the biggest dilemma that faces any knitter when she is preparing for a weekend away with her knitter peeps is WHAT KNITTING DO I TAKE?
there has been a lengthy exchange of emails about what food to take, where are we going to have saturday lunch, who is bringing what sort of bubbles, and frantic pleas for knitting help ideas. some people have even bought special patterns. let me be clear, these are all prolific knitters with sizable yarn and pattern stashes. but there is something about going away for these weekends that we all want to get the knitting just right.
partly its picking the right project for the circumstances – lace is usually not so good when there’s a lot of wine involved. although some people cant even manage reading a sock chart…. so you need something you can knit almost without looking, something that keeps your hands busy while you talk and laugh, reach for cheese, make a cup of tea. and also, its about having something you can say ‘oh i made that on our weekend away’. so i’ve been trying to decide myself. my packing looks like this
apart from things im currently knitting, i do want to start something new, and i cant decide what.
i need to start some new lace, so i have this madtosh lace from knitty city and this pattern in mind
but lace is always tricky. stocking stitch in the round is easy, so do i make these mittens in this gorgeous camel yarn to match the hat i wore in chicago?
i lamented the fact that i didnt have matching mitts when i was there and you know, a girl likes to match.
but i also need a new grey hat, and i want to keep knitting with the yarn i just bought back from the States, so im thinking about this hat in this gorgeous fibre company ‘Road To China’ (alpaca, silk, camel and cashmere. swoon).
i’ve got a thing for yarn from brooklyn right now obviously! i got this yarn at brooklyn general store, along with the bluesky alapca that i have made into hat and mitts
and i love them. at least these are already to wear, because it will be cold up in the blue mountains and i cant wait. i love the cold! so it seems like the only decision i can make about knitting right now is to take ALL THESE THINGS with me, and decide when i’m there.
speaking of decisions, i feel much better after making the fulbright decision. when i say better i wouldnt say happy per se, but i do feel a bit clearer. its funny how much just thinking and stressing about it was clouding up my head. i wrote to my mentors at UPenn and they were so lovely, they agreed that taking time to work out the project properly is a good idea and said ‘you know we support you and your work, we’re here whenever you need us’.
and then i was able to sit down and map out the whole ‘history of mental health nursing’ project, and if i dont get the DECRA to do it with, i know how to divide it up now. and when some doors close other doors open. my lovely colleague here samantha has asked me to work with her on a journal special edition on qualitative approaches to mental health research, and that will be huge for my track record. and no sooner had i made that decision about the fulbright then i got an email from the lovely knitter i met at the viriginia conference and spent the day in brooklyn with, and she told me that the rockefeller archives, where i want to go, actually have grants, and i can apply at the same time as the UPenn fellowship, so they can be added together and give me maybe 6 weeks in the States next year.
its not this year, its not now, but its there, waiting in the future. i am very lucky to have supportive intellectual colleagues and mentors who only want me to succeed. i have seen some very nasty academic behaviour lately, from women even, and while i know we are not immune from problems of ego and competitiveness, i do expect better, and i hope i am a better role model for my students than that. i am blessed to have the people i do, and i hope i wont let them down.
but right now, im gonna go knit for a few days! see you next week.
k xx
