Knitting Red

I'm still figuring out how to link this with my ravelry account.  I am not really sure how to make my projects show up in a side bar or if I want to.  I'm more interested in writing than in making this look pretty.

Ani Difranco has a song, "Red Letter Year," which states 

New years eve we dropped mushrooms and danced around the house 

Making music with everything that we found 

incantation replaced resolution and we vowed to allow each perfection that we could be 

and the goddesses sent word that this would be a red letter year 

they didn't mention how much shit was gonna change around here

New Year's Eve, we weren't dancing around the House.  We were in a Medical ICU, keeping watch over someone who'd coded 3 times and been lifeflighted.  Since then, it has been a red letter year.  So much has changed.

When some friends decided to do a "red along" (knitting something red to facilitate transition) I jumped at the chance.  The camaraderie as well as intentional knitting seems like something I need.  I debated what to knit.

I have some BFL that was black and white and was dyed red.  If I chose to spin the yarn, I would have more intention.  Yet as the roving isn't just red, I chose not to use it.  Also, I am not that consistent a spinner yet, so I would have to wait to choose a project until I'd spun the yarn.

I have some lace weight red yarn that my friend Rain dyed.  I am making Annis.  Yesterday I had about an hour between school and work and figured I would be able to wind it and knit a swatch.  I was wrong.  I have a ball winder but not a swift, so I draped the hank over an upside down chair.  While winding it, I contemplated

• What do I want to be my intention in knitting this?
• Creating something (a center pull ball) requires the destruction of something (a hank). 
• Learning to bend before I break is an important skill I need to cultivate.
• If I decided to knit from the hank, that would create much more problems down the road.
• If I put too much attention on the past (hank) I loose track of the present (ball) and wind backwards, have to undo and fix mistakes.
• Asking for help when appropriate is an important skill.

I ended up asking my housemate for assistance in winding the yarn.  It took over an hour just to wind it and I needed the help.

I'm off to swatch and will write more about why I'm knitting a red shawl later.