Cloak of Calm

There is something deliciously satisfying about sitting alone in my pajamas in a thoroughly clean house with a snuggly poodle, some knitting, and rain pouring down outside. It feels as if I am in a secret world all my own. Everything is put away and in order, no noise except those I create and the sound of rain. I can do exactly as I want.

Which as this moment is to alternately knit on my newly started shawl and catalogue a giant collection of patterns I just received. Knitting and organizing, two of my favorite activities. It feels like a good way to start off the new year. I only feel a slight twinge of guilt for starting a new project intended for me while the second glove for my sister sits idle in the basket. I’ll get to it eventually, I swear. 

I just wanted to start something beautiful for me. Something calming and soft and may I call it ethereal? The yarn is lovely for a readily available, non-artisan yarn and it just floats onto the needles. It’s a lovely shade of light gray that almost perfectly mirrors the mist in the middle distance out the back windows. The yarn seems to have connected with the forest behind our house and brought something back from the woods.

Alright, maybe I’m just overly happy to be knitting it and am getting a bit carried away. But I am sure others have noticed how knitting can take on the mood of the day or the weather, or the company around you. Knitting is like photography for me. Within a project is captured the feel of the moment, the place, and the people. The finished object can always bring me back to that time, remind me of how I felt and what was happening around me. The only other medium which does this for me is music. I can be transported back in time by certain songs and albums.

It makes me smile to know that this new shawl might transport me back to this moment. Remind me of this calm, of the slow passing of a dark afternoon, of the metallic clank of rain occasionally hitting the oven range. In my hectic life, it would be nice to be able to reach for a cloak of calm misty rain to sooth me. And the freshness of the new year may linger on, reminding me of the hope and possibility of the unknown.