Remember the New Year? Remember all the good intentions and resolutions? How many have you broken 3 months into the year?
Guess what? I win! Broke none of my resolutions, ok, I admit, there was only one.
But don’t worry, I have lost in many other ways. Including family so pissed off at me that I am told of “rifts” that “will never be bridged.”
Some of you might know about the Bassya Bibel website I have created, mostly featuring Bassya’s love letters I’ve found. Bassya was Stephen’s grandmother. With Passover and the seder coming up, I was trying to think of something nice to bring along for the family.
Last year I brought all the photo albums and slides no one was interested in at the time of the grandfather’s death. The great grandkids seemed to have their fun with the old photos. This year I contemplated bringing everyone a piece of furniture or another trinket I have from the grandparents.
But then it hit me. A web site! I had already posted some of the letters on facebook and the responses were tremendous. This way everyone could get to know Bassya a little better, especially at an age none of us knew her, most of us not having been born yet.
I could not have been more wrong. I think in all my life I have never been shat upon with such huge, stinky piles.
So you see, no reason to be jealous about meeting my resolutions. I failed big in other ways.
One pair of socks a months and I am ahead of the game. I’ve already posted the very colorful pair I made for January. February was a sock variation. A huge sock that will be felted into slippers. That counts, right? Right? I know it takes a lot less knitting, but come on, February is a short month after all.
Along came March and without meaning to match that month, the socks were green. This is the very basic sock pattern I use when uninspired and there is no need for a pattern.
Rushing into April with a pair of Nutkin pattern socks. One sock done, one still on the needles. I love this pattern. It’s not very stretchy and the only difficulty is at the top when the knitting gets folded over and you have to knit together the stitch on the needle and one from the cast-on. If you’re even off by one stitch here, things become a bit twisty.
If I wouldn’t have my knitting, I don’t know how I could master and survive this post-heart-attack-and-bypass life. The stress the family controversy puts on my heart is immense, and I can feel it. A tightness in the chest, heart beating fast and hard. Having already lost part of the heart, I worry how much more is going down the drain. But then I pick up the knitting and slowly, slowly my muscles start relaxing and I am flowing along with the stitches.
Thank goodness for your admirable tenacity to knit your way through the strife. It’s functional therapy in so many ways, as is your blog. I, for one, am enchanted with Bassya’s story. I wish the family could see her in the same light, and receive the gift you’ve carefully tended.