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?