Giving it away with joy

Miz G. dropped by yesterday and we had a marvelous chat over tea. for Christmas, I signed her up for the socks-o-the-month-club, and had February's "Sassy Stripes" waiting to mail off. How much nicer to present them in person!

And they will keep her feeties cozy while she's in the moving process. All good wishes to you, Miz G. (and to the hairballs as well!)



As you can see, I am not a person who goes to the trouble to figure out how to make random stripes work out identically on both socks. I feel proud of having made two socks the same length!




(Yes, my arch really is that high. I have trouble finding cowboy boots.)




And since life is going to be pretty hectic for her in the next few weeks, what with moving here to the valley and all, I also handed on her March socks- "Lakeview in the Mist."



Then, today, I drove over to the NW Medical teams and dropped off the sweaters and blanket I made for them. The lady I spoke to (Carol) was so gracious and positive! And as I was leaving she said, "Just think: When you wake in the night, you can tell yourself, 'Somewhere in the world, a child is warm because of me.'" Even though I feel a need to clothe the chilly, I had never thought to warm myself with the results. Yes. Somewhere in the world, people are warmer because of me. Wow! With my tiny budget and limited skills, I CAN make a difference!! There are layers of blessings in those sweaters, because I got such pleasure from spinning the yarn. And such delight from dying it. And such satisfaction from knitting it. And now I get comfort for those occasional dark wolf-hours just by giving it away. I feel as if I ought to write to the recipients and thank them for giving me such a mitzvah!

I stopped at Abundant Yarn and Dye works, and asked if they might be a drop-off point for chemo caps. Not yet, but they just sent off three boxes of scarves to the Red Scarf Project, so Chemo Caps might be a good next project. This is the first yarn store I have been in that has as many males as females on staff. The men's knitting group might take Chemo Caps for a monthly project.

I was struggling with the farceeing hat, starting and frogging, starting and frogging, getting a few inches done, holding it out and scowling at it, and just not finding it right. About the third time I began to rip it all back, DH asked the problem. He doesn't knit, but as a jig and fixture machinist, he DOES create and solve problems. I explained how I wanted firm texture and color patterns, and was having trouble putting it all together. And the brilliant man said, "Well, you've been trying to do it from the outside in. Can you do it from the inside out?"

YES! Instead of knitting from the brim to the top (outside to inside) I can knit it from the top down (inside to outside) and control the fabric and size as I go along! He is just inspirational! And he found the neatest flexible pipe stuff to stiffen the stalks. Oh, wait till you see this hat!