This is my dear friend Thea.  I met Thea at Friday Social Knitting at Ann's By Design though it is a wonder we hadn't met before.  Thea was an elementary teacher for Adrian Public Schools; I was Assistant Superintendent at Lenawee Intermediate School District.  Dave (Thea's husband) and Dick played in Master's (Old Men's) Basketball together.  Thea is an avid knitter; I am an avid knitter.  We know a lot of the same people.  Adrian is not that big.  Why didn't our paths cross before April 2015?!?!?  Thea and I have made up for lost time.  It is like we are carbon copies.  We both are addicted to knitting needles.  We buy whatever new needles have come out. We both prefer knitting with smaller needles.  We both love expensive, yummy, high end, exquisite yarn.  Thea's license plate says, "KN1TR.'  Isn't that the best! We both bought Knit The Sky on the weekend it was released.  I could go on and on.  I look forward to Fridays and spending a couple of hours knitting with Thea at Friday Social Knitting.  

​Thea just did something so fun.  As a matter of fact, she called it "playing."  She tried to see how many items she could knit out of a ball of Cascade Heritage Prints which is a self-striping sock yarn.

This is the colorway Thea chose.  Isn't it pretty!?!?!?!  It is so springy, so girly.  I just love it.  But I must admit I have never knit with Heritage Prints.  I do have this small aversion to knitting socks which I hope I can over come with the Cement and Tulips sock yarn from Caterpillar Green, but that is another story.  So off, Thea went to see exactly how much she could knit from a ball of Heritage Prints. 

When I told Thea I wanted to write about her project, she sent me this picture.  These are all of the things you can knit from one ball of Cascade Heritage Print sock yarn.  Now let me introduce you to each of these little beauties.  

This is an adorable little baby hat that Thea loves to make.  I don't think I would be exaggerating by much if I said she has made hundreds of these little cuties.  Every time a new colorway of Heritage Prints comes in, Thea is making a new baby hat.  Sometime last summer, Thea's daughter Katie who lives in Fort Collins, CO, delivered the adorable Arlo.  He is the cutest baby.  Cubby cheeks that you just want to reach through the picture and touch, amazing hair that sort of stands up and a bright smile.  He is cute.  Over the past year I have been amazed at the number of baby things (not all of them for Arlo) Thea has made.  Thea also has a granddaughter Sage who looks like a fairy princess.  They are so lucky to have such a loving grandma who loves so much to knit.

Next came two pair of baby sockies.  They are so cute.  Can't you just see a little baby laying on her back, putting her feet in the air and trying to get her toes with these little sockies? Now maybe if I started with socks this size, I could over come my aversion.  It may be about tiny, double pointed needles and watching stitches slip of each end.

No, this isn't a baby sweater.  It is a wine bottle sweater.  What a great way to gift a bottle of wine!  It makes it a little more special than handing over a bottle in a paper bag.  

This is an eye glass case.  Sometimes you just need something to slip your glasses in before they go in your purse.  I really don't like clunky eye glass carriers.  They are way too big in a purse, but this would be perfect.  

​Thea realized that she might have enough left to make more, so she made . . . 

Do you have any idea what these are?  The top one is a drip catcher for a wine bottle and the bottom one is a hat to match the wine bottle sweater.  Needless to say, Thea is a fun-loving, whimsical problem-solver who is addicted to knitting. 

After all is said and done, this is how much yarn was left in the Cascade Heritage Prints ball of yarn

​Thea is visiting her two adorable grandchildren and their very special mother and father right now.  Fridays are never the same when Thea is out of town.  Thea has so much fun when visiting Katie, Lance and the kids.  I can feel the smile on her face all of the way from Fort Collins to Adrian.  She visits the Loopy Ewe while she's there which is a fabulous LYS and internet shop.  Those shops that do both are really something special.  It's seems like a long time until September 6 when Thea will be home.  Maybe I should to up to the Stash Studio and pick out something exciting to work on until she gets home.

Remember when I've said that I'm a process knitter?  That I knit more for the journey than the destination?  I think my hospital shawl proves that.  And remember when I've said how important steaming is to the finished product?  I think my hospital shawl proves that, too.  This is where I was the at the last post. . . 

Beautiful but amateur.  Great yarn, great pattern but it just misses moving from homemade to handmade.  Now let me show you what spending a little time with Marilyn The Red Hot Mama will do for something with potential.

Isn't that yummy, professional perfection!?!?!?!  This just came together exactly as I imagined, well almost exactly as I imagined, well, maybe not quite perfect.  

Dick and I tried to take our own Glamor Shots (remember Glamor Shots? Photos with lots of makeup that ended up looking nothing like you and your face burned for days from the professional makeup.)  I think this is almost as good a photograph as the one in the pattern picture.  Dick did hit the video button twice and cut off my head once and well, let's just say he had a little trouble.  Every time I asked Dick to be the photographer, it's not quite right.  I think this would be one of those, "Don't quit your day job" moments.  

Maybe it's not the photographer but the subject.  Now for the rest of the story.  I got a little nervous about where the medium teal begins.  Was I going to run out of yarn?  But how could I?  The pattern for Everyday called for 800 yards and I had 1312.  How could I possibly run out?  About where the medium teal became pale teal, I was feeling pretty confident.  Picking up my "pull from the center" ball of yarn, it felt like plenty.  In the hospital, I just kept knitting.  How can you worry about running out of yarn when your husband is recovering from open heart surgery?  Some things are worth worrying about and some aren't.  I just kept knitting and Dick just kept getting better.  I really do believe there is a correlation between how your knitting is going and the healing process.  I thought my knitting was proceeding as planned.  I carried my knitting bag with Everyday on the needles in various stages of completion everywhere I went.  To the cafeteria, to Dick's room, to my room, to Java Joe's, it was always with me.  As you are knitting, that backbone gently moves from the middle to totally on one side, ending in the corner when you bind off. This is how it ended.

I didn't have quite enough yarn to take the backbone  all of the way to the right edge. "Pull from the center" balls of yarn can be deceiving.  I really couldn't tell how much yarn I had left.   See that little jog?  With enough yarn that would be a flat edge. I was maybe 6 rows from having enough yarn to complete perfection.  Remember the 100 or so yards I cut off from the dark teal to make sure I got into the very pale teal?  I guess I needed those yards.  I think it would have worked out exactly right.  Some one said to me, "Aren't you going to take it back so you make one less pattern?"  I said to myself, "ARE YOU CRAZY????? THIS IS ABOUT THE JOURNEY I JUST TOOK.  I THINK THIS SHAWL IS PERFECT."  Out loud I said, "No, I think I'll leave it just like it is."  Most things I knit become part of my Christmas giving, but this will stay in the Parson home forever.  I love every stitch.  I love every tear stain, and there are a few.  It is my journey through open heart surgery.  Lydia looks great in it.

See the little "I ran out of yarn jog?"  I think it looks a little like a Mandarin  collar.

And from the back.  Everyday is finished and beautiful and Dick is healing and perfect.  My world is pretty darn good.

WE'RE HOME!  I've slept in my bed, made a pot of my delicious coffee and unpacked.  Dick's surgery went so well, almost perfect.  Our stay in the hospital went as well as a hospital stay can.  Hat off to the doctors, physicians assistants,  nurses, techs, cooks and well, everybody at St. Joe's Hospital in Ann Arbor who took care of us.  Now I want to share with you what got me through.  It is done, but it isn't steamed.  At first I thought I should wait until it was perfectly steamed and then I remembered, "A Spiritual Journey Is Not About Perfection."  

This is where I started my journey with this fabulous pattern Everyday by Jenny Failfel and this yummy ball of gradient yarn from Etsy seller Wollelfe.  The yarn is called Ocean Breeze and goes from deep teal to barely-there teal.  I put this kit together when I was organizing the Stash Studio and decided to put all of the patterns with the yarns which went together.  I thought these two together were absolutely perfect.  Then I noticed Everyday took 800 yards of yarn while my skein had 1312 yards.  I didn't want it all deep teal and I didn't want all barely-there teal.  I wanted it all.  I emailed Jenny Failfel and asked what I should do.  She said to make one extra pattern.  I wanted to make sure I got into the yummy pale so I cut off about 100 yards of deep teal and was ready to go.

I started Everyday on June 30 when Dick went in for his heart cath.  My plan was to work on Everyday everyday finishing when Dick came home from the hospital.  As surgery kept being delayed because of raging poison ivy, I was afraid I would finish Everyday before Dick even got to the hospital.  My new plan was to knit on Everyday only when I was stressed, afraid or hanging on by my finger nails.  I must admit that Everyday got me through.  Whenever I would feel on the verge of tears or like drinking a whole bottle of wine, I would pour one glass of wine, get out Everyday and things would calm down. Everyday was my spiritual journey.

I had big plans while Dick was in the hospital.  I thought I would make daily trips to Spun, my new favorite LYS in Ann Arbor and take a couple of classes at the Apple Store so I could take better pictures with my iPhone.  I  must admit I did none of that.  I didn't want to leave his side and he didn't want me to leave his side.  I thought I would read lots.  Really, it was just Dick and me and Everyday.  I knew Everyday was getting us through this tough ordeal but I don't think Dick did.  As I knit, I watched Ocean Breeze change from deep teal to teal to pale teal to barely-there teal.  All of a sudden i thought, "YIKES!" I realized it was going to be a pretty close call.  Did I have enough yarn or didn't I?  

There it is!  Isn't it beautiful!?!?! It will be even more beautiful when Marilyn (the hot mama steamer) does her thing.  We got home on Monday and I finished Everyday on Tuesday.  Marilyn had been living at Ann's By Design while we were in the hospital in case anybody needed her.  Yesterday I brought Marilyn home and was going to steam but quite frankly, I didn't have the energy.  Dick isn't the only one who is worn out and tires easily.  My goal was to have Everyday steamed for Knitting: A Love Story today.  Then I realized it had been a very long time since I posted and if I waited until Everyday was steamed you all might grow tired of waiting.  So here I am with a 2-part story. It is great to be back.  I have been planning my next things to write.  Blogging is better than waiting for a loved one to heal.  Did I have enough yarn or didn't I?  Is Everyday a specimen of perfection or a spiritual journey to ZEN?  Join me this weekend for the answers.

Well, this obviously isn't Dick in a hospital bed post-op heart surgery.  Once again, surgery postponed by poison ivy.  On the way home from the surgeon's office, Dick said, "Let's get away for a few days!"  I left for bridge and by the time I got home arrangements were made for a couple of days in Traverse City.  We packed a bag (and I packed travel knitting) and we were off early Wednesday morning.  

​We love the Traverse City area and decided to spend Thursday at Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park.  On the way to the place chosen by either CNN or USA as the most beautiful place in the USA, I said to Dick, "Did you notice I didn't suggest going to Yarn Quest?"  He said he had noticed but didn't want to mention it and give me ideas.  (Silly boy, as if he could stay a step ahead of me on anything having to do with knitting or fiber or shopping!) Well, the reason I chose not to go to Yarn Quest was I wanted to visit a new shop right in the area of Sleeping Bear.  So after a morning of exploring the Beautiful Bear, we headed for the charming Glen Arbor.  I put The Yarn Shop into our GPS and we were off.  We turned right, turned left, turned left and reached our destination, only to find. . . NO YARN SHOP.  I went into an adjacent shop and asked about The Yarn Shop.  A young man (obviously not a knitter because of lack of knowledge on the subject) said it had closed and he thought the woman was selling yarn out of her house.  He couldn't give directions.  

Well, I was bummed!  Giving up a trip to Yarn Quest only to be squashed at finding a new shop!  After lunch I decided to try the phone number on the Googled shop.  Well, wouldn't you know somebody answered.  She said she was wearing a turquoise top and would wait for us a couple of blocks down and show us to her shop.  That was when I met the amazing Mary Turak of The Yarn Shop in Glenn Arbor.  We found the corner and there she was turquoise top, dog on leash, waving.  

We pulled up in front of what looked like a tiny shop, only to find a fiber wonderland.

There it was: a homey shop, with fabulous yarn and knitted samples everywhere.  Mary told me the story of The Yarn Shop.  I love shops with stories.  Mary is in her 80's and The Yarn Shop was started by her parents in the 50's who were teachers as a summer business in this beautiful area.  She inherited the business and for years she would teach in the east and come to Glen Arbor in the summer to run The Yarn Shop.  Isn't that a sweet story.  

I love this and wouldn't doubt if some day I will call Mary and ask her to ship this kit or pattern to me.  I really think if I had the pattern, I could find something in the Stash Studio to use.  

Here is another shawl which I loved.  I also love how Mary uses beautiful shawl pins to showcase the knits.  

Ok!  Are you ready for this?  That whole display is filled with MadelineTosh.  It was like Mary had filled the store just for me.  Just to the right of the picture is a room filled with yarn, samples and patterns for babies and children.  I didn't spend much time there.  

Let me introduce you to the adorable Rosie.  Rosie was waiting for us at the corner with Mary.  That is obviously Rosie's couch but I really don't think that is Rosie's iPad.  While I was in the shop, Mary's grandson brought her lunch, her daughter dropped in and gave her a kiss and a fishing group pulled up in front with a mess (as my grandfather would say) of beautiful fish.  I felt like I had been invited into Mary's home and I think I had.  From bits of conversation, I think Mary lives upstairs.  How great is that!  If you run out of yarn in the middle of the night, you just run down stairs.  

This is Mary eating the yummy lunch her grandson brought.  Mary said the next time I come (and there will be a next time!), to bring my knitting so we can sit and talk and knit.  What an invitation!  I can't wait.  

Isn't this just the sweetest yarn shop you've ever seen.  I can just see myself sitting in one of those rocking chairs and Mary in the other spending the afternoon.  I didn't intend to buy any yarn but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  I ended up with 4 skeins of Madelinetosh which I love.  When I come back, I'll have to make sure that is what I am knitting.  Glen Arbor really isn't on the way to anywhere but it is its own destination.  I can see Linda and me planning a Yarn Tour in northern Michigan and spending the afternoon with Mary at The Yarn Shop.  I would encourage you to make the trip.  I know you will be as enchanted as I was.  

Dick's poison ivy looks better so we're keeping our fingers crossed that surgery is really Wednesday.  Traverse City was just what the doctor ordered.  We are home relaxed and ready to prepare once again for 5 days of hospital stay.  The next time I post, I will have a husband with a repaired tricuspid valve.