Great Finds

I am in that "keep it or give it" quandry with two Christmas gifts that have yet to go to the people for whom they are intended.

The first is the book, Made by Me (Jane Bull, DK Publishing, 2009). I first saw this children's book at Crafts Direct, and fell in love with its simple and cute sewing, knitting and embroidery projects immediately. It has a doll pattern with dresses, a nightie, a teddy bear, a hat and a little jacket all to go with, all made with hand sewing or garter stitch knitting. Then there are felt ornaments with blanket stitch edging, embroidery stitches for tee shirts and other items, and a pink and white varigated scarf made on jumbo knitting needles. The colors make the projects look very appealing. I can see sitting down with Goddaughter or down the road, a grandchild, to do some of the projects. I can see Goddaughter using some of the projects for 4-H exhibits at the fair. I ultimately ordered the book off of Amazon because I could not find it when I looked for it again at Crafts Diret. However, last time I was at Crafts Direct I found it by chance among some quilt books shelved with the fabrics. Should I resist the temptation to buy my own copy, or use my half-price coupon?

The second is the book, The Knitter's Bible (Claire Crompton, David and Charles, U.K., 2004). Here again, I have three or four other nice knitting books which I use for reference, and a gazillion other pattern books. This book, however, demonstrates seam sewing with two different colored yarns in a color photograph, not diagram, which is easy to follow. I need something like that! It also has patterns for hanger covers, a loopy sheep that I could make out of wool yarn, a stylish cardigan, and sachet bags. I purchased a copy for Anne so that she could look up binding off when she is knitting alone, but I want one, too....

Vintage Fabric

I am doing some sewing for Christmas. Today as I ws digging for a bold piece of fabric that would match a fat quarter, I discovered that that same bold piece is "guaranteed Dutch Java" material. I got it when I loaded up on fabrics at the mission shop before it closed. Who knows how old it is. I can imagine it coming home from WWII for someone's bride, or someone purchasing it while on an exotic vacation. Unfortunately I also discovered that it is full of holes from either moths or cigarette burns. I hope it is cigarette burns, since I do not need to have my stash riddled by moths.

Rejuvination

Yesterday Anne and I made a trip to Quilts on Broadway in Foley. I spent money on patterns, and yes, some fabric. I got another Minnesota Shop Hop fabric apron, which I am tempted to keep for myself, because it covers both top and bottom. I also purchased some bag patterns using charm packs, and one that will work for an embroidery bag for Maria. Barb showed me how she buries her thread when she uses perled cotton. I enjoy stopping at her shop, and came away ready to hit the sewing machine again. She also thought that Anne looked like me!

After our shop hop Anne and Brenden made dinner for Arthur and me. Anne has their apartment decorated for the Christmas season. Even the bathroom had a splash of Christmas color.

I looked through Anne's knit and crochet purse pattern book. I might have to borrow that when my afghan, prayer shawl, Anne's scarf and hand warmers, and my socks, are finished!

The Cardinal

We watched The Cardinal (Otto Preminger) last evening. What a difference a few years makes! This was the third time I watched the movie. The first was when I was in junior high, when it was on television. The second time must have been about 10 years ago. I saw the movie very differently last night. The Fermoyle family struck me as being very disfuncional. Three adult children were still living at home, none married. When Florie and Mona fought, though he had been studying in Rome for presumably a number of years, Mother sent Steve off to comfort Mona instead of reacting to the fighting herself. Dad also remained silent. Mona expected Big Brother the priest to make all of her decisions for her, and in turn blamed him for the painful consequences. At Mona and Benny's engagement party, Benny and his Jewish parents acted as if that was the first time they had addressed the issue of Benny's marrying a non-Jewish woman. Their indifference to the interfaith marriage until then was out of keeping with the time period. After Mona's death another woman, one of his students (No ethical eyebrows raised there) falls in love with Fr. Fermoyle, and he with her. Then suddenly he decides to return to the active priesthood, no explanation given. She was so "in love" with Fr. Fermoyle that she was never able to love her husband, and after her husband commits suicide, she has no desire to live. Throughout the movie Fr. Fermoyle never looses the guilt he feels in following the Church in moral decisions. His guilt implies that there is something wrong with the Catholicism that he must practice, rather than a deficiency in those who make bad choices, and then suffer negative consequences.

The film does show some good shots of traditional Catholic liturgy, and even goes so far as to show tonsures on the newly ordained men. Except cursory references to to prayer, however, neither Fr. Fermoyle nor the other clergy in the movie are portrayed as deeply spiritual men, and are even presented as being a bit callused, ambitious, and greedy. It takes Fr. Steve to save them from their errors.

We've decided this film is not a keeper.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving

I stayed up late last night to make the "turn" on my afghan. I am now over half way done.

Anne and Brenden are coming over for breakfast tomorrow. I plan on washing my mother's red, stemmed glasses and using my Old Curiosity Shop plates so that we can have a Vandeberg style Thanksgiving. (I still cannot fathom that Mother dared to let us use those very breakable glasses at every holiday meal!) Arthur has requested homemade cinnamon rolls, which means I will also bake.

I had a flock of cedar waxwings in the oak tree this morning. Also a few snowflakes.

Sweater Stone

I broke down and ordered the sweater stone which Lion Brand advertises for removing pills from knitting, fleece and drapery. The sweater stone leaves behind a gritty residue which smells like charcoal. I found it easier and cheaper to use a pumice stone designed for sloughing dead skin off of feet. Either way, I am pleased to have the means to restore the look of my two favorite wool sweaters.

A Matter of Virtue

I am reading 1917: Red Banners, White Mantle (Warren Carroll, Christendom Press, Front Royal, Virginia, 1981). The carnage of WWI continues. I hate to think of all of the reparation that is required to atone for the sins of that war alone.

When President Wilson jumped into peace negotiations, he refused to accept the crowned heads of Europe as legitimate spokesmen for their countries. He saw it as the duty of the United States to "pave the way for democracy". Almost a hundred years later we are reaping the fruits of that democracy-turned-socialism. It takes me back to the issue that government is only as good as it's rulers are virtuous. Let us pray.

Impeachment

One solution to unconstitutional actions should be the liberal use of impeachment. What might our country be today if after Roe vs. Wade the people rose up and demanded the impeachment of the Supreme Court justices who chose to have complete disregard for state laws, and for God's law?

Fall Vegetable Soup

A great  recipe for a fall evening

Fall Vegetable Soup

2 lbs fully cooked sausage rings or links, cut into chunks
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
3-4 potatoes, in jackets or peeled, cubed
3-4 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. if you do not use any meat
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup butter
3 cups water

Cook in a five quart crock pot. You can add more vegetables if you have the space. Cook on high 4-6 hours.

Before serving stir in one cup or more of warmed milk and 1/4 cup of fresh parsley or 1 tbsp. dried parsley.

If you are short on time or are accustomed to using prepared foods, you could probably use a package of frozen hash-browns and packaged, shredded carrots and cabbage. We have our own potatoes, carrots and onions from the garden, so I use those.

Constitutionalists vs. What?

Saturday was a red letter day for the Constitution Party of Minnesota. We sponsored former Sheriff Richard Mack at the Holiday Inn Airport in Bloomington. As treasurer, that leaves me with a pile of paperwork on my kitchen table. Last eveing we attended a Republican gubernatorial candidate forum at St. Ben's. Both events leave me skeptical as to the desire to return to our constitutional roots, both on a federal and state level. George Washington, our first president, went against the U.S. Constitution with the Whiskey Rebellion. Thomas Jefferson overlooked the Constitution with the Louisiana Purchase. Abraham Lincoln overlooked it in refusing the southern states their right to secede from the Union. At both the state and national levels our money has been taxed from us to be redistributed as charity to other nations, or other citizens. How many more instances are out there? If violation of our constitutions has been going on from the beginning, what makes us think that we can reverse the trend now? That they are able to be violated so easily indicates a flaw in our U.S. Constitution and our state constitutions. Is this American experiment, then, really the best, most moral form of government there is? Have we been presumptuous in attempting to foist our form of government onto everyone else? Is it worth saving? Are we able to save it? What next?

Back to Knitting

Politics off of my chest, I did break down and buy more yarn. Anne got a new winter coat, so I need to make her a new scarf and hat. Something more grown up now that she is married. Don't ask me when I will get that done, but I have the yarn for it. I also rationalized four bright skeins of Sugar and Cream into the purchase because they were so pretty, and because they were on sale.

National Health Care

I am hoping that people will storm heaven and the Senate so that the health bill does not become law. It is unconstitutional, and immoral.

Where in the Constitution of the United States does it give the federal government the right to pay for, or oversee our healthcare? It does not.

Under the guise of giving everyone the "right" to health care, it will make us bow to government standards of care rather than deciding for ourselves what treatment we should receive. Look at the fiasco at Walter Reed Medical Center and ask yourself if you want to become one of the soldiers receiving sub-standard care because of lack of funds and poor management. It is just and right if I decide to forgo treatment for myself or a child because the risk or the cost or the chance of a positive outcome make a particular treatment extraordinary. It is quite another story if the government puts a value on my life because of my age or condition of health, and decides for me that I am not worthy of care. That'll slip us right into situational ethics. But wait!
I thought we were all "created equal"!

The solution to rising costs is to remove tax incentives to employers who give healthcare as a benefit to their employees, so that employment and insurance are separated. Next, remove all government mandates for insurance, and let people pick the plans that suit their incomes and needs, not the things the government says we need. I am Catholic. Why should my coverage have to include birth control, abortion, sterilization, tubal ligation, in vitro fertilization, or prescription drugs to "assist" me in ending my life? Next, let the universities determine who can be licensed to practice medicine. Next, let the pharmaceutical companies and health food stores be responsible for the safety and effectiveness of their own drugs and supplements. Let our healthcare be ruled once again by reputation, scholarship, pride in one's work, and charity to others in wanting what is best for them, not by government employees awarded their positions as political favors, or politicians with their socialist agendas.

Beer Bread Recipe

3 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 can or bottle of room temperature beer

1/2 cup melted butter

Thoroughly mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Pour in the beer. Mix just until ingredients are moist. Pour into a greased, 9x5 loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Pour half of the melted butter over the bread. Bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour remaining butter over the bread. Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Baking temperature 35O Degrees.
Yields one loaf.

This recipe is especially good with soup or chili on a fall or winter day.

Knit Down

I am in stash-buster mode. I decided I really do not need to have so much stuff around, and I am bound and determined to do something about it. No more new yarn or fabric until a good portion of my current stash is used up. I mean it!

I worked on the Mary garden at church for a short time this afternoon. The weather was perfect, albeit a little too breezy. I dug up my own Stella d'Oro lilies and divided them for replanting here, and at church. The church yard is starting to look like a real garden now. God be praised!

We now have Relevant Radio in the St. Cloud area. This afternoon I listened to an ad on that station for St. Ben's Monastery, in which the Sister narrating declared this week-end a week-end of three feasts, Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. Perhaps Halloween is a feast for those who worship the devil, but it is not a feast on my calendar! The Sisters should tune in this week while Moira Noonan is a guest on the Drew Mariani Show.

New homespun Pattern

I am not having good success with the other patterns I have tried with Homespun, except the garter stitch prayer shawl. I am going to try the hat and scarf pattern below to see if that works. I have not learned knitting in rounds yet, so it will be an experience!

Free Knitting Pattern 70379AD Hat And Scarf : Lion Brand Yarn Company

Free Knitting Pattern 70379AD Hat And Scarf : Lion Brand Yarn Company

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Sunday Afternoon

The sun is out, and weather is warm compared to the last few rainy, cold days. I have been busy planting the Mary garden at church. Last evening I cut back some of my own plants, Stella d'Oro lilies and irises, which I will transplant to church. I snipped some of the lilac seeds as well. A little late, but it may be of some use to the new buds. I also took out my rosary making box last evening. I did not get more than a decade made before I decided it was time for bed, but a decade is a decade. Arthur has a meeting this evening, so I will probably do more rosaries and some knitting on Paris Olivia's afghan. I also plan on taking out my clarinet. That should prove to be interesting!

I have started reading 1917: Red Banners, White Mantle by Warren Carroll. It is holding my attention. So many good books out there. So little time.

The Winner

I just received an e-mail from Associated Sewing in St. Cloud informing me that I won the Bali Pop Pack fabric pack from their drawing at the St. Cloud Heritage Quilters Cotton Candy Quilt Show on Sunday. Wahoo!

If it did not conflict with the Knit-Wits at Crafts Direct, I would join the quilting guild in a heartbeat. Both meet on Thursday evenings.

Wedding Preparation

I am stalling on completing the second dress, although it is going better than the first one. One of these years I will finally figure out how to sew. Never mind that I have been doing it since third grade. The zipper I did on the other junior bridesmaid dress was probably the quickest, neatest zipper I have ever done.

We had our first frost last night. I covered the flowers, but completely forgot about the acorn squash and last tomatoes on the vine. The squash looks like it managed. The cosmos are in full bloom, also untouched by the frost.

I had one cat draw blood from me this morning. The other came into the house bleeding.

I long to take out my clarinet. I have had lesson music running through my head this morning.

Anne and I finished cleaning things out of her old room, and we switched beds between the two spare bedrooms. I have to make up the two beds and vacuum, and then I will have room for my music again.

Vanna's Choice Baby Afghan

I finally completed Leo's baby afghan. I used the Fanciful Rose pattern (Our Best Knit Baby Afghans, Leisure Arts, 2000). I added eight rows of garter stitch on each end to square off the blanket. The yarn is Vanna's Choice Baby (Lion Brand) in Aqua.

I am itching to try some of the solid weave patterns in that same book with Cottontail yarn, but first have to finish Paris' baby afghan, and my Simply Ridges afghan.

Now I simply must get those dresses done for the wedding, or my daughter will have my neck!

Project Roundup

We returned from our Two Harbors vacation on Monday afternoon. My vacation knitting goal was to complete my aqua baby afghan at Two Harbors, and then make significant in-roads on the Cupcake afghan while we are on retreat. I did not quite finish the aqua, Vanna's Choice baby afghan, but I am nearing the finish line. All I need to do is bind off and tuck in ends. Leo, your blanket is almost ready!

During this stay at Two Harbors, I was able to check out most of the restaurants and shops in the vicinity. My top picks are Pioneer Arts Co-op (a required North Shore stop for me) The Sweet Pea, and Burt's Mercantile. The Sweet Pea carries imported gift items, and also has a number of booths which local artists rent to hock their wares. Some of these artists also have merchandise at the Pioneer Arts Co-op, so if you cannot make it up the shore, a trip here would still give you an in to the local market. Burt's Mercantile carries mostly foodstuffs, with an emphasis on wild rice. However, they do sell quilts and aprons made locally. I was particularly attracted to their use of beautiful quilted wall hangings around their bins. I did not see prices on these, so I was not sure if they were for sale, or just decor. Still, they lent a pleasant ambiance to the store. It was fun just to look at them. We discovered a thrift store in town, too. Musty smelling, but otherwise well organized, and inexpensive. If you are looking for dishes, stop there before heading to Second-Hand Rose in Silver Bay (another required stop). My favorite places for food were On the Waterfront Cafe, and The Vanilla Bean. Of course, Burlington Bay was still my favorite, and most productive agate hunting grounds.

I did the fitting for Brenden's sister's dress for the wedding.

Kits and Knits

I managed to knit three rows of a baby afghan with a cat on my lap yesterday! It helped that he was tired. Of course, I was unable to shift my legs without dumping him on the floor. Later Gracie had to see if I could knit with her on my lap. It worked for about a row. Things are getting good around here.

Tidbits

I did scrub my kitchen floor, clean the bathroom and our bedroom sink, and vacuum the house. I also cleaned a few bird feeders, filled the bird baths, watered my Endless Summer hydrangea, raked up the compost pile, and dug out all of the heliopsis. Tomorrow I am back to work.

Places for knitting

Another favorite spot to knit is in the kitchen, while I am waiting for cookies to come out of the oven.

Preparation for Communion

In one of his memorials, Blessed Peter Favre wrote that he wished his heart and soul would be open to seeing Jesus coming to him in the Holy Eucharist, and that Jesus had come to him 'entirely too often without my being alert to His coming.' (To the Other Towns: A Life of Blessed Peter Favre, William V. Bangert, S.J., Ignatius Press, 2002). How telling! A blessed of the church who had to make an effort to receive Communion in the proper spirit! Let us also strive to be attentive to Jesus when we receive Him.

Now, off to do my vacuuming and scrubbing so that I can then head out to the garden. A perfect day to be out of doors. The breeze is cool and refreshing.

Where do you knit?

I've knitted at my daughter's swimming lessons, at the doctor's office, on the bus, in the car, at meetings, and sometimes while waiting for a concert or theatre performance to begn. The last can be difficult because the lighting is usually not very good. Car knitting is best on longer trips when I can acccomplish a number of rows. I am grateful then that my husband does all of the driving, and I have the time to do my stuff. I do think about what would happen if there were an accident. Being impaled on a knitting needle is not my idea of the way to go!

Political Yarn

Yes, I am the Minnesota woman who knits her way through political conventions and meetings.

Knit Flowers

Lion Brand has been publishing patterns from the book, 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet by Lesley Stanfield (St. Martin's Griffin, 2009) in their on-line newsletters. The patterns are incredibly real looking. I am fascinated by the intricate patterns. I have copied only one in hopes that I will be able to buy the book. I am gettting overly zealous in my plans, of course, but they would make elegant embelishments to other knitted projects.

Every Now and Then

I still sit down to my quilting every once in awhile for a break from my knitting. I find the change to be very energizing. Of course, I have as much fabric to use up as I have yarn and rosary beads! I have finally fgured out this paper piece quilting stuff, and connecting the two ends of binding strips together after the binding is sewn onto a quilt.

I have started a bias scarf out of Country Spa yarn. I am having more success with this pattern, which calls for knitting into the front and back loop for an increase, rather than a yarn over. It is only 15 stitches wide.

For at least a third time, I ripped out the bias prayer shawl I had started in Homespun using the Lion Brand V Shawl pattern. On the last run I was four stitches short after only about six inches of knitting. It is very hard to keep track of the rows.

Prayer Shawls and Prayer Blankets - A Catholic Perspective

Some of the parishes in my diocese have been making and distributing prayer shawls, or prayer blankets. After seeing some of the beautiful prayer shawl patterns and yarns being promoted for this purpose by the yarn companies, as well as having friends invite me to assist in their blanket making, I decided I had best do some checking on the "orthodoxy" of this new work of mercy. It seemed a bit new age, not to mention a great way for the yarn companies to increase their sales!

According to the shawlministry.com web site, Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo conceived the idea of prayer shawls after having graduated from the 1997 Women's Leadership Institute, a program on Applied Feminist Spirituality at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut. The web site refers to shawls as being "symbolic of an inclusive, unconditionally loving, God" (Janet Bristow, 1998), and like the "unconditional embrace of a sheltering, mothering God." The site suggests that the shawls can be given, amongst other things, for "leading ritual" and "croning rites of passage." That sounds a bit pagan, or new age, to me. If it is new age, how can Catholics promote the practice of prayer shawls in our church?

The web site, sthubert.org (St. Hubert Catholic Church, Hoffman Estates, Illinois) says their blankets are given to "provide hope, comfort and healing to those who most need a reminder of God's love for them through the work of our hands and the prayers of our hearts."

A blanket, in and of itself, provides warmth and comfort. A blanket made by a loved one reminds us that we are loved. The person making a prayer shawl or blanket is asked, in addition, to pray for the recipient before beginning it, while working on it, and after finishing it. Praying for someone is a good thing. We know that in addition to praying as we work, we can offer the very work itself for the good of another. In the Catholic Church prayer blankets and shawls are also usually imparted a blessing from a priest or a deacon, thus directing the blankets to the sanctification of the user and the glory of God.

I am almost finished with my first shawl, and have yarn for two more. (I succumbed to the warm colors of Lion Brand Homespun and to their prayer shawl pattern books.) Still, I think of another "shawl" which has been in use in the Church for centuries. It is called the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Sewn into it and given to us by the Blessed Mother are her love, her prayers, and all of the good works of the Carmelite monks and nuns throughout time, and throughout the world. Makes me wonder....

Round dish cloth

For a beautiful dishcloth pattern, check out foothillsofthegreatsmokymountains.blogspot.com

Garter Stitch Dog Pattern

I am looking for a simple garter stitch dog pattern from the 1960-1970 era. I believe the ears, legs, body and tail were knit seperately, and sewn together afterwards. It was a very easy pattern, probably put out in a beginning knitting book.

Anyone have any cat and dog patterns they recommend?