wabisabi

World Record Sock

Honestly, I hadn't planned on writing about the photos, but today's just tickled my fancy so much.  It's the calza della Befana più lunga del mondo -- that is to say, the longest stocking in the world to put out for the Befana.

I love la Befana.  I love Epiphany.  More than Christmas, than New Year's, than my birthday, more than anything else, I love Epiphany, and I would love to be Italian so that I could put out my stocking for the Befana and hope she would fill it with sweeties, and not coal (honestly, I've been good!)

The legend is that the Three Wise Men, looking for the Christ child, went knocking on doors to see if they could get directions.

(There's a joke in there somewhere, I just know it...)

Anyhoo -- at one of the houses an old woman with a broom opened the door, but she had No Idea how to find the Christ child.  The Magi invited her to go along with them, but she refused, saying she had too much housework to do, and leave it to men to wander about aimlessly in Italy when they should have been in the Middle East, and disturbing hardworking women who never got a hand around the house from their husbands.

Or something like that.

However, she later regretted it, and tried to catch them up afterwards, but couldn't find them (this was before the invention of GPS).  But every year, on the eve of Epiphany (that would be tomorrow evening, by the by), she sets out once more in search of the baby Jesus.  And because she can't be sure just which child is him, she leaves a sweetie in their stocking Just In Case.  If they're good -- if they were bad, they get a Lump o' Coal (tm).

So there I was this morning, knitting and watching Piazza Grande, a kind of kitschy low-budget show carried on Rai International.  "Piazza Grande" sort of means "main square", and the show is set up like a town square -- you have little tables with chairs and lots of extras who sit around and look interested.  You have the newspaper kiosque (and they talk about news of the day).  There's a bazaar (where you can win prizes).  There's the Friend of the Piazza who comes on to give advice and answer questions.  There's my favourite astrologer, Paulo Fox.

And this morning, there was the World Record Stocking -- the longest stocking for the Befana in the world, along with 75 befane (befanas).

The stats:  the calza is more than 52,3 metres long, weighs 300 kilos, and was carried by 100 Befanas.

But this calza is more than just a world record holder -- it's part of an effort to raise money in order to provide kids who couldn't otherwise have one with their very own stocking filled with sweeties -- 800 of these stockings will be distributed (one presumes by the volunteer Befanas).

Now, you'll notice that the calza is not knit -- it's made of fabric.  However, the cameraman scanned the line of Befanas, and although there were a lot of fabric and woven and crochet shawls, there were a goodly number of knitted ones as well.  And then there were these:

That's the host of Piazza Grande, Giancarlo Magalli, alongside several Befanas wearing colourful, knit capelets.  There were a goodly number of the Befanas wearing knit capelets.

So the moral of the story is, always be good so you get a sweetie from La Befana, and you just never know where knitting is going to turn up.

Panettone: An Italian Sonnet*

Panettone, delicious Yuletide treat,
I have need of thee, in this the breakfast hour,
To eat, with tea, and honey made from flower,
Pandoro will not do, it is too sweet;
But panettone just cannot be beat;
Of sugar, butter, raisins, egg and flour,
With orange peel and lemon, yet not sour!
And not one made with margarine -- a cheat!

The brioche reins supreme inside my heart,
Alas, for it is nowhere to be found,
So far away from bakeries on French ground;
Thus, at the store I place atop my cart
A panettone soft and very round,
And leave the pandoro in the supermart.

Notes:

Panettone and pandoro are Italian cakes traditionally made and served at this time of year.  Panettone is similiar to brioche, more like a sweet bread, whereas pandoro is more like a cake. 

Panettone is pronounced (more or less):  "pah-net-toe-neh", with four syllables.  Both "t"s are pronounced, as well -- in Italian there is a definite difference between one letter and two doubled up, though I'm only now just able to be able to tell the difference, after a year of watching RAI International.

And yes, today's entry relates directly to today's Project 365 photo (see sidebar at left).

*And to think, you almost got a haiku**.

**Yes, I do know that it's dreadful, but I never claimed to be a poet, just someone who likes to mess about with words.

Project 365: Resistance is Futile

Now, normally I'm not much of a joiner or organizer of (insert dubious activity here)-ins.  Last year I actually joined the FLAK-along, a project that promptly got set aside after I fell last January. 

(I dug out what I'd actually accomplished the other day -- it consisted of the two shoulder panels with the start of the back.  It's gone on The List, as I really like the yarn and the colour and would like to have this sweater, even if the FLAK-along is long gone-along.)

So for the last month, I've been actively resisting the idea of participating in Project 365.

I'm sure you've heard about Project 365, as there are a lot of knit-bloggers who've decided to take a stab at it -- hey, all the cool kids are doing it!

But it took me several weeks of mulling it over before I finally decided it was, really, truly, something I wanted to put on The List.

Mainly, I got stuck on two things.  First, I've reached the point with our current camera that I can't take a picture to save my life.  Second, and probably more important, the idea of committing to taking at least one picture Every Single Day of the Next Year AND putting it up on the blog seemed to be too great a committment.

I think I've written here before that when I start throwing up resistance to an idea, I try very hard now to take a longer look at just what it is that is causing that reaction in me.  I do know that over the last six months in particular, I've grown very resistant to making committments -- it feels as if I've lost control of everything in life, and I've checked out -- I don't want to make an effort anymore, because every time I do, I lose -- or so it seems, these days.

I forget, sometimes, that not doing is also a choice, but in that sense, by consistently refusing to "do", I've put myself in a position of stasis.  Nothing happens.  There is no movement, no momentum, and, therefore, less chance of change happening.  Resistance can be futile, but it at least implies action -- though I think at this stage, rather than pushing against something with all my strength, I'd prefer to let go and lean into things.  Not a great leap forwards by any stretch of the imagination, but forward motion nonetheless.

In addition to being the list-maker I wrote about yesterday, I also used to be someone who always carried a notebook/journal and a camera with me everywhere.  I think I lost that habit before I lost the list-making one, and I think it's time I changed that, too.

Which is why I finally decided, a couple of days ago, to make the committment to Project 365.  One thing I'd also been putting off is a small redesign of the blog (why redesign when I was just planning on closing up shop?).  The Other had already rebuilt the guts of the thing, and it took only a tweek to add the extra sidebar to accomodate the photos.

I'm not planning on doing something involved or extravagant with the project.  I'm not going to use it as an opportunity to improve my skills with the digital camera, like Ted is.  Nor will I set up a separate blog to document things, as Jason has very ably done (though after reading/looking at his, I was, I will admit, very tempted to do so).

For me, Project 365 will be, first and foremost, an attempt to put some order back into the chaos of my life.  Some routine.  I miss my routines, which went right out the window when The Other lost his job, but waiting and waiting until he gets a new job isn't working for me.  So by taking a photo a day -- knowing I have to do it, and post it, every single day -- I hope to establish one new, small, do-able routine.

The other reason I'm taking on Project 365 is because of the description of it:  "Project 365:  How to Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way".  I don't know if I'll become a better photographer by the end of this year, but I can already see that the committment to finding something to photograph every day is forcing me to really look at my life and my surroundings, and to think about what I do, where I go, and how I look at things.

For me, that's what seems more important right now.  Maybe by next autumn, I'll want to learn more about what the camera can do, but for right now, I'm happy just lifting my eyes up and looking at my world.