Monday, August 27, 2007

The Ant and the Grasshopper

At some point in my childhood, I was traumatized by Aesop's fable of The Ant and The Grasshopper. The grasshopper, after singing beautifully all summer while the ant worked, dies in front of the closed door of the ant in the midst of a winter freeze. The ant and his friends party inside -- warm, dry, and full of food from the summer and fall harvest.

I was not a fan of the ending. Why was the grasshopper so bad? Couldn't that ant find the compassion to slip some grains of wheat to the desperate musician? Why not invite him in? Who wouldn't want some fiddling throughout the long, dark winter?

In any event, I come to find out ...



I am such an ant. I have started my holiday knitting. I volunteered to produce many knitted things for this year's Holiday Bazaar at RWS and I have plans for many knitted presents -- I don't want to be stuck knitting late into the dark December nights. These stocking ornaments are addicting. I'm using up tons of yarn leftovers and having so much fun trying out different patterns that I may use for full-sized stockings.

Pattern: From Christmas Stockings: Holiday Treasures to Knit, edited by Elaine Lipson
Yarn: Leftover Jamieson Spindrift from these
Needles: US 3s dpn
Notes: Simple, easy, fast, ... addicting



I am also storing, freezing, and otherwise saving lots of the fresh, local, organic produce that we get weekly from our CSA: Amy's Garden. I've got a freezer full of oven-roasted tomatoes and sauce because a winter tomato from the grocery store is just a nasty thing. I've been using this simple, light sauce recipe here (I'm putting the tomatoes through the food mill at least twice).

I'm trying to encourage my inner grasshopper by spending days at the pool, eating fresh peaches, and being lazy in the 95 degree temps. But I might just be knitting Christmas stockings at the same time ...

10 comments:

Kristy said...

That's so funny-- we were just discussing this story last night while we were freezing many containers of homemade marinara sauce :) I'm glad you're able to enjoy the moment AND plan ahead!

knitnzu said...

So maybe I'm an ant too, but not as busy as you! When I think of terrible fates for grasshoppers, I think of golden digger wasps... there were some that lived in a gravel walk once where I was in MA... they capture and paralyze a grasshopper or katydid (keeping it alive), drag it into their burrow, lay an egg, and seal it all up. Horrible. But these wasps are also beautiful. This year I saw a tarantula hawk (kind of big wasp), they do the same thing, but with big hairy spiders in the desert.

Liz K. said...

Those ornaments are so freakin' cute. I wish I could get my act together to get stuff like that done.

Diana said...

I have that book! I'm gonna have to go get it out. I love those tiny stockings!
I oven dried some grape tomatoes the other day and they make a great snack so not enough for sauce!

Annie said...

I am right there with you! 3 Christmas gifts will be knit in September. Better early than....never!!!

Liz said...

Heh! I loved this entry! It's about time I got my ant act together and get busy, too.

Bridget said...

Funny, I just started this past weekend, thinking that I need to plan what I may make for who for holidays and birthdays - must be the time of year.

"Inner grasshopper" - I love it!

Octopus Knits said...

Mmmm... the tomatoes look delicious! As long as you're a kind ant, it's good to think ahead and be productive...

Dorothy said...

Sounds like you are on the ball this year.

I never liked that ending either. I always wondered why the ant was so cruel.

Anonymous said...

You are a generous person! I will not knit for Christmas. I want to knit only what I want to knit.