We hear on a daily basis the consequences and horrors of Covid 19 but could there possibly be any unanticipated blessings? I think I may have experienced 5 unanticipated blessings. I am not sure I would have discovered any of these treasures without Stay Home, Stay Safe giving me the opportunity to disengage from all commitments to take a long hard look at life.

​The first thing I discovered was mindfulness. I was given the opportunity to step back and take a hard look at what was really important. I looked at each of my commitments and their importance in my life in 2020. Without the pause, I would not have been mindful about my commitments. I would have continued life as it had been for a very long time. My benchmark to safety is “I am ready to eat in a restaurant?” If the answer is “no” then I am not ready to reengage.

Another unanticipated blessing was reclaiming Mom’s bedroom from its “yarn dump” status. It has been a yarn dump since January 2018 when we had our last sleep over guest. All yarn purchased since January 2018 was dumped there.

After two weeks of sweat and yarn kitted to fill 3 tubs, it looks like this.

Tess thinks every bed belongs to her.

In the midst of reclaiming Mom’s bedroom and organizing the Stash Studio, I became reacquainted with my Stash AND began letting go. I gave yarn away to yarn buddies and to Ann’s By Design to sell. I was amazed there wasn’t a pain in my heart as I sent the skeins, balls and cakes to new homes. I just knew somebody received the gorgeous orbs who would love them as much as I had. Some of the yarn I’d had for over 30 years. It was all bagged, tubbed and labeled. There was much I will never use but I love it too much to get rid of it. Remember, I am not only a knitter, I am a yarn collector.

​I have discovered Skyping and Zooming for social knitting. One of my social knitting groups is called Social Knitting From Afar and is with Linda. Every Thursday night for an hour we have a Linda and Jan KAL and visit. We tried this once when she first moved but we each worked on what we were currently knitting. Now we have treasures we’re working on together. Remember S Curve from last post?

Now we are working on Spice Market.

Soon we will be working on The Moon and Satellites.

I’m adding a few more colors so I have lots of options to be creative and spontaneous.

I’m not sure there is much I love better than playing with colors!

On Friday afternoons at 2:00 Debbie Hale a knitter at Ann’s By Design hosts a Zoom knitting. The knitting is a blessing but developing a friendship with Debbie is an unanticipated blessing. It has been amazing to become friends knitting and sitting alone in my dining room. I love Deb. She is upbeat, helpful and a knitter. What more could I ask for in a friend!?!?! Thank you Deb or this wonderful gift.

The fourth unanticipated blessing is the discovery of Indie Untangled: Your portal to artisan yarn and fiber goodness. My sister introduced me to Indie Untangled and I think it significantly increase the yarn dump in Mom’s bedroom. I love Indie Untangled. Every time I visit (and that is probably every day since they send me an email with something I think I can’t live without) I find an amazing treasure that calls to me.

I love to discover small companies featuring hand died fibers in amazing colors. That’s exactly what you’ll find on Indie Untangled.

Isn’t that amazingly beautiful!?!?!?! I will get my Indie Untangled email and be lost in its wonders for an hour and I usually buy something.

I love this sweater in this color! Since I am a very hot person, I probably won’t wear a pullover but I will find a way to use this design with this yarn.

Aren’t they just adorable!?!?!

Last but certainly not least, I’ve rekindled my love affair with lists. When I was working, my job was such that I needed short and long term lists to keep me focused on what I had to do today and what I had to do in the future. Each project had its own list. In the beginning of Stay Home Stay Safe, I was loosing track of what I wanted to do each day so felt disorganized and unproductive. Enter the list! Now I feel like I have some control in my life. It also keeps me from ignoring tasks that I really don’t want to do. At least with a list I can mindfully choose not to do something. And here we are back to mindfulness. I will come out of this crisis a little more thoughtful, a lot more intentional and counting my unanticipated blessings..

Thursday nights have become nights I treasure and eagerly await. It is the night Linda and I do Social Knitting From Afar. At 7:00/4:00, our iPads are in the ready position and we have a a glass of wine with a glass that says, “Girlfriends are therapists you can drink with.” The next hour is pure heaven. On Thursday, June 4, we completed S Curve together. We kept up with each other even though we each have other treasures we’re working on. You know my story about S Curve. From across the room at the Yarn Barn of Kansas, it called my name. It was love at first sight. Then I bought one for Linda as a thank you when I visited her last summer. I am ready to unveil or reveal which ever you prefer.

There it is! My amazing S Curve which was designed to be part of the Western Michigan Yarn Crawl. The story is so amazing and the colors are so beautiful that I smile every time I see it.

The only part that was not perfectly enjoyable was the lozenge part. Lozenge are those little oval things. TEDIOUS!!!!!

I am pondering if I want to take it to the Coastal Condo and use it on the table in the foyer or if I want to give it to my P.E.O. Chapter for an auction or if I want to keep it to remind me of the Stay Home Stay Safe experience.

All “show and tells” end with Lydia modeling the treasure. Next up on the Social Knitting From Afar agenda is Spice Market.

The colors aren’t exactly me but I think it will be amazing. It looks like Linda and Denny won’t be coming to Michigan this summer. I totally understand the hesitation to fly. I have that same fear. Now that we have Social Knitting From Afar, we see each other every week. I think this will continue for a very long time.