I received the most beautiful gift from Geeta, a cyber friend in India.



Naturally, the colors are much more exquisite in "real life."

Geeta told me, "It is a wraparound skirt woven in the North eastern part of the country. . . . We in the north sometimes use it as a stole/shawl/a special table cover too. . . . No embroidery, it is ALL woven, done by women who have been abused and are now staying at a home."



Geeta is a wonderful woman and a dear Christian sister! What a gift the internet can give. Through it the Lord can bring us friends from around the world!

Geeta is in the process of starting a Christian school for autistic children in India. She has no money, only a huge burden for this neglected part of society. Please keep her in prayer! AND, if you are inclined to do something more practical to help, please email me: dlofink@hotmail.com. Because my husband works for a thrift store, he has been able to get a great deal of curriculum materials for Geeta. Unfortunately, the postage rate to India is outrageous! To send it the slowest, cheapest possible way is still about $2.00 per pound and we have probably a good 50 pounds to send so far! We are taking postage donations from anyone who would like to help this worthwhile grass roots school.

You know, when I was little and didn't want to eat my dinner, my Mom always told me about "starving kids in India". I always wanted to send THEM the food (we won't go into my Mom's cooking in those early years - let's just say I wouldn't recommend boiling hamburger, no matter how much fat you can get out of it that way). I kind of like sending kids in India SOMETHING after all these years of talking about it.

I did complete some more repeats of charts A and B of my LotSS stole.



I probably could have done quite a bit more, but I got worried about the stole being knit too loose and too big. I just stopped working on it at all for about three days. I barely picked it up last night and did a few more rows. I think I'll just keep going even if I end up with a lovely lace, long, skinny blanket.

I did finally finish up the front of Gabrielle's bobble sweater.



Now I am ready to cast on the first sleeve. MAYBE, just maybe, it will be ready for this winter.

I got to "face the music" on all of the stress eating I've been doing over the last several months. Not only I'm I nowhere near a size 6 any longer, but I have now eaten myself out of most of the fat clothes I'd saved from when I lost weight after Gabrielle. Sunday, I went to my closet for clothes for church, and had nothing to wear that fit. I think I'm down to 3 outfits that can be worn in public. RATS!



I combed through my fabric stash, which is filled by the way mainly with children's prints, and cut out an outfit for me. It will be a medium, still, but I better get control of myself or this won't fit for long! I am right on the upper limit for squeezing into the medium.



I found this fabric as well and would like to do something with it. I like anything that reminds me of sailing and boats and the sea. But what??? Perhaps pants and a pull-over shell of some sorts? Any ideas? I like tunic lenth tops since they fool the eye into thinking the wearer is leaner than reality - or so I tell myself.

Gregory learned to knit! I taught him a couple of days ago.



I've been working with Gabrielle over the last couple of weeks, holding her hands while we knit together. Last time we practiced, Gregory asked me to teach him.



To be honest, I didn't think he'd be able to do it without me holding his hands. But boy did he learn!



Two days later he is still knitting! Sometimes I think Gregory's autism will limit what he can do and so I won't try to teach him something. This is a good example of why I need to forget about the autism and not limit my son!

Gabrielle, on the other hand, is not really that interested in knitting except when she is bored with more mundane pursuits. She is my little bookworm and would rather practice her reading and writing.



At just 4 years old, she loves books! Last night I found her with a "Little Golden Book" and a flashlight in her bed after bedtime. She is such a cute little thing!