When I Find Myself In Times of Trouble

. . . I knit socks!



My father and I have had a rocky, on again-off again (mostly "off again") relationship for the past 20 years or so. I haven't seen him in nearly a decade and we've only spoken over the phone a handful of times in the past few years.

Yesterday I awoke to the surprising news he was having a heart transplant that day.

I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to tell him I love him before he went into surgery.

Needless to say what was happening with him several hundred miles away preoccupied my mind all day. Thankfully I had my knitting to distract and calm me. I had the cuff and half the leg finished before the phone call...I did the rest while waiting to hear how the surgery went.

[It seems to be going well thus far. Surgery was successful. The new heart started right away.]

TGFK!!
(Thank Goodness For Knitting!]

KAL Update & A Challenge

Over the weekend I managed to get the body of the shawlette completed!




Now I started the leaf patterned border.



My knitting cyber-friend over at Caffeine Girl knit this pattern and made the remark on her blog that the leaves are quite addicting (as in like potato chips: once you knit one you want to knit just one more, then just one more, then just one more . . .)

She's SOOOOO right! Hard to put it down and get to work on my writing. (And I have deadlines!!)

I got a great email from Knitting Daily today encouraging knitters to think green when it comes to the craft. "Think outside the skein." I'm stealing the logo and putting it here as a sign of my intent to knit green!



You can read the article here!

Happy Knitting!

YOTH Shawlette KAL

I'm starting my Yarn On The House shawlette KAL (Knit-Along) today. I will be doing the Cedar Leaf Shawlette written by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting (which is a great blog if you've never taken a peek....she does a great podcast too, so head on over there and check it out!!

The yarn I've decided to knit the shawlette in is Mirasol's yarn called "Nuna." I'm going to be using the Emerald colorway. Here's a pic!



It's a really gorgeous yarn! The mix is 40% merino, 40% silk and 20% bamboo. It has a great hand and a beautiful drape and sheen. I think it will make a lovely shawlette!

Happy Knitting!

p.s. Alana's having a great give-away on her blog right now for all who love color work knitting. You can find it here!

Pass It On

My friend Val over at Sew Not My Day passed along the Happy 101 award to me!



Thanks Val!

Ten things that make me happy include (but are not limited to):

1. My husband.
2. My children.
3. Our cats.
4. Knitting.
5. Taking photos.
6. Walking in nature.
7. Warm cookies.
8. My extended family.
9. The sound of my wind chimes.
10. Traveling/road trips.

(Sheesh, I got to #10 quickly!)

I hereby bestow this same blog award on everyone & anyone who stops by to read this!
If you're here, take the picture and put it out there on your own blog. Happiness is something to give away, not hoard--so I'm passing it on to "all y'all!"

Happy Thursday, Happy Knitting, Happy....Whatever!

Button, Button

I went to one of my favorite button supply places over the weeked and look at what I found!






These will grace some of the gifts I'm making for the holidays this year. I think they're really cool as buttons go.

Curious as to what my source is? Goodwill. I buy items that have cool/funky buttons that I can use. I bring them home, remove the buttons, replace the buttons with standard issue stuff from my button container and donate the items back to Goodwill. (Sometimes I use the items as well, or repurpose them.)

I think my fascination with buttons started as a child. Whenever we would go visit my mother's aunt in Sioux Falls, Aunt Sadie would bring out her big jars full of buttons. I would sit on her floor and string buttons for hours!

Another relative taught me how to string a large, 2-holed button on a length of string just so in order to make a toy which we would wind up and let it "whir" for as long as we could keep it going.

And a girl from the neighborhood where I grew up would bring a button and thimble with her whenever she came to babysit us. We would play "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" and Hide the Thimble for the entire evening.

If you've priced buttons, you know they're not cheap--especially the more decorative sorts. I've found some nice decorative buttons (useful only for crafting) at some dollar stores on occasion. But I really like scouring the racks at thrift shops! (I saw a vest this weekend that was decorated with colored, wooden buttons! One $2 purchase would have brought you well over a dozen!)

Elves

With the arrival of today's mail I now have on the premises all necessary supplies for the making of this year's Christmas gifts for both the women:




and the men:



on my list.

Yeah!!

On a completely different note, I'm very excited to say I've been invited to offer a knitting tip/anecdote/pattern which will be published as an epilogue snippet at the back of one of my favorite author's next novel!! More details to come in a few weeks!!

To work now elves....only 261 days until Christmas!

A Walk In The Woods

Went for an Easter afternoon walk in the wooks at the local state park.

Here are a few of the treasures we found:



Duthman's Britches





Unknown purple flowers





Trillium





Shell on fallen branch

Paschal Tidings!

May your Easter be filled with light!