Light
Happy Diwali everyone! May the light drive away the demons and darkness and lighten all unpleasant burdens! A dear friend’s mom sent me this diya for Diwali: a silver floating lamp. Isn’t it beautiful?
Speaking of burdens. Things have been awful quiet chez Desiknitter lately because I’ve been so hellishly busy. But speaking also of light, there may well be some at the end of a very long tunnel. Somewhere in the chronology of my classes and the semester, there usually comes a turning point – you enter a familiar century, reach materials you can read backwards and all the people you are talking about in class just seem like old friends, you know them so well. I sigh happily, because an unspoken anxiety that dogs me in the other weeks, despite all my reading and prep, just evaporates and I can babble on happily for hours and don’t feel tense. Does this happen to you? I’ve been teaching for years, but this promises to be a constant feature all through for me.
That happened to me today. This is good because I have two important papers to write from scratch by early December, and I need all the extra time and calm I can get. I am also going to a conference at Madison later this week, where the prospect of meeting some friends, esp. a couple of blogfriends is taking some of the edge off my stress. Mary and Orata, if you’re reading this, please email me your phone numbers!
What’s that you said? Knitting? Fine. My red shawl is in the slog overs stage, progressing miniscule row by miniscule row. I am so obsessed with finishing it that I can’t bear to start anything new. But the end is in sight, my friends, I do believe it will be done this year and then I can re-enter the normal world of worsted wool and stockinette fabric. I swear it, once this is done, I ain’t knitting with lace-weight yarn for a LONG time.
