Friday, February 12, 2010

The 2010 Knitting Olympics

Tonight is the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Simultaneously around the globe begins another Olympics - the 2010 Knitting Olympics, hosted by the Yarn Harlot. In 2006, I learned about this too late and followed it from afar, but this year I'm very happy to say that I'm a part of it. I've signed up and have my yarn and needles ready to go. Though no longer what I'd consider a novice knitter, the project I've chosen is itself quite simple. I'm planning to knit each girl a pair of baby legwarmers, coming up with the pattern on my own. If I finish before the closing ceremonies, I plan to continue to knit a bit each night, finishing/starting projects that have languished the past year or so. The challenge then is not the project itself, but to find some time each night to knit, something that has been in very short supply in the past year. Until Little A was born, I had not found any time at all to knit in months and months...and months; in the weeks after her birth I finally worked the needles on a hemp sweater I started long ago for Big A - and which she has long since outgrown - and was reminded of just how much I love it and how much I need to make time to do something creative. My recovery progressed, though, Keith went back to work and I was suddenly very busy again, now juggling two babies. Knitting fell by the wayside once again. So the true challenge during this Knitting Olympics in not the pattern. The challenge is to dedicate a little time each night to myself, nurturing my creativity and my soul. At the end, hopefully, the girls will each have a pair of sweet baby legwarmers but I'll have something even better, memories of some peaceful moments with my thoughts, some yarn and a bit of time for the artist within to resurface, just a little.

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