Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Unraveled Wednesday

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday, with more teeth on the Hitchhiker due to car, emergency room, and parking lot knitting, a finished hat, and a win at yarn chicken. 


It may not be obvious but there are about ten more teeth on the Hitchhiker than there were last week. I knit in the car during John's procedure on Monday, in the emergency room on Monday night when he started bleeding and we couldn't get it stopped, and then I spent more time car knitting in the parking lot at a follow-up procedure on Tuesday. We were home for about an hour and a half and guess what? It started bleeding again, so back we went. Things seem to be okay now, so while it wasn't much fun for either one of us, I did get plenty of knitting time.


I had enough knitting time that I finished the hat and got to wear it on Tuesday. I also won at yarn chicken with only about a foot left over.

I read a wonderful book this week, Mathematics for Human Flourishing. I know the word mathematics in the title tends to turn people off, but if you see this book at the library and are at all interested, I would encourage you to take a look at it. Francis Su is an enthusiastic, empathetic, and emphatic math professor at Harvey Mudd College. Mathematics for Human Flourishing is based on his speech of the same name, given at the Joint Math Meetings in January of 2017. While he was speaking to mathematicians then, this book is written for a general audience. In it, he talks about five basic human desires that are met through the pursuit of math — play, beauty, truth, justice, and love. This is a novel idea to us, but the ancient Greeks had a concept called eudaimonia, a life composed of all the highest goods. Su points out that math can help build and develop exploration, meaning, play, beauty, truth, confidence in struggle, justice, community, and love.  If you are a human who wants to flourish and also help others to do the same, do yourself a favor and read this book.

This book is not about how great mathematics is, though it is, indeed, a glorious endeavor. Nor does it focus on what math can do, though it undeniably can do many things. Rather, this is a book that grounds mathematics in what it means to be a human being and to live a more fully human life.

What are you making and reading this week?

19 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear about those trips to the emergency room even if they did result in good knitting time. I hope John is on the right track now and you can knit and read peacefully at home.

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  2. I'm sorry for the reason you have so much knitting to share today. I hope all the bleeding is done and John is resting comfortably now!

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  3. I hope everything is ok now and John is feeling better. Knitting is wonderful for times like that.

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    1. I always think of the Elizabeth Zimmerman quote, “Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.” So true!

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  4. Beautiful knitting Bonny, but as others have said, I'm so sorry you got so much done at the expense of John having to visit the ER. Yikes! I hope everything is ok now and that he is healing well and you are peacefully knitting AT HOME. I'm not sure the mathmatics book is for me, but I think it might be one my brother would like, so I'll recommend it to him.

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  5. goodness, I hope he is okay now! 2021 is starting off wonky... Love that you knit while waiting in the car all those times.

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  6. The medical part of this post is alarming, but hopefully things are stable now and starting to improve. I'm so glad you have knitting!

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  7. Oh dear! I hope there will be no more incidences for John and that his recovery goes smoothly! Your knitting! I love that Hitchhiker! (you are such a Hitchhiker inspiration!!) But that math book! Hmmm! I am intrigued! Thank you for sharing!

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  8. I hope the rest of John's recovery goes well! Your Hitchhiker is looking good and I love the colors!

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    1. Thank you, Debbie! We've had an uneventful day at home so far, and we are both glad of that!

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  9. Oh my goodness - on top of everything else, you have had quite a time of it. Hope the healing continues

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  10. Oh, Bonny, I am so sorry to hear of John's troubles! What a miserable thing to happen, repeatedly! I hope things are resolved at this point and that medical issues will be rare in the near future. I admire your willingness to make lemonade out of lemons and knit yourself through this. The EZ approach is definitely a winning one, although I was thinking of "knit on through all crises with confidence and hope".

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  11. Waiting is my least favorite thing, but if I have knitting with me it's tolerable. What an ordeal for you both of you. Sending healing vibes to John and hope that this chapter is soon closed.

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  12. I'm glad to hear that John is doing well right now! Fingers crossed! Love the hat and the y.c. win...it can be so stressful. Love the colors in your hitchhiker...I'm knitting a baby blanket in way out of my wheelhouse colors and it's pretty! (The yarn was given to me by my college roommate when her mom passed. I've held on to it and now my friend is due to be a grandmother so it shall go back to her as a blanket.)

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  13. I hope John continues to do well. Knitting does soothe the troubled soul (EZ) and it passes the time. It's always a plus to win at yarn chicken. Great hat and the perfect hitchhiker color for January - maybe in time to wear for Valentine's Day. Take care.

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  14. Oh complications are so annoying! I hope John is on the path to recovery now. Your hat is awesome. Math! Remember when they made a barbie and she said among other things: Math is Hard! They had to pull her from the shelves people were so irate! Oh that's a good trivia question

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  15. Oh boy, that must have been a little scary! So glad to hear that John seems to be on the mend now.

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  16. Oh, Bonny. I'm so sorry you (and John!) have had to deal with . . . complications. I hope John is feeling settled now -- and that the rest of his recovery and healing goes smoothly! (Your knitting is lovely, though.) XO

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  17. Well, I'm sorry you had so much knitting time AND glad you made good use of it :-) ALSO, that book is squarely in my wheel house. Thank you for the recommendation!

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