When I started my knitting blog four years ago, I figured I would simply share some projects, write something light-hearted, maybe meet a few knitters in the real world. I didn't imagine I'd grow to care about these people whose lives I followed on blogger and typepad and wordpress. I didn't consider that one day, one of them would just be gone.

Jennifer Walsh, whose knitting blog was Finding Her, died recently after a lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis. She was waiting for a double lung transplant in Massachusetts, but she never got her miracle. Jenn was only 28.

I never met Jenn, but we corresponded for years and I always admired how brave she was about her illness. She once wrote that even on her toughest day -- which is probably so much tougher than I can even imagine -- the worst she let herself feel was "blah." In her final posts on her blog detailing her illness, 65 Roses in Bloom, she talked about starting an etsy shop to sell her handmade items, since she had been too sick for other work. She even bought a new camera and a light tent. Her final finished object was a pink crocheted afghan for a baby shower she didn't get to attend.

Her friend Talana, who also has CF, was kind enough to break the news to me on Ravelry, otherwise I might never have known. Talana will walk in Jenn's memory this May.

Jenn's fiance (they postponed their wedding because she was too sick) told me that donations can be made in Jenn's memory to:

NTAF: National Transplant Assistance Fund
150 North Radnor Chester Rd Suite F-120
Radnor, PA 19087