Little Men Love

I'm just home from a week with the Little Men & Co..  Oh, these two are just the bee's knees!  They delight their Noni's soul.  I miss them so very much.

And, I cherish each moment I have with my Little Men...

Even when I am exhausted from dragon making, I wouldn't trade a single millisecond.  ;)

I found this collection of quotes on one of our adventures; there are ninety of them. I think I am going to put them in a big ironstone bowl.  But for now, I'm enjoying them as a stack on my desk.  I do love a good quote.  Words hold the power to hurt or heal, inspire or defeat... May we always use them with care.

As a belated report on the fresh apple cake, it was good... just not as good as I had hoped.  I think I like a bit more spice in my fall-ish treats.  The praline icing was WONDERFUL though! 

I hope each of you have moments you will cherish this week...

blessings ~ tanna

The Perils of Impatience...

 

Do you see that nice little oval ball of yarn?  Well, it represents a lot of frustration and wasted time.  I got up and about early this morning in hopes of having a little knitting time. 

Today is the first day of a mystery knit-a-long by Boo Knits, one of my favorite, favorite, favorite designers.  Trouble is I didn't have yarn or beads picked out to start; and, our LYS is only open Wednesday thru Friday.  Impatiently, I dug in my stash and pulled out this Madelinetosh Light in Esoteric (isn't that a cool name for a colorway?!).  It wasn't the lace weight called for in the KAL, but I LOVE the color AND I found some leftover black beads! 

Finished all my early To Do List and was all excited to settle down and cast on... until, duh, I realized that both skeins were still in hanks.  You can't knit from hanks.  I KNEW I should have just waited until tomorrow and took it in to the LYS to have it wound OR drove the 30 minutes to where my swift and ball winder were. 

But, impatience took over.  I only had a small window of knitting time; so, I decided to wind one hank into a ball the old-fashioned-way, without the benefit of a swift or an extra pair of hands.  I knew the perils.  Imagined that I would be extra careful. blah... blah... blah...

Any of you who have wound 420 yards of fingering weight yarn know that, if it gets out of control, the tangles can be vicious.  At this point, I was starting to think about cutting it out!  I KNOW that you have to struggle GENTLY with yarn tangles or they only get WORSE!  But, man, oh, man, it can make you want to scream.  As it is, I had yet ANOTHER life-lesson in patience and not fighting so hard against the problem at hand.  I did finally get it all untangled... but, needed to step-away-from-the-yarn by then!  LOL!

Thus, the need for a little comfort.  I saw this recipe in an old Southern Living magazine when I was cleaning last week.  It is a fresh apple and cream cheese goody.  I'll have to report back on how it tastes.  It is cooling right now... along with my impatience!  ;)

Hope your week finds you making smarter, more patient choices!!  And, it's not too late to join the Morticia Mystery KAL by Boo Knits! 

"Patience is the companion of wisdom."
~ St. Augustine

blessings ~ tanna

Plan + Pattern + Pop Rocks + Post Office = Mission Accomplished

The Plan:  to join Vicki at Two Bags Full for her Pink Scarf Project.

 

"Pink Scarf Project."

 Simply stated - it has only one goal~ 

 To bring a smile to the face of a woman who is fighting her own battle with breast cancer.  

Vicki has been collecting pink scarves over the last year and I'd been brewing along on it for a long, long, long time.  (See, my 'creative process' can take months and months.)  I'd kept my eye out for the pattern and the yarn that would be 'the ones'.

The Pattern:  Rachel's Shawl by Melissa Wyll. 

Finally!  Perfect pattern, perfect timing.  Melissa just recently released this beautiful pattern.  Her story and the lady who inspired its creation made it 'the one' and are worth your reading.  Check it out at Girls in Sheep Clothing... and a Few Boys, Too.  (There is even a Knit Along for this shawl.) 

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness, Melissa is contributing to Emerging from Cancer with every pattern purchase this September and October. 

The Yarn:  Pop Rocks by Madelinetosh.  .  A super soft, superwash merino wool.  Hand-dyed with the beautiful tonal variations I so enjoy.   Yes, I love this color; it makes me smile every time I see it... I'm in hopes it will do the same for its recipient.

Now, if I can just get myself to the post office this afternoon!!  Going there is like pulling teeth for me.  Don't know why... just is!

Yes, I managed to hit my knitting stride... I will confess there are two little spots early in the garter stitch border that are not right, but I hope they can symbolize overcoming in difficult times. 

Without a doubt, the kindness, the prayers and uplifting words of my friends and family eased the funk.  There is great power in caring connections... I hope the precious lady this scarf goes to will feel a comfort of the prayers offered for her... just as I feel comfort from the sweet prayers of friends.

"A helping word to one in trouble is often  like a switch in a railroad track... an inch between a wreck and smooth, rolling prosperity." 
~ Henry Ward Beecher

Thank you for your words and your kindness. 

To a better week for all!! 

blessings ~ tanna

Sunshine and Creativity...

Sometimes, out of the clouds... a ray of sunshine finds its way directly to you...

 

The sweet Little Men & Co. (as in my daughter) surprised me with an unexpected dose of sweetness yesterday afternoon.  I love how the French Peas managed to use polka dots... they could not have known how much Amanda loves polka dots.  But, I do. 

 

I shared dinner with an amazingly creative group of women last night.  A group that, for the most part, have known each other for years... and have clearly embraced and claimed creativity as a God given part of their natures.  The discussion centered around what you do when your creative juices dry up... how do you get going again... and can you be creative on-demand.  It was interesting to listen to each of their unique ways of BEING creative and keeping it going.   One commonality I noted was that most of them grew up in homes where creativity was embraced and nurtured.  My best take away was that my Little Men and Little Ladies have a good chance of embracing theirs.  ;)

 

Though I struggle with identifying myself as creative, I believe the same lesson that served me in marathon training applies for me... it is just to get moving... take that first step... do something... anything.  Occasionally, I'll end up with an entirely different outcome than I'd expected... and better than I'd imagined.  Occasionally.  ;)

 

And, on the flip side of that, certain ideas need time to ferment.  Time for all the pieces to. fall. into. place.  It's okay to wait on those... they will come!  They will come.

 

What do you do to get your creative juices flowing?  Do you have a hard time claiming creativity? 

 

"Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain as artist once he grows up."

~ Pablo Picasso 

 



blessings ~ tanna

The Pre-Change Angst...

It is official.  I'm struggling not only with the SIMPLE things.  After having to backtrack TWICE on this new project because 1) I repeated a pattern row twice and 2) I dropped a stitch, the light bulb began to come on. 

First, I'd had to rip out the Echo Beach shawl I had started.  THEN, there was a record setting eight rip outs of my first simple square!  Not to mention that I've walked off the golf course each of my last two rounds after only 7 holes... yes, it. was. that. bad.

Now, I find myself struggling with this nice lace in a beautiful color (my favorite knitting)!  YIKES!

Truth of the matter is that we are considering some big changes around here... and I generally resist big changes to the point of stressing myself out... even when the changes need to take place. 

In retrospect, my lifetime of pre-change ANGST has always been worse than any change I've ever made.

 

I don't know why I struggle like this... And, I'd like to be able to just stop.  But, until I figure that out, I can expect to be ripping back a lot of knitting.  =(

 

 

Fortunately, I still seem to be able to smoke fall-off-the-bones-comfort-food ribs.  ;)  Unfortunately, when I'm stressed like this... I add on the pounds, too! 

How do you handle big change? 

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
~Henri Bergson

Wishing you a wonderful week.... blessings ~ tanna

Simple?

I continue to be surprised at how difficult SIMPLE can be sometimes.  I worked on these two simple little eight inch squares over the course of five days.  Seems like I should have been able to whip them out in one sitting.  But, I couldn't.

The same applies to my trying to do an About Me spot on this blog.  You'd think that would be simple... and quick.  I've been mulling it over for six weeks. 

I attribute some of that to the fact that my life has transitioned so much in the last decade... and I still haven't gotten comfortable with all the changes.  The "I am..."s have changed.  Most of the "I believe..."s have not.

I believe in God, in family and doing what's right... even when it is hard... and especially when no one else is watching.  I believe that being nice matters... a lot.  I believe that we are responsible for our own lives and our own happiness and that there are consequences to every choice we make... good or bad.  I believe not making a choice is still making one.

I believe kindness spreads like ripples in a pond when it is tossed out... and so does mean-ness.  I believe, if you're very lucky, some people in your life will love you no matter what... and, that some people won't... no matter what.  I believe love needs to be appreciated and nurtured and arduously tended... and never taken for granted.  Though sometimes I do.

And, there you have it... I am stuck again.  Maybe, if I just move forward a bit at a time, I'll get this done.  LOL!  Or, maybe not.  ;)

Hope your SIMPLE goes better this week...

blessings ~ tanna

Echo Beach and Dragon's Breath...

After finishing Love Train on the way to the beach, I started this Echo Beach by Kieran Foley at the beach.  I'm using Noro Sekku in colorway 3. 

Ended up ripping it all out on the plane coming home and starting over... now, I'm looking forward to finding some time to get back to it!!  Not yet... but, soon.

A few beach echoes of my own... the Little Men working away... oh, I'm missin' these little guys.

And, can't you just feel the breath of that Dragon?! 

"Make voyages!  Attempt them!  There's nothing else." 
~ Tennessee Williams

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.  Make your voyages...

blessings ~ tanna