different kinds of knitting

First up- a rare picture of Babette in its utilitarian form. That Mr. Sophanne needed to be reminded that he had a wool afghan to keep him warm will be attributed to the fact that it's the first one he's ever had.


Matching accessories- This is some handspun merino/silk blend that I picked up at th Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber festival 2 years ago. The scarf is Montego Bay pattern from an old Interweave. The mitts are an Ann Budd recipe. I was too anxious on the cuffs and ended up adding a crochet trim (3dc in knit, 1 chain, 3dc in next knit) to make them long enough. I tried the chemo cap from Knitting for Peace somehow imagining it would be bigger. I'll likely go for a do-over a little later on the hat.


A first grade teacher who is 32 yo w/2 young children and a husband she can count on 95% of the time was diagnosed with leukemia. She's been my "weekly friend" for about 15 years-since she started teaching. We've moved from school to school together (mostly accidentally) as various transfers took place. When I heard of her diagnosis, I felt so completely helpless. I woke up the next morning thinking- "man I had the weirdest dream last night about Lisa." Only it wasn't a dream. I've been told it's the "good kind" of leukemia but am having a hard time wrapping my mind around it.



I remembered the "Prayer Shawl" in Knitting for Peace. I lit a candle, put on my Tibetan singing bowls music, and pulled what I felt was the most "sacred" yarn in my stash- a yak/merino blend. Think cashmere with a little less of halo and some additional weight. I cast on 60 stitches and both yesterday and this morning I spent the time meditating on her well being and knitting a broken rib stitch.

What's amazing is that as soon as pull this project out to work on it, the dog and the cat settle down on my lap and let me knit. The black hole of knitting 58"'s of k3p3 becomes irrelevant and and hour and a half of knitting seems like ten minutes.

With Each stitch I think 1-May you be Healthy 2- May You Be Happy 3- May you be safe and as I switch the yarn from knit to purl 4 May you live with Ease. As I get to the end of the row and switch needles I throw in a little "May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering." Sometimes I imagine the cells in her body working together like the yarn to get better. It's all I can do and it's definitely a different kind of knitting. Maybe you could knit a stitch or two for Lisa this weekend.