I Was Knit Together In My Mother's Womb

I guess the first thing that I want to say is that nothing....NOTHING beats a grateful attitude to get you through a day. And nothing beats the world of knitters and this whole blog thing to help to give you a thankful heart. I am so looking forward to a few minutes rest so that I can respond to each of your wonderful comments left over my Thanksgiving break. I have thought about so much of what I read, and am reminded again how we share not only the joys of life, but the brokenness also. Several years ago, during a very difficult time in my life, while both daughters were away from home because of some tough circumstances, I started  journaling every night. I simply listed five things I was grateful for that day ( it was an Oprah thing that was going on at the time, as I recall...some author Sarah Van Something?).  It was the beginning of a change in my life. Some days were so difficult that I could only write things like..."I'm thankful for my bed tonight" or "Thank you that I heard my daughter's voice today" or "Today, I am breathing." Reading many of your comments reminded me how important it is to  recognize, especially during our trials to be thankful in all things.... So there is my serious stuff....Now, let the knitting talk begin! 

I actually joined Lisa's new Naked Sticks by 2006 by starting another project. I've become fascinated with those ruffly scarves, and hiding in my stash was a beautiful skein to make the scarf in our FAVORITE book of the season...

  I'm thinking....easy knitting....easy car knitting...

If you start this project, realize that the final increases bring you to 1,600 stitches on the needles. One Thousand Six Hundred. Did you hear me? Oh, but I'm sure it will be just darling when it's done and I'll want to make about one thousand six hundred more just for friends and family!

I did finish these socks....Make them. They are wonderful. They go quickly. Artful Yarns Jazz, one skein, if you can still find it. They were so much fun to work up, and again, knit from the pattern in Handknit Holidays.

( I also started these socks after I joined the Naked Sticks Knit Along!....in fact, I think I dramatically miscalculated the number of UFO's hiding in my house...tomorrow I'll get an accurate count so I can be all legal and everything!)

Since Tuesday is indeed Knit Along day....here is Josephine, left front side.

 

And, like sands through the hourglass...so goes the hours of my Hourglass Sweater

 

Oh, I do have to share a little purchase made at "Friends of Wool" in Holland, Michigan...

Four skeins of Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool to make the over the knee stockings from Handknit Holidays. I must be loosing my mind. Really, I must be.

 

I dare not make you wait another minute, even though I've not returned home....so, happy knitters, the correct number of skeins in the jar was.....

27!

So, we did a random drawing (in which my husband, who was engrossed in the latest news this morning grabbed three folded up pieces of paper from my hand) and the winners are...

Heather,  Elizabeth and Deb. So, congratulations, guys!  Let me know what you would especially love to have and we'll see what we can work out among you all.

This was the most fun contest ever...and the best part was that for those of you that left comments with your heart's desire wishes....I want you to know that I thought of each of you and prayed for each one....and that was the best part of all.

You all are such a Thanksgiving blessing to me.

Oh, and for those of you serious about wanting a knitting bag, let me know. I do sell them, and they are very reasonable, made with some great fabrics.

A CONTEST

Reminiscent of the Jelly Bean Jars.... how many skeins of yarn did I stuff into the turkey carcass????

Just kidding....but how many skeins of yarn did I stuff into this big glass jar?

Here's what you've got to do...even you lurkers, too.....listen up! 

Just leave a comment after this post... If you got the big part of the wishbone...

 

what would you wish for this Thanksgiving?

Here's  what I've got for you ....two of you...or maybe three if someone wishes they would win some yarn and I feel like I'm in a Thanksgiving blessing mood!

1. One big fat skein of the Artful Yarns Jazz...246 yards of wool/alpaca goodness...I'm telling you, this yarn is delicious. I'm making some socks with it, and it's enough to do your own chubby pair of socks or some mittens or a scarf, perhaps.

  AND

2. A bigger fatter skein of some great hand-dyed Cherry Tree Hill baby mohair boucle' in the most sherberty, softest colors. Great for a shawl.Hundreds and Hundreds of yards!      

So, Happy, Happy Thanksgiving.... I am so grateful to have life, family, friends, and faith. What more could I possibly wish for?    Oh what the heck...I'm already feeling like blessing a third someone... I'll throw in one of my handmade knitting bags, too.

That's three winners, which I will randomly draw from your comments when I return next week!

I have actually given more thought to my vacation knitting projects than what to wear while I'm away. Let's see...

I'll take Josephine, whose back is complete, and whose left side has been started...

  Don't forget...BIG needles, easy project.

I'll take along my socks that I just started, and of course, my Hourglass for travel knitting...

I'm thinking of resuming my Scarf-Style Knit Along project from last winter...the Midwest Moonlight Scarf. So very pretty...

How could I have forgotten? 

I'm also thinking of the possibility of doing a spiral scarf...also in Scarf-Style...I'd like to adjust the pattern to make it a bit of a bigger spiral...to give it that look of the Kim Hargreaves Flourish Scarf. I know it's crocheted, but I'd like to achieve that longer, fatter look to the spiral. I do not happen to have any of my favorite yarn ever....Kidsilk Haze, but I do happen to have a lovely Karabella Gossamer yarn with the most interesting metallic flick woven in here and there.    A very pretty pink, with the same pink metallic.

I think that will keep me busy...while I'm listening to the second HP book... I'm really looking forward to the backward glance at our hometown tomorrow morning... It's been awhile since I've been away. 

But be warned, potential ne'er-do-well's....our house is well looked after with someone to stay at the house, someone to check in on the house, and the dogs in the house. Grrrrrrr.

But do check in again tomorrow for I will have a post about my Thanksgiving  blog contest!

Oops! I forgot this very important public service announcement...

This Thursday, November 17 (which also happens to be my sister Karen's birthday),

our local yarn store, "A KNITTER'S CORNER"  on East Center St. in Medina, will be having a Midnight Madness Sale.... Evening hours, everything

is reduced  to

                 off the regular price!

BE there to take advantage of this special sale and to visit with Jenn and Erin!

Who could resist starting those socks from Handknit Holidays? I just happened to find a fat skein of  Artful Yarns "Jazz" in my stash and cast on...

So chunky and soft..the colors in this yarn are very unusual ...it looks brownish from a distance, but then, close up...

  You see the individual plies of tan,olive and purple...very interesting yarn. I'm thinking these may just be a Christmas present...who knows?

I decided not to do the Christmas Knitting thing this year...it was much too stressful. If I do find myself knitting up a little something that I think someone may really enjoy, I'll gift it...but as far as making a list and then frustrating myself every waking knitting moment...forget it.

One of the good things about mistakes is that you get to correct them. I frogged that Hourglass and re-knit,

knitting my hem into the row...very clever technique, and I love the way it turned and made such a nice finish. I remember when Lisa finished the bottom edge of her Hourglass and how she talked about just folding and re-folding that edge in fascination... all agog at how that one purl row made such a neat hem.

    I understand how she felt.  I can't wait to do the sleeve edges!

I am so counting down the hours til we leave for Michigan...I'm thinking of a blog contest for while I'm away....

Hmmmm, let's see....

..."join together in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches..."

See my Hourglass Sweater? Hours and Hours of Hourglass Sweater? Oh, how I love the thought of reknitting all of that stockinette again!

With a vacation coming up next week I guess it will be good travel knitting...eight hours on the road with my sweetie as we travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a week.

I love a road trip with my husband...the uninterrupted time to just be in a space alone with him. We are so sappy.  Actually, since I started my new job, I haven't been able to have a vacation...I missed out on the summer trip, so I I'm looking forward to a week away from our regular surroundings....Now, I wonder where the best yarn shops are in the Grand Rapids area?

I've started to plan my vacation knitting. There will be the Hourglass, of course, and Josephine. And, after getting the Handknit Holidays book last week, I've decided on more than a few projects....

these great cable socks...

Gloves!  I want to knit a pair of gloves this winter and  I think these will be the ones...

   

But, the winner for my other vacation project will be ...

                      

This great Christmas Stocking. It is knit with 13 colors of Manos, which would be incredibly beautiful, but I'm not about to spend about $169 for yarn to do this stocking!

I did order some Wool of the Andes in thirteen different colors from KnitPicks, however. It's a pretty basic chart with some color stranding, so it should be a quick, yet interesting knit. So, I'll get it started on it while I'm away and that will be my Christmas knitting for the year!

An exciting thing is happening at my house tonight. I am watching the first Harry Potter movie!  I have read the book this past week, and really enjoyed it. My son-in-law, Ray, has been after me for years to read these books, and I must admit, the Christian in me wondered if I wanted to... But I am an investigator, and I like to form my own opinions on what seems to have been  a controversial topic. So, I have checked out the various written works both pro and con of the Christian view, and this is what I've decided. Since I am an adult and solid in my faith, and the only way to know whether or not I will be slain or spelled because I'm  reading Harry Potter, is to actually read it. So, I did...pure fun and fiction, with some wonderful positive human values thrown in for good measure...am I even detecting some Christian allegory? And trust me, because I am a non-impressionable, solid adult, Harry Potter will not be anything more to me than watching "Desperate Housewives" or reading the latest Elizabeth Berg novel. Actually, come to think of it, "Desperate Housewives" has the potential to more negatively influence me than HP could!

I must admit though, there is one thing that tipped the scales for me....there is knitting in Harry Potter! I am so not in the scene...behind the times...out of the loop!  I actually called my daughter after seeing the "blueblog" and excitedly proclaimed...

"THERE'S KNITTING IN HARRY POTTER???"

the rest, so they say, is history...it's only a matter of time before I knit my first Weasley or Gryffindor Scarf!

I know Tuesday is Knit Along Day. These are my knit along projects...

The Warm Hands mittens...I'm using purple Lamb's Pride Bulky, and some lovely Artful Yarns multicolored mohair from my SP3 Chris.

I cast on this week for the Knitted Gifts Hourglass Sweater ....

   

putting that lovely Karaoke to good use after I saw Heather's completed Hourglass...the gradual color changes make this stockinette stitch sweater a dream to knit!

And last, the back of Josephine. You may notice that I decided to ixne' the ribbing in the middle back. So , I frogged it again, and made it per pattern with the snake up the middle. I'm about ready to decrease for the armhole shaping!

And that, my friends, is my knitting for this week!

I am so excited when I am able to get the mail.

Friday afternoon, as I juggled bags and stuff from my car, I noticed a box next to the mailbox on the barn. OH, OH, OH!

I raced inside with the bags, the stuff, the mail and the box (while my husband was in the recovery process of his "procedure" at the hospital a few blocks away).....

I threw my stuff on the floor, raced into the bathroom, with the box, of course, and realized I had dropped a ball of yarn from my knitting bag!

What was in the box?

  Well, well. This...book... is.... so.... cool!

I was doubly surprised by a RAOK in the mail from my knit pal Karen...a wonderful package of Connecticut coffee and some notecards!  Thank you so much Karen! Go say hi to Karen, who is enjoying a visit with her son who just came home from Iraq.

Saturday, we knit together in Lockport, and then JR and I entertained Lisa, Jon and Carol, and Katie and Ray. We had our favorite meal of pizza, and Lisa brought the most delicious salad...I couldn't get enough of it!  Butter Lettuce, garbanzos. black olives and Gorgonzola with croutons and a Newman's Own vinaigrette. Maybe it was because someone else made it...I'm that way with salads. I hate making my own salad.

We followed up with "Batman Begins", while the crowd gave Lisa and I a ridiculously hard time about knitting during the movie. So, I missed some stuff in the movie...that's what rewind button is for, right? They sure didn't complain when I got up to fix the apple crisp for everyone!

My weekend knitting:

 

another Rowan flower to go with the first Rowan flower.

    

Isn't the beadwork pretty?

It's big and bawdy

and, I love it!   

From Rowan Classic Woman, knit with Soft Lux in Powder.

Quick, easy, fun....some beading in the center.

Tomorrow is Friday. My husband is having a colonoscopy, and I am not. It is not only cause in itself for rejoicing, but I do get in a nice, long afternoon of knitting!