Fibre on a Foggy Saturday

What a great way to spend a Saturday.... with a good friend, perusing yarn and fibre stores!

Susan (my Knit Night buddy and dear friend), and I started with The Needle  Emporium in Ancaster, where Julie's amazing array of yarns was enough to stop you in your tracks the minute you walked through the door! I'll bet your first look at this picture (left) makes you say "WOW!" (...that definitely seemed to be the reaction of first-time visitors when we were in the store). What a myriad of temptation in terms of colour, fibres and patterns..... as much as I tried, resistance was futile!

More exploring needed to be done, so we headed into Toronto and with some amazing (yet unintentional) navigation, ended up steps away from the Purple Purl in the eastern end of Toronto's core. A quick visit there led us to discover what yarny goodness was hidden in their shelves, and then off to Lettuce Knit to the west of downtown Toronto. I have to say the atmosphere at both Toronto stores was very welcoming. Staff were incredibly friendly (one of the Purple Purl People actually recognized us from our visit to the KW Knitter's Fair!).  Add the weather to that (you can't even see the top of the CN Tower in the photo to the right), and it was a great day to be indoors and visiting stores with yarn and fibre -- kind of like walking into a big, warm hug by a long-time friend wearing a soft, well-worn handknit sweater. I have to admit something followed me home from each store, but the pièce de résistance was my new 15" Cricket loom.

It's put together and awaiting my perusal of the related warping/wefting online videos...  That's contingent on my discovery of where time actually goes the week before Christmas, and trying to recoup some of it from the clutches of the space/time continuum or vortex that literally sucks hours out of a day without us really being aware.... but I digress.  With all the fibre temptations from the weekend, it's going to be a long week -- in a good way!!

'Tis the season to be Thankful....

It's easy to get caught up in the "hustle and bustle" around us in December.

I've found in the recent past, life events have a way of smacking me and changing my focus to other things around this time of year.  In 2007, my husband had a reocurrance of cancer and ended up undergoing back surgery where the liposarcoma had metastasized, (causing him to lose his ability to walk), and resulting in admission to hospital on December 22 (the start of five months of therapy and treatment before he walked out of rehab).  This year, a very dear friend is undergoing some health issues which have left her physically and emotionally exhausted, and extremely frustrated. There are solutions that would make her life easier and put less physical strain on her body, but those have yet to be offered/implemented, and that doesn't help with the frustration or the exhaustion.

I believe that's where I come in.  Some people spend their lives searching for the "meaning of life", but I'm not sure there's a single solitary answer to that question. Why are we here? What is the meaning of my life? I believe the answer lives in all of us, and is as unique and individual as we are.  I'm finding my abilities are in friendship, love, compassion, understanding and perhaps most importantly in some circumstances, advocacy. My brother recently called it "moral support".

When you get caught up in life, the chaos of circumstances beyond your control, who do you turn to? For me, it is so very important to have someone to ground me, someone I trust to tell me the truth even if it stings a bit, and to know when to couch it in humour and gentle compassion so I can understand the frank honesty without being hurt.  I value my friends and family who are able to provide context by making me look at the whole picture.   I am so thankful for these people who are in my life, and willing and able to do this. And this is my reciprocal gift to them in return.

Take a moment to put things in context. Look outside the immediate chaos and appreciate those things that we often take for granted. Be thankful for your health, your family, being safe, warm and supported; be thankful for your friends and all they bring to your life -- challenges and surprises.

Most of all be thankful for the time you can spend this holiday season with those you love. That time is a gift!