Introducing the Hillwalker sweater duo…
(and photographed with my walking stick!)
I have now finished both the pullover and the cardigan,
and that means Hillwalker is now two patterns for one download !
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Today is the one-year anniversary of the historic Northern California Firestorm which burned through two counties and thousands of homes, including our own. Such an anniversary of loss seems to be a time to test resilience, rising above hardship, and moving beyond the grief toward healing happier times. As I walk on the mountain, I feel the loss, and regrowth in such an overwhelming way.
There are so many dead trees, but surprisingly, there are many that are alive.
A favorite Blue Oak, gone.
Vineyards thriving.
A favorite rocky meadow.
This Autumn comes as a relief, now I can focus on what is ahead, and what is new, fresh, and positive. Life is short, its over in a blink, and we have every ability to control our attitude. I’ve learned one very important thing through the experience of this last year, and that is the only thing we can truly own is our attitude, and the accomplishments of our mind. The rest is just material & prone to ashes.
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Northerly view over valley fog.
JjD 
“the only thing we can truly own is our attitude, the accomplishments of our mind. The rest is just material & prone to ashes”
so well spoken, Jen! one have to learn this lesson so terribly, and in the feeling, that it wasn’t necessary at all, to get this wisdom as hard as life hit one, but with head held high, we go into nww times!
All my best wishes and love for your rebuilding and the forthcoming times, xx Petra
Thank you Petra! Oh , you’ve become a real support, and I cherish your notes as well as your knits! Another thing I learned from the fire, is that I have limitations, and the ptsd has taught me to keep expectations low priority, and gratitude a high priority. xx
….. and do you know what I guess, I think the deep truly beautifulness is to find in the minimalism, in the “less is more” , why spectacular if the simple things are perfect in itself!
be patient and kind with yourself…… and keep on being a “Hillwalker”
Thank you Petra*chen ~~ definitely ” less is more” , and that is my personal mantra, and off to the hill I go , to find acorns! xxx
Love this classic design!! Its also wonderful to see all the oak leaves and acorns littering the ground, building a new forest floor. So encouraging. xoxo
Oh Sorcha, the things I don’t mention in the post; the acorns are so limited this year, as not far up the ridge the trees are just not alive enough to make acorns ~~ but sprouting voraciously!!! Also, I don’t ever recall the oaks dropping their leaves so early. This year mother nature just is doing an overhaul! My tomatoes NEVER RIPENED! xx
I had to collect those few acorns and put them together to give the affect of what looks ‘normal’. Oh, and thank you for your praise of Hillwalker! I feel now I have to really start walking, its my favorite time of the year and I’m off for a walk right now! xx
I love your new designs! Hope you and Emma are doing ok. Is she better? X
Kelly , thank you! I’ve worked so hard for what seems months, and now feel satisfied that the Hillwalker is finished! Emma is doing okay, and I’m helping her around , she’s eating and can get up to drink by herself, so good for now.
The sweaters look great! I love the plain and simple look of them. The photos of your world, as always, are wonderful. It doesn’t seem a year already… yet to you, it is perhaps an eternity?
Sarah, it surprises me that its already been a year, I am so fractured emotionally (ptsd) that in a way it feels like only yesterday. However, now that the anniversary has passed, its ‘get on with things’ and let it go. The landscape is surprising me regardless, of its vigorous desire to thrive. I think today in fact, I am ready to walk to the upper reaches of the ridge now, to the peak, where the black hand of the wild fire was most brutal. I am ready to embrace the fact, afterall– its been a whole year. xx
You know, with grief of all sorts, it seems the first year is the hardest. The pain doesn’t go away but it changes. If you can go to the top of the ridge then you can do anything.