Bath mat, or Bloggable Knitting

Recently finished, this bathmat is a cross between two patterns from the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book, kind of Absorba meets Tailgate. I knit it with two strands of Peaches & Creme (of course!) double-worsted held together--what a hand killer! But I love the squishiness of it and the fact that, well, I made it myself.

Swag!

So have you heard about SwagBucks? Like many things I hear about via the internet, I approached SwagBucks with more than just a healthy dose of skepticism. As in, yeah right you can get free stuff just for using SwagBucks.com for your search engine. Sure, sure.

Well, I'm hear to tell ya, here's one thing you hear about on the internet that really is true.

If you don't believe me (and why should you, this is the internet after all), try it for yourself. Here's a handy link to get you started. Get 3 SwagBucks just for registering. Then use SwagBucks.com like you would any other search engine and rack up the free SwagBucks, which can be redeemed for prizes, including, but not limited to, gift cards, airline miles and comic books. Truly!

When was the last time you fell in love....

....with a pen? I had to get the kids their very own Sharpie pens because I don't want to share!



Seriously, I want to replace all my gel pens for this guy in many colors. It writes like a dream and inspires endless doodling. Love it!


Tropical jungle vacation photo? No, just some flowers in my backyard. Pretty, aren't they?



And some knitting...here is SuperCraftyDancerGirl's Christmas present (from 2008!). Finally finished in time for blazing hot summer...



It's the Lace Sampler Throw from "Cast On" magazine (Ravelry link). It was fun to do and helped me realize that I need to do lace in bite-sized pieces, lest I lose my sanity. The most important thing is that SHE likes it and she also forgives the length of time it took to knit. Heirlooms don't just happen, after all!

Spring!

Well, ladies and gentleman, spring has sprung around here. And if you don't believe me, just look at my back porch:



Pretty new i-cord coasters! I had my doubts about my sewing up abilities, since the last time I tried to sew a length of i-cord into a flat circle, it wasn't well, flat. But I persevered and I'm happy with the results. They perfectly tie in the lime green chair cushions with the yellow and white throw rugs (not shown).

My Very Own LOLcat

"Someone call UPS--I'm mailing myself to a tuna boat to get some lunch."
OR
"Oh, so that's where kittens come from!"
OR
"Yep, Amazon really does sell everything!"

Twice as fast? Time will tell.

I just completed my first pair of socks from 2-at-a-Time Socks. Was it faster? I think so. Once I had figured out how to wrestle the 40" circular needle and keep the two balls of sock yarn untangled, I was able to get a knitting rhythm going that seemed to work. Finishing both socks at once is always good, too. While I know that knitting should be more about the process than about the finished product, I would really like to be able to crank out some pairs of socks. A goal for which knitting two at a time is a must. I felt like this was a more reliably portable method as well, since it was much easier to carry around one needle than 4--no worries about pulling out the knitting and have a needle fall out of the stitches, necessitating the picking up of tiny sock yarn stitches. Ugh.

After knitting 6 pairs of socks, I think I'm finally ready to deal with the subject of "negative ease". These socks are "The Classic Socks" from the book and following the pattern I came up with a larger sock than I would have preferred. No, I didn't swatch, so it probably serves me right, but these are just socks and I've done it before without a swatch. The discussion on Ravelry about sock patterns from this book pointed out that knitting with the magic loop method does give a different gauge than knitting with dpn's. Naturally, I didn't discover this until I was almost finished with the socks! While I am tempted to rip them out and start over with fewer stitches cast on, I don't think that's going to be possible. DaHubby strictly forbids frogging in his presence and now that they are off the needles, he won't let them out of his sight.

A disclaimer about the book, though. There are many and sundry errata which caused me to have to choose sides in a battle of loyalties. There are few people more loyal to the library and its collection than yours truly, such that I would never contemplate writing in a library book. And as they say---never say never. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I returned my copy to circulation without saving some future fellow knitter from the anguish of trying to turn the heel on sock B before sock A.

Finally, a public THANK YOU to Kaffe Fassett for contributing his genius to Regia sock yarn. I only wish I'd bought more of it when I found it. Beautiful stuff!

Happy Birthday, Renoir!

Happy Birthday to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, aka my favorite Impressionist painter, born on this day in 1841.

Some recent knitting, vol. 2: A Tale of Two (Pairs of) Socks

Socks for DaHubby...Happy Feet by Plymouth Yarns...Basic Sock Pattern by Brooks Jones (Ravelry link).



Socks for me...Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett yarn...same pattern as above.



This is the first pair of socks (with a heel) that I've made for myself, and I gotta tell ya, there's something about wearing handknit socks.

Some recent knitting, vol. 1: A Tale of Two Scarves

This one I made for me...Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends...pattern courtesy of Crazy Aunt Purl...pom-poms courtesy of the cool pom-pom maker Santa put in my Christmas stocking. Photo courtesy of SuperCraftyDancerGirl who braved wind gusts of 40mph to go out and take pix of, well, knitting.




And this is the second in a series I'm making for my m-i-l from some Vanna's Choice yarn that she bought for just such an occasion. The pattern here is by Tina Yint, who describes herself as a compulsive knitter, among other things. NOT that I'd know what THAT is like!

Happy Birthday, Albert Schweitzer

Today's quote comes to us from Albert Schweitzer, born on this day in 1875. His list of accomplishments reads like someone made a typo and combined the lives of two men into one. He was a pastor, missionary, writer, surgeon, musician, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. I know I've left out much but suffice it to say he achieved much and was even mentioned in a Peanuts cartoon!

He said:
~~"A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day."

~~"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."

~~"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."

Alternative Programming

I've been thinking lately about the guilt I sometimes feel whenever I start assuming that certain aspects of my life are being lived wrong. I don't think this is a case of my conscience doing its job to save me from a life of degradation and squalor, rather it's the "Not Good Enough" program that I've heard from childhood, now in syndicated re-runs in my brain. Most days it's what keeps me from being truly joyful and at peace, and it's been playing a marathon the last few days.

It starts out with the "if only" introduction: If only I were more...smart, consistent, holy, loving, pretty, well-dressed, organized, erudite, well-read, cheerful, outgoing, involved in outside activities, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound...then I'd be Good Enough. Or, if only I were less....stubborn, unforgiving, moody, solitary, inclined to prefer chocolate over other food, lazy, a homebody, opinionated, flippant, a teller of bad jokes, afraid of intarsia knitting...then I'd be Good Enough.

Then it kicks into a detailed account of one of the above "if only's" and makes a convincing case for any shred of truth it can find in its chosen topic.

So I've been thinking about all this and wondering how to preempt that programming with something a little more realistic and affirming. Something like the "Reality Check" show. Today it might go something like this:

"Not Good Enough" the longest-running program in this or any brain, brings you "You Need to Get Out More". Today we'll discuss the fact that you haven't really been anywhere of substance and you rarely do and when WAS the last time you had friends over or went to see friends, or do you have any friends left anyway????

~~~WE PREEMPT THIS PROGRAM WITH A SPECIAL PUBLIC SERVICE BULLETIN~~~~
It's "Reality Check" Time:

It's the first full week of January and we've just had 6 weeks of holiday activities, gatherings, and an out-of-town trip. On top of that, your daughter has a nasty cold and shouldn't be out and about breathing on people or taxing her strength. PLUS, you have plans to do multiple field trips with the kids and your friends and their kids for the rest of the month, as soon as your daughter is feeling better. So relax and pick up that knitting and remember, God loves you, just the way you are!

A New Year

Musings about 2009, or what I'm doing instead of taking down the Christmas tree.

**OK, has anyone else realized that next year is 2010?? And doesn't that sound freaky?
**I could try again to get my stash organized, that being a fairly common Knitter's New Year's Resolution. I just read an interesting article that sounds like what FlyLady would do with her stash if she were a knitter. It intrigues me to the point that I can actually see myself parting with yarn that doesn't make me happy--if only to be better able to get to the yarn that does.
**Something I definitely want to try in the New Year: knitting two socks at once on one circular needle. I've just returned from the library with "2-at-a-Time Socks" and I'm all for getting two socks done at once. My previous method of having 2 sets of dpns going does work, but only if I have 2 sets of the size I need--which makes for a lot of needles. And while the needles and knitting accessories DID manage to get organized in 2008, I think I'm allergic to buying twice as many dpns.
**My apologies to my friends in the frozen North, but it's just been plain hot here! I never thought I'd say this, but the temperatures in Charleston have made me think there might be something to "global warming" after all. I mean, really, does 77 degrees sound like an appropriate January temperature to you? Ugh. Perhaps I could resolve to complain less about the weather...
**All in all, I'm not big on resolutions--I don't really need more reasons to feel guilty a year from now. But if I had to make some general goals for 2009, they would sound something like this:
Pray more, gripe less. Learn some new knitting techniques. Be more thankful for the people in my life. Be a better blogger. Seek peace and pursue it.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Top 6 Things I Don't Want for Christmas

The other day, DaHubby was de-cluttering and ran across some papers that were old and dusty and from my other life. They were "Top 10" lists that I had written in the early 90's while peddling books and sharing wisdom and wise-cracks with friends local and otherwise. Although I have to admit to loud guffawing several times when he read them off to me, I realize they were rather specific inside jokes to those of us slaving in the Christian bookstore industry in the last decade of the last century, so I'll spare you. I will, however inflict you with a new, fresh....

Top 6 Things I Don't Want for Christmas

6) New compilation CD by Christian Barbershop Quartets: "Mighty to Shave"
5) "365 Reasons Why Today is Not Your Day" Calendar
4) Shag carpet for the dashboard of my car
3)Yarn hand spun from the fur of a smelly dog.
2) New Bose 8-Track Tape Player!
1) Grow Your Own Pet Rock

But seriously, may your Christmas be filled with many blessings and much laughter!!

In Memory: Van Johnson

I've chosen this picture of Van instead of one from his earlier "heartthrob" days in the 1940's, because it was taken circa 1985, about the time I was privileged to meet him. I like to play a little game connecting myself to a multitude of celebrities through "my buddy, Van Johnson", since he and I worked the same summer musical at Casa Manana--he as headlining star, me as walk-on extra and apprentice stage hand. I think it's fair to say that he was a really good actor, maybe not a great one, but always reliably good. Because the bulk of his stardom was 50-60 years ago, there may be only a few who will read of his passing and feel any sense of loss. But having name-dropped him for so long, you can be sure that, at our house, we bid him a fond farewell. I think SuperCraftyDancerGirl summed it up well this morning when she said that now I will have to refer to him as "my buddy, Van Johnson--may he rest in peace."

Funny thing happened after the Roman Encampment...

Do you ever ask yourself, "If I take my 8 year old son who has spent the summer learning about ancient Rome to a wonderful event populated with grown-ups dressed as Roman soldiers, will he get anything at all out of it?"?

Well, I don't know what YOUR 8 year old son would do, but this is what mine did:


Here's a pic of troop formation:



Of course--make your own Roman army! Why didn't I think of that?

Remembrance Day

I know it's 2 days past Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day/Armistice Day, but better late than never, right?

A friend sent me an article that was slightly more intellectual than I think I was capable of absorbing with background noise of JrBravesFanatic building massive block towers on a wooden table. But, these were my comments to her on it and I thought I'd share:

As an amateur historian, I've studied WWII and its aftermath quite a lot as well as spending my life in total awe of my step-grandfather who served as a Marine Raider in the Pacific. Yesterday we watched a 1943 movie about a man who served as a spy in the ranks of the Nazi SS, which led us to speculate on how horrible it must have been to have to pretend that the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis were no big deal. If we value life, we have to be affected at the loss of it, whether in war or in peace. This is where I could get on my soapbox and decry the desensitization of our culture and its subsequent affect on Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day. If, after all, we count human life as cheap, then what would it matter that there are men and women who have served our country in wartime who bear the internal scars that come from witnessing atrocities? But the author of the article was focused on our response as Christians, not that of the culture at large. The question I see is--is there a difference? Do we really remember the death and resurrection of Jesus? Or is it another in a long line of stories far removed from our daily lives--stories like those about the men who liberated the concentration camps and were never the same again?

This is the lesson that history can teach us--that our lives are a gift, made possible in large part by the deaths of many.

Thank you, Veterans, for what you've done for all of us. And for my fellow historians, may we never tire in our efforts to remember yesterday for the good of tomorrow.

Charity Knitting spotlight, part 3

...in which I remember that every stitch counts and every idle moment could be filled with stitches...

While researching the info we need for Operation Christmas Child this year (shoe boxes are due Nov. 17th--yike, that's 12 days from now!) I ran across an article on the Samaritan's Purse website about a woman who definitely "gets it" when it comes to knitting for charity. Yet another example of how, in this life, it's the little things that matter--how I spend my time every day adds up to the life I'm living. I've found that, for me, the more I can knit for charity, the more I'm reminded how blessed I am. Years ago when I was selling books for a living, life could be stressful, with deadlines, employees, customers, and huge stacks of books all vying for my attention. I had a friend who sold books in another state, and no matter the stress I faced, I knew I could always call her and I'd feel better. She dealt with the craziest, most unexpected challenges in her store and we would laugh about how there was always someone with worse problems out there, and it was usually her. Knitting for people in need makes my needs seem smaller and less important. It makes me say things like "in the grand scheme of things" and "someday we'll find this moment hilarious" and "I love you".

Election Day minus 3

First, some history...

During WWII, our boys were sent into battle after having been taught that the enemy was not comprised of individual men--regular guys with parents, sweethearts, wives and children. They were, for the most part, convinced that the enemy were nothing more than dirty, Godless Nazis, Fascists, and Japs. How else could we send boys raised in a Judeo-Christian belief-system to kill other people--lots of other people? It's called dehumanization. Your enemy isn't really a human, rather something much less important, and much more dangerous, an animal with orders from a tyrant.

And now...

Election time draws near (finally!), and I see a similar trend has emerged. The political pundits on both sides are working overtime to revile and slander, to dehumanize the opposition until it is easy to see the Godless, freedom-hating threat to our country, personified in Candidate A. Or B, or C, depending on which side has your ear. And as good little Americans do on both sides, we listen, we repeat what we hear, and we begin to believe that our way is the only way and any other way leads to catastrophe or worse.

I am very thankful we have so much freedom of speech. Without it, the political pundits would not get paid for what they do, they'd be jailed for it. And forget blogging! What I'd like to remind us who claim to be Christians is that we are to be salt and light--somehow different from those around us. Our views should be shaped less by the media and more by the Bible. Naturally we have the freedom to listen to whomever we choose, (and to vote for whomever we choose) but when we start spouting, I mean, talking about politics, can anyone really tell a difference between us and CNN?

Does it really help your cause to bash your opponent? To dehumanize him or her? Have we forgotten that it says somewhere that "all men are created equal and are endowed by God with certain inalienable rights..."? That the opposition's candidates are individual people, regular guys and gals with families and passions and the courage to run for political office? Doesn't anyone else remember hearing the same warnings of dire consequences in 1992??

I'd like to challenge those of my readership who are Christians to pray before you speak. Sounds easy, I know, but I'm not through with you yet. Stop for a moment and re-think your "Oh, God, if you don't do something now, that awful heathen will ruin our country, and isn't it time to use that fire from heaven thing again???" prayers, and remember what Jesus taught us.

He said:
"You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that." Matthew 5:43-47

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36

Isn't it possible that He meant for this to be true even now?

Today in history

Today we remember Henry M. Muhlenberg, who died on this day in 1787. He was born in Germany and came to this country in 1742 in response to requests from Lutheran congregations who wanted someone to provide leadership for the Lutheran church in America. Lutherans today still use liturgies descended from the one he proposed in an effort to unify churches in the colonies. He is considered the father of American Lutheranism.

Today we also celebrate the birthday of DaHubby, born on this day in 19 mumble, mumble, in the city where Muhlenberg first landed in America. Avid baseball fan, involved family man and hard-working grounds keeper for the castle gardens, DaHubby manages to find time to appreciate and support the knitting of those he loves. He has recently returned to the church of his ancestors, who are rumored to have known Martin Luther himself. Happy Birthday, Dear!

World Habitat Day

Today is World Habitat Day. If you are reading this in the comfort of adequate shelter, you are better off than the one billion people worldwide who currently live in slums. I wonder, what would happen to the quality of life if everyone who felt compelled to upgrade their kitchen counter tops to granite gave that money instead to Habitat for Humanity? It's just a thought, and I admit it's a decision I've not been faced with, but watching House Hunters and seeing so many whining Americans turn down a potential home based on the floor coverings or the wall color tends to make me philosophical. That and the fact that I know of a group in Central America right now, building a house with Habitat for a family who needs it. Let's be grateful out there, people.