Swatched

Sundara Worsted Merino, "Arabian Nights"

Need a knitter say more?

Consoled

Poromity! It's a beautiful hat, amazing yarn, and fun to knit. But. It looks terrible on me. I'm not a tam person after all, or just not a creamy natural white tam person. I even frogged it back and made it less slouchy, but no, it still looks like a pouf of bread dough is perched on my head. I'm sure I'll find a tam-headed person to give it to, so I'm not too sad about it. I wonder if it still counts as a completed Knitting Olympics project?


My consolation has been my other Woolalong project, the Mara shawl in Foxfire Cormo Alpaca Lace. I'm on the last few rows -- I'll bind off when there's just enough yarn left to do it. The finished shawl will be smaller than the size pictured in the pattern, since it's fingering weight yarn instead of worsted. It's been a calming, centering knit, mostly garter stitch with a ribbed ruffle at the edge. And I guess you can tell by the photograph that someone likes it very much!


I love this Lavender Buds color. The natural color of the alpaca peeks through the lavender every once in a while, which gives the yarn more... something. Something good, that is.


Last week was a hard week. My friend and landlord's little cat died suddenly, and I was here to help bury her. There were some small volcanoes at work. And I learned that a long-time customer, M, a kind man who was being treated for cancer at the same time I was, is now receiving hospice care. He and I shared our chemo stories, and had some wonderful conversations, too. He has a wife and two daughters, and he and his family have always been among our most beloved customers.

I rang my little bell for Barry Fraser, though. He's a blogger in Toronto who finished his chemotherapy on Thursday and asked people to join him in ringing the bell. I did. I took my little bell (the one my Cancer Center gave me on my own last day of chemo) to work with me and went to the back room at 2:00, and rang it with all my might, along with all the others that were ringing around the world.

I rang it for Barry, for myself, for Judy’s friend, and for everyone else who is on this journey. If I'd been conscious of it right then, I'd have added special thoughts for M to my small prayer. It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I learned about his being so sick.

Asking why me never seemed like a good way to expend my energy, or like a question that would be likely to have an answer. I just determined to move forward. Take the action, do the thing, have small faith in myself, enough small faith. Find the kernel of strength that could grow into something, into the thing that it took to do the work and finish the job. That's all -- not simple, not easy, just necessary. That is what Barry has done, and I'm sure it's what M has done. We all do it. Those of us living in the world of cancer know how easily the path can descend into darkness, but we keep going anyway, for as long as we can or as long as it takes.

For me, for now, I'm out of the woods and on a brighter, clearer path. I'm grateful and I know how blessed I am. I know that there are many blessings in Barry’s life, and in M’s life too. They're just different. I wish I could give them some of what I have, and I'm thankful for what they've given me. By sharing their experiences with me, they've given me a real gift. To Barry, and especially to M at this moment, I'm deeply grateful.

The news made me so sad. It's hard and depressing and it just plain hurts. Here I am, doing so well, and he's not. I'm so fortunate. I guess that's what I am. I don't feel fortunate right now, though. I just wonder why him.

Alonging

First there was the Knitter's Book of Wool group on Ravelry, which Clara and I put together a few weeks ago. Next, there was Clara's devilishly clever Woolalong in the KBOW group as well as at Knitter's Review -- each month she'll choose a breed and we'll knit something with its yarn. This month it's Cormo. Now, the 2010 Knitting Olympics have been thrown into the mix, and I'm in. Deep.


I have the yarn -- this [insert appropriate gushing adjective(s) here] Bijou Bliss 50% Yak 50% Cormo that is a soft natural white. I have the pattern -- Jared Flood's Porom Hat. And last but not least, I have my community. Knitting is never solitary, even when I'm at home by myself, because I have a world of knitters right here on my computer. I can't wait to cast on during tomorrow's Opening Ceremonies, along with a few thousand friends!

(Silent) Poetry Reading

WILD GEESE
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

It's time for the fifth annual Bloggers' (Silent) Poetry Reading, AKA Cyberspace Poetry Slam -- one of my favorite connections in this big little world, and I've participated each year. I borrowed this poem from the delightful Reya, and I don't think she will mind. It seems I'm usually carrying around snippets or poems or bits of wisdom that I find on her blog. Sometimes my pockets overflow! Thank you, sister!