What are you knitting?

Simple Joys Shawl

5May12

Here it is, one of my newly begun knitting projects.   This is my own take on the simple double triangle shawl.   I was not completely pleased with how the cast on row looked on my last one so I began this one a little differently and I love how it looks. Check out the center, top of this photo.   See how is scoops just a bit?.  I am pleased.

Simple Joys Shawl

6May12

I  like to have a simple, not work, project to work on at church, but as my life has gotten a little crazy, I have expanded that.     Now I work on my Sunday knitting all day.   I try to make my Sunday project  not only simple but also intended for someone else.   My last one went to a friend who is going through a particularly nasty divorce.    This one will likely go to one of our church's chaplains who is interested in starting a knitting group with a focus on comfort shawls for sick and/or needy parishioners.   I have volunteered to coordinate this effort.   I thought I would write this pattern up and share it with the group (and post it here, of course).

Jack

This last weekend was a bit traumatic for me.   Our youngest went away on a church trip.  This is the first time he has gone away without me (I have gone away without him but that is different).    I was a bundle of nerves all weekend.   He, on the other hand, was fine.   He had a wonderful time, made wise choices, and took good care of himself (he has asthma and is recovering from bronchitis).    He did so well, in fact, that I may have to let him do it again.   Sigh.

Projects finished, projects begun...

Masters Prayer Shawl

Patons Pure Organic Cotton Yarn

Hey, look what I finished.   This is the Masters Prayer Shawl by Barbara Szabrowicz.   I found it while searching Ravelry for something fast, easy, & pretty to make for a friend in need.   It was simply a dream to knit.  The directions were very clear.   The body of the shawl was easy enough to knit at church or in the movies.  The trim required attention but not so much that I could not work on it in the car.  I am very happy with the results.   I loved, loved, loved the Patons Pure Organic Yarn and am so sorry that it has been discontinued.

I also finished two of the four samples for my classes at Michaels.   I decided to do three washcloths and a scrubby.   My plan is to make a simple garter stitch cloth for my beginner knitting class, an easy single crochet cloth (of my own design) for my beginning crochet class, the Folly Beach Washcloth for a texture knitting class, and a crochet rosette/flower, made with that new Scrubby yarn from Sugar & Cream, for my next step crochet class.   It seems to me that most people will be happy to have something to make that they can finish right in class.

New to my needles is the Bigger on the Inside shawl using Zitron's Unisono in blues.   We are HUGE Dr.  Who fans so when this pattern hit Knitty last week, it was absolutely necessary that I drop everything and cast on.    There is even a special colorway (also called Bigger on the Inside) in Lornas Laces Solemate just for this shawl.  I am not using the recommended yarn in part because I like to be just a little bit different, and in part because I prefer variegated yarns.   So far I have wound the yarn and knit a swatch.   The pattern has only charts for the Time Vortex & Tardis lace which is a problem for me, so my next step will be to translate the charts into words.   Then I will be good to go.

Also recently cast on is a simple side to side shawl using some left over Jitterbug from my stash.   This will be my church/movie knitting since it requires so little attention.   I keep changing my mind about whether to knit it all  in garter stitch or stockinette with a garter border.   I have cast-on and knit a bit of both.   When I make up my mind, I will rip one out and continue on with the other.

So that's it folks.  That the news in knitting from Chez Serenity.

Say it isn't so....

Sadly, due to  a last minute snafu, Hubby and I did not make it to Atlanta last week.   That means that I did not make it to Stitches South, nor did I get to take the two classes I was scheduled for.    I feel like I should be more upset about this than I am.   Not with Hubby, whose work issues were unavoidable (Thank heavens for both of us that I used to be a systems mgr and understand how these things work), but with the situation.    The thing is that I am not terribly upset at all.  In part, because, I do understand how these things happen (I cancelled three trips to Ireland in one year when I was married to the ex), and in part because I am just too tired lately to get overly upset about anything.  

In an effort to cheer me up, T2 took me to Medieval Times on Friday.    This kid is so laid back that he drives me nuts.   This kid is so laid back that he is incredibly relaxing to be around (just call me "schizo mommy").    What a joy it was to not rush.   So not rushed were we that it took us five hours to get to Orlando (it usually takes two).    We stopped for coffee (Starbucks), lunch (Panera), and to visit a favorite yarn shop (Sew & Quilt Shop, Bunnell, FL).    By the time we got to IKEA, we had only  an hour to shop before we had to leave for Medieval Times.   We had a wonderful time and I got to knit while my darling drove home.   The day was slow, easy, and just what the doctor ordered.

This morning, before heading to Jax to run errands, I finally soaked and blocked my project from Stefanie Japel's Design Your Own Shawl class.   I hope to have the pattern written and up on Ravelry soon.  T2 is canvasing his female friends to see who would like to model this baby for me.   Also, I have to come up with a name for it.  

I read somewhere that lace blocking goes better on flannel because the material "grabs" the lace and holds it in place.   This is the first time I tried it and I really liked how easily the blocking went.  I did use pins but not nearly as many as I have in the past.    The only thing is that I always take blocking photos and I don't like the patterned sheet behind my project.    I am going to see if I can find black flannel at Joanne's in the hopes that it would make for a better picture.

We get by with a little help from our friends

friend:  /frend/  

           A person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection

Where would we be without our friends?   I hope I never find out.   In a stroke of good luck, T2's best NJ friend's family has annual Disney passes.  So every spring break and every summer we have been able to spend time with them at the "happiest place on earth".    As if seeing the boys so happy to be together were not enough, the two families get along really well too.   This week, only T2 and I were able to get away (T1 had spring break a couple of weeks ago and Hubby had to work).   We had a wonderful time.    We met our friends at Epcot where we gorged ourselves on good food and good company.    The  culture shock of moving to FL from NJ has been pretty isolating and it was renewing to be able to spend time with people with whom we can be ourselves without fear of hostile judgement or censure.

Rosen Shingle Creek

We used Priceline for the first time and we were able to score a gorgeous room at a nearby, golf resort for $55 a night (I was careful to specify 4 stars in my bid).    How cool is that?!    I admit to being terribly impressed with myself.   The room was large and very nicely appointed,  the beds were luscious, and their buffet (although a bit pricey) was awesome.    We never did get to the pool and we don't golf but both were lovely to look at during our after dinner explorations.

We finished off our mini vacation with stops at Ikea, and a new to me yarn shop called Knit, arriving home last night tired and happy.

Serenity Knits rides again....

It's official.   I am the new knitting/crochet teacher at my local Michael's.   If you've been reading since before we moved to FL, you know that I loved teaching at my Michael's in NJ.   I am thrilled to be able to go back to doing what I love.  Keep an eye on my sidebar.  I am hoping to have class info up soon.

As if  my new job is not good enough, we finally found an alternative to Clearwire for our internet service provider.   After three long years, DSL has finally come to our neighborhood.  So far, we can't get the super fast service, but what we do have is good enough, and much more reliable, than what we were getting.   Things are definitely looking up.



Do you like my labyrinth?   I spent a few weeks participating in a "Spirit in Practice" workshop.  One night the facilitator suggested that we go home and create something that incorporated something of our individual spiritual practice.   Since the guided meditation was my favorite part of that night's gathering, I decided to embroider myself a finger labyrinth.   The Sublime Stitching pattern has been in my collection for a while, the thread is from my stash, the hoop is wrapped in leftover fabric from this rope basket that I made last year, and the back is finished with a felt circle cut from a recent experiment with Kool Aid dyeing.   I love that it came together so well using just things that I already had on hand.

Thank heavens for Panera...

Panera Bread

  You may have noticed that I blog a lot less frequently these days.   There is a reason for that, that goes beyond a busy home life.    Where we live, we do not get cable or DSL.   As far as entertainment goes, we miss cable but do not hate Direct TV.    What we really do hate is our internet provider, Clearwire.   I have talked about this before.    Our service is awful with upload/download speeds so bad that we can't even load a network speed test.   There was a nice long stretch when the situation improved.   However, that stopped some time ago and the service is now worse than ever.   We pay a monthly fee for "unlimited high speed internet".    As you can see, our internet speed is not high and now, apparently it is not unlimited either.   It seems that we are being "throttled".   Meaning that Clear is limiting our speed based "high usage".   What they call high usage, we call weekend only gaming, and the occasional Netflix download (twice a week?).   Other than that, the boys do homework, hubby sends and receives email, and I blog while haunting Facebook and Twitter.    I can't imagine how this adds up to "high" usage.   Their customer service has proven unhelpful to say the least.   We have found their reps to be inept with a questionable command of the English language.

What does this mean to the blog?    It means that, much of the time, I cannot get a post uploaded without going to Starbucks or Panera.    For a while that was both a treat and an inconvenience but during those months when I had to share a car with T1, it was impossible most days.  Even now, that I finally have my own car again, I am finding it hard to get out as much as I would like.

So please bare with me.   We are exploring other options.   Hopefully we will find a better alternative soon or, maybe, a way for me to spend more time sipping lattes in public.

Masters Prayer Shawl 

Toe-Up Socks

Though not blogging as much, I have been knitting.   I recently submitted a design to a major publication and then, because creativity feeds on itself, I dreamed up two more must do designs that I hope to have finished and up on Ravelry soon.    The only things I can show now, are Hubby's socks and the friendship shawl that I referred to a couple of weeks ago, both of which are coming along slowly but surely.

As most posts are these days, this is brought to you from Panera, because Clearwire Sucks!

Farewell Disney, we loved you well.

We have been soooo lucky to have annual Disney passes for the last three years, but the time has come to let that luxury go.    Having one child in college, even with scholarships, has turned out to be way more expensive than we anticipated.   That combined with a stretch of unforseen circumstances (including multiple car accidents & health challenges), have made it necessary to cut back on non-essentials.   Sadly, it was necessary to admit that Disney is a non-essential.

Rather than sulking (no matter how tempting), we decided to make our farewell a weekend long event.    As the date got closer, T1's ongoing health problems necessitated a short hospital stay and some tests, I became ill with a re-occurrence of Menier's, and T2's cold got worse rather than better.    The reservations were made with Marriott points so were non-cancellable, so we stocked up on meds and went anyway.

Surprisingly (or not, I have a pretty wonderful family), we had a good time.   We spent Saturday at Epcot.   Hubby and I roamed the World Showcase while the boys took off to ride the rides and eat in almost every country.  We stayed to see the fireworks which were wonderful, as usual.   We really lucked out in that the park was not busy at all.    The only line longer than 5 minutes was for the  Patisserie in France.   Sunday we spent at Magic Kingdom.   By this time we were getting pretty worried about T2 (who was not breathing well at all), so we made a list of favorite rides and shows.    We hit those highlights (Haunted House, Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, & the Jungle Ride) and grabbed sweets at the bakery.    We were home in time to unpack, shower etc. and watch our Sunday night favorites (60 Minutes, Amazing Race, Walking Dead).

All in all, we had a lovey weekend, there was even knitting.    I am making  hubby a pair of Toe-up Socks from Last Minute Knitting Gifts.   Socks really are wonderful.   Not only are they luscious to wear but they are the perfect take-along project.   I knit in the car and around the world and in the Kingdom.    Knitting really does "sooth the troubled spirit".

P.S. Turns out that T2 had bronchitis but he is doing much better now.