Knitting Peace

She's gone.  A little over a week ago her last breath came and went and was no more.

Peace and Sweet Release

The most appropriate response it seemed for me was to knit.  I'd been toying with some lanolin-rich Irish yarn for a small project--a gathering pouch for a young lad to stash collected treasures while he adventures about his yard.  I found that taking the time from the other Things I get to do today to sit rather still, hold the yarn in its serpentine around my tensioning fingers and let the thoughts of my dear friend Karen* who gifted me the yarn and who has so recently departed this physical plane knit themselves into a place of peace was a perfect way to hold her and her memory is a sacred space.

We had time to chat--I could hear her voice from a place beyond.  We laughed.  And cried a bit.   And remembered.  But mostly, I just sat with the yarn that had been hers, was now mine, and would be someone else's soon, and found a soft sweetness in releasing Karen to the next phase of her being, honoring her memory with each stitch.

*Some past posts that include Karen:  Open Season, A Gaggle of Swifts, Peace of Yarns, Gifted by Friend, Sniffing the Sights, Hilda Saves the Day, Rake Leaves/Play Ball.

By Guess and By Golly

Most of the time it's a meditation.  I love the rhythm, the feel of the yarn, the fragrance of the fiber. And while one is having fun, it's amazing to see an object grow.  Magic.  Again.

From the yarn gleaned, gathered and gifted from Karen-of-Boston, one small skein of alpaca in dark teal caught my attention.  It was my sister's favorite color.  To knit it up into a skinny scarf would be a delight and an opportunity to practice a new technique.  I was fascinated by scarves knit on the diagonal that I had seen in Morehouse Farms Merino Knits (see post "Gifted by Friend" 12-29-11).

So I began.  About 6 inches into the project, I realized that solid-color yarn would not yield a diagonal looking scarf--no contrast for a slanted perspective.  Several other design stitches came and went--a dark yarn does not show off details very well.  Then a more creative bug bit me and I unplyed a length of grey wool and used the wisps laid occasionally along side the teal alpaca to create a diagonal mist.  It was lovely.  It was scratchy.  And mysteriously the width of the scarf grew to an awkward size.  My sister and I agreed it was best to begin again.

Karen sent me a gray, soft,  alpaca skein (seeds for another scarf) to mix with the teal, and my sister thought a rusty orange would give the project some punch.  This time the width stayed consistent, the colors blended, it was a pleasure to create every stitch.

Is there enough yarn to knit the last rows?

The sweet sorrow of Things I get to do today is finish off this knitting piece. Sad to see it go--delighted to have it finished. And here I found a puzzle: the diagonal scarf pattern has to stop and the end taper finishes it off.  How much yarn does it take to finish the "corner?"  I wanted to use all the teal, concluding the final stitch with just 12" of yarn to snip off.

Unravelled to the edge of the first orange

I knit furiously last night until the end of a Chopin sonata for piano and cello. I knit this morning until I took an uneducated guess at how much yarn was needed to finish the last 28 decreasing rows.  My answer was "more than these few yards." So unraveling rows and beginning the decrease sooner was my next guess. And by Golly, it worked.

By Golly design
Reached the corner before the yarn ran out.
More than 12" left. Better than 12" short!