Coming Back

Coming back to knitting and spinning after a break of over ten years is like coming home to old friends. I started off slowly this past winter after I'd seen a news story about prayer shawls for a local hospital. I thought maybe it was something I could do too, so I found a pattern and cast on.

Knitting the shawls made me think of others things that I used to love doing before the crash.* Knitting and spinning would be easy to start again, I had the equipment and a huge stash of yarn and fiber in the basement. I started a striped sweater in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in March, knit circularly per Elizabeth Zimmermann's formula. When I got to the armholes I put the sweater aside - I want fitted sleeves and am too lazy to figure out the shaping just yet. And it's wool. A big ol' wool sweater in one's lap in this August heat? Fugetaboutit! It'll have to wait for cooler weather.

Current WIPs:

Alison Hansel's Nothin' but a T shirt - modified with short row shaping on the shoulders, picking up and knitting long sleeves, and changing the crew neck to a deep V neck.

Polly Outhwaite's Kiri Shawl in Euroflax's original linen yarn; almost to the edging.

Socks - I grabbed a ball of Lion Magic Stripes yarn last month, figuring that it made sense to practice with less expensive yarn. It's knitting up quite nicely.

A week or so ago I found the first and only pair of socks that I've knit so far, on size 3 (I think) DPNs. They're over 10 years old, the gauge is a little spotty, and the second sock isn't done (what a surprise!). But not bad. I'll probably rework them at a tighter gauge later. First, I'm knitting up the handpainted sock yarn I have from Labadie Looms in Bird-in-Hand. The first sock has been ripped since it was much too wide. Updates to follow.

*That is, before a bout with the depression from hell. Although I've had clinical depression for as far back as I can remember, after the death of my father it became much worse. After almost 10 years I finally found a wonderful doctor and was put on proper medication. For the past 3 years now I've been slowly coming back to life, doing things that I used to enjoy doing and learning to push past what I've seen as limitations. It wouldn't have been possible without support from my husband and kids, Mom, and my doctor. I thank God for them every day.