yarn along: sister stone

Today is my sister Julie's birthday. Happy Birthday! Julie always tells me that she's so glad I'm her sister. How sweet is that? Well, today I want to make sure that she knows the feeling is mutual. 

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Jules, 

 You are the sweetest sister, and I'm so glad you're mine. 

I couldn't imagine my life without you. 

Happy 22nd birthday!

 I love you, 

 A

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I whipped up a birthday stone for Julie over the weekend. I made some motifs of my own design a couple of months ago, so when Julie said she'd really like a crocheted stone, I pulled out a motif from my pile. I connected the tips of the motif with chain stitches and then continued chaining around and slip-stitching into the chains of the previous round to create a kind of netting. She seemed to really like it. 

When I first started giving crocheted stones as gifts, I often described them as paperweights. I thought people could understand paperweights better. However, lately I've been thinking of them as meditation stones. Meditation stones sounds much more appropriate.

This week I got to read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for class. Jean Dominique Bauby narrates his life story, ending with the massive stroke that left him completely paralyzed except for one eye. I found it so interesting to learn the perspective of someone locked inside his own body. The writing process that produced this book astounded me: Bauby spent two months with a translator documenting each letter he signaled with a blink of his eye. At first I couldn't help but read this book very slowly, trying to take in and appreciate all of the time and effort that went into composing each letter. Soon, though, I found myself caught up in Bauby's story. I would definitely recommend this book (and the film).

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Yarning along with Ginny today. 

I'm in awe of this recent post of hers. What a beautiful family of knitters!