funeral crafts

I wanted to keep my hands busy on the 4 hour drive to Rafi's funeral. I was so sad. Keeping my hands busy is a good way to deal with grief.

My sister's mother in law had given me a load of vintage cashmere sweaters. She loved the work I had done refashioning sweaters. So, she gave me a batch of sweaters to play with. One of the treasures that I hadn't gotten to, was a Pringle grey cashmere turtleneck. It's too hot in New York apartments to wear a turtleneck. I also hate having things tight around my neck. I was planning to transform the turtleneck into a cardigan but hadn't quite gotten to it.

Before I got into the car, I cut open the front and then packed along a black eyelash yarn and a lovely hand dyed blue ribbon yarn and a crochet hook. My sister's mother in law died this summer. So it seemed like a nice way to focues on her, and on her not quite in the fullness of her years death as we went to attend Rafi's funeral.

After a little over an hour I was done. By the time we got to the cemetery, it was late in the afternoon and really nippy. I was glad to have an extra layer to wear . I was crying so hard and shaking . I didn't know if it was from sorrow or from the cold.

On the ride home I kept thinking about Joanne, Rafi's mom. How I wished we lived closer, how what she needed was to be embraced. I envisioned a soft warm shawl.throw for her to be wrapped up in, to feel how much we loved her during this difficult time.

Yesterday, my sewing buddy Welmoed came to town. She was looking for fabric and embellishments to make an evening gown. I was in pursuit of the prefect fabric to make the wrap to comfort Joanne. Our first stop was Rosen & Chadick. They understood my quest but their cashmere was not fluffy enough. The mohair was too itchy, and this was not something to make out of synthetics.

It was easy to find the fabrics that Welmoed needed. Finding fabric that could give comfort to a grieving mom was not easy. Many of the cashmere's were boardy, or had a bit of prickliness to the hand. Synthetics had a nasty plasticky feel. Mohairs looked right, but are just too itchy to convey comfort.I wanted something airy. I kept finding fabrics that were stiff and heavy.

The little Eastern European sales woman at Paron kept chasing me around the store with suggestions that were not quite right. As I was leaving she called out " Let me find you more 'not quite right!', " Finally we went to New York Elegant Fabrics, the store I think of as the texture store. There I found exactly the right fabric. A light as air bluish grey woven.It's soft to the hand, and nary an itch, even when it put the wool up to my cheek.

After I edge it, I can send it on it's wayto Joanne.