God grants us grace, even though we are fallible creatures and don’t deserve it. It is His Gift to us and we would do well to be appreciative. We share that gift with others as a sort of “paying it forward”. We let go of the slights of others against us. We forgive others of countless trespasses. I’ve found the one person we are most likely to forget when we are handing out grace is ourselves.
There is a wise saying… “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” There is so much truth in that, whether it is literal or figurative. Nine years ago, Mr. Virgo died unexpectedly and I was sent on a journey. And, while I didn’t ask for it, the journey has not been without value. My husband didn’t need to die so that I could learn these lessons and not everything happens for a reason. Good things and crappy things coexist in life all the time. It is the nature of the beast. While my husband died and I felt unbelievable grief, I also learned so much about myself and attained great personal growth.
I ran across a really simple shawl pattern yesterday morning. After looking through my stash of beautiful yarns, I selected a simple single twist cotton/rayon blend in rich jewel tones called “Fire Opal”. Such a yarn needs a simple, straightforward pattern because the variations in color and texture are what makes it interesting on its own. I got up a couple of hours early and Mr. FixIt slept in, so I had my coffee and watched the fog slowly dissipate as I began working the yarn on my needles.
Lace! Argh….SO pretty…SO frustrating. First, it’s knitting on fingering weight which is very fine yarn. Second, the instructions are complex. I made it to Row 15…five or six times! My problem isn’t so much staying on the row. I have that figured out. My problem came when I had to start the row with a short sequence of four stitches, then there was a sequence of thirteen stitches that I had to repeat five times across the row, then end the row with a different sequence on the last four stitches. I constantly lost track of where I was about the middle of the fourth sequence on the fifteenth row. After tearing it out umpteen times and getting frustrated, I decided…if it isn’t fun to knit, don’t knit it. This is how I got burned out on counted cross stitch. I started trying more and more difficult patterns till it wasn’t fun anymore and I quit. I don’t want to quit knitting so I’ll knit what I love, not what frustrates the bejeebers out of me!
One of the main reasons people fall in love and get married is chemistry. This includes being “tuned into” each other. One of the main goals of marriage is to keep that connection going. It can be all too easy to go adrift in your relationship. I think having that and losing it when Mr. Virgo died made me all the more aware of what I’d lost when he was gone. I was adrift without oars.
One of the hardest things about knitting a “pair” of anything is getting them to match exactly. Such was the case with the mittens. First, I think I stopped a little short on the thumb gusset, then I knitted a little tighter, creating a slightly smaller mitten the second time. Not enough to be a real problem and it can be corrected with proper blocking. But still, it is a little frustrating to follow a pattern and get different results. I have about five and a half inches of the matching hat finished then I can set that project aside and be finished with this yarn.
Ahhhhhh….what a gorgeous day! Yesterday dawned bright and crisp and by late afternoon, it was 80°!!! It just doesn’t get any better than that. While we could have gone out and about, we elected to save the gas money for the travel we’ll be doing later in the spring and summer. Mr. FixIt finished hooking up the electric jack on the Big Birdhouse and piddled around a bit outside. We had a small bottle of bleach in the tool bin in the Little Birdhouse last summer and the road vibrations caused the cap to loosen and leak. The result was this weird corrosion on anything metal which included the manual crank for the jack in case of power failure. He spend quite a bit of time sanding it down and cleaning it up.
We awoke to sunny skies and cool temperatures yesterday. The birds were caterwauling in the flowering quince outside the bedroom window. Cardinals, blue jays, grackles, and a variety of wrens and sparrows flitted in and out to the feeders and back. Heavily laden logging trucks barreled down the two lane blacktop out front, their jake brakes doing their best to drown out the morning birdsong.
Babies are the best, aren’t they? I’ve only knitted a few baby things in my life…mainly because I lacked the confidence to follow intricate patterns. But, once I started making socks, my friend Gail (knitter extraordinaire) assured me I could do anything! I finished knitting the little baby sweater yesterday morning. I had enough yarn to make a pair of baby socks. I wasn’t sure if I had enough to make a hat as well, so I started with the socks first.
It was sixty-five degrees and sunny here in the Mid-Ohio Valley yesterday. What a glorious day! Mr. FixIt piddled around on a project outdoors while I piddled around indoors. I knitted on the baby sweater and got one sleeve half finished. And finally, around 3:30 or so, we headed into town. Our son-in-law’s birthday was yesterday so we needed to stop and give him his gift. Then we went to the City Park and walked. It was the first time since last fall that I’ve gone out and walked for exercise. I was pleasantly surprised that my bones didn’t hurt all that bad. I’m hoping this new regimen I’m on will help me get out and exercise more so I can lose some weight and feel better.