Sunday, March 11, 2007

Beth Brown Reinsel

Wow! A day with Beth was truly amazing. It started out bright and early with Beth teaching us Swedish Cast-ons. Who knew there were so many different ways to cast-on? I learned 4 new cast-on's and made swatches of each. Then we cast-on to work our twined knitting swatch. Now, twined knitting is the english translation of Tvaandsstickning - or knitting with 2 ends of the yarn. I learned about yarn dominance and "S" and "Z" plied yarns. It was an awesome day. I knit a "Twined Wrister" to practice the twined knitting stitches.

As you can see, the stitch pattern is interesting. I loved this knitting technique.. I cast off a bit to tightly, so next time I will go up a needle size or two when I bind off. I purchased some patterns from Beth - from Twined Mittens and Socks (these are truly amazing...) to Swedish Lovikka Mittens - which are knitted and "fulled" (Beth corrected us on our felting terms) to Norwegian Mittens to Scottish Sanquhar gloves, and of course I could not resist a top down Aran sweater pattern. The best treat of all was that Beth came to SnB at Friends of Wool that evening. She was working on her Latvian mittens - she humbled me to no end, she was knitting away without looking at the pattern! We laughed and I felt so honored to be in the company of this amazing group of women, knitting, talking, sharing - it was a great evening of fellowship. I was re-energized in my resolution to learn something new. My brain was spinning with all the new things I learned and how I could use those things to expand my knitting skills.


Taking a day off made for an insane Friday - I was sad not to be able to take Beth's cardigan class on Friday - but with all I had going on, I could not be out of work one more day. I spent the day digging out and all this while the phone was ringing off the hook. I am glad the weekend is here!


On Friday I arrived home to find a package from Sunshine Yarn - my next installment of her Sock Club yarn had arrived. It is so gorgeous - she calls it "Fresh" -

It is so soft and the colors are truly amazing - and yes, it so reminds me of the glorious colors found at the Farmer's Market! Dani, this yarn is so beautiful!!

I hinted at some news I needed to share - as most of you are aware, I have been having marital strife for the past few months. My husband moved out unexpectedly last July, he moved back home for a few weeks in November and abruptly left again in December. Well, last week he moved away - as in to another state - to Kentucky. Honestly, it was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had heard from him numerous times each week since his departure in early December that he could not "focus on our relationship" and how "overwhelmed" he was. It was draining for me and I was struggling with guilt that I could not "fix" what was wrong. At one time, I loved my husband so deeply - I believed in him unfailingly. It became harder and harder to love him through all this. On the evening that I was having dinner with some friends and his parents came up to me to tell me what a failure I was - it ended for me. I called him and asked that his parents respect my privacy. My husband runs away from problems, he does not solve them. So, it is the end of a chapter - and I am looking at a new page. I can look back on the errors I made in our relationship - hindsight gives one 20-20 vision. I am going to try and avoid those errors... as best as I can.

So, now that I have put a downer on your Sunday - don't be sad for me, please. I feel so unburdened these past days - it is a very good thing. Spring is knocking on the door, the sun has been shining. The dirty snow is all melting, soon the spring flowers will be growing again. I feel like my life is moving like spring, the things I have been struggling with are melting away, like the snow and new life is emerging in it's place.

Have a very blessed Sunday. Thanks for letting me share.

6 comments:

Teyani said...

Your class sounds like it was wonderful.
May your life be filled with gentle calm now that the big initial changes have been made. I hope that all your knitting brings comfort and joy.

Woven Spun said...

thanks for sharing more about your class. I received a pattern from her yesterday, but still not my twined knitting one. Hopefully next week. And you know, Spring is always my favorite time of year. The new beginings, the new growth, new life, and just full of colors. Here's to your spring :)

Unknown said...

All the best to you at this time. I hope the path to your happiness is now free and clear of all road traps and bumps. What a classless act his parents are. Probably half the reason he is what he is.

Awesome that you go to be with Beth B-R. I loved her classes I took at Stitches a few years ago. Intense knitting, but worth it.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your blog especially since I have learned more about you. You always seem so upbeat on Thursday nights and I didn't realize you are in the midst of separation/divorce. I can sooooo relate to you as I was devastated when my 22 year marriage came to an end 10 years ago. I am remarried to the love of my life and learned a lot through that turmoil. Thursday nights are the highlight of my week and I'm sorry I couldn't take time off to do the sweater class and I also enjoyed meeting Beth. What a rare treat. Keep up the good work, Kat. I look forward to developing a closer relationship with you.
Ann

Anonymous said...

You are loved, Kat. I'll never forget how we spent our day together last July, and how it just happened that you were able to be with new friends when all of this started. I have prayed for you since then, and I've got to tell you, I really look forward to this July so we don't have to rush back to Holland because of your lame husband! (oops, so not nice of me!)

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry that your relationship has ended, but I'm glad that you're able to see the bright side of things beyond it. If the future must hold rain, may it only be the warm spring kind that nurtures what's to come.