For the past week, I have been waking up at 2:17 am. Insomnia is a fairly normal response to having a bit of stress in your life, so I am not surprised by the waking up. But I am surprised by the precision of it. I am not a precise person, as I have admitted before. But I have a digital clock, so I know that my insomnia kicks in at precisely 2:17 every morning. Apparently, the part of my brain which is in charge of stress has a little precision available to it. Why should this precision not be available for the part of my brain which is in charge of making points on the triangles in my quilts, or following the lace pattern exactly?
Actually, my lace is looking pretty good, as you may or may not be able to see here. I tried to pin it out a bit on a handkerchief, but it preferred to crumple the handkerchief rather than stretching out to show you its pattern. Lace is like that. It hides its gloriosity until it is all finished and blocked, and then you can see it. It must think it is a butterfly or something. Conceptually, lace is rather impressive, since it is a process of knitting extra space into your piece in one spot and then taking it away in another spot. In this manner, you keep your piece from getting bigger, but manipulate the space into patterns as it comes and goes. Sounds rather grand put like that, doesn’t it?
Two repeats of a complex lace pattern, which is what we have here, could still be an edging. If you reach this point and want to quit, it is still a possibility. This is the point of no return, though. If you go beyond this, then you have a fabric, not an edging, and will have to soldier on.
Speaking of soldiering on, it has come to my attention that not everyone has gone back to school yet. I was talking yesterday with a lady from Pennsylvania who assured me that the children of the Frozen North aren’t in school yet, and The Water Jar has a bit of summer break to go over there on the west coast as well.
Those of you who are still on holiday have a bounden duty to the rest of us: you must squeeze in some extra fun and relaxation for us. An extra hour of Ultimate Frisbee for Oklahoma, an extra mai tai for the parents and teachers of Missouri, an additional afternoon on the beach reading trashy novels for Arkansas, an extra barbeque for Tennessee, some added nap time for Louisiana. You owe it to us.
RYC: We have a ongoing battle in our dept between those who emphasise creative thought and understanding, and those who weight technical correctness most heavily. It’s really interesting overseeing the marking of the post-grads – their marking practices nearly always mirror their supevisors’. As I’m the one who sends the marking back to be re-done at first year level I have a certain amount of power of enforcing my marking views (thought and creativity first – copy editors are paid to sort out the technical difficulties – and they actually enjoy doing it!). When I have students from other tutors’ classes coming to me for help however, I always warn them that they need to be aware of what their own tutor puts weight to. The students appear to accept that. They know that if they are truly unhappy with their mark they can ask for a re-mark and that I will be the one re-marking.