I have been sad about having to say goodbye to a woman I adore and really, love.  We have met with her, my wonderful daughter and I, each week for nearly six years.  We have laughed and cried and grown, Oh my Lord, have we grown together. 

My sweet child was six years old when we met, and now she is, well, not six years old anymore.  Music had something to do with our relationship, something called a Suzuki triangle.  For about an hour a week, it was more like we were in therapy, where mother and daughter had the most wonderful interpreter, impeccable.  I love her. 

She is going home.  In a musical piece, there is often a part that repeats, wrapped around a ‘middle section’.  Our violin teacher spent her ‘middle section’, the part of her life where she moved away to make her own way, here in Colorado.  Now NY is calling her back.  Boo.  No fair. 

This sage green cashmere yarn matches our dear one’s eyes.  I would have knit this for her anyway,even if she weren’t flying away, I mean.  I have knit a couple of items for her over the years….a warm hat (when I learned to knit in the round and do cables) and some hand-painted socks (when I learned to knit socks).  Those items have some mistakes in them, and my violin teacher doesn’t care about that. 

 This shawl does not have any mistakes in it.  I’m a better Knitter, now. 

I’ve never had to say Goodbye before.  I know the world is smaller than it was in the past.  There is email, and flights can be found for cheap.  But when you see someone THIS often and then, no, you don’t see her anymore at all, that really is Goodbye, isn’t it? 

Check out this darker photo.  I like it:

One thing that I would have done differently if she weren’t flying away, is, I might not have taken such care in packaging, presenting this to her. 

 I probably would have taken a cheap shirt box and wrapped it up with unused Christmas paper.  But this is the end of an important chapter, and I HAD to mark it somehow. 

Instead of the cheap shirt box and Christmas paper, I found a butterfly-printed fabric (appropriate) and carefully cut out each butterfly around the edges.   I wrapped the shawl in brown paper, and hand-sewed the edges with leftover cashmere.  I placed the paper parcel in a new bamboo bowl, and covered it all with the butterflies.  I wrote in her card, with the care instructions, Goodbye, Butterfly!

Someone I have known almost all my life, someone I admire very much, was in surgery a couple of weeks ago.  She was ‘under’ for over four hours.  The morning of her surgery, I cast on, using Judy’s magic cast-on, (more on that below) and just started knitting.  I knit for my friend every moment that I could during her surgery and for a couple of days afterward, while she recovered.  There is a certain uncertainty about surgery that made me want to send her my energy while she was unconscious.  Will they find what they expect?  (No, they did not.)  Will it go as planned (No, it did not.)  Will they find answers?  (Yes, they did.)  Will she be OK?  (Yes, she will.)  Medicine is mystical.  I have been somewhat dependent at different times on medicine  that helps me to breathe.  Well, actually, it opens up my airway after it has been completely closed.  I’ve wondered over the years, after countless inhaler puffs, how long I would have lived without an inhaler.  How long would my Amiga have lived if she hadn’t chosen this surgery?  Its a mystery. 

Judy’s Magic Cast On is a trick I learned from Cat Bordhi’s “Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters”, and I later perfected the technique in Cat’s “Engineering New Stitches” class on May 1st.  If you are considering knitting up a pouch or bag of any sort, (or a sock toe-up)  I would recommend this technique.  It is pretty fun!   It is especially usefull if you just want to knit, rather than worry about pattern or product, yet magically produce something useful.  It was perfect for the prayer-type knitting that resulted in this wonderully rich red silk bag. 

Project Linus

This is my version of the Kristin Nicholas ‘Hearts’ blanket.  I made this for Project Linus.

Michael took the blanket today to a woman who meets with colleagues and knits every Wednesday during her lunch hour.  The group’s knitting focus during this time is Project Linus.  I don’t work with these women and I’ve never met them, but I was welcomed to knit a blanket to give.  

I used Cascade 220 superwash, as the requirements are that the blanket must be able to be washed by machine.  I tried my hand at crochet again for the border.  This yarn reminds me of the colors of Play-Doh I once played with during my youth.  I really hope it will brighten the day of a child who has to stay in a hospital.   

By the way, I cast on the day I had a minor surgery myself.  I suppose Project Linus was on my mind while I was relegated to a bed myself, and what better way to cheer myself up than to have all of these colors of yarn spread all over my bed?