Feast Day: Divine Mercy Sunday

Today, Easter Sunday is done for this year. For Catholics, Easter Sunday is such an important day in the liturgical calendar that it actually breaks the world's schedule and extends for an eight-day period! Honestly! (Also, the "Easter Season" goes on thru Acension and on to Pentecost -- 50 days AFTER Easter Sunday -- so we've got quite a few "partying" days left).

I thought this was an appropriate day to post a bit about our Lenten practices this year and our Easter Sunday (that lasted 8 days!):

Here is the calendar I posted so the family could focus on different events, readings and schedule of Lent. I marked all the feast days (that interrupt the fasting of Lent) -- such as St. Patrick's or St. Joseph's days -- and the fasting times. On each day, I put the appropriate liturgical readings and any other pertinent information. There is a little picture of two boys walking that we moved each day to mark our Lenten journey. This seemed to help the kids remember that although Lent is LONG, it is not endless and that there is a "happy" ending -- the happiest ending for all mankind!
Here is our Lenten table. The alms box (for Catholic Relief Services) was center-stage the whole Lent -- we all added to the box when we could (in secret) and dad would take the offerings to school each week. The red hexagonal box holds the kids' rosaries for evening prayer. The flowers remind us that Easter (and Spring) are coming ... we tried to keep fresh ones there throughout Lent. The purple cloth is for the penitence and sorrow of what lies ahead for Jesus during Holy Week.

Here is a close-up of the knitted "nest" I designed. Based on a smaller design from Hannah Fettig's Closely Knit (a great book with sensational ideas), I knit from the center out and made a family-sized version so we could ...use it on Easter Sunday for our family basket. Here it's filled with goodies -- peeps (for the annual peep wars!), jelly-beans, chocolate eggs, DVDs, games and even a drawing book, and of course "custom-designed" hardboiled eggs surrounding the whole. The cloth is one I embroidered back in 2001 for a special Easter Basket that was blessed at Church the year we did the Byzantine "Great Lent". (BTW, for my knitted nest directions, check out my knitting blog, By Hand, With Heart for a free Easter gift to you ....)

0-dark-30 Easter Monday (or 3:45 a.m.!) we headed out to visit relatives down in South Carolina -- and the 8.5 hour drive was so worth it as we so LOVE these folks down there. The kids have fun, dh and I are surrounded by those who love and respect us, and it is just a wonderful time. BamBam finally ventured out on his 2-wheeler (without training wheels) and felt the sense of freedom only learning to ride a bike can give! A few days of R&R was just what we need ... and we hit the road back here on Thursday, just in time to check out potential houses (God willing, the house in Colorado closes on May 11th!) on Friday.

We finished up the week with a spectacular Easter Saturday: a day of fun-in-the-sun with our favorite Chaplain at the Nationals game against the Marlins. Unfortunately, they lost (9-6 in the 11th inning) but the day (and company) were so fabulous, we didn't mind too much ...

Here are some photos of the big day (the first time for us at the Nationals Stadium):Sipping on cokes ...munching on hotdogs and chips ....and stuffing our faces with cotton candy (and yes, those two ate the whole bucket -- while the rest of us ate ice cream!)A great time was definitely had by all!Divine Mercy Sunday (today) found us down at St. Patrick's in Spotsylvania for Divine Mercy Sunday Mass ... and a wonderful reminder from the parochial vicar there to NEVER forget that God's mercy is bigger than ANY sin (or sins) we can commit. All we need do is ask for His forgiveness and follow the right path ... and we will live with Him and the Saints for eternity!

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday to you and yours ... and enjoy the next 42 days of the Easter Season!

College: choices and challenges

On Thursday we dropped Kotch off at the airport to fly to her "sometimes first choice, sometimes second choice" college for a college visit/scholarship competition. At the same time, I started the socks for this trip.

She came home today and definitely has placed this one as her "definite" first choice ... at least until she hears how much aid she'll be getting from this one and the other "first choice". I finished the socks tonight as she described her visit to the mid-west and this wonderful college.

Once she decides, she'll get the socks for the college -- so, either the above or these (for her other "first choice"):It's completely up to her and either college would be a wonderful experience for her; my first choice would be the one she just returned from (and this is only SLIGHTLY affected by the fact that the girls in the freshman dorm all learned to knit this year!).

While we were waiting for Kotch's flight to arrive, we took the opportunity and spent the day in D.C. Dh took StringBean to the Art Museum while I took the boys to the Air and Space. On our way to meet up with Dad and StringBean, we stopped in the Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden for a photo op on this gorgeous 70-something day in the Nation's Capitol:

Knitting: going beyond the basics

I know that some of my regular readers are very interested in knitting. Here are some books: when you're ready to go beyond a simple garter stitch scarf.

1. Melissa Leapman's new book, Knitting Beyond Scarves has wonderful illustrations and directions for increasing, decreasing, purling, reading directions, etc. Her projects are a bit "young" but I really liked a few of them and thought they'd be fun for new knitters to try. She's got a style that is very attractive but easy to follow.

2. Knitting School: A Complete Course is also excellent and should carry you pretty far in learning all the ins and outs. This book covers lots of things that many of the other how-tos don't. I like this as a reference-shelf book that you'd look into when you're stuck or don't understand a particular instruction.

3. Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti is a chatty, really well-done book about how to knit, follow directions and make things. This is great if you want a gentle approach. It's a classic that doesn't have the glossy, fancy pictures but definitely covers ALL the basics. A fun book to read (ok, if you're a knitting-geek, that is!).

4. Debbie Bliss' How to Knit: The Definitive Knitting Course includes some great projects. She walks you through the process quite nicely. This is the one my teenaged daughter uses alot when she has a question about how to do something or for a simple project. She covers doing things like cable patterns and color-work ... but starts the reader out with baby-steps to earn confidence.

5. And, I'd be remiss in not mentioning my own book, Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family. I included a knitting primer in the back of that book that should be of help too. Also, the projects within my opus include lots of little details that are often missing in the knitting books and magazines that are on the market nowadays. You can check out the projects at the Great Yarns blog and post questions/problems there, too.

So, you now have NO EXCUSE to deny the knitting-bug. Go get the needles and yarn out of the closet and give it a shot. Be careful, though; you'll find knitting can be pretty addictive!

The above should help anyone trying to go a bit further with their knitting. There are so many knitting books on the market now that it can be hard to find those truly worth buying and keeping. Please post in the comments section if you have any other books that are "must haves".

College: we grow 'em smart

So we brought Kotch up to her "some days first choice, some days second choice" college for a full-day scholarship competition. 120 some kids are vying for full-ride scholarships for this amazing school. While Kotch was taking her test, I got to sit for 3 hours, listening to the school's sales pitch ... which was phenomenal! I want to go there.

The enthusiasm and love of teaching exuded from every presenter. These folks really love teaching there and the student takes priority in every aspect of life. There was also a panel of students who were so pro "The Mount" that it would be hard to doubt their veracity.

When we got home I saw this post from my favorite SIL living in Colorado: the feast of St. Francis deSales. So, on the Feast of this great saint (and patron of writers), one of our favorite nieces (just 6 months younger than Kotch) received a full-ride offer from DeSales! How cool is that!

Guess we grow 'em smart ... or at least teach them to use appropriately and completely the gifts and talents from God!

Oh, and just so you know I wasn't completely idle while sitting for the almost 2 hour car ride, 3 hour testing, and 2 hour car ride home:
I have a quote on my knitting blog from fellow hand-knits designer Jill Wolcott:

I hate meetings ... but if I can get some knitting done, it's not a total loss

So not only was it a great meeting, but I ALSO got some knitting done.

Kotch and I have made a deal ... when she goes off in two weeks for another scholarship competition at her other "some days first choice, some days second choice", I will knit a pair of socks again. When she decides which college she'll attend (or wins the full-ride, which will decide for her) ... she'll get that pair of socks!

Merry Christmas to one and all ....

... from our house to yours. If I had a video camera, you could see and hear our newest family member Maury the Knitting Mouse - knitting and singing "Deck the Halls". Maury is a gift from my MIL who never buys silly things like this to me who never likes things like this -- and yet, Maury is so darn cute, he's hard to resist (plus he is definitive proof that boys who knit are VERY COOL)! My Stollen is just about done ... I'll blog about our Christmas Eve later!

Merriest of Christmases to one and all!

Check this out!

CHC, a well-known home-educators' resource catalog, is now carrying the book!

Tasha Tudor Day -- shawl and knitting

In the comment section for yesterday's post about Tasha Tudor Day, Carmie mentions that the instructions for the TT Shawl look pretty un-mindless to her. I thought I'd post what the pattern is basically -- you start with 3 stitchess, and purposely add holes and increase a stitch every row until the shawl is wide enough. This is the mindless part as you do the first 4 stitches each row the same way; all those other stitches are just knit stitches.

Here are some pictures and explanations of those first 4 sts: The first stitch -- and you do this EVERY ROW -- is simply wrapping the yarn around the needle to "make a stitch".
This is the second stitch -- knit the first two stitches on the left-hand needle together as if they are just one stitch. You will now have 2 stitches on the right-hand needle.
For the third stitch, bring the yarn forward between the two needles as if you were going to purl a stitch. Instead, wrap the yarn around the needle and you'll knit the next stitch.
Here are the first four stitches on the right-hand needle.
[NOTE: The first two rows don't have you do the k2tog, just the wrap at the beginning of the row.]

This is the mindless part ... and takes a while as the finished shawl is 60" wide. You can stop at any time and make this shawl a doll shawl or one for a child (should be approximately the length from wrist to wrist when arms are straight out). This is the nice thing about this pattern as you can stop when you're tired.

Once I get to a suitable length, I will post close-ups of how to do the lace border/bind-off. If the lace part scares you, you can always leave the shawl without the lace edging, bind-off the top as a normal bind-off. It's a very elegantly simple shawl either way.

Oh, and as far as circulars go ... they're easier to use than straights as you don't have the knobs that catch on your clothes, pulling out the stitches you've worked so hard to put on the needles (this has happened a bit too often for me so I almost always use circs). They take a bit of getting used to and I'd recommend a 16" or 20" to start out.

Tasha Tudor DAY!

Today was TASHA TUDOR DAY around St. Athanasius Academy. She would have been 93 today (she died in June) but her memory lives on through her books and drawings (and recipes and other fabulous writings which "TAKE JOY" in everything!). It was so fun using the whole day just to do Tasha Tudor ... what a wonderful lady!

We started out the morning with a Tasha Tudor-esque tea party -- great books, knitting and hot tea (with graham crackers for a bit of sweet). String Bean and I knitted.We started work on Tasha Tudor shawls, a simple (and FREE!) pattern from Nancy Bush at Wooly West. I started mine on Knit Picks charcoal grey superwash wool and #4 needles; String Bean started hers with Red Heart "Soft Yarn" and #8 needles. We didn't get too far on our shawls, but it's a great (easily learned) pattern that will work when we want something relatively mindless to knit.

While we knitted, Lego Maniac read the great TT books and Bam-Bam imitated some of his own -- he wrote his very own "1 is one" but his has lots of daggers, spears and other materiel that Tasha never put in her own drawings!

Here are the books we read today -- a good mix of her work, stories and life:

Picture Books by Tasha Tudor:
1is One
Ais for Annabelle
All for Love
Around the Year
Corgiville Fair
The Dolls' Christmas
The Great Corgiville Kidnapping
Mother Goose
A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays

Biographies, facts and fun (we skimmed through these, reading bits that struck us and hunting for the perfect dinner for dh and Kotch):
The Private World of Tasha Tudor by Tasha Tudor and Richard Brown
Take Joy! The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book by Tasha Tudor
The Tasha Tudor Cookbook: Recipes and Reminiscences from Corgi Cottage by Tasha Tudor

We used The Tasha Tudor Cookbook to create dinner for dh and Kotch tonight: Potato & Onion Soup with Date Nut Bread (spread with cream cheese). WOW! We should have doubled the bread recipe as we just have a bitty-bit left for breakfast and ... well, it's a good thing I get up early (and hid the remaining slice), else there might be problems! The soup too was wonderful and would be a great recipe to have on-hand for meatless meals.

Recipes:
Potato and Onion Soup (serves 8)
6 tbls butter (3 for now, 3 when soup is almost done)
3 cups onions, diced small
3 tbls flour
4 cups hot water (1 cup, than 3 cups)
4 cups potatoes, cubed (left skins on; about 8 medium potatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups milk
parsley for garnish at serving

In a 3-quart pot, melt 3 tbls butter over moderate heat. Stir in onions, cover pot and cook slowly for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Next whisk in the flur and stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes to cook the flour without browning.

Remove the pot from the heat and cool a moment. Gradually add 1 cup hot water, whisking as you add to keep flour from lumping. Blend thoroughly. Stir in the remainder of the water. Stir in potatoes and some salt and peppe. Bring to a boil, then simmer partially covered for 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the soup from the heat. Mash the potatoes and then add the milk and remaining 3 tbls butter. Taste for correct seasoning -- add salt or pepper as needed. Serve very hot!

Date and Nut Bread (1 loaf -- need to double next time!)
1 cup dates, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg, well-beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1-3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Grease one 4-1/2x9 pan. Preheat oven to 350.In a large mixing bowl, combine the dates, sugar and boiling water. Mix well and allow to cool.When mixture has cooled, stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until done when tested with a toothpick. Remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the pan, and place it on a rack to cool completely.

We served it with the soup. The bread, spread with softened cream cheese, was AMAZING!

We're so thrilled to have had a Tasha Tudor Day! Can't wait for more adventures like this. Thanks Cay ... you're Author Fiestas are always a blast!

Avatars: which one?

I've been told my avatar on an online forum is just not attractive. So, which should I pick? Here are the choices:

Choice A: A baptismal set I made for Bam-bam
Choice B: a knitted sock graphic
Choice C: the Madonna knitting -- not a very good shrinkage is it?
Choice D: My knitting company logo -- created by one of my favorite brothers (and obviously the artistic one of the bunch!)

So, which one?

County Fairs: Old Fashioned Fun

Sunday evening we had the pleasure of heading to our county fair -- me to demonstrate knitting for THREE HOURS (!) and dh and the kids to ride rides, eat fair food, play games (and win tacky prizes). The highlight for all (ok, for me, it was the KNITTING!) was the Rodeo ... 60 minutes of rough and tumble fun for $2 (only dh had to pay, the kids all were free).

The PWC Fair, the largest in Virginia, is celebrating it's 59th year with a theme of "where the pieces all come together". It's down-home fun with the traditional animal shows, goofy exhibits, and competitions. I spent most of my time in the Home Arts building ... where amazing quilts, stained glass, woodwork, and all needlecrafts were on display. They were just finishing the Hershey's Chocolate Bake-off ... so while I sat and knitted I got to hear about the "caramel pecan chocolate chip brownies" and the "just plain good brownies" and the "chocolate surprise fluff cake" that were in competition. Tough when you haven't eaten and your family has left you to knit while they play.

The PWC Fair runs from August 8-16th this year ... and really shouldn't be missed.

We love fairs and went every year to the State Fair in Raleigh ... I can still taste those foil-wrapped sweet-potatoes and hot corn on the cob. The Raleigh fair was also the first time I'd ever entered -- my knitted items all won ribbons each year! We just haven't been to a fair in a few years and my littles thought of State Fair when we first started talking about going. They couldn't understand why we weren't staying overnight (it's only 30 minutes from here)!

We had such a grand time this year (in spite of the horrible storm that blew through about 30 minutes after our arrival). I've already volunteered to judge and demonstrate again next year ... my kids have already scoped out which competitions they're going to try (Bam-Bam wants to do the sheep riding in the rodeo while Lego Maniac wants to enter the Lego-building competition).

Have you been to the fair lately?

It does a Mother's Heart Good ..... knitting

OK, so most evenings during the summer we try and watch a movie or old tv show or something as a family ... it's great chance for chill-down and we have some great memories of things we've done together.

Well, tonight, we put in David Suchet's version of Hercule Poirot Mysteries and were watching a couple of episodes ....

BUT, the really cool thing was that of the six people in the room,

FOUR OF US WERE KNITTING!

Yep, Kotch (17yod), String Bean (8yod), me (of course) and .... Lego Maniac (9yos). I guess my demonstrating knitting at the Prince William County Fair last night got all interested again!

Oh, and dh and Bam-Bam were cuddled up in a cozy blanket that I had knitted (so maybe they get half credit?) And Bam-Bam did get out needles so I can start teaching him tomorrow.

How cool is that?

Meme: Hot off the presses!

I've never started a meme but I'm usually too late to jump in on one. Solution? I'm starting one right here and now. Anyone who reads my blog -- would you like to join in? Here are 10 questions so you can know a bit about me, right now, July 16th 2008!

1. Favorite Summer drink -- red wine on ice -- the finer crushed the better; not only does it slow down the imbibing, it is a great thirst quencher and isn't sweet! Thanks to bil Noah for the "recipe"!

2. Worst part of Summer -- driving in the car on one of our road trips (either to relocate or just to visit family) -- especially if we're loaded down with stuff and we've got teen(s) and little(s) in the car together!

3. Best part of Summer -- driving in the car on one of our road trips (amazing the amount of knitting I get done; besides I love seeing family)

4. Favorite Shopping Experience -- IKEA: not only do they have some of the coolest stuff, they think I'm awesome because I'm so honest (I'll post THAT story in a day or two)

5. What I'm reading -- anything on homeschooling (just finished, and my fav so far, is Debra Bell's Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling), self-sufficient farming (one I just got is called The Self-Sufficiency Handbook -- WOW!), and building my dream house (a huge one-room cabin with loft space for sleeping, ala the Nearing's stone-house).

6. What I'm praying about -- selling the house in Denver, dear St. Joseph, please!

7. What I'm currently knitting -- a knitting bag for a sequel to my book (hopefully); this bag is taking forever as it's done in a slip-stitch pattern, with a gusset and self-strap! I'll post when I finish this puppy, believe me! I've been working on this particular design since mid-June and even dh (who knows VERY little about knitting, and rarely comments on my projects) thinks it's the most complicated, and most beautiful, thing I've ever done.

8. What I'm currently writing -- a sequel to my knitting book, a book on creativity from a Catholic world-view, and handcraft articles for the new Catholic homeschool magazine, mater et magistra. The first issue is due in the mail this week -- have YOU subscribed yet?

9. Where my time has been most-focused lately -- scheduling homeschool for this next year (including finding co-ops, sport activities, support groups and generally trying to get acclimated to life in NoVA!). I love Debra Bell's comment -- I'm paraphasing here:

yes, you will forget to teach them something, but if you teach them to love
learning, when they come across that something, they'll be able to TEACH
THEMSELVES so relax!

10. Favorite quote of the day: this was on My Catholic.com today.

If one yields ground on any single point of Catholic doctrine, one will
later have to yield later in another, and again in another, and so on until such
surrenders come to be something normal and acceptable. And when one gets used to rejecting dogma bit by bit, the final result will be the repudiation of it
altogether.

– St. Vincent of Lerins

That's it for my FIRST meme.

So, what would your answers be? Go ahead and post a blog post and link in the comments section here.

It's often the little things ....

.... that REALLY make my day. But this one was so exciting I just had to share with everyone/anyone who reads my blog ....

Amazon has my book listed!

Yep, thanks to the hard-work of my publisher, Margot at Hillside Education, my book Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family is now officially available on Amazon. Now this might not be a big deal to some .... but since I'm VERY OFTEN on Amazon, building up their stock by buying books every month, it's nice to know they're selling my book.

Read-alouds and knitting -- what could be better?

Margot Davidson at Hillside Education has just announced a brand new book:

Yep, that would be MY BOOK! The long-awaited, long-hinted-at book will finally be coming out. Pre-orders are available from Margot's web-site (and you'll get a pair of hand-made Birch knitting needles to-boot!) until March 8th with the books shipping by around March 12!

How exciting is that??????

Just to give you an idea, we read-aloud a dozen great family read-alouds and then I designed projects for each book. Here are the books we chose and the designs included in this book:

1. Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
a. Pinocchio Doll and Clothes
2. Canadian Summer by Hilda vanStockum
a. Mr. Magic’s Gnome Hat
b. Arthur Purcell’s “Gay” Sweater
3. The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkein
a. Bilbo’s Backpack
b. Bilbo’s Traveling Jacket
4. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder *
a. Ma’s Boot Socks
b. Pa’s Red-White Checked Mittens
5. Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley *
a. Mittens for Laird Alroch & Auld Mary
b. Tullie Greyshanks Doll and Clothes
6. The Lost Island by Eilis Dillon
a. Fisherman’s Jersey
b. Wool Socks for the Journey
7. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
a. Mary Poppins’ Carpetbag
b. Mary Poppins’ Fur-trimmed Gloves
8. Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
a. Captain Cook (penguin doll)
b. Mr. Popper’s Cozy Scarf
9. Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle
a. Otto’s Chain Mail
b. Otto’s Scabbard and Belt
10. Redwall by Brian Jacques
a. Matthias’ Over-sized Habit
b. Asmodeus the Snake
11. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
a. Colin’s Rug and Cushion
b. Mrs. Sowerby’s Cloak
12. The Wheel on the School by Meindert deJong
a. Lina’s Stocking Cap
b. Thick Wools Socks for Linda & Jan

These are all fun projects -- I had fun creating them and I think you'll have fun making them too! We've also included some basic knitting helps and a fully annotated bibliography of great knitting books.

The book-links are to the versions we used ... many are hard-cover as we want to keep these classics. The two that are *'ed, Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley, are quickly going the way of the Albatross -- the publishers are changing the editions to give them a more updated appeal. Try to find these editions linked here -- the text is complete and the pictures are wonderful!

Please let me know what you think about this book -- I'd love to do a sequel, especially when I saw UK's List of Best Children's Books and saw many on that list that I'd love to read-aloud to my kids and create more designs!

Modesty: easy solution

So, what do you do when your 16yod wants to wear a strappy dress to her homecoming dance?

Whip up a knitted shrug in less than 2 days, of course! Not only did I finish it on time, it was judged "cool"!

Catholic Moms Blog-roll

So, I have a bit of time yesterday and I stumble across the coolest thing in the blogsphere -- a Catholic Mom Blog-roll run by Angie. Now how cool is that? See the beautiful picture of Our Lady and Jesus on my side-bar. That's the list of all the Catholic moms on the blog-roll -- and some of them are old friends whose blogs I check all the time. But some of these ladies are brand-new and I'm quite excited to check out their blogs.

Seems there is one who is a knitter -- something VERY near and dear to my heart -- and now I've been linked to a group of Catholic knitting moms that I didn't even know existed. Now that makes the blogosphere even more fun for me!

If you're a Catholic mom and have a blog, go ahead and join the "in crowd" and sign up!

Field Trip: Sheep to Shawl

Today we went to a marvelous living history museum in Littleton, Colorado. What a joy it was to see the kids running around the historic buildings (most dating from around the 1860s) and seeing all the steps involved in going from sheep to shawl! And it was an absolutely gorgeous day to be out and about -- not a snowflake in sight nor clouds of any great amount ... just sun, sun, sun!

The Littleton Historical Museum was having a sheep-to-shawl day -- where there were activities throughout the day to show how we get from a furry lamb to a fine knitted or woven garment.



The schedule included sheep and their babies.










Demonstrations of sheep-dog herding ... did you know there is no specific breed called collie? Collies are considered any working dog -- such as the one shown here, trying to get the three white sheep to behave.






The man shearing the sheep explained about the different breeds -- prevalent at the farm today were Churros, Navajo and some Merino. A large-ish sheep's fleece, so large you can barely get your arms around it, weighed 8.75 pounds when he finished shearing.






Now this weight will be cut almost in half once the fleece is washed and cleansed of all the debris caught in the lamb's coat.








Once the wool is washed, it's sorted -- a process called skirting -- and left out to dry. Here in rather dry-climated Colorado, this wool won't take long to dry.

The wool is then combed and carded, to get all the fibers running in the same direction. Finally, the wool is spun into yarn -- using either a wheel (as shown here) or a drop-spindle.

Last, but most certainly NOT least, the wool is knitted into gorgeous garments, toys and other practical and beautiful objects.

Speaking of color ...

... here's a full view of the knitted wall hanging in the living room. This was a shawl I'd done as a sampler of some Austrian knitted lace patterns. After wearing the shawl in 2002 when we had an audience with JP2 (!) in Rome, I couldn't bear to have it just another "wearable" -- so my FIL made a frame for it (with oak strips) and hammered a gazillion black finishing nails into the frame. I occasionally take it down to launder it and then dry it on it's own frame. (NOTE: we found a tiffany-style desk lamp that has the perfect colors to complement the hanging! Isn't God good?)

I now call it -- "The Blue Ridge Parkway" -- and if you've ever seen the Blue Ridge, especially down near NC/SC, you'll know why.....

Great Read Aloud

Today we read, as suggested by MacBeth on a 4Real thread, George MacDonald's The Light Princess.The copy we borrowed from the library was illsutrated by William Pene duBois (of Twenty-one Balloons fame).

The Light Princess is a wonderful read-aloud -- I read it in a bit over an hour -- for the littles. Seems a princess has a problem with gravity (now wouldn't that be a cool rabbit trail to follow?) and a prince has to save her. There are good guys and bad guys -- particularly an old witch of an aunt who doesn't play nice, but who does knit:

She left the snake hanging, and sat down on a great stone, with her black
cat by her side. Then she began to knit and to mutter awful words. The snake
hung like a huge leech, sucking at the roof; the cat stood with his back arched,
and his tail like a piece of cable, looking up at the snake; and the old woman
sat and knitted and muttered. (page 26)

Like I need another project ...

... but this one sounds so cool. The National World War II Museum in New Orleans has started a new project called "Knit Your Bit". This project has folks from across the nation knitting scarves for WW2 veterans as a sign of appreciation for all that they did back in the 1940s.

I think this is a GREAT idea. Knitting during the war was a big part of the Homefront's effort to encourage our men and women "over there". In fact, String Bean and I just read about this in her Meet Molly book she got with her American Girl doll. So this is a great tie-in with our knitting unit and my encouragement of knitting for charitable causes.

Anyone want to join us? Scarves (and there is a simple pattern at their site if you want or you can make one of your own) need to be received by March 15, 2007. So get those needles clickin'!