MIA

I've done a fair amount in the last year but haven't been blogging very much.  Summer was all about my daughter being home from boarding school.  We had a great time the three of us (husband, daughter and I) at the family cottage in Ontario.   She decided to go back to boarding school despite my diabolical plan to show her how wonderful life could be at home :  friends, mom doing her laundry, mom baking for her, Sunday dinner, mom helping her clean her room,  mom basically being her slave etc..  All to no avail;  we took her back in September.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm really proud of her independant spirit, and her brains.  A big part of me, most of me is happy if she's happy, wherever that is.  I just miss her so damn much.  Empty nest syndrome is happening to me about 4 years earlier than I expected and it's the pits.

If that weren't enough my doctor informed me that menopause was upon me.  She is not my usual doctor.  Just a young thing with the world by the tail.  Thanks for informing me that my ovaries are "frying up".  Just wait till yours fry dearie.

Sorry about the whining.  Hope to have some pictures as soon as I find either my cell phone or my digital camera which have been lost in our home renovations.  Kitchen is almost done.  It is the one thing making me giddy with delight.  Life could be worse.  That's something I have to remember.  I'm a lucky women "frying ovaries and all.  PS  vitaming D and Calcium and Magnesium supplements have stopped wild menopausal mood swings.  The nurse told me to take them when the doctor was out of the room for a minute.  Thank God for nurses with experience.

Changing Direction

Looking at my new knitting needle holder is as close to knitting or in fact doing anything for at least two weeks. I exhausted myself so much during the last few months that I got Bronchitis and can't seem to get rid of it. When I try to knit just moving my arms makes me cough.

After receiving a prayer shawl at my mom's funeral I have decided to dedicate most of my time to knitting, crocheting or quilting Prayer Shawls. I want to pass the comfort along.

I'd like to knit with a group of people whether that is over the internet or where I live or both. I'd like to knit for a Canadian organization for which people and their families really sacrifice a lot. I'm working on that end of things to distribute them. I'm going to need help so I hope any knitters out there (even one person) will help me by knitting a prayer shawl. I hope to have more details soon.

For information on the Prayer Shawl Ministry go to http://www.shawlministry.com/. Knit a prayer shawl for anyone in need it's a great gift to receive.

New Old Stuff

These baskets were my great grandmother's. They are from western Canada and might have been made by Native artists. I love this kind of folk art which is really so highly sophisticated and honest. The top one is hand painted and served as my grandmother's sewing basket. Inside the big one I found this sweater almost complete made by my mother. Coincidentally it is the same color as the sweater I started while she was dying. It is also a cardigan and someday I will finish knitting the last piece and sew it together.

It is interesting how we decide what pieces of the past we allow into our present lives. Maybe I will never finish the sweater. Perhaps it would be better to rip it and knit something new with the old yarn. If there is one thing I've learned it's to acknowledge the past but to move on with today and the future.

New Stuff For A New Year

Well it's about time I took stock of what's been accomplished in the last few months. My first ever hooked rug is moving along although I don't know if others can tell that the main figure is a cat. I think the sweater is going to be allright. It's my own pattern knit entirely in the round (yeah, no seams). Since my body curves outward wherever it is possible to be curvey I've been experimenting with short rows. This actually quite terrified me at first but it is actually fairly easy to tell where to add short rows (my curves are not subtle). Notice I'm trying not to mention anything about weight. My new resolution is to not say the F word (the three letter word )in conjunction with myself in order to be a better role model to my daughter. The great thing about knitting top down is that you can adjust the fit as you go.

Prayer Shawl

This has been a difficult year. My daughter went to boarding school (her choice) so I've been having empty nest syndrome. Then about 10 days before Christmas my mother passed away. We've been on the road back and forth, doing the 9 hour drive, to the big city since September. I'm going to whine a bit here, but I am so tired that I decided to give myself permission to take a week off at home and just rest.

Thank goodness for all of my hobbies or I would have gone round the bend. What do people who don't knit or quilt or hook rugs do when they're stressed out. I have slept a lot and been very lazy but without my projects I would have been taken over by depression and a sense of purposelessness.

One thing that was absolutely wonderful was a present I received from a wonderful friend of my mother's after her funeral. She and her group had knit me a prayer shawl. When I feel sad I just wrap that around myself for comfort. In fact over Christmas the whole family took to wrapping it around themselves for comfort.

I have heard of the Prayer Shawl Ministry but to be quite honest I didn't really understand it. I mean how comforting could a piece of cloth be. I thought maybe those people should be knitting other things for their families that would be more appreciated.

How wrong I was. The Prayer Shawl I received has been invaluable in helping me through the grieving process. The colors remind me of my mother and when I wrap up in it in a way I feel I am wrapping a little of herself around me. Knowing that the lovely women of her church knit it is a wonderful bonus. Her community of women are also wrapping around me with loving support. What a great gift that it should be prayed over and blessed turning a piece of cloth (albeit a lovely hand knit one) into a garment of spiritual protection.

Having received one I know I must cast on and prayerfully knit a shawl for someone in need.

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year

I'm a little late with finishing this project (on December 24th). The good/bad news is that we all know Christmas will be rolling around again and once again I will have a use for this Advent Calander. Not that I dislike Christmas; I'm just a little tired. We lost my Mom a couple of weeks before Christmas. However we tried to have a good but quiet Christmas to cheer up my Daughter. This weekend we have to take Daughter back south to school and I'm not looking forward to that. When I get back to the cold and blustery north, I'm going to lock myself in a room, and cry while I finish a crazy quilt pillow that has been languishing for several years. Creativity is the best antidote for languishing. Happy New Year (it can only get better ).

One of my favorite knitting books is "Mother-Daughter Knits". Sorry about the horrible photo of it nestled amongst the clean laundry pile I am trying to ignore. The Buttoned Muffler pattern is excellent. Here it is in Patons Shetland Chunky. Misty cat is not impressed so I tried it on myself as well.

As well I am working on this hooked rug. This is my first try at rug hooking and it seems to be going all right (I hope). As you can see Misty is one of my favorite models.