IHSW & Other Stuff

It's another IHSW weekend!  (Check the link on my sidebar for more information.)  Is it just me or is time zooming along rather quickly this year?  Here it is the middle of August already!  The local kids went back to school on the 14th.  The mornings/evenings are a bit cooler ... high 60s ... & the days have been topping out in the low to mid 80s as of late.  We are entering what is for me the best time of the year.  My whole outlook on life changes when September/October rolls around & I am giddy with delight in November/December   : )   The only thing that is tainting my upcoming joy is the big black dieting cloud hanging over my head.  I have been trying to motivate myself to return to a life of healthy eating since May & I am failing with every attempt.  I know from past experience that if I'm not motivated to diet then no attempt will be successful.  I realize that my excess weight is contributing to my health issues so I really need to stop pussyfooting around.  If you wouldn't mind saying a prayer for me regarding this, I'd really appreciate it   : )

Perhaps it is sacrilegious of me to post a knitting book review on IHSW weekend but over the past week or so I have been reading No Idle Hands - The Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. Macdonald & I am enjoying it immensely!  At first glance it appears to be a rather daunting book ... 484 pages ... but 123 of those pages are notes, bibliography, & index.  Of course it deals with the history of knitting & I suppose it's a no brainer that if you aren't interested in knitting you probably aren't going to find this book of interest either.  However, it is a fascinating, historically accurate picture of women coming to this country in colonial times & how they treasured their knitting skills so much that space was made for spinning wheels in the cramped quarters of sailing vessels.  You read about how the pioneer women knitted as they traveled west.  There are excerpts from letters & diaries where these women describe their difficulty in leaving friends, parents, & siblings, but also their anticipation of a better life in an unknown part of the country.  They write about their happiness when they would set up camp at night & find other women to talk & knit with.  They write about people dying during the journey & the heartbreak of having to bury loved ones & leave them behind in stone covered graves. They write about their fears of being captured or killed by "savages."  The book describes the important place knitting held in the lives of women (& men & children as well) during the Civil War & World War I.  I have now begun the chapter on the place that knitting held in the 1930s.  I am soaking up all this information like a sponge soaking up water.  I'll admit it ... I'm a history buff. The most fascinating account of crafting history I have ever read has been the history of bobbin lace.  This book about the history of knitting is just as fascinating to me   : )

I don't know how much cross stitching I will get done this weekend.  Although my eye is getting better it still feels quite uncomfortable if I do too much close work.  I am faithfully using my drops which are helping a lot.  I'm sure I'll get in at least a few stitches though   : )   I wish you all a very happy weekend!