I met an amazing person last weekend. I was in awe a bit, listening to this 86 year old Jewish woman reminisce about her amazing life, being kicked out of Poland and banished to Siberia for years simply for being who she was born to be. She skipped past the obviously painful memories and talked so positively about coming to America despite her initial living conditions and about her hobbies and interests. She did speak of how she survived the tumultuous years during WWII being shuttled around as a "displaced" Jew. She spoke specifically about spending weeks in a boxcar (cattle car) when being transported to Siberia. She said "I don't know how people survive things like that, some don't. I guess its either a love of life or fear of death that keeps you alive through that". Then she whispered to me, "I've always favored a love of life."
I thought to myself, this lady knows how to live. It's not always easy to be happy with what you have or where you are but she seems to have nailed it. Her attitude was all about being happy. Doing the things she loves and enjoying the art of doing them, simply because she can!
I mention this to you because it all comes back to inspiration and attitude. This little 86 year old woman was so inspired to live. She talked about her events at the local Y and how she swims every day and takes the bus from her home in the Bronx into the heart of Manhattan to go shopping. She loves to read, especially studying aspects of biology and anatomy and history. There is no doubt in my mind this woman would beat anyone in a game of Jeopardy. I've never known such an inspiring person who simply does what makes her happy. She inspired me to do things that make me happy and appreciate the simple things in life.
One thing that makes me very happy is knitting. As cheesy as that sounds its a great hobby that I'd love to do for a living at some point. I find that when I knit I get so excited for the finished product that I get a little impatient when progress on the project seems slow. But I realize now that I need to relish the process as a whole, creating the finished product not just the product itself.
Alas I have started the pink and brown dress I mentioned in my last post and though I haven't put much time into it yet it is coming along rather well. Slowly but surely.
This dress/jumper is based on a free pattern by Lion Brand called the "Child's Playtime Top" the example is seen here. As you can see it is knit in one color however I am going integrate brown as an accent. I'm thinking just the hem, a stripe at the empire waste then trim around the arm and neck holes. We'll see how it goes as I am not as experienced with multiple colors and accenting. I like this pattern because it comes in larger sizes starting at 12 mos and up to 24 mos, most baby patterns are teeny tiny and I just don't knit fast enough for things to fit the little ones in my life, so larger sizes give me more time to work on things!
As I mentioned before I am a bit impatient, with most things but especially knitting. So even though I've just started this project I am always looking for cool new patterns for my next project. I have a growing mound of yarn in my room that just needs to be used up. So I was pretty excited when I found a new website with great free patterns, www.Knitty.com is awesome! I just discovered it but already have bookmarked a number of free patterns I intend to try with some of the assorted yarns I have accumulated over time.
In the mean time though I am working on the jumper, wondering which of the little ladies in my life it will eventually be for. It will depend on the size when its all said and done and how long it takes me to finish. At that point I am sure it will be suitable for one of them. I won't say who I have in mind because I think her mother reads this blog and well I'd like it to be somewhat of a surprise. If all goes well I will have enough of the same yarn left to make another one possibly a little bit bigger for someone else. Here is what it looks like so far...
