Again with the Hamilton references! But, really, that score is so relatable sometimes.

The house is, indeed, a lot quieter. We’ve lost our grouchy, talkative, always-underfoot fuzz butt, and it’s tough to do much more than mope on the couch and force repeated snuggles on his brother.

[Raven is sort of up in the air in terms of whether he’s okay with all of the extra snuggles. On the one hand, that cat loves him some snuggles. On the other, we’ve been grabbing him and holding him a lot since Saturday. I’m sure he’s thinking it’s getting out of hand.]

Raven echoes how we all feel at the moment.

Crafts of many sorts have always been a companion and balm for me in moments of sadness and grief, though I haven’t even worked on much of my current knitting since Saturday. A very little bit, but not much. And I can’t bring myself to spin at the moment…Alvin had a rather odd attachment to his wheeled friends, and it feels weird to spin without him trying to pet his face on the wheel (as it spins!) or sit on the foot pedals (while I’m using them!).

Most of my sewing room is still back at Mom’s house — yes, I’ve been living in the house since late December 2018 — so I’ve been limited on the kinds of things I could do. We did bring over my old Singer a few months back. It’s much lighter and therefore easy to transport and pull out when I need a machine and pack it away when people are coming over and I need the full table. But it’s also not up to doing some of the things I need it to do, and I’ve been working with the Bernina for so long now that I kept forgetting where the pressure foot lever and the backstitch button were. Plus, the Bernina has its own convenient cabinet that everything can disappear into.

Then, this week, Robert and I stopped by Mom’s to pick up a few things…including the Bernina.

So, after nine-ish months without her, we’re finally reunited.

I tidied up the sewing room yesterday and set her up, giving her a full cleaning and oiling.

[PSA: Remember to oil your machine regularly! As in, every two bobbins, you should probably put a little bead of oil on the shuttle hook, so it swings back and forth freely. And clear out the lint and dirt that gets caught – including cleaning out the dirty, linty oil residue. DON’T try to run your machine without cleaning and oiling it if it’s been sitting for a bit.]

After that, I set up the walking foot and finished binding a placemat for the table. It’s small and not particularly challenging, but the familiar action helps give my hands something to do and my brain something to concentrate on. I’ve added a number of different handcraft skills over the years, but the thing that I turn to in the middle of grief or stress or boredom is always sewing.