Pastels

Winter berries, bare branches and pastels… strange, but 87-year-olds get whatever 87-year-olds want.  And this yarn from English Yarns may look soft and fuzzy,however the end product is angled towards very practical warmth... 

- still at work on a very late Christmas present indeed... about to be even later due to Franciska fallout, seasonal demands and most recent addition to my joys:, an eye infection.

But, happy new year and here's to the next  project.... 

To knit or not to knit…

If someone were to say I must, I'd probably never knit another stitch, but the luxury is all in having the option

This week, an elderly neighbour from childhood died and people gathered for her funeral.  Some extremely old women, unseen literally for decades, reemerged for the first time in eons to pay respects....  local ladies who'd been widowed, sold up and moved on long since -  former powerhouses from my early childhood now in need of sight, hearing and walking aids.  Back into the old church they came slowly from different directions, leaning on only marginally more youthful relatives, to send off one of their own.  Swathed in shawls and clucked over by all, they mostly remained serene and removed until spotting similarly burdened contemporaries of yore:  then they clapped their hands and cracked up like school girls at their own resilience and the fact it wasn't quite their turn yet. 

Time

Uisce from Four Elements by Carol Feller, knit in Debbie Bliss luxury silk dk on 4mm needles

For my neighbour, Lucy

Lucy is a lovely neighbour who, up to a very short time ago, I’d probably have designated as “new”.  I was shocked lately, though, to realise that in fact she’s not “new” at all - doesn't seem possible but already she and her family have been here for three years. And now we're about to lose them - at least as neighbours, if hopefully not friends - because they’re on the brink of moving on to a new life in Belfast…

 Lucy and her family are slightly younger than me and mine, but I've really enjoyed having her about - she’s smart, wonderfully open, honest and direct – the sum of which in my estimation adds up to cool.   I picked this shawlette pattern to make for her not only because of its grace of design, or the fact I felt that Lucy (who is tall) could wear it as a scarf (or any way she likes, for that matter!), but also because it’s from the province of Ulster, where she’s now bound.

When I was growing up, every news bulletin about Belfast seemed to emanate little but tragedy and sadness, and most southerners were in no hurry to go there. Yet now, if ever an example of goodness prevailing were called for, you'd go a long way before you'd better the present-day relish and bounce of Belfast people.  They know all too well what the diametric opposite means, and the magic wrought by time and good people has restored Belfast to its rightful position - somewhere heightened sensibilities can make things really happen in the very best sense.  And with no disrespect to those who suffered, vestiges of hypercaution and other scars of the past can even begin to seem a little funny now   - for instance, a suggestion to take the scenic route might be greeted in certain quarters with a genuinely perplexed:

“Och, why on earth would you want to do that?”;

followed by a proud,

“Sure, why don’t you take the lovely new wee motorway?”  

I wish Lucy and her family good luck in their next adventure and even look forward to being slightly jealous of their new life.