In Christ Alone

And as he stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me

For I am his and he is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Sunday morning I was not feeling very victorious.  Some really distressing things had happened in the previous week and I hadn't gone straight to my God in prayer.  But Sunday morning he came to me in the words of my favorite worship song to remind that He is indeed victorious no matter what is happening in the world.

Then Pastor Matt reminded me that "God loves the unlovable and He disciplines those He loves". Hebrews 12:5 - Thankfully my Father God has dreams for our/my character and works to make me better.

http://cornerstone-marion.org/2012/05/13/may-13-2012-genesis-29-life-with-laban/

Brucemore Bluebells for December (Stashdown A-Z)

For December's project I'm sort of cheating.  The pattern name is Tread Softly, a KAL hosted by Mandyzmoon, but I am going by my project's name which was inspired by the woodland theme of the KAL and a photo I took at Brucemore, a mansion in Cedar Rapids which was donated to the people of CR by the last owner.

Stash Down A-Z

I joined a new group in October on Ravelry.  Created by Bungalow312, this group is dedicated to working through our stash and our Ravelry queues.  Yes, we have admitted that we need to do something about it, one letter at a time.  Starting with A in November 2011 we will work through the alphabet finishing at least one project a month.

I am very proud of my November finished project:  The 10 year Aran Cardi.  I started spinning the yarn for this project about 10 years ago from a friend's Corriedale sheep wool which she combed for me.  I began the designing and knitting about 4 years ago, then it "rested" for a while before I began seriously knitting on it as part of another Ravelry group dedicated to finishing projects.  I love the pewter polar bear buttons which I used on a sweater in College and am now recylcing here.

Link to my Ravelry project page to find out more. ARAN CARDI
(you do have to be a Ravelry member to check it out)

Especially for You - written October 10, 2011

For the past several years, the beginning of October signifies a Sunday morning walk with thousands of other people.  Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids runs the Especially for You race and walk to supply mammograms and other services to local women who would not be able to afford them.

For years I've walked as part of a team, but last year I walked with my mom alone and didn't see anyone I knew.  Which for me was just as well.  It was an emotional day since I had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.

It was great this year to be part of a team again.  This time from my shop with 26 others.  This was also my first time to be part of the survivors' photo.  It is alternately horrible and wonderful to be part of that large group.  A little over a year ago I didn't know how large this group was, I really knew very little about cancer.  I've learned so much.  For example, it is not an insurmountable monolith.  There are not only different cancers there are different breast cancers and I am thankful for the dedicated doctors we have in Cedar Rapids who work with so many to fight this disease in all it's forms.

This year we part of a group 16,000 strong.  It feels good to not have to stand and walk alone.



A Walk in the Woods

This month I am starting an exciting new project.  I joined a knit along on Ravelry - Tread Softly.  The design is a woodland themed circular shawl mystery project.

I began with a photo I took a couple years ago at Cedar Rapids' Brucemore mansion on a walking tour.  In April the bluebells were amazing.  From the photo you wouldn't think we were minutes from downtown.

I used this photo as the inspiration for dyeing my yarn, a laceweight merino/silk blend which is therapy to the hands. I began knitting this morning, starting my walk through the woods with the undergrowth.

Ravelry, the Cubs and Puppy Cam

What do these three things have in common?  My time on the internet.

Today I updated some project notes on Ravelry and hunted down a pattern for a baby hat that a friend had shown me.  I need to knit a soft and pink hat for friends' granddaughter.  She was just diagnosed with a neuroblastoma tumor.  I've also been knitting purple baby hats for Click for Babies, an organization which is striving to raise awareness of spread prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome. 
I've been thinking about why we knitters whip out our yarn and needles for those we've never met.  But it is nothing new.  In No Idle Hands: A Social History of Knitting in America she documents all the generations which have knit grey socks and blanket squares for soldiers, blankets for eldery and infirm, hats for babies, etc.  We've been doing it since before we were a country. Knitter's have been bringing knitting into the public forum a lot lately, but it's nothing new.  There were large, public knit-ins during WW1.  Several of my mom's friends commented about sweaters or argyle socks which they had knit during college lectures when they found out I was knitting (much less common for a college student in the eighties than the fifties or the 21st century.)

The start of our collection at the shop.  They will be picked up in October and delivered to Iowa babies born in November.


Tonight I was also following the Cubs and Braves on Gameday since they weren't televised.  Sigh, lots of hits but no runs.  My baseball fandom started with the Rockies in their innaugural season and I still love to watch them whenever possible, but in eastern Iowa I've become one of the Cub's faithful, hopeful and too frequently dissapointed.  Oh well, there's always next year.

And Puppy Cam.  I belong to a Yahoo group called Labsr4u.  One of the members is a breeder who has two litters under a month old with live "puppy cam" http://forgelabs.weebly.com/video-gallery.html.  Right now they are "bellying up to the bar".  Can you get enough lab puppy cuteness? Not me, and I can watch them as I knit.

Cast on - Cast off

Elizabeth Zimmermann to the rescue.  I was finishing a project last night, but I just didn't like the way the bind-off was looking.  I remembered reading about EZ's cast-on/cast-off years ago.  Out came The Knitting Workshop.  It took a while for my fingers to get used to the idea but I am liking the results.

Here it is:  Caireen from Susanna IC, found  Knitty's Deep Fall 2010 issue.  This was a lovely pattern to work especially with the 2 ply alpaca I used.  His name is Sawyer from Savannah Breeze Alpacas near Vinton, IA.



Close up of the process.  It doesn't show real well, but you work with a blunt needle to copy the look of a cast-on edge