It's a 'snow day' of sorts here, as it has been snowing lightly all night, and continues, even at 10 a.m., to come down in bits. The roads are icy-dicey; there's been a collision at the corner of our street, and as my hubby is in bed feeling punky, I am taking this as a good reason to stay home, nurse him, finish my block of the month (a "Devil's Claw" in brights from my Saturday Block group) and the 2nd sleeve of a cardigan I am making for myself.

The cardigan is in black nubby silk yarn, flecked with colour, and is part of a twin-set. I've decided to do the under-sweater (a little sleeveless number) in the same sort of yarn, but in a teal/turquoise to pick up one of those flecks. It's my first venture into silk yarn, and won't be my last. I have discovered the softness and lovely ease of it and want more!

This is becoming a Year of Adventure for me: venturing into creative spaces I've never tried before. For my Daily A.M. Reading, I am doing two: Walking in This World: The Practical Art of Creativity, by Julia Cameron (Jeremy Tharcher/Putnam, 2002), and A Soulworker's Companion: A Year of Spiritual Discovery, by Betty Clare Moffatt (Wildcat Canyon Press, 1996).

By God-incidence and/or serendipity (depending on your perspective), both chapters this week touch on Adventure. In Cameron's Week 4, "Discovering a Sense of Adventure", she writes, "The soul thrives on adventure. Deprived of adventure, our optimism fails us." That is why we still have a space program. That is why people go back-country skiing in avalanche country. That is why writers write and painters paint and fibre-workers...well, work with fibre! Cameron cautions us about becoming so adult that we forget to be "impish, childish" innovators. I've been reading in the Knitters' Review Forums about knitters who are almost embarrassed to admit they 'noodle' with yarn. Personally, I used to think swatches were a pain. But now I see one can combine noodling with various yarns, and making swatches, to experiment with stitches. Worse comes to worst, one ends up with a cool afghan!

Moffatt's chapter for this week is on compassion -- keeping the heart open. And don't we need to do just that to thrive creatively too? Passion and compassion -- with passion -- enable us to delight in colour, texture, new stitches, new patterns, new styles, new ways of helping others through our craft...What a thought!

The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe. -- Joanna Rogers Macy