Progress Report

The 48 row section of the Pi Shawl is finished. I decided to add beads after all. Beads used are 8/0 Metallic Dark Raspberry Delicas. Adding the beads does slow the process down quite a bit, but I think they will look elegant. This is my first time of knitting with beads. It does enhance the look, but the beads are more expensive than the yarn. I think the beads are visible in the detail photo.

And this is an overall photo of the shawl. Now on to the 96 row section.




Andrea from Germany wanted to know where she could find the pattern for the shawl. So here it goes. This is a KAL by Bad Cat Designs. The group is presently closed but the pattern should become available some time in late March, according to Andrea the designer. If anyone wants to follow Andrea's designs, you can follow her blog at

http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/

For general information about her designs, Andrea has a Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BadCatDesigns/

You will receive all notices of new projects if you sign up.

(Andrea von Deutschland wollte wissen wo sie die Anleitung dafuer bekommen kann. Im Augenblick ist dies ein KAL die (der?) geschlossen ist, aber die Designerin, auch Andrea genannt, verspricht dass die Anleitung Ende Maerz gekauft werden kann. Ihr Blog ist:

http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com

Fuer generelle Information ueber ihre Anleitungen und KALs kann man in Andrea's Yahoo Gruppe finden:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BadCatDesigns

Andrea, ich hoffe dass Du mein deutsch verstehen kannst. Habe halt Schwierigkeiten damit da ich ja schon seit 1962 in den USA lebe.

Knit on Merrily!

A Rant and a fun cartoon

I do not wear my Christian faith on my sleeves. I did many years ago and was thoroughly obnoxious. But that was the 70s and it was more accepted to be high on Jesus than on Marijuana. I had too many kids to do the latter. Maybe I am not a "good" Christian now, but watching the news last night got me riled up. On arriving back on US soil, eight of the ten missionaries that were being held in Haiti on possible child trafficking charges, were thanking God for keeping them safe and freeing them. As I was listening to their diatribe about how good God is, I said out loud, "instead of thanking God, maybe you should ask God's forgiveness for getting yourself into this mess." Why do we expect God to save us if I we are stupid enough to stand in the middle of the highway with cars whizzing by, trusting God to pluck us out of traffic? Did not God give me common sense and expects me to use it? I think so. In fact there is a verse in Scriptures, Deuteronomy 6:16, which says "You shall not put the Lord Your God to the test...". Now I am probably misapplying the verse, but it still is a good guideline. So there. I have spoken my mind.


Now to get my sense of humor back. I found this on a German blog and couldn't help myself. The blogger's headline was "No words needed."




Knit on merrily!

I am alive!

I have not visited the Hereafter or have been seriously ill. Just busy knitting and not blocking the shawls I have finished. The old back still has problems, but I am not willing to give up lace knitting yet. On top of it all, it's February, the month I'd rather forget.

For those who know my saga, February 5 is the anniversary of my car accident and Valentine's Day is the august occasion when I was held hostage by a crazed (professional term: psychotic as in mentally ill) sex offender. On top of it all my mother died in early March. So, the nights have been eventful, to say the least.

I have narrowly (at least in my dreams) missed being run over by a train engine. I hurled myself out of it's way in my dream, but physically I woke up hurling myself right out of bed. It's an interesting sensation waking up while "flying" through the air. A good excuse to find all the sweets in the house and gorging myself. The next night, I witnessed a semi truck with a trailer plowing through a crowd of youngsters on a bridge. Another night of eating goodies.

Through all of this my mother, in a younger version is part of the general background. I presume this makes me younger too. Particularly since she seems to have the same hairdo as she had in the mid 1940s, suggesting that WWII is rearing its ugly head as well. Which would make sense in that the war ended in May and the final push of the allies would have been going strong by then. Oh, and lest I forget, there are two sisters roaming through my active nightlife. Both of them having been diagnosed with cancer within days of each other. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is, for sure. I have no idea who these two women are; they are just cluttering up the scenery.

So I am calling all Jungians to make sense of such nonsensical goings on.

In the meantime I have treated myself to two cones of lace weight yarn from Sarah's Yarn out of NYC. Sarah had a 35% off sale. A girl can't resist such things, particularly with as active a nightlife as I have had lately. It's beautiful and oh so thin.

On the knitting front, I have a youth sweater on the needles for afghansforAfghans and am participating in Bad Cats KAL of her Snow Queen shawl. Albeit, I have renamed it to "Snow Queen who had a bit too much of the grape" since I am using Knit Picks Shadow lace yarn in grape color. It's a Pi Shawl with an Estonian nupp pattern. This is the first design of hers I am knitting, and I must say I am impressed. The attention to details is phenomenal.




The only thing left to say is "I have not lost my sense of humor" and "knit on merrily."