Elizabeth Zimmermann Birthday Tea Party

August 9, 2009 (Sunday) would have been Elizabeth Zimmermann's 99th birthday. My local knitting guild, The Sunflower Guild, celebrated by having a wonderful tea party at The Victorian Trading Company. This was the PERFECT setting for the gathering. We had, gosh, maybe 30 knitters from our guild in a little old-fashioned Victorian furnished parlour inside the store in a private tearoom. The furnishings were wonderfully authentic, and our guild members had all dressed up in their summer dresses and many wore shawls or Elizabeth-inspired knitting projects.


What can I say? It was a delightful afternoon. While we drank tea and homemade lemonade, we enjoyed treats prepared by several of the members.

We heard Elizabeth stories, about events from her life and her books. We discussed projects that were made from or inspired by her books. We had an Elizabeth trivia game and prizes were awarded. There were dainty little hand made notecards, handspun and/or hand-dyed yarn.

It was just delightful! This is the second year they had the event. I didn't get a chance to go last year, but will definitely plan to attend next year.


This lovely afternoon reminded me of an Elizabeth story I heard from Davis Xanakis during his Double Knitting class the first year I attended Stitches in 2003. He told of how Elizabeth used to be knitting constantly, including while her husband drove the car or motorbike. Whenever she would go to dinner at someone's home, she would often bring them a gift, and often a knitted gift. One day, he said, she was on the way to dinner at someone's home and she knitted the host a double-knitted pot holder so that the table would be insolated from hot pans. She just whipped it up and hurried to finish it on the way to dinner and presented it as she walked in the door, barely off her needles.

My own personal "Elizabeth" memory is one of my craft-loving grandmother, Ferne, (now 93 and still with us) watching EZ's PBS TV show. Grammy would never let us turn the station while EZ was on. She stayed glued to it the whole time. In recent years, she's really enjoyed us being able to view EZ videos from the library. It brought back a lot of warm memories from the times we watched it together during the 1960's during the PBS years.

So in closing, as Elizabeth would say, "Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises."

Naughty Gnats and Other Annoyances

Perhaps because we've had an extemely cooler and wetter than normal summer here in the Kansas City area, there are more gnats and other flying insects. How do I know this? Because at the office I've recently noticed these little fruit fly like things, gnats, or whatever you call it, hoovering around my desk at work, especially whenever I'm eating the fruits and veggies that I so often eat.

What I noticed was that day after day last week, as I worked on an undesirable project and it became more difficult and frustrating, my annoyance with the gnats increased steadily. Monday, minor irritation. Tuesday, why are they here? Wednesday, what the . . . . Thursday, okay stop it SWAT!! Friday . . . ughhhh. By Friday, I wanted to kill them literally, whatever it took.

So Friday I actually interrupted my work flow to conduct an Internet search how to get rid of gnats. Then I took an early lunch break, went out to the grocery store and armed myself with the homemade remedy recommended on several sites which is: put some cider vinegar in a small cup, along with some Dawn detergent, cover the cup with with plastic wrap poked with a few holes and held closed by a rubber band. Thus, I took the time to create these little gnat traps and put them all around my office.

Well, this sounds silly but I'm the type of person who attributes meaning to everything. Including gnats. What interested me was not so much the gnats themselves, but my reaction to them. My annoyance was about more than gnats. Maybe I'm annoyed and irritated by a lot of things. Too many things.

Then I remembered what a psychologist once told me. When something really annoys you, you have only four basic options: 1) accept the situation; 2) change it (by changing yourself or your environment since you can't always change other people nor gnats; 3) change your attitude; 4) leave (the situation, the relationship etc.) - simply eliminate it. That's it, four options in almost any life situation.

So in the case of my gnats, I'm trying to make my office environment less appealing to gnats (change the environment), and doing this by setting traps that may capture the little buggers while I'm gone this weekend.

And if all all fails, I may have to just accept and co-exist with them. I suspect I'm noticing and overreacting to their presence largely because I have to face that project and either tackle it effectively or figure out another option. The gnats were a distraction that I let myself become preoccupied with - in other words, gnats ain't the real problem. See what I mean? It's me and how I'm dealing with other things. It's also my attitude. I need to sometimes step back and not overreact to small irritations.

Many of the small things WILL eventually take care of themselves.

But I can't lose my peace of mind over a gnat.

What's "bugging" you this week? Can you change it? Can you fix it? What are you really "bugged" about?

Making A Place for Spiritual Practice

Three years ago, back in our old house, I used to have a place in our house specifically designated for prayer and meditation. I had a little altar set up on a small table where I had meditation stones, some prayer books, my Daily Word, and my journal alongside a very comfortable chair that was used only for my prayer and meditation.

Each morning before going to work, I'd wake up early and go to that quiet place to do my daily spiritual practice. That was a special calm place and you could just feel the calm and peace emmanating when you entered that room.

Well, I haven't been going to Unity services lately as I used to, and I really miss it. So I decided today to get up early, go to church there at Unity Village - you wouldn't belive it, but the topic of today's lesson was "Spiritual Practice." And guess what? I haven't been practicing! In fact, I don't even have a good meditation chair or altar in my home anymore. And that's sad.

The only thing spiritual I've done in recent months is to pray at night for those specifically in need, and I also pray while I make my prayer shawls. But there hasn't been enough inner listening, and that's what I need - a place to be still and listen for inner guidance. Maybe G-d's been talking to me and I haven't had my spiritual receiver on - I dunno.

Anyway, I'm going to make a place again. I'm going to make time. Maybe only 10 minutes per day. But 10 dedicated minutes. It's worth getting up a few minutes early to get centered in spirit. It will be my first appointment of the day.

Last Weekend was St. Louis

We needed to get away. So we spent last weekend in St. Louis - with a 1/2 day stop in Columbia. Emily enjoyed the vintage shops and picked up a few cute items to add to her wardrobe.

Finished the Roll Neck shawl while we were car tripping. I liked it except I first knitted the eyelet edging and it rolled terribly. Ripped it out and replaced it with a garter stitch edge - not as pretty, but much more functional and this is, after all, a functional shawl. The Seta Lana yarn used in it is silk and wool blend for only $5.80 a skein - found it a few weeks ago at True Blue Fiber Friends in Columbia.


Went to my favorite lunch place - Teller's in Columbia and had a delicious salad with tuna steak on top - delicious. St. Louis was wonderful. Saw the new stadium. Didn't go to the game, but we drove by and it looks impressive. A co-worker went to the game and loved it. Maybe I'll have to go to a game there in the future. Arch is still there - stunning as always.

I found a brand new knit shop in St. Louis - Kirkwood Knittery. Never knew it was there. Wonderful place with knowledgable, friendly sales staff and LOTS of yarns that are hard to find. I'm talking Malabrigo here - yes they had it - in a variety of colors. And it's damned hard to find unless you go online. I wanted an instant Malabrigo fix to start a new shawl - called Ulmus. This is a fanciful, beautiful shawl in two colors. I started it using Malabrigo Chocolate Armago and Lettuce - too stark a contrast. Started over and am using Chocolate in Malabrigo with Happy Feet #2 - which are orange variegated orangey/autumnal colors the border will be in solid brown.



Saturday afternoon was spent on the Del Mar Loop. We walked all over that place. Emily loves the vintage shops there.

The weather was absolutely beautiful. Cool. No rain. Lovely. Relaxing. Couldn't have been better.

One Thing . . . That's All

There are times when my knitter's ADD even drives ME crazy. Yes. Right now is one of those times. When this happens, what I do is get rid of the excess crap that is getting me down - and just focusing on one thing. The simplest form of prioritizing is focusing on one thing.

Because I've been enjoying reading on my new Kindle2 almost to the exclusion of any other free-time activity, including knitting (amazing isn't it?) I am feeling overwhelmed with all the knitting projects I've started in past months and let fall by the wayside. I may be ripping out and repurposing yarn if I am no longer loving these projects.

In other words, I crave projects that are really easy, instant gratification type of things. I want to comfort myself in a non-food kind of way - knitting seems perfect for that, but only if I don't overwhelm myself with choices. One project at a time. I can't handle more right now.

So that's what I'm doing - the Roll Neck Wrap in a lovely coral color is the perfect project for this mindset. It is pretty and soft. It's all I need this lovely easy-going Sunday afternoon.

As far as the diet and exercise are going, I'm doing somewhat better. But I'm still not where I want to be. I'm staying on the program better. Exercising on most days.

Today is a pajama day. Perfect. One simple salad for lunch. One iced tea. One beautiful coral shawl in progress while watching one great movie called Monsoon Wedding.

What else does one person need? One thing - that's all. One thing at a time.

Red White and TRUE BLUE FIBER FRIENDS

Bob and I have both been feeling so harried and frazzled lately. We desperately needed to get away for an overnight trip, so on an impulse, we decided to go to Columbia, Missouri. It's a great college town that is about 90 minutes away - just a stone's throw, but far enough to seem like a mini-vacation.

We stayed at the Drury Inn, which is one of our favorite hotels. We always stay at Drury in whatever town we're traveling to. This one had an indoor pool which was very nice. And they serve a free breakfast. We made Belgium waffles.

We bummed around on Friday, visiting our favorite vintage shops on the strip there in downtown Columbia. The weather was wonderful - cooler and cloudy but not rainy.

We went to a wonderful microbrewery called Flatbush Microbrewery that we've visited before on other trips into town. We're not drinkers at all, and especially not beer drinkers, but when we go to Flatbrush, we get a microbrewery sampler and try a taste of six different beers. Our favorite this time was the Green Chile. Very unusual but good. They have absolutely wonderful food there - this time I tried the Chicken Mediterranian Pasta - not on my diet but it was to die for.


I also couldn't resist visting a yarn store. Since I usually go to Hillcreek there in Columbia, this time I decided to try the other shop in town, a smaller one called TRUE BLUE FIBER FRIENDS. Pictured are the owners. Bex (pictured holding the baby) was there on Friday and helped me deciper my gauge for a Elizabeth Zimmermann Ribwarmer that I've been trying to get right. I'm having a gauge issue, so she gave me some ideas and spent some time showing me how I could recalculate the pattern with the current gauge I'm getting. She was very nice and helpful.

Unfortunately she informed me that I JUST MISSED (last weekend)an Ozark Handspun fiber workshop that they'd had there at the shop last weekend featuring Dave of Ozark Handspun. Bummer. They had a cute (to me) but maybe FUNKY to other people, sweater on display that she said will be a free pattern up on the Ozark Handspun website in a few days. It's called the Crazy Blocks sweater and it's a free pattern, like many of the patterns on the Ozark Handspun website, though it can be tricky to navigate their website to find them.


There were some nice shoppers who came in wanting to buy some Mirasol Tupa yarn for some shawls they were making. I asked them about it and Bex pulled an attractive but very utilitarian shawl called "Roll-Neck Wrap" off her display to show me - it was a lovely green color, a simple three-sided shawl that she said she loves to wear as well as make because it stays put on your shoulders. The pattern is so easy it can be made in a matter of days. So if you need to make a quick gift or prayer shawl, this project is an excellent pick for that purpose.

The pattern was designed by a local customer and Bex sells it at her shop (see photo. The shawl has sold so well in her store that Bex has temporarily sold out of Mirabella. (She's getting in a new shipment on Monday after the holidays). But it's that a really great shawl? It's really easy. I cast on mine last night, and it's growing pretty rapidly. This is JUST the kind of mindless project I need to work on right now. If you'd like to buy the pattern, Bex sells them for $5 but there may be a small shipping charge.

So it was a pleasant Fourth. On Saturday, we spent the day with Emily and her friends and watched the fireworks at a nearby lake. It was a rare cool evening and though they seemed to have a shorter fireworks display this year due to the tight economy, we appreciated it even more. My favorite was near the end of the show, they had beautiful waterfalls on two sides of the sky. It was gorgeous. I've never seen that display before, and unfortunately I didn't bring my camera or get a photo so you'll just have to imagine it. This year, our chilly weather made it the coolest Independence Day I ever recall. And I delight in cool weather. What fun to sit in a boat and watch fireworks with a jacket on.

How was yours?

Help . . . My Treadmill Is Rolling Backwards

Ahhh!!! For 7 months now, I've been doing really good and dedicated to using the Jenny Craig weight loss plan. I like the plan, because it includes a good balance of exercise, prepackaged and preplanned meals, and weekly support by meeting with a counselor.

I lost 22 pounds from November to February. Then in February, I just started kinda of staying the same - somewhere between 136-138 pounds. I wasn't totally satisfied with that, but I had managed to get into a low enough size that I was proud of where I was, and hoping to at least maintain that loss and maybe gradually continue to creep down and perhaps eventually lose an additional ten less pounds. I'd be delighted to weigh in the mid to high 120 range.

But I've actually been really content to be where I'm at. At 5'3" weigh 22 pounds less than I use to is no small accomplishment. But ever since I started my new job in mid-May, I've been focusing on it, having some additional stress that the STRETCH part of my job has been creating, and in short, I've not been sticking as much with the exercise and eating plan the past couple of weeks as I should be.

It's finally showing up on the scale, at my Jenny Craig weigh-in yesterday, I was up to 140. Eeekss!!! Not that 3 extra pounds is all that dramatic, but it's a trend of gradually gaining and getting off program that I don't want to allow to happen.

I need to step back on the treadmill, literally and not let the lack of exercise and poor eating habits creep back into my lifestyle again. I feel SO MUCH BETTER when I am healthy and fit. So . . . . starting today . . . I'm back to wearing my pedometer, eating the JC foods instead of eating out so much, getting in 10,000 steps a day no matter what. I know that it will make me feel happier, less stressed, and more in control of my life. The exercise makes me feel so much better.

The word I picked for this year was "Priorities" and clearly I am not keeping my health and fitness center stage, where it needs to be for me to accomplish my fitness goals.


Another helpful tool I have been using, and need to watch today to recharge my motivation is called "Touchstones for Success." It is a Jenny Craig sponsored DVD and CD program that was done by Martha Beck, a writer who I've met in person at our local writer's conference and who has since risen to fame on Oprah. She has a regular column in Oprah's magazine. Martha is phenomenal. She provides insights in many arenas of life that are very helpful. So if you need a dose of inspiration in terms of fitness, I'd highly recommend this program. You can get it used on Amazon for around $16. I bought mine new at the JC center, but wherever you get it, it's worth every penny and MORE.

They say the first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging it. And as you know, I like to call a problem what it is a PROBLEM. Euphemisms like "issue" just tick me off and minimize the situation. So I'm facing a problem in fitness motivation, and I'm facing it head on. Okay? It may take me a week or two to see results on the scales. I can't control my mid-life hormones or many other things affecting the scales, but I can get on the treadmill, eat my JC meals, keep my food diary, and do the right actions to hopefully produce better results. I'll check back in by next week and let you know the results.

It's a (Big) Stretch

Several years ago, when I broke away from being a legal secretary and went back to my dream of being in sales and marketing - I started reading a book by Rhonda Britten called Fearless Living. I loved that book. Rhonda's personal story of how she overcame an extremely dysfunctional childhood makes you feel like by God, if SHE can overcome her fears and obstacles, anyone can. She shows you how to figure out what your deepest fears are - so that you can overcome them. If you go inside and feel the fear, you can tell what really makes your stomach clench up.

In the book, she talks about setting goals at different levels - some are easily obtainable, while some are "stretch" goals. Lately, I've been setting myself some stretch goals and in fact my whole job right now is a "stretch" job for me, but I love it so far. There's just so much to learn and do that I'm pretty much just focusing on it right now, which is why you haven't been hearing much about my knitting lately - I haven't been doing much except learning my new job and reading books on my Kindle.


Nevertheless, I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm enjoying the lifepath right now, which is SUCH a refreshing change. It's not all fun and games by any means, but I just returned from a 3 day trip to Vail, Colorado which was such a treat in the dead heat of summer. I learned a lot, I absorbed a lot of information about the industry, and I'm stretching my skills to a whole new level.

My boss and I flew into Denver's Stapleton airport last Tuesday and got back late on Thursday. We drove the two hours from Denver to Vail in a rental car and I was simply awestruck by the beautiful scenery. I've only visited Colorado one other time, and I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the mountains. Vail is the most stunningly beautiful place I've ever been. I wish I could have brought the family and stayed a couple of weeks. Oh well, back to reality now.

But it just goes to show that sometimes if you reach high, on a rare day, you almost feel as if you can touch the clouds.

Edited four days later (June 25th) to add: Yeah this job is a really different one than I've ever had before - some days I feel really happy and high with it and other days . . . like yesterday, I feel stretched TOO far. Felt a bit tired and defeated the last couple of days. A bit OVERstretched.

So what I'm saying is that there are definitely days where I miss the ease and comfort of my old comfy job. After exercise and stretching yourself, you CAN stretch too much and make yourself sore. This morning I'd give anything to walk into my OLD office instead of the new one. I'm tired and feeling down on myself - so opposite of the day I posted this, only three or four days ago? Self-defeat and doubt still creeps in - and I just wanted to reflect both sides accurately. Today it's a slog and I'm certainly not high with the opportunity. Glug, glug.

Really Into Lavendar Right Now

Ever since I started reading, THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB by Claire Cook, author of Must Love Dogs, I have been fixated on Lavendar - both the color and the plant. This novel is about a 40-something senior executive woman who has taken a Voluntary Buyout from a tennis shoe company and feels at a turning point in her life. Her boyfriend has dumped her. She feels frumpy and depressed. With a ton of newfound time on her hands, she is creating a new life for herself. She meets two new friends who join her on a plan to walk 10,000 steps per day. They all wear pedometers and begin taking walks together every morning - in the beginning the goal is to get in shape, but as the main characters says (I'm paraphrasing here): "I started walking for vanity's sake, but ended up walking for sanity's sake."

The reason for the lavendar obsession is that one of the friends owns a lavendar farm and they all begin making lavendar sachets, dream pillows, lavendar and mint in their gardens, as well as cooking with it. I have been having a serious desire to go out and buy some lavendar to make my own Dream Pillow and maybe some Lavendar Essential Oil - to make who knows what concoction. The book is full of recipes that sound really fun to try.


I also started making a shawl for myself, the Aoelian shawl from Knitty, that I think will be beautiful in a lavendar-grey color called "New York." I have some lavendar beads to go with it. It's a beaded shawl and is my first attempt at ever making a shawl out of cobweb like lace. My extremely patient friend Kay helped me get it started. Though I LOVE making shawls, I hate starting them, so she got me on my way through the provisional cast on and the first few rows that were the most frustrating. I think I have 27 stitches on the needles now and am on like maybe the 8th row of the setup section of the chart.

Now I'm getting ready to dive into a bath of Lavendar and Chamomile.

Kindle 2

Where have I been? The new job has kept me hopping - busy, busy, busy in extreme crash learning mode.

But there's another thing that has snagged my time and attention of late and that is . . . . my new Kindle2. Here she is, and although we were a total blind date, since I'd never tried one or even seen one in person before buying, I have wanted one ever since the Kindle first came out, and when it arrived, it was love at first sight.


With the Kindle, you can download books instantly from Amazon thorugh their Whispernet technology, which is really fun. I love downloading the sample chapters of books to see if I'm going to like it before buying. I also love the free books that are available, many of the classics that I haven't read in far too long. Right now, I'm immersed in War and Peace alongside a Richard Bandler self help book called Get the Life You Want. He uses some sort of meditative, self-hypnotic exercises to move you into make changes in your mental and emotional life. Excellent.

Though I thought I'd really MISS the real page sensory experience of reading paper books, the Kindle is an experience in itself - very much like reading but better in some ways. More portable. Less expensive to download electronic books than to buy real ones. I sat cuddled up in my swinging porch chair today, reading my Kindle, and it reminded me of those carefree summer days in childhood when I sat in a tree swing and read.

This was a fun day - went to Lawrence, ate breakfast at Miltons with Bob, Emily and my Mom. We shopped around a little bit in the beautiful springlike weather - nice breeze. Read in my porch swing - knitted with the knitting girls. Then ate an absolutely delicous dinner with Bob at Bombay Palace, a new Indian restaurant in town. It was the most relaxing place - a real total sensory experience. We ended the meal by sharing mango ice cream and drinking hot chai tea.

Ah, nice day! And I am growing to love my Kindle2 more every day. But Bob's not TOO jealous yet.

2 At a Time Socks

Here we go again - I first bought this book early last Spring, and I tried and tried to learn Melissa Morgan-Oakes method of 2 Socks at Once using the Magic Loop method. This particular book is a cuff-down method - all her patterns are cuff down. The reason this method is so appealing is because I knit slowly, have a bit of the Second Sock Syndrome, since I'd ideally like to wear the socks immediately, without having to motiviate myself to do the sock mate. Another important part of wanting to work this way is the fact that I love to learn new things. Learning fresh techniques keeps the mind exercised and fresh. Keeps the thinking flexible and agile - which is important to me as a "woman of a certain age."


Opinions on the book? First let me say that I LOVE her concept. I love the patterns in the book. And I think it's the best $12.95 I ever spent on a knitting book. Hands down. However, the book is not without its challenges, mainly Errata galore. Be sure, if you buy this book, that you go download the Errata and save yourself a lot of frustration. Not only does it have more than it's share of errata, but unfortunately it sometimes affects key concepts. So I found the Errata, but even so, I found myself getting stuck on the heels. There is a Ravelry group that is dedicated to discussing this method, and I found their discussions tremendously helpful.

Even so, what has kicked me in the butt to try this method again is our Blue Springs Knitting Group which has started a sock Knitalong. We are all going to learn the Afterthought Heel technique together - and we're using different methods of making the socks. Several of us are learning this 2 Sock Magic Loop method, and Julie (Juliebug on Ravelry) is stepping me through this. I haven't gotten to the heel yet, so I'm still holding my breath, but now I have a real live in-person friendly knitter holding my hand through the process. That is making it more fun, and this time I'm determined to master the dang technique once and for all.

Twenty Wishes

Okay, I'm nearly finished with a Debbie Macomber book in the Blossom Street series called Twenty Wishes. It's about a group of middle-aged widows, several of whom are knitters, who get together and decide to make a list of Twenty Wishes - things that they would like to do in their lives. Since these women are widows, they've all had a loss of a partner, so they're each exploring ways to find new joy in their lives.

The wishes on each woman's list are really varied, some things are skills they want to learn to do. Simple things like learning to knit, or taking belly dancing lessons. The thing I'd like to do is to finally learn a foreign language - for practical purposes, I SHOULD learn Spanish, but in my heart, Russian has always had an intriguing appeal . . . ever since I read WAR AND PEACE back in high school.

Other things are whimsical, such as dance in the rain with someone they love, going to Paris, etc. Some items are things they want to buy for themselves, such as a red pair of cowboy boots one lady had on her list. Other things involve giving to others, such as donating time as a volunteer, or participating in some charity that is close to one's heart.

There's a heartbreakingly charming little girl in the book, Ellen, who writes her own list.

While the book started rather slow, I am really enjoying it, but mainly because of the list concept. This novel is inspiring me to make my OWN list. What 20 things do I really want to do for fun, enjoyment, enrichment and growth in my own life? I am going to start a list right now . . . feel free to join me if you care to. And if you do, be sure and tell me about it. Maybe we can inspire one another with ideas.

Remember Wedge Sandals?

All during my teen years, during the '70s, I often wore these really high wedge sandals that I THOUGHT made me look taller. I haven't worn anything like that in decades. Well, guess what? Today, I was feeling young at heart and bought these. Don't ask me why. Pure fun wearing them though.


Also, today I finally finished up the Scrabble Lace Vest that I have been making from the Alpaca Grande Vest pattern that I made a couple of winters ago in heavyweight alpaca. Pictured here, the red vest is the winter version, made from heavy warm Alpaca Grande yarn.

Using the lightweight Feza yarns in Iplik Fiona - it only took 1 1/2 skeins, a bit less than 2 balls, to make this cute and lightweight spring vest. The pattern is amazingly simple. You make a ribbed rectangle, seam it up in two side seams and voila!

This colorway #1456 appears mostly with browns and beige and peach in the photo, but in person, it also has a wide spectrum of other beautiful colors such as Rose and Lavendar. It’s really a pretty yarn that produces a nice garment. The yarn has sections of cream and then it has runs of peach, brown, rose. When knit in this scrabble lace method, it makes splotches of color and texture that is very freeform like in its appearance. I knit this on size 11 needles and that is what gave the scrabble lace effect and all I did was just plain garter ribbing in order to produce it.

Prom Time

Last weekend, my daughter had her prom. Here are some photos.

8 Things MEME

Bellatrina tagged me with a very fun MEME. I am going to participate in this one because the number 8 is my favorite lucky number AND the MEME sounds easy, fun and intriguing. It's a good way to learn more about people I like. So here goes:

Here's how to do this 8 THINGS thing:
Mention the person that tagged you (Trina). Complete the lists of 8's. Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends. Go tell them you tagged them!

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Having a week off between jobs (yay!)
2. Starting the Comfort Shawl from Knitter's Daily, even though I said a couple of days ago that I was "all shawled out." Yeah, right.
3. Going out to a comedy club tonight with my husband and another couple.
4. Watching Lucy Neatby DVDs I just got from Smartflix.
5. Seeing my daughter get all dressed up for prom tomorrow night.
6. Spending a day relaxing in my PJS and knitting, watching movies - I MUST do that at least one day during my days off next week.
7. Going to Sprouts (yarn shop) tomorrow with my Mom. Never been there before.
8. Going off on a weekend with my family at the lake - maybe sometime this summer. It's so hard to all be available at the same time with our busy schedules.

8 Things I'm Pretty Darned Good At:

1. Getting stains out of garments - when Emily was 3 years old, she told her preschool teacher, "My mom is a good stain remover."
2. Pulling myself and others up when I'm down or they are down.
3. Writing.
4. Looking for deeper meaning in things - and trying to see patterns in my life.
5. Being a wife - I've gotten better.
6. Cooking.
7. Finding humor in nearly everything.
8. Knitting.


8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY (in no particular order)

1. Said goodbye to the warmest group of people I've ever worked with and will truly miss several of them.
2. Finished the LaLa Prayer Shawl for an unknown recipient who became known to me today.
3. Figured out that the plant they gave me at work is a Tubular Begonia. Very pretty flowering plant!
4. Traveled through a huge rainstorm to reach my daughter's high school musical performance and arrived just in time.
5. Watched my daughter's concert choir perform several songs from Mama Mia! (which I love) - that musical makes me happy.
6. Was able to laugh instead of cry when a deceased relative gave me a good belly laugh.
7. Ate a delicious piece of Jenny Craig cheesecake.
8. Listened to Andrew Lord Webber's Diva CD. Very enjoyable.


8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO

1. Play the piano that sits lonely and largely unplayed in my livingroom.
2. Speak and understand Russian. Don't ask me why - but I want to. Spanish would be more doable and practical, but since when am I ever practical?
3. Spin a skein of yarn that is well plied, balanced, and knittable. One that I'm proud of.
4. Slow down a bit - appreciate what is going RIGHT in my life.
5. Lose the last 10 stubborn pounds~!
6. Be more patient and understanding with my teenage daughter
7. Travel to Europe with my husband and have a romantic 2 week vacation in England, Italy and Switzerland.
8. Make a living as a full-time freelance writer - my dream job in life.

8 BOOKS I LOVE

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Maggie Smith
2. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
3. Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
4. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
5. This Perfect Day - Ira Levin
6. The World Below - Sue Miller
7. The Opposite of Fate - Amy Tan
8. The Eight - Catherine Neville


8 BLOGGERS TAGGED

1. Phyllis
2. Elysbeth
3. Lynn
4. Kay
5. Kim
6. Christine
7. Jennifer
8. Ellen

BTW, ANYONE who reads this blog and see this and wants to participate - please do. Come back and let me know when you've put up your reply :)

Make That Change

Quoting from an old Michael Jackson favorite of mine:

"I'm looking at the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
No message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place . . .
Better look at yourself and make that . . . CHANGE."

I've been making a lot of changes this year - mainly in the healthy eating and exercise department. And for once, I'm sticking to that change, trying to make it a permanent part of a healthier me.

But there's another major change happening - my job. I won't get TOO specific but even in this bad economy, sometimes a change is necessary and hopefully for the better. I'm moving to a different company, doing a less customer service and more sales-oriented position. I really MISSED the sales aspect. Doing business-to-business sales is a real joy to me, and so I've found hopefully a good opportunity to work with a sales team where I'll have a more active role.

What amazes me, with this change like no other, is so many people have come up to me and admitted their secret unhappiness with their jobs, but their fear of leaving and/or losing their jobs. What I'm saying is - don't let the economy freak you out to the point where you get real anxiety. We've been through tough economies before, and we will get through this one too. And even in tough times, there are opportunities out there . . . even for middle aged folks like me . . . it's all in matching your skills with companies that need your skills. I ALWAYS subscribe to Careerbuilder and Monster just to keep tabs on what is happening in industries that I am interested in. It's important to keep your finger on the pulse of your career field. Most of all believe in YOURSELF.

Instead of ringing your hands and muttering, "Gosh, I guess I'm lucky to have a job." Try substituting a new affirmation, "I am a productive, valuable worker and my job security lies not with any one company but in me." Does that sound too polyanic?

All Shawled Out?

After mentioning last week that I've been casting on new stuff - I'm happy to say that I'm ALMOST FINISHED with the first Prayer Shawl Knitalong project called the LaLa Shawl. And just in time, too, because I've knit so many shawls in a row that I'm actually getting tired of shawls. Dare I say it? Yes, bored and tired of knitting shawls. That is a FIRST. But I'm sure if I give myself a shawl reprieve for just a little while, that my love of their kind will return without fail.

So my next cast on may be socks. I've been thinking about the ever-popular Monkey Socks, which I've never made before. Having recently purchased the Cookie A Sock Innovations book, I'm in a Cookie A sock mood, but it seems only logical to first try the Monkey Socks that inspired her popularity in the knitting community. Not sure which yarn I'll use yet, but I'm thinking the lovely Socks that Rock sock yarn that Lynn (Colorjoy) gave me in her contest a few months back. The yarn that I won is the one on the far left, called County Clare. The only thing is, that sock yarn is pretty heavy weight for that pattern, so I may make just plain socks out of the yarn, not sure, but I'm in the mood for the spring greens and cheery turquoise that makes up that County Clare sock yarn.


And I've been hankering to do - BELIEVE IT OR NOT - a spring sweater. Yep, a spring sweater. Even though I'd sworn off sweaters a few months ago, after experiencing a couple of sweater disasters in the gauge department, I've nevertheless decided that I really do want to start one. Not sure which one. My top pick right now is the Cables & Lace Cardigan from the May 2009 issue of Creative Knitting.

No Choice Approach to Fitness

Several years ago, when I was at a Weight Watchers meeting, and I absolutely HATED exercise at the time, I asked a successful Lifetime member how she stayed so fit. Not surprisingly, she answered, "Exercise - it's really critical to losing weight, toning up, and increasing your metabolism."

Not wanting to hear that answer, I whined, "But how can you STAND it? I hate exercise. I don't wanna do it."

She smiled and said, "That's the thing, I don't give myself that choice. It's like brushing your teeth in the morning. A three year old will say they don't wanna do it, but a grown up will realize that it's no choice. You do it. It's something you do to take care of your body."

That was one of the biggest eye-opening moments and is what I'm finally applying the "No choice" approach to my own fitness life. I'm still not an athlete. But I do what I can do every single day, omitting the "should I?" "shouldn't I?" question. I don't give myself an option - it's a MUST DO.

Clearing the Decks - and Casting On With Abandon

You may have noticed that I got rid of the old half-finished and going nowhere fast projects that used to be listed in my side bar. Frankly, my whole life has felt dull, boring, stressful and not much fun recently. So I decided to clear the decks, figurately speaking, of all the old junk that was boring me, including in my knitting life.

When I was a younger woman, I was a total bookworm and would finish reading any book I started, no matter how boring. I'd trudge through to the end regardless. When I hit around mid-thirties my reading philosophy changed so that if I didn't love the book, I put it down, gave it away and didn't read it if it no longer interested me. Well, I'm applying the same philosophy to my knitting life. If I am not passionate and excited about the project anymore, I'm shelving it, frogging it or abandoning it with absolutely no regret.

And I'm casting on . . . several things actually. If any of these new projects take hold and interest me, then I will continue with them. If not, then release and turn my attention to something better.


There are false starts, like yesterday, when I tried to cast on for a La La Prayer Shawl and paired it with varigated yarn that is pretty, but tends to obscure and overpower the uncomplicated and basic nature of the shawl design. So I'm going to start over today with a solid color. False starts are fine too, they give us a chance to try something out, to gather information - and then to make another choice if a better idea is found.

Speaking of Casting On, have you listened to the Cast On podcast by Brenda Dayne lately? In Episode 75, called Epiphany, she talks about her new philsophy of being much more light-hearted, ready to take risks and be WRONG. To, in effect, play more, and worry less about making a mistake in her knitting and in her life in general. I'm feeling much the same thing lately. And by the way, Brenda's podcasts are really refreshing and wonderful to listen to. So if you haven't heard her ever . . . or lately, have your own little Epiphany by going over there to her website and listening to some of her latest musings. It's really doing my heart good.

Prayer Shawl Donations

My Mom, my Grandmother and I have all been inspired to make prayer shawls lately. Here are three that Grandma has made and contributed to the charity cause. Grandma is by FAR the most productive knitter of the three of us.

The almond colored one is a Deborah Bliss yarn in her Serenity yarn line. The purple ones uses yarn stash and scraps. The red multi-colored one is from a yarn line called Rainbow Classic - it's acrylic yarn that comes in a big huge skein for $9.99 at Joanne's.



My Mom made this lovely Easy Triangular shawl that is a free pattern from the Lion Brand website. Hers is made in Deborah Norville's Serenity line of yarn in the Forest Green colorway.


The one I finished last week is the Old Shale shawl made from JT Brett's Marble line in a bright spring colorway called "Wildflowers" that I mentioned previously. I LOVE this yarn because it comes in huge varigated balls of yarn - nearly 400 yards for $12 - you can't beat that. The colorways are gorgeous. This wrap uses a very simple pattern that I was given by WineDivaDesigns. Here is the stitch pattern for anyone interested.

For mine (I used a bulky yarn and size 11 or 13 needles):
Cast on 72
Purl two rows
Row 1: knit
Row 2: purl
Row 3: K2tog (3 times), YO, K1 (6 times), K2tog (6 times), YO, K1 (6 times), K2tog (6 times), YO, K1 (6 times), K2tog (6 times), YO, K1 (6 times), K2tog (3 times)
Row 4: knit
Continue until you are almost out of yarn, ending with a Row 2. Purl two more rows and cast off loosely. Weave in ends.

This makes a very easy shawl to knit up in a hurry and is fairly mindless. The pattern it produces makes a scallop design. We like to use acrylic yarn so that they are inexpensive to make, yet washable.

By the way, if you are interested in making Prayer Shawls at all, there is a very active and friendly Prayer Shawl group over on Ravelry. We all kind of keep each other inspired by stories of what we are making, sharing patterns and tips, as well as a few really moving stories about those who have received the shawls. You don't often get to actually meet the recipients of the shawls, but knowing they are going to people in crisis makes my normal life seem easier somehow.

One last thing, here is an article called "Blanketing People With God's Healing Love" that describes how prayer shawls have been used by the American Red Cross to bring comfort to those in crisis.

Inner Confusipation

Have you ever had it - a strange feeling of anticipation mixed with unease, confusion - a fussy feeling of not being able to rest and wanting to buzz around and get things ready in anticipation of a big change? But you're not quite sure what it is? And you're excited, nervous, confused and enthused all at the same time? I guess I'll call it . . . Confusipation?

That's what I'm feeling right now. It's very strange. And very exhilerating all at the same time. I'm feeling drawn to be busy on the outside, but still and waiting on the inside. I'm being drawn to prayer and meditate more - to read books like Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo.

Even in my knitting life, I feel bouncy and restless. Wanting to start a bunch of new projects, but also feeling a need to finish some stuff that have been in the works for a while. The last two days, I've felt an INTENSE need to finish this Feather and Fan prayer shawl I started nearly two months ago. It's growing (now 37" long - and the simplicity of the stitch pattern is creating a soothing rhythm that I hope will create serenity and healing for the woman whom I making it for.

And I'm making this shawl for a specific person whose husband was in a bad accident and needs many thoughts and prayers, for the whole family's physical, financial and emotional healing.

Engaging my thoughts in wishing the best for another person's healing is helping me wait with quiet confusapation for whatever is about to happen in my own life.