HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happiest of New Years to you all -- you are all in my thoughts and prayers tonight, and every night of this new year!

(I'm pretty upbeat considering I just had to rip-it, rip-it after 2 hours of knitting -- I realized that I was doing a red snowflake on a cream background, rather than a cream snowflake on a red background. Such are the challenges for us hand-knit designers!

Going Offline for the Season

Today is the first Sunday of Advent 2006. This means that in four short weeks, Christmas will be here -- the Incarnation, the Word made Flesh. As a special present to my family, I am going to go off-line for the season and spend the time working with and for my family -- finishing knitted gifts, teaching the kids about the true spirit of Christmas and just generally playing with my family.

I will be back posting in 2007.

I wish you all a very Holy and Blessed Advent and Christmas; you are all in my thoughts and prayers as we prepare our home for the coming of Jesus!

We're BACK!

Well, it took all summer, but we've finally done it:

We are settled into our new home in Colorado!

And, starting October 1st, I'll be posting daily about my knitting adventures.

Thanks for checking this blog for my rather opinionated musings of this rather opinionated knitter!

Blessings to one and all.

Greetings from hot, sunny Colorado!

My last post was May 30th -- I so apologize for taking so long to get back to this blog. Our family has been in a state of "flux" that doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. Here's the story:

In May, we had sold our house in Greenville, moved in with my in-laws for a month and were getting ready to head to Colorado for a two-week family visit and then on to Austria so my dh could earn a Doctorate in Bioethics. Well, it seems God has other plans for us. Around May 20th or so we had the Austrian door "slammed in our face" -- due to a change in visa regulations my children and I would not have been able to accompany dh as "pupils" CANNOT have dependents! A crazy kink in our plans but God's will in all things.

I'm a firm believer in providence and that God NEVER shuts a door (no matter how loudly) without first opening a window. So we went to Plan B: relocating to the Denver metro area. One of my brothers and his wife (and their 10 kids) live in the area and my mother just moved to Catholic senior hiousing there. In addition, we have been wanting to move to the area since we first starting visiting every summer for the past three years.

For us it was a no-brainer.

Logistically, it's been interesting. My dear SIL and brother have kindly extended an invitation for us to stay as long as we need. DH is looking for work in the Catholic system here -- either teacher, principal or something at the Diocesan offices. We're in a great Diocese here, with Archbishop Chaput running things and VERY active, orthodox clergy and parishes! A big difference from the desert-like Catholicism of the South -- here, there is a choice of daily Masses, confessions frequently offered and generally a Catholic culture that is alive and kickin'!We're loving it here and I'm even getting some knitting done -- a pair of hiking socks for dear hubby who is lovin' being so close to the mountains. As a matter of fact, he and my brother are off on a backpacking trip this week with a group of Boy Scouts!

We'd certainly appreciate your prayers as we look for a job, a house, and, most importantly, God's will for our family.....

THANKS for continuing to check this blog -- I'll try to keep it updated.

Sorry, I've been remiss ...

in keeping up with my knitting blog. We're in the midst of finishing our time here in South Carolina, then heading to Colorado for 2 weeks than taking the big white bird to Austria -- for the next few years.

I've been packing, storing, trashing, sorting. I've been sending emails and checking on flights. I've been finishing the homeschooling year and working on records.

I HAVE NOT been knitting.

I have a pair of socks, working them on two circs at one time, that I've had on the needles for more than a month. I love these socks. I love the lace pattern I've chosen for the front. I love the way the toe-up sock is coming out. I love the k1p1 rib I've got for the sole. I love the color gradations of this wool from KnitPicks (a yarn they don't seem to carry anymore, which I love working with, called Simple Stripes in a blues/greys/cream colorway).

I don't love that I haven't been able to knit!

This weekend dh is taking me for a romantic getaway. We can only spare one night; our kids (ages 17 down to 3) would act up if we stayed away longer. So Friday night, as we drive up into the BlueRidge, I will be knitting. I will be knitting on the way back on Saturday. I will continue to knit until I get these socks done.

This Friday will be a bonus weekend -- not only will I have some hard-earned time away just with dh, I may actually be able to finish my "never-getting-knit-on" lovely socks! I'll post a picture of before the trip and after.....

Meaning Behind my Logo

So, I bet you've been wondering about my logo. I'm sure you can tell that this is the Blessed Virgin Mary, knitting with Jesus on her knee. Isn't it cool? With a name like "Mary", how could I have any other patroness than the Blessed Mother herself?

Here's the story behind it all. This is the original clip-art I found when browsing the web. It's from a block print that was housed in the Tate (but has since been sold). This block print was done by artist Eric Gill (1882-1940) , a British printmaker. The Latin around the outside , roughly translates to: All Praise the God Who Creates.

Once I saw it, I knew it would make a great logo with some tweaking. So I got my brother, who is an awesome "freelance illustrator" named Paul Nowak, to create a logo based on this print.

I like Paul's version as the Blessed Mother has almost a 1920s look to her. I love the idea that Mary is knitting with Jesus on her knee, holding him while knitting his seamless garment which would show up again during His Passion and Death.

The name of my knitting work, "By Hand, With Heart ... hand-knit designs", comes from the idea that everything I create -- whether for personal use or commercial use -- is always created from my heart. I love yarns and knitting and seeing the creation that God has given me the talent to make. All of my work is done by hand and I am the only knitter. I've always got something on the needles -- sometimes more than one project at a time.

I hope you enjoy perusing my knitting musings as well as pictures of some of my favorite projects and links to my favorite resources.

HAPPY KNITTIN' and DESIGNIN'

Here's a priceless definition of living knitting

My almost 6 yo String Bean and I were driving to pick up Kotch.

From the back seat: "Mom, do you know how to make a boy like you?"

Mom, driving on a busy interstate: "Well, um, honey -- what do you mean?"

From the back seat: "You just knit something every year for Christmas for him. Pretty soon you'll be married."

Mom, grinning from ear-to-ear: "Oh. Well,now, do you stop knitting for him once you're married?"

From the back seat: "Oh, no! Once you're married, you can knit for him whenever you want. For his birthday, or whatever."

Well, there you go!