Divine Knittervention

Ha! I always say I want to be a better Blogger but back to back posts? No way!

Its getting close to Christmas tree time. Some people make New Years resolutions. Not me. I reflect under the Christmas tree. Yup. Under it.

It began when I was a kid and we had this very round 6'tall tree. Mom used to put the stand on cinderblocks to make it look more proportional and also so she would have room to put the packages under the tree. My favorite thing was to decorate the tree and that night, when everyone was in bed I would sneak back out, turn the tree lights on and lay with my head under the tree watching the lights twinkle and shine on the ceiling. I would lay under there for hours and eventually it bacme a ritual for me to contemplate my life as a gift. I would reflect on the year gone past and consider how I had valued others and myself. Who were the gifts in my life? Did I recognize them as such? Who inspired me to be a better person? Did I inspire others? Then I would consider the upcoming year. What did I want to change? What could I do better? When I am under the next tree, what would I like to look back on and be proud of accomplishing? After getting a mental list of things for the upcoming year, I would put pen to paper and make a list. That list gets wrapped and put under the tree and I open it on Christmas morning.

I have only skipped this ritual once, the year Daniel died. I kinda forced myself to do it last year, since knowing him was one of the greatest gifts I ever received but I still had a hard time with it. I suppose these things are supposed to get easier with time, so I'll be patient.

I had already decided lace knitting was on my list for next year. I have started and frogged several projects. I always miscount, drop a stitch, or make some other silly mistake that I can't quite figure out how to recover from. It is also hard to concentrate on lace projects because I can't think straight when its loud and my house is rarely quiet. I also have never been able to read charts. Just. So. Confusing.

Anyway, I thought I would be quite proud of myself next year if I could complete a "real" lace project. Lo and behold, my good friend Mara from knitting group shows up with a gift of Brown Sheep Nature Spun in Limestone, a dark limey green which I love and tells me I should start the Qiviuk Webs Scarf. (confusing instructions and charts, OH MY!) "Quick! Cast on before Jeanne comes in and (lovingly) smacks your hand!!! I started right then and 2 hours, and 1 complete frog later I had triangles!!! I was quite proud. Last night I have ignored the impending-sense-of-doom-Christmas-knitting and worked on this scarf. (Shame on me!!!)

So I am beginning to tackle next years goals this year! Thanks and much love to Mara aka (Professor, Chart Reading 101) for the yarn, encouragement and copious amounts of blind faith.