I hadn’t checked out her blog in a couple of months. I wish I had. Looking today, I find she had a fiberarts blogroll of only a dozen blogs–and one was mine. That means a lot to me.
Her youngest was the same age as my third child.
Five years ago this week and last, I was in the hospital in critical condition, and Ruth Schooley, one of the listmoms of the Knitlist, was checking up on me. I had a Hiptop, the first of the cellphones to hit the market that did email (etc, etc). It was my link to the outside world, once I had the strength again to type into it. Lying down at first, unable to handle its weight, then, as I got better, eventually I was able to sit up to type back to her and to a few others who weren’t afraid to hear about life at its far edges. I could read my Knitlist messages and still feel a sense of belonging to my previous normal life outside Stanford Hospital, and Ruth forwarded a few from me to the list so that my phone’s addy wouldn’t be exposed to the whole world. Much comfort came my way from that.
She was always the voice of calmness in any storm. She was always one to come immediately help out. At her most piqued, she would wave her dpns in the air and remind us that she had pointy sticks and she knew how to use them. The laughter always helped.
Ruth posted on her blog on July 14. Monday.
Tuesday she was suddenly gone.
I do not know the details. I do know she touched many, many knitters who take part in the online community, and she will be sorely missed. To the Rocketman and to the children, I, along with many others, grieve with you; you are not alone. Ruth saw to that.