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!

I FINALLY started my Legends of the Shetland Seas (LotSS) shawl! I gave battle to the mind monster created by the pattern's printed warning: "For ADVANCED lace knitters" and conquered my trepidation!



I've done three repeats of chart A and two repeats of chart B. Unfortunately, I've noticed my design is growing. The first repeats went slower than the latter. As my knitting speed increased, my stitches loosened up. I sure hope blocking will resolve my knitting inconsistencies!

I also started a new Incredible Sweater Machine (ISM) sweater for Gregory.



Kurt brought some more yarn home from work (Thrift Store) in colors he liked and I designed this sweater based on pattern recommendations for yarn quantities. (I'm so excited Kurt has jumped on the yarn scavenging "band wagon" and keeps his eyes open now for good finds at work!) Unfortunately, it looks like I won't have enough blue to finish. I've stalled out waiting for a solution to present itself to my troubled brain.

Gregory drew a robot picture that I scanned and overlayed with graph paper. My thought was to knit his robot in intarsia on the front panel of the sweater. But before I try this feat, I need to figure out what to do about the blue issue. I'm not likely to find more of this color yarn in the Fall.

I threw my two COTR shawls over some branches on my magnolia tree to take pictures.



The rose colored one is the shawl I made for my Grandmother. I love the way the beads cause this one to drape. The grayer shawl is my COTR.



My COTR is a little bit heavier than my grandmothers. Both are made from homespun Ashland Bay merino and silk. My shawl contains about 5 ounces of fiber whereas my grandmother's contains about 4 ounces.

Hung on the tree they look ghostly. I also realized after pulling the shawls done that I am allergic to magnolia, but there is no way I am rewashing and reblocking my shawl yet!

Lately I have not felt as productive as I like. It is not that I haven't been able to get in my fiber and sewing time, in fact, I knit like crazy to keep me from going crazy during home school. I just haven't finished anything in awhile and I like the sense of satisfaction that comes from a completed project. I was tired of looking at the same old works in progress here week after week. So I decided to strike and post nothing until I finished something. Well, I finished COTR #2! YAY!!!



It didn't photograph too well on my heavily patterned bedspread, but I HAD to post pictures of something COMPLETED.



The color of this shawl reminds me of whole wheat cranberry bread. The picture does not show the rosy tint of the shawl. It is pretty and much lighter in weight than my last one. I think my grandmother will like it. This one is as big as my first though and I used a size 5 addi turbo circular needle instead of the size 7.

Lately, the evenings have been chilly. Of course I am measuring by my Florida standards and mean 70 degrees or a little less. My daughter and I have been stealing away into the back yard before bedtime to spend time in the swing cuddling and star gazing. My first COTR shawl is large enough to wrap us both up and we love it! I plan to continue to knit lace and can see having a whole wardrobe of lace shawls. They are completely practical for Florida panhandle life.

I refuse to post more pictures of the same old stuff this week. However, I did finally get pictures from last December (2002) developed. These pictures included the first and only wedding dress I have ever made so I will post these instead.



The bride's family and ours have been friends since we moved here five years ago. When she couldn't find anyone to make her renaissance wedding dress (combining two patterns), I got talked into it. (Had it not been for this dress, I would not have been "burned out" on sewing for awhile and would not have discovered spinning and knitting. I would say this is thus a good thing, but whether my husband would agree is a different matter.)



All of the trim had to be sewed on by hand. The bride is not a sewer and she bought and delivered the material and trims. Some of it was nice, some of it required creative sewing.



Fortunately, the bride was very happy with her dress. . . And I was very happy when I finished! I started this dress right before I had to pull Gregory out of school and homeschool him. Thus I took on two very stressful tasks at the same time.



I added some embroidary and beading to the sleeve on my own. I constructed the sleeve from two different patterns. I truly felt like I was making it up as I went. Not a good feeling when you are a perfectionist and are working on someone else's wedding dress!



We don't celebrate Halloween here, but my kids like to dress up. Thus, the last few years I picked up sewing patterns for various costumes and turned them into pajamas for the kids. Gregory is wearing the body of his dog pajamas. Made from faux fur, they are warm and cozy for winter. He also has a hood with ears that match. We started this tradition with teletubbies. The kids also have Cheetas. October is almost here and I need to decide whether I'm going to continue the tradition. I probably won't. Despite being only 6 years old, Gregory is almost a size 10 now and it is tough to find patterns that big.

I love Sunday mornings. We usually stay up a little later than normal on Saturday evenings since Kurt doesn't have to go to work and on Sunday morning the kids sleep in later than usual. Today (and the last few Sundays) I've "played hookie" from church. Now don't get me wrong, I love church. We have a great pastor who delivers wonderful messages and lots of friends at church. But after taking care of everyone's needs all week and rarely having a break, I like to just relax in quiet, peaceful bliss for an hour and a half on Sunday morning while the family is at church.

It is raining lightly outside and a mockingbird chirps for the return of the late summer sun somewhere in the distance. There is no arguing or fighting to compete with Creation's voice and NOBODY NEEDS ANYTHING. No one needs a drink. No one needs me to find a shoe. No one wants food. No one is wondering if I can get to a dark load of laundry today. No one wants to detail the injustices recently inflicted by his/her sibling. I love this little window of peace on Sunday morning. Sigh.

But I do miss going to church and my husband misses having me with him at church so I'm going to have to figure out a way to get a break during another block of time on a regular basis.

I've been focused more on my COTR this week than my other projects. I'd like to get it done so I can jump into the Legends of the Shetland Seas without distraction.



I finished the Crab and Sea Horse chart, Bubbles B, the Starfish chart and most of Bubbles C. I have two fish charts, Bubbles D and the Sea Foam remaining. I can't decide whether I should just finish this shawl and THEN start the LotSS or jump right into the LotSS now and work on both shawls at the same time. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with so many ongoing projects, but I also feel like I need to start the LOtSS since I committed to it when I joined the LotSS knit along.

I finished Kurt's first Shetland wool sock.



He tried it on and it is a perfect fit. I've already cast on for sock number 2, but have only done about 4 rounds. Simple socks are great for "on the go" or "during the wait" knitting. I knit most of sock number one during homeschool while the kids completed school work.

I got a little bit of shoulder shaping done on Gabrielle's bobble sweater.



Most of this I did sitting in the front yard watching the kids ride their bikes. As warm as our weather still is, it is hard to imagine wearing a sweater.

Once I FINALLY finish this bobble sweater, I want to try a stranded sweater by Dale. I've already picked the pattern.



I thought I'd do this in off white and dark and slate blue. I finished reading the Philosopher's Wool Book on stranded knitting and am ready to go! But I HAVE to finish the sweater I am doing before I can start a new one or I will make myself insane!

I started spinning for the Peacock Shawl.



I really like the Ashland Bay merino and silk blends but with the heat and humidity of summer in Florida, I felt the roving in my hand while I am spinning. I am ready for Fall. Of course I will have to wait another month or two for Fall to make it's way this far South.

One of the Spindlers, Kathleen, who lives in Mobile, Alabama told me about a spinning group named Synergy which meets monthly in Pensacola. I attended my first "meeting" yesterday and met some very nice ladies. Kathleen gifted me with some of the lovely Alpaca fiber she is currently spinning.



She gave me a little over 2 ounces of it and it is SOOOOOO soft. I think I might blend it with some black merino wool I have and make ANOTHER shawl. I sure hope I like wearing shawls since I sure like making them!

This has been a pretty "ho hum" week. Not too much progress on anything. I'm plugging away at the Crab and Sea Horse chart with my COTR.



The critters are starting to manifest. I really enjoy this project!

Kurt's first Shetland sock is coming along.



At least it fits and is soft enough and thus meets his new wool item standards.

I finished spinning the skein of kelp Wensleydale.



It is 18 wpi and about 200 yards. The fiber is fabulous and comes from Grafton Fibers. I'll have to spin some more if I want to make a pair of socks with it.

Gabrielle's Aran sweater is coming along slowly. I just started shaping the first shoulder.



It sure will be nice to have the front done and so I can start working on the sleeves. Sleeves always seem to go so fast after working on the sweater body!

Kurt keeps finding stuff at work for me to use for our home school. He has actually overwhelmed me and I have a stock pile in the garage. However, he brought home a nice storage bin set up last year that I finally put to good use!



I got all the yarn out of what is quickly becoming my spinning closet. I don't have much really good yarn, but what I have will be great on the ISM. I prefer to use less expensive yarn for stuff for the kids because they grow so fast and stain their clothes so readily. Now I can see what I have and perhaps it will get used faster. Much of it has price tags from stores in Las Vegas which means it is at least 5 years old. I think I got most of it when I took up knitting while on bed rest when pregnant with Gregory.

I finally got my copy of Spin Off magazine. My skein of Gulf Coast Native homespun made the magazine and is even on the first page of the article. The fiber came from Running Moon Farm. I previously said I didn't care if my skein made the magazine or not, but I must admit it was pretty cool to see it in there. All of the submitted skeins can be seen on the Interweave website under their spinning section.