Sunday, January 4, 2009

Back home from the ancestor cult


In old China, the names of the ancestors were written on wooden panels, decorated in red, and offerings were made, like food, wine, and incense. In this case, we were invited by the ancestors and generously feasted. And the harmony would have been perfect, if this woman me could remain quiet after some of my FIL's sentences and not contradict or debate. Can I remain silent after statements on the lazyness of some races? No. If I was able to nodd silently, there would have been no problems, but my FIL keeps talking until I give up, and peace is here again.
MIL did appreciate the rug and started looking for the best place to use it. We slept in my husband's old kiddie's room. My jaws were the parts of my body which moved most: talking and eating. The weather was dark, cold, and rainy. No walks.
I took refuge in embroidery. The upper picture shows one side which was finished already; now I made the reverse side, bottom picture. The patterns were inspired by Estonian knitting. It will be a biscornu, a pin cushion.

P.S. This pin cushion is for sale in Etsy.

9 comments:

Paula Hewitt said...

i had the same problem with my FIL. i tried to keep quiet, but i think the less i argued the more outrageous his statements just to goad me - eventually i always gave in and argued.

Adunakhyr said...

Just Happy New Year!

Rayna said...

Love the biscornu. How wonderful to have a useful item that is also a work of art. What do you fill it with? Sand?

Eva said...

Rayna, :-)) I take sand for those I want to use as brickbats or for blunting the needles. The rest is filled with batting.

jude said...

refuge in embroidery. now that is just great!

Rayna said...

Batting? Oh, how clever.Why didn't I think of that? But isn't sand supposed to sharpen the needles? That explains it!

Eva said...

Oh, sorry, Rayna, I never heard of sand in pincushions, I thought it was a joke!

Judy said...

I came upon a wonderful article written by Nancy Bush, in the most recent Piecework magazine titled "Riina Tomberg Preserving Estonia's Knitting Traditions". Bush begins by writing about how she walked into Tomberg's shop in Tallinn and was captivated by her designs, and then talks about Tomberg's thesis on the knitted jackets from West-Estonian Islands. It was all the more interesting now that I know you and your roots in Tallinn! Would you like me to send you the article or can you find it in Hamburg?

Judy said...

p.s. I meant to add that I could never keep my mouth shut in the presence of my FIL! Sometimes I think that he just said nasty things to see how quickly I would erupt! LOL I would knit a lot when we went to visit that mean old man!!