Knitting & Purling

Back in November, I corralled a bunch of my local friends to come and choose fabulous hand knits for their very own. After a few years of knitting my way through my mother's unfinished projects and vast stash of yarn, I was finally ready to release these gifts into the universe so others could share in the bounty. I also reserved a few choice knits for family members and mailed off some pieces to old family friends. All told, I had completed well more than two dozen hats and two dozen scarves. (Read more about this in The Finisher .) I donated scads more hats and scarves to Ithaca charities, along with several throws to the Cancer Resource Center. Among friends, I asked only for a picture of themselves each wearing their choices.  Not everyone sent in pictures, but I amassed quite a few! Doesn't everyone look wonderful?! My mom's love and care has rippled out beyond her imagining. Wondering what's next on the agenda? Here's my current, still large,...

It's about as serious as things can get right now.  We're hunkered down when we'd prefer to go out, volunteer, and somehow try and save lives and reduce suffering, staying home unless we are essential. Because, we understand, it's the kindest thing we can do for others right now, not to mention for ourselves and our families. So I've been sewing masks for our local health center. And, naturally, I've also turned again to knitting from time to time. Recently when my neighbor Marc and I were chatting over the fence at a respectable 18-foot distance, he said he had a new idea for a hat, and it should say "roll." "Why roll?" he said recently on Instagram. "Because that's what my father would say: roll with the punches. So that's what we need to do now."   If I were this professor's student, I'd get on with it.  And knowing I had some leftover yarn tucked away in my stash, I got to work. Now to me, Marc i...