Knit from the heart

My past haunting me...

2011-06-21T15:22:00.004-04:00

I grew up in the country, sometimes on a farm, sometimes not, but in all those years there was always one thing that was consistent, a garden. Fresh lettuce, onions, radishes, tomatoes, potatoes, kohlrabi were the hallmarks of said garden and there just wasn't anything as awesome as taking a warm, sun ripened tomato off the vine, taking a bite out of it, sprinkle a bit of salt on it and more with each additional bite. The juice running down your chin. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. And these memories have gotten the better of me this summer. The upshot of it being, these 37 little beauties...

Anybody want a tomato plant or 5?...

The joy of knitting with others

2011-03-03T09:59:00.005-05:00

Literally for years, I have longed to get together with knitters to knit. It is a shared joy to be in the company of your fellow knitter, to commiserate over the things that go wrong, to delight in the things that go right, to cheer one another on when enthusiasm for a project wanes and to know that someone else in the world understands your need to knit.

Knitting is a "hobby", but it soon becomes part of you. And unlike many hobbies, not only does the person doing the knitting benefit, but so do all the knitters family, friends and sometimes random acquaintances. Knitting brings peace and comfort to all, even the non-knitter watching someone knit. Non-knitters may challenge me on that statement, but I dare you, non-knitters of the world, spend five or ten minutes watching someone knit, honestly judging your mood, heart rate, stress level and any other noticeable markers before and after, then tell me I'm wrong.

Regardless though of the benefit to the non-knitter, being in the company of fellow knitters/crafters is a special kind of joy. All the knitting groups I had found out about over the years have met at times or locations inconvenient to me and so I never was able to make it to any of them. Then several months back, I realized through the appreciation of my friends who "wished they knew how to do that" and others who had decided to pick up needles on their own who asked for assistance, that I no longer needed to find a knitting group. I could make my own knitting group!

We have been meeting now to enjoy our love of the fiber arts and coffee for a couple months now and it has been such a blessing. I love my knitting group and I wish I had thought of this years ago!

Mindful knitting

2011-01-18T09:53:00.006-05:00

The thing I often love the most about knitting is finding those knitting projects that I can work on while watching TV/movies or talking to others. The projects are generally referred to in the knitting world as mindless knitting, mostly because the pattern isn't mentally stimulating, the project is pretty big and the knitter just wants it to be over so they can ooh and ahh over the wonderful job that they did or they're working desperately on a deadline because someone's birthday or other special event is coming up shortly and they need to be finished asap.

But where the biggest rewards in knitting lay is in the mindful process of knitting for someone with your best intentions in mind. Love twisted into the yarn of every stitch as you think fondly of the person and all the wonderful memories you have of that person or in the case of knitting that has no intended home yet, the love and prayers for health, happiness and peace that you would wish upon those dearest to you. That is what you find in prayer shawls/blankets. Honestly any knitting project can have prayer tossed onto the front of its name, if that is what you did while making it.

My first prayer shawl was a project intentionally chosen after the passing away of a family friend, I very much wanted to give some comfort to his widow, but from over a thousand miles away just a card seemed impersonal. I found yarn that reminded me of his sparkling blue eyes that always had a hint of merriment and mischief to them and I found a shawl pattern using the trinity stitch and I knit and prayed and remembered all the times spent with them and I cried and I squished every bit of love I could into that shawl. I sent it to my mom to deliver, again because it seemed to impersonal to just mail it. And she explained as best she could, but when I was up visiting my parents next, Mom suggested that I go over to visit so that maybe I could explain it better. And I'm so glad that I did. We laughed, we cried, and she told me how thankful she was that I made that for her, because she felt less alone with it around her and it helped keep her warm that first winter without him. I thought when I knit that I was giving her a gift from my heart, but it was a gift to both of us.

My next prayer shawl I started simply because I wanted to have one available if the need should arise for one to be gifted to someone I knew. It sat around on a shelf for a while, until someone asked for a prayer request for a woman who has suddenly lost her husband. She was a mom and my heart went out to her, as well as my shawl, which I heard later she was so grateful for and used while rocking her child to sleep. I did not know this woman and will never meet her, but through that shawl we have both made a lasting impact upon each other.

I made another not long after that which found a home unexpectedly with a woman dear to me who lost her unborn child. It was the hug I wanted to give her but could not because of the distance and even now, it is a hug whenever she needs one. I smile every time I see it in her living room.

The next one was a blanket for the only man who was any kind of a father to his son's best friend. This man fought a valiant battle with cancer but in the end, the cancer won and the blanket went to his son and serves as a continuing comfort to him and his family. A reminder not only of a great man, but the thoughtfulness of a friend of a friend.

The most difficult thing to find in times of hardship and sorrow is finding the right words to help make things better. I have found in those times while words often fail me, my knitting speaks eloquently. Not only are those I knit for comforted by focusing my thoughts and prayers for them into my knitting, but I am deeply and profoundly blessed as well.

These stories continue to warm my heart, reduce me to tears, and keep me knitting with health, love, and peace in my thoughts and hands. If I'm knitting something for someone else, you can bet that no matter what I'm knitting, there are wishes of the very best of all things in the world in each and every stitch.

Yay me!

2010-10-09T15:37:00.002-04:00

I'm nearly finished with my second puzzle ball of the set of them for the twids. Twids? you say. Yes, twids. My niece and nephew are fraternal twins and for the longest time they were known as the twinfants. Now that they are bigger however it no longer applies, so they have graduated to twids. I can hardly wait to get their presents in the mail to those little cuties! Thinking about it just makes me want to say, "Yay!"

And speaking of which, I'm working on socks for son #4 and they are going along quite well. Helps that he only has little preschooler sized feet, but still I seem to get better and better at socks with each sock I make. Though it does not however make me dread making them any less, go figure.

Then it is on to my mega project of the year: the wedding blanket for our friend Brian and his blushing bride Shelly. All prayers and good luck accepted, the wedding is a month. Still yay for the small victories!

Some things were never meant to be

2010-10-06T01:39:00.003-04:00

Or at least not the way we meant them to be. Events, even objects have a life of their own it seems and trying to make them into something they aren't or trying to mold them to our expectations isn't a recipe for success. They are like people that way.

Take them as they come, look at them honestly for what they are and then see how they will or won't work in your life. And no matter how much you think something ought to be just how you want it to be, trust your instincts. If they are screaming at you don't go there, don't do it... listen, really truly listen. It may save you a lot of grief down the road.

And I'm not just talking about that slinky dress I wanted to knit myself which called for a bulky yarn, which in all honestly isn't that bulky, because if it truly was, using sport weight yarn wouldn't have made it feel like it weighed a ton. We'll shelve that till I either can spring the big bucks for the right yarn or find an incredible sale.

But it is really useful advice in knitting, too. As evidenced by the toddler sweater that was mostly finished, but due to all the special modifications I made, didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. Those modifications just weren't meant to exist in the same article of clothing, at least not without starting from scratch with a pattern of its own rather that patching together pieces of different patterns. I knew in my heart of hearts that I should really put together a brand new pattern, I was just in too much of a hurry to get started and get done to do what my gut told me I should. At least now I can take that sweater and evaluate where it went wrong and give me a good idea of where to do things differently.

All of this has not discouraged me on my quest for the right matching (or complimentary, if I have to resort to it) yarn to finish the prayer shawl for a friend, however. Sometimes I think making prayer shawls do more good for me than the people I make them for, until I give the next one away. Then I remember just how much simple prayer and loving thought and action can do for others, which leads me to starting the next prayer shawl.

Slacking at its best...

2010-04-27T23:13:00.006-04:00

Wow, I'd say it, but its fairly obvious. So, what have I been doing? That's a good question. Mostly avoiding finishing my Christmas knitting. What I DID finish though was two Jayne hats, another "I do" shrug, and nearly finished with a toddler sweater that I'm sure is sadly a size or two too small now as well as a shrug for myself from Mal (purple mystery) that I bought about 2 yrs ago. So happy to finally find a project that spoke the name of this yarn!

Life has taken all sorts of interesting twists and turns which have led us to the much anticipated move back to our house on Merritt Island come the end of Oct/beginning of Nov later this year, unless we win the lottery, which we don't play, or find, adopt and benefit from the passing of an extrememly wealthy and unhealthy relative or "relative".

I've found myself spending more and more time outside in the evenings enjoying the beauty, silence, and darkness that will be much harder to come by once we move back, so that's a good thing. Always nice to take time to appreciate the little things that bring so much joy and happiness to our lives.

Where has the time gone?

2009-08-30T12:11:00.003-04:00

How can it be the end of August already? Doesn't seem possible! But I found myself in need of saying this and didn't necessarily want to create a forum post on Rav that would go on and on with people feeling similarly, even though it might be all sorts of comforting.

Am I the only one who is on a tight budget right now and knows all too well how much yarn they can't afford, but desperately wants to go to the LYS, pick out each and every yarn they want to get and give it all a group hug, shed a few tears (not on the yarn, obviously) and then slowly and carefully back out of the LYS? Just the thought of it evokes images of an illicit rendezvous with a lover who you know you can never really leave your significant other for no matter how much you long to throw caution to the wind and run off with them.

I'm sure the workers at my LYS would start to think I'm even more a little off than I already am for A)having 5 kids and B)homeschooling them, but hey variety is the spice of life, right? LOL

Yay!

2009-03-21T18:21:00.006-04:00

Ok, so "it" really, really is done and looks good and has started its journey with all the other goodies to Michigan. I'm now on pins and needles waiting to see if I did good or not. I've had a lot of fun with the Hogwart's swap, but I'm ready for a break from swaps for a little bit.

Meantime, I gifted my remaining lovely blue variegated bamboo to someone wishing to try out some bamboo which leaves me much relieved because I no longer need to figure out what to do with it! Yay! I SO love the RAK group on Ravelry!

And while I haven't had much time to devote to the dh birthday socks, I have been plugging along at them here and there and I took a new picture just to remind myself how much further along I am that I used to be.

Before

Currently

Speaking too soon...

2009-03-12T00:23:00.002-04:00

::sigh::

Ok, I got a little ahead of myself with the "hat is finished" happy dance. After doing a little blocking I realized its WAY too big. Back to the drawing board... Ok, the knitting needles, but you get the picture! Well, maybe you don't.

Picture if you will... The exuberance turning to despair, the sulking for days until ready to pull myself up by the bootstraps, I start taking the hat back apart. At least I've got the join already done! :) I'm basically knitting off of the other one as I am nearing the end of my patience with this project and if I have to do anything else with it besides just finish it, I may cry and that would be bad.

I'm nearly halfway through, which is good! Also, I can mail my package out after I'm finished with it and I have my coachella/fusion concoction to finish, which I'm very much looking forward to... so yay me (in a few days anyway)! Meantime, back to knitting...

Perhaps there ought to be a Ravatar that says "I knit so I do not pull my hair out".

::sigh::

Look what I did!!!

2009-03-08T23:34:00.004-04:00

After nearly two months worth of dust collecting on it, I finally set up my ball winder and used it! Here's my first two...

Can you tell I'm just a little proud of myself? LOL Winding yarn is so fun!

Which sports car are you?

2009-03-05T22:33:00.003-05:00

I'm a Mazda Miata!

You like to soak up the sun, but your tastes are down to earth. Everyone thinks you're cute. Life is a winding road, and you like to take the curves in stride. Let other people compete in the rat race - you're just here to enjoy the ride.

Take the "Which sports car are you?" quiz.

HLBOES - Defense Against the Dark Arts Quiz

2009-02-28T19:53:00.004-05:00

The quiz will be due on 7 March by midnight Pacific time. Each question is worth 1 point and the extra credit can get you up to 15 points.

Who is the author of the books prescribed for Defence against the Dark Arts? a. Newt Scamander b. Adalbert Waffling c. Bathilda Bagshot d. Quentin Trimble

d. Quentin Trimble

When conjuring a Patronus, the user is supposed to produce what type of thought? a. Happy b. Powerful c. Sad d. Funny

a. Happy

Who was the teacher of Defence against the Dark Arts in Tom Riddle’s time? a. Albus Dumbledore b. Armando Dippet c. Galatea Merrythought d. Phineas Nigellus Black

c. Galatea Merrythought

Which Defence against the Dark Arts teacher is an accomplished Occlumens? a. Alastor Moody b. Dolores Umbridge c. Severus Snape d. Remus Lupin

c. Severus Snape

Which of these spells is the Full Body-bind Curse? a. Impedimenta b. Petrificus Totalus c. Incarcerous d. Impervious

b. Petrificus Totalus

Lord Voldemort used Avada Kedavra on Harry Potter in the Little Hangleton graveyard. But another spell used by Harry at the same time caused the Priori Incantatem effect. Which spell did Harry use? a. Accio b. Expelliarmus c. Levicorpus d. Crucio

b. Expelliarmus

Which of the following can the Unforgivable Curse not do? a. Kill someone b. Cause terrible pain c. Make parts of the body fall off d. Become controlled by someone

c. Make parts of the body fall off

Which kind of people are known to use Unforgivable Curses very commonly? a. Members of the Order of the Phoenix b. Death Eaters c. Dementors d. Dumbledore’s Army

b. Death Eaters

One of the Horcruxes was a ring. Whom did the ring belong to? a. Albus Dumbledore b. Marvolo Gaunt c. Salazar Slytherin d. Godric Gryffindor

c. Marvolo Gaunt

The creation of a Horcrux requires: a. Injuring someone b. Stealing c. Killing someone d. Using Cruciatus Curse on someone

c. Killing someone

Extra Credit:
Name the 3 Unforgiveable Curses. Describe how to cast each and the effects of each curse. Why are they unforgiveable and what will happen to the person who cast them?

The three unforgivable curses are as follows:

The killing curse - Cast by use of "Avada Kedavra" it will kill the target of this curse.

The cruciatus curse - Cast by use of "Crucio", it tortures the target by inflicting great pain upon them.

The imperius curse - Cast by use of "Imperio", it allows the target to be controlled.

These curses are unforgivable because they are done with malicious intent and the person casting them must have a great desire to inflict pain, misery, or death upon their target. Performing any of these will sentence you to a life term in Azkaban prison.

Its done, its done, its done!

2009-02-28T16:49:00.003-05:00

Yay! Happy dance time! Here's a preview, cuz I'm a horrible tease! LOL

Hmmm....

2009-02-27T21:14:00.004-05:00

I was hoping to be able to say that I'm all done with a certain hat, but unfortunately not quite. Just 5 more rows or so to go. I'm ridiculously excited about that despite the fact that I still have a few odds and ends to put together to finish up my HLBOES spoilee's package. Probably due to the issues I had with getting started with it. I've learned a very important lesson about checking gauge, though I doubt that it will stop me from launching headlong into other projects without checking in the future. LOL

Actually here's the very first (and only) project I've ever done a swatch for! Only because I needed to try to match gauge with 4 other knitters. Yikes! Hope it all comes together well! I've affectionately dubbed it the BDT, cuz ain't it just? ;)

Spice Girls moment

2009-02-20T21:00:00.007-05:00

In the interest of getting all my HLBOES points for my blog this week I was briefly thinking of doing a Spice Girls thing and just saying, "HLBOES, blah, blah, blah, Go Ravenclaw! Blah, blah, blah, wizard power!" But that would just be silly!

So, instead I thought I'd mention that inspired by the assignment to finish a project, I've been working on finishing other projects. I finally finished the socks for the wee ones. I do have to confess I did it much faster than I thought I would due to the fact that somehow the skein of yarn I was using was missing the last 4 colors of the repeat so I couldn't do the other sock of the 3rd pair. Lucky me, I guess.

Also, I decided to give dh a pair of socks for his birthday (maybe a couple pairs depending on how long they take). Mostly I did that so that I HAD to finally a) learn magic loop b) learn two at a time socks c) learn how to do toe-up socks and finally d) do something with the 3 pairs worth of black sock yarn that I've had for at least 6 months now.

I restarted a certain hat due to gauge issues. I think it may have something to do with the kinda slippery properties of the yarn, but who knows for sure. I'm nearing the halfway point on it though so I suppose I ought to try to finish putting everything else together for a certain ::coughcoughHLBOEcoughcough:: swap box. I do have a few things already just trying to figure out where to stop myself, I've got so many ideas.

HLBOES hat

2009-02-09T15:23:00.008-05:00

Started: 2/7/09

Since I can't hide the project on Rav from my spoilee, I'm going to blog about it on here to be published after she gets it. I'm doing the Hermione Cable and Eyelet hat from the Half Blood Prince. I'm using Paton's Silk Bamboo and sz 5 needles. I'm casting on the extra 22 stitches so that hopefully it will compensate for the fact that I'm using lighter weight yarn. I'll keep you updated.

2/28/09 - Finished the hat today! Had to frog it just after I finished the ribbing the first time due to gauge issues. I restarted on sz 2 needles with the extra 22 stitches again. It seems a little big around, but the length seems to be good thankfully without any extra repeats beyond the ones in the pattern.

3/12/09 - So after doing a little blocking and realizing the hat was enormous, I ended up re-knitting it straight off the old one. No extra stitches this time, still knitting it on size 2 needles. Interestingly due to some goofs I did on the repeats, I ended up using more yarn than I did the first time. But it is really, really done for real this time! The combination of yarn substitution and pattern totally threw me for a loop.

HLBOES - Charms assignment - and after

2009-02-08T11:24:00.009-05:00

Evanesco!

I was up pretty late last night finishing this assignment. Thankfully binding off didn't necessarily require my eyes to be open the whole time or I would have had a disaster to clean up this morning! So glad this is finished! Will probably add some modeled pics of it later.

Later...

All's well that ends well

2009-02-04T20:49:00.003-05:00

Today, we got another unexpected visitor. Jack's owner!!! We had begun to think that poor Jack (coincidentally that's what they called him, too) had been abandoned. Thankfully, he wasn't! I refused to believe that such a sweet little dog didn't have a loving home to go back to. He was probably less than a mile from home, but it had only been his home for 6 weeks, so things were still fairly new for him.

My very awesome birthday present

2009-02-02T19:55:00.003-05:00

I got one of the coolest birthday presents ever from my dear friend and neighbor! The cabling is so gorgeous! I'm so in love with this bag! I'm not ashamed to admit that I pet it.

HLBOES - Charms assignment - the before

2009-02-02T09:40:00.002-05:00

The assignment is to make one WIP, UFO or project in our queue vanish before Feb 14th. And I have just THE one! This lovely shetland shorty has been waiting around for me to finish since we got back from our "vacation" on the 9th of Jan. I did finish both sides of the front over the last week. Here's the status of it right now:

I've got a whole lot of stitches to pick up so I can do first the neck edging and then the armholes. I'll update this post when I'm finished.

Unexpected visitor -- Anyone know him?

2009-01-30T23:23:00.002-05:00

So I was at the computer catching up on some emails before going to make dinner when one of the boys says that there's a dog at the door to our deck. Figuring that it was just one of the neighbor dogs I didn't think much of it, till I got over there and discovered this little guy scratching at the sliding glass door...

We're calling him Jack till we find out what his real name is, but he seems to like it. His tail is clipped and he had a collar on fairly recently, can still see the indentation in his fur around his neck. He's quite friendly and settled in pretty well after Frank (one of our cats) stopped stalking him, though whenever Frank shows up he's still quite intimidated. Hopefully Jack has a loving home out there waiting to welcome him home, cuz I really don't think that our house or family is ready for a dog.

HLBOES - flying assignment #3

2009-01-30T00:28:00.003-05:00

The assignment was to knit a bag with a flying/quidditch related theme to it (or something like that, I'm too tired to go track it down at the moment). Here's what I put together:

Ribbed Fingerless Mitts - Toddler/Child sized

2009-01-22T10:59:00.001-05:00

While I've got this fairly fresh in my mind...

Ribbed Fingerless Mitts - Toddler/Child sized

The first picture is with the 2 yr old, the second is with the 8 yr old.

Materials:
Red Heart Super Saver or other worsted weight yarn
size 6 dpns

Size: These were made to fit my 2 yr old, but they also fit the 8yr old so they have a good amount of stretch to them.

Instructions:
CO 28 stitches, distribute evenly across 3 needles, PM and join being careful not to twist the stitches. (That sounds almost cliche doesn't it?)

Knit 20 rows of K2, P2 ribbing.

Row 21 - M1, knit 4 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across. What I did here was keep the stitches I made in pattern so that the ribbing in the thumb gusset actually twists around. If you want to do something different feel free!

Row 22 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 23 - M1, knit 6 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across.

Row 24 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 25 - M1, knit 8 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across.

Row 26 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 27 - M1, knit 10 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across.

Row 28 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 29 - Place first 12 stitches on stitch holder/waste yarn/whatever you want to that will make sure they are still there when we get back to doing something with them later. ;) Then K2, P2 across to the end of the row

Row 30 - M4 anywhich way you want to (in pattern), then proceed to K2, P2 across

Knit another 8-9 rows in K2, P2 then bind off.

Thumb:

Place the 12 stitches back onto your needles, dividing up the stitches across 2 needles. Then slide the last 2 stitches before the gap onto a separate needle. Begin with these stitches (in pattern), pick up 4 stitches across the gap (in pattern). Continue in pattern (K2, P2 or whichever pattern you're using for your thumb) for the next 4 or 5 rows, then bind off.

Repeat for second mitt.

**Note** All my bind offs were done in pattern. I'm not sure if that will affect how stretchy your bind off is or not. I'll need to test this on the next pair I make.

**Additional Note** Please let me know if you have any difficulty with these instructions as I'm fairly new to writing patterns that other ppl might want to follow.

HLBOES - Flying assignment #2

2009-01-17T18:45:00.001-05:00

The assignment was to knit a golden snitch! I'm going to add a twist to this assignment. I want you to add your own flare to the snitch. Notice my flare was the blue embroidery. Make it awesome, make it fancy, make it YOU! This assignment will be worth 15 points. Extra 5 points if you show the picture of your finished project early. I would like it if you could post the picture in my classroom so everyone can see what creation you have made.

Here is mine!

HLBOES - Magical Creatures assignment

2009-01-14T09:21:00.001-05:00

For this assignment we were to knit or crochet a cat, any size, any application. Here's what I did for mine.

This handy dishcloth will help me to lick the plates clean, just like my dear kitties like to do when given the chance.