I just finished one of my most challenging pieces and I must admit, it didn't always bring me joy.

Do you remember this?  I started Chrystal Falls in January but had to stop because of a stitch I wasn't enjoying.  When I decided I wanted to knit something for my friend Lynn, I also realized I needed to knit something for her daughter Lissi for their help during Mom's funeral.  I decided to knit two very different pieces and let Lynn and Lissi decide.  You saw the Olgajazzy Issey scarf a couple of posts ago that I knit with love for Lynn, now let me show you Chrystal Falls and everything I learned from it.

As a reminder, Chrystal Falls is knit from Kauni (one of my very favorite yarns) using Mosaic Knitting (one of my very favorite techniques.) This is my finished product.  There are 3 learning from Chrystal Falls that I feel are very exciting.   

The first learning came immediately with the cast-on.  Chrystal Falls calls for  an I-cord Cast-on, a very time consuming technique well worth the time.  The edge is is perfectly straight and firm.  See how beautiful it is?  I would use it again in a heart beat even when not called for in the pattern.  I think it is perfect when a scarf is knitted the long way.  At the bottom of the picture see the 4 stitch slip stitch?  Now I want you to look at the back.

See the long yellow stitches?  Those are called floats and I don't like them.  It was this stitch that made me stop in January.  It is difficult to keep the floats from being too tight then again if they are too loose they will catch on things.  Then I remembered a tip I learned some time ago.  On the next RS row, you catch the float and knit under it pulling it in close  See how much better that looks?  I probably should have gone back and fixed the first long float, but I didn't.  I hated the thought of tinking two rows of 400+ stitches but I'm going to say I kept it for a teachable moment.  Now on to the 3rd amazing learning.

This is the Bobble Bind-off.  Isn't it amazing.  Like the I-cord Cast-on, it was incredibly time consuming.  It took about 8-9 hours to bind-off.  Every 4th stitch you work 25 stitches to make the bobble.  I love it.  The juice was definitely worth the squeeze.  Put it all together and you get this.  

Lydia makes everything look better.  Now that Crystal Falls is finished, I am so proud of it. I love what it looks like and what I learned.  I am very anxious to see which scarf goes to Lynn and which goes to Lissi.  Knitting with love makes knitting worthwhile.

We are on our way to the Coastal Condo to see what kind of damage Florence left behind.  First Tess to Heavenly Days (a dog's best friend) then on to the airport.  Keep your fingers crossed.  

I am borrowing and paraphrasing this wonderful commentary on a fulfilling life from Bon Appetit.  I have a great bag that says "Read Eat Repeat" that I love, so I thought I would add my #1 favorite thing to my #2 and #3.  I am going to share with you one of my favorite book series which includes 2 of my 3 favorite things.  Just add a cookie and it is perfect.  

I don't even know how I found the first book.  Maybe it found me.  I would love to show you a picture of The Yarn Woman by Brook Mencher but we've had a flood in our basement and all of my books are packed waiting for the renovation men to do their magic.  But that's another story.  I just happen to be reading the third book in the series or that would be packed, too.  I remember reading the first few pages of The Yarn Women and a strange calm came over me.  I felt soothed.  The yarn woman is part of a trio along with a police officer and a journalist who solve mysteries.  Ruth's (the yarn woman's) knowledge of fiber and knitting and history are mesmerizing.  Ruth has an amazing zen about her that comes through on every page.  She is called in by San Francisco police detective William Chu when solving questions of fiber are part of solving a crime.  I've tried to knit and read at the same time but it doesn't work for me.  I even tried knitting while listening to an audiobook but it just put me to sleep.  BUT reading and knitting in the same book that's not a knitting book!  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I loved The Yarn Woman so much that I began trolling for a sequel.  Finally I found it. The Wailing Wood: A Yarn Woman Mystery and now The Rusalka: A Yarn Woman Mystery.  

Packing from our flood and worrying about the Coastal Condo and Hurricane Florence have interrupted my knitting so I don't have much to share with you.  But I can share this great book series.  I only have about 70 more pages until I'm done with The Rusalka Wheel and I am sad already.  I have lots of exciting knitting in the queue.  Hopefully, I'll have something worthy to share in the next week.  In the mean time, I am in the hate phase of a love/hate relationship with water.  Flood + Florence = Flummoxed.  Keep your fingers crossed that Florence has passed over Sunset Beach, Sea Trail and the Coastal Condo.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the various "kinds" of knitting and the feelings they evoke.  My first thought was creative knitting and the feeling it brings to me is excitement.  There is experimental knitting and the feeling  is curiosity.  I like to pretty much knit out of these two places most of the time.  

I was so excited the whole time I was knitting Petra Neumann's Findlinge.  I felt it was creative knitting at its finest.  

Knit The Sky provided me with over-the-top experimental knitting.  It was a whole new way to look at what to knit. 

I even added my own touch to knitting two rows every day of what the sky looked like and that was my beloved foo-foos where yarns joined.  I was curious AND I was excited.  

Lately I have been thinking about "grateful knitting," the knitting that provides the satisfaction of doing something entirely for someone else.  Grateful knitting is different than knitting a gift for someone for Christmas or a birthday.  Grateful knitting is about putting all of your "thank yous" into an object for no other reason than you are grateful.  It provides me with an amazing calm and focus.  It allows me to reminisce about all of the reasons and ways I am grateful to have this particular person in my life.  

When Mom died, I had a difficult time finding a place for a luncheon and someone to take the responsibility out of my hands.  I have a friend Lynn who is a party planner.  Lynn and I taught together in our younger years.  I have always been besties with Lynn's daughter Lissi.  Lynn said she would be glad to take responsibility for the luncheon.  It was wonderful.  She suggested we choose Mom's favorite foods which was a great help in narrowing down decision making.  When the bills came, we got a bill from the caterer but no bill from Lynn. I called Lynn and she said, "I know.  It's Lissi and my gift to you."  I have been wanting to do somethings for Lynn since then.  One day I got a shipment from Twisted Fiber Art.

There it was!  Nessie in Catnip.  I knew Nessie was my grateful knitting for Lynn.  It just looked like Lynn.  I even knew exactly the pattern I needed to use, the OlgaJazzy Issey Scarf.  I have knit it so many times that it almost knits itself leaving me with plenty of opportunity to think grateful thoughts.  For the past several weeks, if you saw me at a meeting you probably also saw the Nessie scarf.  Well, I am excited to say it is finished and I am ready to give it to Lynn.

See the little piece of yarn?  That is all that is left of the Nessie.  The final test is how it looks on Lydia.

Every time I look at the Nessie scarf, I feel calm, peaceful and (of course) grateful.  Creative and experimental knitting may bring excitement and curiosity but there is no feeling like the deep rooted peace that comes from grateful knitting.