Knitographical: Q is for The Queen

Australia is a constitutional Monarchy. That means our head of State is Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen of England, Northern Ireland, the UK and a few other random places. But us Aussies are pretty laid back. The Queen doesn't really interfere with how we run the place and we in general think she's an OK old duck. She swoops in occasionally for a Royal visit or sends one of the kids and that's about it. Whilst there is a fair bit of Republican sentiment in Australia, in reality we probably can't be trusted to elect our own head of state as a popularity contest in Australia would probably choose some inappropriate sports-person. (Shane Warne for President anyone?)

I'm fond of the Queen. The Head of the Household here thinks she's a dear. He has personal experience having cooked for her when she was here for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982. After the meal, the Queen came back to the kitchens to thank the cooks. Unfortunately, in that typical Aussie way, the cooks had been doing some premature celebrating of a successful service with immersion in beer. Protocol was carefully observed by both sides with no major breaches, but it was near run thing. The Head of the Household says she was like a regal granny.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee was observed in Australia, but much less fervently than in the UK (many fewer garden parties and much less inappropriate overuse of Union Jacks). I felt I should do my two cents worth for us closet Australian monarchists and was going to knit this queen by Fiona Goble which was a limited release free pattern that is sadly no longer available. However, some of the younger family members couldn't see the point and dissuaded me in favour of making things for them instead. So here instead is a collation are some people who have patriotically celebrated their love of Good Queen Bess II in grand knitterly style.