Roller Coaster... And Not the Fun Kind

Last week...

Oof.

It was ridiculous the way things were.

It started with a coming out of someone I love, which was amazing and wonderful.

It was immediately followed by our car acting up, requiring a shop visit.

Then there was another uncomfortable discussion with a family member.

And then I woke up Friday to find my beloved Katie bird had passed away sometime during the night.

And that almost broke me entirely.

She was an older bird, so it wasn't entirely surprising or unexpected, but it's never easy losing such a precious family member.

So my Friday was spent between sobbing so hard I thought I was going to throw up and being so damn anxious about Saturday that I also felt like I was going to throw up.

And what was Saturday you ask?

My tattoo appointment for the tattoo my loved ones and friends so generously contributed to.

Because I was so worn down from the week, my brain decided to just be an ass and I was more nervous about this tattoo than any other I've ever gotten.

It didn't help that we were running super late and I was feeling like crap. I'd lost my appetite over the week and could barely choke down something to eat. And you HAVE to have something in your stomach to get a tattoo.

But Margot (my artist) put me at ease and everything went beautifully.

I especially ADORE the bee.

I've spent the last two days just kinda chilling and working on my vow renewal shawl, which is ALMOST DONE!

I'm six rows and a picot bind-off away from finishing this thing. I'm a little worried about running out of beads, but my last skein of yarn is waiting in the mailbox. So I'm going to keep this brief and leave you all with this little teaser.

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A Different Set of Needles

I think I have made it abundantly clear that being a knitter is one of the most important parts of my life. It's not only helped me to help manage my anxiety, but has given me an amazing group of friends, and a larger community as a whole to be a part of.

It's led me to making and writing this blog, which has become my online soul. And I wanted to pay proper homage to my love of all things wool.

So, I went to see a lady about some needles.

That's right. I decided to have a permanent shrine to my wooly love tattooed on my arm.

The process itself wasn't as terribly painful as I thought it might be. This was my third tattoo, but it's been 8 years since I had my last one done. And the mind does tend to make memories a little fuzzy.

I mean it did hurt. You're having needles repeatedly stabbed into you hundreds of times over. How could it not? But it was a bearable pain for the most part. There were a couple places up near where my elbow bends that had me nearly crushing Vi's hand.

Margot (@itsmargot on instagram) did an amazing job of conceptualizing what I had wanted.

Traditional yarn ball tattoos held no interest for me. I much prefer the look of hanks all twisted up and full of promise.

And I was so tired of seeing the needles shoved through in an X formation. You'd never actually do that with real needles, so why would I want that in a tattoo?

So Margot came up with this amazing design, even using the very first set of *fancy* Boye rosewood needles I had bought for the ones in the design.

This was the reference photo we used and she turned it into an incredible work of art.

I love it so much. And coupled with my new hair color, I'm feeling fantastic about myself.

Oh, my hair. Did I forget to mention that it now matches my beloved Jade lipstick?

Yeah, I decided to jump in and do this the day before getting my tattoo done.

Which happened to be St. Patrick's day.

Don't even bloody mention leprechauns, okay?

Green just happens to be my color, thank you very much.