Dammit, this is a problem. I keep clinking on things over on the Hand Mirror (you guys are doing a great job, by the way) and seeing things I want to write about.

I am a political animal. I love politics. I am not an activist, I don’t march, or join, or petition. I listen, and watch, and think.

While I have politics, and opinions, there’s a couple of reasons I won’t be writing about them here. Firstly, my job requires that for the most part, I shut the hell up about my opinions. And I like that – it makes it easier to do my job. Secondly, I think there are already enough voices clamouring for attention in the blogoshphere. There are political blogs I read every day, that I read the comments on, but that I don’t comment myself on. Some of the comments over on Kiwiblog and some other political blogs scare me. And for the most part, the people over at Public Address say what I think better than I can, so there’s not a lot of point me adding to the noise for the sake of it.

Also, my views change, and ebb, and become more or less impassioned, and I would hate for someone to go back and look at what I think now in ten years, and hold it up as proof of something.

So, no politics (I will right about girl things – or wimmin’s issues, if you like – because I don’t think wanting women to have equality compromises my job). But I like Helen’s point about “trying to live your politics”. I do point out sexism, racism, bigotry where I see them. But sometimes the fight is just not worth having. The other day, when I pointed out a very real issue of sexism in New Zealand (the lack of coverage of women’s sport – for which I am directly responsible, because I don’t watch women’s sport) i was told to “get off my high horse”. To which I politely responded that my high horse has suited me quite well for thirty years, and I’d be quite happy to stay up here thanks. And thought “because i can look down on you better from here”.

And as for craft, I don’t knit for political reasons. I don’t knit because I value things made in New Zealand, or fair trade, or because I think it values women’s work. I knit for me. I do it because it is nice to have a hobby, it keeps my hands busy while I am sitting still, and because I like to give things away. I could go out to Farmers and buy a $10 hat for the new babies that have been born, but I’d rather not. I think giving you something that I’ve made, that I’ve put thought into, that I slaved over and swore over, and spent time on is much more meaningful.

Giving you something that I knitted means I care. It means I thought about you for hours while I made it, thought about what colours you like, and what might work for you. Much more than if I’d just gone and bought something.

I want my (new) blog to be how I want my house to be. Welcoming, warm, restive, entertaining, colourful, interesting, occasionally booze-soaked. My parents taught me never to talk about politics and religion, and if I don’t stick to that in life, it would be nice to stick to that here.