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.