My past haunting me...

I grew up in the country, sometimes on a farm, sometimes not, but in all those years there was always one thing that was consistent, a garden. Fresh lettuce, onions, radishes, tomatoes, potatoes, kohlrabi were the hallmarks of said garden and there just wasn't anything as awesome as taking a warm, sun ripened tomato off the vine, taking a bite out of it, sprinkle a bit of salt on it and more with each additional bite. The juice running down your chin. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. And these memories have gotten the better of me this summer. The upshot of it being, these 37 little beauties...





Anybody want a tomato plant or 5?...

Some things were never meant to be

Or at least not the way we meant them to be. Events, even objects have a life of their own it seems and trying to make them into something they aren't or trying to mold them to our expectations isn't a recipe for success. They are like people that way.

Take them as they come, look at them honestly for what they are and then see how they will or won't work in your life. And no matter how much you think something ought to be just how you want it to be, trust your instincts. If they are screaming at you don't go there, don't do it... listen, really truly listen. It may save you a lot of grief down the road.

And I'm not just talking about that slinky dress I wanted to knit myself which called for a bulky yarn, which in all honestly isn't that bulky, because if it truly was, using sport weight yarn wouldn't have made it feel like it weighed a ton. We'll shelve that till I either can spring the big bucks for the right yarn or find an incredible sale.

But it is really useful advice in knitting, too. As evidenced by the toddler sweater that was mostly finished, but due to all the special modifications I made, didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. Those modifications just weren't meant to exist in the same article of clothing, at least not without starting from scratch with a pattern of its own rather that patching together pieces of different patterns. I knew in my heart of hearts that I should really put together a brand new pattern, I was just in too much of a hurry to get started and get done to do what my gut told me I should. At least now I can take that sweater and evaluate where it went wrong and give me a good idea of where to do things differently.

All of this has not discouraged me on my quest for the right matching (or complimentary, if I have to resort to it) yarn to finish the prayer shawl for a friend, however. Sometimes I think making prayer shawls do more good for me than the people I make them for, until I give the next one away. Then I remember just how much simple prayer and loving thought and action can do for others, which leads me to starting the next prayer shawl.

Slacking at its best...

Wow, I'd say it, but its fairly obvious. So, what have I been doing? That's a good question. Mostly avoiding finishing my Christmas knitting. What I DID finish though was two Jayne hats, another "I do" shrug, and nearly finished with a toddler sweater that I'm sure is sadly a size or two too small now as well as a shrug for myself from Mal (purple mystery) that I bought about 2 yrs ago. So happy to finally find a project that spoke the name of this yarn!

Life has taken all sorts of interesting twists and turns which have led us to the much anticipated move back to our house on Merritt Island come the end of Oct/beginning of Nov later this year, unless we win the lottery, which we don't play, or find, adopt and benefit from the passing of an extrememly wealthy and unhealthy relative or "relative".

I've found myself spending more and more time outside in the evenings enjoying the beauty, silence, and darkness that will be much harder to come by once we move back, so that's a good thing. Always nice to take time to appreciate the little things that bring so much joy and happiness to our lives.

Its official

I'm hooked. It took me all of approximately 14 hrs to finish Twilight and I can hardly wait to get my hands on the next one! The movie is a MUST see (for me, anyway). I have to see if I can find that Flair on Facebook again (and get it this time!) that says, "Voldemort killed Cedric Digory so that he could become Edward Cullen". When I first saw it I was amused, but not really having any appreciation for the story I let that Flair get away.

Besides my newfound obsession, I'm trying to get some Christmas knitting done while I'm recovering from this nasty sore throat/aching all over illness that has gone around the house this past week.

I really (and by that I actually mean REALLY, REALLY, REALLY) need to figure out exactly what I want to get done for Christmas so that I can cut out the extraneous impulse knitting projects I keep finding to do, especially because I have found the inspiration for a new story and I'm hoping that I can develop it into a book (and not just one that I print out or email copies to friends/family). We'll see how that goes what with the knitting, the homeschooling, and that other stuff (cleaning, cooking, laundry for example).