In Which the Pirate Is Thankful.

It’s been a hard year in many ways, but I have so much to be thankful for.

Pirate-Husband. The amount of work that he has put into the house in the last few months is incredible. Scrubbing, sanding, washing, staining – the logs look amazing, and the house is more ready for winter than it’s ever been. Okay, so we still have the scaffolding on the porch, but if the weather holds out we’ll be done with that soon too. I am so grateful that he has the knowledge, skills and ability to take on a gigantic project like refinishing a log house. Not to mention, he’s a heck of a good cook. We eat better at home than we could in most of the local restaurants. Last week we had new friends over for dinner and they were seriously impressed with our crepes manicotti and crockpot cobbler – and I thought it was just a normal sort of weekend meal! Also, he takes the garbage out and does the laundry. Those seem like small things to be thankful for, but I really appreciate them.

The cats. Losing Aubrey started the whole year off on the wrong foot. Kipling isn’t really any kind of replacement for my kitten, but he’s pretty awesome in his own right, and he’s a perfect companion for Floyd. They are always together, whether they’re playing or sleeping. Floyd is coming around to be fairly cool himself; he pretends he doesn’t want any love but every morning I wake up to find him curled up against my stomach. Unless they’re sleeping, both of them follow me around the house wherever I go, and make sad kitten-faces when I go somewhere they can’t follow. And to think, I was afraid that they wouldn’t like me at all. I had nothing to worry about.

My blood-family, too large to appear all in one picture, but here are the two newest members of the clan. I have a big family and we’re kinda spread out across the world, but when we need each other, we’re there with no questions asked other than “what can I do to help?” Some of the hard stuff this year has brought us closer together, and I’m thankful for that even though we had to go through the rough times to get here. I’m going to see a bunch of the far-away relatives for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and I can’t wait!

My sworn-family. (Here we are at one Winterlude or another!) I don’t even know how to begin to express how much the three of them mean to me. They fill a place in my heart that I didn’t know was empty before I met them. They love and accept me for who I am and at the same time cheer me on to become an even better person. I would do anything for them, and I have no doubt that they would do the same for me.

I’m thankful for my job. (These are the monkeys who live on my desk, since there is no way to get an interesting picture of my office.) Sure, I have to get up early for it. Sure, it’s a long drive to work and home again every day. But it’s a good job, and I like it, and I like most of the people I work with too. This year I got to learn how to use Illustrator, which I’ve wanted to learn for years, and they sent me to a JavaScript class just ’cause I asked, and to a conference in Florida. Overall, it’s a pretty fine job indeed.

And of course, since this is a knitting blog after all, I’m thankful for my knitting and crocheting and spinning skills, for my stash of yarn and fibre, for my spinning wheel and spindles and drum carder, for the knitter friends I’ve made, and for Ravelry, without which this would be just a little hobby instead of one of the defining aspects of my life. I’m so excited about the projects I’m working on right now, and for the designs and ideas that are percolating in my head! I have so many fibre-ish plans for next year, including my first for-sale pattern, blending some batts on the drum carder, getting some stock into the never-used Etsy shop, and at least two projects made with my own handspun yarn: a hat and a pair of armwarmers.

And maybe I’ll finish some of those projects that keep lingering on…