Trish Knits.com

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  • What I Am Thankful For

    Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to answer the big questions in life that I am always confronted with on Thanksgiving Day. What is it that I am thankful for, that wouldn’t sound to obvious or trite? The thing is, my list is long! Of course there’s the usual. I’m thankful for my family, and our relative good health this year. But really, there’s so much more:

    I’m thankful that even though so many in my country are facing hard times, we’ve still got our heads at least a bit above water.

    I’m thankful for our incoming president, and pray that his hopes for our Nation come true.

    I’m thankful that my husband’s family will all be together this year for dinner, and wish we could do it more often. I find it sad that one sibling had not yet met the other sibling’s two-and-a-half-year-old son until this week, and hope we never allow so much time to pass among us again.

    I’m thankful that I have a job, even though I hate it sometimes, because I know so many people who don’t have a job that they’re lucky enough to hate.

    I’m grateful for discovering my son’s ADHD now, so early, so I still have plenty of time to learn to be a better parent to him.

    I’m also thankful for my daughter, whose generally patient, cool-headed nature coupled with scary-smartness just might make her a true leader someday.

    I’m thankful for my husband, who can always find something to laugh about.

    I’m thankful for our kids’ grandparents, who are all healthy now and such an integral part of our lives.

    I’m thankful that I have a small circle of true friends. That there are enough of them to actually form a circle around me means that much more.

    I’m thankful for my knitting, which brings me peace on a daily basis.

    I’m thankful for the friends I’ve met through knitting, so that I can spread and share the peace. I wonder at times what would happen in the world if everyone could knit, instead of fight. Somehow, knitting makes my head calmer and my thoughts more clear. If I could spread the knitting throughout the world, would there ever be a reason for fighting? There must be a knitters for peace movement out there. I will find it. And when I do, for that I shall be thankful also.

    I’m thankful for the daily din of giggles and squeals I hear throughout my house each day, which is the music of my children.

    I shall be thankful for a snowstorm, if we have one. It’s been a while, and I have a secret fear that I may never see a big one ever again.

    I’m thankful for hot chocolate on a cold day, and fudgecicles on a hot one. Chocolate is good in any weather.

    I’m thankful for another Thanksgiving, a day that I can pause to remember what I am thankful for. Sometimes I need that reminder.

    What about you? What are you thankful for? I’d love to hear your answers, and I wish you a great day.

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  • Lady Hawk Knitting

    lady hawk hat progressing
    lady hawk hat progressing

    See? I promised a photo of the hat today. At least it looks like a hat by now! I’m hoping to have it done by the end of this weekend, because other projects await! I love a simple hat. I have yarn to make at least one other hat and maybe a scarf too. We’ll see. Hopefully Diana will be wearing this by Christmas.

    Speaking of Christmas, what’s on your list? For me, it’s a Jordana Paige Rio bag in eggplant. I saw it at Stitches East this year in person and I would have bought it on the spot, but the booth was closed that day. But, the color is YUM. My most favorite shade of purple. And I got to hold and see the bag up close, to see how it’s organized and how big it is, and how it closes. Oh my, I am going to love this bag.

    I’d also like to make another version of this hat. It’s a discontinued pattern from Knit Picks, but it turned out to be one of my favorites. The original one that I made is just a hair too big and the weight of the long cap causes it to slide off my head. So I’d like to make another, this time with smaller needles and green and red stripes.

    Winter is here! It’s come really cold and pretty early for us this year. I’m not too sad, though, because it just means more knitting! I’ve found that I feel better when I’ve knit even just a few stitches each day, so I’m really trying to do that. Knitting is comfort food for the dark days of winter.

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  • Book Review: Quick Knits, Cool Projects

    I was recently gifted with the book, Quick Knits: Cool Projects, by Jeanne Stauffer. On the surface, this would seem like a basic knitting book, with tons of boring projects, sort of ho-hum. But, let me tell you, I was very impressed, and I like this book a lot! You can find just about everything in here. There are plenty of hats and scarves to choose from, bags, wraps, baby things, sweaters and other clothing, and afghans. The projects are many and varied, with a nice sampling of skills introduced and skill levels needed. While I can tell on first view that it would appear that the sweater patterns are not terribly intricate, there are enough different styles that there would be something to appeal to just about anyone.

    I especially love that many of the sweater patterns are written with fuller figures in mind. I am eyeing the cabled hoodie pattern and may try to do this one. The pattern calls for Lion Brand Wool-Ease, but I may try Cascade 220 Superwash, or, better yet, dive into my generous stash of Wool of the Andes yarn. We’ll see.

    In other knitting news, I am making good progress on my daughter’s hat. Hopefully I’ll have photos and a detailed update tomorrow. Also I have received the Winter 2008 issue of Interweave Knits. I’ve heard some people say that they are not inspired by the projects in this issue. I am having the opposite reaction. Usually the magazine is full of sweaters, with a few other things mixed in. This time, it’s full of accessory problems, with a few sweaters. Just my cup of tea! I am especially in love with the mitten and hat patterns inside, but my favorite thing, I think, is the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf, which I think will be in my queue of to-do’s as soon as I am done with this blog post. I’m betting without looking that it’s already a popular design on Ravelry. I guess I’ll go see if I’m right!

    Ok, it’s getting late and I guess I’d better head off to bed. The alarm goes off bloody early around here. See ya!

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  • Oh, the First Snowfall of the Winter….

    DH and I telecommuted today and for a moment this afternoon we looked out and saw this:

    snow clouds hang low and threatening
    snow clouds hang low and threatening
    snow shower
    snow shower

    And then? Just like that, it was gone. It would have been great for knitting!

    Here’s One from the “Now I’ve Seen a Knitting Book for Just About Everything” Department

    I recently received a copy of the book, Knitted Icons: 25 Celebrity Doll Patterns, and let me tell you. Now I think I’ve seen everything. This book features a pattern for a basic knitted doll, and depending on how you accessorize, it can be anything from Madonna to Marilyn Monroe or Abraham Lincoln, or Jimi Hendrix. For some reason, there’s even a Che Guevara doll. If you’re into knitting dolls, or doing knit projects that are a bit off beat or downright amusing, then this is the book for you. Me? I think I need a knitted Audrey Hepburn.

    In other knitting news, if I have any, I’m still working on my giant mitered square, and the hat for my daughter. But I really need to get motivated to finish the brown ripple afghan so I can get that one off my plate. Hopefully, I’ll have an update on that project soon. I’m hoping that mentioning it publicly will motivate me. Wish me luck!

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  • Great Group Today!

    Today was knit group at the Borders in Bowie. And, despite the crappy weather, or perhaps because of it, we had the biggest turnout ever! I think all of the “regulars” were there, plus we welcomed several new folks… including Tammy and Pam. At one point the only partly cloudy skies opened up and delivered a fast and heavy downpour! It was ok, though, because we were treated to a lovely rainbow afterward.

    Knitting is so much fun when you do it among friends, though I do admit that not much knitting was done on my part! The theme of the day was Show and Tell. Several of us brought some of our booty from Stitches, and Jo brought her weaving projects from her recent weaving class. They were amazing! And the yarns passed around were yummy. I wanted to take them all home with me.

    Here’s a gallery of photos from today’s fun. As usual, click on the photo to enlarge it and read more details about each one.

    Today Lola brought her copy of Sweater 101, which is a timeless classic in sweater making. I do think I’m going to have to get one. It is available now as a hard bound book and an e-book, which I think is a FABULOUS idea since the book is chock full of worksheets that one can just print out and add notes and details to it. I think this is going on my Christmas list for sure, as is the Rio bag by Jordana Paige, in eggplant, of course.

    All for now, I think I am about to turn into a pumpkin. Happy knitting!

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  • My Son Said I Needed to Blog This…

    funny pictures of cats with captions
    more animals

    …and so I did.

    16 years of wedded bliss today! We’ll be celebrating tomorrow. More later!

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