First I have My First Socks.  I started these in June 2010 and finished them Dec 2011.  They were ignored for a good portion of that time.  They’re made out of Patons Kroy Socks FX.  When I started them, they were actually the first pair of socks I was ever knitting for myself.  They ended up not being the first ones I finished for myself though.

My First Socks

Next up was a cowl I knit for myself.  The Christmas Cowl is made from WaterlooWools Belleville yarn and is very soft.  Only took me about 4 days to knit it.

Christmas Cowl

Next is a pair of socks for Sydney.  Toe up, two at a time on magic loop made these go really fast technically, just there was a few weeks when I wasn’t working on them.  I used 5th Avenue Socksation yarn and it’s quite soft.  Sydney loves the socks and wears them often.

Socks for Sydney

After that I wanted to finish up that partial ball of Belleville from WaterlooWools, so I cast on my Winter Directions scarf.  For such a simple pattern, I ended up tinking more then knitting, but it turned out nice in the end.  The yarn was a little scratchy during knitting, but softened up nicely with washing.

Winter Directions Scarf

Lastly, I whipped up another of the seaweed cowls that I called my Sunny Seaweed cowl.  I used a skein of hand dyed yarn that was bought for me in a destash more then a year ago.  I started calling it parrot barf yarn because of the colours, but I do like it alot and it will sure brighten up the dreary grey days of February.  The yarn however was scratchy as heck and I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to knit it around my neck.  When I was washing it though, I added some hair conditioner to the water and it came out quite nice.  And since I did twice as many repeats as the pattern calls for, I can fold it in half and it keeps me nice and warm.

Sunny Seaweed Cowl

I’m looking forward to many finished projects and lots of stash-busting in 2012!! Happy New Year everyone!

This post is not a list of New Year’s resolutions, that list will come another day, but of a plan.  A plan that will hopefully lead me to where I want to be going, to where God wants me to go.

A few weeks ago, I came across a blog call Beloved Brown-Eyed Girl.  Victoria is the owner of that blog, and I “know” her from a group on Ravelry, and I think I also follow her on Twitter, but I’m not 100% sure about that.  Anyway, Victoria started doing a Weekly Bible Challenge, she describes it here.  I have long wanted to read the Bible…I mean really read it…ALL of it.  But it seems like such a daunting task! The Bible is a BIG book, are parts are, frankly, boring.  But over these last couple months, God has really spoken to me.  He has used both Victoria and a gentleman from chuch, John W., as encouragement to read the bible.  I figured if Victoria can do it and be accountable by posting on her blog about it, so can I.  Then John W. gave me a beautiful leather covered daily bible that he found at a thrift store. (John is the master of finding bibles at the thrift store, and he hands them out to people who don’t have one. Nice, huh?!)  At the same time, another man from church, Gerry, was giving my friend Harriet a daily bible too, so we (me and Harriet) decided to read the bible through together.  A while after that, Cindy decided that she was going to do it too….we haven’t found her a daily bible yet, but we’re still hunting the thrift stores!

Harriet is going to read the WHOLE bible in the year.  Good for her, I’m very impressed…but I also know that that would be too much for me and I would give up.  I decided that I’m going to read the Old Testament this year and then the New Testament next year.  I read the Psalms and Proverbs along with the Old Testament too, then again next year with the New Testament too.

I don’t know how or when or how often I’m going to post on my blog about my reading progress, I still have to figure that out. But I want to stay accountable, so if there is anyone else who would like to take the challenge with me, please feel free to contact me!

The other thing that I want to do this year is read a daily devotional.  I found one at our church library called William and Catherine, With Love.  It’s compiled by Betty McCaughey.  William and Catherine Booth were the founders of the Salvation Army.  The readings are short and have a short bible verse too.

Lastly, (phew, this list is getting long) I want to be more involved at church.  God wants me there…I don’t know why exactly yet, but I’m sure it will become clear eventually.  This Christmas I volunteered at the Salvation Army Kettles and hopefully in January I will be helping with the Alpha course that’s running at our church too.  One day I hope to be able to work for the Salvation Army too, in what context, again I don’t know.  God will lead me…He will show me the way.

God bless you all in 2012!

I started unfollowing people on twitter, cut my numbers about in half.  I figure that I want to be able to keep up with people and if I’m getting 500+ updates per day, there’s no way that I can read them all.  Now I have some news stations and some close friends and a few Newfies I don’t know in person.  It’s so much easier.

As for facebook, meh, I’m just not going to keep it open all the time.  It’s amazing what a time suck it can be.  In the last 3 days I have cleaned the entire main floor of my house. It’s sparkling…well, except for my coffee table. But yeah, not sitting on facebook allowed me to do all that. AND I’ve had time for reading, knitting and snuggling with the kids and dog.  It’s wonderful!

Well, that’s how it’s going now…I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with their family and friends!

Inside the app there are reading plans, hundreds of them.  I’m doing some Christmas ones and they are fascinating.

A couple of days ago I was reading Day 18 of the Rediscovering The Christmas Season plan; it was about fasting.  The author used the text from Isaiah 58:1-14

1 The Lord says, “Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins! 2 They worship me every day, claiming that they are eager to know my ways and obey my laws. They say they want me to give them just laws and that they take pleasure in worshiping me.”

3 The people ask, “Why should we fast if the Lord never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?” The Lord says to them, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.

4 Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?5 When you fast, you make yourselves suffer; you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on. Is that what you call fasting? Do you think I will be pleased with that?

6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 t Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

8 “Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9 When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond. “If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word;

10 if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.11 And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry. 12 Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.”

The Reward for Keeping the Sabbath

13 The Lord says, “If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day; if you value my holy day and honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly on that day,14 then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honored all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

I got to thinking about this.  Fasting could be interesting.  I’ve only HAD to fast before if I was getting blood work done or have surgery.  And even then, it was mostly overnight so I didn’t really know the difference of it.  Now, I’m going to be honest here, and if you really know me, you know I speak the truth.  There is NO way that I’m going to voluntarily not eat.  I LOVE eating, I come to parties or get togethers for the food more than the company.  I know, I know, the point of fasting is to be refraining from something that is second nature.  So this weekend, I’m going to take Sunday and not do something that is second nature.  I’m not going to log on to Twitter or Facebook.  Now I know that’s not really fasting, but it’s kinda like a diet.  I’m going to start with that. Baby steps, right?

I’ll post again to let you all know how it went, but it should be interesting at least.  And I’ll have lots more time in my day, since I spend a good part of it on my laptop keeping up with people!

Have a happy weekend everyone, see you on the flip side!

First!  I’ve decided to make a pair of socks for every holiday.  Here are my Christmas Socks for 2011.

Christmas Socks 2011

I’m wearing them for the first time today and I’m a little disappointed.  These are the first socks that I’ve ever made for myself and they’re a bit too big.  Both in the length of the foot and in the leg ribbing.  I think I know how to fix both those problems on the next pair, so we shall see!

These are the socks made from the KidStuff pattern by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  I’ve used it a few times and I really like it for a basic stockinette sock.  Oh, and they’re toe up done two at a time on one long circular needle (otherwise known as Magic Loop).

My second finished project is one that I’ve been working on for a REALLY long time.  Ethan asked me to knit him some orange socks and when I couldn’t find a suitable shade, I bought 100g of New Zealand Merino from a shop that has since closed.  But I set to spinning it and I finally finished.

Ethan's Sock Yarn

I spun and plied this on my spindles.  The spinning was done on a Tiny Turkish from ThreadsThruTime.  It weighed just .5oz.  The plying was done on my Tabacheck Top Whorl spindle that I was given by a friend for my birthday 2 years ago.  I love it still, it’s so pretty.

The yarn turned out pretty well.  Fairly even and mostly balanced (NOW!).  I’m just afraid that I don’t have enough yardage to actually knit the socks.  May have to use a different yarn for the toes and heels or something.  The 100g of fibre gave me 418yds of 2-ply sock yarn.  Actually, now that I look at the yardage…that IS enough for socks, even for someone with my sized feet! Yay!!

I have lots more projects, both spinning and knitting on the go, and hopefully I’ll be posting more finished ones soon!

He quoted Margaret Somerville from McGill University “Without Hope, our spirits will die.”

Sometimes it’s easy, at least for me, to feel hopeless. Like nothing goes our way, like things can never get better.  But it’s not true! Turn to God, He’s always there.

Isaiah 30:20 says “The Lord will make you go through hard times, but He Himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for Him any more.” GNT

Whatever is making you feel hopeless this Advent season, take it to God…and leave it with Him.  Things will get better, with God you can feel HOPEFUL instead of Hopeless.

And remember: “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.” Jeremiah 29:11 GNT

Lately though, I haven’t had a choice but to listen, at least to God anyway.  He’s making His answers and His messages very clear to me. There’s no way that I can ignore it anymore.  I can just pray and ask Him to tell me more, to explain what it is that He means exactly.

Yesterday, I went into Augsburg Fortress, which is a local Christian bookstore.  I was looking for a book about Advent and the Twelve Days of Christmas (which I did find and will blog about another day).  After I found what I was looking for, I wandered around some more and came across this key chain.  I bought it.  I’ve never been able to memorize verses, or remember the book, chapter and verse where it’s located, but this one…I remembered instantly.

God is giving me hope and a future, I can be sure of this! Now I just have to figure out what that future is.

A couple days ago, I downloaded a new (free) app for my iPod Touch.  It’s simply called Bible.  I really like it so far. There are devotions right in it and there are many different reading plans.  I was reading through one of my devotions this morning and shut off the app when I was done.  A little while later, I remembered I wanted to do something so I opened it back up.  The bible turned to this verse:

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you.  Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ- that’s where the action is.  See things from His perspective.  Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life- even though invisible to spectators-is with Christ in God. He is your life.  When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up too- the real you, the glorious you.  Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ“

That is Colossians 3:1-4 in The Message.

That’s all fine and good right?  Well, yes…but it’s strange.  I wasn’t reading anywhere near Colossians, and I wasn’t reading The Message.  This app opens up at the last place where you where.  So why did it open up at this particular passage?  I think it was God telling me something yet again. I’ve not got this passage highlighted in my bible app and in my real bible too.  It’s an important one.

God will tell me what I need to be doing, and where I need to be doing it…I just have to learn to listen.

My old church.

The church where I don’t really have any friends, and where I have only a handful of people that I talk to, and who talk to me.

The church I was praying about whether I should leave it or not.

I packed all four kids into the van, and I headed out.  I was so nervous going back after being gone for more then a year.  My stomach was doing flip flops and my hands were sweaty.  But I drove on.  We got there fairly early, so I warned the children in the car that they needed to behave themselves.  That they only had to sit in the sanctuary for 20 minutes or so and I needed them to be quiet and polite.  Or else I would unplug every TV in the house for the rest of their lives.  Yes, that’s how frustrated I was, but that’s another story.

So in we went and a couple people said hello.  We went in the sanctuary and sat down.  Anne, who has an incredible story of her own, came over and said hello and asked me how I was doing.  I felt really good that someone noticed that I was there.  During the first part of the service, the kids were actually really good and boy am I ever glad they were, I really didn’t want to unplug all the TVs for the rest of their lives.

The service was good, and I liked Shawna’s sermon, but I didn’t feel God was present.  At least not to me.  I was actually sitting there at the end thinking it was odd that I didn’t feel God at all during the whole service.  It was strange.

After it was all over, everyone filed out but I stayed sitting.  Anne sat down and we chatted a bit.  I told her about The Dream, and she confirmed what I already knew and what another lady had said to me earlier in the week.  The dream was a call to service.  I explained to her that I needed to know what that meant exactly…I’m not good at figuring things out on my own. Just like with knitting, I’m much happier if my life has a pattern and I know exactly what my next steps are.  I’ve been praying each night for God to just tell me what the dream meant.  How am I supposed to serve???  That’s when she mentioned Officership.  I’ve always thought, and I believe it used to be like this, that you had to be a married couple to become Officers.  That’s not the case (anymore).  A single person can become an Officer too.  Well, that was the end, the tears started flowing unexpectedly and uncontrollably.  NOW I felt God sitting there with me and Anne!  He was a little late for the service, but He was there.

Now I will pray more.  And I’m asking my friends and family and blog readers to pray for me too.  I don’t know if Officership is what I’m supposed to be doing.  Or how.  Or when.  But I know that God certainly put Anne in that place to tell me that I too could be an Officer.  I have no idea what becoming an Officer would entail, or what BEING an Officer would mean to me and my family, but I guess God will eventually tell me that too.

For now I will leave you with part of the scripture from the morning’s sermon:

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

Last week’s study was called “Drive-Thru Christmas”.  We focused on how people rush the holidays, going from one event to another without much thought about it.  How retailers put out the Christmas supplies before Halloween is even over. How we should just all slow down and enjoy this time of year.

This week’s study was about why it’s a good thing, and I find it interesting, to celebrate Advent as a way to prepare for Jesus’ coming and not just a count down to Christmas.  This got me to thinking.

Advent is about 20 days long and starts the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, so this year that falls on November 27.

I decided that this year I want to celebrate Advent as a way to prepare for Christmas and Jesus’ coming.  I don’t want to rush through it, but savor the moments.  My friend Nadine, mentioned some Advent candles at this week’s bible study, so I went and picked up 8 of them. (They were only .99cents, so I now have enough for 8 years!)    They are based on the way we know Advent these days…more of a count down to Christmas, then actually preparing for Jesus coming.  The candle begins on Dec 1 and much like the chocolate Advent calendars that we all know, you burn a little each day until you reach Christmas Eve.  I’m still going to do this too, I think it will be neat for the kids…and it will be one of our new traditions.

I also want to start celebrating the traditional Advent, starting November 27.  I found some great sites with scripture readings for each day as well at the four Sundays of Advent.  The List has a list (oddly enough!) of all the liturgical church holidays and readings for each of them.  I have to note though, that we are currently on Year B and not A, but you can still find the day on the list without knowing that.

Another good site I found was IntoThyWord. You have to scroll down on the page and you will find a list of scripture readings for the Advent season.  On this site is also a explanation about what each candle means.  I remember lighting the candles each Sunday for Advent when I was a child in Catholic church, but I have long since forgotten what they mean.  It was nice to have my memories refreshed!

How do you celebrate Advent? DO YOU celebrate Advent?  I love hearing about others’ traditions so please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you do this time of year!

It is layed out on my queen size bed to give you an idea of how big it is.  There isn’t any batting or back piece yet, I think I may go shopping for that this weekend, but we shall see.

In the meantime, I’ve gotten my next quilt started. This one will be for Mia and she really wanted to help.  Since today is a PD Day (which means no school for the kids) I set her to work sorting the pre-cut squares into piles.

Sorting Squares

The squares in this quilt are actually 5″ (after seaming) as apposed to the other quilt which had 4″ squares.  The colours are great in this package and I can’t wait to see what it looks like when I’m done sewing it together.  I think when it’s done, I’m going to let Mia pick out the back panel herself…should be interesting to see what she chooses.

Mia is also bugging me to let her try my sewing machine.  Perhaps it’s because I’m not all that great at sewing myself, but I’m really nervous of letting her work with it.  If you have a child in your life that sews, how old were they when then started?  Were they helped by an adult?  Do you have any tips for me?