“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
– Helen Keller
I used to do a lot of knitting many years ago but for some reason I stopped. I think it happened around the time that the internet found it’s way into our house. I started spending (or should I say wasting *g*) my time on the internet inside of pursuing more productive things. But recently I felt a need to start knitting again. I think I was motivated from some talk on the Multiple Myeloma Facebook group that I belong to. One of the members who recently passed away used to knit a little stuffed toy that she called a Myeloma Buddy as a fundraiser for Myeloma Research. So I started looking at patterns on the internet and came across a really cute stuffed bear that I decided to knit. I realized that it was not going to be a good fundraiser idea since the specialty yarn that the pattern required was just too expensive so I filed the pattern for future reference. Little did I know that the time to knit it would come sooner than I expected. A few weeks after I bought the pattern, a friend of mine lost her 21 year old daughter in a car accident. They were very close and my heart hurt so much for her. My friend is an avid knitter and so I decided to sharpen my knitting needles and knit this stuffed bear for her. The pattern is called, “Need-a-Hug Bear” and I thought that when she was really sad and missing her daughter, she could hug this bear. Plus I knew that my friend would really appreciate the love and time that I put into knitting it. Every stitch I knit I thought of her and prayed for her. And I’m sure if she looked close enough she would see that I’m not a perfect knitter but that my heart was in the right place while I was knitting it. I know that it won’t bring her daughter back but I hope that it will give her some comfort on her dark days.
Knitting also gave me a gift. I realized that it was a perfect thing to do while Mr. B is having his treatments. It amazed me how quickly 4 hours could pass while I was knitting. Sometimes I would do (easy) crossword puzzles, or read a magazine or book. But knitting puts me into almost a zen state. My mind quietens, my body relaxes and I focus on what my goal is. I’m not sure how long I will continue to knit at the treatments but I have already promised a few bears to family members so I’m committed to a few more hours of knitting. And I will see where it takes me after that. Here’s a picture of the finished project. Oh, and there aren’t little black specks in the yarn. What you are seeing are little sequins in the yarn that reflect the light.
