Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I’m losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I’m glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what’s in her mind
Each time I think I’m close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she’s gone there’s that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can’t deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(Slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didn’t
And why I just don’t know

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what’s in her mind
Each time I think I’m close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

Incidentally, last October Dave did a cartoon based on my very own suggestion!

Update
Further reading can be found here and here

There’s been knitting:

This is now an FO – all ready to take with me to wear at my cousin’s wedding (and proving that I can do project monogamy).

There’s been fabric painting:

Ruth was given a bag and paints as a gift by visitors (thank you Carrie) and having decorated it (yes she did pretty much do her name by herself) she decided that her best best best friend needed one too. I attacked the remains of an old pair of jeans (and was particularly proud of myself for thinking of using a seam as the handles) and we used more of the puffy paint.

There’s been swapping:

I took part in a gluten-free swap (actually I kind of organised it, but life sort of took over and the very wonderful bjwalsh (ravelry link) sorted me out – thank you!). This is the wonderful pile of goodies I received. Do you see that Knit Picks Andean Silk there – yum!! I made the meatballs (as per the recipe on the card you can see) last night, and by the time I remembered to take photos, this is what was left:

What greater testimony do they need

There’s been shopping:

Kerrie had a bit of an oops with her skein-winder and I snaffled the smallest skein. It arrived this morning and all I want to do is cuddle it – camel and silk – it’s the softest yarn I’ve ever owned.

There’s been dressmaking:

This is the infinity dress that I first saw on Laura Chau’s blog, and then I followed the link to the instructions here and the many and varied versions on Crafster here. It did take me considerably longer than an hour, but I do love the result. I would do better photos except that 1) John isn’t here to take them and 2) all the batteries for the camera are flat. I’m cheating slightly – I had a length left over which I wrap round as a make-shift boob-tube first, which means that I can guarantee bra-coverage. Anyway, I felt sufficiently secure in it to wear it to Adam’s hospital appointment today – and it survived Ruth’s meltdown at the busstop, so I think it counts as a success.

We’ve been doing pretty well on the summer holiday front too – lots of out-and-abouting (much to the detriment of the state of the house – ah well) – we’ve been swimming – twice at the learner’s pool at Sheeps Green – this is a little spot of heaven – we’ve been early in the morning and mostly had it to ourselves. Yes, it’s cold, but the weather we’ve been having has made that very welcome, and once our midriff’s were wet there was no fuss about it. After a serious swim (at least two of us kept one foot on the bottom at all times, and it wasn’t me… ) we went over the bridge for a more relaxed splash around at Lammas Land paddling pool. We’ve been out for gluten-free fish and chips at Cox’s in Letchworth, we’ve had gluten-free pasta made specially for us at our ever-favourite Rainbow Cafe – I know I’ve gone on about them before, but I really do love that place. We’ve been round the Fitzwilliam Museum and Adam has had yet another tooth out (this is the third , but at least this time he managed with only a local anaesthetic, although he was a bit stunned by the experience). We even managed a whole day with no television or computer! Whoo hoo!

Oh, and we (the adults this time – these are totally innocent in intent, but the translation of the Chinese character ‘gan’ meaning either ‘dry’ or ‘to do’ may cause offence) have been giggling at this and this and positively chortling at this

So, in true knitting blog style, I’ll distract you with pictures of knitting – oooh look, pretty:

Sylph from Interweave Knits Spring 2008
Debbie Bliss Cathay
This is one of my favourite knits of all time. The pattern is interesting enough (even without the twisted stitch pattern, which I love but, as I wrote before, was biasing horribly) to avoid the ‘acres of st st’ syndrome, and so much of the seaming is done before the knitting is completely finished that the remaining portion doesn’t seem to hurt so much – and of course it gives me the chance to practice the magic of mattress stitch again

And this time – no sore-hurty-shins – not yet, anyway. So, my next run is scheduled for Wednesday… watch this space…

It’s Art Week at the children’s school, so I offered to do something – and was asked for something for the nursery class.

So I took my wheel (it’s a little odd to carry a spinning wheel along the road tucked under your arm, but no-one commented) and some fibre.

They loved the wheel – most of them managed the idea that looking is done with your eyes and not your fingers… And no-one could find anything sharp to prick their fingers on to make them sleep for 100 years.* One boy was convinced that it was the wheel from a pirates’ ship, and wanted to know where the telescope was. (One of the things I really do like about that age group is that when they ask that sort of question, it’s genuine, they’re not trying to be funny.)

Then I made them all wiggly worms: take a small sliver – show that if you pull the ends, it comes apart. Then put some twist in – pull it again – it doesn’t come apart so easily. Twist some more, fold it in half, (so it plies back on itself), stick googly eyes on each side – and there you have a wiggly worm:

(prototype – I didn’t have any googly eyes at home )

*It always bugs me – exactly HOW did Sleeping Beauty prick her finger on a spindle? I have a spindle, I have a wheel – there are no pointy bits for finger-pricking on either of them.

Ruth has been pestering me for a nightdress and I couldn’t find any off-the-peg. Strictly speaking this is a dress pattern (Simplicity 3749), but it works fine as a nightie. I cut the second one out this afternoon…

Anyway, the results are through – he’s definitely Coeliac. I’m just glad that the biopsy results tie in with the blood test results. There is no doubt about it – he needs a gluten-free diet, and that’s it. And we can do a gluten-free diet.

In knitting news – how cute are these?

The famous Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket, pattern bought from Knit n Caboodle with matching Saartje’s Bootees. The main yarn is Mama E’s C*EYE*BER Fiber sock yarn – Beauregarde.

I love the way the two patterns seem made for each other (go garter stitch!) They’re for my cousin’s baby who was born last Sunday – must go and get them in the post…