Spreading Kindness, Stitch By Stitch

Good Morning Everyone!

Well, I think we can all agree that 2020 will go down in the books as a year that presented a need for social and political change. Often times the best things result from the worst situations and this year has certainly spotlighted many issues that have been bubbling below the surface for decades, even centuries. Throw in a global pandemic and you've got a pretty good setting for the next best selling sci fi/fantasy novel. As I reflect on this past year, my hope is that we have learned from this turmoil, that we have become better people with stronger communities and higher levels of acceptance. Small acts of kindness, when practiced by all, demonstrate our resiliency and can become the foundation for who we really need to be.

The idea to knit a COVID memorial blanket wasn't mine, I first heard about it from Andra who was informing her shop owners there was a lot of Vintage yarn being shipped north of the border. With stock being questionable, due to this pandemic, she was letting us know to plan ahead and be ready, she's super good about those gentle reminders. There was a local group producing crazy amounts of masks (23,000) for Franklin County, the scraps of those masks were used to create 3 beautiful quilts. One was raffled off with proceeds being donated to local organizations, one is at the St. Albans Museum, and the third one was just shipped off to Michigan State University's museum, WOW!! I wanted to do something to acknowledge our state, our Governor and officials from both sides of the aisle came together, listened to the science and took this virus seriously, THANK-YOU!!!

What better way to give tribute and remember those we lost than to knit a square for each individual. There are 60 squares in the afghan, 58 represent those precious lives lost, the remaining 2 serve as a reminder of those who continue to put their lives on the line to care for us and those who keep the shelves stocked. With the numbers beginning to climb again, we need to remember to stay covered with hands washed and keep your distance. Working together seems to be the message the universe is trying to tell us this year. So that's what I decided, we will work together to knit a beautiful afghan. It really couldn't have come at a better time, I'd been postponing our monthly KAL meetings since the lockdown, our Stitch and Bitch gatherings were outside at Taylor Park. Last month we gathered in my backyard, selected our colors and began casting on.

We met this past Saturday, masked up but were forced inside due to soggy conditions. I basically stood back, ate a cider donut and watched Sandy, Leslie and Barb take the reigns and figure out this puzzle. Leslie is an engineer and Sandy specializes in math, made my life extremely easy and saved several of my brain cells. It wasn't long before the squares were laid out, then came the discussion of the best way to assemble. Originally, I thought putting them together vertically would be easier, according to my 2 in house experts, I was wrong. They determined putting them together horizontally made more sense. Then you could use the live stitches along the lower and upper edges to put the strips together, yup I agree. Not only did they assign each square a spot, they figured out the number of stitches needed to pick up to maintain our 8" dimension, BRILLIANT!! Each strip has been assigned and is in the process of being assembled, although I know that Sandy and Leslie are done. Mine are still in a bag waiting for a few more squares to be delivered, Nicole and Susan will be picking up their goodie bag this week.

You will once again be disappointed that I have nothing exciting to report with the progress of my Spencer. I have knit and knit and knit and knit and knit, literally for hours and have 7" of garter stitch band. I have noticed a couple of spots where I didn't knit the Aerial with the Sesame which has resulted in a little extra line of mohair, oh well...thankfully it's at the bottom of the band and noticable only to me and I can live with it, my intentional mistake(s). I am really excited to cast on my Westland, I have been given permission by Andra to do so, but I want to be wearing my Spencer and it's not going to knit itself. I can't wait for you to see it finished, it is so soft, and for all of the complaining I've done, I know it's going to get worn a lot, worth the effort!

I know many of you have seen my recent videos, they are fun to do! My thanks to Carrie for being my awesome videographer, she's received many compliments. Be sure to like my What A Yarn page on Facebook and follow me on Instagram to keep well informed of what I'm up to.

We will be meeting tomorrow evening for Stitch and Bitch from 6:00-7:30 above One Federal in the office of Arnold and Scangas Architects. You may bring your own chair, but they do have chairs available to use, and masks are required since we are now inside. Make it a great day and I hope to see you soon!

Katy