Great Friends, Good deeds, and Fun Knits

I'm such a lucky gal. My life might have fallen to pieces around me and I may be still in a state of confusion and looking for direction, but I have some of the most fabulicious women in my life that I just don't know what I would do without them. I must say that when I moved away from my friends and my work to move in with Honey, I kind of let a lot of friendships fall by the wayside. I haven't given the attention and haven't been the best of a friend for so many for a while now. I have felt guilty about it which has added to my poor self image I've been so carefully creating for myself. But these amazing women, all with issues of their own, have stepped up to the plate to allow me to lean on them and to begin to rebuild again. Their strength and love is amazing and I really don't know what I would do without them. It's going to be a long hard road to recovery, but my road crew is strong and appears to know what I need right now more than I do. Every night since Honey left I've been met with outings, phone calls, dinners out, knittings in, Cakelove cupcakes, group hugs, shoulders to cry on, ears to just listen, comforting advice... you name it they've come through.

Some of the best advice I've been given so far was to seek professional help as well as seek out ways that I can be helpful. So this weekend I've drowned myself in good deeds to do. First off, Ruth helped me to deliver a trunk full of scarves, hats, mittens, gloves, and other winter weather goodies that I had my ADK group collect, to a local shelter that was very thankful for the donation. I attempted to donate them at several other locations and was turned down. Bummer that most of them won't take donates of that type due to space restrictions. But this one was great. We even met a man who was very grateful to accept one of the sleeping bags we had on hand. What a great feeling that gave me to make someone else's day when I'm feeling like shit. But the good deeds didn't end there. Sarah has to move out of her DC townhouse so we spent the day loading up the cars and moving like a billion items to a storage unit and to the house she's going to temporarily live in. And to boot, she's going to help me look for a new place and is thinking of moving in with me. Good times with that gal. Through the move, one of the the women she's temporarily moving in with has so graciously given me a car full of office supply stuff and books to take into the schools that I'll work in next week. I know the teachers there will be delighted with the goodies I'll have to offer them. Giving back the love I so desperately need right now feels good, even if it's only a temporary fix in between crying sessions. In the long run, I think it's going to be these good times with these ladies (and others that I haven't mentioned here but are just as important right now) that's going to pull me through this mess.

The time I do have alone at home has been spent drowning my tears in knitting. No FOs just yet, but a few WIP that someone around here might find interesting. Or at least it's a good distraction from the depression I call life right now.

First up is another Booga Bag. The body is all knit up now and I only have the straps to do before felting. I used JoAnn's Sensations wool yarn line and really enjoyed how smooshy it felt as it knit up. I'll admit, a little odd for wool, but also very comforting right now in an odd sort of way. We'll see how it felts up before giving a final verdict.

On our day off on Monday I took my friend Heather (the wonderful woman mentioned above who donated all the stuff for me to take to the schools) to two LYS to make her first "real" yarn purchases. I happened to pick up some interesting looking Cameo, Wool in the Woods in Citrus on sale and began knitting up Wisp last night. I'm in love. (The colors here are dark and dreary... what more can I say about this weather right now. Hopefully better photos will come later.)

I'm calling it Spring Whispers because of it's light spring colors. The drape on it so far is lovely. What a fabulous feel good knit.