This one is deep...

Not that I needed another reason to love reading the Yarn Harlot's blog, but if you haven't read her most recent entry you may want to grab some kleenex first. It really touched me, and got me to thinking about what knitting really means to me.

One of the reasons I am so drawn to knitting is that it connects me to my ancestors. And to yours, too. When I sit in the quiet and knit, my mind drifts back in time to the pioneer days, to the Mayflower days, and all in-between, when the woman of the house would sit and make warm clothes for her family. How in the world did they manage? Today, we knit for hobby, for enjoyment, but not usually from necessity. We have Target down the street for necessities. I wonder, were there women here 200 years ago, sitting in the firelight knitting a sweater, or gloves, were any of them actually enjoying it? Did any one woman sit alone in the darkness and the quiet while her family slept and actually feel comforted by the rythym of her needles? Was her knitting maybe her reward for another hard day of running a household back in the day when if you couldn't make it or grow it yourself, you went without? Maybe I am weird, but knitting can often bring me to that place, usually only if I am in the quiet, no TV or music. Of course, then there are the times when I am with the Wednesday night group at B&N, and I think that we are a modern day version of the women of Colonial Boston gathering in someone's parlor to knit and quilt and work on their needlework as they talked and tended to the children.

In my modern world, knitting calms me. It is my reward at the end of a busy day when my brain just can't think for another second. It was my saving grace last year as I went through a painful breakup and often couldn't bear to leave the house. Many a summer afternoon was spent on the beach, or in my backyard, quieting my mind and soothing my soul with yarn and needles. It has brought me into a diverse circle of people who are becoming dear friends as we sit and knit and laugh and share our stories.

Time to settle into the quiet and knit for a while...

Enough with the snow shoveling! I shouldn't c omplain, 30 minutes of aerobic shoveling means I don't have to go to the gym today and can get more knitting time in. Busy week. Didn't get much knitting done at all. Cast on a pair of jaywalkers that I think are going to go to a friend - using the larger version with 84 cast-on. After a few inches I decided it looked like it is going to be too stretchy (even though this person has large calves) so off come the needles. Before frogging it, I decided to try it on...guess what, it fit ME just fine, and my calves are smaller. *sigh*. So I frogged back to the ribbing and then attempted to get the needles back in and then got frustrated and said f-this and frogged the whole deal. Started over last night and pretty much got back to where I originally started frogging.
Missed Wed nite knitting this week,opted instead to stay for the monthly poker game at work. Lost about $25 or so, wish I had knitted instead! Not really though, we do have a lot of fun at our games and last month got cancelled.
Not much planned for this weekend, next weekend is the start of spring break so I am going go enjoy a rare weekend with nothing to do. I may even nap, but right now it is off to the shower.