I've closed the commnets on the giveaway blog posts. I'll be posting the 'winners' shortly. I gave up pretty quickly on picking favorites and will do it all with a random number generator.
I leave you with the following, something I read on the ride home from work tonight that struck me. NB - I take 'crochet' less than literally. This is a translation from the Portuguese, although the hooked ivory needle does make it sound like he was really talking about crochet.
"I make landscapes out of what I feel. I make holidays of my sensations. I can easily understand women who embroider out of sorrow or who crochet because life exists. My elderly aunt would play solitaire throughout the endless evening. These confessions of what I feel are my solitaire. I don't interpret them like those who read cards to tell the future. I don't probe them, because in solitaire the cards don't have any special significance. I unwind myself like a multicolored skein, or I make string figures of myself, like those woven on spread fingers and passed from child to child. I take care only that my thumb not miss its loop. Then I turn over my hand and the figure changes. And I start over.
To live is to crochet according to a pattern that we were given. But while doing it the mind is at liberty, and all enchanted princes can stroll in their parks between one and another plunge of the hooked ivory needle. Needlework of things .... Intervals ... Nothing.... "
~ The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa
- translated by Richard Zenith, Penguin Books, 2003
So happy to see you back! We are taking our first visit to Florence (because you loved it so, and described it so evocatively!) in a few months. Can't wait to see all the places you described, and drink the coffee at places that are not Starbucks! (Although having moved from Bergen County, NJ to Deerfield, NH..... it is 20 miles to the nearest Starbucks.)
I lost track of you during the long thumb injury hiatus..... truly sympathized, as after retiring in 2005 I decided to go for a long time goal, and learn a musical instrument. Unfortunately, the harp is not a good choice for elderly thumbs, and I spent 6 months waiting for the tendonitis in my left thumb to recede.... meanwhile, I taught myself to knit without pushing with that thumb. I never realized how much I needed my thumb until then.... pulling up pants, grasping a jug of milk, etc.... all very difficult! Since then, I sold the harp and pay A LOT more attention to minor aches and twinges, knowing that they could be the precursor of a repetitive stress injury that seriously cramps my style. I still miss the harp, though.... and I'm glad I found a dear friend with intact thumbs to sell it to.... could not have borne to sell it to someone who would not cherish it the way I had.
Posted by: Barbara M. | 03 July 2011 at 01:50 PM
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Posted by: Yarn | 15 July 2011 at 05:49 PM
Your article is amazing I got an effective knowledge from you article. I want to read more about your other articles on Yarn and Cotton yarn
Posted by: Yarn | 23 July 2011 at 09:43 AM
I also follow through Google Reader!
Posted by: Red Wing Black | 30 November 2011 at 06:09 AM
I loved your article. Made me realize I'm not the only one out there in this crazy world with a love of crochet. Wishing you and yours a VERY happy and healthy new year from http://www.howtocrochetabeanie.com
Posted by: Love To Crochet | 02 January 2012 at 01:04 AM