Since I can’t type, you can enjoy some photos of Eden. (My wrist is starting to feel better though!)

My hand has really been bothering me, so I’m going to try my hardest to keep myself from typing AND knitting. I’m not sure if I can avoid either, but I’m gonna try. I’ll still be around if anyone needs me.

I’ve been enjoying my limited moments alone recently, like when I’m in the shower or driving to the grocery store. There’s been a lot on my mind lately and hardly enough peace and quiet to process everything. Last week, I was suddenly hit by a very strong feeling that a change was coming, that I was going to experience some sort of a loss in my life. It didn’t freak me out though, I just felt very calm and thoughtful about it.

It now seems like a loss may be happening. It makes me a little sad. I’m not ready for things to change in my life. My mom always says that I handle change very well. I suppose that I do, but I really prefer for change to happen when I’m ready for it. It seems like the last great loss I experienced in my life (church) came at a time that I really wasn’t ready for it either. Sure, nobody likes change, but usually I can convince myself that it will be good and that I want it.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about a relationship in our lives that has the potential to be made right again. It scares the crap out of me. I’m not sure if I can have my heart broken again. I am filled with dreams of happier times. Optimism that sees everything that could be good. And Cynicism that sees everything painful. Skepticism that wonders what lies have we been told? And by who? Have we believed something all along that wasn’t true, simply because the truth was withheld from us? I think it’s probably a mixture of everything and nothing.

What Could Be might be really good, or very bad or really both. Maybe I want to stay in the dark with my dreams of What Could Be rather than face the reality?

I suppose that life isn’t good when it’s stagnant. But it seems like when things are going good, that you just want to stay in that place and enjoy the peace for awhile. I guess that’s the point though, enjoy it when it’s good and when things get hard, you put on your armor and power through. I think I can do that.

Well, I’ve done it. After many loud demands (Scout!) I’ve made my cabled purse pattern available for sale. I even have it available for automatic download via PDF. So go check it out!!

I’ve just been cranking out the knitting projects. And I’m trying not to be distressed that my right wrist has really been bothering me. I’m typing right now with a brace on. Yikes! But I managed to get this baby bolero done. The pattern is from One Skein, and while I love the design, I’m not thrilled with the assembly. There’s just so many seams for such a teeny little thing. So this is what I did:

•For the shoulder seams, I did the 3 needle bind off.
•For the sleeves, rather than setting in the sleeves, I picked up stitches around the arm hole and worked the sleeve backwards down the arm.
•I also worked 3 rows of ribbing around the body to match the sleeves rather than 2 like the pattern says.
•I also used GGH Samoa – 2 balls.

That’s it! It’s still cute, if I do say so myself!

back detail

So here it is, a very big sock that sometimes people put gifts in around the end of December.

This was really my first experience with extensive chart reading and I’m quite proud of my efforts. (As if you couldn’t tell by the 50 million photos I’ve taken.)

The yarn is Cascade 109, I used 2 skeins of the main color and then just a little of one for the contrasting color. I love this yarn! It is so soft for 100% wool, and it’s not even merino.

the back

The pattern is from Hand Knit Holidays. I have to say, even though we don’t celebrate Christmas, I LOVE this book. There are so many patterns in the book that aren’t holiday oriented and there’s even a hanukkah pillow (that I would never use, but STILL.)

Now lets show some love for this heel. I have to say, this is a nice heel.

Knitting this was really fun for me. This is why I love knitting for the store, I want to knit everything, but I don’t necessarily like or would use everything. I’ve noticed that I’m starting to be more about the process than the product. When I was taking art classes in HS, my teacher would always give me a hard time that everything I made HAD to be functional. I couldn’t just sculpt a piece for the artistic value of it, it had to have a purpose. I still maybe knit for a purpose, but I am beginning to enjoy the artistic value of it more.

(And in very good, unrelated news, the scarf swap scarves are done and will be heading out tomorrow. Pics will come.)

Yesterday was a crazy day. I was all over the place, taking my mom to lunch and shopping for her birthday with my sister and visiting a friends new dog. Honor broke out in hives because of the dog’s saliva, so I had to rush to Rite Aid to get some Benadryl. (Can you believe that the liquid Benadryl didn’t come with a medicine cup? So I ran back into the store and asked the pharmacist for one of their medicine spoons – generally they are free. I ran out to the car, tore into the spoon and realized that it had a bar code on the back. I think I may have stole from Rite Aid. I was just worried about Honor having a severe reaction and wanted to get that medicine into him as quickly as possible.) I also faux worked at the office, mostly just catching up on some correspondence. Dropped Jim off at the church where he plays the guitar sometimes, went back to the office to work on the labels for my lip balm. Picked Jim up and drove to pick up our kids from a friends house, wonderful friends who fed us spaghetti.

In my crazy life of driving all over town, teaching knitting classes and preventing Honor from cutting his own avacado, I’ve managed to finish a few things:

Last week a woman I knew lost her 1 year old son. It still chokes me up to think about it. I am amazed at how strong she is. I can’t imagine the incredible pain of losing a child, something that, I’m sure, is inconsolable. But I wanted to do something for her, and the only thing I know how to do is knit. Several customers have come into the store to purchase materials to make a prayer shawl and it seemed like a beautiful idea for me to use.

This is the shawl I made.

It’s made from two different Hanah Silk hand-dyed ribbons, two different eyelash yarns and Trendsetter Dune. It’s really an amazing shawl. Probably the hardest part of making it was keeping all the different ribbons and yarns from getting tangled up as I carried them along the edge.

I’m also still working on some models for the store, one of which is blocking at the moment, but here’s a sneak peek.

And I’m sending this lip balm out today. One of my grandma’s friends orders 24 tubes from me at a time. I need to work on my labeling, but it will come along.

I keep thinking that maybe life will slow down, but, in reality, I think I like it this way. It’s good to be busy. It’s good for life to be full and active and sort of crazy. I just may need to hire a housekeeper.

Yesterday Eden walked out of the bathroom and said to me, “Mom, my butt just exploded.”

Later on that day the light bulb burned out in the bathroom and she came and told me, “Mom, the batteries died in the bathroom.”

Last Sunday it was 70 degrees here. Friday it started snowing and snowed off and on all the way through Sunday. It was quite a strange change in weather, and pretty unusual for here – Daffodils have already started to bloom. You just never know what you’re going to get in Colorado.

I had to go work at the yarn store, but Jim bundled up the kids and took them out to the backyard to make a snowman. Unfortunately he didn’t get any pictures of their creation, but I did get a few photos of the kids when they started piling on the layers to go outside.

Never a serious face.

And always a serious face.