Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Public Service Announcement

This is to warn you against a terrible evil – sleeping and knitting.

If you go into New York to see a super-special-specialist (long boring story, not even worth a post) and then doze off on the train home but continue to knit, the results can be tragic.

You can go from a cute little hat, made of super soft cotton, like this for a friend’s baby:



To a hole big enough to drive a bus through:



DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!! Stay awake and alert while knitting.

Then you will end up with something that goes from this:



To this:



And I made a little ribbon rose for it to make it even girlier. I like this one better anyway.

Happy Birthdays

Today is my Dad’s 78th birthday. He is a sweet man and misses my mother, who is in long term care, very much. They have been married for 56 years, so living alone for him is an unwelcome novelty.

My father is an Air Force veteran of the Korean War and a native New Yorker. He and my mother grew up across the street from each other in Manhattan, but he was an only child and she was one of five. He was, and is, super smart. He went to Regis High School, which is a Jesuit high school in New York where admission is based on scholarship.

My parents were young when I was born, 20 and 21, so I remember them in their 20’s and 30’s. It’s hard for even me to appreciate the fact that my father is 78. He says he feels as though he is still 18 inside. I hope he has many more birthdays to come.

Today is also the anniversary of my dearly loved Grandmother’s birth. She was born Katie Daly on April 22, 1905 in Arigna Valley, County Roscommon, Ireland. She came to the United States after the Irish Civil War, in 1923.

She was smart and witty and tough as nails, although she was small in stature. She was devout and dedicated to her family and an inspirational role model who revered education. We had her for 95 years, but that wasn’t nearly long enough.

I read from Proverbs at her funeral:

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.


I will miss you, Grandma, until we meet again.


Photobucket

6 comments:

The Mother said...

I bet we could invent a knitter's snooze alarm. You'd need a tiny accelerometer (like the one in the iphone that turns the screen), fit it into a casing that slides on your needles (like a stitch counter), and VOILA!

A little buzzer goes off when the tips of your needles starts...
to...
drop...

brokenteepee said...

I have heard that if you sleep and knit you might end up knitting yourself into a cocoon from which you cannot escape.

So I have heard.

Unknown said...

Love your story and the hat is adorable!

Marie said...

Mother: It is so nice to see you!! You are a GENIUS!! That would be a brilliant invention!

Pricilla: I've heard that too, whispered in the back rooms of knitting shops. I cannot imagine New Jersey Transit would be too thrilled to find me in that condition. lol

Bella Rosa: Thanks so much for stopping by and for your comment! The first hat was unbelievably soft, I love that cotton. But the second one is definitely cuter.
Thanks again!

The Mother said...

I cede you full rights. Go for it.

Marie said...

Thanks, M. :)