Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Yarn along confessions











"Some of my sharpest memories I have of my mother are of her knitting. She and Monir june, a friend and former neighbour, would exchange gossip and patterns in the same breath and with equal zest. She would knit in all seasons, even summer, though the results of these endeavors were always uncertain. She seldom followed patterns, preferring to choose her own design, which added to the unpredictability of the results."

                                      Things I Have Been Silent About. Azar Nafisi


Do you recognise the yarn? It's featured in a number of my yarn along posts recently. The actual same skeins. Remember the lida shawl that I was knitting? Me telling you how easy it was...Well it is...that is, it was, If and when, I had time to leisurely sit and knit with no distractions. Which at the moment, isn't very often. I did so much more unraveling than knitting, that even though I said I wouldn't, I decided to change patterns. 

It was the chart that got me. Every time I turned away I'd return to the wrong place. And there was me, writing encouraging comments on other peoples blogs telling them not to give up...and worst of all saying that I wasn't going to give up either.

But I'm so glad that I did change. I saw this shawl here, where everything always looks so lovely.There are no charts to follow so I can sit and knit and download photographs or watch a film...even read, and no more unraveling...Well if I'm honest there is a bit. But it is so easy that there are going to be a few more made...Perfect for this years Christmas presents...

Now I've just got to find something to make for the men...

...Have you got any ideas?

Oh, and I'm reading 'Things I've Been Silent About, Memories of a Prodigal Daughter' by Azar Nafisi. I first read Nafisi whilst studying Fine Art. Her compelling novel' Reading Lolita in Tehran' inspired the film and installation that I produced for my degree project. I wanted to reflecting the duel existence that many women were experiencing in Iran, caught in a kind of limbo, torn between tradition and modernity. 

 I've found 'Things I've Been Silent About' fascinating. At times shocking. It reveals the culture, both of Nafisi's own family and of the society that she grew up in and informed her novel. Although as a memoir it's historical, beginning in the 1940's, It reminds me that  even in this twenty first century freedom means different things to different people, and how we should never take it for granted. Especially as women. 
"I started making a list in my diary entitled “Things I Have Been Silent About.” Under it I wrote: “Falling in Love in Tehran. Going to Parties in Tehran. Watching the Marx Brothers in Tehran. Reading Lolita in Tehran.” I wrote about repressive laws and executions, about public and political abominations eventually I drifted into writing about private betrayals, implicating myself and those close to me in ways I had never imagines."
                                 Things I Have Been Silent About. Azar Nafisi

And I will make the beautiful lida shawl eventually...One day when my head is in the right space to concentrate...

 meanwhile I'm joining with Ginny...



What about about you? What have you been making and are you coming too to see what everyone else is doing?

 debx
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7 comments:

  1. Tracey ~ Clover28 August 2013 at 05:42

    Debby, sometimes yarn just doesn't want to be what we are knitting and really wants to be something else, like a different shawl. It's a good thing you realized that and now can knit along and really enjoy the whole process.

    For my guys this year I think I am knitting a few hats. I would love to do each of them a sweater like I did for the girls, but there just isn't time. Poor Mike, I really need to knit him a sweater one of these days, I promised!

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  2. karen28 August 2013 at 06:20

    that is THE perfect pattern for the yarn, lovely. The shawl I'm knitting was tricky in the beginning and I must say I didn't care for the first chart but the rest of it has been fun!!

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  3. thecrazysheeplady28 August 2013 at 07:32

    Interesting! I think I'll add both to my list.

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  4. Laura Bray28 August 2013 at 10:22

    The book sounds great! I'll have to pick it up. I loved Reading Lolita in Tehran.

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  5. Montse28 August 2013 at 11:32

    Hello Debby,
    This shawl is also lovely,as Christmas present I think it is beautiful, and I would like to receive this gift.
    What beautiful photos of Paris, I did not know the Shakespeare & Co, is an interesting place.
    One day you have to come to Barcelona ... 'll love.
    I wish you a happy week.

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  6. Unknown29 August 2013 at 02:20

    Wow, that book sounds amazing. I read Reading Lolita In Tehran and was just gobsmacked by it. I've watched an amazing Iranian film this year, maybe called A Separation, or something like that, that was really affecting too.
    I love all the knitting and undoing - if it was good enough for Penelope (cf Ulysses), I wouldn't be too worried if I were you!

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  7. Lori ann2 September 2013 at 09:34

    dear deb, i'm so behind on yarn along posts (and well everywhere having to do with computering), but i wanted to say how sweet this is. i love the shawl you are making with your beautiful yarn. and i so understand how that can happen, and the need for something soothing and meditative (instead of concentrating). thank you for the kind words, i feel the same about here, you are so creative with every thing you do.
    i really enjoyed your holiday posts although i may not have commented.
    have a lovely week ahead (and happy peaceful knitting)
    lori

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