Wow! It has been a while!

I can't believe that is has been over a year since my last post! Well I guess I can, considering what a year it has been, but onwards and upwards. It was a very difficult and chaotic year, but in May my transfer finally came through to move to another town and away from my stalking ex husband. As anyone with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia can attest to, the move took everything out of me and I am just starting to get on my feet again.  This will hopefully be the last move for a long time to come.

So here I am in Belleville again, enjoying having city transit, a big library, a YMCA and sports centre, my doctor and so much more. The last time I was in Belleville I was bedridden and in a wheelchair so, although I remember a bit about the town, I have been learning the town all over again. I finally got a library card and have been listening to audio books while I machine knit in the evenings and I hope to take swimming lessons in the fall. Yes, I am definitely happy to be back here.

But as with all things, with the good comes the bad. I have finally been tackling the mess that used to be my yarn collection or STASH we crafters fondly refer to it as. I have had it boxed up since I left my abusive son in 2006, knowing that going through it was going to dredge up painful memories and a lot of hurt. I have finally been going through that chore in my unpacking and it has been hard. Sweater lots of yarn have been diminished to a few balls here and there or yarn has been rendered unusable and has to be thrown out. I literally am left with bits and pieces and have been going through trying to find some way to use up these odds and ends so I can clear out the space and move on. Much of my knitting has been for Mittens for Akkol, a charity that I have been involved with since its inception. We make warm items that are taken over to Kazhastan twice a year, socks in the late fall and sweater sets for the graduates of the orphanages in the spring. This is my pet project that I love knitting for and this year, owing to the wrath of my son, they will become the recipients of many pairs of mittens made out of lonely balls of Lopi yarn. Although I am reaching the limits of my mitten making attention span, it has been nice to see these single balls of yarn be turned into something that is both wanted and usable. And my son thought he had the best of me! NOT!