Merry Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among all,
To make music in the heart.


- Howard Thurman



I believe the work mentioned above surpasses all human barriers - cultural, ethnic, religious, geographical, economic.

So, dear friends, I hope these days, and those to come, are full of love, hope, happiness, and above all, peace.

Don't Want to Kick This Habit

First, let's start with the contest from Thanksgiving.

After pulling out my Official Contest Bag,



I assigned numbers to the corresponding comments of the Thanksgiving post and put them all in the bag.

Luckily, I did not need a bigger bag.



Number 3 it is -


so Lisa R R from Toronto - you are the big winner!

I will not post a picture of the yarny goodness until she's received the package - don't want to spoil the surprise. So, Lisa, if you are on Ravelry, please PM me there - I'm stashhaus. If you're not on Ravelry, JOIN NOW! leave a comment in this post and we'll get in touch.

Guild

Our guild had Franklin as the speaker this month to present a program on his interest in antique knitting patterns. And yes, we are a hardcore group. And yes, he was a hit.



And if I sound as if the evening was even a shade less than perfect, it is solely because the lovely Tom did not come along.

Franklin brought along the samples he's knitted from victorian-era patterns, including the famous nightcap. Sadly, I did not get a picture of him modeling it.

It looked a bit like this - but without the shawl.


There are few men on this planet who could look sexy in either a shawl or a nightcap. Franklin and Tom manage to do both.

On The Needles

DH's family picks names for Christmas and I picked my mother-in-law's name. On December 1st, in a completely delusional moment, I thought, "I'll knit her something for Christmas." I searched my patterns and searched my stash and came up with this -



Two Old Bags' Summer In Kansas, made out of Wool In The Woods Ballet in hunter green.

This pattern is knit from the neck down which means that each row is longer than the previous row.

I'm on row 115.

There are nearly 200 rows.

Plus the border.

If you do the math, I've managed around 10 rows a day.

But each row is taking longer and looonger to knit.

I think she'll get this for her birthday in July.

I'm feel quite virtuous as the yarn is from stash.

On the other hand, I'm not so crazy honest virtuous that I'd set up a ticker like Jean has - I doubt I'd ever get it over 30 20 15 10 days.

Traffic

Traffic in Smalltown, USA is just not the same as traffic in the city.



I haven't lived here long enough that I could tell you what this is - DH, who spent a couple of summers working on his uncle's farm, informed me it's used for one of the steps in harvesting hay.

Study in Blues

We had our first snow of the season - the kind that sticks around for awhile.



Two projects have been recently finished. The first is Dane made from Fleece Artist Merino in Rose Garden. DH kindly modeled it for me. It's not yet blocked, but you get the idea. I love this pattern - easy, peasy and will use up those smaller amounts of lace weight or fingering yarns. I will be making more.

This shows up the pattern -


but the color is much closer to the this.


The second item is a wimple - a pattern by Amy Anderson called Wayne F. after her father. The yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet. I'll make this again - the pattern is very easy and good "company" knitting - but I'll do 3 less decrease rounds than the pattern calls for while keeping it the same length. When pulled up, the wimple is quite close and tight to the head.



Don't forget - leave a comment in the previous post before tonight (12/4) at 11:59 p.m. (CST - central standard time) and you'll be entered into a drawing for some yarn. It doesn't matter where you live, I'm willing to ship world-wide.

Have A Happy Thanksgiving and Win Some Yarn

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin

Harvest celebrations date back to ancient times – they occur on every continent – every country and culture has its traditions to mark the harvest or the change of seasons.

While presidents, beginning with Washington, marked a day as a day of thanksgiving, the regular observance of the day began with President Lincoln who proclaimed on October 3, 1863 the last Thursday in November to be a national holiday. At the time of his proclamation in the US, the Civil War was raging: the siege of Vicksburg, the horrific battle of Gettysburg and the Lawrence Massacre (to name just a few events) had all occurred earlier that year. The government instituted the first military draft and in response were the New York Draft Riots. Also in 1863, Arizona organized as a US territory and West Virginia became the 35th state.

During FDR’s presidency, in 1941, Congress declared Thanksgiving a federal holiday. By this time the UK and Europe were battling Hitler and his army. In 1941, Hitler’s troops continued to trample through countries, invading Yugoslavia, Greece, and the Soviet Union - the long siege of Leningrad had begun. The gas chambers at Auschwitz were put to use. Civilians in the UK had been rationing for a year and were enduring the Blitz. Ten days after Thanksgiving, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and we were at war in the Pacific. A few days later Germany declared war on the US and we were at war in the Atlantic and in Europe. In 1941, the USO was created, Bob Hope performed his first USO show, and Glenn Miller received the first gold record for Chattanooga Choo Choo. Cheerios (then called CheeriOats) was put on the market.

I found the historical context very interesting. Perhaps it is during such bleak times that our need to appreciate what we hold dear is greatest.

Since we’ve been together, DH and I have walked the tightrope of "with-whose-family-do-we-spend-which-holiday." One year, after sitting through two separate Thanksgiving dinners within the space of 5 hours, we decided we needed to try to divide the holidays between the families. It was difficult getting used to different traditions. One family is mesmerized by the football games, the other is not - depending on who is in attendance. We can't ever discuss whose mother makes the best pumpkin pie. (Mine.)

One year, early in our marriage, his family went around the table, each person mentioning things for which they were thankful. I was one of the last to speak and I was stuck. Everyone had already mentioned what I would have said – good health, a home, a loving spouse, a job, wonderful friends, pets. As I frantically thought, I realized that I needed to refrain from naming specific people because this is like an Oscar acceptance speech – if you forget anyone important, like your spouse or your mother-in-law, you’ll never live it down.

What I really wanted to include in my list would not have been appreciated by anyone other than my fellow knitters.

Addi Turbos.

Oooh, don't forget Lace Addi Turbos.

Handpainted yarns and independent dyers.

Alpaca.

Wool.

Cashmere.

Silk.

Any combination of these fibers.

People who are turning milk, soy, and bamboo into yarn.

My local yarn shops.

Well designed patterns.

A project that actually comes out to the same gauge as the gauge swatch.

That, considering what happened to the economy, I'm thankful I had the foresight to, erm...stock up, shall we say, on yarn.

Well, you get the idea. You and I both know this list could go on forever. Leave a comment by 11:59 p.m. (central standard time) on December 4th, sharing with us what you're thankful for. I will assign numbers to the comments and will have DH randomly draw one number. That person will get some yarn they will be very thankful for, indeed. Even if you live overseas and don't celebrate Thanksgiving - leave a comment anyway.

And if you happen to blurt out "Addi Turbos" in the middle of thanksgiving dinner, don't blame me.

You Can Thank Me Later

Just head over to Margaret and Helen's Blog and read Helen's Thanksgiving letter.

Heck, just read any entry.

I love those ladies.

I think you might, too.