Looking back.

As a child seeing my mother knit was the most normal thing in the world to me. She was always either cooking or knitting, and excelled in both . She was always teaching or giving advice about patterns and stitches to friends, neighbours, relatives. The knitting needles must have seemed to me extensions of her arms. I don't remember having worn as a child a sweater or a cardigan that wasn't handmade by her. Her eyes lit and she smiled timidly at the nice comments that other ladies made about how pretty and elegant my sisters and I always were.
Take a look at this:



I must have been not more than three years old. Doesn't this cardigan look machine knitted? Well, I have never seen anything made by her that wasn't a masterpiece and the thing that amazes me most is that she never followed patterns or written instructions.
Believe it or not, I still keep that little beauty she made for me over fourty years ago!
Here it is:





Being so old and having been washed many many times it has obviously lost a little of its original shape and perfection but it is still in extremely good conditions.
In spite of the yellowish light and the poor quality of the photos my mother skill is quite visible. It is made with the thinnest pure wool. The stitches are very small. I would say she must have used 1.5mm or 2mm needles.
I simply love this little cardigan and I dream of making one exactly the same one day, maybe, who knows....for a grandchild!
Meanwhile I'll keep on making shawls.
The pink crochet one needs just one more round. I can't wait to get it off my hands!
Look at what I fished out of my knitting basket the other day:



it's just one of the numerous ufos that I have carefully hidden around the house trying to forget they exist. But they mercilessly appear when I least expect them to, seeking revenge! I can't blame them. They seem to say: "Shame on you, Rita! How could you do this? What ever happened to all the loving attention you dedicated us for days, weeks.....?"
Oh well. Mea culpa. I guess I will have to make amends. Yes, how right you are, Red Venice Shawl! I humbly apologize and yes, I will devote my best attention to you and your fellow ufos as from next week.
It's a promise.

Damn hot!

43°C yesterday and we're heading for about the same temperature today too. I can cope with in the daytime but not at night. I have hardly slept at all in the past 3 nights. Lack of sleep has a strong effect on me, body and spirit. I feel like a walking zombie ( and look like one too!) as I move around the place doing a little cleaning and tidying up, just the necessary to prevent having to call the cleaning service (haha) by the end of the week. I try to keep our meals as simple as possible but I still end up cooking for about and hour twice a day. I can live on fruit for weeks, but the boys need at least one proper meal a day. Why haven't we got air conditioning? Well, up here it's normally well ventilated and even the hottest summer days are mitigated by a pleasant breeze, but I'm seriously thinking we will need air conditioning at least in the bedrooms if this kind of weather persists.
The pink crochet shawl is growing very slowly, not more than one round per day and, believe me, it takes all of my willpower to achieve such a small result!
Three more rounds to finish the pattern then maybe another two for finishing it off nicely, that makes...five days?? Too long. I'll try hard to have it washed and pinned before the weekend, weather permitting.

5 weeks.

Has it really been five weeks since I last blogged?
My emotional state seems to have influenced my perception of time.
The events of the past weeks have had a negative impact on many aspects of my everyday life, including my enthusiasm for this blog. Whenever I'm depressed or worried I become clumsy and accident prone. I don't think I have ever broken so many things before, glasses, plates....they just fall out of my hands. And I accidently knocked down of my favourite table lamps while vacuuming the other day.
I will not bore you with details. I am a reserved person and , anyway, who wants to hear someone else's whinings and complaints about how much it hurts to be slapped across the face by life?
Everyone has to face problems, right?
Needless to say there has been very little knitting progress on my current projects. Ufos piling up in my hobbies room. I just can't seem to concentrate on anything.
A few days ago I picked up a crochet hook and a ball of yarn and started crocheting a simple mesh shawl. My idea is to make a plain triangle and add some kind of pretty edging. I have some swatches I like and one in particular looks appropriate.



This is it for the time being.
Oh, I have a couple of nice summer recipes for everyone to enjoy. Will post them very soon. I promise.