Knitting for Therapy

    One thing I am finding as I deal with my mother-in-law's death is that I have a very hard time sitting still when upset.  I have scrubbed the mildew off of the shower ceiling, dusted the fins of the ceiling fan, vacuumed the baseboards, and washed every piece of laundry I can find. 
    I have also been knitting.  I am working on a lace shawl,  a bulky weight tunic that I started two years ago and put aside,  and a sock weight cowl.  I seem to find the mindless repetition of knitting soothing.  This mourning may actually be a productive time.  I am obsessively downloading patterns from the internet, planning all the possible projects to come.  Unfortunately, I should be focusing on Batboy: The Musical for which I am designing the costumes.  I know what I want it to look like but I am having a devil of a time concentrating on drawing the designs.
    I have to find a project for some lovely hand dyed banana/silk yarn in a turquoise,blue and brown colour pathway. I had started a shell for my mother-in-law...sigh.

    

Expect the unexpected

     The lack of posts is due to a bit of soul - icing news.  My dear mother-in-law, Betsy Kahl, passed away last weekend.  It was completely unexpected - she was reading in bed and apparently just fell back and her neighbors found her after a day and a half.  This was during the first big snowstorm in Feb.in the mid-Atlantic, and after having seen her once Saturday afternoon, no one saw her for a day and she did not answer her calls.  This would not have been so odd if there had not been 3 feet of now on the ground.
    We are all still coming to grips with this great loss. I keep thinking about little things I will miss - sitting around the breakfast table with all the adults reading different sections of the paper, or talking far into the night about theatre, politics or other things - rarely gossip or small things.  She was very well read - as  a matter of fact, she was reading the copy of Eat, Pray, Love we'd given her for Christmas when she passed away.
    I was very lucky to have had her in my life for over twenty years.  I have heard so many women talk about the neutral or negative relationships they have with their mothers-in-law.  I was blessed not only to have gotten along with my mother-in-law, but to have her as a close friend.  I will miss her dearly.
     Thanks to everyone who has been so considerate and helpful during this time of sadness. Every prayer and kind word means a great deal to us.
      Treasure your loved ones and don't forget to call your mother.