After Lizzie passed, the next day my cousin arrived in town. She’s taken a job at the same place I work, though different department, and so she was in town to look for housing. The timing wasn’t ideal. We’d had surprise guests from Mr. Ink’s family on our last weekend with Lizzie, which was even less ideal. But, honestly, my cousin’s visit was rather delightful. It was a good distraction from our sadness. It was fun and exciting to watch her navigate the things she needed to navigate to begin her first out of grad school professional position. As someone more at the midpoint of my career, it’s fun to see someone enjoying the excitement of starting out. She’s a quiet introvert just like us, so having her in the household was really comfortable for us. And, there’s something to be said for having no choice but to hold it together in those first moments after an experience that causes grief.

I began a new knitting project. I’d finished my 40 items in 2019, so I figured I could pull off another one. This one was a special one. I decided to knit Miss Marja’s christmas gift out of her own handspun yarn. I know she likes a LONG infinity scarf so I went on the hunt for a pattern that would be just that. It also had to be easy, but had to have enough interest in it to make me concentrate from time to time.

I ended up settling on the Carol Cowl. A little garter stitch, a little brioche stitch, a little lace and nupps. Really this was exactly the kind of pattern I needed.

I never did get an in-progress photo, but I knit away on it in the evenings when Mr. Ink wanted to watch TV. After a time, it was done.

I finished it with plenty of time to give it as the gift it was meant to be.

So, technically, this brought me to 102% of my goal, a goal I couldn’t complete last year even with the same numbers, and a goal I didn’t entirely expect to complete this year.