Battles...

Coming home to a freshly cleaned house just tickles me pink...  well frankly, a whole bunch of colours!!! Once a month a cleaning service comes in and mops and sweeps, sucks and dusts, scrubs and tidies all the nooks and crannies in my wee abode. It is my treat to myself... especially since I got me a new cat-mate (well, he's a rescued old one) who leaves behind his white fur everywhere (I thinks he's proud of himself).

Another thing that tickles me all the colours of the rainbow? Completing a long hibernated knitting project! Not only is my house clean but my knitting procrastination list is down one object! I Dream of the Skelligs was a test knit for my heart sister, Meagheen. She re-jigged the design a little to make it better but for the life of me I couldn't sort out the math... so off to the side it went... for 3 months! With Meagheen fighting the health battle of her dear life I decided my math battle was nothing. I admit I did ask for help... much like Meagheen has... and it made all the difference in the world. The confidence was boosted and the test knit... complete!

Sometimes, that's really all we need... a hand to help us through our un-tidiness and someone to help us with whatever battle we face.

Less is more...

Not that my life is complicated or anything but there are times that I do wish for simpler things and less worries. I worry I can't keep up at work with all the impending changes and demands... I worry for my brother and all that is on his plate... I worry for my Mum and her increasing difficulty in walking... I worry for my Dad and his decreasing mobility... I worry for the special young people in my world whose lives have just received a curve ball... I worry for my heart-sister who is in the battle of her life...  the list goes on. I can be such a worrier wanting to make things better while at the same time appear like all is right in my world.

Maybe that's why I wanted to do the hood on my Heartland Cape in plain stockinette... no extra details, no extra patterns... and while the angel story is precious I didn't want the fancy back panel. I just wanted a beautiful simple knit so the heart cables on the hood border would become the focal point.  Maybe... in my worrisome days... I just want to be surrounded by hearts of love...... hearts of healing... hearts of hope.

I hope for better days for my family and my dear friends... that they know they are loved. That's not a lot to ask for but means so much more...

Shifting Roads...

I've been working on a test knit for a few months now. No, it's not hard or even a big project. It's just a pair of socks... but it has been driving me nuts. The cable pattern isn't even hard... but it has been driving me right around the bend! The issue... the cables go all around the leg portion which makes for an extremely tight fit over the heel! But I have been bound and determined to make this work because the pattern is so very important to my heart-sister Meagheen, the designer. The pattern is for her niece who died way too young. For both of them... I so want to make this work.

We tweaked the cuff to match the basket-cable weave... worked beautifuly! That was the easy part... but to make the rest work... oy!  Added more stitches, used larger needles, frogged the sock back... reworked the foot, frogged again... to no avail. The darn sock would not slide over the heel! What's the point of making something, while very pretty, that just won't fit!

Strange isn't it... we do that in life. We so badly want something (or someone) to work out that we'll do anything to make it happen... but it's just not the road we're supposed to travel on. No matter what car we use or how the GPS is programed or who we travel with... we're on the wrong road and we'll never get to where we supposed to be. Paths do change. Sometimes I'm alert enuff to recognize the fork in the road. Sometimes, there are people who will help steer me in the right direction. Sometimes, life just throws us off the cliff and we're forced to find another road to travel on. This is the one that really makes us wonder "why"! But this is the one that challenges us. This is the one that we need to be brave enuff to say "why not!" and go down that road. We discover that the road less travelled is exactly where we're supposed to be. So, off to work the sock... new direction given in the design and I think this is where we are supposed to be!!!!