The Kidney Stone Sweater

I’ve been trying to listen to the big old ‘Stop’ sign I was given and really just rest while taking some time off of work. My mom and step dad came with their trailer to help take care of the girls while I was in the hospital. We have a spot for their ‘home away from home’ on the other side of our garage, which worked perfectly.

My sound surgery is scheduled and there is a bit of hope I can get back to normal soon. I had no idea how crazy kidney stones were. I’m not looking forward to the ‘night before surgery prep’, but I’m a big girl. If it helps break up these stones to rid me of this agony, I can handle it. Truthfully, I think I’d be going insane with anxiety right now if it wasn’t for my knitting.

It felt good to pick up my purple sweater again. To begin to make progress once more and imagining the finished piece has begun to help me heal a part of myself that I have been ignoring for a long time. Life has often been too busy for me to be creative. When I do find time, it’s often for someone else. I love giving. It does feed my spirit, but there is a magic in giving to yourself.

While working on my sweater, I kept staring at some yarn that I had been struggling with for almost a year to figure out what it wanted to be. Then it hit me. I began to picture a sweater coming together. To knit in the round from sleeve cuff to sleeve stuff and then the body in the round from some picked up stitches. I found a simple variation on stockinette stitch and set to work. My mom picked up some more yarn for me to be able to finish because it was working up quickly. She felt my need to complete my vision.

This sweater kept me stable when my pain medication made me sick and I had trouble focusing (I got more medication to help with that). I mapped out the shoulder, and chest and back construction while backed up from my medications (I’m taking something for that too). My hands found a spellbinding rhythm while I sat with my kids and pictured my stones shrinking and finding their way out. I clung to getting this done while I emailed my boss about taking another week off of work, while in my urology appointment discussing my options, while staring at our overgrown lawn fretting about all the things I suddenly couldn’t do.

I could hardly wait to share my creation with my friends and some knitting communities. The response has been amazing and I’m now spinning my wheels on writing a knitting pattern book. It will take a lot of time and some test knitters and editors and lots of work, but I’ve got ideas percolating. But for now, I present the original version of my first original design.