Parable of the Prodigal

This is the book we are reading in my Thursday night Bible study. The author, Henri J.M. Nouwen is a Catholic priest, called by the Lord to serve in many ways, not only by teahcing, but by helping out at a community for disabled folks called Daybreak in Canada (Toronto, I think). When we first started this small group meeting, we started with another one of his books. I like this one much better, I think it's something that is a little more applicable and easier to delve into.

This book is reflections on both the "Parable of the Prodigal Son" spoken by Jesus in Luke 15, and the painting by the same name by Rembrandt (seen on the front cover.) The first thing we looked at last night was "what impressions did you get from looking at the painting on the cover?" It is amazing how different personalities get different things from the same painting. I noticed first off that it appears as if the father is praying over his son that came back, with laying on of hands, healing supplication almost.

Some other impressions were that even thought the main characters are on a raised platform, the older brother off to the side appears to be elevated slightly above the father. The shaved head was also mentioned, as a sign of penitence, especially as when Rembrandt was painting, long manicured hair was a sign of wealth and well-to-do, even though a traveler as bad off as the son was would not have had the means to shave his head nor beard. There was other impressions, such as it being a dark appearing painting. Nouwen talks about his experience of seeing the original in Russia, and how it appeared to be colorful and light. Of course, we can only imagine what the original is like from this small reproduction.

There was actually only 6 of us there Thursday, out of a normal 10, and the smaller group made on of the guys open up more. In fact, this person is a new believer in Christ and hadn't prayed out loud before Thursday. It was awesome to see that breakthrough. I pray one week soon we will see him at church.

I actually started this post yesterday at work, but our boss, good ole' Taylor, let us go early. Yeah! :-) So now I'm finishing it. With promised pictures of "kitties on red rug."

You can already see the fur left by Kitty as he was rolling around on it earlier. I got thie rug at Target, to go with my other colorful rug. It goes nicely, a cheerful accent on a rather drab carpet.

It has been pressing on my heart for the last few minutes so I have to share this. This morning I received an email from a friend who is in same Thursday night Bible study. This email had me crying over my breakfast this morning, so powerful it is. She wasn't there this week as her 4 month old nephew had passed away the week before and the memorial service was Thursday. She was hurting bad, and asked us to pray for her family. Her brother, (whose baby this was) did not know the Lord, along with other family members.

The email this morning shared (here I am getting all teary eyed again) that her brother had come to know the Lord, and that He is working on her best friend heart. There were other blessing also throughout this, and seeing those things happening in front of you can make the grief a lot easier to bear. I have seen so many answered paryer this week, it is truly amazing. I know that our God is an Awesome GOD, and to see stuff like this make that awesomeness almost unbearable. Almost a pale imitation (very, very dim imitation) of what it will be like to stand in His presence.

Amen and Amen!!

Teas and Shawls

Sorry I haven't posted for a week now. Haven't really had anything to blog about, you know what I mean?

But - I do have a couple of things to share.

This book:

Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. The cotton stole I posted pictures on below is from this book, and I am now half way done with "Icelandic Triangle." It is knit with 3 natural gray shades of Unspun Icelandic from Schoolhouse Press. Sorry I don't have pics - the part I am working with is darkest charcoal and hard to photograph under lamps. (Still fairly dark outside both when I leave for work and when I come home.)

It is knitting up fairly quickly, and will block out quite large. It will be warm yet light, properties of the yarn used. I have been unusually project monogamous lately, sticking with this project. (Even though I do still have to finish up a couple of Christmas presents.) (Sorry Andrew and Dad! :-( )


Last week when I took my brother out to dinner at Claim Jumper, I had the most fabulous tea. Hot Cinnamon Spice by Harney and Sons. The best I have ever had, and naturally sweet, so no sugar necessary. So when I got home, I searched online, and ordered this:
among a few other teas to try.

I received them last night, and tried the Vanilla. Very tasty, yet light. Don't let it steep too long, or it may get bitter tasting. I also ordered their "Indian Spice" tea - what they use for their chai recipe. My boss really likes that one. I may order the "Peach Ginger" tea for my mom, and maybe for Andrew as he really likes ginger also.

Last night I purchased a nice red rug from Target and it goes nicely in my hall. My cats were very interested in it and left piece (fur) on it. You can't see it in the pictures I took, which I will post tomorrow. Totally forgot this morning! :-P

Cheers and happy knitting!

A Birthday Today

My family and friends are celebrating a birthday today - that of my middle brother, Andrew. He is 27 today, 2 1/2 yrs younger than I am. My dad is coming over from Susanville today to take him out to lunch (well, hopefully - it is snowing rather heavily right now). And I will take him out to dinner tonight.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Not that he reads this. So that's why I'm going to let you in on a little secret. My friend Mandy and I are throwing him a surprise birthday party tomorrow night! Whoo-hoo! ;-) We invited all his friends and some of my friends, too! There will be cake and ice cream and general merriment. :-P Balloons and noisemakers and streamers and...yeah, we're going all out! :-) It has been a long time since anyone has done anything for his birthday, so I think it's a good year to do it. Beside, somewhat spur of the moment usually works out well. It will be good!!

First Finished Object '07

Yeah - One F.O. for 2007 already. In fact, I even started it on New Year's Day, and finished it on Saturday night. Thie pictures below are from yesterday while it was blocking:

Patten Specs:

It is a rectangular stole knit out of worsted wt cotton on US9's.
Approx 26" x 50"
A variation on the Box Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls.
Instead of black wool, I used white cotton, and changed up the pattern somewhat, using fewer repeats across. I also made it stockinette stitch based, rather than as the pattern was written - as garter stitch based.

I really like how quickly it knit up, and like any lace really opened up when I blocked it. I do need to work on my blocking skills, though. As you can see, it is kind of crooked and wavy. Although I did use a tape measure while I was blocking. I have seen blocking tiles that have measurements on them, that might help also.

All the snow melted already from the storm we had on Thursday. Man, was it bad! So slippery and icy, especially the next morning as it had melted a little during the night then cleared and of course, froze solid! Fun! :-/

The Auto Show this last weekend really helped my work have a great first weekend in January. Sales have been really down since November, so hopefully this will presage a great year.

2007 Goals

Ok, so I 've done the New Year resolutions thing several times in the past, and they never quite worked out. So this year, 2007, I am just going to set some goals.

Spiritual

1. Be in the Word more (I am going to try to read thru the Bible in a year.)
2. Pray more!

Financial

1. Pay off Honda.
2. Pay off at least 1 credit card!

Lifestyle/Health

1. Continue with Weight Watchers.
2. Exercise more.

Stash Management

1. Complete at least 2 UFO's(*) before starting anything new.
2. Knit from my stash as much as possible.
3. Spin more (more yarn incoming to knitting stash, while nicely decreasing fiber stash.)

I think those are realistic goals. A lot of these I have been doing for a while now anyway - just a matter of continuing forward, some of them like paying off debt - I will be a little more agressive at it.

Saturday morning I was in a little funk, didn't want to knit, didn't want to read, or watch TV, so I did a little stash managment. You know, those times where you go through what you have, make a list of UFO's(*), put all your needles in one spot, consolidate, ...etc, etc. It was actually somewhat cathartic and relaxing. I now have a bag that is just UFO's, a bag for sock yarns, and a bag for homespun. Of course, by the time I really go into it, I realized that I forgot just how much I have.

Now the good thing is that I have projects in mind for 95% of my stash. I just need to get to them, (after finishing previous projects, of course) and not buy more! (Easier said than done, I know!) :-)

(*) For non-knitting readers - UnFinished Objects! :-)

Cheers!

Year of Socks!

I think this is going to be my year of socks (or at least the first of many). Warning** - Picture heavy post coming up! :-)

My new favorite sock yarn. Regia Silk! (I've got some solid black also, but that didn't photo well.) The blue I just used to finish a pair, and the tan and grey will be next.
Partially done. I love how it was so easy to get the two to match!


Voila! Done, and so comfortable as all handmade socks are. They knit up so fast, and easily. The yarn is extra soft with the silk added (yet still washable)(very important, as you know!) yet light and airy and sproingy (is that a word?) :-)

Kitty loves it when I get down on the floor with him. Here is part of him - checkin' out the new socks! See how well they match! I love it!


This is actually going to be my very next sock project - a special pair for a special person (man) ;-> My LYS just got this yarn in - Mountain Colors, lovely luxurious merino and mohair blends. And the handpainted colors practically slap you in the face as you pick up the yarn to fondle it! It looks like it should stripe pretty nicely, too, we'll see.

As the title implies - I have several socks in the planning stage, some for me, some for others. Both my parents love the socks they got for borthdays, so I figure I can't go wrong with more socks. My brother, A., certainly could use some more socks, and of course my other brother D. and his wife are probably feeling a little left out! Sorry guys! So - for the New Year 2007 - I am going to make a lot of socks!!!

Now for some kitty eye-candy:
Lexy is certainly a girl! She'd rather be curled up in my comfortable chair, than sprawled on the floor with Kitty.
This is unusual for Kitty to sit this still for a picture. I whip out the camera and he tries to chase the wrist holder that dangles down.
Here is both of them this morning - must have played themselves out as usually when they are this close together, Lexy is teasing Kitty, and Kitty is getting in trouble for being too rough and making Lexy growl, cry, whatever. It's an un-ending circle. Poor Kitty. I try to give him extra attention after that.

So, have a Happy (and safe) New Year! Make 2007 a memorable year. I know I will!

Post-Christmas Pictures

Finally - Christmas is over! Whew! Well, it wasn't that bad. I did get most of what I wanted to finish done. And everyone liked their gifts. So I am content. Now for some pictures:
This is my parents Christmas tree (and yes, that is a gun hanging on the wall above it.) Explanation later on.
This is the alpaca I've been working on. The first picture is the 3-ply yarn (left over skein from project) and the second is the shawl I made with it for my mom! She really liked it, and it came out so nice and light and airy. I actually still have another 3 oz to spin up, so I will have enough yarn for something else to match the shawl. Anniversary, birthday...hmmm! :-)

By the way - the printer box underneath the skein is my Christmas present from Mom and Dad. Thanks again, so much!
In other spinning news - I ordered a sampler pack of 4 different colors of shetland from Hello Yarn. I actually ordered 2 packs, for a total of 2 lbs, and am going to order a 3rd as I want to do a 3-ply. I started with the gray, and I apologize for the fuzziness of the picture. I think I was too close with the camera. Anyway, this shetland is so easy to spin, I love it! And the gray isn't the same homogenous color throughout. Oh no, my friend, it has strands of white all the way through to black, for a great tweedy look. And it is spinning so fine and evenly, thus the 3-ply. I am going for at least a DK-weight yarn.

My plan is simple. A sweater using all 4 colors (cream, lt brown, dk brown, and grey) with a fairly simple fair isle pattern through out. (Haven't picked out the pattern yet, but I can envision it!)

Now for the gun. Yes, my parents do live in Hickville, USA, but they're not your average redneck. Not by a long shot. My dad doesn't hunt, and their front yard is not a dump-all/used car lot. (Well, it used to be when my brothers lived there.) :-0 (J/K) The rifle is actually an antique - a Civil War rifle including the bayonette. It was given to my grandfather when he was fairly young and passed down to my father. My parents know the actual story with more details, but it is a pretty neat piece. Definitely a conversation starter.

Hope every one had a safe and fun Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!