People and their Passions - Part 2

I often think of the distorted view of America that people in foreign countries must get from watching Doctor Phil, The Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, Access Hollywood, and shows of that ilk. Those shows often seem to glorify the miscreants and the knuckleheads among us. That is not the America I know, which is peppered with awesome, giving, hardworking folks. The kind of folks that you never hear about. Folks like my friend, Carolyn.

     Carolyn is passionate about knitting and crochet. She is saving the world one scarf at a time. She has knitted and donated scarfs for two Special Olympics, made afghans for countless babies, and generously bestows dishcloths and scarves to almost everyone she meets. Carolyn loves to make things and give them away, explaining, “I keep trying to meet new people, so I’ll have another group of victims.”  She is currently working on a baby afghan for her beautician’s nephew’s pregnant wife, having just finished two blankets for a friend’s niece, who recently gave birth to twins.

      Carolyn’s love affair with yarn started in elementary school, when her grandmother taught her to crochet. In junior high, she taught herself to knit, enjoying both sporadically over the years as she married then divorced, working as a secretary until her retirement a few years ago. In 2003, Carolyn had breast cancer surgery, and her cousin, a nurse, came down from Oklahoma to see her through it. Carolyn decided to knit a sweater as a thank you gift. That project was the catalyst turning a yarn flirtation into an obsession.  

Carolyn has knitted or crocheted every day since, explaining how peacefully satisfying she finds the repetitive nature the craft, “I just can’t put it down… if I did, I’d twitch.” Her favorite part is playing with color combinations as she designs each project.

    

     Besides crafting, Carolyn has plenty of other interests. She has been a loyal Rangers fan since the year the Rangers came to Texas, rarely missing a televised game, and keeping up with the players and stats.

     Carolyn is a longtime book club member, reading a book or more a week on subjects like neuroscience, sociology, WWII, animals, history, and politics, besides fiction, mysteries and biographies. She claims that her favorite book is “Whatever I am reading at the time,” but mentions Gwen Cooper’s Homer’s Odyssey, a book about the author’s cat, when pressed for her top recommendation. The fact that Carolyn is a devoted owner of four cats probably has something to do with that choice.

     Granted, knitting a few scarves and blankets will not lead to world peace. But putting in more than you take out, bestowing handmade gifts on strangers and Special Olympians are small threads which, when interwoven with the threads of others, helps lift us and hold us together as a society.  This world needs all the Carolyns it can get.