Knitting for Health

A total knee replacement requires time to heal. There isn't much I can do except plenty of Physical Therapy exercises plus the things I really enjoy doing (like reading e-books on my Kindle, controlling my email and knitting up a storm). I ordered some orange-red cashmere/mohair yarn and set about planning what to make from this softly delicious resource. After going through my stash of patterns and perusing hundreds of online possibilities I settled on a simple cowl. I've never made one or wore one and never needed one until the thought of a cashmere/mohair cowl warming my neck on walks around the house convinced me to knit one. Honestly, this yarn was as wonderful to work with as it was to look at. I quickly finished knitting my cowl and put it on for the first time on Tuesday. Excellent, excellent choice for a knitter in recovery. I highly recommend a small project like this as the cool spring temperatures turn quickly warm.

Knitting 365 Days

Last year, on my birthday, I started a project of knitting the high temperature for each day of 2016. I followed the color wheel by designating a specific color of yarn for every ten degrees. For example: 60 - 69 degrees is Yellow; 70 - 79 is Orange; 80 - 89 is Pink and so on. The finished piece is approximately 10" wide by 10' long and could be a wall hanging or an interesting scarf for myself that clearly demonstrates the four seasons in Kansas City. It also signifies 365 days of knitting through my life experiences. Being one who keeps a daily journal, I now have a record color as well as of activity. I wanted to begin another year for comparison of seasonal temperatures but have since decided on knitting another temperature project in five years in order to visually compare the weather patterns five years apart. I have named this project, "My Seventieth Year."

Mulberry Silk

I finished the silk shawl. It is made from cream-white slubbed silk yarn (woven in Bangkok, Thailand) that runs thick (as a pencil) and thin (as a pin). It is on the back of the futon across the room and looks lovely draping in elegant folds of luxury. The experience of knitting a fat lump of silk and watching it dwindle to the size of sewing thread was a fascinating process. Focus, it is all focus and nothing happens outside of this moment suspended between thick and thin.

Colors of Weather

One color a day for one year . . . It was 70 degrees on Tuesday and today it is 39. The weather changes as does our reaction to it. It snowed huge, soft flacks of snow this morning . . . perfect for knitting the weather.

Temperature Knitting

I bought some yarn -- a lot of yarn to knit my Seventieth Year. This is a project that will take the rest of the year to finish because the starting date was my 69th birthday, 12/28/15 and the ending date is 12/27/16. The project is to knit the high temperature for each of the 365 days of my birthday year. The yarn colors are modeled after the color wheel and the directions read a different color for each ten degrees from below Zero to above 100 degrees. Today the temperature is 74 and the first "Orange Day" of the year. I'll scan in what I have so far for you to see. The joy of knitting comes from celebration and not dread. Life is good when seen in living color . . . even the gray days have color and joy to find inside one's own creativity.

Answer

I'm thinking of an answer to give the nurse when asked, "What religion are you?" The answer changes, but the actuality is the same. Today, my religion hovers around knitting and the circle of women I am with every Tuesday morning (Buddhism might refer to this group as a Sangha). We sit around a large rectangular table knitting and talking and listening. Some of us are taking out the mistakes of our knitting and the process is made easier by the presence of the group. Some of us need help in taking the next step in reading instructions and understanding their meaning (in Buddhism this might mean the Dharma). When we get stuck all we need to do is ask for help (the religious might call this prayer). It is not unusual for the helper to sit down and take the needles and yarn to perform the task. Slowly, she explains and then hands the needles over to the student to proceed with the pattern of knitting. The balls of various colors and textures and sizes of yarn surrounding us on wooden shelves become the stained glass. The laughter and conversation transform to music. Yes, today my religion is knitting and my church is Tuesday mornings. Alleluia!

Solstice Socks

Ten socks. Ten solstice socks and all are hung above the fireplace in our December home. Five pairs ready for family gals. What a wonderful project this knitting socks throughout the months and seasons of 2012. Learning to knit in the round with four bamboo needles was a challenge so wonderfully accomplished because I didn't think I could do it. But I needed to do it. I needed this steep learning curve to turn my mind around and into the math and logic of stitching stitches that held together in a mutual sockness. When I knit close, elbows in, fingers touching, eyes focused on the stitch moving from one needle to another there is no room for anything else in my thinking brain. If I stray in thought a stitch is dropped, a row falls, the pattern dips. The recovery is an arduous task but recovery does happen. Knitting is sometimes dedicated to a process of recovery. It is a "work through" like baking or gardening or painting. Low these many months I have worked through a dilemma and now I can celebrate gifting. I am grateful to have people I love to give these pairs of socks to. Warm feet make for warm hearts--truly.

Before Mary's Socks become socks

Sock #1

See March 1 entry to understand my joy with the knitting of an entire sock! So I ware one sock on and one sock off while knitting sock #2!

Knitting a Sock

Struggle may lead to success. I have been in a tizzy over how to knit a sock--it felt like I was missing a piece of my brain (the shape triangle, the color gray, the texture slug-like). Imagine--0ne ball of yarn, four needles, complete instructions and a willingness to do what's right. All ingredients present--the beginning of a sock absent. This morning at 7:35 I held my hands as never before in my life. Think about that, never in all these years have I held my hands as I did this morning when I started knitting my sock--holding all needles not too strong and not too weak but (apparently) just right. Round and round, the circle of the top of a sock. The piece of my brain had fallen into place somewhere between feeding the cats and finishing the first cup of coffee. I want to stay. I finally caught on and now must leave. I think this is how life goes at the end of learning how to live.

The cold weather we're having in Kansas City this weekend reminds me of the socks my daughter knit for me several years ago. I took a picture and wrote a bit of story about how these socks touched me deeply.