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To Soothe

Working on this new crochet blanket has been utterly stress free. As nightly hand physical therapy it's helped a lot with two of my most troublesome fingers, which have not responded well to the winter cold.

It's also been a surprisingly meditative project. One I memorized the free pattern (with a four row repeat and two of those rows identical, very easy) I just kept a running tally of the rows I've completed. I didn't have to think much at all about what I was doing, which for me is soothing, and makes any creative endeavor a pleasure.

I should mention it's still January as I write this. I'm working on my third mini-quilt for my calendar project, which is really not soothing because it has me a bit annoyed. I handwashed the foundation cutter quilt piece but it still looks dirty. Ah, well. I'm trying to learn to embrace imperfection, but it's always going to be a struggle.

I dropped this box of specialty embroidery thread the other night, and spent a good hour sorting, rolling and securing the threads as I repacked it. That kind of thing is also a mindless task that I find soothing.

At this moment my brother-in-law is in hospice on the other side of the state, and we're going to visit him again today and keep his children company. He's not long for this world. I don't like death watches, frankly, but I'm going to support my guy, who is very stressed out by this situation. I'm soothing for him, you see.

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