Brief Update

Well, the good news is, knitting still exists as an art form.

Elsewhere in the universe, people still participate in the craft. They sit down and stroke their stash lovingly, looping their fingers lingeringly through woolens and chenilles and specialty yarns. They revel in the colors and fret gently over trying to turn a heel.

Somewhere, people still knit.

Apparently, just not at this blog.

Sigh. It’s not like it’s not COLD ENOUGH. It’s been below freezing every night for at least two weeks, and it’s been very close to snow during the day, with the daytime high of 2°/35° where it’s been hovering. We’re very clearly aware of the desperate need to cover our ears, and we’re already well bored with most of the hats and scarves we’ve been wearing, so we know we need to get back to it. It’s not like we’re short a winter holiday — people love knitted things as Christmas gifts.

And, it’s not like there’s a shortage of babies for whom to knit. My sister is gestating again, and numerous family friends have all brought forth their own little wrinkled, shrieking darlings, so it’s not like there aren’t blankets and hats that need to be made. It’s just that we can’t seem to …find free time for our hands.

I think the trick is going to be scheduling time to sit with our hands free — not typing, not scrolling through articles online or surfing the internet. Just… sitting. It’s amazing how hard that’s been. Neither of us are huge TV watchers, but I think we may have to take up a few shows just so we are sitting in one place long enough for the urge to hit. (You might suggest books on CD — both of us read too fast to have patience with that, unfortunately. It might have to do with a childhood full of books on records, or hyperactivity, or something — only live people reading works. Which is a serious pity, since BBC 7 radio is broadcasting C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet this month, which is a fabulous SF tale. Oh, well.) I hope the urge and ability come back soon; I was looking forward to learning how to turn a heel, and my friend Darla has started collecting baby sweater patterns she swears are for beginners who can’t really read a pattern. (Yeah, right.)

Anyway~! These pictures were taken at the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art a week ago. We discovered that one merely need knit something that isn’t a hat or scarf to be declared to be creating “art.”

These are cacti, knitted with worsted wool yarn, so they’re nice and scratchy. I’m sure they’d make a lovely Christmas gift.

We’re still receiving our vege box from local farms, and ’tis the season for root veg. Many growers are having the last of their tomatoes — from greenhouses, obviously; it’s frozen hard the last couple of nights, so I’m thinking these aren’t outside — and we got a zucchini the other day the size of my forearm, which is a bit largeish for a zucchini. (Time for chocolate chip zucchini bread!)

In honor of the American Thanksgiving this week, we’re concentrating on what the first settlers in the United States had to eat — a lot of duck and goose, basically meat, and very little sweet, since sugar isn’t grown on the Northeast Coast and neither sweet potatoes nor white potatoes grew there at the time. Instead of pumpkin pie, they had pumpkin just as a vegetable, and Indian Corn pudding along with their venison, mutton, quail, mussels and lobster. Of those dishes, we thought we’d try to make Indian Corn Pudding, which sounds alarmingly like grits with sugar. Is this part of anyone’s traditional dinner? We’ve never made it/had it, as it’s not a West Coast thing, but we’ll follow the recipe from 1621, and let you know how it goes…

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