Tuesday, March 03, 2015

What a crazy ride.

So much has happened.

My DH retired at the end of the year with 25+ years of service to the PSU Veteran community. He never had time to get used to a different life and we lost his Dad. Dad was 94, but it was still unexpected. This was the man that I knit a new cap for every Christmas. He wore them constantly and he always had a supply. My sisters in law asked what they should do with the hats and I told them to donate them to a worthy charity. I'd like to know they are keeping someone, somewhere warm. So now the wrap up that accompanies this kind of death is what is occupying my DH. It is a tremendous amount of work.

Not three weeks later we lost my uncle. My Father's last surviving brother. It was really my last connection to my dad's family, and he was a big part of my childhood. It was a very great loss.

Both of these deaths required that we travel hundreds of miles in terrible weather and road conditions. Though we had a choice with my uncle, we, of course, did not with my father-in-law. Naturally, we are having the same horrible weather much of the east is having. Are you tired of hearing about it yet? I am. We're so weather weary, it is hard to describe.  I was looking at a woman in the elevator today, and she and I were both dressed in tired parkas, and boots that have seen too many days of muck and slush. We both looked like we'd been working in a barn. I think she was an attorney. And we're expecting more muck today. And because we live in "weather central" (Accuweather, home of the US National Weather Service, Penn State Meteorology) we know that the precipitation will start at exactly 11:15 am. How lucky are we? Sometimes I wonder if ignorance is truly bliss.

I continue to work to completely recover from my injuries of last year. It has been really slow going. But I CAN knit. I finished another Color Affection (photo pending), this one for me, and I'm now working on finishing a few UFOs, before I start a new project. Here is one of them. I call it Starry Night, but it is actually  Dainty Bess studded with crystal beads. I've hit the "black hole" of knitting. It is about 56 inches long (unblocked), but I'd like it to be about 70 (i.e., six feet). It is lace so it will need pretty aggressive blocking. I'm using one of my favorite yarns Madd Tosh Light in Graphite.



It seems I hit knitting black holes pretty frequently. Probably because I got so used to the fingerless mitts and the hats I knit for Christmas.

So I'm going to try and stay connected, now that, I think, the worst is over. I'd ask what else can happen, but I'm afraid I'll find out.



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