Happy Feet

I love to send little surprise packages to people. They often include something knitty. Today I received a surprise package of my own. A pair of Knitting Girl socks. Thanks, Sher!









I am working on a secret knitting project right now, but I can show you something else I made. What used to be a wool sweater is now a felted handbag.

Wrapped Up in Love

The following is from an email I received from a LYS (local yarn shop). I just like how they describe why we knit, or at least why I knit.

…why do you knit? Do you ever wonder what makes you knit?

Today the sun is shining – or at least it is shining at the moment, and the minute I see it, my fingers itch towards my needles. Why? Because my heart is happy and I want to knit. But, isn’t it also true that when we are the most tired, the most stressed, the most…well, the most anything, we feel compelled to knit? Why is that?

We think that it is because knitting is good for the soul.

...knitting is so much more than just needles and yarn. It is so much more than the simple act of moving stitches from one needle to the next. It’s even more than the amazing and satisfying thrill that you get each time you take a long piece of yarn and loop it and bend it and twist it until a sweater leaps off your needles.

Something happens along the way. Along the way our skills and confidence grow. Along the way we meet new friends. Along the way we learn new things. Along the way our hearts grow together – in very much the same way that our stitches knit together. Even if we knit by ourselves in the quiet and solitude of our homes – we are part of all the knitters that have come before us and all of the knitters that knit today. It doesn’t matter if we knit in groups or by ourselves, we all belong to a community of knitters!

Knitters will never be strangers with each other. It’s not possible. Because we share the same heart. And we know that the most important thing in the heart of a knitter isn’t the knowledge – it isn’t the techniques – it isn’t the skill – it isn’t the biggest stash – it’s one simple thing. Love. And, perhaps that’s the answer to our question. We knit because we love. Period. We love to knit. We love others. We love yarn. We love learning new things. We love the bonds we form through knitting. We love the laughter. We can even love our mistakes. (Someday we may even learn to love gauge…although we can already hear some of you saying that that’s pushing it!)

So then, with so much of this love in our hearts – doesn’t it just make sense that our finished objects reflect that love? Which is probably one of the biggest reasons why we knit for other people, isn’t it?

We knit for our family and friends because it makes our hearts happy to know that they will be wrapped in the stitches that we created just for them. It makes us smile to know that their hands will be warmed with our knitted mittens. Why else in the world would we knit socks for someone with really, really large feet? Because of the little glow we get when they wear them – for the way their faces light up when they receive our knitted gifts. They know, don’t they? They know that they’re wearing more than just a pair of socks. They know that they are wearing a tangible expression of our love for them. (From Handweavers Inspriring Yarn Shop, Kalamazoo, MI)

If you are in the Kalamazoo area, Handweavers is offering some upcoming opportunities to knit for others. Check out their website for more info: http://www.handweavers.biz/.

Here Comes the Sun

Yesterday it was nearly 60 degrees!! I think it's just a tease because we could easily still get a winter blast but for one day it seemed like spring might soon be a reality. I was even motivated to do a tiny bit of yardwork.

While exploring around, I found this:

How did it get there? Very strange.

Even with the sunny day, we still have some patches of glittery snow. It seems fake sitting in patches when it's too warm for even my Polartec vest.

Enough Already

It's snowing again. That's all I have to say about that.

Baby Pants

We've had about 6 snow days so far this season. It is snowing hard today and school is in session but I'm not scheduled to work today. I've had lots of uninterrupted knitting time, during which I knit some baby pants.
I put them in the mail for a friend's new baby boy. I hope Griffin will get a chance to wear them before it warms up outside. The pattern is "Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants" from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.

Now I'm working on a soft, angora baby sweater. I'm not sure who I will give it to yet. Unfortunately it is not machine washable, but the yarn was so soft and it really wanted to be a baby sweater. I got the yarn from my pastor who found it at a thrift store. Great find! It's a yummy shade of green.

The Secret Life of Yarn

I wonder if yarn has a mind of its own. Yarn, when it becomes part of a “stash,” goes on to give birth to more yarn that you don’t remember purchasing. Yarn seems to tell you what it wants to be. On the weekend I purchased a handknit sweater at the thrift store. It was gigantic and a beautiful shade of orange, and it didn’t want to be a sweater.

I thought it wanted to be felted into a rug and the sleeves wanted to unraveled and transformed into something new. It turns out that it tricked me into thinking it was 100% wool, and therefore feltable. Unfortunately it didn’t react that way when washed in hot water so I believe it's hiding another fiber besides wool. The former sleeves are now balls of yarn waiting to become something new...maybe socks?

Kinda Fishy

My friend Christy is visiting from Kansas. We're having a great time catching up. She'd never walked on water before, so we walked out onto the lake and checked out the fishing holes. When we spotted a long crack and heard a popping sound we ran the other way and we lived to tell about it.


I tried to measure the depth of the ice with a long stick. It was at least as long as the distance between my hands in the photo, and probably thicker.

We went to the beach in South Haven, where a surprising number of people were exploring the ice and snow. I had no idea that so many people go to the beach in the winter.

Christy has been trying to emulate the photographic techniques of our friend, Kristin. Can anyone figure out what this is a picture of (below)? I'll give you a hint. It was taken on Sunday.

Of course, it was great to see Ember and Cheyanne again.

To see the entire slideshow from our trip, visit the Emerald Inn website.