My son

My son has a intern.

My son is 21 years old and he has an intern. He works in a part time job for an internet company.

He is in his third year at University reading psychology when he is not working. He, of course on his way to a first. He got well about the class average in all his courses last year

My son was also really really good at being a challenging teenager.

He had a fabulous teacher at school who told me my son had been a lovely child and would be a lovely adult. He was and he is.

6am wake up

I am really annoyed with myself. Working as a Social Worker I was a powerhouse of efficiency. Yet now I knit commissions and study knitting design I have lost my efficiency. Basically I have not been such a good worker for myself. 


People life changed today. My daughter started work and I have the house to myself. So I jumped out of bed at 6am-well 6.15 and got going. I am now on a roll and feel really pleased. Yesterday went past in a fug of disorganisation, not helped by getting up at 3am to watch the All Blacks World Cup game and then going back to bed. By contrast everything I wanted to do yesterday will be done by lunch time. 


The thing is that knitting takes time and I need to make that time.


I mentioned that my daughter has work. She is home for a year after 3 years in the IDF and prior to going to Hebrew U. She had a month at home last year and the year before and got casual work with the greatest of ease. She has work as a Nanny but it took 8 weeks to find. It seems now any job for a young adult is good. I know how hard it has been for my kids in periods of unemployment and it has never been long term. The profound and long term damage that long term unemployment   brings to young adults frightens me.

Knitting trauma and the Rugby World Cup

 I have got overwhelmed with knitting again. Above is a simple jumper for me! Yes me! It's a 2 stitch cable so there is no need for a cable needle. However even this is a little to complicated to knit when watching the All Blacks play in the Rugby World Cup-I forget the garter stitches.

 I could always use the sock wool above. Hannah home from Israel is cold already. She left a lot of her things in Israel including her hand knit socks. I know we will not have enough socks to between us for winter and I really should get knitting. But if I cannot do garter stitch can I possibly knit a sock?

I also have City and Guilds course work and commissions (yep cables). But I need to knit to stay calm whilst watching rugby and have nothing simple enough.
We have a substantial blanket collection so I cannot really justify strips of stocking stitch which I fear is all I am currently capable of.

unemployment

We read about growing unemployment but I think for most of us it is difficult to comprehend exactly what this means for people.


I went to the excellent Museum of London this week and saw the exhibition based on the Evening Standard's anti poverty campaign.
Two things I found really haunting were the young man who could simply not afford the £19 UCAS application fee. It was humbling to think I did not even think about spending this money for my children and could not even remember that we had paid any fee at all.


Secondly was a family who lost a new born baby.They could not afford to pay for a burial and had to have a council burial.. Their London Borough Council buried children in mass graves. Their child's body was taken by a fox as they were waiting for more bodies to fill the grave. The good thing is that since then all London Councils except one now bury children in individual graves.


But on a more humdrum level I now know a few people looking for work and it is the tedium of it all that seems to be incredibly difficult. Lots of time and no money. I really do not know when and if this will all end but I hope it is soon.

always have some slob knitting

I have good genes I really do not do illness all that often but Sunday I sat and blobbed, felt dizzy and did nothing of any use.
People at times like this you need slob knitting. Knitting that grows without thought, knitting that encourages the limited range of random thoughts your brain is capable of. Knitting that makes you feel you can still do something. This is my resolution-I will always ensure I have a back burner slob knitting project. This week it really was the source of much happiness.

time out knitting

I have made a knitting mistake-course work and commissions are challenging and satisfying but I realised I need evening time out knitting. Please please check out www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/annie-lee-designs. I am now making her Groovy shawl in the evenings and my other knitting flows so much better. It is one of those patterns where it is blindingly simple to keep track of the pattern and it is the sort of shawl I have always wanted.

The daughter is off at a second job interview. She now has a Sunday job and a tutoring job for an hour a week. (The joys of being bilingual). No doubt it is tough out there. My husband is working in Dublin as he could not find work in London. But that is what it comes down to all of us will take on any work we can find and we have all found work comes from work. My son is working 6 days a week in a summer job that began as a 2 hour a week job. I do feel for this generation I cannot begin to imagine the challenges they will face. I guess the best thing is to help them be resilient and flexible-there world will be even more in flux and constant change than ours ever was.

the most outrageous cook book

The 100 Glories of French Cooking is the most outrageous cook book ever.

I found it for 50p in a charity shop and never has 50p been spent more enjoyably.

The book is translated from French. It was written in 1971 by Robert Courtine who is 'the most famous gourmet in France'.

If my understanding of history is in anyway accurate this was written prior to the foundation of the Common Market when I suspect France was a more inward looking country.

Proof dear readers proof-

On Onion soup he writes 'She gets up early and goes to bed late. Though in between she makes sure of a good siesta, for she adores the city lights and the chiaroscuro of amorous emotions-like the true hooker she is' Remember this is onion soup.

Then there is the Sorbet. Sorbet at it's most simple: juice water and sugar. Robert says; 'For there is still an Oriental element lingering in it: it is a seraglio sweet with the power to evoke potentates' palaces,where contented digestions are lulled by the tinkling and tingling music to which beautiful dancing girls keep time.'