It is dawning on me that keeping pace with knitting a full repeat each day on my ADVENTurer shawl is going to be a challenge. Last night, as I sat down to begin my Not-So-Peaceful Knitting again the reality of that fact became very apparent.
And, that is okay…
Because what could be better in the waning days of December to have something to look forward to beyond Christmas!
So, today on my list is to do some Peaceful Knitting and focus my mind on the joy of making.
And, to get outside to do some Peace Walking in the brisk cold air today – a very good way to clear out the cobwebs!
Happy Tuesday everyone! May your day be marked by spectacular moments of peace!
This image should be a reminder of how I should start every day – really. It entirely changes the perspective of Monday from something harsh, to something most definitely not.
Calm. Quiet. Meditative. Restless.
I had some moments of doubt as I began knitting over the weekend.
Ambah’s ADVENTurer wrap got off to an uncertain start. KSH is lovely, but it’s entirely unforgiving of mistakes. You can carefully un-knit a stitch or two, but ripping back is an exercise in futility. My early and hopeful start on Saturday was in reality slow and needed to be repeated – I had cast on the wrong number of stitches. I also had momentary doubts about knitting with KSH…k2tog and ssk’s are easy stitches, until they are not… and with KSH they are definitely not! But my perseverance and working with my restlessness and this morning as I gather this soft, gossamer fabric in my hands as I knit, and all doubt vanishes. This is just what I want to knit right now!
Saturday, I also started the Project Peace Cowl – foolishly thinking this would be a wonderful last-minute and easy Christmas gift. Last night I got in bed to knit a bit while Steve watched the start of the Steeler’s game and I discovered I had an issue with the number of stitches not matching up with the chart – and so I ripped out my fitful start and will begin again today. What I thought was going to be an easy knit, is absolutely not having an easy start. I will try and begin again this morning.
While none of this sounds calm, quiet, or meditative…there is a sense of restlessness that I am welcoming in my Advent journey and this morning as I consider Bonhoeffer’s advice on waiting… “Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them.” I hope to spend my Advent learning to be restless so that I can become better at waiting!
It has been a rough couple weeks at Casa del KatKnits, Gentle Reader… I passed my 5th anniversary of moving to Pittsburgh on the 19th and shortly after that a case of Homesick for Holland hit…hard. And, honestly – I have shed a few tears by myself and even allowed myself to have a bit of a one-person pity party. This is not a good look, trust me, and I have been working on getting myself out of this funk. I don’t do melancholy well… at all, but every thought seemed to be focused back to all the things I think I am missing.
Thanks to Kym, I did have something else to try to focus on for some of this week! When I wasn’t drowning in self-pity I thought about what I want this Christmas to be. Honestly, Merry and Bright just sort of rang hollow and, while I love Bing’s White Christmas – it just is not what I needed to focus on.
But, then last night… out of the blue Steve sent me a link…
As usual, he has the perfect reminder for me… he does make it feel like Christmas, and so that is going to be my focus for the season. The blues might not be entirely gone, but I can see my silver lining shining through…and that is a very good thing indeed.
That is all I have for this week. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!
My favorite part of Christmas is the anticipation that Advent brings.
I love the twinkling lights, the decorations, the candles, and the music. They all add to the anticipation of the season – that feeling of getting ready for something special.
It was not always this way – I grew up in a house where we did not put up a tree until Christmas Eve – and most years we took it down on the day after Christmas.
Perhaps because of that, the minute I had my own place – Christmas anticipation started early! Most years, decorating began the day after Thanksgiving – and I kept the decorations up until Twelfth Night. And, trees – I put up more than one. There was a “fancy” living room tree, a Santa Tree in the den, Kitchen Tree, and small trees in the bedrooms. But the best tree was the “kids tree” that they could decorate or undecorate as often as they wanted!
Christmas now is a more relaxed affair – there are not trees everywhere but, the anticipation of getting ready for something special is the part of Christmas that I hope to never let go.