The Reason for the Season

I've chosen a white ribbon for this month because the fifth candle in an advent wreath is white - the Christ candle. Christ is what Christmas is about for me and my family.

The reason we celebrate Christmas and give gifts is to help us remember the greatest gift of all. That gift was a baby. But not just any baby. This baby was God's only Son. God sent Him to earth to pay the penalty for our sins.

Why must we pay a penalty for our sin, you might ask? Because God is perfect, and sin cannot exist in His presence. The penalty for sin is death. But, God wants to have a relationship with us. He wants us to be His sons and daughters. So, He sent His Son - the one perfect sacrifice to die for our sins, so that we could experience eternal life. You see, Jesus didn't simply die for our sins; he returned to life three days later, proving that He has power over death. Now He wants to give us the gift of eternal life.

How is the promise of eternal life obtained? It's simple. Turn from your sinful ways, 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.' (Acts 16:30-31) 'For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.' (John 3:16)
To learn more about God's gift of salvation, visit this site.

God bless you this Christmas season,
Sarah

Ruth 1:16 Cross Stitch

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here! I've been knitting, sewing, knitting, tatting, knitting..... in general, keeping very busy. Since I don't know if any of my extended family frequents this blog, you'll have to wait 'til after Christmas for pictures.
However, since you can't have a blog post with no pictures, here's a cross stitch I recently finished. I need to soak it to get the sweat stains out, and then I'm going to take it to The Great Frame-Up and get a really fancy frame for it.
Sarah

Knit Shawl

I made this shawl for my Mom for her birthday. This is the second time I've done the pattern, and I'm much happier with the results. The trick is to keep your tension tight, not loose. And yes, I intentionally cropped my head in the picture to the right. I had a really weird expression on my face.

Anyway, the pattern is Lion Brand's Easy Triangle Shawl.
I used Homespun Yarn in a shade called deco, and size 13 29" bamboo circular needles. I love this pattern, and will be using it with the blue Homespun yarn my sister gave me.

Awarenes - November

November is National Family Caregivers month. I couldn't find a ribbon, so I'm posting a great big 'Thank You' instead.
Caregivers are often over-stressed and under-appreciated. We need to remember that they need a break every once in a while, too. My Mom is caring for my Dad as he battles Multiple Myeloma. I try to help out, but but I know I could do a lot more. My Great-Aunt cares for my Great-Grandma who has Macular degeneration. 

There are many things caregivers do - they schedule and attend doctor's appointments, keep track of medications, make meals, clean the house, fight with insurance companies, provide emotional support, putting others needs ahead of their own. Family Caregivers are very important - they represent about 80% of all homecare services. Their services are valued conservatively at 306 billion a year. Their service should not be the only thing about them valued so highly; family caregivers need to be recognized as strong individuals who need care themselves. To be in a position of caregiving for any amount of time is extremely stressful. Support your family caregivers any way you can!

Thank you to all the care-givers out there!


~Sarah

Goodies #2 + Randomness

I promised to show you more goodies, and here they are! Remember the 300 hat project? Colleen at Rabies on My Shoe collected hats from people on the East Coast. She also had some prizes to give away, and I was one of the randomly chosen numbers!!

Here's a picture of what I got:

Lotion, tea, and the prettiest yarn ever! Isn't it scrumptious?!

I haven't decided on a pattern for it yet, so if anyone has one of those 'Oooh, I know the perfect pattern for that' moments, leave a comment for me.

On to Randomness. My friend Sarah tagged me for this. Here are the rules: The rules are: Link to the person who tagged you, list the rules, write six random things about yourself, tag six-ish people by leaving comments on their blogs and let the person who tagged you know that you've written the post.

1. I drive a standard car. Every time I get into an automatic, I think something's wrong with it. (i.e. the clutch is missing, there's no shifter...)
2. My favorite colors are any shade of purple, and pale yellow.
3. Since graduating from high school four years ago, I've been studying geometry, literature, and a few of the great courses from The Teaching Company.
4. I'm teaching the little boy I babysit how to do a running stitch.
5. My favorite animals are seals.
6. I love Sci-Fi movies and series. Right now my favorite is Doctor Who. 

I can't decide who to tag, so if you want to be tagged, leave a comment and consider yourself tagged.

~Sarah

Goodies

I recently was given some goodies, and thought I 'd share them with everyone.
These two were given to me by the lady I babysit for. They are both stamped cross stitches, which are not my favorite, but I think I can stitch them at some point in the future.
The family tree is awesome - I've always wanted to do one but never had the inclination, or motivation to design one. The other is Psalm 23. It has a pastoral scene at the bottom done in crewel work, which I've also always wanted to try.











The rest of the goodies are from my sister who isn't as enthusiastic about crafts as she used to be. Thanks sis!

This is a dogwood flower cross stitch. She started it for our bathroom , but didn't finish it. It should be a quick stitch and good to take in my purse.

An extra hoop is always handy, and this kitty pattern will be perfect for the 'Kitty Korner' in my room.

Although I have a strong dislike of stamped cross stitch, I seem to be acquiring them at an alarming rate! However, I have a certain weakness for butterflies, and when there's the option to stitch in hues of purple...well, I just had to take it.


Now on to the knitting stuff! A book of knitting patterns and a pair of knitting needles, and yarn. The blue is Homespun and there a are 2 skeins. I'm going to make another triangle shawl with it. I have a pattern in mind for the purple (I think it's Caron's One Pound, but don't quote me on that) but have yet to look it up and see if it will work.

I have more goodies to show, but that's for another post.I hope you enjoyed this peek at my newly acquired projects!
~Sarah

Appomattox Courthouse: Finished

I almost finished this while on vacation - I probably would have if I hadn't run out of thread for the tree. Anway, here it is, unframed as are all my FO's.

 

Most of you have probably figured out that I have trouble doing one project at a time. For those of you who might be interested, here's a mini update on my cross stitch WIP's;

•  Ruth 1:16 - 95% done. Needs 2 lines of words, a few leaves, and some backstitching.
• Welcome Friends - 88% done. Needs backstitched vines with lazy daisy leaves and french not flowers. All in different colors of course, to make me work as hard as possible.
• Teapot Afghan - 2% done. I'm not even going to link to this one. I have finished one teapot, without the backstitching.
• Hand Towels - I've had a couple of hand towels for ages,and thought they'd be a quick stitch. One color for each towel doesn't work. I've chosen new colors, but still have to rip out the original colors.

Seems like a balanced list - I take the Welcome Friends with me when I babysit, and after I finish that will take the towels. The afghan and Ruth 1:16 are my 'big' projects.

~Sarah

Etsy Shop Updated!

I finally got my Etsy shop updated. All the listings expired while I was on vacation, and I've spent the last couple of weeks making a few new items and re-photographing some of the older items. There is only one bookmark listed right now (the one to the right). I designed it to go along with my awareness ribbon this month. I'm planning to get the remaining bookmarks listed tomorrow, or at the very least, photographed.

I'm considering doing a special bookmark every month to go with the awareness ribbon I choose. Leave a comment, tell me what you think!

~Sarah

October Awareness Ribbon

The obvious choice for October is Breast Cancer Awareness. Unlike most of my other awareness ribbon choices, breast cancer has not directly affected me. I do know two people who had breast cancer before I met them, and they have been cancer-free for several years.

Mary Kathryn has released a pinkeep kit. It can be purchased here. For more information, check out this website.

Anglewing Needle Arts

I cannot believe that it has been a month since my last post! After returning from vacation, I started babysitting 3 days a week, so between that and trying to keep up with my responsibilities at home I havn't had much time for blogging.
Before we left Oak Island, we stopped at Angelwing Needle Arts. It's a cute little house that has been converted into a shop. When I walked in, I was amazed at the amount of stuff in such a tiny place. There was a small section of cross stitch patterns, an entire room of specialty threads, lots of yarn, a room full of fabric, and a very helpful owner. I didn't remember to take any pictures while I was there, but here are some pictures of what I bought.

For myself, I bought some sock yarn, Addi Turbo needles, ands Weeks Dye Works overdyed threads.

The threads are for a celtic bookmark pattern specially designed for overdyed threads. The socks will be knit up using the pattern 'Spring Thaw Socks' from the Summer 2008 Knitters Magazine.

You may have noticed that the Addis are not in the package - I've already put them to work. I recently bought the book 2-At-A-Time Socks and have started some practice socks.

The needles are great - I see why everyone likes them. Unfortunately, my yarn is yucky low quality stuff I got at a garage sale years ago. It's the perfect thing for practice socks, but makes for difficult knitting. Because of that, and needing to start on Christmas presents, they are in hibernation.

I also got my Mom some flat quarters. She does a lot of different things with them. She makes purses, and one of her patterns uses f(l)at quarters instead of giveing fabric yardage. She also uses them to finish her cross stitch projects.

If you're ever in North Carolina, near Oak Island, make sure you visit Anglewing Needle Arts. It is located at:
507 North Howe Street
Southport, NC 28461

~Sarah

820 Hats!

Kristie just posted on her blog that she has 820 hats! I made 12 hats, and then had to concentrate on making bookmarks for the bookmark swap. There is a picture of most of the hats on Kristie's blog, and it's really awesome, so go check it out!
Here are pictures of the hats that I made.  4 Snowed Under hats from the January 2008 issue of Creative Knitting.

6 hats from the pattern I made up - pattern coming soon.

 

And my first two hats. These were the first two that I improvised. They're shaped a little bit like berets. 

 

I had a lot of fun making these hats - it's slightly addicting. My next knitting project is yet to be decided. There is one gift in the works, and 5 or more queued projects. Maybe I'll get them up on Ravelry sometime this week. 

Next post: What I bought while on vacation in NC.

~Sarah

On Vacation

I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks, and this is the last night I know for sure that I have internet access. I worked on my Appomattox cross stitch today, and have finished one of two trees, and most of the backstitching on the house.
After I get back I'll try to get back to posting regularly.
~Sarah

I'm Still Here

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here, knitting hats. I met my goal of ten, and have enough yarn leftover to make at least 3 more hats. I've started 2, one in the snowed under pattern, and one in the pattern I've made up. I will publish it as soon as I've met all my deadlines! Although I have yarn for 3 or more hats, I may only finish the 2 on the needles. My wrist is bothering me tonight, and I can only knit about 6 stitches before it starts to hurt. Hopefully a good nights sleep will clear things up.



I have 1.5 bookmarks done for the swap. The .5 should be quick and easy to finish, but I'm a little concerned about the third - it could aggravate my wrist.



Stitching is tomorrow, so hopefully I can get a lot done - I'll be going on vacation several days before both the deadlines, so my personal deadline is ASAP (or August 25). When I get back, I hope to have a finished cross stitch to share. I've been taking nearly finished cross stitches on vacation with me, and finished them by the time we returned home. I should take more vacations...

~Sarah

More Hats

Hats 7-9 are done! Other than knitting, and a little mending last week, I haven't been doing any crafting.

The blue one still needs pompoms on the ends of the ties, and I will probably add some to the tops of the other two hats.

Below is the yarn I have left - there ought to be enough for at least 3 more hats, so I've upped my goal from 10 hats to 12 hats. The picture was taken before making the pink/brown hat on the left, so the dark maroon is gone, and there is just enough variegated pink to make a pompom.
Casting on for hat #10!
My goal for this week is to finish all the hats so that I can get started making bookmarks for the exchange! I've already figured out style/patterns, so all I have to do is get busy making them!
~Sarah

Where Did July Go?

It seems like just a few days ago that I wrote my last post! I did take both projects to craft night, however we ended up looking at pictures from our hostess's trip to Yellowstone National Park. I really need to buy myself a better camera...their pictures were really good, and several were taken from a moving car.



Hat update: I have completed 6 hats and started a seventh. For some reason I have one extra stitch on the earflap. I think it will be fine if I leave it there, though. I'm doing the Snowed Under Cap from the January 2008 issue of Creative Knitting. I will probably add a few pompoms to these hats to jazz them up, but I don't want to use up yarn that I might use on another hat.



I haven't done any other crafting, although I did join the bookmark swap that Amy at Ibby Bee is hosting. I already have two bookmarks figured out, and am contemplating what to do for a third one...



What is it with me and crafting deadlines?? I'm going to be walking around with knitting or some other project in my hands for the month of August! The hats need to arrive at their destination by August 28, and there is a one month deadline for the bookmarks - i.e. the end of August. After August is over, I think I'll take a break (a long break) from knitting. I'll work on cross stitch and sewing. Of course, I'll probably decide something entirely different when September gets here, but it's a semi-goal.

~Sarah



Note to self: stop wasting time on Facebook, and Start Knitting! My sister got me on Facebook, and I'm discovering things that waste my time in ways I've never imagined...Stitchbook is cool, though - it's kind of like Ravelry for your family, but not as cool as Ravelry.

Saturday Shopping Spree

Last Saturday Mom and I went shopping. We stopped at a paint store for a paint chip, and discovered a Farmer's Market nearby. We wandered around and bought a few plants and veggies. Then we went over to Golden Thread Needle Arts to see if the chart Mom ordered had come in yet. It hadn't, but they were having a trunk show, so we looked, and I found this really neat pattern. It's called 'Take Time to Knit', and has some really fancy stitches. Mom has one by the same designer (Jeanette Douglas Designs) called 'Take Time to Stitch'.



We went to Michaels to get some more yarn for Kristy's Hat Project. I should have enough yarn now to meet my goal of ten hats, plus one or two more.











 Since Barnes and Noble was in the same plaza, we just had to stop in. Their used book section is amazing, and I found this book for $7. We were in the craft section later and saw the same book full price - $25! I've wanted to learn this method of knitting socks, but the one time I tried I couldn't make heads or tails of the directions. The directions in this book seem to be very straightforward, and are diagrammed very well.



On Friday night I came down with a Summer cold. It's one of those where you don't feel sick enough to go to bed, but not well enough to do anything productive. I think Carrie at Knitted Bear had the same thing.  I did mange to finish hat #4. I tried starting hat #5, but messed up and will have to rip it out and start over.

~Sarah

Crafty Pondering: Should I take my knitting or cross stitch to the craft night on Thursday? Knitting or cross stitch, cross stitch or knitting....Maybe I'll take both!

Knitting Hats

I was planning to post this sooner, but I've been totally exhausted since Wednesday night. My sister flew to New Mexico on a missions trip Friday morning. Since she's never flown before, we all drove her (ok, only one person drove) to the Buffalo airport. We left our house at 4 AM. My Mom and I decided that there wasn't much point in going to bed and getting up 3-4 hours later, so we didn't go to bed. We drank lots of coffee and watched Pride and Prejudice. I finished a hat, got sleepy, drank coffee, ate pizza, drank more coffee....About the time we got to the airport, the caffeine and adrenaline kicked in to high gear. I was pretty chatty driving home, and when we got home, I was wide awake and ready to go to a furniture sale. It was pointed out that the stores weren't open. Oh well. Mom and Dad went to bed, and I...well, I don't remember much of what I did. I was too keyed up to sleep, although I recall dozing for a couple of hours. I almost finished a third hat last night, but between being so tired and helping my Dad investigate my printer problem, it's not done. Today Mom and I went shopping in East Rochester (pictures later) and after we came home I discovered that I was exhausted. Still haven't finished hat #4, but did 2 rounds.

Ok, pictures of hats 2 and 3, and then I'm going to bed so that I won't fall asleep while teaching the 2's and 3's class tomorrow morning.Hat number 2 (on the left) is from Creative Knitting January 2008, the Snowed under Cap. Hat 3 (on the right) is a variation on the pattern I'm creating.Sarah

PS~ Thank you to the voters in my poll. Once I finish the hats I will start working on a kit.

ETA - Since I used a variegated yarn I didn't embroider the snowflakes on cap #2.

July Awareness Ribbon

Part of my reason for choosing UV Awareness is that last year when I was building my garden I got a severe sunburn. On a Saturday. I had to fill in for the Church pianist the next day. Not fun. I wore a sleeveless dress, and every time my hair touched my shoulder, I thought I would scream. A year and a couple months later, there is still a faint line on my shoulder. So, learn from my mistake: if you've already applied sunscreen and your skin feels like it's burning, it is! Don't ignore it, go put on more sunscreen.
Check out this website for more information on how to protect yourself from the harmful UV rays of the sun.
~Sarah

Quilled Woven Heart Border

I was going to post this Saturday night, but was too tired. The silver didn't work, so I made white pieces, and have a lot of silver pieces leftover. The design is from The Book of Paper Quilling by Malinda Johnston, page 104.

~Sarah

Will I Ever Learn??

...Not to work on projects when I'm tired? Last night I thought I'd get the paper strips torn to the right sizes for the bunny ear flowers. For some reason there were 2 sections of white paper. I (wrongly) assumed they were both the same. Today I made the larger flowers and realized that it wasn't white, but silver. I glued them together anyway, and once they dry I'll see how they look with the frame.
Does anyone else out there do things like that? Or is it just me?
Sarah

300 Hat Project

Kristy from Ok! What's next?? started this project. She will be visiting and helping at several orphanages in the Ukraine in September/October. One of the orphanages cares for special needs children, and ..."if I could round up 300 hats, it would be like Christmas for these kids. This is a very poor area and these orphanages get very little funding, they rely almost completely on individual support."
I won't be knitting a hat a day, like Kristy, but I do want to make at least 10. RC at Rabies on my shoe is collecting hats from knitters on the East Coast to send to Kristy. She is also hosting a contest. The Hooks & Needles yarn shop is offering a 10% discount on yarn for the hats to local shoppers, and free shipping to those of us who aren't local. There is also a group on Ravelry called Kristys Hat Quest.

I just finished my first hat. I used Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends in Persimmon. The pattern is loosely based on this one, but I made several changes. I will try it again, and once I get it just right, I'll post the pattern. Thanks to my Mumble from Build-a-Bear for helping model the hat.

Padded Hangers

*Because of the poll associated with this post it will stay at the top of my blog until it's over.*
I finished them in time for the bridal shower! Everyone thought they were really cute. I made up a muslin of each front to make sure I had the right size pieces. Since I designed the pattern myself, I'm thinking of selling it in my Etsy shop. There is a poll on my blog - please participate, comment, or send me an e-mail. Because of the poll, this post will stay at the top of my blog until it's over.
~Sarah

Buying Incentive

Mom and I visited the LNS and I bought some fabric for my next large cross stitch to help expedite my Ruth 1:16 cross stitch. See, the bonus (or downside, depending on your point of view) to having one large scroll frame is that you can only have one project at a time going. My Mom thinks I should just take one off and put the other on, but that's too much work. Besides, I'd never finish the current one if I did that. I have issues with DMC color 311, and that's the only color left. Let's just say I have some bad cross stitch experiences associated with the color.
Back to the fabric; yes, it's 28 count black linen. No, I'm not insane. I own three Lavender & Lace patterns. This is the only one on black fabric. I have a friend who just finished a project on black aida and nearly went cross-eyed. So, being younger than my friend, I figure that doing the black now while my eyes can cope is a good idea. And to really prove my sanity- I was originally going to get 36 count, but realized that I would only be able to work on it in front of my Mom's Ott-Lite. The design is Lady of the Thread - and guess what? It's got color 311 in it. It's only in three spots though, so I think I can handle it.

I also bought a chart that came with a pre-cut piece of linen. It didn't come with a photo, so here is a picture of my progress. Yes, I started it, and to help myself deal with the guilt of starting a new cross stitch without finishing one, I finished the Honey Teapot, sans backstitching. I'll post a picture after I finish the backstitching. I'm planning to do that after I finish the quilled picture for my friends.
~Sarah