As mentioned previously, four of us in the indigodragonfly group on Ravelry are knitting Anne Hanson‘s Aria Delicato from some very special yarn.  This yarn, dyed by the ever generous Kim & Ron of indigodragonfly, was specially dyed and auctioned off to support breast cancer patients last spring, and each of the four of us who were lucky to get our hands on a skein has a story as to why this yarn is so special, some more dramatic than others.

My friend Mary’s story definitely falls into that category.  Her friend Deb, is pretty amazing.

My friend Deb’s husband died after a really tough battle with throat cancer, then she was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after his death.  She’s such a trooper she didn’t even miss teaching her classes while she was in chemo and she had all her reconstructive surgery done between semesters.  She’s not only my friend, she was my advisor for my Biology/Biochem MS degree. 

Two years ago she was in a meeting when one of the biology faculty pulled out a gun and killed 3 members of the department, wounded 3 more (one very very seriously; he’s alive, but will never again be his dynamic self), and Deb was the one that kept talking to the shooter until finally her gun jammed and she stopped. 

~Mary Setzer

So, Mary is knitting this project in honour of Deb, for her birthday later in January.

My progress on the project is, admittedly, much slower than I wish…lace + distractions + me = bad deal all around, but I will get there. I am trying to do 2-3 repeats a day in order to finish in 2-3 weeks.  This also leaves me some time to work on my January socks for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group.  One of my New Years goals was to finish 6 pairs of socks this year, so as long as I complete one every other month, I am good.  I am in no real hurry!