All That Keeps You Sane – At Sea – [12/29/2013]

sewingThe wise woman does what she knows
If it’s fighting she fights
If it’s sewing, she sews
When the tension inside overflows and goes too far
[…]
Grab a needle, grab a thimble if it’s all that keeps you sane

And sometimes it is. When I say I sometimes hold on my sanity by a thread, I don’t think people realize that I mean it literally. I have two escapes out here – my books, and my thread.

When I can’t focus on anything else, I can focus on the simple motion of pulling coloured thread through fabric.

I’ve always said you can tell the way a contract is going by how much progress I’ve made on my embroidery. Over the summer I completed perhaps a line and a half of stitching, because I simply didn’t ‘need’ it. I’ve been on the flagship for just over a week and I’ve already completed five lines…that should tell you something about the way things are going right now. It’s become my evening and port day ritual: Criminal Minds on the laptop, embroidery cloth over my knees.

If I finish the project by the end of this season (which at this rate actually wouldn’t surprise me all that much) I must then be faced with the dilemma of what to do with it. My sewing is much like my baking, after I’ve completed something I have no real need to keep it – I usually have to find someone to give it to. Thing is, needlework is not as easy to gift as double-chocolate-chip cookies.

I don’t know though, I suspect that after all this pattern has seen me through, this one might be the only one to end up on my wall…

This entry was posted in Below the waterline, Holiday Cruises 2013. Bookmark the permalink.

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