What Happened? I wasn't looking...

What happened? I wasn't looking...

This is a common phrase for me. Usually it is because I am knitting and not looking at the television. Yes, I think that is the most common time I use that phrase, as written above.

Another common usage is when I was looking at the television (and not at my knitting) and I discover a mistake or split yarn 12 rows back...or more! I say it over and over again as I drop down, rip back or "tink" to the problem area and rework the offending stitch(es)...the "punctuation" may be slightly different:

What...happened...? Gah! I wasn't looking! 

This week, I have had one of these moments as well. A few weeks back I noticed that I was nearing my 1,000th blog post. I took note, and planned to say something profound*...yes, that was most certainly the plan. 

Then I published the May 23 post, and looked up to see that it was post number nine-hundred ninety-nine! So, what happened?!? Because I clearly wasn't looking! 

I started this blog in 2009, never planning to post for 10 years. Yet I have posted weekly (or nearly weekly, even twice weekly very regularly for a time) and now it has been 11 years!

I would like to think that I have had something of substance to say, and I know that has occasionally been true. Other times, I have posted about yarn and knitting, row counters, selling things, and general silliness. I have even let the cats try their hand...err paws at blogging in that time. (They are pretty good. They could maybe have their own blog.) 

So, what now? I mean really, what happened? When did I come up with something to say for 1,000 blog posts? And will I ever run out of words?

Rest assured, friends. I am not likely to run out of words! Bonus! I have learned some things about those words along the way. 

I have learned that some of you want to read about the knitting and all the craft fun. Even more want to read about the Pretty Knitty Family. But the posts that get the most attention are the ones where I have shared my heart and soul. Perhaps you have noticed that those posts are not as few and far between as they once were, and I anticipate that will continue.  

I have found no shortage of words to share these past 11 years, though I am trying to keep it to 500-700 words** at a time these days.  So rest assured that you have not seen the last of Pretty around the blog. How long do you suppose it will take to reach 2,000 posts? 

I am not sure either, but I plan to go for it! I hope that you will stick around and keep reading and knitting along with me, every Saturday at approximately 3:33pm, and I look forward to seeing you here!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

*While I do have lots to say, most of it is NOT profound

**Word count = 498, before these footnotes

Remembering

It is Memorial Day weekend. I have the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend blocked out on my calendar every year, as it has been since 2009, for Woolapalooza (aka The Great Lakes Fiber Show). This year, like so many other things in the last 10 weeks, the event has been cancelled. 

Today there will be no carpooling to Wooster, no group trips to sketchy, fairground bathrooms and no trudging through a wet parking lawn. No shopping until we drop...no fondling yarn from a truck or our favorite dyers. No fair food with friends or sitting in a circle in the sun to knit and share lunch while we decide which booths and stands we "absolutely have to go back to."

Yes, today is a sad day in my knitting community.

Today is sad to me for another reason too. 

My dear church community bid farewell this afternoon to a brother who has gone home to the Lord far too soon for our liking. We wished the family well from afar at a Drive-In Funeral Service, and we celebrated the life of a man who loved people well. I will miss him, and our chats in the office and the barn, and I will pray for his family's comfort and peace as they process their grief and loss. I will always remember Jim fondly.

On Memorial Day, we also remember those who gave their lives for our freedom. This year, and for many years to come I think, we will also remember how it felt to lose a bit of that freedom to pandemic fear that brought changes to most of the world...wash your hands, use sanitizer, stay at home, wear a mask, follow the arrows at the grocery store, no hugs or handshakes, stay away from people. Yes, we are living a different life right now.

But please remember... 

We are still free to express our beliefs openly. Even if our church/organization is not ready (or we are not ready) to gather in large numbers for corporate worship/socializing, every member of our community is free to hold and speak plainly his/her opinions.

We are still free to love each other well. Even while we are observing more physical distancing (not hugging friends that we meet and extended family members who do not live with us) we can be generous with kind words and smiles from behind our masks.

We are still free to be who we are. Even when we cannot gather in-person with like-minded friends in groups larger than 10 (or 50, or 100) to socialize or shop or celebrate, we can use our phones to talk, text, video chat, zoom and email with all of our personality all over the place.

We are even still free to disagree. I know that you and I will never agree on everything, and that is ok. But we can still respect each other and be kind when we do disagree, and though we may never be "besties," we can certainly exist together in peace.

So, let us remember to be kind, friends. Life is short, shorter for some than for others, as I was reminded again this week. Live and love well while you are here, and think about what happens when you are not. None of us knows for sure when that last breath will come.

Thank you Jim, for a life well lived, in service to your Savior. We could all learn a lesson from a life like yours, even if it was too short. 

Sorry if my post is not as cheery as usual, friends. I am still finding great joy in the Lord (and in a little yarn therapy), but today I am just going to let myself feel the grief for awhile. I will also knit.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you will also find joy and Knit in Good Health.

Dear Younger Me, Life Edition

If you are a fan of the Christian band Mercy Me, that title just rang a bell, and you may have an earworm for the rest of your weekend. You are welcome. If you have never heard it, here ya go: Dear Younger Me. Again, you are welcome.

Even if you do not know or like the song, the concept is pretty easy to figure out: If I knew then what I know now, what would I tell 5-years-younger me? 10-years younger? 25-years-younger?

Looking up the song, I also learned that this type of letter writing is actually a pretty common therapy technique, which makes a lot of sense. But I am not here today to walk you through my deep, and occasionally dark, relationship with myself. Mostly I am just here, marking time during a pandemic that has much of the world in a tailspin, and a lock-down. But if I could go back to tell myself some things a few (or more) years ago, what would I say?

I might tell High-School Me that the first boy I kissed was not that great a guy, and that the guy I always wanted to kiss was not my dream guy either.

I might tell One-Semester-of-College Me that I do go back someday, and that it is much more fun. 

I might tell Wedding-Night Me that this is the real thing, but that it will be harder than I ever could have imagined. 

I might tell Pre-Mom Me that happy and healthy is way better than skinny.

I might tell New-Mom Me that it IS hard, and it IS bad right now, but it WILL get better.  

I might tell the Me that went to therapy for the first time with postpartum depression after my second child was born that it is okay to tell the therapist everything. It would not be the first (or the last) time he or she heard that story, and this is how you get through it.

I might tell Just-Gave-My-Life-to-Christ Me that this is going to be a good, but hard journey, and that my non-believing husband would one day be an elder in a solid, Bible-based church.

I might tell Back-to-College-With-Two-Young-Children Me to have more fun. I mean, still be a good wife and mom, but have more fun...and try not to feel so guilty about it.

I might tell Went-to-Work-Without-Getting-My-Teaching-Degree Me that it is ok. I teach all the time...not in the way I had imagined, but I teach just the same...and I love it, just like I thought I would. 

I might just skip ahead here, and tell 2014 Me that the next few years are going to be a nightmare, but in the end, you will have a job you love, you will learn to laugh with your husband all over again, and there will be a pandemic that makes you a little fearful of grocery shopping. 

It is a mixed bag, thinking about going back, is it not? When I think it all through in this way, I wonder if I would actually go back, if that were something I could do. Would you? Do you think Younger You would believe you...?

Hey! Younger, Non-Knitting Me! You will become obsessed with knitting impossibly small things, toy rabbits and anything ridiculous that you can find! 

:::crickets, in Younger-Me's time:::

Yeah. That's what I thought would happen. So, rather than worry about it today, I am going to go knit a sweater that I don't have enough yarn for, in a gauge it is not written for, at a size that should not fit and see what happens. Perhaps I should write a "Dear Younger Me, Knitting Edition" post... Ha!

Thanks for stopping by friends, and Knit in Good Health!

Honoring Mom, I hope...

Mother's Day comes every year. It is always on a Sunday, and it should not surprise me, but it usually does. This year is no different, and I am ashamed to say that I have neither card nor gift for my mother or my mother-in-law this weekend. I am not an outstanding daughter or daughter-in-law, and I am sorry to both of you.

However, my failure to plan is not a black mark against either of you, so I thought I might use this blog post as my "card." I know...cheap substitute...but straight from the heart.

Mom, 

Thank you for being my mom. Pregnancy was not easy for you, but you persevered. This speaks of the love you had for me before I even existed. Your commitment to our family is something that astounds me. Before I was a grandmother, I am not sure I ever truly appreciated the mental and emotional strength that is required to love a family, to raise children into and through adulthood. I know there were probably times that you wanted to throw in the towel, because motherhood is hard! I know there have been times that I have wanted to toss my own towel, and I think my struggles were smaller than many of yours, but you kept going. Thank you for that example. Thank you for loving me and my sister, and for often giving to us out of your nearly empty cup. Love spent multiplies itself, and yours has filled my heart more than words can express.

Rita,

Thank you for having and raising your children, including the big one you handed over to me in 1987. I have done my best to keep him in line through the years, failing more than once, and he is just one. In fact, I am in awe of your fortitude in raising 5 children. I often thought about that when I was raising your grandchildren, and losing my mind with just two of them...I might have legitimately lost my mind if I had more than double that number! But you did not lose your mind. You kept putting one foot in front of the other, working full-time, keeping a tidy home and making sure that food was ready when 7 souls sat around your dinner table at the end of the day. Even if your only reason for persevering is "that's just what you did," thank you for staying. I do not know what all your specific struggles were back then, but I know you had struggle. Thank you for not giving up. Your love is at the center of our extended family.

To both of you,

As my kids (your grandchildren) have given me grandchildren of my own, I respect you at a new level. At the heart of our love for these newest generations, we also know well the perils they may face, and we worry. As I love and watch my son and daughter live through the highs and lows of parenthood, there is often little for me to do. Sharing their joyful triumphs and sometimes struggling with them through difficulties is less hands-on than when they were little, but I am no less emotionally involved. I am all in! And I kind of love that I know that YOU know just what I am talking about. Thanks for being good grandmothers!

A verse that I often hear pulled out at Mother's Day mentions the impact a mother and a grandmother had on the young preacher, Timothy. (2 Timothy 1:5) 

I'm not going to pick that verse apart, because this is not a Bible study blog, but I will note that Timothy's mother and grandmother were both honored with a mention. They persevered to raise their son/grandson well, just as you did. As I look back at everything that I have written today about why I am thankful for both of you and your positions as mothers and grandmothers, I hope that I have honored you as well. I love you both. Happy Mother's Day!

If anyone but my mom and mother-in-law is still reading, thanks for stopping by. I hope this honors all of the women who strengthen families, each in her own unique way, this weekend. 

Thank you.

Back to the knitting next week!

Quarantine Knitting - Barbie Edition

Part 1?

I am not sure if this is a multi-part blog series yet, but as I mentioned in my last post, I am thankful for the knitting as we slog through the stay-at-home orders in our state. Even with some of the restrictions lifting this month, people getting back to work and businesses opening, my life will not change much. There will be much time at home (after work for me, I am also thankful for my job!), so there will likely also be much more knitting.

I can tell that it is starting to get to me, though. Even when I knit, I have trouble concentrating. It reminds me of a Netflix movie I saw last week, called The Willoughbys. It's an animated story of a family that has trouble getting along, and the mother knits. There is not much else to redeem her character, but she knits like a fiend. As a matter of fact, when stress levels rise, she is often heard shouting to her husband (back of hand to the head in total drama), "I can't knit!!!" By the way, if you haven't seen it, and you can find it, check it out...I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Because of my occasional inability to focus, I have started taking on smaller projects. Specifically, I have been knitting Barbie clothes. I'm not sure if she is happy about that or not, her plastic expression never really seems to change...but I am pleased with how they are turning out!

Well, I am pleased when I finish and they fit. Thankfully, old Barb is not bingeing nearly as much as I am (on food, or anything really), so her size is pretty constant. The way I figure it, until I start knitting ridiculous things like doll panties and socks, I am probably ok. 

Wait. I just remembered these. Send help.

At least send ideas for other knitting, if you have any! Perhaps someone could get pregnant so I can knit baby sweaters??? I dunno...just sayin'.

In any case, we really are fine around here, and the knit goes on. How are you holding up this week? What are you knitting, my knitting friends? Whatever it is, I hope that it brings you joy! Life is too short to not knit what you love!

Thanks for stopping by, stay healthy, wear your mask and Knit in Good Health!