Thursday, March 8, 2012

A white cardigan


I did cast on something new, but it is impossible to photograph white yarn at 11 pm if you really did too much already and should be getting your priorities straight.  I guess like many who join yarn along, I feel slightly lost if I do not have something to sit down with when I want to sit but still "make progress."  I remember that when I had only one baby, I discussed with a friend how incredibly efficient my mother must have been to be able to manage with four children...

I do not mourn free time the way I did when there was still a fresh memory of it in my mind.  And I have the privilege of reading the beautiful blogs of mothers who have survived this phase, and are now in a season where they look back and enjoy, and have some free time again.  They inspire and sustain me.  I know this precious time will pass.



I am knitting a one button cardigan for Melva.  I am not reading the catalog.  I am looking at it, wishing that my sewing skills were so much better than they are right now.  It is from the aptly named shop:  Cute, Well Dressed Kids.  I will probably make some alterations to the cardigan: I might give the sleeves a slight flare, increasing a bit instead of decreasing towards the cuff.  Maybe a simple lace pattern near the cuff, or a picot edging?  But the best thing of all is that I will be doing it with the help of my mother and my mother-in-law, both experienced knitters, both coming to visit for a month!

(My mother is leaving her farm in Namibia on Monday.  My sister who (coincidentally) also lives in Tsumeb will be driving her to Windhoek.  She will fly to Johannesburg, meet my mother-in-law from Nylstoom, and together they will fly for 26 hours with one stop in Atlanta to Bergstrom International here in Austin. We cannot wait.)

I am reading "The Elements of Style". (Can you tell yet?)  It is very dense; I wish I were taught all of it while I was still at school.  I also read "Absolutely Normal Chaos", by one of my favorite authors, Sharon Creech, this week.  A journal of 13 year old girl, not very much like the 13 year old girl that I was, but a very likeable girl nevertheless.  Sharon Creech inspires, or rather, rekindles a love for writing in me - with "Love that Dog" and "Hate that Cat" she introduces young readers to poetry, in this book she intertwines the story with short summaries of chapters out of The Odyssey.

And that is that for now.  I wish I could get to this blog more often, but I am actually putting plants in the garden, decluttering and cleaning for all that I am worth.  Everything has to be done and just right by Tuesday!


6 comments:

  1. You put it perfectly - needing to make progress even when sitting still. I look for my knitting every time my hands aren't busy!

    Here's to us all "surviving" this phase! (he he he)

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  2. Have a wonderful visit with your family! I actually needed a geography lesson to see how this trip would come off!

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  3. Thanks Leslie, I am sure the weeks will fly, and I will see more of Central Texas area than in the previous 3 years. Let's hope the Bluebonnets will show their faces soon. What a blessing to have them here over Easter!

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  4. ah, i am sure whatever you do dear in preparation for your mothers, it will be perfect. how exciting to have both of them there at once. are they friends already? i have been to the waterberg area near nylstoom, so funny. and we'll be near your mothers farm too, in only a few weeks. i can see how it would be kind of strange and different to read my posts once i'm there. i told my husband we need to take many tree photos. :)

    yes, you will survive, its still hard for me to believe my children are grown now. and out on their own. it happened in a blink. it's true. especially after the hugely fun, chaotic, sometimes terrifing teen years. noisy busy fun. and now quiet. empty spaces. and time. (and more than a few tears, empty nest is highly personal, but for me, difficult thing. i'm getting better).

    enjoy your mother's visits! xxx lori

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  5. Lori, they were friends when I was still in preschool. Our dads were friends too, both teachers who hated bureaucracy and administration... soul mates, in many ways. (That is why I take play dates very seriously! :) We've been together since I was 13.
    Both our dads have passed on, both our mothers remarried. And dealing with their empty nests in their own amazing ways.
    You will see, my stepfather wanted to buy a farm in the Waterberge, could for some reason not, and then bought one near Tsumeb - the landscape and climate is very similar. My mind keeps on returning to the trees, trying to think if I love them because I know them, or if they are beautiful in their own right, like the Live Oaks of Central Texas, or the Giant Sequoias in California... I think you will find them beautiful.

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