Passions

FRIENDS

I am passionate about my friends. I find myself most comfortable just relaxing with a group of friends. One of my closest friends, Chance, is moving to Illinois in about a week, so I’ve been spending a lot of time at his house just hanging out. Lately we’ve been playing a lot of Mario Party 10 with our normal group: me, Chance, my husband Michael, and our friend Chris. Almost every evening we’ve all been gathering at Chance’s house for random shenanigans. Most recently we’ve been playing Mario Party Badminton, which gets very competitive and very heated. We also play a TON of board games, lots of really obscure, super fun games. I feel like I truly become myself around this group of people, there’s no effort to be anyone, they don’t care if I laugh really loudly or take my pants off as soon as I walk in the door. They make it really easy to relax and have fun. It becomes a lot more fun when Chance’s partner Jon is home, but recently Jon has been in Illinois for his new job. There really isn’t much more to say about friends because everyone has felt this sort of camaraderie at some point in their lives, if not right now. Friends are very important in life because they help you to unwind and de-stress from the day. Even if it’s something as simple as a text message saying Hey how’s it going? Friends are very helpful when there’s any sort of issue, they are one of the first people you turn to when in need. I know that I can always call up on Chris or Chance when I need anything because they’ve both done the same with me. Chance always calls me up when he needs something.

a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations

a member of the Religious Society of Friends; a Quaker

Old English frēond, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vriend and German Freund, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to love,’

KNITTING

Knitting is a good relaxing activity. It helps your brain to process information because of how repetitive it is. Knitting is very easy to learn and very easy to become good at. I haven’t gotten very good at it, I just have basic stitches down, but I jumped in the deep end and learned how to use intarsia in my work. I’m currently working on a dice bag for my husband with symbols from Magic the Gathering on the front. I’ve gotten one halfway done. I wanted to learn how to knit so I could make all kinds of baby stuff because my husband and I are trying to have a baby. My project with baby stuff is to make stuff and at the end of the year, if we are not pregnant, donate it to babies in need. So far I’ve made 3 hats, 2 booties, and a sleeping sack. I think everyone should know how to knit because it’s very important to be able to create something in my opinion. Finishing a project makes you feel very good inside, like you have accomplished something huge. I felt so good after I tackled my first intarsia project from start to finish. I even made my own pattern. I really like intarsia knitting because you can do all sorts of patterns and making your own pattern makes you feel even more accomplished at the end because you can truly say you did it yourself. My next project will be a baby sweater with a whale on it because whales are cute, or maybe a lobster because I think those are funny looking. Knitting is just a great way to unwind and keep your mind busy, I usually do it when I’m stressed about something or I’m stumped over a problem. I’ll knit for a little while and give my brain time to work out the problem.

Historians posit that knitting is a relatively recent invention because there are no ancient legends of knitting like there are legends of spinning and weaving, such as Arachne, Ixazaluoh, Nephthys, Amaterasu. There are no ancient gods or goddesses who knit