KNIT TOGETHER IN LOVE

Remembering Arayah One Year Later

2012-01-14T00:03:00.001-05:00

One year ago today my life changed. My precious Arayah Hope passed out of my arms, into the arms of Jesus. I still feel crippled in some way, like I'm permanently maimed. In this past year I have been learning how to function, how to live, as if I have a missing limb. Sometimes the pain would be so heavy, I felt as if I could hardly breathe. Then there's the miracle. At the same time, I feel the peace of God strengthening me. He has shown Himself mighty and strong on my behalf. I am so thankful for my faith! Through faith, I take every hurt, every tear, every feeling of despair, to my Heavenly Father. He gently, and firmly carries me through. Today, a year later, as I sweetly remember Arayah, I have hope, confidence and peace, that she is experiencing, joy, peace, happiness and rest. And, though her Mama is still on earth, missing her, I too, have those same experiences. God certainly keeps His promises!

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matt 5:4

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T20:01:00.000-04:00

Coming Back

2011-09-12T10:20:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

Dear faithful followers, thank you for bearing with me as "life" happened, and blogging was pushed to the side. I hope to once again open this line of communication with you, and start posting again!

Our dear daughter has come through the surgery successfully, with no long term hindrances. She is almost back to where she started, and the tumor was benign, so we are thankful to the Lord for seeing us safely through this.

While my daughter was in the hospital for 13 days, from the surgery, through inpatient therapy, I once again, started back into my fiber arts. I'd had little desire for it since Arayah's death, but now, I think I'm stabilizing more, finding a new "norm" in life without my little girl, and am back to seeking an outlet for my creativity.

In the hospital, I started and finished my first embroidery project. I loved embroidering. I mostly used the satin stitch, which I found very fun to do, and the back stitch. Here are the pictures of the two kitchen towels I did.

After completing them, I put the right sides together, sewed them up lengthwise, turned them inside out, pressed them really nice, and sent them to a dear, cat loving friend who was moving into a new house. She loved them! I want to do more embroidery, and filled my craft basket with lots of new projects, but, something happened on my birthday, Aug 9, the day before we left the hospital. I was bitten hard by the knitting bug again! I visited lots of local yarn shops with my birthday money, and acquired lots of luscious yarns!

Let's see, I'm working on the second sock, of a mate that I started back in Oct 2010, that I found at the bottom of my knitting basket.

I finished the baby blanket gift I had started back in June.

I completed an ipod cozy for myself,

a felted tote for my mom,

and am currently working on a sweater for my four year old,

and I'm also test knitting a little girl's sweater for a designer, that I will gift to a friend's four year old daughter. Whew! All that, and I decided to take some correspondence courses to improve my knitting skills. I'm starting with the basics, and am taking the Basics, Basics, Basics class offered through The Kntiing Guild Association. Eventually, I'm considering starting the Master Knitting Courses.

So, things are busy, busy, busy. School started back harvest is in I've not done as much canning as I wanted this year, but I did get some green beans canned, about 54 quarts of peaches, and applesauce is next on the list. I wanted to get some salsa done, but didn't get to that this year. I don't keep a garden personally, but obtain fruits and veggies from markets and friends.

I think in my last post I alluded to an addition to our household. Here he is.

Quincy is about one year old. He is a miniature schnauzer that we rescued on the fifth of July. He was already housebroken, knows basic obedience commands, and is pretty much a gentleman to be around. He was abandoned on a lady's porch, who is known to take in strays. After unsuccessfully trying to find his owners, she sought a new home for him, and this is where we came in.

Since then, another little rescue has entered our lives.

We acquired Bitty Kitty a few weeks ago. She was about 5 weeks old, and weighed a whopping 0.7lbs. We weren't sure she was going to make, and with a lot of TLC, and (antibiotics and from the vet), she's getting fat and sassy now. Her, and her three siblings were basically abandoned by their mom, at a friend's property. We were not looking for her, but someway the children talked me into it.

She's now snaked her way into our affections. Her and Quincy get along marvelously.

So, I hope to try to post at least twice a week. I'd like to make a post on Monday, detailing the fiber arts I'm currently working on, family life, and/or anything else that comes to mind, I will call this, "Make It Monday", and then I may just post random pictures on "Wordless Wednesday", and we'll go from there. I got idea for these themed days from another blog I enjoy visiting.

Well, I think this post has gotten lengthy enough. It will be good to reconnect again!

Thank you for visiting!

Update On My Life

2011-07-23T11:34:00.001-04:00

Welcome!

I'm still here! When I went to post this last blog post, I can't believe it's been five months since I've posted! It's been a little over six months, since the passing of our precious little girl, and I can say all is well! Yes, sometimes my grief is so heavy, I feel it will take my breath away. Other times, I smile, at the joy I know she's experiencing.
We have had many changes in our lives. We've joined a new church fellowship, that has been a rich blessing to us, we've had baptisms in our family, and a whole host of blessings from new friends and brothers and sisters in Christ in our lives. There's a long story behind these miracles as well, maybe I will share them some time.

And yet, another chapter of our lives. I had plans of planting my first "real" garden. Though the soil here is not the best, we were going to do raised beds. I love green beans. And thought maybe some peppers, onions, and potatoes. Not a lot for a first timer. We had just spent a wonderful time at our church's annual meeting, the last weekend of May, and was attending a baptism the following Sunday, when my oldest daughter, who has never been really sick, fell over with a seizure. After being tested a week later, the MRI scan, showed a brain tumor. They suspect it may be malignant, by the way it looks. Ironically, they can find no cause for her seizure, by the position of the tumor, they don't think it's what caused the seizure. We are just very thankful she had it, or we wouldn't have known about the tumor until it was to late.

So, plans have changed, no garden this year, as we travel two hours back and forth to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for appoints and such. Justice has surgery, this Thursday, July 28, to remove the tumor. There are risks involved, but we are praying all will be well, and that the tumor will not be malignant. There is a face book page set up here, that I will try to update with how things are progressing.

Still with all of this, our faith in God has carried us through each trial, His blessings are to many to recount here, and we have nothing to complain about.

As far as my needle arts. I feel twinges of getting back into it. I'm almost done with a baby blanket I was knitting for a new baby at church. 90-100 degree heat doesn't make blanket knitting real desirable. I have about 20 minutes to go, but I've had those twenty minutes for about a couple of weeks!

It's not as yellow as it looks. The lighting makes it look pretty bright, but it's more of a primary color. I'm going to stick my "names of Jesus" cross stitching in my crafting bag to take to the hospital, and also another small project. I'm thinking dishcloths, socks, bags, preemie hats, something. My fingers are itching, I'm just not sure where to begin.

I have other things to tell, like about the new addition to our family, but this posts is getting long, so I will save that for another post.

Thank you for visiting!

What I'm Doing?

2011-02-19T12:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome!

I want to thank everyone for your thoughts, prayers, cards, emails and words of sympathy during this time of the loss of my daughter. I know my Redeemer lives, and I know He does all things well! I trust His sovereign and holy will. I’m experiencing the pain of loss, but the peace of God as well!

I feel God’s strength this day! Blessed be the name of the Lord! I’m mourning, but the Lord has given me strength to resist feeling sorry for myself. I know our precious girl is in bliss. God is filling the huge void she’s left in our lives.

I wonder how she feels not having seizures anymore? I can’t wait to wrap my arms around her again.

During this time of sorrow, He has been our Comforter. We’ve had an outpouring of support, and prayers, that have blessed us. Though my grief is great, the rivers of sorrow have not overflowed me, for He has been with me, blessing my trouble, and He has sanctified to me, this my deepest distress! All praise to Him!

We have been asked a lot of are the children doing. They are doing well. They seem to be handling it well. They went from the first week, not being able to talk about her, to now, talking and remembering her, fondly. They speak happily of the things she said and did.

I’m thankful for the hope we have in Christ, without it I would be most miserable. Do I miss her? Yes! Do I wish she didn’t have to leave? Yes! Would I call her back from heaven if I could? No!

Our loss was sudden, and I know some wonder how it happened. Arayah had a seizure disorder. She didn't start having seizures until she was five years old. We had been to the doctor just the Tuesday before her passing, and they suggested that she may be a candidate for brain surgery. They thought they could remove tissue from the part of the brain that the seizures were coming from. This would have been a two part surgery with them opening her up twice within a week's span. I agonized over the decision. I didn't want her to go through the pain, and the risks of swelling and infection. I prayed earnestly. We reluctantly made the decision to at least go through the five day hospital stay in which she would have non-invasive tests, x-rays and screening to get a better idea of what they could do. One thing the surgeon said before we left his office, was that Arayah would live a long life, 60-70 years or more, and the seizures would affect her cognitive abilities continually.

We found her dead on the bathroom floor three days later. Apparently everytime Arayah had a seizure her lungs would retain fluid, unbeknown to us or the doctors. Though it would dissipate after a seizure, there were sacs that still retained fluid. You could not hear this on a stethescope, and could only see it with chest x-rays. Though we frequently had her to the neurologist for eeg, etc.., no one thought of checking her chest. So, on her last seizure, her lungs filled up with fluid, and could not empty out, she stopped breathing. My 11 year old daughter heard her fall, but, cpr was unsuccessful. That was another terrible ordeal, details here.

I have not been active in my handwork yet, (knitting, crocheting or cross stitching). I find this odd, as stitching is usually a comfort. I’m not sure where my head is at, or how I spend the extra time. I’ve been reading more, and just putting one foot in front of the other. I do plan to get back into stitching, and hopefully blogging again as well. I do understand people grieve in different ways, and it takes time.

Thank you all again for every prayer offered up on our behalf.

Here is a link to a slide my son put together from pictures of Arayah. It's on Facebook, but I think everyone can see it, whether your in my contact list, (friends) , or not. If you can't leave me a comment, and I'll see if I can post it on here.

Thank you for visiting!

Our Little Girl Is In Heaven!

2011-01-19T17:31:00.000-05:00

Arayah Hope entered into our arms on March 13, 2001.

She entered into the eternal safety of Jesus arms on January 14, 2010.

Arayah is survived by her parents Dianna and Clyde her brothers, Isaiah, Kishon, Silas and Simeon. Sisters, Jurnie and Justice. Her grandparents Nate (Karen) Ford, Diane (Raymond) Mueller, and Edna (Walter) Dennis. She was preceded in death by her grandfather Herman Hudson Sr.

She will greatly be missed by a host of uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and family in Christ.

Arayah Hope truly was "a ray of hope" and joy to those who were blessed to have shared in her life. Arayah was affectionate and loving to everyone she met. She knew no strangers, greeting new friends and faces with her beautiful smile and ready hug. Arayah enjoyed playing with her siblings and friends, especially house and doll babies. She had a wonderful imagination, bringing us many smiles and laughter. She loved to give surprises to others, even if it was just

continued to smile and shine through them. From her pretty pink helmet to the tips of her tennis shoes, she was a very precious soul we were blessed to be entrusted with for nine years. While we mourn our loss, we know that the One who perfectly formed and created her holds her in His arms in heaven.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-15T10:56:00.000-05:00

Plugging Away

2010-12-13T11:31:00.001-05:00

Welcome!

We are having a fun winter here so far. Blowing a drifting snow, high winds, cold temperatures, hot chocolate, comfort food, healthy family, and a warm home. This is what it looks like in our back yard.

Inside, I'm plugging away on my cross stitching. I've run into a snag, and am not sure how to handle it. I'm about halfway done with my "names of Jesus" chart, and on the center part, I'm a few stitches off. That means the whole right hand side of the chart, and possibly the bottom will be off. Here is what I have so far:

I'm very tempted to restart on another piece of Aida. That means hours of stitching gone bye-bye. The whole "H" and "J" should be moved over about 3 stitches. The thing is it lines up from the top down, but not from the left. I've redone this part numerous times. At one point my husband looked at me and said, "I thought that was supposed to be relaxing". :) "It is", I said, through bared teeth. LOL

Sometimes I think I should take a break, and I do for a half a day or so. I'm thinking to start on another project, I have this lovely Lavender and Lace project I'm so excited to start:

But my thought is if I can't fix my simple mistake on the first chart, than am I ready for this?

I am going to put "The Game" chart on hold, as I'm not sure I'm ready for that monochromatic stitching yet.

I also have my cute little "diet chocolate" project I can start:

I can alway practice my backstitching on my stamped project. I'm not to happy with how my back stitches are looking. I need to make the stitch sizes more consistent.

Sigh, I feel challenged though, and want to keep pressing on. Any ideas?

Thank you for visiting!

Checking In

2010-12-03T19:33:00.000-05:00

Welcome!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday, (if you observe it). I trust everyone had lots of love, hugs and fun family fellowship over the weekend. We enjoyed our time with family. We drove about 150 miles away to visit and it was a very nice weekend.

I did finish the dresses I talked about a few posts ago.

I started Monday, and had all four done by Wednesday afternoon. It takes me about 2.5 hours for one of the girls dress, and 3.5 hours for mine. Once I get started, I can really get going, but sometimes it practically takes wild horses to drag me up to my sewing room. :)

I'm stitching away on my cross stitch.

I'm enjoying it very much! As a matter of fact, it's the only "fiber art", I've been working on, though I did knit a couple of rows on a sock over Thanksgiving.

I found a new chart I'd like to start!

I'd like to get into bigger projects, but I don't think I"m ready for lots and lots of color. This chart has about 21 colors. It''s mostly shades of black and white, so I'm not sure how fun it will be once I start it, but I love this picture! I found it on a great new, (to me) site, call Kustom Krafts. The chart is about 15 pages so this is a bigger project than I thought. When I went to pick up the fabric today, I was a little surprised at the price! Not sure if I'll start tonight or not.

Well, that's my little check in. The needles are calling, (and so are the husband, and the children and the housework and the.....).

Thank you for visiting!

Framed and Finished!!!

2010-11-20T20:29:00.001-05:00

Welcome!

I got a frame for my first completed cross stitch project!

I think it's a decent looking frame and I only paid $4 for it! I know it looks crooked in the picture, but it doesn't in person. Can't figure out why the camera makes it look so wonky.

I also finished the wedding afghan!

It ended up being 65" square which I think is large enough. It can be a throw in the living room, or fit the full size bed, though it won't hang on the sides, (it's photographed on a king sized bed). I'm glad to have it done. I had fun making it, but I don't like working under a deadline. I had fun doing the edging.

I like to end the large granny square afghans with this edging, it looks so nice to me. For the edging I: 5 dc in ch 1 sp, sc in next ch 1 sp, ch 3, repeat around. At corners 4 dc, ch 1, 4 dc. I'm planning to do another for some dear friends of mine. I think I will use three different colors in the next one.

This whole stitching week, and late nights have me beat. We arrived home from the wedding around five, and I've been almost comatose since, (It's 75 miles one way to the church). It was a very lovely wedding, and I'm glad I was able to share in their joy.

So, back to sleep for me for now, and next week, it's off to the sewing machine!

Thank you for visiting!

Happy Birthday Mom.

2010-11-19T17:12:00.001-05:00

Today is my dear, precious mother's birthday. She lives about 2000 miles away, I haven't seen her for 2.5 years, and I miss her dearly. Thank God for phones! When I was growing up, I thought my mother was the most beautiful, and the smartest mom around. I wanted to be just like her. She loved me fiercely as only a mother can love her daughter, and I thank her for that. Now that I'm older, I realize the sacrifice and labor she put into me. So I want to HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, I love you and I miss you! I can't wait to see you again, and hug you and kiss you.

You're a dependable source of comfort;
You're my cushion when I fall.
You help in times of trouble;
You support me whenever I call.

I love you more than you know;
You have my total respect.
If I had my choice of mothers,
You'd be the one I'd select!

By Joanna Fuchs

Finishing and Stitching

2010-11-18T13:32:00.000-05:00

Welcome!

Well, I finished the Peace and Love Quilt for my daughter, (who's middle name is Hope).

I call it the peace and love quilt because I've quilted hearts, (on the pink), and doves, (on the purple), on it.

I apologize for the picture quality, I'm still using my cell phone. :)

It's been sitting in my basket, right by my chair since about July or August. All I had left to do was to tack down the binding. I'd intended on doing it by hand, so I finally bit the bullet and picked it up today. I tried a couple of times to get an invisible looking stitch and I just couldn't, so my husband suggested I just take it up to the sewing machine. I really didn't want to, though I pieced it on the machine, I did the quilting by hand. {Sigh}. In the end, I don't think my nine year old really cares. She's just been asking me to finish it for a while. It's larger than I remembered, (54" X 69"), and it would have taken me a few days to hand stitch the border instead of the few hours I'd set aside for it. To tell the truth, I'd lost interest in this quilt after the fun part, (the quilting) was done. I'm not a fan of cutting out or sewing. Probably because I don't just sew for a hobby, but out of necessity to clothe many of us. I thought the hand quilting part was extremely fun, and enjoyed that. Will I do more quilts? Yes, but I want to get pre-cut kits. I'm also wanting to hand piece, or it may be fun to use a treadle machine, also more hand quilting! I'd like to do a log cabin quilt next, with a Curious George theme for my three year old..

As for the crocheted wedding afghan. This is how far I've gotten.

I am unable to get anymore yarn until tomorrow, and I have about 15 more rounds to make this the full sized bed sized I wanted. I'm still sitting on the fence a little. Right now it is 56 inches square , and I"m thinking about adding the border, and letting it be a throw size for the living, but then again..... Oh, I don't know. If I continue on, I won't be able to get all of that done tomorrow, so I will just take a card to the wedding, and maybe put a note in there that more is coming. We all attend the same church, so waiting until they come back from their wedding trip won't be a problem.

After I finished my first cross stitch project, my fingers were itching for some more cross stitching. I don't have any stash built up yet, so I pulled out the first project I had picked up when I started looking into this.

It's a stamped project, with part of 1 Cor 13, (the love chapter). Stamped is not my first choice, but colors are lovely and it has satisfied my desire to paint on fabric with floss. I will probably keep this in my bag, and pull it out when I need to stitch and not pay attention.

In the mean while, I found another quaint little cross stitch shop only about 30 minutes away from me. I picked up fabric and floss to start this project.

Though the pattern calls for white, I got a light blue Aida cloth, and I will be using the suggested blues of the DMC floss. I can't wait to get started! I wanted to get the quilt and afghan done first. I have everything prepared, and my starting point marked and I'm ready to go. This will be my second counted cross stitch project, and the chart is four pages long, so it will be somewhat of a challenge. I love the diversity of fonts used in the lettering.

Oh, and I also have this project coming in the mail, that I also can't wait to get my hands on.

This is one of my favorite diet tips!

Speaking of dieting, I haven't fallen off of the band wagon. I'm still watching my calories, but I must admit, all of this stitching has put a dent in my exercising. I also haven't gotten on the scale in a few weeks, but the way my dresses are fitting, is telling me things are still going well.

Thank you for visiting!

I'm Finished!!!

2010-11-16T01:25:00.000-05:00

Welcome!

I’m finished! This was such a fun project and I love it! Now I have to find a frame for it. There is a suggested sized frame on the pattern so I think I’ll take it to the shop and see what they have, though I can’t afford to spend very much. It has a few glitches in it, but for my first time, I’m satisfied. I can’t wait to start another counted cross stitch project. I have a couple in mind to get started on. I'll share more on those later, when I get the supplies.

I apologize that the pictures are so bad, my digital camera’s batteries are dead, and it’s after midnight, and there are no working batteries in the house, so I had to use my cell phone. The stitches aren’t real clear, but I was so excited, I had to share right now.

Now I'm going to finish up the crocheted wedding present I think. Oh, yes, that's right, I did say something about sewing too.......

Thank you for visiting!

Making/Taking Time

2010-11-12T00:41:00.001-05:00

Welcome!

I've been motoring right along on with my cross stitching. I would say I'm about halfway done with it. Here's the progress so far.

I’m already making plans for my next project. I am not sure what it will be. I still want something pretty simple, not 20+ colors, and I like words, but I want the words to be formed out of cross stitches, not tons of back stitches. I’d like something inspirational. I’ve been scouring a few sites, but haven’t found anything yet. It’s hard to see on some of the photos, how the letters are formed. I'll probably end up going somewhere local to purchase what I want. Since I'm not experienced at making this type of purchase, I'd better do it in person instead of online. It's not like buying yarn.

I read an article today on the history of cross stitching. I found it interesting, that it too, like other needle crafts, started out as being done primarily by men. The article is here.

I told myself I need to put this down so that I can make significant progress on the wedding afghan I'm crocheting.

I'm about 1/3 of the way finished with it. If I keep this up, they won't get it until after they get back from their two week getaway.

I'd also planned to make the girls and I new dresses before the wedding. Here's the fabric I'm going to use.

I just can't seem to get motivated to get up to the sewing room and get going. I've been telling myself we really don't need new dresses. It's not like we're the ones getting married, or even in the wedding..... So we'll see how that goes. I didn't want the dresses just for the wedding. I thought they would be nice to have when we go visit family over the thanksgiving holiday, so that adds a few days to my "deadline".

I fear I've put my first love on the back burner. I haven't knitted a stitch in close to a week. I pulled out my Vanilla Sno Cone Sock that had been hanging out in my purse, waiting for me to work on it. It's time to increase for the heel flap, and I'm a stitch short. I can't figure it out, I don't see a dropped stitch anywhere, or a decrease. It seems the stitch disappeared into thin air. Then again, I looked for the missing stitch for all of 60 seconds, so I'll have to give it more attention next time I pick it up.

I've still been an amiable companion, I've still been cooking meals, rearing children, and keeping the house relatively clean. A lot of non-artsy people say, "I don't see how you do that, I don't have the time, etc..." I think we all make time for what we want to have time for.

Thank you for visiting!

And Yet Another Avenue of Expression

2010-11-09T20:18:00.003-05:00

Welcome!

Well, I’m think I’m in love! I need to watch myself, because I know how I am. I first learned to crochet, but always longed to knit. Now I love to knit, (I was never truly in love with crochet). Then last year I wanted to quilt. I spent a lot of money, got a lot of supplies, (glad I didn’t purchase the go cutter like I wanted to), and enjoyed (hand) quilting well enough, but that fizzled out.

I can be finicky at times. Sometimes I love to knit, and do it obsessively for days, and sometimes I need a break, that may last for weeks. Right now, I’m loving this stitching. I find it relaxing, fun and fullfilling. I’m also a practical sort of girl I usually don’t make decorative things, but try to justify my handwork by the fact that I’m making “practical” things. I’m can’t see the practicality of cross stitching, but I’m looking forward to framing and hanging my finished project, and looking on it with fond memories of the process.

Here is what I’ve done so far.

I think I didn’t do right, because I went from the bottom up on the second letter, and I read you should always work down.

I've been looking for blogs about cross stitching, I’d love to read them. Also, as much as I love this form of art, unlike with knitting and crocheting. It’s great for audio books and podcasts, or quiet alone time. I hope eventually, i can visit with friends and family while stitching. :) LOL

My hoop has left an imprint on my fabric, as sometimes I have to toss it down quickly without taking it out of the hoop. I hope this presses out.

So there's my little update, on my new avenue of expression. We'll see how it goes. I remember how exited I was about quilting, so we'll see:)

Thanks for visiting!

Quick Update

2010-11-06T17:45:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

First I want to say thank you for the kind comments! I've not had a chance today to respond to each one as I'd like, but I want to let you know I appreciate reading your feed back.

I'm progressing nicely on the afghan, but I wanted to share where I'm at in my cross stitch journey. I went to a quaint little cross stitch store, in Beavercreek, OH, about 90 minutes away from me today, called The Stitching Cottage. I’ve never been to a cross stitch store, and was inspired by what I saw on the walls.

The woman was very nice and helpful. She told me I was probably not having much success with the stamped cross stitch because, 1) the cloth, is not a good aid to performing uniform stitches for beginners, and 2), stamped cross stitch is…….let’s just say, not the way to go. :) She was very tactful, and offered to provide assistance, but I asked her to point me to a beginning counted cross stitch project. I picked this

She cut me the size cloth I’d need, and grabbed the floss I would need, and it all came to less then my stamped kit from the big box store. She marked where I’m to start, and gave me a little direction, and I think I will be taking off! If you can't read the print, it says, "Prayer" and then underneath it says, "world's best wireless connection"

I’m very excited. I have some house work to do, then I will snuggle up with this project!

Thank you for visiting!

I've Been Busy

2010-11-05T16:35:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

I've been meaning check in, but "life" has gotten in the way. I find lately, I've not been on the phone much, (which Is not a bad thing), or emailing and blogging,

Last night the girls and started to try to learn counted cross stitch! I wish I knew someone who did it, that could teach us. I know the stitches ok, and can do stamped patterns ok, but the counted patterns are so much nicer. They, (the girls) just have tiny little ones right now. I'd like to do a bible verse to hang on the wall.

I've been knitting on a couple of shawls, a couple of pairs of socks, and I'm crocheting a large granny square afghan for an upcoming wedding, (Nov 21). So between that, cooking, cleaning and busing the children back and forth, I rest my mind during "down times". Hence, the phone, replying to emails, or blogging time has been minimal.

I'm up to 18lbs of weight loss in the past two months. I've lost some of my momentum though, the past 10 days, haven't felt like exercising much since the weather has turned colder, so I'm guarding against old habits.

So, here is my little "work in progress parade".

We will start with our "new" craft. Cross stitching. here are the girls first projects.

Justice also has an finished project. She knitter a one skein scarf for her brother. He is pretty happy, so she is doing another for her other little brother.

I've made progress on my socks garter rib socks out of dream in color smooshy, midnight blue,

And started some more socks, from yarn I got from an indie dyer through a trade.

I want something to wear over my winter coat/cape. I’d like to put it over my head as a kerchief type head warming scarf, or wear it around my shoulders for a neck warming scarf. Not sure how big I’ll make it yet. Until I get tired I guess

I’m not a fan of fuzzy yarns, and this is my first time working with alpaca, but the yarn feels dreamy in my fingers. :)

I'm still working on the vortex shawl, and I also have just the border to do on the Peace and Love quilt I started for my daughter this summer. I wanted to get it done just in case her seizure disorder had us in the hospital again for another stay. She had a short stay in the beginning of Sept, with no new quilt to take, (slapping myself on the wrist).

Oh, I forgot to post the cross stitch pattern I'm getting ready to start. It was hard to pick just one project. It’s just as hard as it is to buy yarn. I was really looking for a bible verse or an inspirational saying that I could frame and hang up. I really like the idea of a small qult a crib/lap size, but I didn’t want to invest that type of money unless I know I’m going to be in love with this type of hand work. It’ doesn’t have as much crosses, (x’s) as I’d originally planned, or as much scenery as I’d like, but I think it will still help me get familiar with this type of stitching to see if this is what I want to do. If I’m successful I’ll go pick up another I had my eye on that had lots of scenery and a verse, or I will get a quilt.

Oh, and the crocheted afghan. I'm using Red Heart yarn. I really hate to knit with this yarn, (it feels like it's squeaking on my needles), but I don't mind crocheting with it. Especially because it's so "affordable", and crocheting uses a lot more yarn than knitting. It also washes and wears like iron to. These are the colors of the new couples living room and bedroom. It's just one big granny square. I omitted the ch 1 spaces between clusters for a denser fabric.

So I think that's it. Now back to my regularly scheduled stitching.

Thanks for visiting!

Some Knitting

2010-10-11T19:03:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

I've been busy this past week, knitting away! I'm so glad to have the "knitting bug" back! I've been working on the February Lady's Sweater, that I started back in. So, now I'm on "FLS Take 3". I got disinterested in the project, yanked the needles for something else, and dumped it in my stash. Well, my interest was renewed, so I pulled out the same yarn needles, and got started again! Well, about 1/4 of the way through it, I decided that I don't want a worsted weight sweater. I'd like lighter weight, less bulky looking sweater. You can probably guess what color it is. I couldn't help it though, that'w what was in my stash. :) I'll have more details on that later.

I did get halfway through another project. My first fingerless mittens. I like the idea of having my fingers free to grab things, drive, etc, but still have warm hands. I'm loving this Malabrigo yarn. It's very cozy. It's pretty lofty, so the stitch definition is not as clear, but it's lovely yarn. I'm loving the two circ method, so I will have to head over to knit picks for more tips and 24" cable!. No more magic looping for me, (if I can help it). This method of circular knitting solved my problem with "ladders"! This is a cabled pattern, which is also a plus, I love doing cables. I'd like to do a cabled sweater for myself at some point.

Weight loss is still going well, thank the Lord! I lost close to 5lbs last week. I'm surprised because with the cooler weather we had last week, I didn't get out to walk much, but I did use my mini trampoline and stationary bike here at home. Also a lot more of my calories went to healthier choices instead of the "luxuries" I usually like to treat myself with. I'm not consuming the same amount of calories from day to day. I go up and down a little with in my calorie range to keep my metabolism going.

So that's a little check in for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Switching Gears: How I Began To Wear A Christian Headcovering

2010-09-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

I had mentioned when I posted my testimony, some months back, that I may post about how I came to practicing the ordinance found in 1 Cor. 11, concerning the head covering. So here I go. I'm not sure if it's a magnificent story, though, God is magnificent.

I became a Christian about 13 years ago. I had become a member of a plain fundamental church soon after my conversion. They did not teach the truth about the head covering, and actually, they taught against it. I had never seen a Christian woman that covered growing up and hadn't seen one until I moved here to the SW OH area, (I grew up in NE OH). There are a lot of "plain" churches here, and I saw German Baptists, Amish, and such covering, (now I know there are vast number of Christian women that are not members of plain churches that follow this ordinance). I had questions about it about 4 years after my conversion, and so I started studying it. I pulled out commentaries, different translations, and the original Greek. I ordered a tract about the covering from Rod and Staff publishers, and read and studied it with my Bible. I then listened to a sermon tape from my church on why the head covering was "not valid" today. I prayed, and I closed my Bible and thought. Yes, I see there may be truth in the covering, but if I were to cover I feel it would need to be a Hijab style covering, something that could hold 6 measures of barley like Ruth's. Not what I was seeing around town. I closed my Bible, and said no that's not what God is requiring of me. It's simply not an option.

After that, I was a strong advocate against the covering. I would resent Christian women I saw wearing it, and felt they were misinterpreting and misrepresenting the scriptures and greatly deceived. I would lovingly talk to any one of them I could and try to show them the "error of their ways".

Fast forward to June of 2009. I was seeking a deeper experience with the Lord. I feel I was seeking Him as I never had before, and I asked Him to show me His will and His way. I was particularly wanting to apply the fruits of the spirit to my life, and also 2 Peter 1:5-10. In prayer I felt the Lord pressed upon my heart to study 1 Cor 11. I was a little puzzled, and felt it had nothing to do with what I was praying about, but the impression did not leave me even after a few days, so I began my study.

This time, I studied it, not to find the truth like I had 8 years prior, but to try to disprove it. I could not. With prayerful study, lots of books, articles on the internet, and interviewing of women who wore it, and more prayer, I felt I could not discredit the truth any longer.

This was a hard thing for me, I knew it wouldn't sit well with my church. My husband said he didn't see it as necessary, and leaned toward the way our church thought, but he said if I felt the Lord was leading that way, he would not stand in God's way. I met with a lot scorn and opposition from the ministry when I broached the subject. I was not even wearing it yet, but I was told very negative things about it, me, and my spirituality. In the end, I chose to obey God, rather than man. It was not easy for me. At first, I just started covering at home during prayer and devotions. When I would go to church, I felt uneasy praying without it. Then I noticed more of how I'd pray through the day for the children, or people or situations the Lord would lay on my heart. I'd constantly talk to Him, and thus I felt the need to wear it all day, since I didn't know when I would be praying to God, or prophesying, (discussing the Bible with others).

It's still not always easy, but sometimes walking in obedience isn't. I lost a lot of long time, what I believed to be, dear Christian sisters in the Lord, because of my decision. I feel like I stand out, which I'm one that would rather blend into the background. Especially being a woman of color, you don't see many Christian women of color, covering and I feel it really stands out on me. I'm careful, not to wear a bandanna type covering, because lots of women of color in the world wear them for non-biblical reasons. So as of now, I choose to wear a hanging veil. I did wear more of a traditional opaque cap for a while, but it drew more attention than I was comfortable with. If I join a church that adopts a certain type of covering, I will comply with that.

Also, I feel I'm unfairly judged as I used to unfairly judge others who covered. People seem to think women who cover are "holier than thou", or legalistic. Sometimes I'm tempted not to wear it. Why? Vanity. I never did like how I looked with something on my head. I have what some in the world would call "nice looking" hair, and sometimes I'm tempted to style it and wear it down. Thank God that His Spirit and sound judgement comes to my rescue and I can recognize that temptation for what it is, and from what source it comes from.

Do I judge or condemn other Christian women who do not cover? No, I sure try not to. By God's grace, I don't want to forget where I came from, how at one time in my Christian life, I not only did not understand the truth of the scripture, but rejected it. I'm thankful for God's long suffering, and He calls us to that also, (I Cor 13:4).

I attend a conservative Mennonite church now, though I am not a member. I'm a born again believer who loves God, and am striving to be a biblical Christian. Someday I hope to join a biblical church, but we have some things to work out in our family first.

Someone asked where am I at now in my Christian journey. Since being a Christian, I have always lived plain, and dressed plain, but I don't think my salvation is wrapped up in my plain dress. For those who don't choose to live a plain witness, I have no condemnation. Personally for me, I want to talk, walk, dress and behave biblically as much as I understand. I also am looking at my choice of colors and fabric. For so long, in the church I was in, we were taught dark, sober, solid colors. I've changed that some in the past year, added more print, and lighter colors, which my husband really likes. He says they are more feminine. I'm also praying about my style of dress. I currently wear a cape style dress, which I plan to still do. To me, I feel more modest with a another layer over my bodice, (I used to wear vests over my dresses and blouses), but my cape dress style is more "tent like", than what you would normally see, and I"m questioning the necessity of that. So, through prayer, and my with seeking my husband's opinions, I'm seeking to glorify God from the inside and out.

That's where I'm at. This article was one that was really helpful to me in my journey. I have a very large notebook full of books, articles, etc... from my research, but I don't even refer to them anymore. God's Spirit sets me free, and gives me liberty to walk in this way!

Thank you for Visiting!

It Takes Wisdom To Be Moderate; Moderation Is Wisdom In Action

2010-09-29T19:02:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

I'm still feeling a little puny, with flu like symptoms, but I wanted to check in for a bit. I hope I have something worthy to say. There are so many thoughts swirling through my mind, I'm not sure what to narrow in. As I've been working on my weight loss, and examining not only my eating and physical activity parts of my lifestyle, but all parts, I've had a "lot to chew on" so to speak. :)

I've been reading a book titled, "A 21 Day Journey to A New You Food, Fitness, and Faith for Women" I'm not one that usually picks up books like this. Especially when I don't know a lot about the author, (Criswell Freeman), but a friend had mentioned another book she was reading that has been a blessing to her titled, "Faithfully Fit". My local Christian bookstore didn't have that one, but this one caught my eye. The readings are short, and simple, very general, and basic, but at the same time, very right on target. I like to have my kjv of the Bible next to me, because it has some quotes from some versions that I'm not familiar with.

Anyway, all of that to say, here are some thoughts today's reading brought to my mind:

-As I sincerely seek the abundant life Christ promises, I must learn to control my appetites before they control me, (I think they already have).
-Good habits, like bad ones, are habit forming. As soon as I acquire the habit of moderation, the better my chance for a long, happy, abundant life.
-I can't do this alone, on my own will power, but, asking God for the strength and power He promises to those who seek it, I can do all things.
-When I live an intemperate life, I rob myself of countless blessings that would have otherwise been mine.
-Being moderate in my appetites ties in to being disciplined in my behavior. To do otherwise is an affront to Him, and to myself.
-When I allow my appetites to run wild, they usually do.

At the end of the reading, the author asks us to make notes to ourselves about aspects of our lives that will be improved when we eat more moderately and exercise more regularly. I don't know why, but my answers surprised me. Probably because I never thought about it before. Here is what my list looks like.

my weight,
my skin and hair,
how I spend my money,
how I spend my time,
how I view others, (for the better).

So that's it in a nutshell. That's what's on my mind. :)

As far as knitting. I've gotten a few more rounds done on my vortex shawl, when I can keep my eyes open. As far as sewing. Altering all my dresses does not sound fun to me. In more ways it seems like more work than just making new dresses. I"m going to hold off on that for a while, until I get closer to my goal weight. I will do the bare minimum with my alterations, hemming or maybe adding a belt, and make a few "in between" sized dresses for nicer occasions

Thank you for visiting!

Learning To Be Satisfied

2010-09-27T14:37:00.001-04:00

Welcome!

When I got on the scale this morning, I lost 1.6 more lbs! I should be happy right? More loss, no gain. Well, for a little while I was disappointed. I wondered where I went wrong. This is my fifth week to weigh in, and I've lost 11lbs total. My goal was two pounds a week. Well, I've lost more than that, but the first two weeks I lost less than two pounds, the next two weeks, 3-4lbs, now I'm back at one pound loss. I wanted to see at least 2lbs of loss this week. Then I read what one woman wrote about measuring success. She said,

"I have to ask myself what is success? Is it purely the number on the scale...because if it is I will perpetually be disappointed.

If I base it on how active I have been and the food choices I am making, success is happening more frequently than the scale shows and I know those daily choices will make a difference in the long run. "

This was a blessing and awakening for me. It helped to focus on the bigger picture. It's all about the day to day, moment by moment choces I make, (like not digging in to the pear crisp someone sent us home from church yesterday).

And Guess what! I have sewing to do all week. All of my dresses are hanging on me now, since my belly and hips are smaller and don't hold them up, so I have to do some taking in and hemming!

That means.......no knitting this week! I don't know if I can do that or not. It's getting cool now, and I have two shawls in progress, (I know, I know, they're both blue. I didn't realize that until I was well into the second one).

I'm really enjoying the vortex shawl, and I think it will be a quick knit. It's similar to knitting the pinwheel blanket. which I did fairly quickly. But then again, I was on bed rest during a pregnancy and using worsted weight yarn. :) Oh Well, we will see. I'm feeling pretty puny now with flu like symptoms, so it will be either this

or this:

Thank you for visiting!

It's Been To Long

2010-09-21T16:56:00.004-04:00

Welcome Friends!

I thought about starting this post off with apologies and flimsy excuses. Then, I thought again. I blog without obligation, (see sidebar), but it does mean something to me. Life has been going on. I do want to say I'm thankful for the followers I have, for those who check in for new posts, and for those who read.

So, what's new? I haven't been doing much on the knitting front. Not as much as I'd like. Hopefully fall will slow me down, yank me away from the sewing machine, and put me in my chair to knit or quilt. I have a shawl or two I'd like to make and still quilts for the children.

The thing I'm most excited about is what happened August 23 of this year. I started my weight loss journey! I finally bit the bullet, and with the Lord's help, made up my mind to change my eating habits, and start moving more. After 9 weeks, I've lost 9.8lbs! My goal was two pounds a week. The first couple of weeks I only 1 pound, then 1.6 pounds, and was getting a little discouraged. I kept things going, upped the exercise, added apple cider vinegar to my diet, and a gentle natural colon cleanse, and it's been going well!

I've started this in the past. I did weight watchers about 3 years ago, and lost 30 pounds in less than four months. I soon was not able to afford to keep up with the meetings. Got lazy about reading labels and counting points, and it all came back.

This time, I'm hoping to do different. I want to make this a lifestyle change. Not just for me, but my health, and the example I set for my girls.

It's been a challenge. I'm a junk food junkie. I love processed, sweets, and fast food, but I feel better about myself, and how I'm keeping my body, (the Lord's temple), with the healthier choices I'm making. I haven't given up those small pleasures, but now they are the exceptions and not the rules. I'm learning to eat to live instead of live to eat.

In coming posts, I would like to share what I've learned. My struggles and victories. I also still want to share my crafts and family life.

sparkpeople.com has been a tremendous help to me. If you are there, I'm "Hishandmaid".

At first I couldn't see a difference, but now I do. Can you?

Thank you for visiting!

I Found The Answer!

2010-07-13T16:30:00.003-04:00

Welcome!

I really couldn't explain what's been wrong with me lately. I haven't been blogging as you can see. I haven't been crafting either. I'm on a non-self induced hiatus with my knitting/quilting, I just haven't been "in the mood". Not sure why that is. I've been sewing some for me and the girls, but that only stretches so far. I've been busy though, and I think over all we are having a great summer!

We went canoeing for the first time on Grand St. Mary's Lake. We've been to the zoo, and frequented the parks and libraries quite a bit. We're thankful for the very warm weather, and are loving ice cream. We are planning a road trip to PA in August, Lord willing.

But how come I'm not blogging? My children ask me, my husband asks me, and I don't have an answer. I was even pleased to see, I have a new follower, and I haven't blogged for over a month!

Well, today, I found the answer! I sign in to blogger, and check into the blogs I'm following about once a week, (I used to do this more regularly, when I was blogging more often), and Grace had my answer. She said everything I've been thinking and feeling. I told her it was like she copy and pasted from my mind.

So here is her post. Check it out. In the meantime, I'm going to get my thoughts together, and get back into checking in more often real soon. Not out of obligation, (see side bar), but because I'd like to. :)

Thank you for visiting!

Ten On Tuesday

2010-06-02T17:41:00.004-04:00

Ten Things That Really Disturb Me: (in no particular order)

1. Ungodliness

2. Bees

3. Cabinets left hanging open in the kitchen

4. Buying gas, then going two miles down the road and seeing it cheaper

5. Getting in the bed in my daytime clothes

6. Hard water stains on my laundry

7. Walking into a messy house, (we try to always pick up toys, etc.. before we leave)

8. Any flying or crawling insect in the house

9. Not being able to give the cashier correct change

10.When people abuse children

It was harder than I thought to pick 10 things. This tells a lot about me, no?

I haven't posted in a while, life has been busy, but not "blog worthy", at least, not without my digital camera, that I'm waiting to come back from repair.

I have finished my quilt, except for hand stitching the binding, and I've started a knitted shawl for my mother, I'll have to share those later, maybe with my blackberry camera.

Thank you for visiting!

P.S. After posting this, I realized today is Wednesday! Memorial Day really through the week off for me. LOL I'm sorry. I'll leave it now though

Another Avenue of Expression

2010-05-15T17:00:00.003-04:00

Welcome!

I'm still quilting. I'm really enjoying it! Like knitting, it's hard to explain they "why's". I've tried several times while I've been typing here, and I can't explain it.

It's not just a craft, or a hobby. It's an expression of myself. When I make and/or give a hand made gift, it's an expression of me.

There so much more to it, even the connection with history, the satisfaction the industrious act of creating something gives that I can't put into words. Even the spiritual lessons learned.

I really don't have any new pictures of the quilt. My digital camera is broken, so I have to take pictures from my cell phone, and you really can't see the detail of the stitches, (this is not necessarily a bad thing).

I'm calling this quilt the Peace and Love quilt, because that is what the doves and hearts that I'm quilting into the blocks symbolize to me, (I didn't think of that at the time, I was just looking for easy templates to trace out and learn on).

At first I was just making this as a throw for the living room, but now I feel to give it to dd#3. Her middle name is Hope, so it's a perfect match!

Each of the children want a quilt, so I'll have to get moving. I've got a lot to learn!

I've been doing a lot of reading, of different books, and quilting magazines, and resources on the web.

My next quilt I hope to hand piece, (this one was pieced on the machine).

I've even practiced a little quilting without a hoop, while the children played at the park.

Who said quilting isn't portable?

Thank you for visiting!

Lesson Learned

2010-05-14T22:47:00.001-04:00

Welcome!

I'm learning how to love being busy. I'm learning what to be busy with.

What do I mean? Well for in the recent past, I'd think, "I need to get the laundry done, the dishes done, the this done, the that done, and the children keep interrupting me".

Huh? Doesn't make sense I know.

The Lord put it into perspective for me. Those things "interrupt" what I'm doing, (or supposed to be doing), with the children. My purpose as their mother is to tend to their needs, to disciple then, to be there for them, to "mother" them.

Mothering them is not doing their dishes, picking up after them, washing their clothes, etc... A maid, or someone hired in can do that.

There is so much of myself required. My heart, my prayers, my time, my undivided attention. These are the efforts, that are needful to be about my Father's business, of being a busy mother to my His children.

And these things are happily given.

Thank you for visiting!

Book Review: Walk Like You Have Somewhere To Go

2010-05-08T11:13:00.005-04:00

Welcome!

Six weeks or so ago, I discovered a wonderful resource for books. It's at booksneeze.com. Unfortunately it's taken me a little longer to read the first book that I received from them, than I wanted. It didn't have anything to do with the book, but life got in the way.

Walk Like You Have Somewhere To Go by Lucille O'neal

This book is an autobiography of Lucille O'neal, the mother of famous basketball player Shaquille O'neal. It details her life from her troubled childhood, and the challenges she faced as first, a single mother of one, then as a mother of four and military wife, to the changes that brought her to the stability and confidence she experiences today.

When I first started reading the book, I was a little put off by the language. Not that she used foul language, but she was speaking "in her own words", and I feel the slang she used was unnecessary. Everyone that reads the book, will not come from the same background as she did, and I felt that could be a little confusing to some. As the book progressed, the slang disappeared. She was very candid about her feelings about her marriage, motherhood, and her drinking problem. The details of her lifestyle she gave, were not boastful, but were showing how low she was in her mind frame.

I feel the book can be inspiring to many young, single women who face low self esteem, and similar social challenges. Each chapter begins with a verse of scripture, and she chronicles how she was able to find her way to mental health by God's grace and help. Though she admits to straying away from the Lord, she definitely gives God credit for where she is today mentally.

I'm giving this book four out of five stars. Overall, I think the author accomplished her purpose, to give hope, show how God's grace can bring you from the lowest place, and inspire young women in similar circumstances.

As I side note, if you pick up this book because you are a Shaquille O'neal fan. You may not find what you're looking for. Yes, she does relate the circumstances surrounding his birth and childhood, but the book, is really not about him. I chose this book, not because I'm a Shaquille O'neal fan, (I don't even watch basketball), but because, I too, before I met the Lord, was a single mother, and I felt I would be able in some ways to relate to what this woman went through.

Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review.

Thank you for visiting!

Why We Don't Have A Television In Our Home

2010-04-29T10:28:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

I know the below may not be popular, and you may not agree, but I thought I'd post this as an encouragement to another family that may be struggling with this decision. Our family has not owned a television for about 11 years. We don't own a DVD player nor do we go to movies.

This is not intended as judgement on, or to condemn other Christians that own televisions. It's not everything on television is "bad", or that it's not entertaining. Someone else said, "earthly entertainment is for a moment, eternity is forever". This is how we choose to glorify God. It's not martyrdom, but joy!

Ps.119:37 "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way"
Ps. 144:11,12 "Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity
and
their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: That our sons may be as plants grown up in their
youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace."
Ps. 1:1-3 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way
of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in
his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper."
Rom. 16:19 "I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil."
Ps. 119.101 "I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word."
Deut. 7:26 "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it:
but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."
I Thes. 5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil."
I Tim. 6:20,21 "Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and
oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the
faith."
II Tim. 2:16,17 "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
And their
word will eat as doth a canker."
II Jn. 1:10,11 "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God speed."
Ps 101:3 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall
not cleave to me."
Ps. 11:2,3 "For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they
may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous
do?"
Ps. 106: 34-36 "They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them: But
were
mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a
snare unto them."
Job 31:1 "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?"
Luke 11:34-36 "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body
also is full
of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the
light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part
dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
I Cor. 15:33 "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners."
I Cor. 5:6,7 "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Purge
out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ
our passover is sacrificed for us."
Gal. 5:7-9 "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion
cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."
Rom. 1:33 "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of
death,
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."
James 4:4 "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Matt. 6:22,23 "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be
full
of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Gal. 6:7,8 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
Earthly entertainment is for a moment, eternity is forever.
Isaiah 33:15-16 "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of
oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing
of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence
shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."
Ps. 26:4-6 "I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the
congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked. I will wash mine hands in innocency:
so will I compass thine altar, O LORD."
Eph. 5:11 "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
Ps. 101:7 "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in
my sight."
Matt. 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart."
I Jn. 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world."
Rom. 13:14 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts
thereof."
Gal. 5:24 "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Eph. 2:3 "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others."
Eccl. 9:18b "One sinner destroyeth much good."
Titus 2:11-12 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that,
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world."
I Pet. 4:2 "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the
will
of God."
II Pet. 2:18 "For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the
flesh,
through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error."
Prov. 13:20 "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be
destroyed."
Jer. 15:17 "I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand."
II Cor. 6:17 "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing; and I will receive you."
Eph. 5:6-7 "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of
God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them."
Prov.4:14-15 "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass
not by it,
turn from it, and pass away."
IITim 2:19 "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth
them
that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
II Tim 2:22 "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call
on
the Lord out of a pure heart."
Col. 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."
Job 28:28 "And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil
is
understanding."
Ps. 34:14 "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it."
Prov. 3:7 "Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil."
Prov. 16:17 "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his
soul."

Thank you for visiting!

Happy Homemaker Monday (A Day Late)

2010-04-27T11:00:00.005-04:00

Welcome!

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Beautiful to look at, but we had a frost advisory this morning!

Things that make me happy:
hugs and kisses from my husband and children

Book I'm reading:
Having A Mary Spirit in A Martha World by Joanna Weaver

On the menu for dinner:
grilled chops, not sure what else:

On my To Do List:
homeschooling
cut out a couple of dresses for the girls
normal daily household duties

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
I want to find a tasty, moist pound cake recipe to make lots of and give away

In the craft basket:
my first quilt
lots of knitting ufos

Looking forward to this week:
going to the dentist, (my teeth hurt)

Tips and Tricks:
I'm loving using vinegar instead of liquid fabric softner, it's helping with the hard water stains

My favorite blog post this week:
This really helped my mind frame about my own "simple days"

Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):
I'll try to work on this too

No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

Lesson learned the past few days:
rest is the one of the best medicines for the flu

On my mind:
I love the fellowship of other Christians, and a church family.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

Luk 21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
Luk 21:2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
Luk 21:3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
Luk 21:4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

Thank you for visiting!

I'm Still In The Land of The Living

2010-04-24T15:58:00.003-04:00

Welcome!

I trust all is well! Isn't spring a wonderful time of year? We go from the slow, and cozy pace of winter, into the "new start" pace of spring. That's what spring reminds me of. A new start. Maybe it's the green coming back, and the new buds on the trees, and seeds going into the ground.

So, as I've been busy with the sewing and homemaking duties, I got bit by yet another crafting bug. I don't think myself creative at all, but I get an itch to learn this.

Yes, I want to learn to quilt! Since I spend lots of time at the sewing machine already, providing clothing for my household, I don't want to spend "leisure" time at the machine also. Combine that with my love of handwork, (i.e. knitting), and I want to learn to hand quilt, in a hoop.

Here's the back.

It's really a lot smoother on the back, than it looks in the picture, but I do need to work on it more.

The girls are using the extra squares and are now "designing" their own little doll quilts. I'll post pics of that soon.

I hate cutting out. I don't do it very well. Even in sewing. You need to be way more accurate in quilt cutting than apparel cutting. It's not that I don't know how to use the rotary cutter, it's just..... I'm not very artistic, (I can't even draw a straight line). After my cutting disaster here, I decided it's pre-cut squares and blocks for me, from now on!

I have lots of ideas swirling in my head, but I want to do one project at a time. I can't afford to accumulate a quilting fabric stash, like my yarn stash.

My interest is more in the quilting than the piecing anyway, (I will be machine piecing). After all the work that went into piecing this quilt, the next one I may try will be a solid top, and the "art" will be in the quilting design.

Not sure what design I'm going to quilt in this one yet. I'm thinking stars for right not, as they're all straight lines, and I can get practice on the technique.

Yes, I'm still deeply in love with knitting, it's I'm just in a knitting lull right now.

Other than that, God is good. Life is good. The children are healthy, I have a little cold, but I can't complain.

I hope things are well with you.

Thank you for visiting!

This Really Blessed Me Today

2010-04-15T21:46:00.003-04:00

Welcome!

I've had little time for knitting. I've still been busy at the sewing machine. It's humming through the day into the night. I've been making dresses for the girls and myself, and gowns. It's fun, fulfilling, hard work!

I did take a little time out this week, to take the children to the library. I picked up a book called, The Christian Mom's Idea Book by Ellen Banks Elwell. I ran across something that really blessed me, I hope this will be a blessing to other mothers too!

I once heard a story about four pastors who were discussing their favorite translations of the Bible. One liked the King James Version, and another liked the New American Standard Bible. Yet another liked The New living Translation. When the conversation came around to the fourth pastor, he said that he liked his mother's translation the best. Acting surprised, the other three men said they hadn't realized his mother had translated the Bible. "Oh yes", he responded. "She translated the Bible into life, and it was the most convincing translation I ever saw".

John Wesley is reported as saying, "I learnt more about God through my mother than through all the theologians of England".

Each day we mothers sow seeds in our children's lives. These seed can be for good or for ill. When we go to the Bible, we are provided with seed that has an eternal shelf life. The picture of motherhood found there inspires and equips us for our task today!

Thank you for visiting!

Confessions of a bad blogger....

2010-04-09T12:56:00.001-04:00

Welcome!

Thank you for sticking with me! I'm so sorry I haven't been posting! Life got in the way! I feel bad though, because I made a commitment to blog, and I want to post often. So, I apologize.

What have I been doing? I've been spending all the time that I can spare at the sewing machine. The seasons are changing and the girls are growing, and new clothing is needed. I got a lot accomplished this week, and I'm thankful that the Lord helped me.

Knitting? I have hardly done any. I think there has been two days this week, where I didn't knit at all! Unbelievable to me. With all the sewing and home schooling and general upkeep of the house and things around here, by the time evening comes, I can hardly keep my eyes open, (hence the lack of blog posts, since I usually post at night).

I do have a three year old today though! My youngest child, is three, and he wanted a "birthday bag", like his sisters', so I managed to whip this up for him.

I just finished the handle last night, and felted it this morning, and even threw it in the dryer. It's still wet, so he hasn't seen it yet. I'll go shopping today and stuff it with goodies.

I did this bag on two circular needles. The only 24" circs I had two of, close to the gauge I needed were size 10s. I would have preferred to do this on 10.5s or 11s, and I was worried about how it would felt since the sts were so tight, (double strand of worsted weight yarn), but it came out fine. This was my first time using the two circ method, and I'm sold! I went from dpns to being a die hard magic looper, but now this! What I like best about it, is I can switch and go around easier, and I have no ladders, like I did with the magic loop! So now, I'm on a mission to double my needle supply and add more 16" or 24" cables to my collection.

Well, duties call, if I keep the posts short and sweet, hopefully, I can post more often.

Thanks for visiting!

And the winner is....

2010-04-01T20:47:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

We have a winner for our first giveaway! I entered the number of comments received under the giveaway post, (40, because someone posted twice), into a random number generator, and the number that came out was.....
Comment #29! Congratulations Lil Bean!

I've already contacted her, and will be mailing the prize soon! This was so much fun! I have some beautiful lace weight yarn, I'd like to gift a reader, so stay tuned! As soon as I get time to get pictures up, we will get going.

Thank you again for all who take time to read this blog!

Have a blessed weekend!

Dianna

Daffodils are blooming!

2010-03-31T16:11:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Life has been getting in the way. I miss blogging, and miss reading blogs.

We are on our way to the park now ready to enjoy this beautiful OH weather. The children will play, and I plan to knit on my sweater, which I've neglected for a few days because of the sock disaster mentioned in the previous post.

I did have to frog the nice socks. Such a shame, I really enjoyed watching how the beautiful yarn worked up. I will pull it out again real soon. I didn't frog the Smooshy Socks, but made some adjustments, trudged on and knit again. I'm so thankful for the wonderful tips and help I got from the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on the Ravelry boards. Here's the technical stuff on what I did:

I ripped back to the heel, knit more rows, (2 inches before total foot length), Did the 2 inch gusset, (gradually adding a few more instep sts to accomodate my stocky foot), and turned the heel, (fleegle), I then knit another inch, and then over the next several rows, increased my sts, (first the heel, then both the heel in the instep), to another inches worth (64sts). It fits very nicely! I plan to knit another inch and then increase to about 72 sts for my wider leg/calf. I can’t help to think this still would have been easier top down. No? Here is the result.

Other than that, we've been enjoying homeschooling

And I was even able to drag myself up to the sewing machine to finish another dress for my daughter.

I have a lot more sewing to do for spring and summer dresses. I can't wait to work with the the wonderful colors and fabrics of spring.

I will draw for the giveaway tomorrow, and announce the winner! I wish I had a skein for all 41 of the gracious comments I received under the giveaway post. I do plan to do more though! I love all of the comments I've received.

Life is good, the daffodils are blooming, and the air is sweet.

Enjoy this blessed day!

Thank you for visiting!

Lilies are beautiful

2010-03-27T23:27:00.001-04:00

Ok, so life isn't always roses. And if it is some roses have thorns. I feel much better than I did Wednesday, but now I've run into a thorn or two in my knitting.

Remember my smooshy socks and my nice socks I was so excited about?

Well, it's been a long story, and not a happy ending.

Ok, here’s my story. My first pair of socks were toe up on 64 sts at 8 spi. They are to baggy. I started the heel after 7”, it’s up way to high. But I love my first pair of hand knit socks.

I decide next time make two pairs of vanilla socks at the same time. Trying to rush trying to find my best vanilla. So I co 56 sts on at 8 spi, toe up. I start the heel at 6”, it’s about 2” to short, so I rip back, (I did two at a time on seperate needles), and knit to 7.5”, and do the heel. It is to short, and the socks are way to tight! Why is the instep so much higher than my heel? (excuse the ugly, dry feet, it’s late at night). This is at least 4 rows after the heel is complete?

And it is way to tight, (did I say that already?).

So, I say, well, at least I have a back up pair! I have my top down socks, knit at 10 spi, co 64 sts. I’m halfway through the second leg, and decide to try it on…. I can get it over my instep/ankle. When I did, I could barely get it off!

My foot circumference is 9.5, (measure just below the ball of my foot as Cat Bordhi says), I wanted about 10% negative ease, because of the first baggy socks that barely fit into my shoes, and my foot length is 10”.

NOTE: After taking the pictures, I rechecked the gauge on both, though they are knit on two different size needles, they are both 9 sts per inch.

I’m ripping back this beautiful sock yarn. As much as I love hand knit socks, as much as I love knitting socks, and as much as I love the idea of knitting socks, I think I may need to choose another love.

There's always the sweater.

And, life is good, and the Lilies are beautiful this time of year!

Life is not always roses

2010-03-24T22:53:00.001-04:00

Yesterday and today were hard days. I had a situation come up that was not very pleasant, but nonetheless, I had to face it. I haven't blogged because I don't want to bring that mood to this blog, so now, with tears threatening to spill, I'd like to think happy thoughts. I'm going to list a few things I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for my faith in God, that gives me hope and peace in hard times.
I'm thankful for my husband, who is attentive, loving and faithful.
I'm thankful for each of my seven children, each unique person, is a blessing, I'd hate to live without.
I'm thankful, and feel privileged to home school
I'm thankful for a warm house, food, clothing, such neccesseties that many lack.
I'm thankful for color! I'm thankful the world is not black, white and gray.
I'm thankful for nature, and living things.
I'm thankful for friends and caring people.
I'm thankful for good health.
I'm thankful I can read, write and knit

Whew! I feel better already!

KNITTING

I've decided to start turning heels. So, I started on one of the smooshy socks. I've got about 6 more rows of gusset increases. With my wandering mind, I had to many sts one gussest row, and to many on the instep, (which is supposed to have no increases), I was able to.....uh.....make it work. I hope to have pictures of a finished heel or two, to show you on the next post.

So, my post for today is a picture of a beautiful, cheery, happy waterfall!

Knitting and Books

2010-03-22T15:29:00.002-04:00

Welcome!

KNITTING

Well, true to form, I frogged my FLS. I knew I would. It seems I rip back a project to the beginning a couple of times before I get into it. I ripped back for a couple of reasons. One, I forgot to slip the first stitch of every row, and that was really bothering me. I probably could have lived with it, but reason two got me, all of the knots. I have a lot of odd balls of this yarn, as it's been started in another project before, and then I redeemed the yarn. I'd read somewhere that knots in garter stitch were the easiest way to add in new yarn, and that they "blend in with the garter bumps", that it "looks better than adding yarn in the middle of a row:, etc... Well, I tried it, now, I might add, I don't mind adding in yarn anywhere in a row, and can do it pretty easily. I just hold the two strands together for a couple of stitches, drop the old strand, and keep going. I don't know why I decided different, but I think it is because I had so many little pieces. Anyway, though they were tight knots, they looked awful, stood out like sore thumbs, and bothered me. I kept thinking, "I'm putting so much time and effort into this sweater, what if the knots come out in washing?". I couldn't face that, so I ripped the 20 something rows out, and started over. I'm almost back where I started, but I admit, my Sunday charity knitting suffered because of this. I decided against buttons and button holes, and plan to close it with a nice shawl pin.

I finished the "More Big Girl Knits". The language did get better. I feel like it had a lot of great information, though I would never knit any of the patterns. I'm more of a "classic" girl, and a lot of the patterns show off, that you can be a big size, but still wear trendy, beautiful patterns. Though some of the patterns were lovely, just not my style. If I could find the book at a good discount, I would definitely get it for the information in the front. Now, I want to read the first one, as they said there is a lot of good short row shaping info in there.

I'm still slowly but surely working on the leg of my nice sock. I'd to go ahead and start the heels on the other ones, but I'm enjoying knitting the FLS to much now. I was thinking, it's strange, but I'm knitting the sock in the round, stockinette stitch, so it's all knitting, and the FLS in garter, all knitting, but they feel different. Now, I know different yarn weights and needle sizes, but also, the fabric that I'm making, makes the knitting experience different on each project.

I'm on twitter now, so check that out. I'm not sure how interesting I'll be, but I follow a few ladies, and I think it's a little fun to hear about their day.

FAMILY LIFE

We are on our way to the library this afternoon. We have two large bags full of approximately 36 books.

We haven't had a "big" family library day in about a month. Some of the titles include: (for the girls), books from the series "American Sisters", by Laurie Lawlor, some of the "Great Illustrated Classics" like Gulliver's Travels, White Fang, and Little Women, and some from the "Sisters in Time" series by Norma Jean Lutz. I have some knitting books like the "Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines", and old book titled, "Knit and Crochet Comibined", which I really didn't find anything interesting in. I have a couple Jane Kirkpatrick from the "Kinship and Courage" series. I read the first one, but since I've picked up on my knitting, I've renewed the others at least twice without reading them. We have several books on tape such as some from the "Chronicles of Narnia" series. This is the first time our family has read these, and though I really am not into fantasy type books, we found them.......interesting. I also picked up Kate Jacobs, "Knit the Season", but it had to much romance for me, so I didn't finish them. It seems like there is some of the same in "The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society", but it was kind of slow, and didn't hold my interest. I may try to renew it and try again. This is why I don't read Debbie Macomber books. I love reading knitting novels, but I don't like to read romance. Don't get me wrong, love, and falling in love is a sweet part of life, and I don't mind it in books, to a certain extent, but, when you get into actual "love scenes", and such, that's to much for me. This is just my personal opinion, and your mileage may vary. What I really want to read is, "Evidence Not Seen", by Darlene Diebler Rose, I hope I can get it from the library.

Hmmm, that seems to be all for now. I love blogs that share pictures, and since I don't have much on this post today, I share a picture of my sweet ten year old, (no she can't play the piano, but she sure tries, we hope to afford lessons one day!).

If you haven't taken the poll on the side margin. Please take time to stop by and vote. It's just for my own information, and I think it's kind of fun. I may put another question up after this. There are only 4 days left, but I think I know the direction this blog will go for right now. For right now, I will keep it a happy mix of knitting an family life. That seems to have gotten the majority of votes, and I hope non-knitters will stay with me. As I'm blogging, I'm reading other blogs, and gleaning a lot. I'm encouraged, and learning, and it's great. Again, I hope this blog is interesting to you, and helpful at times and as always, I want to please God.

Oh! and don't forget the giveaway. We have about 11 days left before the drawing! It has been so much fun reading the comments, and everyone is so gracious. I want to do it again in May, so keep watching!

Thank you for visiting!

What would you do?

2010-03-19T02:19:00.003-04:00

Welcome!

FAMILY LIFE

So I was having a conversation with my dear husband about food, what we (I) buy and don't buy. After much discussion, he finally admitted her prefers lots of chips, processed foods and breads, sweet drinks, fried foods, etc... Everything I've been slowly but surely weeding out for health and economy's sake. There are a few things I buy especially for him, that I don't buy for the family like, , kool-aid, canned chef boyardee products and such, but I didn't know how much more he wanted. Of course I feel I should please my husband, but, we can't afford to do both. He's not opposed to the healthier way of eating, he just would prefer more of the "other" food. He even likes the one week menu a month, but there would be at least two days of fried foods on it, if he re-did the menu. He works second shift, so we usually have supper without him, he is here for the mid-day meal. He's not telling me to revamp, but......
Any thoughts.

KNITTING

I actually have something new to talk about in my knitting. First with the old. I'm still plugging away on the second of my top down sock. I admit with three other socks all waiting for me to do heels, I'm tempted to break my own "unwritten" rule, and start on a heel.

On with the new. I cast on for my first sweater for m!. I'm doing the February Lady's Sweater . I'm pretty excited about it. I'm not a lace person, but, I've read so many good things about this sweater, I can't' wait to get into it. I'm using Knit Picks WOTA in the blue ink colorway. Here is what I have so far, (sorry about the poor quality of pictures, it's 2 a.m.).

Theres not much to see right now. I love working with these Harmony needles though! I haven't worked with them in a while. I plan to make some modifications, but I'll share them with you as I go along. I've read this sweater stretches a lot when blocking, so I'll keep that in mind when I knit the sleeves and body, (I plan to make full length sleeves). So far the only modification I made was to cast on one size less than what I'm making. The neckline is pretty wide, and that's not to my liking. So, after some research, I cast on 83 sts instead of the 87 my size requires, but I will knit the inc to the size I'm working on. Did that make sense?

I've already done one buttonhole. I tried a new one, (to me), the one she recommends on the pattern, found here. I found it a little fiddly, but I only made it one stitch, and I think that's to small. I didn't know how many to make, since I'm not familiar with this buttonhole or it's sizes. I'm contemplating making the next ones two sts, but I don't know how aesthetic that will look.

I did more knitting and walking around the track Wed, at the park with the children. That was fun. I love knitting outdoors! I love the natural light! My back was hurting after the first go around, so I may be bending over to much while I'm knitting, I'll have to work on that, (please disregard the ill fitting sweater, it was something warm to grab and go).

I also have been practicing my knitting and reading. That led to a mistake, (I'll talk about that in a minute). I'm reading the More Big Girl Knits book. I didn't read the first one. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with this book. I"m only a few pages in, but the language the writer uses is of poor taste in my opinion. It has a lot of good information about sizing, shaping and such, but I may put it away solely because of the profanity. I keep reading a paragraph or two, hoping it will stop, but so far, it's still popping up.

Ok, about my mistake. I dropped a stitch. No big deal right? Well, though I've been knitting for a few years, I've never manged to learn to fix a dropped stitch in garter fabric correctly. I've never really cared before now. I've not made to many "important" garter projects. I found one video that has helped some, but it's going to take some practice. Can you see here where I tried to fix it?

Any suggestions or other helpful videos would be appreciated.

I also got another treat in the mail! This sock in progress project bag!

I've been waiting on it for a couple of weeks. I didn't realize it took so long to ship form Canada. I traded for this for a skein of Briggs and Little I had in my stash. My husband commented on how it wasn't worth it, since I could have made the simple bag myself. He's right, I could have, but the yarn was stash yarn I didn't plan on using, that I had got in a swap some years ago, and I told him he just didn't understand the "fun" of trading! LOL

It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend here in OH, in the 60s! I'm excited! Enjoy! Everyday, rain or shine is a lovely gift from the Lord!

Thanks for visiting!

A Podcast To Share

2010-03-17T09:01:00.002-04:00

Welcome!

TALKING ABOUT KNITTING

Since I shared a small tip on being frugal, (my menu), I thought share something else to me, that has been helpful.

First I want to say, I've recently "discovered" podcasts. I'd heard of them, but never rally knew much about them, or how to listen. I finally figured out how to download Itunes to my laptop, and though I don't have an Ipod yet, I've been enjoying listening to knitting podcasts. I weeded through a lot, as there are many many out there. Something for every taste. Some of them were a little much for my conservative ears, but I've settled down to a few family friendly favorites. I like the ones that are heavy with knitting content, (and some spinning), and I enjoy when the podcaster stays on these topics, avoiding a lot of other personal commentary, on various topics. Many others enjoy that, but it's personally not my preference.

So that being said, there is a new podcast out, I will mention here, that you may not have heard of yet. It's called Knit Cents, and is put out by Roue on ravelry.

She's only got about 10 episodes out, but, so far so good. I think this is a great, informative podcast, about money saving and knitting. Rachel has a very pleasant, easy to listen to voice, and she does her research well, and is very knowledgeable and thorough. She has her topics well organized, You can find her show notes, at knitcents.blogspot.com. This podcast is very much worth taking a listen to, (I have no affiliation, and don't know Rachel personally).

Speaking of frugal, if you are interested in the free yarn giveaway, you have until March 31 to leave your comment here!

I've got a few other favorite knitting podcasts, that I'll share with you in coming posts. There is one non-knitting podcasts that I really enjoy, it's Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh Demoss. Though I don't 100% agree with everything she says, for the most part, I find many of her lessons, provoking, and challenging. I can't tune into the radio program during the day, with school, etc..., so I like downloading them in Itunes and listening at my convenience. But I digress.....

The other day, while browsing through patterns, I found this great site. She has some really nice sweater patterns that are nice generously sized to include fuller figures. I think I will start with the round yoke vest. I've been itching to start a sweater for myself, or one of the girls, and this may just satisfy for now. I'd spoken in a previous post about having not enough yarn for a sweater, but not the right yarn for one of the children, so I think this will be a nice way to put a dent into all of that blue yarn in my stash. The one con about this pattern to me, (and it's not really the pattern, it's me), is that it's knit from the bottom up, so it starts with a lot of stitches. I really dislike starting with lots of stitches. When I begin a project, I rip out so many times in the first few inches, for various reasons, that lots of sts make that more time consuming.

So I think I'll just cast on, count twice, knit once and enjoy! LOL We'll see, I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm still plugging away on my socks. I have three socks that are waiting on heels, but for some reason, I want to finish the second leg to the other nice sock before I start any heels, (told you I could get OCD about my knitting.

OTHER CONTENT

I want to start a garden. The soil here is not very good for gardening, and since I already have a brown thumb, that's two strikes. I haven't done much canning, just started a couple of years ago, but I'd like to do a little gardening, and putting up. My plan, is when I find time, to look on line for tips on how to do raised beds, or garden in pots.

I want to do more flowers this year. I have a really bad bee phobia. I've never been stung, but I'm really afraid of them, so i stick with flowers that don't draw that many bees, impatients, petunias, and hostas plants are some of my favorites.

Tonight is dd#1's night to cook. She's making sloppy joes, here she is at the stove, having fun, (the girls love to cook, but haven't developed the love to clean yet LOL)

Enjoy the day!

Thank you for visiting!

Just Saying Thanks

2010-03-16T00:06:00.004-04:00

Welcome!

I've many comments over the past week! I wanted to say thank you to all who have left a comment on my blog. To a new blogger, this is very uplifting! I want this blog to be helpful, and interesting, and a blessing to the readers.

~~I don't have a lot to say today~~, actually, there are a few things, I want to talk about, but I can't keep my eyes open. LOL I felt like I wanted to post something. I appreciate a comment I received in which she said not to feel pressured to post something daily, wait until I had something to say, and that would keep the blog interesting.

I think this is sound advice, so that's what I'll do. I have my eyes out for things to post that will be an asset to you, and hopefully I'll get a chance to share some things tomorrow.

So again, though I don't get to answer every comment, I want to say, thank you!

If you interested in the giveaway, leave a comment here.

Thanks for visiting!

I went to the library today.....

2010-03-13T21:13:00.004-05:00

Welcome!

KNITTING CONTENT

I didn't get much knitting done today. I had a few duties to attend, and was also running a few errands, and unfortunately I was the driver. I like to be the passenger better so that I can knit.

I did get to the library, and got to get a few knitting books. I picked up Sock Innovations by Cookie A, Easy Knitted Socks by Jeanette Trotman, and More Big Girl Knits Jillian Moreno and Amy R. Singer.

Last week, I was practicing "Knitting On The go", (walking and knitting), today, I was trying to practice reading and knitting. It was slow going. A stitch or two here, a word or two there. LOL Maybe it will be faster when I'm not doing 1 x 1 ribbing, but stockinette stitch.

I started with Sock Innovations, I'm learning a lot, but I don't think I will knit many of the patterns in there. There are several with lace, or patterns with yarn overs. I don't like any type of holes in my socks, even decorative ones. There are 3 or 4 out the 15 patterns I would like to knit, though. I guess this is a good time to learn how to knit from charts. I may go ahead and purchase the book with my next 40% coupon from JoAnn Fabrics.

FAMILY LIFE

We enjoyed the day with dd#3. She enjoyed her meal out. The staff, clapped sang happy birthday to her, and bought her a special dessert.

Remember the birthday purse? Well here she is opening it.

She loved it, and we had a couple of goodies in it, a set of walkie talkies, and a pink digital watch.

She'd been eyeing the beautiful cakes at the bakery the past couple of weeks we went to the grocery store. She was always pointing out what she wanted. Well, instead of spending $15 for a cake, her Daddy picked up a strawberry cake and frosting, and goodies from the store, and this is what she got.

We are no artists, but she was pretty pleased!

This post is going to be short. With time springing forward, we lose a much needed hour of sleep tonight. We drive about an hour and twenty minutes to church, and leave around 7:30, so I'm going try to turn in earlier than normal.

Still, I love daylight savings in the spring! It means it gets lighter earlier in the day, and the days are longer. I love the long, beautiful, bright days spring and summer brings.

Enjoy your day in the Lord!

Thank you for visiting!