2012. What a year! Looking back now, I think primarily about 2 events in my life: The first was when my daughter very nearly died of a sudden, total liver failure (still inexplicable), and what has happened since that terrible time in early March. The second was the official start of my blogging life, at the very end of July.

These seem totally unrelated, don’t they? I suppose they are, in most ways, but here’s where they come together for me: I am most profoundly grateful for both experiences.

In my daughter’s case, while I’ll spare you the lengthy medical details, at the time of her release from the hospital, what the specialists said was that she would have to have a liver transplant, and the plan was essentially to keep her alive until that could happen; we were told definitively that there was no hope of actual recovery. Well, my daughter, who was staying with me when she fell ill, decided that, much as she respects the doctors, it was up to her to recover her health. Again condensing the story, by late summer, her primary liver specialist actually said that he considered her to be “in recovery”, something he had not thought possible! And though she is still on medications and under the doctors’ watchful eyes, she is moving forward with her work plans, continuing her research project into the issue of theft and looting in the art and archaeology worlds. (She’s an archaeologist; I’d love it if you would visit her website and her new blog to learn more about her work. It’s truly eye-opening and fascinating!)

And my blogging: I had had the concept of Changing Your Clothes in mind for quite some time, but it wasn’t until after I quit working when my daughter was so ill that I finally made a priority out of getting it off the ground. It turned out to be so therapeutic for me, partly because it gave me something else to focus on for a little while each day, and mostly (although I didn’t anticipate this at the time) because of the sense of community, acceptance, and belonging that I felt, almost from my very first post!

To every one of you who has read even just one of my posts, liked a post, commented, and followed this blog, I want to tell you how much your support means to me; this is especially true of those of you who’ve been here since I first started, since at that time, I was still trying to recover myself from this traumatic experience of almost losing my only child. I still have that same sense of amazement each and every time I get one of those magical little e-mails saying one of you has liked a post! To you, maybe you think all you’re doing is clicking a button, but to me, this act is one of the most special favors you ever do for me. I am truly grateful for every single one of you!

Now I have another special favor to ask. Because my daughter is an adult, it’s not really my responsibility to help her with her medical bills, but of course I want to do everything I can to help. She has no health insurance; she’s on a waiting list for Oregon’s health plan, and she is also actively looking for a full-time job at this point. (As I type that, I am once again overwhelmed with gratitude that she’s alive, let alone physically capable of working!) But she and I could really use some financial help right now, so I’m asking for your generous help.

There are several ways you can contribute, if you’d like to. I have 2 Etsy shops where you can purchase my products:

Knittique sells my one-of-a-kind skeins of yarn, original knitwear patterns, knit-and-beaded jewelry, knitwear samples, and other yarns;

It’s All About Hue (Colormusing’s slogan) is a very new shop, and set up right now to sell my original photo montages and photographs, already printed and mounted on gallery-wrapped canvas; I’ve reduced the prices on all the canvases I have left, and am offering free shipping (in U.S. and Canada) as well.

And if you’d prefer to give directly rather than by purchasing a product, you can do so simply through Paypal, to lindy@knittique.com. Please know that any amount will make a difference!

It’s not easy for me to ask you for this help; not because of pride or ego, it’s that I’m already so thankful to all of you for your continuing support of my blog projects— it’s harder to ask for more when I’ve already received so much. I can only assure you again of my eternal gratitude. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

I hope your own year has been a wonderful one, and that you’re looking forward to an even better 2013!

— Lindy