A lovely cowl, a loss, a new treat, and new shoes

This last week has been pretty busy getting ready for term to start, so I have pretty much only been knitting on one project. Not only am I planning for this term, but I’m trying to leave an ironed out curriculum including weekly projections for my successor. And despite my exhaustive record keeping, there is so often some funny thing every term that makes it hard to set out what a ‘normal’ term 2 should look like. A teacher’s work is never done…

It’s been all chevrons, all the time here in the bush! When I started my rainbow chevron cowl I did a bunch of math, figured 15 repeats would do it, and started. I did a few rows of garter in black for the bottom, and then started alternating the two skeins of rainbow Felici. When I tried it on however, it was going to be way too big. Weird; from my swatch I was expecting each repeat to be 1.75”, and they were clocking in at more like 2.75.” I felt wounded that my taking the time to swatch had not paid off but, math is math, so, RIP!

I did 7 rows of garter this time, and only 12 repeats figuring that would hit the sweet spot for a no-wrap cowl—not too tight, but not so loose it doesn’t keep you warm. Well, now my repeats are more like 2,” and the cowl is just on the edge of being too small. So…either I am terrible at measuring, or the knitting fates have seen fit to smite me. Thankfully I can live with the size it is, and I have a feeling that a little blocking will also help. The only thing I’m not thrilled about is the rolling edging; I was hoping the garter would fix that. I’m not sure if I had done less garter if it would have rolled less, or if it is just an integral part of the structure of this stitch pattern. Maybe I’ll do fewer rows at the top and see what happens, or maybe it will block out?

This week brought the sad news that a favorite musician of mine, Jed Marum, had passed away. I had the privilege of seeing him perform live a few times at Four Winds Faire, and he was one of my favorites for several reasons. First of all I loved his rich baritone voice, and second I appreciated that unlike many other shows at faires, Jed’s never was raunchy or off color. I enjoyed the wide range of songs he played, and his original songs were thought provoking and moving. Jed was a born story teller, and there was a great story to go with many of his songs. Several years ago when I attended the Celtic Music Festival out at the faire, Jed performed with many of the people who were there, and also helped run the sound to support his fellow musicians. He loved to collaborate with other musicians, and never gave the impression it was the "Jed show." I had hoped to make it to Dallas to hear him again this summer, but sadly I’ll never get to do that. The world is always poorer whenever anyone dies, but this week it’s been sad to think of a world without such a talented musician, faire gentleman, and gifted storyteller. He will be missed.

I was off this first weekend, and I saw a recipe for cinnamon roll pancakes pop up on Facebook. Intrigued, I saw I had all the ingredients, so Sunday night I tried it out.

A few notes if you should decide to embark on this journey. A) The sugar makes a real mess--be warned! You're going to need some hot water to clean it up. B) The filling mixture would do at least two batches of pancakes; I'm stashing mine in the fridge for round two. C) I don't have cream cheese to spare, so I just made a regular glaze icing--which was fine! But I can only imagine how good the cream cheese one would be...

Parting shot: I can't get over how CLEAN and NEW these are! My green converse served nobly and well for almost 5 years; it's time for another pair.

Is term over yet?

This week has been pretty wild, and next week will only be worse, but I did get a little bit of knitting in. My Serenity blanket is coming along nicely--here is one quarter spread out as best as I can on:

I also made some good progress on the baby sweater I have to have finished by the end of term. I hope to start the embellishing (ie. the FUN part!) this weekend.

I've also got my first Erebor fingerless glove almost finished--the frustration of last weekend is mostly gone now, and I'm ready to get it finished! Sorry the picture is blurrey; I was in a rush this morning!

I recently bought the soundtrack to the newest Jane Eyre movie, and just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying it. I love the sweeping violin and piano score, and I love that it is wordless yet tells the story. I think this version of Jane Eyre is my favorite; it's very 'artsy,' but this is a Mr. Rochester that I can BELIEVE Jane loves. Makes me want to read the book again...in all my spare time!

Pictures!

Now that I am armed with actual pictures, I’m going to write the entry I had more in mind when I wrote the last one. As I said, I’ve been enjoying some little cross stitch projects—quickly done so I get a finishing rush, and nice to pass off to other people. I love the books in this one,

And of course I couldn’t pass this seasonal one up, now could I?

In addition to the little cross stitches, I’m working on a wedding gift for a young lady out here who will be getting hitched next summer. I can’t wait to see how big this ends up, and how much yarn I have left. To be totally honest, I’m sort of hoping that I will have enough to do another one of these lovely little shawlettes, but we shall see. If I made one for myself it would have green beads in it I think. The pattern is “Indian Feathers,” and I’m just about done with the chart and ready to start working up towards the solid top part.

I whipped out another little beaded baglett with some leftover sock yarn I had here (oh the complications of having stash in two continents!),

And I have the first front done on one of the two baby kimono’s I need to get done before said little ones arrive. Huzzah for productive staff meeting time!

In addition to all the crafty things, I wanted to talk about a book that has really rocked my world this summer-

While I was home God really did a work in my heart about my eating issues, and Lysa Terkurst’s book was a huge help in fixing my spiritual problem manifested in my bad eating habits. Of course, God’s word and Spirit also spoke to my heart, but being able to read the challenging, encouraging, and honest voice of a woman who has finally gotten real about her food issues was such a blessing to me. I am on a new path of obedience now making ‘imperfect progress’ towards a goal of a healthier me who’s heart is grabbed by her God, not food. Gluttony is such a problem in our culture, and while it’s not nice to admit that I look the way I do because of sinful attitudes and habits, I am rejoicing right now in newfound freedom, and some encouraging weight loss! So, I highly recommend this book, and that the Lord for giving Lysa this message that I so desperately needed to hear.

Finally, to close things off, I wanted to review a CD I received recently that I been enjoying.

I remember when Hugh Laurie put out his first Blues CD, but I didn’t listen to it. At my last Starbucks stop in Terrel, my mom bought this for me as a “Happy Labor Day!” gift, and when I arrived back at Sakeji I eagerly put it on my iPod and had a listen. I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. Now, I am by no means a fan of the Blues, but I like most of the songs on this album. I love that Hugh Laurie didn’t make a cheesy narcissistic CD to fuel his ego, but there are lots of other people singing on here and he makes no bones about the fact that he is entirely the wrong person to be singin’ the Blues! The musicianship is apparent, and all in all this is a nice listen. I really respect actors that are good at more than one thing, and are genuinely good at it. If only there were more well-rounded people in Hollywood…

Now I just need to fend off my Christmas music cravings until a reasonable time!