Yesterday I had a yarn emergency.  It’s the only way I know to describe the sudden and implacable need for yarn that I had.  I had a trigger event on Saturday night,  when Joe’s family gathered. Now, as a clan, this bunch tends to wander around.  When we were first together it took me forever to get the hang of it. I’d call up and ask to speak to Kelly, and be told (absolutely matter of factly) that Kelly couldn’t come to the phone right that moment, as she’d decided to go to Kuala Lumpur.  Any member of Joe’s family could be anywhere at any moment. They’ve all lived all over and travelled all over and they’re hard to find. Saturday was pretty special.  Kelly and Ben moved to Madagascar a few years ago, and we don’t get to see too much of them, but they’re here now for a while, and this night we celebrated their 22 years of marriage. 

The whole family was there (except for Megan, who had something she couldn’t move – and Joe Sr. who was out of the province.)



We ate, drank, laughed and played with Lou, and the party went on late, making music under the summer stars. 

Chris and Robyn were there… I know I’ve told you they’re expecting a baby, and Robyn let us fuss over her belly (she’s very, very patient with us, as awed and excited as we all are)

and she even let my niece Savannah (freshly graduated midwife that she is) find the baby’s heart for all of us to hear.  We gathered around her (all 15 of us) like she was the best movie we’d ever seen.

There’s someone wonderful in there, and as Joe and I rode our bikes home, all I could think was that I had to get moving on the knitting.  I’ve only made this baby two sets of booties and two sweaters and that’s not nearly enough for a wee thing being born on winter’s eve in Canada.  All of a sudden, the baby knitting had a sense of urgency. When I woke up yesterday, the feeling hadn’t passed.  I made a list of the things I’d like to make (the blanket yarn has been ordered) and I went through the stash to see if I had what I needed, and when I didn’t, I took all leave my senses and went on a city wide hunt. I ended up, after a few mishaps, at Mary Maxim, where I found the yarn I wanted, and packed up back home.  It was only as I sat there last night, knitting away on one of the ten balls that I had bought, that I started to think about why I’d felt that I needed it all then. Why not wait until this morning? Why charge all over, collecting it up and putting it in a pile.  I can’t knit it all now, why buy it all now?

Yarn emergency.  I don’t know how it happened.  I think I was just too happy for a regular amount of yarn.