There is a point in knitting where you have chosen a pattern, then found the yarn of your dreams, then knitted squares to get gauge. Sometimes, and I have been guilty of this, you might have knitted several gauges in all different sizes. And then you stop and you ponder, and you hope that you have got the right gauge.

And this is where I am in life.

Son no.2 is off to University next week, I’ve certainly chosen his pattern in life, I’ve carefully chosen where he lived, his schooling, his extra curriculum activities, along with our use of bribery and corruption on pocket money which was worth twice the amount if he bought reading books. (that worked incredibly well)

There have been many times that we have thought that the gauge was off, it was too wide, or it was too long, or was not knitted up tight enough so that all the loops understood each other. And sometimes I didn’t think it was right but it was as good as we can achieve at that very moment.

I myself am pretty tired, three days worth of wandering around and purchasing ‘stuff’ for “his nibs”

But within that, that purchasing of everything a child might want, and most probably all that he might need if he was to get ill, cold, hungry or need money, let alone clean clothing or giving him enough that he can find his way home again quickly if he so needed to.

Sometimes there is a just a perfect moment of looking at a gauge. When you know its right. And sometimes that gauge looks back at you and says that it is happy to be a jumper or a shawl or a hat. Knitters know when that happens, it makes their day much brighter.

I am hoping, after all of these years,

that I got the right gauge and that my boy is happy.