Yes. Excited.

There is nothing left but to be excited.  Excited about the next Vogue Knitting LIVE! at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, excited about the news I'm going to share very very soon, excited excited excited.

Pretty much all of my classes are sold out for this upcoming event, and for that I am ETERNALLY grateful.  I know as consumers, people have a lot of choices, and I'm always very grateful when they chose to come hear what I have to say, learn what I have to teach, and spend and hour or three with me in the same room.  So, if you're reading this, and you've ever been one of those people, or you're about to be - THANK YOU.

So, this is where we're going to be:

Well, not actually in the elevators, but I thought this shot was pretty cool.  So, if you're staying in the hotel, chances are you'll ride in one of these bad boys.  They're like bullets shooting up into the sky.  I could stand there for hours and watch people in them.

And this is one of the eateries:

If you haven't signed up for one of my classes, there are only a couple spots left, so hurry!!

And stay tuned for my big news.....

The Healing Sweater

I think there comes a time when you realize what's important in life.

Yeah, I know. That's been said before. By, like, millions of people. But probably because it's true. I, too, have reached that point before. And then I go back to complaining and moaning and not focusing on what's important. And then I go back to realizing the important stuff. You know the game. The trick is to limit the time I spend in ungrateful land.

I've recently been blessed with some really good news. A project that I've been trying to squeeze out of the universe for quite some time, only to have it sucked away from me a couple times, has finally, it seems, come to fruition. I can't really say more than that for another week or two.

I've also heard some really bad news. Like, really bad. A guy I call my friend has recently found out he has cancer - again. I don't know how many bouts he's had to endure, but the way he describes it is here. I made him a red cashmere hat when he, like many cancer patients, found out he'd be losing his hair; it seemed like a no-brainer. He's got humor about the whole thing too, which to me, is like a lesson in living. I remember knitting that hat for him. Strangely enough, it brought ME comfort to craft something from my hands and dye it with a special energy that only we knitters know how to create. I feel so at peace when I'm knitting (this wasn't always the case). It is such a gift to feel the yarn, feel the fabric developing, and really understand that the wool came from somewhere. A grazing, beautiful creature that has no clue I'm now knitting with his or her fiber that was once matted with straw and manure. It's an indescribable connection, I tell you.

I've recently found that comfort again (from the yarn, not the manure) in this sweater:

Maddy Lane's Garden Paths

I promised this sweater to my sister for her 40th birthday.  I didn't deliver.  We went through a rough patch (which we continue to go through), and I put the sweater away.  But of all the unfinished projects and 'what was I thinking' moments, I knew not to unravel this.  I knew the time would come when I would need the reconnection.  

So I'm completing it.  And I'm praying into every stitch.