Dear Kay,
Not to be pretentious or anything, but I keep thinking about that Kierkegaard quote, “It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.â€
That’s on my mind a lot these days, as I wander toward the hem of my life. It’s pretty meditative, this Knit Your Life project. I took it off the needles to see what things were looking like.
Tangly is what they look like. Here’s the front:
Here’s a side view, showing the back side on the right. Remember, the calm, easy side is what life is supposed to be.
Here’s the other side view. Random wanderings happen especially at the margins.
Still enjoying this a lot. Beginning to have superstitious feeling that I can’t ever cast off this hem. Maybe I’ll just leave the stitches on a holder down there. Don’t want to end anything too soon . . .
Love,
Ann
While I also find life can be messy and random at the margins, I think you’ve created a lovely example of how we are a work in progress. To the very end, whenever that might be.
Maybe you can add to it a little more each year and end it as a long flowing dress!
Well, you’d be very trendy to put a thick neon cord through the live stitches at the bottom. But you don’t want to put it on hold, either. Just rename it “Life so Far” and make it wearable. (Which makes me think of Joe Walsh singing Life’s Been Good So Far – you know that one?)
I remember your original intent with the “supposed to be” and “is” but aren’t some parts of life getting so much more straightforward? Like, the “how will I do my hair” issue seems so much less dire now than 20 years ago, and “there’s always next year” seems actually kind of like a real alternative now, when 20 years ago it was just a stupid way to downplay a horrible disappointment.
Maybe I’m just having a Zen Monday.
Looks great.
When you get to the “end” if you rip back a bit will you get younger? Could you knit a bit and rip a bit and knit a bit and…could this be the Sweater of Dorian Grey???
We need superstitions, if only to counteract Kierkegaard’s pessimism. I’d keep the stitches live somewhere in the vicinity of the knee or something.
gee, life is supposed to be calm and easy? who wrote that promise, because (in view of at least my life) that person must be having a really good laugh….
perhaps the sweater will ony APPEAR completed when the hems, and all, are finished. remember, there will be an ” after life”: you will be wearing the sweater. that is the real purpose, the true meaning for knitting/making the sweater, the afterlife. sound familiar?
knit on!
lovediane
I think leaving live stitches on yarn in a contrasting color makes a nice statement about how this life isn’t over yet. Of course by “contrasting” I mean something in the taupe family. Or some other earth tone.
Don’t be superstitious just because they assumed the “to date” portion of the project name. 🙂
I agree, if it really represents your life, then your kids should finish the hem. they’ll be doing the grisly business later. I say, “bury” that sweater and start on a happier one.
Ann, I have been pondering your response to the ending of this life map in textile. I would be inclined to add a plain hem so that the front and back (expectation versus reality) at last resolve to become indistinguishable and leave something hidden that is yet to unfold. You’ve made a memorably meaningful piece. Thanks for taking us with you on the journey.
This is so beautiful. It makes me think of Navajo weavers, and how they’ll leave one tiny imperfection in a blanket. How about taking a leaf out of their book, and it can be finished – and sort of not?
Wow, I love this so much! Both the idea AND the sweater in the works.
I won’t wax philosophical on you today, just say I LOVE this sweater.
I won’t wax philosophical on you today, just say I LOVE this sweater.