I'm feeling thankful today. I have a lot of blessings in my life. I'm surrounded by wonderful friends. I have a family, a home, a job, a car, enough groceries to eat well. I'm free to choose my religion and worship in the way I choose. Blessings abound in my life. There are many more than I can list, but I wanted to write them down, so I'll list some here. :) They are not in any particular order.
- Bears - my amazing 14 year old son. He has been a blessing to me in so many ways. Far more than I can ever begin to list. He is an incredible young man, and i am so proud of the person he is growing up to be.
- CB - I never planned to fall in love, but I did. He's an amazing man. He is kind and caring. Even though our relationship is a bit undefined at the moment, I am always secure in the knowledge that he is my friend, and that he loves me. That's enough for right now. Possibly forever.
- My extended family - Too numerous to name, and sometimes very annoying, but I am confident that I am loved and cared for by them all, even when they think I've gone off the deep end.
- My friends - Again, far too numerous to name. I'm afraid I'll leave someone out, or if I don't, that I'll be typing all night. I truly have more friends than I can count on my fingers that I know I could call on in the middle of the night or from anywhere, and they would do anything in their power to help me.
- My home - I love my house. I love the space I have to call my own. It's cheerful and welcoming to me. It's a place I enjoy returning to.
- Fiber - Mostly yarn. I love taking needles or a hook and some string and creating something beautiful and unique. I love the feel of the yarn as it runs through my hands, and the fabric that is created. The colors as they change and pool. The look of the yarns sitting in my stash waiting patiently to find out which project they will become. Much like lots of little caterpillars waiting to spin their chrysalises and become beautiful buterflies.
- My jobs - Not just for the income I receive, but for the joy I get from the jobs themselves.
- God - He loves me, and he chose me, and he continually blesses me far more than I deserve.
- My pets - Nicholas, the bunny; Smaug, the dragon; and Sassy, the fostercat. Each of them has very distinct personalities. They're all very loving in their own way, and they provide me with much enjoyment. They are each a blessing in their own way.
There are many more blessings in my life, but I wanted to share a few of them. I don't deserve any of it. I'm just glad blessings don't have to be deserved. They are gifts given where they are not necessarily merited. Otherwise, I'd be in trouble. :)
Remember this?
Well, now it looks like this.
So how do you handles stress? I knit. Not just anything, either. I knit socks. The more stressed I get the more socks I knit. How stressed am I?
Those are the current socks in process. My "real job" has been very stressful lately. We have some tight deadlines on the projects we are working on right now. We've all been working long hours and late nights. Socks are great because I have knit them for so long that they are pretty much brainless knitting for me. They're also nice because they're small and can be taken almost anywhere.
I just finished the pair on the right. They're for my friend Dawn at Loops. Dawn's birthday was last month. Her husband left that day on a business trip to China, and a family member became ill and was hospitalized. It turned out to be yucky birthday, so I decided that Dawn needed to have another birthday this month, so I made her a birthday present.
I used Regia Bamboo and one of the 5 stitch patterns from More Sensational Knitted Socks. It was a good stress relief for me, and hopefully a good second birthday for Dawn.
I had a horrible experience night before last. I went to a concert in downtown Tulsa. The Bands were Puddle of Mud, Breaking Benjamin, and 3 Days Grace. It was outdoors. I get up to the gate and the security lady asks to see inside my bag. No problem. Standard procedure for a concert. What comes next is a little different, though. I hear, "Oh, you can't bring knitting needles in here. Those could be used as a weapon!" What? I pointed out that they were allowed on airplanes. She replied with, "Well, you must not have brought them to any big rock shows like this." No not at all. Just the Def Leppard and Journey concert last fall. Not a big show. Not at all. Billy Joel last month wasn't a big show, either. Not at all. Just 50,000 people or so. Not big.
Well, since I'm still dating CB, we've proven that knitting socks for your boyfriend doesn't cause you to break up. But does knitting socks for an ex-boyfriend get you back together? We'll put that one to the test, too.
A while back an ex-boyfriend of mine asked me to knit him some socks. I told him if he bought the yarn I would knit them for free, but only if I got to knit them on my own schedule. The main reason I hate knitting for other people is that I have to knit on their deadline. Needless to say it took me a while to get them done, but here they are.
So you wanna know what happened? Absolutely nothing. :) Socks apparently have no effect on boyfriends at all whatsoever, ex or current. Well, that's not entirely true. Both of them want more socks. Go figure!
So just how addicted to knitting are you? Where will you knit? Me? I knit in most every place I go. This includes church. Now my church is very laid back when it comes to the service. Even the pastor wears jeans. We have tea and coffee that we can drink during the service. The praise and worship is a rock band complete with light show, so it's not like I'm knitting in a cathedral during a formal Catholic mass. Well, CB thinks I may have taken it too far this weekend. Here's what I was knitting.
I'm making Sassy Stripes from Magknits. I'm using six different colors of Rowan Cotton Glace. You change colors every two rows in this pattern, and instead of cutting it every time you just carry it along the side. A beer box is the perfect thing to keep the yarn straight. I put one ball in each of the sections. It's great!
No one said anything, or even looked at me funny that I noticed. It's a fun little summer knit. I think I'm really going to enjoy it!
We all know the boyfriend curse. It can really hamper some knitters styles. I find that if you don't date guys who wear sweaters it's really not a problem. Now, socks. Well, it's hard to find a guy who doesn't wear socks.
I was bored working at my LYS one night, so I sent a text to CB and asked his shoe size. Apparently, I didn't take the Harlot's advice on the size of a man's feet when I picked this boyfriend. He wears a size 11 shoe. So without ever asking him if he wanted a pair of socks, I embarked on a new project. Do you know how many stitches there are in a size 11 sock? Me, neither, but it's a lot!!! I finished the socks in about two weeks. Well, I finished the knitting, anyway. Then they sat in my living room floor in a pile of yarn and projects in various stages of the creative process. For about 3 months. Last night CB came over to watch movies, so while we sat on the couch I wove in the yarn ends and tossed them in his lap. He likes them.
They're made from 3 skeins of Regia Silk in charcoal gray. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks, but I don't remember which one, and since CB is snuggled up next to me on the couch, again, I'm not gonna go look. :)
I have a very dear friend who turned an age she doesn't want to admit to recently. She's beautiful. She's tall, thin, and has beautiful long red hair. I certainly wouldn't call her a tomboy, but she does not think of herself as "girlie." She considers me to be girlie. It's kind of funny. What constitutes girlie? I'm considered girlie because I don't gag about lace and ruffles. I wear pink. I like standard girl jewelry. It doesn't have to be something funky or unique for me to enjoy it. She's not girlie because all those things are distasteful for her personally. In college she was a goth, and although she's really not now she still shies away from things considered girlie. On the other hand, she wears makeup every day. She shaves her legs every day, and sometimes twice a day. Me? I wear makeup about twice a week, and I shave my legs if I think they're going to be seen. In relationships I prefer to be completely straightforward and up front about everything. I am incapable of playing the coquette. I say everything that is on my mind, and I don't have hidden agendas. They annoy me. She is the quintessential flirt. She is all about the game. She thrives on the mystery and intrigue. So, who's girlie?
Why am I telling you this? Well, I wanted to make her something beautiful for her birthday. Something that would accentuate the parts of her that were girlie, but still be cool enough that she would love it. You can tell me how I did.
I made her a lace shawl from traditional Shetland lace patterns I took from Sharon Miller's book Heirloom Knitting. The center is a diagonal garter stitch square, and the border is Horseshoe Pattern. The edging is Ring Shawl Lace Edging with Spider Insertion, and i added an additional insertion from Coburg Edging with Faggot Insertion. I used Rowan Kid Silk Haze in shade #584 Villain. It's a dark chocolate brown that I think will look great with her hair. Here it is being blocked. The pictures aren't the greatest. It was a cloudy day. I'm hoping to get a few pictures of her in it soon to show off.
So? Is it too girlie?
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