Summer of the weekly blog

In my list of "draft" posts, what a catchy title and goal this was! I was going to write a blog entry once a week between Memorial Day and Labor Day, even though the "official" dates of summer do not coincide with the dates of summer designated by our education system (at least in the south!) This is only post #5 even though we are mere weeks away from Labor Day...

I like to write, knit, think, read, and take pictures. Blogging is a wonderful way to exercise these joys in one place. It is also a wonderful way to help me remember what in the world I was doing during the Summer of '13!

I knit, as evidenced in previous posts here and here and hopefully in some future posts.         

I have continued to read the Good Book this summer. My diocese has a challenge of reading the Bible in a year- something I have done several times previously, but not with a group. I'm off track at the moment, but I am still on the journey.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is one of those books that I wished would never end. Anyone who has enjoyed A Gift from the Sea or Pilgrim at Tinker Creek would be touched by the life lessons learned from a tiny bit of nature.
Many years ago I read Gail Sheehy's Passages, the discussion about the physical and emotional aspects of the inevitable process of aging. Richard Rohr's Falling Upward, takes it much deeper into the spirit and soul. The subtitle for Rohr's book is "a spirituality for the two halves of life." Sometimes I felt like he had written the book just for me, to answer some of my deepest questions, and to assure me that it was even ok to ask the questions!

I have preserved memories through pictures of good times with my children and grandchildren this summer.

I have been thinking about all that I want to accomplish in the next years of my life, and am coming to the conclusion that while having plans and dreams and goals keeps me striving to be and do my best, I have been given the grace to see the joy in each moment.

Making plans keeps me humble. "The Summer of the Blog" is now "The Few Weeks of the Blog."

Frogging keeps me humble, too.

It also allows for redemption. This yarn is destined for something other than what I tried to make it to be!

Homespun Heaven and He!!

I have a love/hate relationship with Lionbrand's Homespun: the colorways are amazing, but the yarn is a pain to use. I keep saying I will not knit with it again, but my mouth is not where my heart is. The heart is winning by a long shot, and I have lots of prayer shawls to prove it.

This is the pile from last winter/spring. Most are for St Christopher's Episcopal Church; 2 are for some dear neighbors across the street who have been making sure my front lawn does not look like a jungle.

Back in March, one of my co-workers had to leave due to her husband's job transfer. Several of us in the department knit, so we took turns working on a prayer shawl for her. In the end, everyone participated. Even those who had never held needles learned enough to knit a few stitches. I do not think we made any converts (knitverts?) yet, but there is still hope!





I started knitting prayer shawls about 10 years ago, long before the idea of a blog- or even photos of projects- came into my brain. I wish I had taken pictures long ago (see the Legacy entry) but there is no time better than the present to start a tradition. A dear friend who is a real artist with a real studio inspired me several years ago with her professional photographic collages. I have posted several of my extremely amateur collages at various times, and here is the latest:

Wouldn't it be amazing if it encompassed the 25-30 prayer shawls I have knit through the years!

A few weeks ago I started another shawl. At lunch I mentioned to my co-worker knitters that I had only one more colorway in my stash... and that would be the end of Homespun shawls for awhile! But then, of course, there is another story:

A few months ago a woman driving home from my LYS was killed in a tragic wreck. I did not know her, but she did knit sometimes with the public group that meets twice a month at the library. Her husband called the librarian who is in charge of the group and offered to donate her stash  Three trips later, the Reference Department was engulfed in an amazing collection of bags and boxes and baskets of yarn and and needles and accessories. At the next meeting of our staff knitters, we organized and reboxed everything. It took 5 people almost 2 hours! We claimed some of the yarn for ourselves, mostly with the idea of charity projects. The knitters in the group that meets at the Headquarters library and groups that meet at other branches will also have a chance to make sure her stash is well-used. Eventually, local services such as senior centers and children's shelters will be given the remainder. We plan to send her husband notes as we use her stash...

Back to the Homespun saga: yes, there was some in her stash, and yes, it came home with me! The prayers will be doubled when I use it- for her family and for the recipient.