Trust

I don’t trust folks who use eternity terms. This is a remnant of my Freshman English class with Tony Stoneburner at Denison, U in Ohio. He used to intone in his former-Methodist Minister voice, “Never use eternity terms…” In my earnestness the irony was lost on me.

My mother is a great believer in eternity terms. She’ll talk about her mother as someone who was, “always loved by everyone“, or about her own school experience as being, “always happy – it seemed that everyone liked me.”

Now don’t get me wrong – I know my grandmother was an extraordinary woman, and I also know that my mother’s rural 1920’s West Virginia childhood – while perhaps not as idyllic as she remembers – was certainly light years ahead of my own suburban level of hell in Toledo, OH.

I prefer Lincoln’s take on the subject, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” or – as Dr. Stoneburner would say, “Only God can use eternity terms”

I’ve been feeling at odd ends lately and rather introspective. I think it’s because the colorwork’s taken so long that my mind is wandering into places it generally doesn’t go on shorter knitting projects.

I’ve come to believe that knitting is a high form of meditation – at it’s best an opportunity to mix rhythmic motion with measurable results. This happy combination allows the mind to wander far and wide while the hands count off how long the mind has been roaming the landscape of the brain. A physical manifestation of concentrated thought.

A few of you have asked where the colorwork will be seen – at this point it’s slated for the Winter 2004 Interweave Knits mag. Last night I finished the last sleeve, sewed them in the armseyes and the last thing I need to do is pick up the stitches around the inside of the armseye to create a nice seam binding. Here’s a glimpse of it on the mannequin (this is right off the needles, it could use a bit of blocking):