a hazy shade of winter

So I'm back in California earlier than expected; the stuff what-was-heavy suddenly got a lot heavier. My grandma, who I knitted the Garter-Stitch Behemoth for, passed away on Monday, so I've been thrown into "get everything important done right away".

I didn't go to Stitch'n'Bitch on Monday because I had a final (and laundry), Tuesday I was packing and cleaning and in the car for six hours, and yesterday I was in the car for four hours, then had to find appropriate funeral attire. (It was hard to do, as pants seem to be "the big thing" this year. Particularly short pants. Not even capris, just short pants. Last year it was all about the skirt. This year is apparently about the short pants.)

I did, however, pack my knitting bag with things for winter break, as I'll be here for the rest of the month and into the new year. Things what I brought:
- Cabled jacket (progress: good)
- Melody's Shawl (progress: v. good except for the stumpy)
- Aimee (progress: I think I have the right needles...)
- Butterfly (progress: I brought the beads, too!)
- Sock yarn (the other skein of Blackwatch and the Cobalt Bloom Socks That Rock that I bought at Black Sheep Gathering)

I haven't done any knitting since Sunday, and I probably won't get any done until this weekend.

But now I sort of know where my yarn snobbery came from. When the director asked my mom and aunt what outfit they thought Grandma would like to be buried in, my mom said, "Well, cashmere, of course."

Grandma has always been a big encourager of my knitting, giving me books, needles, stitch markers, and yarn. (Not to mention sweaters when I was little, too.) When I wore Audrey to Thanksgiving last year, she was the one who pointed out to my cousins, "You know, she made that". Even now, in my knitting bag, I've got at least one pair of needles and a little box of stitch markers that were once hers. She tried knitting a scarf for my cousin this summer, but couldn't remember how to cast on -- I had to do it for her.

Here's a few more posts about Grandma and knitting from the archives, as well as this recent one.

It's been pretty tough, but I'm doing okay overall. Tomorrow's going to be bad.