I hadn’t intended to stop my Lockdown Flashback posts so suddenly, or to skip last weekend’s post. I have been drowning in work, however, and everything else has taken a back seat. I was supposed to be in Johannesburg the past two weeks, but since that is obviously not possible, I did all of my South African teaching while sitting in my study here in England.
News flash, Emma: Eight years after you left home, I have now taken over your room! It’s my study now! I spent a month teaching from the kitchen table while Doug taught from the study. It wasn’t working, and now we are teaching from adjacent studies. Sometimes while I am in a meeting, I can hear Doug teaching about electrencephalography from the next room. I’m thankful that we have enough space to do this. I have one colleague – with small children – who zooms into meetings from her bathroom as it’s the only peaceful place in her house.
Along with not writing the blog, I was also not knitting, not reading, not house cleaning, and not doing anything else. Thankfully, Doug is a good cook, and he’s been taking care of me. I can show you a bit of progress I’ve made on my Hatcher pullover since I last photographed it. I started off with a bang on this one, and I do think it would knit up in no time, if I had time to knit. It is a very enjoyable project, with beautifully written instructions. Here is the back, which only has about an inch to go before I do the shoulder shaping:

The pullover is knitted in the round up until you separate for the front and back, and then it is knitted back and forth. Here you can see the front:

I love the yarn (Kettle Yarn Beyul DK in Yurt) which is a mix of wool, yak, and silk, and had fantastic weight and depth and sheen. It really takes the cables beautifully. I am definitely going to use it again.
Doug and I have been socially isolated for over two months now. We are extremely fortunate – we are both still working, we live near open countryside, and so far, we are both healthy. The girls are well, too, although I wonder when we might be all together again. I can’t help but feel, however, that if one were to believe much of the narrative on the news and social media, that everyone is busy knitting up a storm, quilting, canning and preserving, refinishing furniture, painting the house, reading the works of Shakespeare, podcasting, learning to speak twelve languages, writing and directing a new cinematic masterpiece starring their children and filmed on their phone, magically gaining new editing skills on forty different platforms, and still having time to wash their hair and put on lipstick.
I find that this narrative of the lockdown is getting me down. (Not to mention the pandemic itself, which is very scary.) I feel like I’m just hanging on, and working hard. And all of my colleagues are reporting the same, so I know its not just me. Rumour has it that we are going to be working from home until at least next January, possible next Easter, so maybe there is still time for me to write a great novel, or perhaps just to clean my house.
I hope that you are all keeping safe and well. If you are knitting up a storm, please let me know and I will live vicariously!
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