Blue Checkered Blanket ~ FINISHED!

The blanket is finished!

It is going to be stored away until I can give it to

my friend who I am surprising with it!

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I have already started today a new patchwork blanket,

like the first big blanket I did for

the church munchkin's Christmas when he was 5.

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I am still reading

Little House on the Prairie and am looking 

for a new novel to read, but have not yet chosen it.

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What are you reading and creating?

Yarn Along with us!

Three Boarders Done! + Cats

Three of the four borders of my 

blue checkered blanket are done!

I will have to finish the last boarder 

and then weave in all the ends!

I was given this sweet small book on Cats

from S. when she visited!

It's by the National Library of Australia

and is really cute, with many 

pictures of cats, 

including some well done vintage ones! 

I am also still reading

little house on the prairie 

and quite enjoying it!

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What are you reading and creating?

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Sewing Together + Two Books

My blanket is almost totally sewn together!

I have a little bit left to knit on the bottom right

and then will make a boarder;

I am thinking, as I used 4 colours of yarn,

that each side of the border will be one of these

4 colours... 

I finally finished Cather's Song of the Lark

and am enjoying the restful read of

Wilder's Little House on the Prairie.

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I hope to get a lot done with week on 

the blanket yet!!

Then I will have to think of what I will knit next...

I am thinking of doing a big

crazy quilt knitted blanket again,

as the first one I made is very well loved.

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What are you reading and creating?

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Blanket Sections Complete! + 3 books

 I managed to get the third and last section of my

blue checkered blanket done!

I will need to decide on the order of the three

sections, bind off 

and choose a border colour... 

It is going to come together to be lovely

and I am so thrilled by the progress!

I finished Luci Shaw's book,

Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey

it was a good read and I enjoyed it,

gave lots of food for thought and I appreciated the 

words towards the end that 

spoke to me of God's

all encompassing love.

I am still reading Willa Cather's Song of a Lark

and began re-reading Charles William's

War in Heaven.

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What are you reading and creating?

Do tell and Yarn Along with us! 

Yarn Along: Blue, Song of Lark and Adventure of Ascent

Wow! Wednesday Yarn Along already!

Well, I did not get as far as I hoped on my blanket...

I failed to realize that I did not have a lot of the yarn

in the colour I am doing with me in my knitting bag,

when I was on my long car ride to church... so 

after I used up what I had... I went on and 

finished a wash cloth instead,

which I already gave away to our past Sunday night's

dinner guest ... 

(a post on that meal later I hope!)

But I still did make some progress on the blanket

and I got a new skein of yarn

all ready now to continue!

I am still reading Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

and also 

Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey 

by Luci Shaw.

Both are absorbing reads and are giving me 

a sense of rest in the midst of a lot of business

that my days amount to...

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On another crafting front, 

I have finished the top of a small

checkered green and white pillow that I am making!

It's my first sewing project and I have made up

the pattern myself, of course...

(just like my knitting it seems...)

The double square/long rectangle is where

the one side of the blanket is going to start/end, FYI.

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I am loving the sewing I get to do!

I am always amazed at the many crafty folk who do

lots in terms of knitting and sewing;

I am still trying to find a good balance in terms of time for this!

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So, what are you creating and crafting?

Yarn Along with us!

At Purl SoHo ~ a fun Yarn Along :)

My blanket has little progress

as I did not go to my far away church

which meant my 2 + hours of knitting did not happen...

Last week was super busy with things,

including dinner party prep and not a lot of knitting time... 

But some progress has been made...

see top of the section on the right of these pictures...

Cleo is clearly quite interested in this blanket :)

So today, Tuesday, I went for the first time to 

Purl Soho.

It was fun! 

I had brought my knitting to NYC 

and took a picture of Wanda's wonderful bag

with me for a photo shoot at Purl Soho :)

Tada! 

Inside the bag are three projects, which explains why it is so

bulky... I really need to get another one :)

It was super fun to be at Purl Soho and Instagram with friends

about being there :)

The store is really cute and has tons of craft ideas

for knitting and sewing!

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I looked briefly at this sewing book:

Looks super fun!  As do the other books...

Other than reading a bit of this book,

I am slowly working on Willa Cather's Song of the Lark 

but other than this, just trying to keep up with my

Synaxarion reading ... 

Wednesday is St. George day (Julian Calendar) and I LOVE 

Saint George!!

So that's fun!

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Speaking of fun, I got this set of fabric fat quarters for 

a future DV quilt for my godson...

I figured he needs one too :)

I am hoping to get some 'boyish' print fabric later on

to go with these solids...

But I think that this fabric will be a great start for

the quilt top!

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Hopefully next week I will have a bit more time

for sewing and knitting!

Last week my creativity was all spent in 

making a great dinner last Sunday

but I am looking forward to more quiet crafting soon!

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So what are you reading and creating?

Yarn Along with us!

Towards Completion: Blue Blanket, Little White Horse + 2 others

Third and last section of my blue Checkered blanket is 

over half way done!

After this I have to decide what colour to use

for the boarder 

and I hope it will be done in the next weeks!

Re-read Elizabeth Gougde's The Little White Horse,

which is such a happy delightful book,

I highly recommend it!

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Also still reading Willa Cather's 

Song of the Lark and A Grace Disguised: How a Soul Grows Through Loss.

Both very worthy books to read.

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What are you creating and reading?

Yarn Along with us!

Blanket: the third section + two books

I started the third section of my blanket!!! I think this section may go on the 

side of the first section, for colour and texture reasons...

The light blue is not showing up with the brightness that is in 

it in this picture but at least you see that I 

am really getting a good handle on the seed stitch!

I am reading more of Melody Beattie ~ 

I knew her first in her fairly famous book

Codependant No More

and her book The Grief Club

is intense and deals with loss of all different kinds, 

including some servere disfunction (i.e. some hard reading)

but it's helpful too for me to just read about loss

and about facing the loss, honouring the loss,

grieving it and going through the time of it. 

I am also reading the book

A Grace Disguised: How a Soul Grows Through Loss

I read this book years ago in it's first edition,

and I am finding it quite helpful...

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I wrote more about how I am dealing with the recent

loss of Mr. Husband's godson and am hopeful

for a lot of healing and to grieve well...

I find books a real help to me in this...

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So here is the three sections of my blue textured blanket:

it is really coming along!

I am going to do some different stitches

soon in the new section...

What are you reading and making?

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Beautiful Blue Section 2 & A Gentle Book

I am pretty much done with section 2

of the blue checkered blanket! 

I will need to double check to be sure 

they are the same length but I am quite happy with the

progress made! 

As mentioned before, the rows will actually be

inverted from what you see as I do not intend on having

the two dark blue squares next to each other. :)

I did most of the knitting on the trip to and back 

from the monastery where I went with two 

sisters who live in this area.

I also finished and started another wash cloth;

always handy to have on hand!

I have begun re-reading this gentle

book on the Jesus Prayer.

I forgot how beautifully written and with so much love,

this book is.

Here's a quotation I quoted the other day from it:

The process of healing takes a long time.  Even as we see 

reasons for hope, we simultaneously gain better understanding

of how far down the roots of sin can go.  It would be devastating to see the 

whole truth about ourselves all at once.  

Our compassionate Lord brings us along gently, allowing

some blissful ignorance.  Each layer of the onion is shed at the right time;

we encounter the next truth about ourselves when and how we 

can bear it, as our loving Lord knows best.  "I have many 

things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." (Jn. 16:12)."   

Next week for us who are Orthodox

is Holy Week. 

For all those on the Western Calendar, blessed

rest of Holy Week and Easter to you!

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What are you creating and reading?

Yarn Along with us! 

Touching Heaven & 2 blankets {textured and checkered}

I have done another 1.5 or so squares

on my blue checkered blanket!

I am almost done with Touching Heaven by the 

now Fr. John Oliver.

It is the story of how he and others went to 

Valaam Monastery in the early '90s and

how it slowly transformed him from a new

and still somewhat floundering Orthodox Christian

to someone who is beginning to grow towards

the quiet steady contemplative life that 

he saw in the Monks of Valaam. 

This book is really helpful in seeing 

what our North American society can do to a person 

and what encounters with monasticism

rooted in centuries of tradition can do 

to transform the same person.

I hope to do a book review on it in the future; 

as you can see from all the tabs, 

there are sections that I want to return to.

For now I would say if you

are looking for evidence of a Christian tradition 

of prayer worthy to replace and indeed to go beyond 

things such as Zen meditation and other 

popular forms of spirituality today,

this book can be a gentle 

and enlightening introduction. 

Back to the blanket I am making.

I am quite pleased with my progress;

I am mastering the moss/seed stitch and simple

ribbing... it's been fun to mix up the colours and 

stitches as I go along!

As you can see I am gaining ground on this

second section and have just 1.5 blocks to go!

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And now to finally show you the blanket that

I finished months ago but was waiting

to give as a present.

It's now been given! 

It turned out well! 

It was a joy to knit!

It's a nice warm lap blanket,

perfect for a winter's day, with tea, book and perhaps

a bit of chocolate to enjoy!

Ravelry here.

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What are you making and reading?

Yarn Along with us!