If I had to sum up 2009 in one word, that word would be "Change". This year has brought more of that one thing into my life than anything else, and it’s been a challenge. Change isn’t my best thing, I admit that, and this year was apparently sent to fix my little wagon for once and for all.
In 2009 I made some easy changes – like I spun and then knit a sweater, becoming someone with a new skill. I made some hard changes, becoming someone who could- together with a friend, start and run a company and change the world into a place with the Sock Summit and Knot Hysteria in it. I changed to have the skills that took, and I changed into someone who could handle that. I learned new software, I hired people. I fired people. I changed. Our house changed. Sir Washie moved on, the plumbing broke, we got a new furnace, and we had a big hole where it turned out that 120 years of change had changed our foundation in a big way without our permission.
I watched other people undergo huge change too. I have had friends and family divorce, separate, lose jobs, get jobs, marry, have babies -get sick and get better. They all changed in the process. I supported my husband while he started a new company and changed into a person managing that big construction process. I watched him continue evolving as a spouse and a parent and changing into someone who can make a decent pasta dish. (Big change.)
My oldest daughter Amanda changed. She became a 20 year old, found the part of her that was brave and left the country and the continent and went to swim on the Great Barrier Reef and walk in a rainforest without me. My middle daughter Meg became an adult, and changed into a University student and someone who could ride her bike to Montreal to create even more change in the world. My littlest daughter Sam was 15, and she has endured the deeply personal change of taking on the world on her own terms and learning the hard thing, that sometimes change happens whether you are ready or not, and she rose to the occasion in a way that made me proud.
A lot has changed in the last year, a lot. Good change, scary change, big change, change that improved things in the end, change that really did not. Change that shook me, frightened me, made me laugh and then left me crying in the bathtub. Change that changed everything and change that oddly, changed nothing. There was change that I resented and fought like a demon, and change that I had been waiting for that left me breathless with relief when it came. Change that made me ashamed, change that made me proud of myself and others, change that made me feel like I don’t think I can take much more change, and change that made me understand deeply that change is all there is, and I don’t get to pick, even if I don’t want to change anything.
2009 was change, and as I sit here on the last day of this most eventful of years, looking around at nothing that is the same as it was 365 days ago… I realize that as beautiful, necessary and enriching as much of this change is, I can only do one thing. I can end as I mean to go on. Strong… worried, brave, frightened, happy, sad, hopeful and not alone. In other years I have tried to end the year as I meant to go on by cleaning my house so I don’t take dirt forward, tidying my business so as to not take unfinished things forward… and this year, all I can think is that in the face of all this change, I might need the big picture.
This year I am ending as I mean to go on by trying to appreciate the change in myself and others, and by acknowledging that I’m not really in charge of much change, and that all will be as it should. After all, everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end. My house is dirty, my business is unfinished… but I know where my girls are, safe and strong, my husband loves me, our families are intact and my changed house is still standing.
I’m ending as I mean to go on….and 2009?
Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.
Happy New Year everyone. All our best to you. Catch you on the other side.
Happy New Year to you, Stephanie and all those you love.
Happy New Year!
(without change, we are dead) (and all the other change platitudes, some of them even true)
Haha.. first comment…..hope 2010 is a good year for you, Steph!!!
Darn those faster typists!
Well said.
All the best Stephanie. Thanks for another year.
I’m also happy to see this year end (not necessarily a bad year, but still…).
Here’s to a happy 2010 for us all!
Happy New Year and best of luck with the change that is on-going.
Your life and year sounds just like mine….I have come to realize I am in charge of nothing but the clothes I choose to wear each day! 🙂
Well said, especially that last bit. *HUGS* to you and yours.
It was an awful year and I am so glad it’s coming to an end. We all have to look at 2010 as an improvement over 2009. I don’t even want to look at the last 12 months, only at a brighter future. Happy New Year!
Amen! There’s another version of that saying: Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. I second that sentiment. Goodbye 2009, hello 2010!
Totally get the part about not needing anymore change,yet needing to ride it out anyway. Like the phoenix that rises out of the ashes you will evolve from the fire and live to appreciate life even more than you did before. Some years really do bring way more than we thought we could ever survive. You are definitely not alone and you have the great gift of laughing at yourself and writing the humor so you take the burdens off of other. Listen… you need to hear all the great joy and laughter of those that read your blog for in that laughter are thousands of hugs sent directly to you.
Serenity prayer (minus the God bit)
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
All the best to you and yours in 2010 and beyond, Stephanie.
I think most of us are glad to see 2009 end. Here’s to a better 2010! (Drinks champagne)
Happy 2010 to you too! Yes 2009 has been interesting and not in fun ways for me either. Hopefully 2010 will be better and we can get you up to North Bay sometime during the next 365 days. Hugs
Indeed, change is as inevitable as it is difficult. 2009 is a year I’m not sorry to leave behind. But who knows what 2010 has in store? I’m not even trying to look through the glass at that one! Let’s just try to take it one day at a time and enjoy the pleasant, happy changes as they present themselves! Have a very happy, blessed New Year, Stephanie. I’m glad I found you this year, as you did change (in a very delightful way) my life with your humor and wit!! I’ll lift my glass in a toast to you (before midnight, because I rarely can stay awake that long)! Thanks for sharing your life with the rest of us.
” What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. Here’s to a strong 2010 for all of us!
Happy New Year!!
I love what you wrote – my own last two years have been full of challenges and sometimes almost more than I thought I could handle. But I love what you wrote – I’m wish you in wanting to end as I mean to go on. I wish you a very heartful Happy New Year! Thank you for blogging… your words add joy to my life – all the best to you and yours, Lynne
Happy New Year to you and yours! Stay strong, stay safe, and love those around you. It’s all any of us can do, because karma says what will be will be, and you cannot control it.
It’s been a complete pleasure watching you grow and change and create over the past few years – you have met every challenge with grace, passion, and humanity. Happy New Year to you and yours!
Yes. It has been a year hasn’t it? Many hugs to you Steph. Thank you for your humour, courage and for putting the right words on the thoughts of many. God Bless
Good bye 2009, Good Riddance (sp?) and HELLO 2010
I hope that 2010 for you is as full of wonderful surprises as 2009 has been for me. It’s not been an easy year. New job responsibilities, a major calling in my congregation at church, and it looks as if romance has reared its ugly head after a decade or so of peace and quiet 🙂 Grandbaby #5, a child’s divorce, a persistent case of athlete’s foot which keeps me humble but doesn’t keep me from dancing. Thank you for keeping it real. It was great to meet you in Dallas earlier this year.
A year of change – for many of us, it seems. With 2010 around the corner, I wish you and your family a very happy new year. As for me, I’m going to knit my way into the new decade, with a wool-appropriate glass of wine.
Happy New Year! I feel pretty much the same about 2009. Happy to see it go.
I try to remember the saying I have on my bulletin board, it’s from Jung–“All the true things change and only that which changes remains true.”
Of course everyone before and after me will express my feelings and sentiments more eloquently than I can, so “ditto” and “ditto in advance” of all comments supporting you and your family and exuding appreciation for all you do for them and us. Bless you!
Those of us who have faced the worst kinds of change know that survival and even happiness is possible on the other side. You just have to hang on long enough to get there.
The Blog is with you. And — *clink* — here’s a toast to the future. For all of us.
Everything changes because there is no existence without change. You and all whom you care about have my best wishes for a Happy New Year, 2010. And remember, the real new year in universal time isn’t until February. :o)
Stay hopeful – “Knit on . . .” per EZ – – thank goodness we knitters can speak peace to one another – wishing you & your family all that is good & graceful, excellent health – prosperity, love & courage.
Marietta
I’m really hoping for some good changes in 2010. 2009 hit us hard, especially at the end. My kids have been sick since October 1st. My 3 year old has the stomach flu. I am so tired of illness in my household. I’m hoping that next year brings more health, more time for me to knit and sew, and more time for the whole family to relax and enjoy each other’s company. Also, fingers crossed that I graduate from university and find a well-paying full-time job!
Wishing you and your family a peaceful new year and a 2010 full of love and happiness.
Couldn’t agree more that 2009 should not let the door hit its arse on the way out. Just the comment I needed to end my most difficult year. Yes, I am also intact but change has happened welcomed or not. I will be in the arms of my sweetheart tonight welcoming 2010 – knowing I am loved and cherished. Not a bad way to begin anew. Thanks for your work – it helped to keep me sane.
I’ve a sticky on my monitor that simply says “Brain Forward” to remind me to keep moving that direction. Adios, 2009. Best wishes for a Happy 2010, Stephanie. Cheers *clink*
Happy New Year to all knitters out there and the families of knitters! All the best
Happy New Year! Hopefully next year will bring changes that are quieter, calmer, but no less meaningful than the ones experienced this year.
For me 2009 means I am still alive and kicking after a critical illness in 2008. I know 2010 is for sure going to be better and so will I. Happy New Year to all and all our families who put up with us.
As usual, you have said what others are thinking and feeling with grace and eloquence. Happy New Year and the best to you and yours, may 2010 bring challenges that aren’t quite so eventful… and may we all continue to change, although we may not wish to.
love to you and yours
Happy New Year to a fellow knitter who has inspired & entertained the yarn out of me! Life is… well, life. We get through and move ahead; its so much nicer having the comfort of yarn & sticks in my hands and being able to share with others who are healed by the process.
I have never commented on anyone’s blog before but I have been following yours for a long time. I wish you the best in the New Year and I want to tell you to just hang in there. Things happen for a reason, I know from personal experience.
Happy New Year – the only constant IS change!
(and thats My New Years platitude taken care of)
Happy New Year and much peace to you and yours.
What a thoughtful wonderful post! I believe what you’ve written is true for me, and maybe for all of us. It’s giving me things to think about, and that’s what great writing should do, right? 🙂 Happy New Year, health and happiness and ability to cope with change be yours.
Here’s hoping all your changes end up for the good of all. You are one of the bravest souls I know. You can do it, Steph!
Almost exactly 5 years ago I had that year…..everthing changed and it was by no means all good….or so I thought at the time. As it happens it actually was all good, or at least all very useful which is the same thing. And at the end of the day, which is to say at the end of your life don’t you really want to have felt, tried, loved, created as much as possible. Who wants to go out with untapped resources?
You said that so well. In a way, it’s a relief to finally realize that we are not in charge of anything. Thanks for sharing so much with us. It’s good to know we are not alone in our experiences
Here is my favorite change for 2009–finally learning how to knit and discovering your blog! 🙂
Steph,
This has been a very tough year for so many people. While it has held challenges for us, I am counting my blessings and thrilled to have them. You may be surprised to find out that I count your blog as one of the brightest spots for me this year. You reminded me that we are all human, and as we knit, so shall we frog. So many times I had a lousy day and clicked on your blog and your brought me a smile, a laugh, a touching moment and also caused me to open my wallet to donate to your causes.
Thank you for sharing your joys, fears, challenges and wit with all of us! May 2010 be a year full of great blessings for you and yours!
Hi! So happy to see you here – and hitting the nail on the head as you often do (is that because you have watched so much construction going on this year? Kidding!). I can only echo back what you said. I have been lucky enough to skip the crying in the bathtub part personally, but I do so want my unemployed friends to find jobs in 2010 – make that early 2010!
You and all my knitting peeps will be among those I toast tonight as the opportunities for positive change in the the new year begin.
And thanks for all your sharing – your gift is immeasurable!
There is something about the beginning of a new year that just screams “Hope springs eternal” I LOVE the beginning of a new year…. I am so ready to kick 09 to the curb…. best of all to all of us!!
Happy New Year to you all! Thanks for an eventful 2009.
I shall hug my family and knit tonight, as I mean to go on in 2010 🙂
here’s to a better and brighter 2010…and a better and brighter decade as well.
That was aptly stated. Happy year year to you and yours, Stephanie.
As usual, you’ve said so well what so many others are feeling and sharing as well. 2009 has been a wretched year for so many people for so many reasons. May 2010 bring good health, love, and peace into all our lives.
Happy New Year, Everyone…fingers crossed…
preach sistah!
Stephanie, what a wonderful and moving post. I read it at just the right time and it changed my attitude. We all need an attitude adjustment now and then
All the best to you and your family and here’s to a better 2010
2009 was a year of huge stressful times and yet everything came out beautifully. I’ve been struggling with an inability to get past the stress and enjoy the beautiful. Well, these past days of resting, pyjama days spent largely alone have helped immensely and I think I can get on with 2010. May these days of rest and time away from your blog be the same for you. Take a deep breath (or two) and dive into 2010 and know that you are strong enough to deal with what life has in store for you.
To me, acceptance is not a passive word–it is the understanding that becomes the springboard to action. All of what you wrote sounds like acceptance to me! A powerful stance. A friend once pointed out that balance is not static–it is the constant adjustment to shifting forces. How the boat stays upright and keeps moving forward….
All the best in 2010!
Happy New Year and good riddance to this overall crappy decade! As last year my main and wildly successful resolution is to drink more champagne. Cheers!
happy new year!
Like many others — know that your books and your blog have made many of my days brighter, more open hearted, and brought many a smile and good thoughts to ponder.
Best wishes to you and yours for a good 2010. (And I really don’t care if 2009 gets bumped on its way out.)
Happy New Year, Steph! I am not one to embrace change but I try to find the positive path and follow it. I am certain that you do, also. You have had an amazing year of accomplishment. On to 2010–may it be a change for the better!
Change makes it hard to breath sometime. You are not alone in that 2009 was full of events that we never saw coming yet remained standing in the end. Wishing you and yours a Blessed New Year. As for our house we are excited for 2010, I am sure that it will bring great new things.
Thanks for all of your hard work on behalf of knitters, and for humans more generally.
I am glad that I made donations to MSF and to the AIDS ride this year. Those fundraising totals definitely went up as a direct result of your efforts.
Your readers do appreciate your blog. Please keep posting when it suits you.
Best wishes for 2010!
Lisa R-R
I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the changes this year has brought me – some good, some bad, some frightening, and some more wonderful than I could have imagined. In the end I believe I’m leaving the year more confident than I came into it, and that’s a good thing. That, I choose to take with me to meet whatever 2010 chooses to bring.
Wow Stephanie, very well written. No surprise there. This post made me think that the only thing in life that is guaranteed is change. 2009 has been a very hard year in my life as well. So in my world, I am making sure that the door doesn’t hit 2009 in the arse….My FOOT will be kicking 2009 out the door. May you and yours enjoy the New Year and all it brings to you!
Change is how we grow.Sometimes we need a forced change so we can grow for the better.Hope this new year is better for you than this past year.Keep strong and knit on!
No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
-John Greenleaf Whittier-
This came from a Thanksgiving frame from Muttscomics a couple of years ago. It kept me focused when my JD was so sick and ultimately left me behind.
Peace, love and patience I wish for all of you and yours in 2K10.
To the curb 2009 and may you never rear your ugly head again!
Thanks Stephanie for putting into words the things I have been thinking. I appreciate your ability to do that so very much.
Heres wishing you and all you hold dear a very Happy New Year. The best in 2010!
This is one of your best ever posts. It left me smiling, with tears down my face.
Good bye 2009. Next time how about a warning?
I’m not fond of the roller coaster of change either. This year only had a few big curveballs, but tough ones to deal with. 2010? Well, I’m hoping that the changes it brings will be immensely satisfying in the end (but it may be a bit of a scary ride to get there).
I do know that I’m very glad that I have family and friends that support me and that I can rely on.
In college (about a gazillion years ago), we were fond of saying: “nothing is constant, but constant change”.
Yeah.
“2009, don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.”–I second that emotion…
Best,
DAH
Stephanie,
Happy New Year – Happy New Decade.
All the best to you, Joe, the girls and all of your family
and friends.
Amen sister. I feel the same way about 2009. I am counting the seconds to the rollover to 2010.
Here’s to your blog fodder in 2010 being the year that no financial burden comes to your home!
Happy New Year!
Thank you for thinking of us on this day and posting Hopefully 2010 will continue to bring change but all good ones for you and your loved ones. Anthony Quinn said it best in his play Zorba– “Life is change , only death is not–which one do you choose.
May 2010 be a bit kinder and gentler. You and yours are in my thoughts.
Happy New Year!
All the best to you and yours. I wish you all a Safe and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year. I hate change, but it is inevitable. 2009 was pretty constant for me, however, I forsee big changes ahead (Not the least of which will be letting the kids go when they go to college). I hope that I will cope as well as you. Stay strong girl.
Happy New Year and hears to change in all of our lives.
Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year!!
Goodbye 09
Happy New Year and a better one for us all!
Amen, missus. Amen.
I feel exactly the same way about 2009. It damn near bankrupted my household and killed me, and brought sickness and pain to others for whom I care.
We survived it, just as we survived 1998, 2005, 2006, etc.
I won’t say 2010 cannot be worse, that would tempt fate. I will say that I’m hoping for a good year, for all of us, and the strength to weather whatever the universe throws at us.
I have been quoting the last paragraph of your Christmas message to people, and lots of heads nod to your sagacity.
At least one of Barack Obama’s campaign promises came true!
Seriously – I wish you a very happy New Year. May you continue to ride the lightning with your usual grace, humor, and lots of beautiful yarn to cushion the bumps.
2009 sucked big time. And yes, there was a lot of change. I think this is a phenomenon that touched just about everyone this year. Some change for the good and some change that isn’t so good. All the the change is for the long-term. Over here, 2009 is not going quietly into that good night. It will be a fight, but at midnight 2009 will be over and the year will begin anew.
I hope we make contact with aliens. 😉
Happy New Year, Stephanie. I think you have the right approach and wish nothing but the best to you and yours.
You sound much more positive than you were in your last post (good, you had me worried!).
And you are not the only one who seems to be thrilled that 2009 is at a close. It was not a stellar year for us, either, but on the other hand, things could have been worse, and things can do nothing but get better!
Let’s all look to 2010 with joy in our hearts and nothing but hopefulness on our minds!
Not only has the year ended but also the decade. Look at how much has changed over the last 10 years – think how boring life would be without change.
All the best to you and yours, thanks for all you’ve given us, and have a Happy New Year!!! Here’s to 2010.
Stephanie, most of the world shares your sentiment re 2009. You have given so much to your readers/fellow knitters. Laughter, yes, but much more. Realization that you don’t have to be perfect right out the gate for a new knitter – and for everyone, knitter or not. You’ve shared your family and house renovations (planned or – mostly – not). In short, while 2009 was a stinky year for most in the world, you have enriched that world just by writing. May 2010 be a better one for you – and for all!
Happy 2010 to you and your family . You have been able to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and are able to see the other side in a new light. Good for you !! Looking forward to your words in the next decade.
You are such a good writer, Stephanie. Your posts are often like sermons for me, you seem to hit so many things so _exactly_ for me. You make me laugh, and today you made me cry. Peace to you and your family for 2010. Onward and Upward!
amen. 2009 has been a rough year – here’s hoping for the best in 2010, as we soldier on.
“Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end.”
Thank´s for reminding me. 2009 really really sucked with me in health term.
Greetings from Germany where 2010 has just begun.
Thank you for all your wit and wisdom. It has certainly been a year of change and loss for me. It has been a year of growth in the face of that change and loss, whether I wanted to or not. Here’s hoping that 2010 brings good changes for a change!
Thank you for a very insightful piece of writing.
I have been following your blog and reading your books for some time and just opened your 2010 calendar. Change is growth and without it, we would never be wiser. Hope the coming year will be a joyous one for you and your family. Thanks for all the tears and laughter.
Here’s to a new decade, may she be better than the previous one. And I also figure, what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger!
Please give Sam an extra big hug. It sounds as though the rough world has intruded. Yes, I will be happy that 2009 has ended, but for no particular reason.
by the way if you need help with your business (as in graphic design) I would be happy to help. You have my email address.
Take care
Happy 2010 to you, too. My very best to your family and friends.
My dad says that years like 2009 are “character building opportunities” – may 2010, be less about building character of self and more about enjoying the character of others.
Thanks Stephanie for sharing so much with us. Here’s wishing you especially some time, some private time to enjoy with Joe to breathe, Lord knows – change is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.
all the best for 2K10
Change is good, except when it sucks. Wishing for you in 2010 the time to recoup and regroup, the time to just be, the time to knit. And maybe the time to put on another KH retreat. 🙂
Happy New Year to you Stephanie, and to all those you love and who are “yours.” May 2010 treat you well, with a little less change perhaps!
Driving down the freeway this afternoon with my oldest, treasuring the last few hours before she gets on a plane (she’s busy now packing), we were discussing the very subject. Her co-workers’ reactions to things, and her response of, change happens. You can’t control that. (She added, “Life sucks sometimes.”) You can only control how you react.
Which, I told her, is the point of life entirely: choosing how you want to react–to life and to each other.
It was a conversation that left us feeling closer to one another.
Happy New Year, Stephanie, and my best to you and all your family and friends forever.
Thank you, Stephanie. Well said. All the best in 2010.
Well said. Happy new year and much love to you and yours!
14 hours in and so far 2010 looks great! I think it’s going to be a good one!
I’ll drink to that! Happy New Year and thanks for telling like it is. I’ve been reading your blog for a year and love that you make me laugh so hard I cry. Many, Many thanks for always reminding me its all relative.
What a wonderful post!
Yes, 2009 has brought lots of change for me too. Unfortunately most of it was in losing several people who were very important to me, especially when I was growing up. People who helped (in no small way) to form who I am today. I’m leaving this year grateful for the life and love I got to share with these wonderful people, and hopeful that I can have a similar positive influence on the rest of those in my life.
On a positive note, the last few days of 2009 have brought a wonderful change – my 4 year old has mastered night toilet training!!! Yay, no more nappies (diapers)!!!!! Sometimes change, even small changes, can make SUCH a difference to our everyday lives! 🙂
Happy New Year to you and your family Stephanie. And Happy New Year to all of The Blog. All of you help to make me a better, happier person. Thankyou. Here’s to a fabulous 2010!
Welcome back! I always struggled with change until I was in at a conference and they had a women’s group. My wonderful wonderful friend Lori Darly (she is one of the people I am most grateful for in my life) said “Change is a fu*&ing myth. The only thing that is real is creativity.” I immediately scribbled it down on a piece of note paper from the hotel we were at and it has been taped to my computer since then. It inspires me every day.
Happy to see you so strong, yet again making you an inspiration for me and I am assuming many other parts of The Blog.
For this new year about to start, I wish you love peace and happiness. There’s no way Karma can’t be good for you, given all the good you do.
Have a nice cold beer now, you deserve it!
Mae
Wow! I think you endured 2 years worth of change, not just one.
Yes, family, friends, love. They keep the world going on.
Happy New Year!!
Amen, sister! This was the year my mom survived cancer (so far), and we both couldn’t agree more heartily. Some years, you’re just glad to say good bye to…
It has been a year full of change; we have champagne chilling so we can usher 2009 the heck OUT of here. We are ready for 2010. Happiest of New Years to you and yours!
I teach business and management – often focusing on dealing with change. You have written one of the finest testament to dealing with change that I have seen. Sometimes standing strong is the pits even though it’s the best thing to do for others and for ourselves. Hang in there – we’ll stand strong together.
Happy New Year Stephanie!
Happy New Year – and I hope the changes in your life will lead you to an even more peaceful and content place. And, then, there is always knitting to bridge the gap!
I have to say, change can be good, it can be wonderful. My daughter came home from Iraq this year. This time last year I was seeing her off at the airport for the second time. Really don’t want to do that anymore. Happy New Year to all.
Change is inevitable, I know, but sometimes you can put it off a bit. Take a deep breath, silence the voices within, keep loved ones near and safe, just for this moment. Have a peaceful eve.
Wishing you and your entire family a Happy New Year full of inspiration and laughs – which is what you have given all of us. We truly appreciate you and would like to keep you in our lives in whatever way you can.
Accepting things the way they are is often the first step to putting them behind you. Sounds like you’re taking that step. Best of luck.
may the fuzz be with you….much gratitude for the gift of your words, when it’s easy and when it’s not.
exactly my same sentiment.. you always nail it right on the money, as they say.. ha ha
exactly my same sentiment.. you always nail it right on the money, as they say.. ha ha
2009 for me was better than 2007 and 2008, but not great. Here’s to breaking that cycle and to a wonderful 2010!
Forty years ago I was walking from the newly renovated emergency room back to the lab with my supervisor, Sister Rose, grumbling about the changes. Gently, she put her arm around my shoulder and delicately said, “There will always be change.” It’s not what my nineteen year old self wanted to hear at the time but I sure am glad she warned me.
peace and blessings for the new year
Happy New Year – may the new year treat you better than the last. I wish you peace and love.
Happy New Year ,Yarn Harlot!
Our foundation was found in a not so hot
condition also.
But the New Years around the corner and
so is a better day.
Happy new Year!
Happy New Year! I wish you and yours well and nothing but good changes for the coming year.
2009 was a year of great change for so many people I know, and I went through a few myself. I think lots of us are happy to think of a fresh new year starting in a few hours.
Happy New Year, Stephanie – and thank you.
Thanks for allowing us all into your process, your family, your warped sense of humour and most of all your love. You may have had change but you have helped in some small ways to change some of us.
I thank you from the bottom of my newly finished socks – your pattern – and wish you and yours all the best for 2010 and beyond. You have kept this knitter smiling when things looked bad. I fell very humbled.
Good to have you back! Viva la Change…the only constant is…every time I get comfortable something…death, taxes, and Change! Hmmmm, you inspired me to dig into my bag of cliches. Thank you. And Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!
Happy New Year, Stephanie, to you and yours. It’s been a tough year in my world as well. Thank you for your blog — it is always a bright spot in my day.
This has been a year of more changes than I can count. I’m grateful for them in an abstract way and becoming a little stronger. That said, the baby breath of a fresh new year will be welcome at midnight.
Happy new year to all and thank you, Stephanie, for all that you have said and done. And thanks, too, to Karen in the comments for the bit about change and creativity. That’s dark chocolate for the mind!
This year brought a change that was brought about by you. Your Sock Summit changed my attitude about knitting, about myself, about myself and others. Thank you for that. While I’m moderately glad to see 2009 end, there have been other years that were worse, and I lived through them and moved on. May your new year bring more change, and may the changes be good. Thank you for what you are and will be.
Happy New Year, Stephanie! Many blessings to you and your family! Thank you for a thought-provoking post.
One year–about a decade ago–was so full of (awful) change that my husband and I took the calendar into the back yard at midnight and burned it.
But, change or no, we all keep going, don’t we?
abby
Happy New Year Yarn Harlot to you and your family. I happened upon your blog for the first time last year around Christmas. Your writing spoke to my heart and my own life experiences. Thank you for your courage to write your life in stories – I find them a source of personal insight and understanding that has been invaluable in my own year of change. At this point, all I can think to add is Red Green’s old saying “We’re all in this together.” Cheers.
So glad to see you posting on your blog again. Really missed you and was concerned as your last blog was a little disconcerting. May you find peace and happiness in 2010 and know that you have touched this soul in 2009 and changed my outlook on life. You have made me realize that life should not be taken too seriously and enjoyed whole heartedly as time flies by so quickly, and I thank you for that. Here’s to a fabulous 2010…..
Happy New Year! I hope 2010 continues to bring change – change that is invigorating, exciting and pleasing! May 2009 not be repeated, at least in the medium-term future 🙂
That was beautiful, Stephanie. You are an exceptional writer. For your expressive words and pretty nearly perfect command of the English language, which thrills my OCD-afflicted (where grammar is concerned anyway, but not unfortunately with the dust bunnies under the bed) little heart no end.
And Happy New Year to you!
The only thing I can add about changes in our lives is that I am damned glad the good and happy changes arrive and the bad and scary changes leave. If things didn’t change we would all be unhappy in one direction or the other. So here’s to the good arriving and the bad leaving….you hung in there for 2009, let’s hope 2010 is great!! Blessings to you, yours and all your readers.
Blessed New Year to you too. SO happy to see you back! I’m probably not alone in being more than a tad worried about you.
Welcome to 2010! May the new year find you smiling. And knitting. That’s always a good thing.
I’m glad to see 2009 go too, though I know all of the experiences of this past year had meaning and were important. I’m looking forward to 2010! Have a Happy New Year!!
We are an accumulation of all the changes in our life. Thank you for expressing it so well.
brilliant!!!
There is only now so live in this moment!
Neil Gaiman, one of my other favorite writers, wrote the following on New Year’s Eve 2008: “…I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.”
My attitude is, “if I survived this year, I can survive anything.”
Happy 2010 to you and yours – and thank heavens for people like you inspiring the rest of us. You DO make a positive difference!!!
I used to hate any change with a passion. It has taken me 50 years to accept that everyone and everything I love came to me because another part of my life ended. I’m beginning to realize that moving onward and upward is our essence, and everyone from my dearly missed great aunt to my own little great-nephew would not have been a part of my life without it. Yet I still kick like a mule, go figure.
May all your changes in 2010 bring you love and laughter.
Beautiful post – it has been a similar year for me and I am glad to see it GO!!!! To 2010 I am saying “BRING IT ON” (and then hiding behind a tree)
all i know is that no matter what happens knitting will help me through it 🙂
Cheers, for the start of a new decade of Knitting and muddling through whatever “charts” come my way. May the Good Lord bless and keep you and yours in 2010.
Here’s to change! And may all the change in 2010 be heavier on the positive side for you and yours. Happy New Year.
Thank you – you summarized my life exactly. Change, change and more change. I always thought I was fairly flexible and adaptable but I learned the last half of this year that this wasn’t the case and so more lessons learned. Looking very eagerly towards 2010 and a new normal. A real high point this year was the sock summit – oh the joy you brought to so many there as well as with your blog, books and personal appearances. Peace, love and good health to you and yours in 2010!
Peace to you and yours. Prayers up for you that 2010 will be better…whatever that may be.
I’m totally with you on the 2009/door/arse sentiment.
I’m honored to say that one of the highlights of 2009 for me was meeting you at Legacy Books in Plano, TX. Thank you, so very much, for your generosity of time & spirit then, as always. Your signature on page 90 of my well-worn copy of Knitting Rules is one of my treasures! (My son remembers you well, too, but generally in the same breath as “that book store that had the really cool Star Wars pop-up book and the bean bag chairs.” He’s 8, and a knitter, so we can cut him a bit of slack, I suppose.)
My warmest and best wishes to you and your family in 2010 and beyond.
Hear, hear. Hear, hear. That’s all i got.
That was a heartfelt goodbye to 2009. Happy New Year!
Happy New and Improved Year to you and your family!
Change–reminds me of a book “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, MD. This book reminds us that change, sometimes not what we want, is our way to learn and grow. Anyway it’s worth reading and I wish everyone a Happy 2010!
Happy New Year, lamb — the core of you reads unchanged from this foxhole. Good move.
And Avatar? Got three inches of my default sock, Feather and Fan, done when I went. NOT for lack of enthusiasm, either.
A perfect post, Stephanie. 2009 has been filled with more change than I like, too, some of it easier to accept than others, but embracing it and dealing with it is a lot healthier than burying my head under the covers and shouting, “No, no, no.”
Happy New Year, Stephanie. I think about you and your family frequently and hope everything that you’ve left unsaid is resolving itself as best as can be. Here’s to a happier, healthy, and prosperous 2010.
Happy New Year, Stephanie! I hope that 2010 is as good as you deserve and better than you hope.
I am so relieved and happy to see your post today. It is usually the highlight of my daily ritual.
Thank you for all you have done for fiber arts and for me personally. Meeting you at Knot Hysteria was one of the high points of 2009. You change lives–and THAT change is a good thing.
OMG, yes. Some parts of this year were excellent (new grandbaby!) some parts have totally sucked (job re-locating and mom getting cancer). Here’s to a better year coming……… (and please the RIGHT new job – soon.)
Still not the worst year on record, though – that would be 2004
Regardless of your faith, you’ve got to respect Mother Teresa “I know God never gives me more than I can handle, but sometimes I wish he didn’t trust me so much”. Happy New Year!!!
2009 has been the year of change for a lot of us and all those things you said. I kept a copy of something you wrote here late last year (I think), a friend of yours said it to you. It was about heading into a year of uncertainty and that if we stick together we will get through. You all stuck together and you made it through and so did my family. We had our own share of the extremes of change, some wonderful and inspiring, some frightening and harrowing. We too have come through to the other side and I raise my celebratory beer to you and your family, mine, and all of us who made it through 2009 much changed as individuals and as a tribe of humans. Cheers my dear!
I wish you and your family the very best in 2010.
Sometimes life is like walking 50 miles on a dirt road with no shoes on, but it gets better. I believe that. If you’re on that road, just know that there’s a shoe store at the end of the trek.
Happy New Year to you and your family.
That was so well said. And read with great interest and relieve that most of us have something going on in our lives that we don’t want or we do want…whichever may be the case at the time. Here’s to a great 2010.
Happy New Year, Dear Harlot. Whatever 2010 brings, may you and yours have the all the best. Thank you for another lovely year of laughter.
How sad the world would be without change. I would hate to be wearing corsets with my boobs smooshed flat and eating spoiled meat and drinking wine because the water is bad. On the other hand, I could do without the nuclear issues and terrorists that can wipe out whole neighborhoods in the hopes of receiving 40 (I assume unwilling) virgins. Let’s just hope the virgins are all 98 years old and toothless.
Really well said. Here’s hoping that 2010 will find us all strong, joyous and accepting of ourselves, others, and whatever the world hurls at us.
In 2009, I learned how to knit, discovered your blog, and read three of your books — one as an audiobook that threatened to make me pee my pants on a long commute from laughing so hard! You helped me see the connections between a knitting life and a spirited life, between making a scarf and writing an essay. You taught me how to felt (!) and how to feel through making beautiful things (and some horrid ones) out of yarn. Thank you for your work in the world. And a very happy new year to you and your family.
Wonderful sentiments and beautifully expressed, Stephanie. Peace and prosperity to all in 2010, and the courage to change what must be changed in each of our lives.
Steph, I love you and your family, and I hope you change with the change, and endure. Love is all there is.
Happy New Year. I hope yours is great. My New Year project is your Earl Grey socks. Is there an errata page for these?
Happy New Year!
I’ve thought about you every day since your last post. I, too, find change very difficult, and I do not handle it with grace. Best wishes to you and your family in the coming year. (I noted on my blog that our water heater went out on Christmas Day. However, I couldn’t help thinking that you would have turned that incident into entertainment for your world audience.)
I am worried, but I do that. Alot. And I remind myself that every thing WILL be okay. Maybe not the okay I think it will be, but still okay.
All Shall Be Well.
Where would the ugly duckling have been without the “c” word? I found this blog in 2009 and my first grandchild arrived – I give ’09 a break. I’ll take every year I can get
Happy New Year to you and yours, Steph! Wishing you health, prosperity and not *too* much change.
This has been a big year of change for me – overseas travel and a move back home to Australia and topping it off, a nasty Christmas present of a medical problem that will be a big challenge in 2010.
Life is like my check book. I start out with a new page, then I make a mistake, scribble, write in a new number, use a different color pen, take the bank balance on my statement instead of my own.But at the end of the year it all balances out. Don’t look at the daily results as if that was the final goal.Life balances in great ways. If you had a crummy 2009, then look forward to 2010. It might turn out awful but it’s a “new” problem. And it might be the best year even. Your blog reminds us that we are not alone in our human failings/misgivings/great times. What you say in your blog sometimes is the only thing that keeps me sane. You are truly “everywomen” except for the poor souls who don’t have the solace of knitting!
Hope 2010 is a good one for you. I heard some helpful words this year….Sometimes after a big change, the world looks dark and scary. It’s like there’s a big hand in front of your face covering your eyes and obscuring your view. The hand is too close for you to realize it is a hand…and all you see is scary darkness. It helps to take a step back and examine the big picture before making any decisions(although that can sometimes take a lot of time and support to get to a place of perspective).
Wishing you and yours all the best in the new year.
Thank you, dear Harlot, for the change you have wrought in my life in the last year, for helping me see the worth and value and strength of this obsession known as knitting. May the new year find you healthy and happy!
Make new friends and keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold.
In the new year, be kind and bold
One is silver and the other gold.
Shalom, Feliz Ano Nuevo, Joyeux L’annez Noveau!
and Thank you.
Happy New Year! In Hawaii, fireworks chase the old year and all it’s demons out the door. The noise is getting really, really loud! Here’s looking forward to 2010 (in another 3 hours, it’ll be here) Enjoy the Ride where ever it takes you!
Happy New Year to you and yours! May 2010 be a less turbulent year for you.
I need to say thank you for brightening up the latter half of 2009 for me with your blogs and your tweets! I agree “2009? Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out!”
I heartily agree with your sentiments about the end of 2009; it’s been a tough year for my family as well. So, here’s hoping 2010 is much more kind to all of us! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year and much love to you & your family.
Well said, Stephanie. 2009 was a change-filled year for me as well. Kind of makes me ready to kick the ass of 2010, how about you?
Thank you very much.
Happy New Year, Steph. It’s great to hear from you. I’m glad that things are holding together over there. It seems like you’ve had some time to really think things through, and I hope that things only get better for you and your loved ones in the new year.
Much love,
Shannon
Bless you Stephanie. I may print your post off and keep it as the bigger picture you describe also describes my year.
Wishing you a 2010 that fulfills you and your family.
Hello Stephanie: Happy New Year to you and all yu hold dear. Plus ca change; plus c’est la meme chose. May 2010 be all you wish it to be!! Cheers and red wine. Hazel.
Happy New Year Stephanie to you and yours.
Blessings as you transition from one year to the next and beyond.
Blessings as you accept each change that comes your way.
Blessings as you learn, adapt and grow as a result of change.
May you never stay the very same, but become more of who you truly are at the very core of your being through change.
I am grateful for your honesty, your wit and your grace as you move through the times and changes that shape you.
I am going to make sure the door doesn’t hit my arse on my way out – good advice and well taken.
xxoo Crystal Belle
Onward…ever.
A very happy, healthy and peaceful new year to you and your family Stephanie. Please thank them for sharing you with us so much. You make the world a better place.
Thank you – you have reflected some of my own feelings as the year changes and I pray that the year to come has as little unexpected change as possible! All we can hope is that we find the strength to cope with whatever change comes to us. Best wishes Jane x
2009 was the year that I found Yarn Harlot, and began a new era of being able to laugh as I knit. 2009 was the year that knitting saved me from boredom, ennui and sheer down-heartedness as I made my slow way thru a difficult illness. 2009 was the year that left my family floundering as funeral after funeral took place… and left my family counting our blessings and loving each other a little more openly and kindly because of it.
2009 ended with a bad r’n’r’ band in the pub next door, and 2010 started with the gentlest kiss.. I wish you all, via Steph and her wonderful Yarn Harlot blog, a very happy new year and a kinder, calmer and brighter year ahead.
Go knitters!
Actually, I hope the door did hit 2009 on the arse on the way out…to help it go way out…it wasn’t as bad as 2008 but it was bad.
May the promise of better times in 2010 be fulfilled for all of us…
Happy New Year and thank you. Thank you for all you do. Thank you.
Thank you for post. It is good to know that you and yours are okay. We worry about you, we miss you, and I know we all send the best of wishes your way.
Happy New Year, Harlot and company! I really hope that for us, and obviously for you too, that change brings on some new and wonderful things this year!
Welcome back, Stephanie – your post is one of the highlights of my day. So much wisdom, so much laughter. Advice for the New Year – keep on knitting!!
All the best to you and yours in 2010!
Happy new year sweetie.
Your words really sum up life. Just when we thing we’re “set”- it changes and always will. But I really appreciated your post- made e pause and think . . .
All the best to you and your family in 2010 and hopefully most of the changes in this year will be good – for all of us.
Happy New Year to you. Change is indeed, rampant…and on facebook I said exactly the same thing to 2009. It’s a common theme among many I know.
Change. Yep, its there whether we want it or not. Thank God!
You Go Girl! All the Best in 2010.
Welcome back, Stephanie. Thanks for all of your writing and stories. A great new year to you and yours.
Happy New Year!! Thank you for saying exactly what I was feeling. Huzzah to 2010!
Missed you! Glad you came back! And for pointing out to lots of us how much we hate change. I have been know to sit and cry just because of a change I can’t control.
And control is a big part of who I am trying to change in me. I really do not control so much. My knitting, my mood and how I react to change.
I am hoping 2010 is a kinder year for you and your family and for all of us.
Darlene
Happy New Year! I too believe a sweater is in order.
Beautifully expressed! I think most of us would prefer to “manage” change on our own terms, but that is rare. Life is change, and you either go forward with it and incorporate it into your life or struggle against it. 2009 was a challenging year for us, but it ended better than it began for which I am thankful. Here is to a better 2010!
Happy New Year to my favorite virtual person! Reading your Blog caused me to knit my first sock (now I’m hooked) and just recently try my hand at simple lace (branching out scarf; I’m not yet a good chart reader, though; give me words).
I got to see you in person in Salt Lake City a few years ago. You are as much a delight in person!
All my best to you and your family in 2010. Change is, unfortunately or fortunately, inevitable, and I hope all your changes in 2010 are the fortunate kind.
May 2010 be the year of endless possibilities for all of us.
The sun is just coming over the ridge and issuing in a new day with glorious orange-colored clouds. As I read through these posts, I have to wonder. Is it just me or are YH followers the most sincere, kind, loving and intelligent people there are?
Happy New Year’s Day to you all.
Happy New Year, Stephanie! I hope you and your family have a great 2010.
Congrats to all…we have survived another year! Without change there is stagnation which; I suspect, would anger our dearly loved “Yarn Harlot” even more.
Best wishes to all for a New Year of change.
Happy New Year to you too! And, it’s a new decade. Up here in northern NY with rabbit ears on my TV, the only stations I can receive now are Canadian (actually, that’s mostly all I’ve ever gotten and I hope that doesn’t change when you all go digital)…anyway I was watching Air Farce, Ron James, The National and The Hour last night. The common sentiment seemed to be What a decade! Let’s get that one behind us and move on, hopefully to better changes. So Happy New Decade too!
Your writing on change this year have helped me put one foot in front of the other and made me laugh while doing it. Thank goodness 2009 has moved on. Happy New year!
Nope, never alone, no matter where you go. Happy New Year, Steph, to you and yours and all of us Bloggoids!
Happy New Year! As I went through my mental slide show last night at midnight there were many images of Sock Summit as a highlight of the year, thanks! One of the clearest was of you standing beside me on the elevator as the wheeled me out, with the look of a friend and mom assuring me that all would be fine. Thanks.
…and if you ever doubt that you are a force for good in this world, just go and count up our Knitters Without Borders donations.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Guest House
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Rumi
(The Essential Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks)
Amen, sister.
Thanks for this post Stephanie, I’m reading it on the first day of 2010 and, as another knitter who’s bad with change, it was a particularly meaningful one for me.
My mother gave me your Never Not Knitting calendar for 2010 (provoking squeals of ‘Never Not Knitting! Never Not Knitting!’) and so I give you back something you say on the first day of the 2010 calendar – only one thing’s certain about this year or any other:
We are going to knit.
Happy 2010 to you and yours – hope any change that happens is either great or, if not, at least managable. When it comes down to it, all we can do is our best – and that should be good enough.
xx
Our yr 2009 sounds similar– with one excepton.. I’m kind of hoping the door DOES hit it on the a**e on the way out.. just sayin… 🙂
Hugs and heres to change that lasts and creates.
Our yr 2009 sounds similar– with one exception.. I’m kind of hoping the door DOES hit it on the a**e on the way out.. just sayin… 🙂
Hugs and heres to change that lasts and creates.
Happy New Year to you and yours too – glad to know you are here with us!
From my family to yours, all our best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year with lots of love and joy from family and friends, old and new. Like my daughter’s been saying, 2010 is going to be EPIC! I’m just praying it’ll be a smooth ride. 🙂
Steph, not sure what’s going on in your life right now, but just so you know, we all have years like that. For me it was 2008.
You are blessed to have your family around you and a roof over your head. It does get better but you have the things that matter the most.
Have a wonderful 2010. Thanks for keeping us entertained, but take care of yourself first!
Steph, you rock!
Happy New Year, 20….10, I like those numbers.
Happy New Year, Stephanie! May the best of your past be the worst of your future.
– Pam
I couldn’t say it better. Thank you for the heart-warming summation of 2009!
First of all, I can’ tell you how much I enjoy reading your posts. Your wit, wisdom, and going with what Life hands you keeps we knitters all intrigued by what you will write next. Hang in there. May 2010 bring you much happiness!
2009 was an extremely difficult year, and I am glad to see the arse end of it. I would like 2010 to be about just settling in to the new things. No upheavel 2010! Do you hear me?!?
I almost sent you an email the other day. On Monday night as I was frantically trying to finish a shawl (first lace project!) for my mother-in-law, I do believe I was muttering under my breath. My husband looked at me and said, “Are you SURE you like to knit?”
And of course, I cracked up and thought of you.
And a happy & healthy 2010 to you too!
Happy 2010 and best wishes for health, happiness and love in this new year.
I got a fortune cooky the other day that said:
“If you want to be continually happy, you must continually change”.
Yup.
I hope 2010 heaps blessings on you, Stephanie and THANK YOU for a sock pattern that I can do!!!
Happy New Day. Happy New Year. And, considering the last one, the next changes have to be an improvement, right?
I know you live a healthy lifestyle, but please spend part of today with a sugar pie and beer. Or Screech. I suppose a tourtiere would be out of the question? Whatever – have somebody else make things and serve them to you and yours. Roll around in the best of stash.
Enjoy.
Just so you’ll know: One thing that hasn’t changed is your unerring ability to wield a punch line. Thanks and Happy New Year to your and yours.
Glad you’re back! Change is all there is, really, and we just have to roll with it. Blessings on you and yours for the new year. You are truly an inspiration for me, and yes, thank you for the plain vanilla sock pattern, too. I’m learning to spin, I’m making socks, I’m working on a vest for Hank–and it’s all down to you and your books and your blog. Thank you for all you do and for being who you are.
Dear Stephanie,
one more member of the Blog weighing in here. Others have expressed what I feel so much more eloquently than I ever could, but I found your blog in 2009 and it has often inspired and encouraged me through this very difficult year.
Blessings on you and yours, with sincere gratitude for demystifying so much about knitting (I never could have made my first sock without your explanations!), and for exemplifying a good person in a sometimes very bad world.
Gratefully,
LynneW
Thank you Stephanie for leading me a few years ago (via your book which I happened on in the library) to this lovely knitting community. What a nice bunch of people! It’s got to be the knitting! It gives me hope for the future. I wish all of us a healthy, safe and fulfilling New Year. All the best.
Thank you for your honesty and good humor and the abundance of knitting knowledge and for sharing some of your life with us. All the bets to you and your family.
I keep saying that 2009 was no picnic but it wasn’t all evil either and in any event moving forward is all we’ve got.
Be well.
Sounds like my year…
May the new decade bring us all joy and peace!
Wishing you and yours all the best in the New Year, Hope it will be filled with good health and happy times for you all! And, a lot of good knitting time…
Happy New Year!
Change has been the theme of my 2009 also, and the way you’ve been able to tell us all about your adventures with wit and charm (even when they’re really stressing you out) has been very inspiring to me.
I wish you all the best for 2010!!
Yes – what they said. You’ve said it perfectly, dear YH, as always; I agree with it all. And perhaps most of all with your final sentiment (although I too wouldn’t mind if the door hits 2009’s arse on the way out). For reasons I can’t really explain I’m optimistic about the new year (and the Little Me in my brain is shouting “FROM YER LIPS TO GOD’S EAR”). I wish for you and yours as much pleasure as you provide to me; I am infinitely proud (and probably not a little cheeky) to call you “my friend”. (I don’t often – it just sounds stalk-y and braggy, both of which I freely admit, though.) Megwetch, Stephanie. For all of it.
A heartfelt thanks for your honesty….
Very well said. We cannot change so many aspects of this life, but we can choose to move on & forge forward. We all have choices from the moment we wake in the morning to when we go to sleep at night. I choose to see the positive in life & to know that my family is there no matter what. That for me is what is important in this life. Hold your family close & be strong. May 2010 be the better year.
Michelle in WI
And although it may have wrought change, in the end 2009 did not defeat you.
Might be the best blog post I have read in a long time. Maybe it just hit home because I have had loads of change this year.
Happy New Year! I loved watching you stay a wonderful knitter and a fantastic blogger throughout 2009.
What a wonderful, brave post. Thanks so much for sharing!
Happy New Year to you! Thank you for all you share with us. My biggest change was the birth of my daughter on October 3rd. She often sits on my lap when I read your blog, and when I knit. Looking forward to 2010 and all the new changes that will come with it.
The end of 2009 saw my 9 year old daughter learn to knit, and as I watched over her I got the itch as well. Off the library and I discovered you–as I complete my 3rd project in 2 weeks (simple, simple) I read “Yarn Harlot” stories before I fall asleep. How wonderful to have discovered you, your writing, your spirit, your sensibility–Thank you, and here’s to a brilliant 2010.
One thing that hasn’t changed – it’s wonderful to know you’re out there in the world writing to us!
Best thoughts and wishes for you and yours!
Amen! 2010…. Bring. It. On!
I have a hearty chuckle every single time you say Arse, it never gets old, I just can’t help myself.
this post really resonates with how I have been feeling recently. Trying to embrace the moment knowing that change is always happening..
and also… meeting you at SSO9, in fact SS09 in general was one of the happy highlights of my year
Best wishes for all the joys you could best wish for – and then some, to you and yours.
Since 2009 was the year that changed me from a fulltime parent and homeschooler to a sometimes carping spectator and check writer, I totally get the ambiguity one feels toward change. Even when the change is something that you’ve been working toward for years, even when the change proves that you did what you set out to do, it’s still mindbending in its impact.
Here’s a hearty “We did it!” to all of us with grown kids who are taking what we taught them (and a great deal we never intended to teach them!) and sallying forth into the big, scary world. But they know, and so do we, that their mamas always have their backs. Kinda like when we taught them to ride bikes and ran alongside. Now just our hearts run alongside. Good thing too–my legs aren’t up for that stuff these days!
I think you just wrote my New Year’s card. Thanks for being a part of my life
Well said. Especially that last line.
Always felt 9 was a lucky number for me and my little family..2009 was to be our year…hahaha…
in-laws getting ill and losing memory. Money getting hard to find..finding out I have breast cancer. But maybe 9 is still lucky…we are in 2009 not 1909. My in-laws are close enough for us to help out. Money is still there to find. And my cancer was found early and with modern science I will be alive to see 2059 at the ripe old age of 86. Some come on 2010 I’m ready to fight.
Wishing you and all of yours a year filled with better changes and willingness to embrace them!
oh that was wonderfully said, thank you!
happy new year stephanie; all the best to you and yours.
That was beautifully said and gave me the heart to face 2010 which I feel will be full of change for me. I’m trying not to fear it and your words gave me hope and strength. Thank you and may 2010 bring you happiness!
What an unexpected New Year’s bonus! A new post! I had decided not to check the blog first thing as I usually do,because I was weaning myself from my YH fix, but old habits die hard. Thank you for getting the new year off to a great start, and heartfelt wishes that you and your family continue to re-group and recover from the hard things that came your way. Here’s to positive change!
Eve from Carlisle
Thanks for that lovely, reflective post, Stephanie. It was just what I needed to hear as I head into 2010.
Many blessings to you and yours in 2010.
a wonderful post that resonates with many I’m sure. THank you for this post!
Happy New Year to you and yours, Stephanie, and thank you for that post. 2009 has brought big changes, both good and bad, to my life also. You expressed it so well.
It made me remember a comment by a friend many years ago. She and her husband have seven children–something I could not imagine being able to handle, but they wanted a large family and are wonderful parents. The comment that has stayed with me is, “It was good for us to have a big family. It wasn’t until the fourth child came along that I realized that not only are we no longer in charge, we never have been!”
Amen to that. May 2010 be less fraught for you and all of us.
Your final post of 2009 is one of the reasons that I continue to read your blog. I love reading the daily adventures, mishaps, etc., but your ability to get to the heart of things and express it so succinctly is wonderful. Thank you!
My dear Harlotta,
It’s biblical – a time for every purpose under heaven (we turn, turn, turn whether we want to or not!!). We all thank you for your sharing your life with us and hope that will not change.
There is ongoing change and tumult in this knitter’s house and world…as always…and as I creep ever closer to 50 I have figured out one thing. It’s the resistance to change that is the hard part, not the change itself. Perhaps we need to stop “bracing” for impact and just go with the skid…no broken bones that way…just some whiplash.
Peace and love to you and yours in the new year, Steph. You bring us all joy and we hope we give it back.
Aww, good post. Best to you and yours in 2010, and good luck with everything.
Happy New Year to you, your family and all of us..we’re all in this together and as usual you’ve expressed it perfectly.
Happy New Year to you all….
It seems to me that you must’ve always had a gift for language, but your writing has become exceptional. This day’s entry should not be “lost” to the ether; I hope it gets hard-printed in one of your future books. I’m so very grateful for the ongoing gifts you continue to give us all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you SO much for your insight, pain and humor. I rise each morning to look for some of each from you. I so appreciate your perspective and send you and your family hugs to use when you need them….
Stephanie – Your honest writing blows me away. Thanks for putting forth so much feeling into your posts. All the best for a terrific year of knitting and LIFE in 2010!
Stephanie – Happy New Year, I hope that 2010 brings lots of joy, laughter and peace to you and your family. I really enjoyed your post about change. If you think about it, from the time we are born, we are always changing and evolving. I don’t know why when we are adults that we think we can control it. We can not, we can only control how we react to the change. For me 2009 was a big change, it was the first year in which I was no longer a caregiver for a parent. For once, I was truly on my on and captain of my own ship. Scary, but I survived and grew. We can only hope to be a better something at the end of the process, be it person, parent, lover, or daughter. Wish you the best.
As one of my other favorite fiber people says (Cast-On’s Brenda Dane): “Start as you mean to go on.” Our family has had a very tough year as well, but that thought has been with me all day and given me some peace.
Best to you and yours in 2010! Thanks for enriching our fibery lives!
Happy New Year! Hope 2010 is your best year yet.
Speaking of new year, is there a possibility of knitting olympics 2010?
I too, am happy to see 2009 in the rear view mirror. It was a tough one here. I’m optimistic about 2010. So a happy one to you and yours.
Exactly the words I thought as I rang in 2010. Before heading home, crawling onto bed, and sleeping for 12 hours straight. Hopefully I’ve slept off the worst of 2009 now! As always, thanks for your insight and encouraging words. Happy 2010!
I am Happy that 2009, is over . Things have happen that I am happy are over things I don’t care to repeat or remember. Here’s to the next year.looking positively.
You summed it up perfectly. For me 2009 was also a year of change. My mother passed in September and the rest of the year has been bleak as we have attempted to adjust. Christmas was obviously a washout!
I hope the door didn’t hit 2009 in the ass on the way out the door and I look forward to 2010 and the promise that it will bring into mine and my family’s lives.
Happy New Year to you and your family Stephanie! Knit on!
I love the way you summed up change. Happy New Year to you and your family.
As usual Stephanie, you hit the nail on the head..however I think that 2009 deserves a good “whack” on the arse..so long as the door shuts behind it.
Thanks to knitting and 2 1/2 weeks holidays..one of those on Marco Island in Florida, I have made it to the end of the year…it seemed extra long, like somewhere around March we went back to the beginning. LOL
Happy 2010 Everyone.
Change – what a scary word.
Happy 2010.
Today I opened up one of my Christmas gifts: your 2010 Never Not Knitting calendar. Every day I get a bit of joy from it; your huge effort to create this calendar is much appreciated!
No less an expert than Albert Einstein said “life is like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance, you have to keep moving forward.” We’ll just pretend not to notice that he wrote that in a letter to his son who was headed for a mental asylum.
I hope you and your family have a good 2010.
Happy New Year Stephanie, et al. You had me little worried that one of those changes might mean you wouldn’t be blogging anymore. Keeping fingers crossed that isn’t gonna happen. You are loved in the blogosphere. Peace out!
2009 has been a challenge for so many of us. For me, life as I knew it disappeared but I survived and I’ll take what’s left and build a new one. ‘Cause that’s what strong women do (when we’re not crying in the tub). Good wishes to you and yours for 2010.
Its been said that all of us like to believe we control our lives. In reality, 95% of our lives is out of our control. We do spend 95% of our time trying to control that 5%. The Serenity Prayer comes to mind…….. Steph, so glad to see you posting again. I missed you and your clever way of looking at the world.
Blessings to you and yours,
Barbara xoxo
Thank you, Stephanie, for all the good humor and good sense you have shared with us. I wish you and your family a wonderful new year and new decade, too!
Way to gooooooooo!!! After all change is what makes us strong…but more importantly, its what makes us real. Thank you for the message – missed you and understand the break. Good 2010 for you.
perfectly stated. Thank you for all your insight and sharing over the past years. You are truly an inspiration.
Glad to have you back. Yes, change is both wonderful… and sometimes breathtakingly appaling. It does come.
Here’s wishing you more of the wonderful than the appaling in 2010. And – more importantly, the continued courage and backbone to survive it all.
Happy 2010.
Things I have learned after age 40 and three tough years: relax, get enough sleep, delegate, re-evaluate (and change) priorities, lower expectations and simplify. Congratulations on personal growth in 2009 in the face of the many hurdles.
“…and 2009? Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out. ”
Absolutely too true!
Happy New Year! I couldn’t agree more about the door hitting the arse on 2009….here’s to a much better 2010,as 20009 was the worst year of my life thus far, all 51 years of it…not to tempt fate there.
Change sucks…..but NO change means no growth, patience, understanding, and increase in personal philosophy.
Lost a dad and husband this year…holidays sucked because of that, but, I have a whole new year ahead of me to soar…you too.
I’m glad 2009 is over for me too. It was one for lessons, hey? Franklin shared on his blog two things he learned back in March 2007. These have gotten me through a lot of 2009:
— Suffering arises from the desire to hang on to things that are impermanent or control that which cannot be controlled.
— All things are impermanent and change is constant.
Here’s wishing you and yours a happy, healthy new year.
Hugs, Duffy
Elton John sang it best – I’m still standing.
Happy New Year Stephanie.
Thanks again and bless you for finding lovely words for things that are hard to describe, but that move all our lives. May joy and health abound for you and yours. You already have wisdom!
As always, thank you for your words. (Whether I write my gratitude in a comment or not — and I should — it’s there.)
Happy New Year.
Thanks ~ I keep forgetting that I’m not in charge of Change. It’s been kicking my arse for 5 years now and I’m ready for a change! Thanks for keeping your head up but every now and then it’s a good thing to duck for that wrecking ball…
HNY!
Rebecca
Happy New Year. Thank you for all the vicarious trips I’ve taken with you and the knitting I’ve done thanks to your example and teaching. I look forward to many more.
love and Peace,
Simone
Happy New Year to you and wishing you the best in 2010 and beyond.
As someone who experienced significant medical problems, whose dog required two major surgeries (and I felt his pain) and as a result, went through a separation and divorce, I couldn’t have summed up the year better. You hit the nail on the head. But 2010 is already off to a better start than last year. I don’t think it could be much worse than last year. But I survived and ended up being stronger than I thought I could be.
The light in the midst of all the darkness–Obama began his presidency.
Very thoughtful. Blessings to you and yours for 2010. This morning’s “thought of the day” was appropriate for a new year: “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” (Maria Robinson)
Here’s to new endings!
Here’s to a wonderful 2010!
“….and 2009?
Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.”
Amen, Sister, Amen!!
Oh Stephanie, it is wonderful to have you back. You are never alone. I LOVE you and your blog and even though we are very different in some ways, I count on you like a sister. (I have met you twice to my great good fortune.) You have enriched my life and helped me with my knitting immeasurably. “Knit on with hope and confidence…” My house hasn’t gotten all cleaned yet either…with a kind husband, 7 children, almost 5 married (5th in March), oldest 41, youngest 21 and 8 grandchildren, I sometimes feel like I am on a raging ocean just trying to keep steady and keep loving, eternal principles at the top of my priority list. Knitting is a blessing and refuge from the storm of constant change that families are prone too.
Love,
Julie
Happy New Year Stephanie! All the best in 2010 … change and all. 🙂
If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were looking in the window of MY life (well except for the husband and kids, I don’t have those). Here’s to 2010…..at least I have LOTS of wool.
I try to believe that all change has a reason, a good one, behind it. If nothing else change helps us grow. We can rise to it bravely. I hope 2010 is an easier one for you. Thanks for all you do for all of us!
TGI2010!
It isn’t so much that I have high hopes for 2010, but rather think that it CANNOT be worse than 2009 – and the past decade for that matter.
After finding out the first week in December that my job is being eliminated – for the second time this decade – I looked at my yarn stash & mentally calculated if I could return all purchased gifts & replace them with hand-made items by the time of our gift exchange. The logical answer, of course, would be ‘no’, especially since our extended family gift exchange is, cruelly, always prior to Dec. 25.
I might still have tried to rationalize it, but for having recently re-read your chapter on this in Yarn Harlot. You may not have been able to save my job, but you certainly saved me from almost certain death due to crafting overload – I picture myself bleeding to death from raw hands caused by poor yarn choices….
Thanks, Stephanie – and blog when you can. Know that you are saving lives….
Tremendously inspiring. You remind me to look upwards and all around me for the things I am thankful for. You are one of them.
Your 2009 sounds like most of 2007 & 2008 for me – and you are very right – if it’s not alright, its not over and when it is, it’s alright! 🙂 Best to you & your family in 2010. I hope its a better one for everyone.
Wild Apple? the most gorgeous Bohus, imo. I cast on a week before Christmas and reached row 22 of the colorwork before you tweeted. I, too, started in knitting, not ribbing.
And now I’ve ripped, agreeing with your conclusion that ribbing is what is intended. Will enjoy seeing how you progress.
2009 was a whopper of a year, and when I say whopper I mean that it pretty much totally sucked. Except for the birth of my newest nephew, Arlo Gibson (his parents are musicians, Gibson is his middle name), I am glad to see the back end of the decade. A warm welcome to 2010.
NNK calendar for today quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.”
Sofia Cowl, they’re talking about you!
I did *frog, and start over- repeat from * approx 12 times; did persist, did triumph.
Ended up with something I love, but only teeth gritting persistence made it possible.
NNK calendar quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald today: “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.”
Listen up, Sofia Cowl, he’s talking about you!
Cast on, knit x number of rows, screw up, frog; repeat. Can you count the re-dos? I lost track at 12.
Finally triumphed in an awesome display of pigheadedness, er, persistence.
Do not repeat!
Sorry, it didn’t take it, and then it did – over and over!
Happy New Year, Stephanie!
I’m so excited about 2010 finally arriving and I’m glad to read that you are too. 2010 is such a nice round reassuring number, yes?
Lisa
I didn’t even check back til today because I wanted to give you all the time and room you needed. (Now that is really dumb, you can’t see me!) I was given your new calendar today and I’m so thrilled because I did not have it yet. Now I can go into the new year with you every day and with the knowledge you are back blogging. From someone who fights change all the way, may there be wonderful things ahead for us in 2010 that we never could have dreamed of.
Things stop changing (for us any way) only when we’re dead, so change is good, even if it’s a change we really don’t want.
We move on. We (hopefully) learn and grow.
Here’s to a new year full of possibility.
And hopefully only as much change as we can handle.
Happy New Year, Stephanie!
Here’s wishing you all the strength, endurance, love and sense of humor it takes to deal with the coming year’s changes!
You are an amazing woman and a great source of inspiration for me and for many. Thank you for sharing this slice of your life with us.
Cheers!
I have a sudden urge to go put David Bowie on the stereo.
Weird, ain’t it?
AMEN! This past year has changed so much in our lives! I love your way of thinking… Tell 2009 “thanks for what you have taught me, now it’s time for you to leave”, embrace 2010 as a new chapter in our continuing stories.
Amen to everything. Nowhere to go but up!!
Maybe I missed you mentioning it, but are you doing the Knitting Olympics again this year? My roommate and I really hope you are.
Stephanie, you have been a great inspiration and a joy to read. I hope to Sock Summit will come around in 2010. I hope you continue to blog in your honest and lovely way. This year I made socks – 3 pair.
Don’t let 2009 let you down. 2010 will be fabulous.
Wishing all of you peace and joy in the new year! I have a good feeling about 2010. 🙂
dear stephanie.. i too, boarded a plane and left the continent… i have swam in the great barrier reef and slept in a bungalow in the rain forest.. i have lived in japan half my life (half my fucking life!!!!!) 23 years.. i am 46 now…. and i still love my mother… she is my rock.. my foundation and my endless frustration…my daughter… is my life, my love and my frustration….. god speed to you.. cool runnings and namaste…. happy new year and all the best in 2010. knit on…. just be… love jan.
someone once said to me, after the death of his Mom, no matter what happens, life goes one. Time spent worrying over the past is useless–keep going, that’s all any of us can do. Take time to smell the roses, the dust will wait-knit another row.
Happy New Year
I had one of those years too so I really appreciated your reflections on change. I just bought a fridge magnet that is apparently a British poster from WWII it says “Keep Calm and Carry On” I’m going to consider that my personal mantra for 2010 and put some work in on my stiff upper lip. Your blog is one of the bright spots in my day and you’ve managed to take me over to the dark side I seem to be smitten with sock knitting “Well Done”
Happy New Year to you and your family!
“everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end.”
Here here. And thanks.
Well said. Happy New Year!
Steph – Thank you for this post. It speaks to many of us. I wish you and yours the very best in the new year.
Happy new year!
Stephanie: Thank you for a year of wonderful, humorous wisdom. Your blog and the comments I read bring me to the realization I’m not alone – Sistahs in Stitches for 2010 and beyond. Through laughter, tears and change – all we can do is keep on keeping on. Hugs from a virtual friend!
The only real constant in our lives is change. It is certainly scary but it tends to bring great opportunities too. Of course, that’s always easier to see once you’ve slugged through it. All the best to you and your family Stephanie in 2010.
Dear 2009,
Suck it.
Love,
Daisy and the rest of us.
and Happy New Year to you! Your post shows you as a strong, capable woman-we always knew you were! Glad to get to read your prose again.
As someone else who endured 2009 as a year of changes and challenges, I thought you summed it up beautifully and poetically. May 2010 stretch before you with unimagined possibilities, unexpected joys and unlimited potential. Both of my daughters will go into this new year wearing scarves knit in stress and in relaxation of your wonderful k2,kib, p1 variation. Thank you for all the gifts and inspirations you share with us despite Life’s challenges and changes!
Jennifer Aikman-Smith, Dragon Dreams Inc.
The Buddhists say that the only certain thing is impermanence. Thank you for willingly sharing so much of your life – you are akin to a friend we know but not quite. May you have a wonderful, successful, prosperous, loving year.
Without fail, when you write about your girls, I cry. That was lovely. Happy New Year.
Ditto re 2009. Good riddance. And welcome to whatever comes. Bring it on.
Your wording is incredible, I might print this post to re-read over and over again. Change is a hard thing to deal with….very hard! You always look on the bright side and I have learned from you.
I hope you and your family have a terrific 2010!
BTW, I laughed out loud at the way you said good bye to 2009!
I’m just sending you and your family some love. Thanks for being here and sharing.
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
fully alive – dawna markova
Change is good – puts you in the “green and growing” phase instead of “ripe and rotting”. Happy New Year
Happy new year to you.
New year, new chance. Or?
Annegret
Thank you for the post and a Happy New Year to you. You are right on about change.
But without change do we not stop growing as individuals . . . sigh.
I like the idea of not taking the dirt into the new year. Good resolutions. I wish I had read this Friday.
Stephanie, I went to East Africa (3 countries) four years ago. I was there for 38 days, and most of the time I was not where they spoke English.
I had to depend on my (very dependable) Ethiopian friend and her family most of the time. In Egypt, we hired a very good driver/guide who looked out for us.
For 38 days, my mantra was, “I’m not in charge.” I thought I’d be able to give that one up when I got home.
Instead, I find that a majority of the time, even in my “normal” life, “I’m not in charge.” I certainly am called to respond with whatever grace, dignity, and integrity as I can muster (sometimes it’s easy, often not). But really, it is astounding how often this married, childless entrepreneur is not at all in charge, of anything but her attitude.
For some reason, there is a real freedom to knowing this. I still have a control freak inside, but I try to use that part of me to do good work in my business.
Heaven knows, I can not control other people, places or things. Me, sometimes. My attitude, when I’m paying attention.
I do believe that “Change takes us closer to who we are meant to be.” For me, I’ve lost some loved ones early, and many dreams along the way (including a first marriage). But each time I lose what I thought I might have forever, I learn who I am and that I can do things I would rather not need to do for myself. I can usually rescue myself. This is a powerful discovery.
Tough is a good result, if you ask me. A good result, as long as I am tough and also capable of love; so far, I am.
Much love and affection from my heart to you and your loved ones. Yes, let us ring in the hope of a happy, healthy, and abundant 2010.
Hugs, LynnH
We all made it to the Other Side – some of us are whole, some in pieces & some are merely cracked. Yarn & crazy glue bind us together – hang in there baby, we’re just making memories!!!
2009 seemed a tougher year than most. I watched a family member recover from brain surgery and panic when her husband, their sole source of income and health insurance, lose his job. I watched as he got another one quickly, thank god.
I watched another friend bury her 13 year old son. And another welcome a daughter.
I felt the tumult of financial strain both on my psyche and on my marriage. I’m hoping never to live through that again.
I’ve felt the need to wipe the slate clean, start fresh, and change what I can, learn to handle the rest, and give up the wallowing. It’s going to be rough. It’s going to be important. And it’s going to be good. Bring on 2010. See ya, 2009, you sucker.
Wishing you and yours much happiness and togetherness, regardless of what’s going on around you.
Stephanie:
Well said; once again, you’ve touched that which I’ve not shared aloud. We missed you, but speaking (if I may) for the Blog, we must know our place in your priorities.
Blessings to you and yours – Namaste.
Happy New Year to you too!
I think the hardest thing about parenting is having that change thing and the fact that you’re not in charge of it, or of anything else for that matter, shoved in your face all the time. Changing willy-nilly is also necessary if you’re not a parent, of course, but before I had kids I could often choose to ignore that fact. (The second hardest thing imho is keeping up with the laundry. Ave atque vale, Sir Washie.)
I’ve read your December 31st posting several times now. It has done me a world of good. Thank you.
I hope 2010 treats you, your family, and your loved ones well.
“Don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.
” Well, that line sums up all my feelings about 2009 perfectly. I lost my beloved Uncle this year, to an illness that took him in only a few months. I’ve watched friends battle unemployment, massive workloads, financial stress and the resulting illnesses and tried not to burden too many with my own experiences of the same.
So like Stephanie said, bye 2009. I don’t intend to think of you ever again.
May 2010 and it’s Year of the Tiger be so much better for us all.
Wow– this has been a year you might ask to leave. Of course the key to change is strength and flexibility–you, of all people, have taught me that knitting is like yoga for those personal traits. Sometimes, it’s what we’ve got.
Forward, the only direction worth moving in.
I’m not sorry to see the end of 2009 either. It was a hard, hard year filled with more stress and difficult changes than I would have thought I could handle. Some of it I knew was coming and was able to brace myself for (though knowing in advance seemed to make it worse) other changes happened out of the blue and knocked me to my knees. NONE of it was blogged about. Not because I couldn’t talk about it, no, it was because I didn’t know how.
I’m glad to turn my back on 2009. Hello 2010! I hope you’ll be much kinder.
I have been saying the “don’t let the door hit you” saying for the past month…….so glad to see 2009 out. Hello 2010! Let’s hope you are kinder and gentler. Change is fine but don’t frazzle me in the process! Here’s to you, Stephanie, and all your fond readers.
Change isn’t easy, part of life. At least you acknowledged the way you feel. The next step for me is to count my blessings…. Helps me with perspective as I see you have also written in your blog. Happy New Year, dear Yarn Harlot, just take one breath at a time.
Not sure if you saw this or not…
“Olympian does it with yarn”
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/01/olympian_does_it_with_yarn.html
Coming in late to these posts, but wishing you and your family all the best. Take care & take heart.
I’ve always thought that ravelry’s olympics were done as a tribute to you. 🙂
Also I can’t think “knitting olympics” without also thinking “give to Doctors Without Borders.” Wonder where I got that idea? 🙂
Hi Stephanie,
It is ten days into the new year and I’m going through pains of withdrawal. Last year I purchased your Page-A-Day calendar and all year looked forward each morning to reading your quote of the day. I found myself laughing and nodding in agreement with your devotion and obssession with knitting and have even saved many of your tips for future reference along with your comments on dealing with stash. Do you have any plans to write another Page-A-Day for 2011? I really miss your daily “Pearls/Purls” of wisdom.
Love your blogs.
Iris