Thanksgiving and a New Knitting Project

Thankgiving is a beautiful holiday. We are usually the travellers but it is only 3 hours to where my folks live.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my sister's home. I have two fantastic nephews who are about the same ages as our sons. Our middle son was able to be there also. Our youngest son lives too far away to come for a short visit and our oldest son and his wife are the ones who were injured in a car accident on November 3. They had plane tickets to come for Thanksgiving. Of course we missed them and one of our blessings to be thankful for is that they are alive and healing.

My sister is a wonderful hostess and my brother in law is great in the kitchen also. My sister sets a beautiful table. This year she had small photo frames at each place setting as a favor to take home. In each frame was a Bible verse or quote about being thankful. Before our meal we took turns reading our verse. The decorative leaves hanging from her chandelier is something she made herself.

I finished my socks made of Opal "Lilly". My mom is reviving her knitting skills and my sister is learning to knit. I tried to teach them my way of knitting, the Continental or German method, but they are both "throwers" and couldn't convert. Too bad.

Our middle son wants a sweater for Christmas. Yippee! I told him I wouldn't be able to finish one by then but I'm going to try. He has some specific ideas about what he wants. The day after we got home (Sat) I ran over to my local yarn store and bought the wool, Cascade 220. It isn't exactly what I was looking for but it will be fine. I began a sleeve on Sunday evening and by the end of Monday evening it measured nearly 16". I was only knitting during the evening hours. I use Elizabeth's Zimmerman's seamless Saddle Shoulder for most of my sweaters. I like the yoke because you decrease at 4 points on every row instead of every other row. Much easier. The sweaters fit great, too. This one will have a cable pattern running up the front.

I've been wanting a standing mixer for such a long time. In our old house there wasn't room on the counter for one. When we moved here in May there were so many extra expenses with the move that I put it off. My husband was realizing that a mixer for me meant more goodies for him and he kept nudging me to buy it. I bought the Kitchen Aid Professional 5 Quart and am thrilled with it. I made two loaves of 100% Whole Wheat Bread that turned out fantastic. I have made bread for years by hand and yes, it can be fun to do it all without machines but this is fun in another way. I had a bread machine and did not like making bread that way. Tonight I made meatloaf for dinner and also shortbread for an open house I'm having on Saturday.

It is good to be home!

Thank you for your prayers, well wishes, and supportive emails. My husband and I flew home on Wed. Tuesday had been a difficult day. We spent the whole day in the clinic with doctors appointments. We received good news from one doctor and not-so-good from another doctor. Our son's back will heal 100%. His foot is more seriously injured than we thought. We expected to get a walking cast and have him back into normal activities in 8 weeks. Instead he had surgery yesterday to repair the breaks. He may develop arthritis in that foot. Also, he cannot put weight on his foot or drive a car for 6 months! That isn't what an activie 29 year old wants to hear. Still, we are so grateful that both our son and DIL are both alive. The injuries could have been so much worse. It was difficult for me to not be with him during the surgery but it was time for us to come home. His mother-in-law is there taking good care of both of them.

So what have I been knitting? I finished the details on a sweater and booties for my hairdresser who had a little girl in September. The sweater is from One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant and the booties are from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding.

I finished a few more bibs. These are great plane projects. Knitting kept me sane on this trip.

I also finished my first pair of socks using two circular needles! The yarn is Essential from Knit Picks. The feel of this yarn is just wonderful. I am definitely getting more in other colors. The color here is "Grass" and is a darker green than it appears in my photo.

When life has been turned upside down for a while you really appreciate the ordinary days even more. I love puttering about on a Saturday morning. Saturday is my usual day for going through magazines, mail order catalogs, and any other paper that I have not kept under control during the week. I also water and feed my African Violets and other indoor plants. Today I am enjoying these chores even more. Just the ordinary household task of doing laundry is more enjoyable when you've been doing laundry in a laundromat. It is good to be home!

Family Crisis

It doesn't take but a few seconds for your life to change dramatically. Last Saturday we received a call informing us that our son and daughter-in-law had been in a terrible accident. They live quite a distance from us so we were not able to hop in the car and rush to the hospital. I was able to fly out to be with my son and his mother-in-law came also. It has been a two person job caring for the two of them. They were both in the hospital for several days and both have multiple injuries. Our son has a broken vertebra and a broken foot (more than one bone) Our DIL has ruptured vertebrae, broken shoulder, clavicle, and a bad concussion. By all accounts, they are fortunate to be alive. We are so grateful for that. The wreckage was terrible and a person at the hospital who had seen the wreckage did not think anyone could have survived it. We are getting a little better each day.

My son was wearing a sweater I had made for him in 1996. The ER people had to cut all his clothing off. When I saw that sweater, with bits of grass and twigs embedded in it, the reality of the situation came rushing in. I feel his sweater might have protected him somewhat from the glass and debris and it somewhat comforting to know that he was enveloped in an expression of my love for him at the time this happened.

We saw the police report today and it was confirmed that my DIL who was driving the car was not at fault. That is truly a blessing. No one in the other vehicle was injured. Their car rolled over several times and our son was ejected even though he was wearing a seatbelt.

Everyone from home keeps asking what they can do to help. If we were at home there would be lots of things they could do for us but since we are across the country there is very little in a physical sense. We appreciate all prayers.