She rambles. She knits. She ponders.

Referring back to the mismatched-yarn adventure of last week, I think Tan and Jo are both right. I think the only sensible thing to do is make sure that I have all the parts that I want to match, with me or on me at the time. Brother Sushi said the same thing at dinner that Friday night.

That’s how I got the beginnings of the Rust Fibonacci Sweater: pants on a hanger with the top over them so the cuffs hung out and the scarf that tied their colors together threaded through the gap at the neckline. And the rest is knitting history.

There are several excellent reasons why this is not likely to happen. [This is where the Jo-is-right comes in.]

1. I wear separates, which gives me an effectively huge wardrobe from relatively few pieces.

2. I am forevermore seeing combinations that would work and trying them out, which means that the likelihood of my wearing the green top with the green pants is so small as to be homeopathic.

3. Hope is not the only thing with feathers [my apologies to Emily Dickinson]. Knitting inspiration rarely waits for me to be sartorially coordinated. It typically strikes when I’m under the influence of wool fumes at the LYS and I have the makings of the intended project in one hand and my debit card in my other, and an entirely different yarn starts batting its plies at me from across the room. In my defense, those are usually the stash additions that *work*. They work because I’m responding to something more subtle than chromatic vibrations interacting with the physics of my eyeballs.

Tola’s right, too. More pink is always a good thing. Also red, fuchsia, magenta, plum, vermilion, cerise…

One of my Sisters of the Wool posted this in our group. The comic strip Pickles had a knitting storyline the first week in July:

http://www.comics.com/wash/pickles/archive/pickles-20070702.html

When I joined the LDS church 32 years ago next month, there was a monthly meeting for the women which was called Homemaking Meeting. That was where I learned how to keep house and raise my tribe and maintain some semblance of sanity in the process. [As Merle Haggard once sang, Momma Tried. For reasons known only to Heaven, the church has more or less succeeded where her best efforts only bred mutual frustration. I was not an easy child, and it is a testament to the greatness of her spirit that I am here to enjoy my children and my grandchildren.]

The meetings were very craft-oriented in the mid- to late-70's; over time there has been a greater emphasis on spiritual underpinnings and correct principles. Because of Relief Society Homemaking meetings, I know how to do calligraphy, check the oil in my car, communicate better with my children. The list goes on.

A few years ago they changed the name of the meeting to Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment. And at the beginning of last year, they abandoned the traditional monthly meeting in each ward for several ward meetings and two stake meetings per year, with the slack being taken up by interest groups. We have book groups and gardening groups, and last year for a few months I led the knitting group.

The point that I am ambling toward with all the haste of Somerset Maugham in January, is that a week ago Thursday night was one of the two meetings on a stake level. So women from all over our immediate area met together for workshops and classes and a service project. [And food, of course. It's not a Relief Society event without a tablecloth, a centerpiece, and food.] As usual, it was impeccably planned and lovingly executed, and I came away with several new insights and some great hugs and a bit of quality time with my best friend.

I love how, when I make the slightest effort toward obedience and understanding, the blessings are frequently overwhelming in their speed and abundance. In one of the classes that night I gained a fresh perspective on the law of carnal commandments given to the Children of Israel by God through Moses, things that were observable and measurable as indicators of personal righteousness, as contrasted with the law of the gospel given to the children of God by Christ when He walked on the earth, where it was far more about internal motivations that produced behaviors that were desirable or otherwise. So the progression is something like [1] do as I the Lord tell you, [2] do as I the Lord do, and [3] love as I the Lord love and by so doing become as much like Me as humanly possible.

I’ve gotta tell you: there are some aspects of simple obedience that I continue to struggle with. And there are some days where I have wonderful moments when I know that whatever little thing I just did, I did well in an eternal sense, even if it made no earthly sense. I have far more moments where I know that I blew it. Which, as my Mom would have said, just shows that I’m human.

You know that alleged prayer that makes the rounds of the Internet, which begins with the person saying that so far he/she has not lied or stolen or cheated or dug a pit for his/her neighbor, but that pretty soon he/she is going to have to get out of bed and will need a little help?

Oh yeah. Bigtime.

And now for a sobering statistic: the good brother who taught the class where I got the fresh perspective, asked us if we had any idea of the ratio of righteous, active*, worthy age 30+ single women in our church to men who were equally righteous, active, and worthy [Ed note: and would therefore deserve the company of such women]?

Thirty to one, my friends. Thirty to one. This confirms my suspicions that I am not excessively picky, but that the pickings really are that slim. And it would also explain why I'm not attracted to any of the guys who show up for our local activities, except for the handful who are my acquired-brothers, who have amply demonstrated their decency and trustworthiness.

I shared that stat with LittleBit after family prayers. Her take? “Looks like you’re going to have to find a good guy who’s not LDS and dunk him.”

*Active, in the church, does not refer to how much literal physical movement is manifested, but whether one attends church meetings and makes oneself useful.

And I’ll finish with a couple of inspirational quotes from pages in my planner.

“The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.” ~ Barbara Pletcher

“To be surrounded by beautiful things has much influence upon the human creature: to make beautiful things has more.” ~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman