Round and Round

"Like warmed-up cabbage served at each repast
The repetition kills the wretch at last."

- Decimus Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal

"Repetition is the reality and the seriousness of life."

- Soren Kierkegaard

Whether you agree with Juvenal or Kierkegaard, you must admit:

Repetition is reality, folks.

Especially in knitting.

And I really don't mind it, as long as I can see progress. It is both soothing and exhilarating to watch something grow under your care, whether that something is a plant, a child, or a work of art.

What gets me is the feeling of spinning my wheels; of much effort with little to show for it.

That sinking realization that...

Wait a minute! Haven't I been here before?

It is frustrating to go round and round a problem, an issue, a piece of knitting only to realize you are back where you started.

I live in a northern suburb of Indianapolis: the racing capitol of the world. Especially this weekend.

This weekend, 33 cars will go round a round a two and a half mile oval 200 times. And at the end of those exhilarating 500 miles...

Finish up right where they started.

And for this, they get paid obscene amounts of money.

Because the point of a race isn't where you wind up, but how soon you get there.

We all go round and round things in our lives (some more than others.) I don't know about you, but I often have to take a few laps.

I study the situation, adjust my balance, figure out the proper approach and then...

Full speed ahead!

Even when we think we are back in the same place, we aren't. The situation may seem all too familiar, but the time is not. We are changed; we are tempered by the experience of having done it before.

And often that means the difference between circling the drain...

And pulling into Victory Lane.

Finished up the design for Rose - third try was the charm.

I like the rosebuds.


I like the dainty leaves.


I like the balance.


Maria, the wonder knitter, is on vacation. Anyone else want to test knit? You must be able to read charts, be an experienced lace knitter (this one is way more challenging than Pampas) and be able to complete at least this much in the next two weeks.


Don't everybody push at once...

Mantra is on the blocking board. Look for this one on Tuesday. Won't get her up this busy holiday weekend, but will have the stash sale up by 11:00 tomorrow, at the latest. Got to get it taken care of, before my honored guest arrives...

I'm babysitting my newly mobile and "into-everything" grandson this weekend.

What are YOU doing?