The making of a perfect weekend:

• Baja Burrito & knitting night with a really random but wonderful group of women.
• kick-ass (seriously) Jazzercise workout, in which I left with a fully soaked t-shirt.
• doggie bath time... clean pups are the best.
• Little Sister art time
• Christmas party with lots of homemade gifts, wine, delicious food, and wonderful company.
• Sleeping in & making homemade cinnamon rolls... sugar overload.
• Eating lots of homemade apple cider caramels.
• Folk + Free Skool gardening class with friends.
• Dutch Blitz game night, complete with ginger-apple spritzer, caramels, and laughter with two of my favorite women.
• Wrapping presents & putting them under the tree.
• Knitting on the couch with a cat on each side of me.
• Knowing that in less than a week, my grad school friends will be free to hang out with me again (this means you, Sarah).
• Knowing that Christmas is 15 days away!!!
 

Folk + Free Skool

She made this for me. "Jayvea loves Becca as a real sister and mom." 

Corduroy cuddle time.

 

and presents under the tree!

Knitting.

I started knitting in the 7th grade, when I would spend Friday nights with the ladies from my church learning new stitches and perfecting my tension. I joined a community of knitters (mostly with women 4 or 5 decades my senior) and spent a lot of my parents' money on yarn, needles, and patterns. I remember the first scarf I knit, the purse I learned the art of felting on, and my favorite teal size 8 straight needles. I remember the yarn store where I would walk the aisles, eyes wide with excitement at the colors & textures. I would watch the ladies knitting their sweaters & socks, enviously dreaming of the day I reached such a skill level.

Well, ladies & gentleman, I have arrived.

Perhaps I'm not making quite as intricate knitwear as the ladies in the knit shop made, but I also haven't yet retired to spend hours on end knitting. (oh, I wish)

Knitting has taken me on quite a journey. There have been times when I thought it was too uncool, when I lacked the patience to complete a project, when I didn't believe I could make something as big as a sweater. A decade later, and I'm feeling so fulfilled by my knitting. I love the feeling of the yarn between my fingers, I love picking out bright & colorful balls of yarn, and turning it into something beautiful, wearable, practical. I am constantly amazed at the minute difference between each stitch, and the huge visual difference within the finished product. I feel healed when I make things. I feel a sense of newness and excitement, as well as relaxation and simplicity. I am not at all bothered by the "uncoolness" of knitting or the hours & hours it takes to make one sweater.

I have learned that knitting isn't about the finished project as much as it is about the process. As is true of much of life.