Another year of playing the waiting game, getting vaccinated, then staying out of the way. We rode the roller coaster of variants, and stayed healthy. In between, we met up with family and friends, but once again cancelled travel plans as waves of Covid swept the globe. We visited our daughter in Washington DC in May, and then she was able to visit us in the summer and attend a several times postponed wedding. Delta rose, and we cancelled a trip to Iceland. We compensated by taking trips to the Olympic Mountains, Mt Baker, and Mt Adams. We experienced a heat dome and a couple of atmospheric river events, and, all along I leaned into my usual enrichment distractions – books and yarn. I met with my book group a few times, and my knitting group weekly, mostly on zoom, occasionally outdoors.
The Fiber Arts: Knitting continued to be a main source of both comfort and productivity. I finished 21 projects. By far the most satisfying were the 12 hats and cowl I knit for donation to the guild service project. I also thoroughly enjoyed knitting several gnomes and cats, a witch, an albatross, and a turtle; socks and hats for family members, a small blanket, a sweater, and skirt for me. I explored many new techniques, and have a sense that there will always be something new to learn about knitting.
I also made two quilts, a Dorset button, and a cross stitched bookmark, some pattern weights, and a few other small sewing projects.
Books: Of the 73 books I finished, many were biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, or historical fiction centered around the lives of women. I find so much inspiration in learning about how different individuals found meaning in their lives, helped others, made the best life out of a challenging start, sometimes just survived.
Hikes and Walking: I walked over 700 miles last year, about 340 of the miles on 68 hiking trips, that included over 56000 feet of elevation. Standout hikes were the Ptarmigan Ridge trail at Mt Baker, the Killen Creek trail at Mt Adams, and finally making it to Tunnel and Twister Falls on the Eagle Creek trail in the Columbia River Gorge. We revisited many favorite trails in the Gorge and Cascade Mountains, and completed 5 more hikes on the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park – we have less than 4 miles left to finish the entire trail.
Other things that delighted me this year: the Inauguration; neighborhood skiing in February; monitoring Brian’s cross country road trip in March; visiting family in Eugene in May; celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with friends.
Hopes and aspirations for 2022: Besides coming out of the pandemic… besides reading and knitting and hiking. Perhaps more quilting, sewing, spinning, and learning Tunisian crochet. I still have more blog posts about New Zealand and quilt stories to finish. I want to hike the last few miles of the Wildwood Trail; we hope to go to DC and Italy, possibly to Hawaii, and back to Killen Creek Meadows when the wildflowers are out. But especially, I want to to reconnect with people, visit family and friends, in real life – that is my fondest hope for 2022.
Finally, a small tribute to two of the many people who inspire me, and have made my world a better place.
Margaret Quilts 