Two Roads

Two meandering roads converged into one last night. It was gentle, satisfying, surprising, and completely unexpected.

I turned onto Road #1 a few nights ago when a friend called several of us to come over, eat supper, and help decorate her tree. I was not planning on decorating a tree this year, since I will be driving to Columbia on Saturday to be with David and his family for an early celebration and I am driving to Mississippi on Tuesday to be with Jennifer and her family for Christmas. There is a bow on the mailbox, a wreath on the door, and a candle in 3 of the windows.

I was already on Road #2, thinking of my mom. She adored Christmas, especially the giving part. My mom was a needleworker extrodinaire and loved making ornaments for her friend's grandchildren (as well as her own children and grandchildren.) She was a knitter, of course, but was mesmerized by needlepoint on plastic canvas. Orders from Annie's Attic and Herrshner's filled her mailbox.

I have not been as generous to my friend's grandchildren- or even my own. The ornaments were Mamama, not me. I could never fill her shoes. It was her tradition. But this year I made these as as my gift to a friend's 3 grandchildren:


And those roads? I made a quick side trip to a box. The roads became one. I can gift like Mom. My Mom's gifts live on. These are a few of her gifts to me:

They became my Mamama Tree.

I have a Christmas tree.

Christmas Knitting

The Christmas knitting is done
and
the Christmas gifting has begun!

There are new homes for 60% of the dishcloths I made last spring and summer. All my coworkers in the Circulation Department at the County Headquarters Library will receive a "Christmas Clother" (my version of a Christmas Cracker.)

This is what they look like all piled together:

And this is the piece of gold in the center:

Ferrero Rocher

Charity Knitting

One of the charity projects for the Spartanburg Knitting Guild this year was making ornaments for a tree to be auctioned at a Festival of Trees to benefit Hospice in our community. I contributed a few miniature sweaters and caps.

I was not able to be with the decorators, but I assume the following photos were taken before the tree was moved into position with the others trees.



We were thrilled that the sale of our tree raised over $300 for Hospice!

Dishcloth Frenzy

I did it! I even did it about 3 months ago. I used up my Peaches 'n Cream and Sugar 'n Cream yarn...even almost all of the usable scraps! This is all that is left of my final mile of dishcloth cotton:
I have 42 new dishcloths, many of which will be given to my coworkers in the Circulation Department at the library.
However, some well-meaning friends, loot from our knitting retreat, and winning a door prize have put me back on the map...

Clapotisn't

Aargh. When I decided to make my clapotis a bit larger so it could be a shawl, I was not worried about the yardage since I had 2 other skeins that I had ordered at the same time as the original skein. I finished it last week, then pulled it out of the bag on Sunday to block. Imagine my surprise when I stretched it out on the floor and saw...

(The wrong side is up for blocking.)(Not only do I have a lousy camera...but also I am a lousy photographer! The lousy photo does more justice to the shawl than it deserves...the lower left side, where I added the new skein, is significantly lighter than the rest of the shawl.)

I was so sad. I was having such fun knitting it that I did not notice the more than slight color difference. I had such high hopes for my newly-named Jacob Shawl. But I will not let my hopes be dashed. Nothing we make is perfect. I spent many Thursday nights knitting on it with my library staff knitting friends. It is still beautiful.As I have contemplated its flaws as well as its beauty, I also began to think more about the ladders. I like to think of Jacob's ladder as going directly up between earth and heaven (or directly down between heaven and earth.)
In this shawl, the ladders do reach the other end, but they are slanted and a bit catawampus- just like me.

For Jennifer

Spring sprang, summer sizzled, and fall fell. Well, there is still a bit of a chance for a fabulous fall, but most leaves have fallen already or are still green and may not realize that it is time dazzle the eyes with golds and reds and oranges before they just turn brown and fall to earth. We may still have leaves on the trees at Christmas!
Mom Nature has provided a few spectacles, but not as spectacular as previous years. Nanabana is working on a spectacle, too...
Several years ago, while visiting my daughter in Mississippi, I purchased a beautiful wool/ acrylic/mohair blend yarn by Ornaghi filati in a gorgeous colorway with autumn muted greens, oranges, golds, and browns. The blend is called "Wonderful," and it is. Unfortunately, I do not believe it is still in production. About a year ago I started a Clapotis with it and then bogged down. It has come out of the bog, has found its rhythm, and is going to be finished before the last leaf falls...and with this weather, I still have a good long time to work on it! If I do a Clapotis again, though, I will use a less fuzzy yarn. Those dropped stitches do not run on their own! I did add an extra repeat or two to make it a little wider so that it could be used as a shawl. I'm thinking that with the ladders of dropped stitches it could be called the Jacob Shawl, full of angels and prayers traveling up and down each ladder that was knit to be unknit. Hmm. Sometimes when we are unraveled, ladders form to keep us together. The stitch is no longer visible, but there is still a means of communication, something that holds the piece together. Horizontal and vertical. We need both. My goodness, I think too much and try to make metaphors from molehills. I am on a constant search for grace and redemption!

Unfortunately, the colors in the photo do not do justice to the true colors.


OK Jennifer. I blogged!

One UFO has landed

These 2 little monkeys are almost a year and a half old! They started out as a travel project, intended as a birthday gift for my DIL Janet in August of 2007. They were presented to her in March of 2009. They are made on size 2 dpns with SWTC Tofutsies in pink. I have no idea why they took so long to complete!


I still have a stack of UFOs waiting to land, yet I am in a creative mood and want to start something new for the fleet, or more specifically, for the feet. "To finish or start?" That is the question...

Eating My Words...or at least my thoughts

During my blogless year, I continued to create many entries in my head. They were well-written, thought-provoking, and witty. In my mind's eye, the accompanying photos were worthy of publication in National Geographic, or at least on msnbc.com's Photo of the Week. One of those posts was going to be a hilarious farewell to Homespun. Here is the Readers Digest/brownie camera version:

I had a box (and more) that I slogged through making Prayer Shawls- they were well intended and knit with love, but the yarn does have a reputation. I vowed to find a gentler, kinder yarn for the next obsession with shawls.

On the last Sunday in Epiphany, I had one. After the Shrove Tuesday Oyster Roast, Ash Wednesday and Lent would be here. Mind, body, and soul needed to be transformed and transfigured (thanks, Jennifer!) I needed to hurry up and decide what I was going to "give up" and "take on" for Lent! Guess what entered my mind, confused my soul, and sent my body to Michael's:

To knit mindfully and prayerfully every day is part of my Lenten discipline.

Darn knit

While uncovering piles of projects that have been covering my floor, I found this: my first holey sock.


It's amazing how we joyfully crank out items that have a limited shelf life! There is something paradoxical about creating something that will not last. I marvel at those builders of sandcastles and crab houses, those sculptures that are guaranteed to disappear when the tide comes in. I marvel at those chefs, who create not only a sumptuous meal but who also present it as a piece of art...only to become a tasteful memory. Sure, things can be created to last a long, long time and can be enjoyed by many, many generations. But we knitters know that precious few knitted items have survived the centuries. (Maybe some of our acrylic/polyester projects of the 70's and 80's will stand the test of time!!)

I have discovered that I am a process rather than a project knitter. I knit because I like to knit. I do not need hand-knit socks. I do not need to give all my friends scarves, fingerless mitts, or dishcloths. Those items are just happy results of my doing something that soothes my soul.

I am not, however, ready to give up on the sock. I also found this:












This china darning egg belonged either to Mom or my grandmother. It is a gentle reminder that sometimes we may think something is no longer good or useful. New sandcastles are made when the tide goes out; new meals are prepared when we get hungry again.

But old socks can be mended...at least a couple of times!

There probably are several other messages in these ramblings that I should take to heart..

Beginning at the End

On this the final day of January, I planned to begin again posting about knitting. In keeping with my "new" ways at looking at life, though, I realized that before I jumped right in with knitting project pictures and commentary, I had some serious organizing to do. Back on January 1, when the idea was to make resolutions for the new year, I decided that by each Monday of the first few months I would complete a cleaning project (that gave me a week to finish.) So far, my closet, bureau, bathroom, and one corner of my bedroom are relatively clear. I believe, however, that the other 2 corners are going to take more than two Mondays!

It's time to reorganize yarn into bins, put copies of free online patterns into sleeves and the appropriate notebook, and gather errant needles. The pile of uncovered UFO's is awesome. Last year, pre-Ravelry, I had created a spreadsheet for all my yarn (including ancient acrylic from the 70's and 80's.)It lists the manufacturer, name, color, yardage, suggested gauge/needle size, and has a column for the finished project. I added up the yardage, divided by 1760, and came up with over 21 miles of yarn...

The other thing I have done is reorganize my pictures on my computer. I now have a file dedicated to photos that eventually will end up in the blog and on Ravelry.

In the meantime, I continue to work on a few projects to keep my sanity.

Finally, since I work every weekend at the library, I do not spend many Saturday afternoons at home. Today, I was treated to this on my wall:

Thanks, God! I needed that!!

A Puzzlement

Fourteen months of Blog Silence...

So just how do I begin again? If the life lesson I learned last week is any indication, it's time to rethink before I redo.

So how did I lean that?

Years and years ago, Mom and Aunt Emmy tried to outdo each other in sending jigsaw puzzles to rattle the brain. Thousands of pieces, holding out a piece, adding a piece, covering the picture on the top...they were relentless! I can picture Mom in her chair with the card table in her lap (she would fold down the front two legs so the table would rest on the arms of her chair.) All the edge pieces would be culled out, then painstakingly put together to form the frame of whatever picture was to emerge. Sometimes a few inner pieces, if colors were consistent, would be put together, then put aside until their place in the Big Picture could be determined. That is how I leaned puzzle doing.

S0, that is how I did puzzles during the winter of 2003 after my Mom died and my husband left. I found dozens of puzzles in a closet at Mom's house, and putting them together soothed those aching places in my heart and soul. I was putting my life back together, too.

So, fast forward to 2009. Life as I had known it had broken apart again, and though I kept trying to put it together, I was getting frustrated. Out of the blue, a friend sent me a zip lock bag full of puzzle pieces.

So, now it was back to puzzle therapy. But wait. It wasn't working. Try as I might, the edge pieces all looked alike and I was getting nowhere. I was frustrated. I started looking at the other pieces, and was able to put together some purple here, some writing there, some round things beside some weird lines. Then all the sub-sets started to fit together. Then I realized I was doing the puzzle from the inside out! Enlightenment!

So, what have I learned? There's more than one way to think. Of course I know that, but sometimes I just need to be reminded of that in a different way. The Parable of the Puzzle. Our lives are made up of many pieces. All the pieces will fit together eventually. Some look like they fit together but they really don't...but they do fit with another piece. Sometimes pieces go together quickly, sometime we can spend hours looking for the "right" piece that goes next to the other. When we find it, it is usually an "aha"moment- the piece was in front of us the whole time. Sometimes we do not even know what the Finished Puzzle will look like. Sometimes that is even more exciting, as we see the full image come together. There's more than one way to put together a puzzle. There's more than one way to put together a life. I need to be reminded to think outside the proverbial box. I do not know exactly what the picture of my life will look like, but I do know that God does.

So, to begin again, I will begin again. I have no particular plan. I have been knitting during these past 14 months, and I will be posting about old projects as well as new ones. Some of the pieces of my life need to express themselves in the written word. Some of the pieces are knit together. One or two pieces really do like photography, but they are not well-developed (pun intended!) Some pieces might like to share bit about books I am reading.

For the past year or so I have been signing all my correspondence with "peace- " now I realize the delightful irony of "piece!"

A Quickie

Wow. This was a quick project! I had an urge on Saturday to knit, but couldn't get the oomph going to work on a UFO. I have bags and bags of NP's (new projects) in the guest room, and this one was chosen. I had purchased this kit in NYC at School Products back in 2002 or 2003. The pattern is the Butterfly Scarf and Hat published by Karabella, and the materials were 1 ball of Karabella Aurora 8 (color 13) and 3 balls of Karabella Butterfly (color 75.) It was completed by Sunday night. I believe I will donate it to our knitting guild for the fall/winter charity project. It was a little weird to be knitting a frou-frou scarf again, but the Butterfly yarn was so soft and cuddly that I had to stop every now and then and rub it on my face! Held with the Aurora yarn for the wide band of the hat, it makes a soft, warm covering for the ears. I wonder if it will ever be cold enough again here to need it!?!

Where, oh where, has it gone?

No fancy excuses. No lame excuses. No excuses.

I haven't blogged in a long, long time.

I haven't knit in a long, long time.

I am ready to post a new blog and do some knitting, but there is no guarantee when the NEXT new blog will appear and how much I will get completed!! Like many others, I am tempted by all the goodies in Ravelry, but I haven't even visited that website in a long while....

So, what have I been doing? Obviously, not much knitting! I do have projects in all the places I haunt...








The Car (for lunch breaks and unexpected appointments)

The Office (not much progress since June)

My Chair (for TV viewing or just staring)

Well, here it is almost November. I have 2 months left to complete all the projects I had planned for 2007. Will I finish them? Probably not. Am I concerned about my lack of commitment? Definitely not. Am I still a knitter? Definitely yes.

Santa's Surgery

Santa's smile surgery actually took place several weeks ago, but it was not as successful as I had hoped. So what does the perfect smile look like anyway?

The first stage of the surgery involved performing a modified kitchener stitch to join the stitches where the red intarsia-ed stitches had been. Of course, the original beard yarn was no longer in the stash, so the next-next-next best match was used.

The second (and final) stage was using the duplicate stitch to give life to Santa's laugh.

Why is he smiling when it is apparent he has a horrible cold in his big swollen red nose?

Preparation for Knitting Surgery

I'm still contemplating Santa's facial surgery. Unfortunately, the pink yarn for his face and yummy angora yarn for his beard are no longer in my stash. I was watching a program a few nights ago about surgeons realigning a young child's face that was misshapen from birth. It is absolutely astonishing what doctors can do nowadays! This reconstructive surgery was not just for cosmetic purposes- he was able to reenter life as a "normal" boy. He still doesn't look "perfect," whatever that is, but he is happy. I've been so worried that I would not be able to fix Santa's face (yes, I tend toward perfectionism) but the show last night humbled me. Even Harrison Ford has a wonderfully crooked smile!

As I was rambling through my stash, I found some glitzy yarn that I was planning to use for another Christmas project. Aha! I'll just pick up the dropped stitches with it and add a few duplicate stitches on other parts of the beard to tie it all together! Then, I'll embroider some sort of wonderfully crooked smile!

I'm still a bit scared to start the surgery, so I decided to start the other project with a portion of the stash yarn. More later.

One hug completed

The Waterfall prayer shawl for my friend has been completed. Since I had started it when we we all together at her beachhouse in May, I sent a strand of yarn to each of the girls with a request to carry it around with them for a few days, hug it, and pray. When the yarn was returned, I used it as the fringe. Now, we have all had a part in the making of this shawl, so it is full of hugs and prayers and comfort for our friend. She had surgery yesterday. One of the other girls and I will drive down to visit her in a few weeks and enfold her in the shawl. Unfortunately, she is still facing more chemo. The color makes me smile. I hope it will do the same for her! We have known each other since first grade, and not only do we share the same name, we also spell it the same way! (This was very confusing to me as a six year old!)

Oral Surgery

The tree is decorated and ready to slide down the chimney, but ole St Nick still looks a little glum- matter of fact, he is toothless/mouthless at this point. I don't know why I did the eyes, nose, and mouth intarsia-style and just didn't knit them in the background color and do duplicate stitch for the features. Live and learn. I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that I could change colors for just a few stitches and make it look neat. It did look neat, but it was not a happy smile.

I will ponder Santa's reconstructive surgery for the next day or two. Don't worry- he's not in any pain. I haven't decided if his eyes and nose need help- I'll just have to see how this first surgery turns out!!