One thrum at a time.....

I think I am finally recovering from my pre-holiday bloggers burn-out. Not that I was ever a prolific blogger to begin with. Not like that Susan anyway, who faithfully hits the keyboard every couple of days with her entertaining stories about dancing and school, and pictures of her incredible FO’s! I so admire her commitment to the blog! I was always glad to just get around to blogging at least once a week. By early last fall I was happy if I got an entry in once a month!
But somewhere around November of last year, it all become too much – the calendar was full, DD1’s chemo was coming to an end after a long eight months and her exhaustion and the long term effects were constant, and I just couldn’t focus on anything else except getting through each days. The holidays loomed, the transit strike sucked the life out of me – the 4:30am mornings had me falling into bed at 8:30pm, the freezing temperatures - which never excite me at the best of times - had me grumbling about extreme layers of clothing required just to survive, and more recently the news that DD1 will have to continue her extreme fight against Hodgkin’s just knocked me flat on my ass. My brain was foggy, my energy had flat-lined, and writing was out of the question.
But now I find I want to blog a bit again, just a few words, here and there. I’ve missed it, and you! I am taking it as a good sign.
So where am I at these days?
1. We’ve been on holiday – me, the G-man, DD1 & DD2, the whole dang family – Barbados was gorgeous, sunny, and the warmth seeped some life back into my body and mind.
2. The transit strike is finally over after 51 days, and the buses running, and although that means that work here in Transit Supply is ciaos, I can manage.
3. The weather here is fine – only one coat required, and no shovelling. I can do that.
4. And DD1 has re-ignited the flames of determination, and with a take-no-prisoners style, is teaching the family all about “Clean Eating” and “Clean Living” to help ready her body for the next stage of her treatment. It can only do us all good!
5. And, after numerous projects being cast on that have been laid aside for various reasons, most of which have nothing to do with the project but more to do with my fuddled brain, I have found a small knitting project that is actually pleasing me immensely. See here?:

Yup – thrummed mittens! I’ve never knit a pair before. With yarn from my stash, which makes me doubly happy! Cottage Craft worsted weight, from my trip a few summers back to St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick. The roving is Fleece Artist – now how could I resist the chance to pop up the thrums with those gorgeous colors! The pattern is from Yarn Forward, their own shop version.

They are for my Mum since she recently told me how she showed up for snow-shoeing at my sister’s farm wearing only a pair of Dad’s old woolly work socks on her hands – she couldn’t find her mitts!

My knitterly disbelief was enormous – how could I have let this happen? My very own mother did not have a pair of handmade woollen mittens? How could I have not made her a simple pair of mitts by this point in my knitting career? I was mortified enough to dive into my stash immediately and pull out some straights and drive over to Yarn Forward to procure some suitable roving!

I’m loving them, and so does everyone else in the house! I can see that thrummed mitts will be intermittently my future for a bit. That’s ok, I’m ready for a break from just toting around socks in my purse!

Knit on………….