What is the past tense of Fleeting?

Whatever knit-a-palooza I was off on has clearly ground to a halt.  Maybe I shouldn’t have blogged about it or been happy about it, but all the knitting in this house looks almost exactly the same as it did yesterday.

(Imagine a picture here. Actually, just scroll down and look at yesterdays again. It’s really about the same.)

I completed two rows of the new baby sweater when I got in last night, and managed maybe… eight rounds of a sock while I was out, because I was skating. While I feel pretty confident about walking and knitting, I don’t like the possible consequences of a (fairly likely) fall while skating, and the attendant possibilities for impalement with fine metal sock needles. If they were nice blunt plastic ones, then maybe you’d only have to worry about… actually. Never mind. Let’s just agree that knitting and skating probably don’t go together. Mostly.

Today I’m at my desk, and helping the World’s Top Knitwear Model move home. That’s right, the nest, she is empty no more, Sam’s back, and I couldn’t be happier about the chance to mother her just about to death.  I had always suspected that I was the sort of mum who would love having an empty nest, and looked forward to how it would be when they were grown, and we were all in another phase. Then the ladies all did grow up, and they all left, and it was just me and Joe and the cat,  and you know what?

I was right. It was freakin’ awesome.

It’s cool that Sam’s back though, Joe and I are both delighted to have her here. I’m planning on theme breakfasts, and smoothies, and movie nights, and Sam’s got a great sense of humour and can be very helpful around the house, and she is our baby, after all.

Welcome home, my little butterfly. (Don’t get too comfortable. Mummy was sort of planning to put a loom in your room.)

 

76 thoughts on “What is the past tense of Fleeting?

  1. Skating and moving a kid back home? Who needs knitting?
    Seriously, there are more important things. Much as I’d love to read your account of what happened when you tried to knit and skate at the same time (I’m thinking the police might be involved, or emergency personnel at the very least), some things just don’t go together.
    Besides, if Sam makes some of those theme breakfasts, you’ll have more time to knit later.

  2. Aren’t you lucky to have the world’s top knitting model back under your roof! She really is the best, combining great looks with a marvelous sense of humour ( I loved the upside down socks pic). I know, because my daughter (when she visits) just LOATHES modelling knitwear, even though I think she looks pretty spiffy in it, and sometimes people actually stop her on the street and ask, “Aren’t you that Buttonbox girl?” Enjoy Sam while you can; the loom can wait a bit. You have knitting to keep you busy for now.

  3. A thought common to all Mom’s with a craft. My mom filled up all but one of our rooms with quilting. (I took over the dining room; who needs to feed more than 5 at a time anyway?)

  4. My younger daughter (I have only 2) actually “boomeranged” at least 3 times before finally settling into her independence. Just sayin’. It happens with some of them. Roll with it. It has it’s upside moments.

    • You’ll get training for that. It’s called college. I’ve got one that is 20 and goes to a local college and sleeps at home. The 18 year old is 3 hours away, and has come back twice – Thanksgiving and Christmas, and will be back in two weeks for a long weekend. College is training wheels for being rid of them… and it’s perfectly OK.
      That said, the 20 year old has threatened to move out, and the minute she does, I OWN HER ROOM. I already know what I’m going to do with that room.

    • When our youngest moved out we thought it’d be forever, he was the independent type. But some years later his wife had a very serious illness and was disabled…they ended up back here when he couldn’t support them on his own any more. She recovered, and he had his struggles with depression etc. 4 ½ years later they are again on their own and everyone’s fine. Life doesn’t always follow the path you envision.

  5. I seem to recall reading a story that you wrote about the perils of knitting and skating at the same time. Didn’t it involve white acrylic yarn and plastic needles? I am heartily in favor of having your Knitwear Model living on site though, so much more convenient that having to ask them to come home for a photo shoot! Not to mention the threat of “We are not eating until I have this photographed” is so much more effective when they are relying on eating at your table! Enjoy having her home.

  6. Knitwear Model: do not worry about mommy “sort of” planning to put a loom in your room. I hear that Joe has definite plans to establish his amplifier museum there.

    Good to have you around, Sam.

  7. Not sure whether to cry or laugh at the thought that grown up children might move back in! At the moment my most pressing concern is getting the third child out of nappies 🙂

  8. I moved out at 22 to live with my now-husband, 115 miles away from home. My mom cried her eyes out and ok ok, I cried some too. Two weeks later she called me in New Hampshire to make sure that I was “really” going to stay, because she was thinking of turning my first-floor bedroom into an office/craft room. 🙂

  9. My children are in college, and come home intermittently. Just often enough for me to remember that it’s OK if I don’t miss them when they first leave again. My son, however, is in Australia right now, and will be back long enough to sleep, pack up and head back to school in the fall. He’ll be home for a short Thanksgiving break, when I’ll get to hear all about his spring/summer adventure. I miss him. He’s been gone most every summer since Sophomore year of HS.. so I say it’s been training for me, for when he moves out. I don’t think he will come back. His sister.. I’m not making plans for her room.

  10. My oldest has moved out and came back. While it is nice to have them gone along with their laundry and dirty dishes, It’s nice in a motherly way to have them back. Especially if she helps with the laundry and dishes! The nicest thing about yarn is that it will sit patiently on the needles waiting for you to return.

  11. Welcome back Sam. Looking forward to seeing you model Siren Song, and socks, and tams and other such beautiful knitwear. But watch you don’t stub your toes on the loom…..

  12. I hear you about that loom in the ex-‘spare’ room … both my darling daughters were elsewhere for 2 years, and I was just thinking about colonizing the smaller of the 2 rooms, when they both moved back in … small sigh. One has retained the toddler mentality and thinks she is living in a slave empire (with her as empress) — actual quotes: me (after 6 straight days of emptying the sink): ‘Could you do the washing up this evening?’ Daughter (with impatient sigh): ‘I did it LAST WEEK!’ And the other (younger) one has matured amazingly and completely understands that she is living as a full member of an egalitarian commune.Does the washing up, often, without even being reminded …. cleans things … puts the laundry on … hangs it up…
    Clearly it can’t be their environment and education, with such different responses????

    • Having an older sibling is a different environment from having a younger one.

      Just something I noticed as a parent of four. (Before parenthood I didn’t believe in the “birth order” theories!)

      However, also, people arrive on this earth with unique personalities already built in.

  13. A loom in the spare room. Hum… My 19 year old is moving into the dorm in the fall. I have a loom in the attic… I could DO that. Of course I could put a loom in either of the “storage” rooms, too… or even in my office… A floor loom, that is. I have a frame loom in my office… and 2 or 3 rigid heddle looms in the living room. All of which have had unfinished projects on them for at least a year– up to 3 years– and none of which have been woven on… so many hobbies, so little time.

  14. Sam’s back!!! Yay! Of course you and Joe are delighted. . .but what about the cat?

    One possible solution for the loom issue: put it under a loft bed in Sam’s room. Never heard of a loft bed? Think of a bunk bed without the lower bunk (ducks as Sam throws something). . .

  15. This post is EVERYTHING I love about your writing. (Also – anytime a post makes me snort-laugh, it’s a winner). Mine are still home, but I know I will have the pushme-pullyou feelings I see here when they are gone (and if they want to come back for a bit).

  16. Fleeted, or was fleeting, actually. Instinct would make it seem to be flitted but flit (and flitting) iis in itself a different word.

  17. My daughter’s room got shelving built in and is the Official Yarn Room (as opposed to the yarn everywhere else). You can walk through it, there are little paths. Now I’m turning the tables–me and two cats going to move in with her (and 4 y/o and two cats). Where the yarn will go is a vexed question.

    • Those vacuum space bags are awesome! You can still see and get to your stash and you can make them flat enough to slide under a bed or between the nightstand and wall… But you can also overload them til it’s so heavy you can move it (who knew yarn could weigh THAT much). Good luck!

    • I have yarn in 17 large clear plastic totes with moth-proof snap on lids. Makes it rather portable. Stack of 5 in the living room corner right now.
      Julie in San Diego…where it is 57 degrees today and we think it i terribly cold

  18. Oh, don’t tell Sam — but I envy you having your baby at home (for a time). My little one (Jacob Allison) is still in Japan with the US Navy, but will be assigned to San Diego, CA in the Autumn. Come visit!

  19. For years my Mom has told me variations on the same theme…”you will miss the noise, the activity, the…( fill in the blank) when they move out.” Half of my 6 sons have moved out. One came back after getting his training and stays here awaiting a job. One just turned 18 and is saving more money before leaving. One is legitimately home at just 15 yrs. I will miss Them if they go far away but I will not miss the noise, or the laundry, or the dirty dishes, or the disappearing food, or the interruptions to my knitting/crocheting/whatever I happen to be doing time. I don’t mind those things in small controlled doses, but I would have to be a lunatic to miss those things! Perhaps it is different with grown mature girls? Your trio seems to be lovely human beings.

  20. 1.Your shawl turned out to be so gorgeous – made me put it in my queue.
    2. Thanks for the fabulous tutorial on how to fix a mistake. I, too, have tried it my own way with varying results, so I hope to have better results with my next mistake.
    3. Cute baby sweater – from yesterday’s picture.
    4. Have fun with Sam. I love my empty nest, too, but it’s great when they come home for a while. Livens the place up a bit.

  21. Regarding the “after-thought heel” – I’d love to see a tutorial on that some day from you. I know I can look it up somewhere… but it sounds absolutely terrifying to cut (cut?!) yarn in the middle of a heel and actually get it back together again! Love your blog…

    • I had to look it up, too, and found some good videos. The best idea I saw was to knit half the stitches (where the heel will go) with waste yarn, then continue with your regular yarn to finish the sock. When you are ready for the heel, you pick up the heel stitches in the row above and the row below the waste yarn, then unravel it. No worries about cutting,

  22. Go Sam. Welcome home. Hugs to all of you. (One of mine is losing her place because the landlord just found out how much more rent the neighbors were being charged than she was, so for her, everything is up in the air right now.)

  23. Even though I used to be a pretty good skater and probably could have knit while skating, skate blades are sharp and I wouldn’t want to risk their coming in contact with my yarn. (Can you imagine what might happen if you got your toepick stuck in your knitting?! Horrors!)

  24. Glad to know that we aren’t alone. My husband is getting ready to install a revolving door and we only have 2 daughters. (26 and 24 and I swear, both nearly launched…) Thankfully the daughter currently in residence has a great sense of humor, cooks and knits! Things could be far worse.

  25. My late mother and I were very, very close. After I’d been married some years, she told this story, which I’ve always enjoyed:
    “When Karen went away to college, I thought I was going to die. Then when she graduated and moved back home, I thought I was going to die.”

    Have you already selected the loom?

  26. First thing– it’s definitely my rural personality talking, but I think the past tense of “fleeting” ought to be “done flouted.” I am also in PJs at 11am, so I may not be a person to whom anybody should be looking for advice.
    Second thing– knitting while skating falls squarely into the category “Things I Do Not Wish To Explain To The Paramedics,” which is a very useful behavior filter. I do not want to be the patient who makes the medics, and then the nurses, and then the doctor have to make sure she’s wearing her poker face before she speaks with me.

  27. LOLed at the “freaking awesome”. I have a 10 month old and an almost-3-year old, girls, and I try very hard to enjoy their smallness and seize the day and all that crap, but yeah. Empty nest will be great one day :p. At least as of this week the 3 year old is potty independent. One less butt to wipe!

  28. Oh, you won’t need that room yet. It will take you a while to learn how to weave well enough to know what kind of loom you want badly enough to put in there. At least, that’s what’s kept my guest bedroom a bedroom all this time…

  29. Some of my very best memories are from the months my younger daughter lived at home between college and grad school. She was over all the high school and early college issues and was so much fun to be around. I really think that period helped us become “friends” in a way that has lasted ever since, even though she lives (too) far away and has children of her own.

  30. I personally don’t enjoy winter, except skating on the canal a couple times and getting a beavertale. But this “winter” has been too mild for much of that. I hope you had fun!

  31. Knitting and skating, hmmm……? I am now knitting and watching movies. My significant other has gotten used to that. I’ve thought about knitting and taking a walk, but I struggle with missing the sights of the great outdoors. How do you do it?

  32. Past tense of fleeting is “flown”.

    I, too, have a daughter recently returned home. This one has been gone for long enough that I’m thoroughly enjoying her company.

  33. I’m with Jill. “Flit.” As in, all that knitting time I thought I had flit away. Could also be that it was frittered away. That’s what often happens to me.

  34. The very first piece of your writing I remember reading was a story about skating while knitting something white… (or is that knitting while skating?) It was on the old knitlist. I loved that story – it got me hooked. I used to scan the usenet list looking for your name to find only the posts by you. Thanks for the memory!

  35. New house. More bedrooms. Two rooms occupied by, 3 spinning wheels and two looms, one a floor loom and the other a rigid heddle. Loom room has entire yarn stash! All spinning fiber in spinning wheel loom. Sam…look out! Mom mom has plans!

    bjr

  36. The past tense of fleeting would be dragging. No, I guess that’s the opposite. “I thought the time was fleeting, but it actually had already fled.” Someone can tell us what case that sentence is (not me, and I’m the former English teacher. Never employed as a teacher; no jobs in 1968).

  37. I moved home with my parents in 2002 and it’s worked out really well for all of us. It can seem odd in our “independent” culture but intergenerational households are very common in many countries. Welcome back Sam!

  38. i love this, my mother in law actually forced my husband an i to move in because we just had our daughter and where we were living was in horrible condition for a baby, ill definitely take your word for using those needles on the ice lol

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