Missouri's bit

This week I had the pleasure of knitting the Missouri rows on the Traveling Shawl. The box was waiting for me Monday night. Inside were several bags with a journal, pink ribbon pins, the in-progress shawl and extra yarn. And it all smelled like lavender, thanks to lovely sachets.

The first thing that I did was write in the journal. First the demographics - name, Ravelry name (mlledefarge), location. And then I got to write about why I am participating.with breast cancer. My grandmother had it, but fortunately lived past it and lived a long life until something else claimed her.

Last spring, one of my friends was diagnosed. Not a friend-of-a-friend or wife-of-a-colleague this time. Nine years ago, Paige married my friend Josh. They went on to move to St. George, Utah and have a couple of darling, well-behaved children. About a year ago, while pregnant with bambino #3, Paige found a tumor. After months of diagnosis, surgeries, chemo, radiation, and more surgeries, Paige is on the mend and still as positive as ever. And the baby? He's perfectly perfect.

I visited them in September and got to accompany Paige to one of her last chemo treatments. It was (to me) surprisingly cheerful. Her mom, sister, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew came by to spend time with her. Josh brought food for us and another patient and his wife. We sat in front of a sunny window talking and laughing.

Paige blogged. I probably knit. It was a nice way to spend a morning. My guess is that not everyone has sunny, comfortable places for their chemo treatment. (I don't know that for sure - this is the only one I've attended.) I am thankful to the staff, patients, and family that made it as pleasant as possible for her. And I am thankful that she is doing so well now.

So I was thinking about Paige and Josh while I knit the six Missouri rows on Monday night. See them there, in between the green threads?

The next day I grabbed a photo op outside the cafe were I was meeting up with some new knitting friends. I just had to get a "St. Louis" picture of the shawl and the fleur de lis was perfect.














On Wednesday, I packed it up and sent it on to the next knitter. Next stop: Mississippi