Yarns of Love
The Story of Elizabeth McCaslin
by Chris Spitzer
This is a story about the caring efforts of thirty-five fiber enthusiasts coming together to fulfill the dying wishes of a young mother, Elizabeth McCaslin of Hartville, Ohio. It tells about the strength of many talents - an outpouring of love united by the common "thread" of being "fiber people" who are all part of one cloth which we call humanity.
Elizabeth came into my life about eight years ago when she was pursuing an interested in rare breeds of sheep - predominantly CVM/Romeldales (California Variegated Mutant Sheep). She and I shared a keen interest in helping this breed become more established and we were both active in the National CVM Conservancy, Inc., which helps promote the breed through education and breeder support. Our relationship was sporatic at best, she was a young mother who was busy with her family, and I was very involved with my grown children and running our farm.
Elizabeth McCaslin could have easily been any one of us. A young woman, happily married, raising three children, the oldest son Cade, age 8, a daughter Aryn, age 5, and a young son Liam, age 3. Elizabeth was an articulate, intelligent woman, and like many of us a "fiberholic." Elizabeth was a caring woman who loved deeply, including the beloved sheep she owned. Her life was a balance of family, farm, and career, but she was one of the lucky ones, being able to work from home. She loved caring for her flock of sheep, making elderberry jams, wines and maple syrup, and of course hand spun yarns which she knit into hats and scarves for her family. She loved music, played the clarinet early in life, then taught herself flute in subsequent years. According to her husband Shaun, "Elizabeth was incredibly honest, a good person who was strong and determined and who was not easily deterred by the word 'no'."
Tragedy entered this family's
life when Elizabeth received a prognosis of having an incurable,
fast growing cancer. Almost immediately it took away her
voice and she was confined to communicating by either the
written word or the computer. I remember receiving an
email from her early on stating that one of her saddest moments
was trying to comfort Liam who had awoken at night and did not
realize she was there because he could not hear her voice.
Certainly this would break every mother's heart.
When Elizabeth couldn't sleep because of pain that even morphine
couldn't touch, she would email me during the sleepless nights
and we would chat about our CVM/Romeldale (California
Variegated Mutant) sheep. She would share her fears, the
worst being not knowing how she could possibly communicate and
prepare the children for her ultimate death – they were so
innocent, how could they understand? She was hoping for a
miracle while still keeping a keen eye on reality.
Elizabeth agonized over the fact that she had wanted to make
sweaters from her own sheep's wool for her family that winter,
but with her illness, ultimately came to the realization that
she would not be able to do this in time. In one
particular email to me, she asked, "Do you know of some women
who could help me spin and knit my roving into sweaters for my
family? That would be the perfect 'going away' gift."
Tears came to my eyes just thinking about the agonizing grief
this poor woman was going through. I assured her that
there surely were enough women in the community who could pool
their talents together and make this last wish come true for
her. It was the unselfish wish of a mother for her
children and a wife for her husband. There wasn't much
time. She had been fighting the cancer since early May
2008 and it was moving forward quickly.
Here begins the part about caring and goodness in today's uncertain times, of standing by someone else in their time of trouble, and of giving even when you don't know the individual personally. It's a story of how each person's talent, when pooled together for the greater good, can make a difference in a life...and a family. At the time I had no idea that there would be less than a month to gather volunteers who would spin, ply, wash, and knit four sweaters. Elizabeth and I met at her home on September 14th to go through her roving so that she could personally choose what each of the sweaters were made of and how they were going to be designed. She and her oldest son Cade had spun up a roving together and she wanted to incorporate that yarn into the sweater for him. Cade also wanted part of his favorite sheep "Cow" to be included. Aryn had to have a very special pink roving that would be spun into yarn and knit into her sweater; and Liam a soft baby blue, just for him. For her husband, Elizabeth chose two colors: one a very strong brown and a complimentary variegated grey and brown. All different striped sweaters were the theme of the day. When I left that day, Elizabeth asked if I would take along the roving, which amounted to about 50 pounds, and distribute it to anyone helping with the project.
The next step was to begin appealing to my fiber friends that were "spinners". A friend who belongs to the Medina Spinning & Weaving Guild was instrumental in getting out the word along with organization and distribution of the roving. Before I knew it at least thirty-five people came forth to help and none of them knew Elizabeth personally but all were willing to try to help her with her last wish. They were members of Medina Spinning & Weaving Guild, Algonquin Mill Spinning & Weaving Guild, Malabar Farm Spinning & Weaving Guild, Lorain County Spinning & Weaving Guild, Mishler's Mill, and the Nutty Knitters from Bath, Ohio.
The roving was divided into 8 ounce bags with a sample yarn so no one individual was burdened with too much to spin. Each bag was labeled so the spinner knew which family member she was spinning for. Spinners were asked to return the spun yarn within a weeks time. Amazingly enough, all the single ply yarns were back within a weeks time and our first deadline had been met. The next step was a plying "party." There was never any unwillingness to help, no complaints, just a focus on getting the job done in a timely manner. Everyone was asking what they could do to help. Next, the plied yarns were all washed and ready to be used. Time had flown quickly in the few short weeks since this project had actually been started; a lot had been accomplished already. It was suggested that prayer shawls be made for the family since the children were little and would soon outgrow the sweaters in a short time. A special poem was written to be included on a tag with the shawls that will read:
If you are feeling sad or lonely, upset or blue, wrap me around you because I'm storing all Mom's hugs for you
On Thursday, October 9th, I received an email from Elizabeth's husband, Shaun, letting me know that Elizabeth had been admitted to the hospice center. Coincidentally, the yarns were done the same day. He indicated that the End of Life Specialists sincerely believed she had less than 3 weeks to live and that she was at risk of death much sooner due to the tumor's involvement with her jugular vein and arteries. At this point I asked Shaun if I could bring the yarns in the following Monday morning, October 13th, to show Elizabeth and let her know we were working hard to honor her request.
