Yarn Along ... pinks and blues... and tea! and beauty!

I have made a lot of fun royal blue wash clothes...

knitting on the PATH train to NYC, the subway in NYC,

at my friend's house in Pittsburgh, 

at this conference which I highly recommend listening to 

the various talks, esp. this one by Fr Stephan Freeman

so insightful, powerful and such love... 

I met a lot of dear ones at the Conference,

though I was careful not to get too peopled out, 

as I wanted this to be something fun, 

not an overwhelming experience for me, 

a cross between introvert and extrovert. 

So there were a lot of people who I know from them being online,

but I did not introduce myself to them as it would have

been too much in such a short time.

That said, I really enjoyed myself, felt it went really well

and between that and an earlier visit to the 

Elwood City Monastery, so beautiful ...

God gave me this feeling of peace, of joy, of love, 

that I had not felt like that in a very long time, 

as in that abundance, like I was floating along by God's mercy... 

one of those rare times of blessings,

I am so grateful for that. 

So it's been nice to be knitting simple 

wash clothes... and in so many places! 

I have a few more I need to weave ends in...

I think I will not start any bigger projects until the Fall as

the heat makes it hard to do much else!

***

I am hoping to sew more though, 

and began the beginnings of a simple pillow,

the picture below is of the front of this pillow...

As for reading, 

I am dipping into this Psalter, which is so lovely,

reading slowly this book of letters,

which I am pondering and learning so much from;

read this novel (blogged about here, ended up being a traumatic unexpected ending,

still a bit in shock about it),

and am reading tons of cooking things, including this new to me blog,

and ordered new stack of cookbooks and memoir cookbooks 

to enjoy in the coming months! 

***

I am so glad Ginny is doing the Yarn Along once a month now,

even though I have not been able to join for some time!

I have met some wonderful blog friends through Ginny's Yarn Along

and am grateful for it and them! 

***

If you create with fiber/yarn,

yarn along with us! 

Saint Maybe, Blue Blanket & Other Knits

New Blues for what I think will be a blue

checkered blanket...

Also my grey mink shawl (a little more done) and new white wash cloth

(up top of the picture they are)...

*

I hope to go a bit of a ways by train soon and will be

bringing the blue yarn to use on the trip!

*

My husband was talking the other week about how when he was in

grad school he would listen to books read on the radio 

as well as classes.

He's always been a huge nerd that way and it makes

me fall in love with him at the past years in his life,

though I did not know him at the time.

*

One of the books he listened to was

Saint Maybe.

He told me that it was about a boy

who blurts out his suspicion that his older brother's

new wife is cheating on him. 

It leads to the death of his brother and his brother's new wife

and the boy ends up raising the kids and getting involved

in a fairly fundamentalist, if a bit cooky, church.

I read it the week my husband was away for work

and wow, that first part was hard reading.

But then, I loved it.

The author really loves her characters,

there is a lot of redemption in the book,

a lot of growing in humility, love and mercy.

*

In other parts of creative life,

I baked bread,

yesterday I made a cheesecake

and last week I used a sewing machine for the first time

in at least 28 years.

 My friend whose machine I was using helped a lot

and it felt momentous! :)

I did a fairly strait line!

I hope to get into sewing more after Easter,

as I have a lot of things to do between now and then!

*

What are you making and reading?

Yarn Along with us!

Beautiful Sunshine and a book on Beginnings

More blue squares are knit and sewn on 

the sunshine blanket!

Lots of wash clothes knit for early

Christmas knitting! 

Reading a book about profound beginnings.

Written by a well known Orthodox Monastic

to those just beginning their inward and outward

journey in a monastery,

I am finding it very relevant to us in

our everyday lives.

I love how it begins with the need to love God & others

as the most important thing

and then goes from there.

*

I found this paragraph really striking and comforting 

at the same time...

that God requires only of us what we've been given:

What are you reading and creating?

Do yarn along with us today!

Yarn Along ~ Simple knit and a profound read

Doing some cream coloured wash clothes.
As I transition slowly but quickly into fall
(funny how transitions are!)
I have a lot of things that need tending...
so simple wash clothes is my go to knit for now!
*
I have begun the article in the latest Road to Emmaus:



I began the longer essay
A Feeling for Beauty: The Aesthetic Ground
of Orthodox Ethics 
when we were newly living in this home, before
my three weeks of kids-in-the-house
and then we had my wonderful visit of my parents-in-law and then
PEI and then Ottawa...
Meanwhile Mr. Husband was overseas for business and took
the journal with him and read this essay and began re-reading it,
he, like I, found it so very good.
It's astounding actually.
So good that we are thinking of getting extra copies
to share...
*
What are you reading and creating?
Yarn along with us!