Goodbye Dear Friend

After a three year battle with colon cancer Tracy passed on in her home with her family on Monday, June 23rd. The four of us plus my sister Allison went to the visitation the following Thursday. We had a lovely visit, as lovely as could be expected.

I miss her.

I've started this post multiple times in the past week but have not been able to write about Tracy's passing. I tend to process loss months if not years after the fact. Some things are difficult to put into words.

In the meantime I knit, and read. In the last few weeks I've re-read Eragon and Eldest. I'm looking forward to Brisinger coming out in September.

I've read two knitting books Most recently The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood. It's a 25 tissue book. It's filled with both loss and hope. Before that I read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. More loss, more tissues. The theme of both books is how women, specifically knitters, support each other during times of duress.

I thought quite a bit about Ruth (stepmother's Mom who passed 2 years ago) the last few weeks. I have quite a bit of her yarn stash, lots of rainbow acrylic. I started Rambling Rows in Ruth stash, ok a bit of my stash as well, for her husband Bill. It's a brilliant pattern. I love how it builds on itself with each block. I'm going for random color with one exception, the large blocks are all going to be rainbow. It's going to be a Joseph's Coat of many colors but a lap blanket.

I have an FO to share. Elisa's Nest Tote in Cotton Ease. It was a fun little knit, the bag is not very big. I was running out of yarn so I made it a bit small and did 3 stitch i cord instead of 6 stitch. It's not very big but I think E might like it for a little purse. I'm not crazy about the side seams. This is my third knitted market bag. I have an idea about knitting a fourth that incorporates elements from all three into one bag. We shall see.

Speaking of E. She is spending the week with Grandma. I miss her so much but she is getting one on one Grandma time and taking swimming lessons. The house is so quiet without her here.

I'm feeling a bit better with this post behind me. I could not NOT talk about this, but I found it hard to bring myself to post. Tracy lives on in my memories and in my heart.