<< exhale >>

Somehow it seems appropriate that I get my life back from bookfairs and busy on my birthday!

I apologize for my rather lengthy absence from sharing things of interest, but the past two months or so have been incredibly busy on all fronts; however, the last (hopefully!) bookfair at work finished yesterday, so now I can rest and be rested.

Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported me this past year, and my whole life for that matter.

Thank you, Jeromie, for patience and hard words of truth.

Thank you, Jesus, for rescuing and redeeming me.

Thank you, God the Father, for loving me relentlessly.

Thank you, precious Holy Spirit, for breathing Life into mine.

iRead: more than i should, perhaps

All right, so. I've been reading a lot. This is about all I've done in my spare time apart from the film festival, which took up the first 2 weeks of April. Haven't painted, haven't sewn much. I think I need to work on maintaining a bit better balance. :-)

Either way, the following books have passed through my book-hungry little hands so far this month:

- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
- I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell
- So Brave Young and Handsome by Leif Enger
- Brighten the Corner Where You Are by Fred Chappell
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (i re-read it)
- The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty


As much as it might look like it, I have *not* been just plowing through these. Well, except for maybe Into the Wild because it was hard to put down & I had no energy that day. I enjoyed all of them, but I'll only rave about a few. :-)

One of my favorite books thus far in my life has been Leif Enger's Peace Like a River. Since picking it up several years ago, I've re-read it several times and enjoyed it even more with each read. It's definitely one of my staff picks at work. Needless to say, I've been giddy with anticipation over the release of his new book, So Brave, Young and Handsome. I placed my order at the beginning of this month and then babbled endlessly about it for several days... which led to a co-worker picking up PLR, which then led to the suggestion of a good author by said co-worker, the fabulous Daneen Schatzle. The author = Fred Chappell.

Fred Chappell is one of those authors that makes me wonder what freaking rock I've been hiding under that I hadn't read anything of his before. Or what rock the rest of my world has been hiding under that I hadn't heard of him. So far, I've read the two books listed above, and I will be hunting down more. (Apparently there's poetry too!)

I Am One of You Forever - I picked up this one first, used, for $1. I have not laughed so much while reading a book since Brothers K (David James Duncan)! The book is narrated by Jess, a young boy, and is a series of stories about his family - initially his immediate family, then a series of odd uncles and humorous occurrences. Chappell's storytelling is beautiful, to say the least, and his characters are full and incredibly funny at times!


Brighten the Corner Where You Are - I think I hunted this one down before even having finished the first! Turns out, both of these books are part of a series about the family & specifically the father (?), Brighten being the second. The writing has a different feel than the first, but is still enthralling and humorous. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books...



So Brave, Young and Handsome - Long awaited, finally here! Awesome! I really don't know what to say about it, since "western" conjures up skepticism for me. The story follows the friendship of two men - one a failing writer, the other an outlaw - through the eyes of the former. Enger's storytelling in this second book was just as captivating to me as in his first. He's no longer the author of one of my favorite books, he's a favorite author!




I know, I know... I've been rambling. It's late. I get that way. No apologies, though. Just wanted to share the bookedy love. I'm always open to suggestions too... my list of books I want to read is already out of control, what's a few more? :-D

DCF Film Festival 2008 : Little Worlds

So, here is the outcome of a lotsa hours of drawing and taking pictures!

Over the past week or so, Jeromie and I have spent most of our truly spare time working on our submission for the DCF Film Festival. The overall film was Jeromie's idea, and I did the drawing. Last count, the 2 minutes of filmy goodness took ~10 hours of drawing & editing and more than 1600 frames. Twas much fun though!

Craaaaaaaazybusy.

I can't believe it's April. Contributing to the disbelief is the fact that no one pranked me on April Fools (phew.), which is a new concept for me. :-D Normally someone pulls at least *one* over on me. April looks like it will be quite a trip though... and May.

Potential Spring Shenanigans
- Cooper River 10k in Charleston (this Saturday!)
- Taxes. Taxes taxes taxes. (by April 15)
- Projects for DCF Film Festival & Gallery (now til then)
- DCF Film Festival & Gallery weekend (April 15?)
- Bookfair numero A (3rd week in April)
- Bookfair numero B (4th week in April)
- DCF Yard Sale & Silent Auction (May 3! Come out!!!)
- Bookfair numero C (in-store May 10 & probably HUGE)
- Sneaky-plan thing that might be unveiled in mid-may...
- Finishing & submitting Mars Hill application; going out for interview (May)
- Registering for classes (?!??!)
- Family trip to Montana (!!!!!)

I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation or something! :-) Hopefully I'll be able to carve out a little more time for sewing & knitting. Both have been neglected these past few weeks. :-\

Even in the face of a busy spring, these past few weeks have been good. Not a crazy woo-hoo(!) good, but good in a God-is-moving-and-i'm-not-being-blind kind of way. As always, He is faithful; He's been digging around in my heart and bringing me to a place where I can see and embrace Him & Life (with all its many facets) instead of retreating or hiding. Most of my life, I've been prone to that... to retreating & hiding.

So in response to Michael's request for a one-word update: WOO-HOO!!!! :-D

And that's because God is faithful.

iRead: a couple of things, actually!

After finishing the utterly fantastic Secret Life of Bees, I headed in a sillier direction. As usual, a few books caught my eye while shelving at work, and I set them aside to read. These books were:


Fun! By Avi!

They are both juvenile books - short, and rather silly. What made them endearing to me was the constant playing on words. If you know me at all, you're aware of my affinity for puns (bad ones will suffice...), so reading these two short books elicited a lot of giggles.




After reading these, I almost promptly picked up The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'd been eying(sp?) the book at work for a few weeks, then my friend Lance lent it to me. The book is a biography of Eustace Conway, who lives self-sufficiently in the woods of Western NC. Gilbert examines his life, work, and philosophy from the stance of an observer-friend, and her writing is intriguing and funny. Overall, very thought-provoking.

At some point during the reading of Last American Man, another book jumped off the shelves at me. Or rather, perhaps, God drew my attention to it. Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson. After my post about Secret Life of Bees and how I read, I could not ignore this one. I'm in the middle of it right now, and will be for a while. This one, I shall thoroughly digest, I believe. And the Bible with it. More on this one as I work through it.

And lastly, I was given a book this weekend when a local author came to do a signing at work (The Open Book - Greenville, SC). I love to see what local authors are writing, so I've been giving this one a shot. I'm not much of a mystery/romance reader, but if this is your interest, then this would be a good book to add to your shelf. It's a quick read with an interesting (though thoroughly fantastical at parts) plotline.

The book is Refraction by Jan Dynes, who lives in Clemson now (after "crash-landing" on the SC coast.




As always, my list is growing faster than I can (or want) to read, so who knows what's next??

Happy reading, all!

Spiffy Bloggy Goodness!

My friend Michael is incredibly thoughtful! And skilled, in my opinion! He remembered that I expressed an interest in an actual banner for my blog a few months back, and sent me a really awesome one.

Who needs sleep??? I have Grace Incarnate, a fantastic husband, awesome friends, and a cool banner for my blog!


Well... I might be exaggerating. I need sleep anyway. So thats where I goes... right about... now.



Thank you, Michael!!!

Recreating

(Before I get started, Jeromie's home!!! I am so incredibly excited! :-D )

* * * * * * *

Recreating, re-creating, creating. Either way, I've finally been doing a little bit of it lately. :-) I am a much happier creature when I can run, which means I've been a much happier creature lately. It's less than a month til the Cooper River Bridge Run, and I feel like I can maybe, just maybe, make it without getting injured. 'Tis a good thing.

Craftwise, I've not been knitting at all, but I have been cursing at making friends with my sewing machine. Okay... so I haven't been cursing at the sewing machine... if anything, I've cursed at myself & my extreme lack of skill in the sewing arena. Last night, I decided that the average 8 year old could probably sew better than me.



Jeromie: Wow, you must know some 8 year olds.

Me: Yeah, in my mind 8 year olds have some mad skillz...



So perhaps not. Maybe an 8 year old with the right training.

Anyway, these were my projects for this weekend:
(sorry... originally started the post last weekend, slacker me)


I found a cute teal skirt on a recent thrifting trip... but it was way too big for me (22/24w), so i...


...made it fit me! (and removed the beads... i might put some different ones on it... I haven't decided yet)


I painted on some shoes.


I made some fun slippers... our floors are COLD! And tweaked a curtain for the front door, too!


I ventured into the world of applique. Learned the ropes, and then...


... made a design of my own!
(it's my "signature" birdy!)



*sings* how much is that biiiiiiiirdy in the windoooooooow?


I've had a lot of fun just daydreaming & sketching & doing lately. I feel that being back *in* community (as opposed to skirting it...) has something to do with this. It makes me hungry. Hungry for God, hungry for real connection. It makes me want to "seize the day." More days than before, at least. I've definitely had days (and some this week) where I just wanted to withdraw, and I did, but there's a whole lot of pursuing going on around here. God never lets me stay that way. :-)






p.s. I didn't exactly get a good picture of the birdy. I used my favorite fabricky Christmas present for the body... it had a faint blue leafy/viney design on it. One of these days I might post a good picture of the bird itself. :-)

Life at the Bookedy...

Some days, I swear I want to bring home every book in the store. Today is one of them. But I'll restrain myself... and only bring home one. Maybe.

It helps that I've been steadily digesting a stream of good books lately... What is the What (Dave Eggers). The Once and Future King (TH White), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers), The Way of the Heart (Henri Nouwen), to name a few. Kind of like with running, the more I read the more that I want to! If I had more time, I'd ramble on about all of them. But I'll restrain myself... and only ramble about one. Maybe.

This morning, I finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I'd originally checked it out from the library on CD for the trip down to Alabama this past weekend, but couldn't finish it in that format because one of the CDs was badly scratched. (Grrr... of course it stopped at a really crucial part.) Upon arriving home Tuesday night, I promptly borrowed the book from my good friend Juli and am now done. Oh, it was so good. Very well written. Very good story. I feel like I made a whole slew of new friends! Though our stories are in no way identical, I see parts of Lily's story in mine. The sheer telling of the story watered seeds of God's truth in me that the soil of my heart always seems to want to choke out. Looks like I've got some digging to do. :-)

I'm thankful that I'm not a particularly fast reader. Reading & writing are how I learn, so I tend to ruminate on the things I read. I take the words & story in and I feel like I literally digest them... I invite them to dwell in me and root around. Unless it's a textbook... that's a different story - you know, study mode. Unfortunately, this is the way I learned to take in Scripture too. Study mode. That's good in its time, I think, but Scripture is also story. God's story, and now my story too. I want to digest God's story the way I do with books. I want Him to dwell in me, to root around and find a home, to change me from the inside out. I know that He does dwell in me now in the person of Jesus (my Savior and Friend), but something's been missing. I think that perhaps it's been Jesus as the Word. I pray that that will change soon!

In the meantime, I will continue reading & digging & hoping & living.




"Really, it's good for all of us to hear it again. Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here."

August Boatright from The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd

Wardrobe Refashion

In the past year, I've become quite the blog fiend. There are a handful of blogs that I've subscribed to & read regularly, one of which being Wardrobe Refashion. Needless to say, I've been inspired. :-) I've already tried my hand at refashioning things a few times, so I decided to take the plunge during the last round of sign-ups.

The past month has been a little more eventful than usual (see Jeromie's post), but as things settle down, I intend to devote some of my time each week to refashioning & generally being creative... making a priority a priority again. :-) Here goes!!

* * * * * * *


I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

Signed: Lizzle

Moving

So. As I mentioned in my last post, we've done some moving. Casa del Rand is no longer in Greenville, it's in Central, and it's pretty sweet. This whole weekend has been momentous for me in more ways than I first realized. I never thought I'd be excited to call the Clemson area home, but my heart settles into a beautiful calm now as I near our new home because I know that God has done this.

Several weeks ago, after church, Jeromie and I drove by the new Kalbaugh pad (pre-lease-signing) on our way to meet folks for running... just to check out their new location. Little did I know what this would stir in me. Running = thinking & praying time for me, and by the time we got back I decided to voice what was percolating: could we move back??

We joked about it a little bit... and then... we got down to some serious praying & consideration. And then... we hit an obstacle (65lb lab is not compatible with an absolutely-no-dogs rule). And then... we kept praying about it. And then... God made not just one, but two ways! And then... we signed a lease! And then... and then... and then! (I know, I know - I sound like a very excited 6 year old!)

Things weren't all smooth sailing during the process. I think Jeromie and I both encountered a good bit of spiritual warfare - his in the form of doubts, mine in the form of a seething apathy (oxymoron? I beg to differ...), but God faithfully broke through these, too, in His time.

So... the past week has been full of working and packing and packing and working and working and not running like we should and packing. With the help of some incredible friends, we got everything moved on Saturday and started the process of settling in.

I feel like God has answered a lot of prayers through all this. Long-time prayers, and not remotely in any way we expected. He is bringing us both back to life, and it's beautiful.



Perhaps what describes it best was the outcome of yesterday's listening at DCF. My reflections as I listened to Winn speak took the form of a poem... something that doesn't happen very often, so I'm pretty sure God had something to do with it. :-)

* * * * * * *



Home

We are here.
dcf.
Central.
Unsettled, but at rest
because You are our Refuge.
Your body our community,
Our community Your body.

From everlasting to everlasting.
From dust to dust.
As far as the heavens are above the earth
so are Your thoughts above our own.
We pass away, but You remain.

"Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Teach us to seek You.
Teach us to pray.
Teach us to hope, to surrender, to obey.
Our lives are not limitless,
Our knowledge is not wisdom.

We have frittered away Your precious gift
of a redeemed life.
We withdrew.
We withheld.
We grasped at and horded
moments of life
instead of entering in.

But You enter in.
You pursue.
You forgive.
With sure strokes, You carve out a home
in our hearts, and channels of hope,
and You pour
Your life
into us.

Father God, please forgive me for how I have made myself the center. Of this moment, of this day, of my life. My sins are countless. When left alone, I take every breath as an opportunity to run away. But You enter in.

Thank You.

iRead: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

(Part of this post is from a note I wrote on Facebook last week... I figured I'd just go ahead and post it here.)

So I've been a bit quiet lately. It started with being knocked out with a cold for the better part of a week... and the two weeks since then have been full of work & praying about moving & deciding to move & packing... and Saturday will be full of MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVING.

Not much time to think about books, other than at work where I get to help people find good ones! This morning I was puttering along, unsuspecting, shelving books, when I stumbled across one that's held my attention ever since:

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers

As I understand so far, the story follows a deaf man by the name of John Singer and the lives some of the people he interacts with. I haven't gotten very far yet... gotta work, you know... but so far, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It seems very well written.

* * * * * * *

Now, a few days later, I'm about a 3rd of the way through the book, and it's only gotten better. The way the author develops the characters draws you in & makes you curious. Books are great for different reasons - with this one, I feel like I've gained at least 3 new friends! :-)

I'd be done by now if it weren't for moving, but we've still got a ton of boxes to unpack, so I'll just have to wait.

(But I *really* don't want to! :-D )

A week, a nasty nasty cold, and a good book later...

This past week and a half has felt like it was a month long. (It doesn't help that it's the 30th now, and I'm wondering where the month went!) It started out unassumingly, like any other, but ended with me having spent a good half of it stuck in bed with a fever and some flu-like sort of cold. Early on, I decided I needed a book to keep me company, and so I grabbed The Once and Future King by TH White.

Still haven't figured out what rock I lived under, but White's take on Arthur was incredibly fun to read... all of it was. The story ranged all over the place from uproariously funny to appropriately serious to distressingly sad, with histories that made me feel as if I'd known some of the characters all my life.

If I had to pick a friend from this book, it'd be Merlyn. :-) After all, he knits!

The Once and Future King (TH White)

I've been eyeing this book for a while. Today seemed a good day to start it, since I haven't had the energy to do anything else. I don't know what rock I lived under as a small child or teenager, but I didn't have a clue the story was going to be funny. Sword in the Stone, at least, is hilarious.

And Merlyn knits. Can't beat that.

Creating & Resting...

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind, and today was no less so... but more in a restful way, I guess. This week at work, I pretty much officially took over responsibility for scheduling & coordinating bookfairs & signings. No big deal, just a few new things to learn & process. Today's whirlwind was more of the creative sort.

I got up to my alarm clock (!!), checked email/blogs, ran an errand (in case it *actually* snowed significantly... it didn't really do much), and spent the rest of the day in the craft room sewing and knitting. I managed to alter a wool skirt I found at a thrift store a few weeks ago, finish the curtains for the room (long time coming), and finish the fingerless gloves I started earlier this week.

It felt good to finally seize some time to exercise a bit of creativity. Working on projects tends to get me thinking about new ones, and it seems that the energy I spend making something just brings more energy with it. Unless I'm burned out. Running does that to me too. :-) Today was the first day in a while where I felt alive and resting ~ full of growing and mending and dreaming and resting and hoping, connected to my soul. As opposed to alive and wrestling, I guess, which tends to feel more like dying sometimes.

I don't really want the day to be over, but I won't cling to it and ruin the grace that it's been thus far.

*******

Kindling Fingerless Gloves


I think this experiment turned out pretty well!



A note: The fingerless gloves are my first real attempt at putting together my own pattern for something other than a scarf or a simple tube. The process was so much fun that I have to resist the urge to start working on another one right away!

A Nearly Perfect Evening

Today at work was a bit hectic, but the evening has been almost heavenly... and it's only getting better!

We've:

- run / walked on a crisp, cold evening
- come home with froze nozes and...
- made hot chocolate with peppermint sticks!
- listened to good music and laughed about how our iTunes has one of Phil Keaggy's acoustic albums labeled as EXPLICIT
- made delicious cake that involved some chocolate pudding
- made a yummy alfredo with mushrooms & spinach (2 favorites)

and then we:

- looked out the door to see a dusting of snow and more coming down!

Photo Adventures

Last Friday morning, Jeromie and I woke up on the rather early side and drove out to Eden Farms for an advent photo hunt. We got to the barn just before sunrise and hiked up into the woods to a place where there is a small clearing and a cross. Jeromie did the main shooting, while I wandered around, adjusted the flash, helped a little with composition, and played around with my little A85.

I'd been unable to really use my camera for several months because the cable was MIA, but I've got it back now! Here are some of the more interesting shots I got while we were out. Can you tell I like the sky as seen through trees?


A random styrofoam cooler - tied with string, topped with a rock -
that we decided to refer to as "Davy Jones' locker"


The cross in the early morning light


Gotta practice the "myspace" pose
(that one's actually just for you Danielle!)


Jeromie hard at work/play


The sky through the trees...


Shortly after sunrise


The hike back


I know Jeromie's already posted one picture from the outing (a funny one), but not the one we went out to get. Skip on over to his blog, Whistling in the Dark, in a day or so to see the end results!

Not yo' mama's koozie...

I recently discovered that making a "coffee cuff" is a fun way to experiment with different stitch patterns while still making something useful. My first one was a mid-project switch, so it ended up being an improvisation on the beginning of the Fetching cables. For the second one, I took the stitch pattern I used for my grandma's Kindling scarf (faggoting stitch? = bundle-of-sticks stitch), and turned it into a sleeve.

I'd rather use my travel mug than disposable cups, but I think these little cuff-things work pretty well for the times I don't have it with me. And it saves a little piece of cardboard, I guess.

Here's the first intentional cuff:


Mmmmm... coffeeeeee...


A straight-on shot of the interesting part


One of my coworkers thinks I should sell these... I dunno. What do you guys think?

Trumpet Child (Over the Rhine)

While I'm on the subject of things that have moved me, or that I just plain enjoy, I think I'll share some music too!

The Trumpet Child
Over the Rhine

Jeromie and I were introduced to this album shortly before Christmas by our friend, Dave Smith. He lent us his copy for about a week and I spun it pretty much all week. Played in the car, played it at home, missed it when I gave it back, got it for Christmas!!! I've not tired of it yet.

I haven't listened to much Over the Rhine before, but apparently this is not much like any of their earlier albums. To me, it's a mix of jazz and 50's and playfulness and beauty, and I rather like it. The DCF band played the title track, "The Trumpet Child," just before Christmas - Monica did an impressive job with the vocals, and even pulled out her trumpet.

Tis' many much goodness. :-)

What is the What (Dave Eggers)

I have just finished an incredible book:

What is the What
by Dave Eggers

I first came across this book when I started work at the Open Book. I was intrigued by it, but could only add it to my quickly growing list of books I wanted (and still want) to read. Months passed and it called to me all the while from its little shelf. I picked away at other books on my list that I already owned (I'm trying to make this my primary source of reading despite a lovely discount at work), and still it nagged me whenever I walked passed it at work. Finally, the book pounced. Jeromie and I went to the library to get an audiobook for our Christmas trip to Alabama, and it ended it coming home with us. I know I'm anthropomorphizing a book... or feline-pomorphizing it, but it did feel like a friendly kind of stalking.

We started the book together in the car a few days before Christmas and were captivated. The writing itself, the voice and storytelling, is incredible, and the actor that was chosen to read it for the audio format only brought the story more to life. We didn't want to turn it off! It occupied the whole trip to Alabama and back, and I finally bought the book when I came back to work. The book has been no less incredible to simply read.

What is the What is the story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan who trekked to Ethiopia, then to Kenya as a young boy because of the conflicts (understatement!) that engulfed the whole of southern Sudan beginning in the early eighties. The book is biographical fiction - written this way because, as Deng says in the preface, "I was very young when some of the events in the book took place." He notes that all major events are true and that nothing occurs in the book that could not have occurred in the real experience of these Lost Boys.

As a book, What is the What is gripping - it captures the reader from the very start and holds one's attention throughout. As the story of one life, and the lives of millions, it is many things: sad, hopeful, frightening, outraging, indelible. I hold images from this story burned into my mind, ones that I do not want to forget. I am ashamed that I have not been more than peripherally aware of the atrocities that have taken place in Sudan - southern Sudan, and now Darfur. I have been aware of suffering, even in my own town, but it has not brought me to my knees. I do not simply want to put down the book and go about my life unaffected. I also don't want to get worked up for a short time and fizzle back into the wretched complacency I've let in the back door.

This story has made me think, it's called me to pray - it has helped me to engage with my broken world in a way that I have not in a long time. It's one that I would suggest to anyone to read and consider.


In house church this week, we talked about our word for the year, and I think I forgot to share mine: SPEAK. As I finished reading, this word was reinforced to me. I am excited and hopeful of what this year holds, and of what God is doing.

A Mostly Handmade Christmas...

I had a lot of fun hand-making some of my Christmas gifts this year. Since I started at the end of October, I didn't get to make something for everyone I wanted to, but I got a couple of things done. This year, I intend to get a jump-start on knitting Christmas gifts... maybe in July. :-) It's really hard to just sit on gifts for that long though. When I finish something, I get so giddy that I want to give it right then!

Warning: the pictures aren't all that great. I ran out of time for creating, and I also ran out of time to get some good pictures. These were snapped just before I wrapped them. :-\


Handmade Christmas 2007

Fetching Fingerless Gloves x4

Source: pattern by Cheryl Niamath in Knitty Summer 2006
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted (blue) and some kind of yummy soft grey wool that I've lost the label to. :-(
Thoughts: A fun and easy pattern... well, easy once I got the hang of it. Also, I now understand why everyone raves about malabrigo yarn. It's incredibly soft!


Cap Karma x3

Source: Smariek's blog for the hat, with Jared's decreases
Yarn: Moda Dea Washable Wool
Thoughts: I was a bit wary of the the yarn at first because it seemed shiny, but it ended up working very well with the pattern... and it's washable and comfortable to wear, which are both good. As for the pattern, including Jared's decreases, I think it's beautiful, well-written, and fun to work.


Branching Out

Source: by Susan Pierce Lawrence in Knitty Spring 2005
Yarn: Andean Alpaca Regal
Thoughts:I'd never tried any sort of lace knitting before this project, and I was a bit intimidated. It took several attempts, complete with frogging an hour or so's worth of work, to get the thing going. I finally wisened up & figured out how to use a lifeline... after that, the pattern became thoroughly enjoyable. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for more lace-knitting opportunities.


Kindling Scarf

Source: A stitch dictionary from the library and my head
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky in a sage-green color
Thoughts: This one started out as just playing around with the stitch dictionary & some yarn I had in my collection, and turned into a scarf. If I do this one again, I'll use a lighter yarn and make the scarf longer.


Kategirl Messenger Bag

Source: Kategirl's post on craftster.org
Materials: brown canvas fabric, a thrifted tablecloth, cream grosgrain ribbon
Thoughts: This was my second bag by this tutorial, and it went a little more smoothly the second time around.

That's all for now, I guess. :-)