Some knitting!

The whole point of this blog was to write about knitting, and very little writing or knitting has actually happened.

I did make a hat for a friend’s baby, and I’m still working on that pink charity sweater.  It has been more than a year!  It just lost its charm along the way.  I just started another baby hat (also for charity), and I bought yarn for a sweater for my son who is now 2 1/2.  Maybe I will finish it before he graduates from high school.

Now that the semester is over, I am feeling excited about knitting and scrapbooking again.  And of course, I’m excited about getting ready for our new little one in July.  We haven’t done anything yet, and I’ll be seven months pregnant in less than a week.  It has been a good, healthy pregnancy.  No problems.

Gotta run…

Sigh…

It’s been so long.  I doubt anybody stops by here anymore (not that I had a huge audience…haha).  Life is moving along.  There are happy moments, stressful moments, and stuff in between.  Mostly, I’m enjoying being pregnant again.  Enjoying school.  Most of all, I enjoy watching my little boy grow up…too fast.

I’m looking forward to the weekend.  We will celebrate my younger sister’s birthday on Saturday, and of course, we will celebrate Easter on Sunday.  Have a blessed day!

The adoption went well.

On Saturday, I gave custody of my pretty little cashmere booties to a new family.  The soft pink booties came together so well.  I’m even proud of my seaming.  Moving beyond square knitting has really given me confidence in my craft, and giving an unexpected handknit morsel to a friend felt wonderful. 

My contribution to the baby shower was not the only handmade creation.  In fact, we were a creative bunch.  Gifts ranged from my tiny knit booties to a colorful knit blanket (very impressive) and hand-sewn bibs and a quilt (magnificent).  Although my work paled in comparison, I know that it was well received.  Even the daddy-to-be thanked me specifically for my gift.  I’m sure that the booties will be happy as party of this growing family.

Where is my autumn?

I love autumn. It represents warmth and family and preparation and faith. Autumn is a beginning (probably because I’ve been in school for the last 24 years straight). I adore pumpkins and cinnamon and leaves and hoodies and of course, yarn.

But where is my autumn? We’ve been having record high temperatures here. This weekend reached into the 90s. Yuck! The forecast promises some cooler weather by the end of the week. I’m hopeful.

In the meantime, I’ve been nuturing my autumnal mood with some knitting. I’m working on my charity sweater…still. I’ve made good progress on my Christmas stocking, and I just finished a pair of baby booties for a friend’s baby shower. I also attended my first official knitting lesson. I learned to knit from my grandmother with help from books and a few friends. But while working on my first baby bootie (from Erika Knight’s Simple Knits for Cherished Babies) I realized that I was in danger of messing up a project that was intended as a gift in moderately expensive yarn. I picked up the phone, and I spent 30 minutes of the subsequent day happily knitting along with a wise knitter and yarn shop owner. It was a delight.

Back from the dead.

I’m hardly ever on the computer any more.  Strike that!  I’m never on the computer to do fun things like blogging anymore.  I’m teaching Composition, and I’m loving it.  I am reminded of how teaching can take over your life.  I’m thankful for the opportunity, and I’m itching to make a difference in the lives of my students.  I know that most of them think of my class as a “required course” to merely survive, but I think that the course has a lot to offer them. 

 I’m also keeping busy with my Creative Memories business.  It is going so well.  Knitting has been slow, but I’m feeling the holiday deadline coming quickly.

Better run…

Happily busy

Busy is a funny thing.  When a person says, “how are you?” the answer is often, “busy.”  When someone brings up an opportunity or asks for a favor, the answer is often, “I’m too busy.”  I’m learning that busy is not a bad thing, and it shouldn’t be used as an excuse.  Sure, there is such a thing as “too busy.”  But most people I know who are very busy still watch a little bit of junk on TV or sleep in on an occasional Saturday (unless you have kids).  I live in the world of graduate school, and despite pressures to succeed in research and writing and studying, my fellow graduate students still have lives.  They still visit interesting places and catch an occasional Dukes of Hazard marathon.  I call that happily busy. 

I’ve been happily busy lately.  There are moments when I’m on the verge of ‘crazy busy,’ and I try to take a step back and evaluate my priorities.  Lately, I’ve been giving too much time to my knitting and scrapbooking…not enough time to work or research.

 Squirming baby on my lap.  Gotta run…

Busy and ready for a vacation!

Luckily, one such vacation is about to begin on Saturday.  We will be taking a one week trip to a beautiful lake where we can enjoy water activities, shopping, hiking, and KNITTING!

 My charity sweater is finally moving along.  I’m almost done with one side.  It will probably end up being the back since it has many imperfections.

 Sorry so short.  Gotta run to a meeting.

Since my last post, I’ve ended the semester and changed jobs.  My position in one part of the university ended, and my new project in another part of the same university began.  In between, I had a wonderful week to hang out with my family and work on our house and yard.  We’ve made some good progress.  I also got to do some actual knitting!  My charity sweater is growing, and I made a little progress on my sister’s scarf.  I’m still in love with that yarn!  I’m going to start a pair of baby booties, but I’m a bit nervous.  They involve skills that I haven’t learned yet.  No better time to learn, right?

Inspired.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my violin “career.”  I had been playing for a little over a year when I had my first child.  I took five months off from lessons, and I returned in January 2006.  Because of financial and time constraints, I went from weekly lessons to monthly lessons in January 2007.  So for the last few months, I’ve basically crammed in practice time on the evening before my lesson, and I’ve made no progress since switching to monthly lessons.  It’s frustrating and just plain sad.  Seeing my violin in its case in the corner makes me feel terrible.  So I never pick it up.  I was thinking that I’m probably just wasting my time.  I should concentrate on family and school (I’m a grad student) and forget about the violin.

Well, during my lesson yesterday, my wonderful teacher saw that I was feeling down.  Perhaps she sensed my resignation.  She commented that I was concentrating so hard on the technical aspects of playing that I was forgetting to really PLAY the MUSIC.  She asked me to play along with her at a much faster tempo and just have fun.  So I did.  I stumbled.  I missed notes.  I messed up the bowing.  But it was fun!  My heart soared as I whizzed through the most difficult part of the piece.  I loved, loved, loved every second of playing that piece, a song that I have hated all along.  I left feeling that I could move forward with my violin if only I could find the time to practice.  Today, I went over to the Yahoo Group for beginner adult violinists to get further inspiration, and I found a link to the Joshua Bell article from the Washington Post (April 8?).  Now I’m feeling completely determined to make my dream of learning the violin come true.

A sad day.

There are probably a million blog postings about yesterday’s terrible shooting at VA Tech.  Let me add my prayers. 

Lord, God.  There are a lot of people hurting today.  Some have lost children, siblings, parents, friends.  Some have simply lost their sense of security and peace, but that loss is painful, too.  Lord, please bring life out of death as you have done so many times before.  Restore the peace and grant security, for You are truly in control even when people act outside of your will for their lives.  Be present with the students, faculty, staff, and community of VA Tech.  Allow them to feel your love and care as they search for answers and support in their pain and confusion.  Lord, be with members of the media so that they may present the truth in ways that are respectful of the loss yet accurate.  Be with our nation.  We live in a society that seeks to push You out, but You are what we need.  Show us Your will and Your love.  Amen.