at any moment to try to gain a monopoly over the business of providing care for birthing women. The Big Push is right on the money when they call ACOG "a trade union representing the financial and professional interests of obstetricians".

I previously blogged about midwifery in trouble in Iowa and Missouri. Here's what's happening in Pennsylvannia. http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about116222.html

honest to blog or I can't believe I had no camera with me

Yesterday I was sitting in the ski lodge chatting with my mom and knitting these fingerless gloves while the kids and my dad skied. I swear that I saw a woman whose hair matched my knitting come in. Not only was her hair the same hot pink in places, it was the same gray and and purple. Honest. I promise to never leave my house without my camera again.

an act of faith in my mailbox or why is there a stuffed dinosaur on my kitchen table?!

Rebecca's penpal in Oklahoma sent us a stuffed dinosaur the other day. His name is Max. Max started off in a 5th grade classroom in Michigan and is traveling the country before returning in May. So far he's been to South Carolina, California, Oklahoma, and now Massachusetts. I love the idea of it. We're sending him on with some photos of his stay here and a magnetic that looks like the sign in the photo.

prayer shawl completed

it felt like magic

I finished knitting my bag. I love doing it. It knits up fast on big needles, and I figure that my mistakes won't show after it's felted. I used Webs' Valley Yarns. The Yarn Harlot just talked about what great, cheap yarn it is, and it felts beautifully. This is my third knit to felt bag with it.
The best part was the grafting. I took the two ends of the strap and did this cool thing with a tapestry needle that made it look like it was one knit strip. What kind of genius thinks this kind of thing up?
http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html
It came out of the washing machine (3 wash cycles on hot later) looking like this. I want to make one every day. It's magic. Shrinking things on purpose--what fun!

one little detail . . .

I finished knitting my latest shawl last night. I'm very excited. It was scary there in the beginning casting on 1095 stitches (for that ruffle on the bottom) and I didn't quite get how I could decrease on every row and end on the wide/top part of the shawl, but that all worked out. I really like the ruffle and the wrap-around-and-tie-in-back style.

The detail is that there is an i cord decrease, so even though I could tell before the end that I was knitting a tiny garment, I couldn't figure out how to reduce the rate of decreasing and keep the nice i cord edge. It was not my original intent to make a shawl that fits an 8 year old so well. I hope at least she'll wear it.