OK – so for a while I have been reading knitting blogs – and my youngest suggested I write one – so here I am. Who am I? I am on the other side of 50 – three children, a great marriage and life that generally makes me happy. I am a runner in training for my first marathon, a science grad turned librarian tech (technically not really a tech, since I lack the credentials to call myself a tech – but I do techie things), a slightly book-obsessed reader and the woman who can’t go anywhere without some knitting close at hand – just in case I get a few moments to do a few rows.
I love my husband, my kids, my family, a good book, a new knitting project, a hard run, good music and a day when I feel I have done something that counts. I always have: a knitting work in progress, several books on the go, too many things to get done in a day, far too much laundry, a messy house and a need to be right. I dislike (in no particular order) sloth, waste, not trying hard enough, needless bureaucracy, living this far away from my extended family, rainy days when summer won't come and sewing my knits together.
I have knit for over 30 years, since I first saw a sweater I had to have and couldn’t find anywhere. Of course, the self that I was thought I could just whip it up in no time. It was a lovely hunter-green cardigan, falling almost to my knees and made out of that yarn found in grocery stores. I knit on it all through Grade 12 – but wore it proudly all through Grade 13 and university. It pilled so badly but felt like home – and I was hooked. (I did hear my aunt say to my mother that it looked a little like the sweater Charlie Farquharson wore – but I loved it - mostly because I built it myself.)
I'm on Ravelry (user name momwhoknits) and although it's great for the organization it brings to my stash and the sense of completion as I finish another new thing, I am amazed at the number of people who go on and stay on, because if that were me, I would never get any knitting done. So I tend to my own page and I lurk occasionally when I am having a problem - but that's it. I figure that life is just a little too short to spend all that time on a web site devoted to knitting.
Did I also mention that I run? (Oh yes, I see that I did - well, maybe it bears repeating) And that I have run for many years - really since a long-ago boyfriend started running. And not to be outdone (because you know, in addition to having to be right, I also hate being left out.) So I bought the same shoes he did (bright blue and green Adidas) and I was hooked. The boyfriend went away, but the need to run has never really left and I have continued running for 30 years. But I never really felt the urge to run a marathon - until this spring. The only thing that appears to have triggered this is that my oldest has gone away to university - last week, as a matter of fact. She is a great kid – caring and loving, witty and bright, all those things you hope your child becomes when you are handed the small warm bundle at birth. She has reached this stage without a lot of stress and hand wringing on our part (she might debate otherwise…). I will miss her a great deal – that bittersweet moment – after all this is what we work for, us parents. And she will leave a void – not that I think running a marathon will fill that hole, but it will give me something to focus on now that her room is empty and she is all the way across Canada, in Nova Scotia. Yes I know it's a very long way from home (many, MANY people have told me that)- but it's a good stage for all of us.
OK - that's enough for now - now all I have to do is figure out how this get's posted and then I am away!!
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