Nay, kids are the jaybird’s
Friday June 20th 2008, 1:00 pm
Filed under: "Wrapped in Comfort",Wildlife

(Say that fast. Sorry, couldn’t resist the chance for a bad pun.)

the jellyfish don\'t sting after allSlipping back towards the bad old days: I made it through about a half hour at Purlescence last night. Someone brought in their dinner and I had to move quickly away before my stomach did violence to the surroundings from the smell of the food. My daughter, who’d dropped me off and gone to the nearby library, was hovering from a few blocks away and texted me that I probably wanted to go home now?

So I came home and collapsed. But not till I’d had a conversation with a fellow knitting Crohn’s patient about a new drug approved last month. There is? Really? Yay!

Hopefully, though, give this a few days and it’ll settle down on its own.

Meantime, Michelle had gone and looked up bluejays: they stay in pairs even when it’s not nesting season (I often see two) and they’re loud–until you get near their nest. Then they get quiet so as not to attract undue attention.

Oh goodness. And I’d had that thing squawk at me across the yard and finally get quiet near the apple tree after I flicked the hose towards it. I don’t think the water even reached it, but suddenly I wanted to go apologize to the baby birds. I will be the one who’s more respectful now (and curious as to where the nest is–I didn’t see it.)

To change the subject: when my husband and I got married, my parents were so happy and so glowing, you’d think they were the ones getting married! I saw the love mixed with the difference between being young and in love and middle-aged and in love, and told Richard I looked forward to the day when we too would have the time, experience, and maturity behind us like they had. I wanted to be them when I grew up.

And here, a generation later, I think we’ve done okay, and here we are looking at two of our own kids and their spouses with love and gratitude ourselves.

I didn’t take Jessie’s shawl to Purlescence. I figured it was too complicated to be an on-the-go project, especially when I was still at the stage of starting the main pattern and trying to keep track of the stitch count. After I got home, I picked it up and wondered if my fried brain could make sense of those jellyfish, Barbara Walker’s Showers pattern turned upside down.

And you know what? To my surprise, my laceknitting had become middle-aged. No angst, no worries, just do it. Why had I thought this was hard? Knowing which way to wrap the yarnover when the next stitch is a knit or purl is as natural now as breathing. Knowing what to do coming up to a double yarnover is like remembering that the green light means go. The purl through back loops of three stitches at once is a meandering knit along a beautiful country road.

I’ve always loved this pattern, and now we’re old friends, too.


9 Comments so far
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We have a pair of jays that nest in one of our red oaks every year. This year they had a fine crop of 4 or 5 nestlings. It’s rather fun to watch mom and dad jay dive on the neighbor’s outdoor cat to keep it away from their babies.

I don’t think the cat ever figured out what was going on.

Comment by Cynthia 06.20.08 @ 1:55 pm

Sending healthy thoughts to you. Hope you feel better very very soon!

Comment by Romi 06.20.08 @ 3:53 pm

that’s just how I feel about the Grandmothers Favorite Dishcloth hehehe 😉

Comment by rho 06.20.08 @ 5:18 pm

Sweetie, you can’t resist ANY chance at a pun! 🙂

Feel better soon, ok?

*hugs!*

Comment by no-blog-rachel 06.20.08 @ 5:41 pm

Remind your body that it knows how to function just as you know how to knit. No fuss, please. Just do your job, OK?

Comment by Laura 06.20.08 @ 6:11 pm

I am with Laura, tell your body to remember how to be well and know it can do it. I love your description. I had similar thoughts the other day about knitting and sewing; that middle aged knowing is good. I hope you feel better soon.

Comment by Vicki 06.20.08 @ 6:21 pm

Hope you are feeling better! 🙂

Comment by Toni Smoky-Mountains 06.21.08 @ 5:32 am

I hope you’re feeling better soon.

Those blue jays are so pretty but they can be such stinkers. They are always the ones chucking all of the seed out of the feeders, chasing other birds away and making as much noise as possible. Good thing they’re pretty or we might not tolerate them.

Comment by Lisa 06.21.08 @ 7:09 am

I’ve been really feeling quite sorry for myself today. It was the headache yesterday and the threat of one today that brought on this bout of self-pity. Never mind that headache pain is easily relieved. The sight of my bruised purple toes (I tripped & fell) which don’t even hurt brings on a feeling of I-wish-I-were-on-vacation as well.

And then I read about your not making it all the way through your knitting group. Mercy! That is a bit of a rough go, if you ask me. I’m so sorry about that.

Thanks for putting things in perspective. At my next knitting group meeting, I’ll be sure to thank everyone for bringing things without noticeable odor, too.

Comment by RobinM 06.21.08 @ 1:48 pm



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