Link update

Got this pic from my son. It's his roomie wearing the hat I made him. DS3 says he hasn't taken it off. Happy birthday, roomie.

Aloha Granddaughter

I've put off the first Granddaughter Project all month. If you haven't heard, I decided to make something for a granddaughter every month all year, starting with Lydia. This is her skirt. I'm not fond of the hem. I think I may. Be ripping it out, but it's going to be best to sleep on it.

Better late than never

Some days the bright shinies win. Today was not one of those days. The fact that I'm posting Wednesday's blog after 1 AM on Thursday is your first clue. I, however, realized it when I set an hour long playlist so I could have a timed block of writing and ended up never hearing the whole list because I was on the phone that much.

All this to say that yesterday, Tuesday, for the calendarly challenged, I conquered my knitting knojo with a little bit of crochet. I made a delightful sock monkey inspired baby hat, that coincidentally resembles something decidedly Buckeye.

Making the hat, and a new day, helped. I have recovered my mojo and knitting has recommenced

The Standstill

Well, this is awkward. I finished the Link hat and got it in the mail to my son and picked up my scarf to knit, but it felt uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it was switching from worsted to sock yarn or switching from Continental to English, but my hands didn't seem to want to do what I needed them to do. I set down my needles and perused my patterns and yarn, knowing I still need to get my 1st Granddaughter Project underway (looks at the calendar), but the idea of casting on 104 stitches seems like a terrible idea. My knitting mojo has hit a nojo.

I'm sure this is a temporary condition. Meanwhile, take a look at the link hat. It's crazy long.

Link hat is done and in the mail.

Out of a fog

I won't deny the events of earlier this week left me in a fog. I'm coming out of it now and realizing that January is almost over, but I don't have my January projects done. I'm nowhere near. I did get two of the Pay it Forward 2012 gifts done and sent out, and I have learned to knit both the linen stitch and the herringbone stitch. Let 's not talk about the number of times I frogged, shall we?

Getting the hang of herringbone - Willamette scarf

I had plans for today to sew something for my Granddaughters Project but, like after Christmas, I'm having a twinge of startitis and I want to start everything.

Like this sock monkey hat for a cyberfriend's baby due next month.

Where's my magic ocarina? - Link hat

And how could I have forgotten about the Link hat that I'm supposed to have to my son before Groundhog Day? I cast it on last night in a moment of panic. If I were Bill Murray, I'd have plenty of time to get it done again and again and again and again....

Meanwhile, I'm completely distracted by the Lanesplitter skirt. It's been in my queue forever. Can't I  just cast on right this minute? *sigh*

A tale of two Hannah's

This is a tale of two Hannah's and how their lives impacted my week.

One Hannah is musical. One of my earliest memories of her is as a toddler, holding her violin and asking her mother, her teacher, "Please teach me." She is a couple years older than our youngest, but they grew up together. They were in the same class at church. We spent Thanksgivings at her home. Our families would get together for dinners and haircuts. Our sons wore her brothers' hand-me-downs. Hannah stayed home, studied music at Ohio State, and met a nice boy.

The other Hannah is literary. Her dad is the youth group leader and the worship leader, and our younger sons and I served on the worship team with him for several years. As gregarious as her father is, Hannah is quiet. She retreats to the world of words and would love nothing more than to spend a chilly afternoon with a cup of tea, a book, and a fire. My youngest son and she were part of the same kind of nerdy crowd who went to the midnight premier of LOTR in costume, and again, they were in the same class in church. This Hannah went off to college in Texas where our two younger sons are, and met a nice boy.

This week their lives mingle with ours in different ways. Their stories will bookend next week. For the last 5 years, our musical Hannah has been battling cancer. She lost her battle Tuesday night and she is now complete and whole in Heaven. We will bury this Hannah on Monday. I'm honored to be choosing music to play during the calling hours and the celebration of her life following internment.

The week ends with a celebration of another kind. Hannah, the wordsmith, will be getting married the following Saturday. She's marrying our youngest son's former room mate. While I'm busy knitting a gift and sewing a dress for this Hannah's wedding, I'm also picking out music for the other Hannah's farewell--one Hannah's soundtrack forever coloring the wedding memories of the other, but in a good way. For me, tying these projects of love together celebrates the lives of both Hannah's.

Ecclesiates 3:4 describes this week the best:

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

Cold on the outside. Warm on the Inside.

This is what it looks like outside:

This is what it looks like inside:

This is what I'm working on this morning:

Ready for the sister of the bride: