And so the baton passes…..

A lovely and very meaningful part of the Barmitzvah and Batmitzvah ceremony is passing the Torah (scroll) through the generations. When the Torah is removed from the Ark, many communities invite the grandparents and parents of the child to the pulpit to physically hand the Torah from one generation to another, symbolizing the chain and continuity of the Jewish tradition within families. 

At the batmitzvah of our granddaughter and barmitzvah of our grandson, both sets of grandparents were present to hand the Torah from one to the other to the parents and to the young person. It was very moving.

There are other more mundane things that happen that make you realise that the responsibility for other things is also passing.  I have written before that my mother always made the chopped liver for our Jewish holidays.  She died a few months before Passover and the realisation that I would have to make it was not only a punch in the gut about how much I missed her but also a panic as there was no recipe. I managed, at least I knew what it should taste like and I make it every holiday.

This year I realised that the baton is passing further.  Our daughter made challah for their New Year in Switzerland as I did for ours. Traditionally it is not the usual long plaited loaf but is round.  Hers was so stunningly better than mine – no prizes for guessing which was which.

We went to our son and family to celebrate. He cut the apples and Number Two granddaughter drizzled the honey. We had a delicious roast chicken and trimmings and Number Two granddaughter, with a little help from Mum, made banana bread with chocolate chips  (the New Year is all about starting with sweetness so you can’t have too much of it.)

 

FaceTime isn’t the same as being together but the baton is passing – we are very blessed with our family.

Old bad habits are quick to resume

When I knitted a lot I always had a few things on the go – I like the knitting part but hate the finishing off and tidying up the loose ends (this is not a parable for my life!) 

I used to wander around The Needlewoman in Regent Street (yes I am that old) or John Lewis haberdashery department but now we have the internet and the temptation is too great – a pattern here – some yarn there…….

I have finished this neck thing – not quite a scarf but will keep one’s neck warm – will go to Number One Daughter if we ever see each other again….

 

I mentioned in my previous blog about Knit for Peace and these are the squares I have knitted for a full size blanket – just need to sew them together….

 

There is a “Next Door” neighbourhood group for our area.  Someone posted that she is collecting clothes and toys for some refugees who have nothing but what they stand up in.  There were so many replies that she has had to put people on hold as she can’t store any more for the moment. I had a bag of clothes ready to go to the charity shop and added some toys, which now the grandchildren have outgrown which went. There are several pregnant women so I am back knitting blankets again – one down and one on the way – but I still have to sew that other blanket together. 

 

I have just ordered some fabulous looking yarn for scarves and shawls – getting carried away again.

 

 

 

Baking on hold - knitting again

I used to knit – first for Number One Husband in the days before central heating.  He still has two of the sweaters but they are so heavy he is unlikely to wear them again unless the heating fails! 

I then knitted for my children: those were the days when a home knitted red and white scarf sufficed for an Arsenal supporter unlike today when the kit changes every year at great expense. I remember knitting a chenille jumper for my daughter - my mother in law bought the yarn at the Knitting and Stitching Show.  It was horrible to knit with and M&S brought out something very similar at half the price.  She still wore it to shreds.  Number One Son had a Fred Flinstone jumper - I still have the pattern somewhere. 

I then knitted for the grandchildren – each one had a blanket when they were born and some sweaters etc when they were little. Home made is not so desirable – my label can’t compete with the trendier ones.  

Early in the lock down the former sheriff and Past Master of the Framework Knitters, Liz Green, put out an appeal for knitted squares for blankets to be distributed to those who need them at the start of winter.  This seemed like an excellent idea especially as someone else was going to make them up, the tedious part.  We are watching TV or listening to music and being rather more sedentary than usual so anything to keep the hands occupied.  

In August Liz wrote, “This blanket was made by seven people and includes members of six different Livery companies.  We have received such a positive response to the project and we now have sixty blankets either completed or in production.”  This one included some of mine.

Having reminded myself how relaxing knitting is I looked for more very simple projects.  There is a charity called Knit for peace and they collect knitted goods (and spare needles etc) to distribute where needed.  This prompted me to dig out all my old knitting kit and go through it all.  As in sorting out anything this was a trip down memory lane as well.

I found packs of Milward sewing needles which were my mother’s – still in perfect condition.  Henry Milward is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers and the family had a very long association with the trade going back centuries, ending in the 1980s and some of the brand names still exist.  

I also found the lovely rosewood knitting needles which I was given on the visit, lead by Henry Milward in his year as Master, to Needle Industries in OotyKamund (Ooty) in the beautiful Nilgiri hills.  I have several pairs of their bamboo needles, the nicest to knit with. The brand name is Pony – available in all good haberdashery departments and I didn’t realise that that was a Milwards brand as well. In fact many of the original engineers at Needle Industries trained in Redditch and when we visited they were still using some of the equipment. 

Here is some information about the company Henry Milward and Sons. Here is a short documentary which the Needlemakers Company sponsored about the craft which is interesting to watch. 

More about knitting later….

A Very Big Adventure

The last time we left the house other than to visit a very few local friends and family or to buy food was on March 9 to attend a most enjoyable Needlemakers' function: see Last Gasp of Freedom

Apart from the real live face-to-face contact with friends and family, the two cancelled holidays, what we have missed most have been concerts and visits to art galleries.

 

Some weeks ago we booked to visit the National Gallery Titian exhibition “Titian, Love Desire and Death”.  It is the first time that several of the paintings have been shown together since the late 1500s.  I cannot fault the National Gallery for the organisation.  Everyone was wearing masks and socially distancing, the gallery was comfortably busy, quite a few families with children which is always a joy.

We drove in and paid not only the congestion charge but the parking fees (eeek). I think I might risk the Underground next time as I believe it is not busy.  However, I needed to return my library books to the Barbican Library so it was useful to be in the car!

Perhaps I have been locked down too long but while I could admire the artistry and the exhibition is very well curated, I found myself very offended by the subject matter of several paintings. Titian called the paintings the poesie because he drew on Classical poetry for their subject matter – these were his visual poems.  His patron, Philip of Habsburg, King of Spain, gave him total freedom. I would imagine this was every artists dream.

Of course this is Greek Myth, classical poetry, Ovid - but why is it OK for a woman to be raped by a God?  Danae is impregnated by Jupiter (he enters her chamber as a golden shower!!); Jupiter rapes Callisto; he carries Europa to Crete where he rapes her too.  Yes there are other paintings but these annoyed me.

 

There are three “tours” around the gallery after the exhibition and I rejoiced and remembered how wonderful the National Gallery is.  I have nothing against nudity – the exquisite Toilet of Venus by Velazquez. I rejoiced seeing Rembrandt’s Belshazzar’s Feast and Rubens portrait of the family of Jan Breughel and on through past the Turners into the Impressionists and my equilibrium was restored.  The Gallery is also looking stunning.