Of Heroes and Challenges

I have had radio silence on the blog for the two weeks of the Olympics. I started with a definite handicap. I was having severe hand and elbow tendinitis issues. So much so that I had constant numbness and pain and I was so bad that I could barely hold a coffee cup, let alone a knitting needle. But I was determined to participate in the Knitting Olympics, no matter what.

At first I restricted myself to an hour of knitting a day. That really affected my output. For someone who is used to knitting 8 hours straight a day, it was hard to do. I admit I shed more than a few tears of frustration and fear over what was going to happen to my knitting future.

But stitch by stitch, I gained strength. You see, I was not doing normal knitting, I was doing Olympic knitting. I had two goals. To prove to myself that I could do it, and to have something to send my father.

Truth be told, I didn’t truly appreciate my father’s love until my mother had passed on. He was always the quiet force in the background who passed the phone to my mom when I called. I feel that we have become much closer in our bi-weekly calls since her passing. I truly adore him and I will do anything that he asks of me. He had hinted before the Olympics that Christmas was a long way away and he was wearing 2 pairs of socks to keep his feet warm. My father spends the winter in the local arena. He is the only 78 year old security guard who has his own security team to back him up. They often joke that they can’t start the Zamboni until my dad is in the arena.

I knit him socks every Christmas, but when he hinted that they more were needed, my Olympic challenge became clear. I was only able to finish one pair in time, but the second pair is on the needles and I will finish them some time this week. I won the Ravelympics Sock Hockey award for these in the Sock Hockey competition:

Austermann DK
3.0mm needles

I was also able to finish a pair of socks I had started for myself a month ago. I competed in the WIP Dancing event  for this pair

Yarn: KnitPicks Felici
Needle: 2.25

While I had a great deal of pain and numbness in my hands knitting these socks, the problem I was having with my hands was put in perspective with Joannie Rochette’s loss of her mother. What hit me especially hard was that her mother passed away from a heart attack one day before the 7th anniversary of my mother’s passing from a heart attack.

I remember barely being able to breathe for days following my mom’s unexpected passing – I was in a painful daze that 7 years later I am still trying to deal with. The idea of skating in the Olympics is unfathomable to me. My heart and my prayers go out to this truly Canadian champion. It will be even harder for her now that the high of the Olympics has passed. But day by day the pain gets a little less raw and you begin to breathe again.

Joannie – Vous êtes mon héros et j’espère être aussi courageux que vous un jour.