I started a shawl for the prayer shawl ministry last night. Yes, I know I still have to sew the second reefer baby sweater together and finish it but sometimes just starting a new project makes it easy to face the excruciatingly boring job of finishing. I know people who are so disciplined they won't start a new project until the old one is finished and mailed or given away. I never could do that. A new project sings its siren song to me and I always succumb. Such is life. I will finish the baby sweater, I will finish the socks and I will finish the vest, but in the meantime the shawl and I were meant for each other.

I gave the first reefer baby jacket as a shower gift today. I hope they like it. I didn't stay for the shower as I need to run errands, etc. My mother and her next door neighbors have been here for a few days. Her neighbor, Cal, has been having heart problems so they did an angiogram and discovered that although there is blockage, it is to his arm and not considered serious. This is the third specialist he's seen, the first two thought the blockage was in the carotid artery and were advising surgery. This specialist did an angiogram and discovered that the blockage was not that severe. He has been so worried that he has been having anxiety attacks and has been in the emergency room several times. Now he is going to see a neurologist to discover why he is having dizzy spells but otherwise the doctor says he is fine. Of course, the dizzy spells could be from a number of different sources so he is anxious to solve that problem too. Then they will be able to treat the anxiety as a separate issue. Isn't the mind a wonderful thing?

I have been reading The Color of Death by Bruce Alexander. It is very well written and has a lot of detail. It takes place in London in the mid 1800s. Interestingly, the black population of that city are a main feature. Slavery was outlawed in England long before it was in the United States and this is one of the main themes of the book. The protagonist is a blind magistrate. There are lots of details of the problems he has and the ways he circumvents them, of course it helps that he is well to do and lives in a house with several servants. However, he also has a ward he has taken in off the street and the narrator also lives there and is studying law under him. So far it is a delightful story (if a murder mystery can be considered delightful) and I am really enjoying it.

I have a miniature dachshund named Miss Daisy. She is very friendly, loves people, other dogs and would like to love cats but they think she's too hyper. I took her to a local pet store where we bought her a bow for her collar. While we were checking out, two people were standing behind us in line and Miss Daisy, friendly huckster that she is, bounced up to them expecting petting and adoration. Instead, both of them stood like zombies. Finally, the girl cautiously petted MD, she then explained to me that dachshunds had been so inbred they have become aggressive, surly and tend to bite. Obviously, Miss Daisy and I have never read that evaluation and, hopefully, Miss Daisy's begging for attention showed her another side to the dachshund personality.

Sadly, there are a lot of dogs who have problems and some breeds have gained a bad reputation. I know if I see a dog that weighs over 120 pounds, I back off until I am sure it is friendly so I understand that woman's reaction to a dog she was afraid might attack. Caution is always best when it comes to a strange dog especially when it is out of its element. Hopefully, after meeting Miss Daisy and her zany antics, this lady will be willing to give the next dachshund a more friendly greeting.

I think the hardest lesson for a beginning knitter is ripping out. I know there have been times when I have had to put aside a sweater or afghan I was working on because I was going to have to rip it out, maybe not all the way but enough that I couldn't face it at that time. Fortunately for me and my sanity, I always have several items on needles or something else ready to start. I think the time I had to rip out a man's cardigan sweater was the worst. It had an elaborate pattern and as I was ready to sew the pieces together, I realized I had made the back 2 inches longer than the fronts. Since it was a gift, I couldn't shunt it to the back of my closet for a couple of months but had to rip out the fronts and redo them immediately. I never made that sweater again.

One of my students refused to rip out and cast on over when she ran out of yarn, instead she joined a second ball and continued. Fortunately, the yarn was knobby and the knot was hidden in the pattern. However the next time she cast on she pulled out plenty of yarn.

Knitting at the County Fair

Today I did a knitting demonstration at the county fair. They had a very nice demo area set up, a tatter was demonstrating his craft and a leather crafter was chiseling leather. There were some teenagers interested in learning to knit so I showed them how to cast on and knit. They were thrilled they caught on so easily and are interested in lessons. I find it totally satisfying to teach someone to use two needles and yarn to make something they can wear or give as a gift.

I am working on a second baby reefer jacket but only brought the size five needles so had plenty of time to people watch after I finished the ribbing. I actually did the ribbing for the back and then pulled out the other end of the ball of yarn and knitted the ribbing for one of the fronts. Fortunately I was using my circular needles so had plenty of room for both pieces of ribbing.

It was cooler today than it usually is during fair week, last year it was up in the low 100s, today it was only 85 degrees. I talked to the tatter and learned a few more techniques, tatting is almost a lost art and when I have time I want to do it more, also beading, painting, scrapbooking, the list is endless but for now I'll stick with my first love, knitting.

Judging at the county fair

For the past two years, I have judged the fiber arts at the county fair. It is great to see the work that is being done and the interest in these crafts. This year's Grand Champion was a doily tatted by a man here in town. He is very talented, teaches classes and gives demonstrations around the valley. All of the entries were well knitted and there was a good variety. There were items knitted by students 7 to 9 years old and articles knitted by an 87-year-old woman.

I finished the Debbie Bliss baby reefer jacket for my niece's baby and hope to have a picture of it to show here. It wasn't very hard, it just seems to take me forever to sew a knitted garment together. I am looking for a pattern for a sweater that has no seams!! I finally found an afghan pattern that is knit from beginning to end with no sewing together, of course, it is so heavy that I can only work on it in the winter.

I am reading a Marcia Muller novel, Cape Perdido. I really like it and admire her style. The story is very believable, there are several story lines and she is a nice job of keeping them all going.

Knitting and attention deficit children

I work part time as a cashier at a crafts store. A few days ago, a woman was buying a basketful of yarn, when I asked her (as I always do since I am also the knitting instructor) what she was making, she explained that she works with young people and children that have been abused, have attention deficit syndrome or other emotional problems. She discovered that many of them respond favorably to knitting as an emotional outlet. She was buying wool yarn for them to knit then they felt it into bags. She says it prevents them from doing serious harm as in cutting themselves. Shetold me that when the students begin to feel emotionally stressed, she hands them needles and thread. The concentrating on the knitting soothes them and seems to work especially well with the boys.

Since I was working, I couldn't talk to her more but am going to look into this. I have talked to several people who have told me that knitting has a calming effect on them but her experience is so much more. I have talked to students in elementary schools who have teachers that taught knitting in the classroom. The first student told me her teacher (a man) taught the class to knit and they knitted during their recesses. This 10-year-old pursued her knitting and even took classes at a nearby yarn shop. She then proceeded to teach her mother how to knit. Two more converts!!

In the beginning

This is going to be a knitting blog with a little chatting and discussion of a few books thrown in for good measure. I started knitting in 4-H (head, heart, health and hands) when I was 12 and gradually grew to love it. Originally, I thought the 4-ply cap and scarf were dorky, nothing I would ever wear or give. Oh please!! However, my first project after finishing the required ones was a baby sweater with a pattern and I was hooked after that. I also love to read and chat, hence the title of this blog.


I am involved in a church ministry where we knit and crochet prayer shawls for members of the church that we feel will be uplifted by this gift. As we get going, I hope to post pictures of the members of our group and hopefully of the shawls and other projects they are doing.





I work part-time at a crafts store and one of our customers told me about