Friends at Christmas

Just received this pic of some friends for whom I did a bit of handwork at Christmas time.  The handmade mice were the biggest hit of all!

Sustainability

     It's 7:15 a.m. and I've been up for hours, knitting.
Faith patiently awaits our next great adventure while sleeping on the daybed.  Patient puppy.

I have been thinking the last while (translation: weeks) about what the loss of hope means.

Despair comes to mind; lost-ness, fear, worry....the great "it's dark and I'm afraid" feeling that can become a fulltime job before you know it has hit you.

I decided to write this post because I know of a few friends who are struggling with the loss of hope.  Wayward family members grieve their hearts; the longing to see the "wanderer return" is ever in their line of vision.

Where is God in all this?  I think He is in a different place than we expect to find Him.
I have found my own past year, by all accounts, "unsustainable"....which means I shouldn't be able to bear up without going looney on a momentary basis.

If you are one of my struggling friends, or someone I don't know----perhaps God glorifies Himself best in the seemingly unsustainable moments.  I plod on not because I am strong-willed...but because I continually cast my longing and pain on the only One who can make sense out of this unsustainability.  He is able to help me sustain, to not only keep going but to dare to believe His plans for my future are "yes and amen."

If you are very, very brave, perhaps you will embrace the pain He has allowed.  We Westerners run so quickly from pain.  It just might have a purpose that He plans to use to glorify Himself.  I know of what I speak.  My pain is something I must resolve to yet conquer every day.

Above all, He loves the wanderer more than we can fathom. 
Take heart, and hope, in that today.

Project bags

Here are a few project bags I've recently done. 

 

This is a small bag that will hold sock knitting.  I love how lightweight the bag is, it is easy to put over my wrist and redeem the time in bank lines!

 

 

Curious George (the older version) is one of my favorite characters. This bag is bigger, holding two worsted weight yarn cakes.  I'm knitting slippers with this yarn.  This bag is not fleece lined but does have deep boxed pleats at the bottom for standing on its own.





Second Socks----Climbing Everest the second time

These sock blockers are made out of wire hangers.  You can find several tutorials on YouTube.  I love how cheap this was!

 

 

I am amazed at the journey to get these socks knitted.  I knitted the first heel SEVEN times...had to use new yarn a few times because ripping out does wear on the fiber.

 

I realize that a bit of knowledge is indeed dangerous; the first pair (2012) went without much of a hitch cuz I was completely new to it.

This pair, however, was the victim of the "oh, I can do that" mentality which was my downfall.

 

The yarn is KnitPicks Stroll Tonal Sock Weight, a superwash merino/nylon blend.

Think flannel (my favorite fabric).

 

I am knitting another pair with a German yarn which is much rougher---but I suspect it will take more foot-abuse than the merino.  I started it and was so distraught over how rough it felt that I ran a waste thread through the stitches then took them off the needle and gave the knitting a wash...it softened up enough that I might be brave enough to finish the socks.  After all, this is all in the name of keeping my tootsies warm!



Faith, outlet frame, circular napkins, second sock

Faith on a rainy day

 

 

I saw this in a local shop's bathroom.

I thought how the plug outlet was framed was ingenious....

 

 

At a local fabric store, I saw (and bought) this pattern for half-circle

folded napkins.  Great to use fabric stashes!

 

 

Stitch marker I made----socks are knitted in circular and

you have to differentiate front from back....

Crazy Day

I had a crazy and fun day yesterday.....
Went in to the Cancer Center to deliver some things and as always enjoyed myself immensely. (Is that too weird to say?  I guess it is the recovered who enjoy cancer centers the most....)

Then went to the LYS (local yarn shop) near the CCenter and took the plunge and spent some Christmas money on sock needles.  I haven't knitted socks in a few years....and then only the one pair......

But I still am cold since surgery and thought that if I committed to knitting a pair a month then next fall/winter I'd have almost a dozen pair.  Oh, happy feet!

Clever, eh?

Go back to my post (Friday, June 22, 2012) to see how my first pair turned out.  Man I hope I can duplicate them.  I am going to a smaller needle due to how the socks feel on my feet...it's a knitted-sock-thing.

Memories--Jan. 4, 2017

I'm thinking of you, dear daughter, and all the times we dined at the Thai Restaurant on this day.

It'd be such fun to do it again.

New Year Green

I had to change the blog look to match my feelings about the season.  While I like a lovely snow as well as the rest of them, I love it best when the snow melts off the roads and grass------I love green green grass and always feel rejuvenated by it.

Faith and I rang in the New Year by watching howling wolves and barking Pomeranians on YouTube.  She was very interested in one particular male Pom; it was hysterical to watch.  I finally put her down (she fits so easily in my arm) but she came right back up to me with the "you want to pick me up and show me that again, don't you?" look.  I'm such a sucker.  She did this so many times she had me in stitches.

Been knitting scarves for several days; the Sashay ruffled scarves I did a few years ago.  They have changed the fiber a bit and I am making some as gifts.

Not much else new here, hope you had a safe and great end of 2016!