Lace Rib Knit Shrug

Well, this has been a pretty productive weekend. I finished my sweater, ok, its more of a shrug. When I showed it to Nathan and he asked if it was supposed to be so short at the back... brothers. I'm really excited about it though. I feel like I've been working on this project for a long time, but I really just started it a week into January. I used yarn my mother-in-law Linda bought me at New Years/Christmas. Thank you Linda! I think if I do this one again I will use a more supple yarn but all in all I'm pleased with the results and it is nice and thick. This is the first real clothing item I have knitted. Up to this point I have only made scarfs and shawls so this is a pretty momentous event. Jeff took some pics for me. Now on to tackle a new project!

This Weeks Projects

 I've been working on this scarf for the last few days and I finished it today! :) The color is a little more yellow than the pic shows. I also made these little scrubbys.

Making a Home

When I sat down to get into the word this morning I had trouble focusing. My brain was filled with thoughts of garlic shrimp scampi, a coffee mug tree, and the candle wax that I will have to clean off of my candle holders. As I tried to quiet my brain and train my thoughts on the Lord asking him to help my time be productive with him some things dawned on me.

Building and managing a home is almost instinct for women and I think it's a beautiful aspect of what it is to be a woman. I've been thinking about a woman's desire to make a home; a peaceful place of rest and I think that desire is a part of Gods image in me. For me there are few things so satisfying as a clean house and a happily full husband. Proverbs 31 sings the praises of the diligent, resourceful, and wise wife. I believe it is honorable to seek to have the characteristics highlighted in that scripture passage.

But lately I have thought so much about material items that I may be losing sight of what "home" should be. This morning I was reminded that making a home should be less about laundry, menus, and decor and more about sitting at the feet of Jesus. How can I build a home if I don't know who he is?

Luke 10: 38-42 "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said, But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," The Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

I found myself in Martha's shoes today. There is nothing wrong with seeing to your responsibilities and endeavoring to create a comfortable environment. However, for me, it has become an idol in my life and something I think about way too much. I have let myself become too busy and I use that as an excuse to not take time for what really matters.

Its important to not lose sight of what is more valuable than everything else; what Jesus teaches through Mary and Martha about being a woman is paramount. Running around getting stuff done is totally worthless if I haven't first sought to spend time with the Lord (who, by the way, is the one who really has control of what will happen today anyway).

All in all, it seems the most valuable thing a woman can do is spend time with Jesus. If that means something else doesn't get done I think I can live with that. How can I possibly hope to build a home filled with peace, joy and love if I don't start with a foundation of spending time with Jesus daily?

Gonna Go Fishin'

I've been working on some items and I thought these were just too cute. They are Fishy wash cloths. The green one is just a cloth and the other two are mitts. They would be perfect for a kid's washcloth.... I think I know what I will bringing to my next baby shower. This is one of the first projects I have done in color (the first being Jeff's hat). Its pretty exciting.

Jeff's Hat

Jeff wants an elaborate knit hat that he insists on making himself… that will take a while. So I made this to keep him warm in the mean time. I made 10 rows of green and 6 of black between the green rows. Hat turned out a bit bigger than he would have liked, but it will keep his ears warm. Perhaps next time I should cut back the green to 6/7 rows each, and not knit a row in black before decreasing.

Clothing Exchange

Last night I went to a party the likes of which I have never seen. It was a clothing exchange-  for some of the women there it was nirvana (for me it was just pretty cool). Most of the women who attended were from my church and it was nice to meet some people I go to church with- Yes, I've been going there for almost 2 yrs now but hey, Apex is a pretty big place. I thought this was a fantastic church activity but it would also be fun with co-workers as well.  The basic concept is that you are able to clean out your closet and share your unwanted clothes with friends who may just love what I feel "doesn't quite fit right" or is a "terrible color with my complexion" all while enjoying making new friends or hanging out with old friends with snacks and drinks. I was able to pick up a few items to add to my closet as well :) But the best part of the entire thing was that at the end, any items that were not snatched up were crammed into bags and will be taken to the thrift store in Dayton (this store's proceeds go to help troubled teens). Want to hold a clothing exchange in your area? Here are the basics of a clothing exchange:

First bring all unwanted, slightly used clothing items and accessories. (We had coats, scarfs, shoes, jewelry, dresses, pants, tops, purses, hats, hair bands, and even some perfume) Count all the items you bring (pairs of things like earrings or shoes should count as one). You will use this number as your currency. For each item you should receive a small blank sticker on which to write your initials. note: its not a bad idea to dress in tighter clothes and layers so that you can try things on over your clothes.

Now for the Rules There are three stages to the clothing exchange

Round One: During this time every one can go around freely and place an initialed sticker on items they want. It doesn't matter if someone else put a sticker on it already (we will get to that later). It's a good idea to agree on where to place a sticker on the clothing items so stickers don't get overlooked later. The outside back of a shirt is a pretty good idea. But keep in mind that stickers can fall off so be careful not to brush off anyone's stickers that may have been put on the item already when you are trying it on.  So how does this work? Say I brought 20 items. This means I have 20 stickers to shop with, and say I only put a sticker on 12 things. This means I have 8 stickers left to use if I need them in round two. 

Round Two: After a set amount of time (say an hour or so depending on how much stuff is there) we move on to round two... If you placed your sticker on an item and no one else put a sticker on it, the item is yours and you are free to go collect it. If an item has stickers on it from 2 or more people, its time for a bidding war! The item is now up for auction to the person who is willing to pay the most stickers for it. For example, I put a sticker on a purse and someone else did as well. I'm free to bid up to however many stickers I have left from round one to try and win the purse for myself. (in the example above I would only have 8 to try to out-bid the other person. In this case the person out bid me and places all the stickers they bid on the purse- they have used up those stickers and can't use them to bid on any other items- Since I didn't win the purse, I get my sticker back that I placed on it and now have 9 to bid with on other items. It helps to have an auctioneer go through this process one item at a time, this way things aren't too crazy and also perhaps others who didn't see the item before could have a chance to bid for it as well.

Round Three: On to round three. Everyone should have their items and everything else is now free game. You can have any item that's left for free. Please note however, that the point of the exchange isn't to fill your closet with a whole bunch of stuff all over again. Take things you would use/want but don't be greedy or unladylike as you as you go through this round.

Once its all been said and done bag up all the left-over clothes and take them to the thrift store! Feel good. You just got rid of some clothes you didn't want and got some you like in return :)

Apricot Scarf

Well, I finished knitting my foreign correspondent's scarf last night. I blocked it last night as well and now it is finished!!!!! I really think this is a beautiful pattern and cant wait to show it off. The color is the perfect thing to brighten up the cold gray winter.Here are a few pics :)

What I've been working on...

I just wanted to post a few pics of what I have been working on the last week or so. I've finished this bag and I'm plucking away at my scarf. :)

It was a Happy Holiday Season

Now that the Christmas season is finally over I can post all the things I've been working on for Christmas presents. I made 4 scarfs and 1 hat. My absolute favorite was the one I made for Andy (my little bro) its called the Sweeny Todd Scarf. I learned to knit on a bias which was pretty cool. In addition to that I made a scarf called Serafine for my sis-in-law I love how the color of the yarn really ended up matching her coat. The rest of the projects were pretty simple: "Ellen's knit hat" "The Denver Scarf" and a pattern simple titled "Scarf" which my brother Josiah has gotten several compliments on.

We had a fantastic Christmas with both or our families. We celebrated with my fam the weekend before Christmas. Since Mom has been sick with chemo Josiah and I made all the cookies. My personal favorite were the gingerbread angels (those are the the gingerbread men that have died and gone to a better place). Needless to say mom will be glad to participate in overseeing the cookie making next year :) I received Mario Kart for the Wii which we played most of the day- I thought I was better at that game, guess I will just have to do some more practicing. We then celebrated Christmas day rather quietly. In previous years we have gone out to a movie as a family but Mom's white blood cell count has been low so Dad bought a few movies and we had a bit of a marathon. We watched Despicable Me, which was pretty awesome, Knight and Day, Inception, and Salt.

The week of New Year's Mom got her first dosed-down treatment of chemo and it seems to be much easier on her body than her previous treatments which put her in the hospital. She still has some nausaua but she is doing so much better. The biggest down-side to this is that she will have to get a treatment once a week instead of once every three weeks.

We celebrated Christmas with the West Family over New Years. It was so nice to get to hang out with Jeff's family. Jeff and Trist played video games and we all talked and ate a lot. We gave Jeff's parents a HUGE tv for Christmas which was a big surprise for them. The looks on their faces were pretty much priceless. New Year's Eve was a blast! We played Pit and Nush. Then later we drank champagne (except Jeff who hates the taste of alcohol) and watched the ball drop. All in all the holidays were a really great time with family and I'm a little sad to see them go. Oh, well, I guess I can begin knitting for next year. Maybe then I won't feel so swamped closer to Christmas. :)
Here are some pics of the gifts I knitted for Christmas the first is Josiah's  Scarf:

 This is Jen's scarf Serafine

This is Andy's Sweeny Todd Scarf

This is Linda's Denver Scarf

This is Jeff modeling Nathan's Ellen's Knit Hat