Author: tabitha

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.

After literally months of coddling, cajoling, begging, pleading and downright threatening, I finally convinced the child previously known as Preteena but who now wants to be called DragonPurls that she needed a hair cut. She was quite attached to her long hair even though she really couldn’t take care of it. Her hair is extremely thick, difficult to wash and brush thoroughly and of a texture that tangles easily. Consequently, we had many mother/daughter moments that involved tangles, tears, and threats. I had been holding off on my own haircut until I could get her to go with me. As a result, my hair was outrageously, ridiculously long and the weight of it was giving me headaches. It was probably contributing to my neck and back pain too.

Friday, I was fed up. I’d had all I could take of my hair. I knew that if I didn’t have someone cut it, I would be trying to cut it myself by Sunday morning not the best option, trust me. So I called a salon and made an appointment to donate it to Locks of Love. I also arranged a tentative appointment for Preteena/DragonPurls. I informed aforementioned daughter that I was going to get a hair cut whether she did or not but I strongly recommended that she join me. (I included a threat that I might be tempted to cut it myself).

Saturday morning, she decided to join me. She also decided, after meticulous measurement that insured she would not be bald afterward, that she would also donate her hair to Locks of Love.

Now for the photos. Here we are before our visit to the salon.

Is it any wonder that my hair was giving me a headache?

Here are the in progress photos

12 inches removed from DragonPurls

And a whopping 19 inches from my head.

And here is what we looked like afterward.

Easiest three pounds I ever lost. Hope some little girl enjoys her new hair.

Off and Running

January came and has nearly gone in a blur that is leaving me wondering where the month went. I am thrilled to have escaped the holiday knitting. This year, promise that you will strangle me if I mention holiday knitting for anyone other than my kids or hubby. It is just too discouraging knitting for people who have no appreciation of the work and time that goes into hand knitting.

I would love to tell you all the wonderful things I have knit this month but in truth most of what I knit has been frogged.

The reason for the excessive frogging being that I have been working on a couple of designs that I couldn’t get just the way I wanted them. The first was for a cabled version of Calorimetry. Don’t get me wrong. I love Calorimetry but the pattern is too wide for my head and I get bored with the ribbing so I wanted to spice it up a bit. So after ~~a little~~ a lot of ripping and reknitting, here is what I came up with

I still want to do another tweak to get the size just right but for the most part I am happy with this version. I am polishing up the pattern so I can share it with you all. Hopefully, it will be available in about a week.

I also taught a knitting class this month. I learned a great deal about how NOT to teach a class. As this was a larger group than I normally work with, I planned WAY too much for the time I had. I did have a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting some wonderful new knitters. I think they taught me more than I taught them. I hope I did manage to share a few things with them.

My other projects this month include a shrug (which is difficult for me to spell for some reason).

This is the Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style. I like the pattern much better knit in something other than orange. The brioche lace in this pattern is my first time to knit a lace with a design on the front and back but it is still a bit dull after the first mile or two. It is turning into a bit of a slog. I am probably about halfway through with the lace. Then I have to add the boring ribbing. So this project isn’t a barrel of fun to knit but I think the results will be quite nice. And just in time for Church-Air-Conditioner-Thermostat-Set-by-Man-in-Wool-Suit-with-Long-Sleeved-Shirt Season.

I have also been working on a new sock, finalizing the design on a skinny scarf and am making good progress on the next in the My Favorite Things linens series but I will save that for the next post.

So It Begins

Today as I watched the swearing in of the 44th president with my children, many thoughts raced through my mind. There are numerous challenges ahead for this nation and I can think of no better way to handle them than by giving them over to God. I would like to offer the following prayers for this country and the future it has in store.

I pray that President Obama will let God lead him as he makes the decisions that will lead this nation for the next four years. I pray that he will base his decisions on godly, moral values that bring this nation closer to God rather than farther away. I pray that he is blessed with wisdom and strength for the great task that lies ahead of him. I pray for heath and well-being for him and his family.

I pray that he will find a way to make good on his promises to bring this nation together rather than dividing it further. I pray that all of his words are not just hollow rhetoric but the reflection of a true desire to help American grow stronger, to be a nation blessed by God.

I also pray for his family. That President Obama can continue to be the father and husband that God intended and that his precious children can be sheltered from the harms of being in the national spotlight.

I pray that our lawmakers will come to understand that they work for us and not the other way around. I pray that they will stop finding ways to improve their own lives and do something to actually help this country. That they will actually start earning the exorbitant salaries that our taxes pay them and quit spending their time playing political games and seeking their own interests.

I pray that we, the people of this nation. will leave the attitudes of selfishness and entitlement behind. That we will again start accepting responsibility for our actions rather than expecting the government to pay the consequences of our folly. And that we will start working together for the good of this great and wonderful nation. For the sake of us and for the sake of our children.

Finally, I offer a prayer of thanks to the retiring President Bush. I appreciate the sacrifices that he and his family made for this country and his service to it. I pray that he is blessed in his new life.

May this nation turn to God so that He will continue to bless this nation that I so deeply love.

In with the New

Now that all that pesky Christmas knitting is done. I can think about knitting for pleasure rather than obligation. At least for a few months. So what do you knit when you are knitting totally for yourself.

First, I have to find a project for this lovely yarn that the Knit Together gals sent me.

Shown here being snuggled by KT my new little pal that I also got from the KT gals.

I am thinking that I might use it to test knit a pattern that I designed a while back but didn’t publish.

Or I might go with something like Woodland Shawl.

I have also been wanting to finish my wool Bell Curve skirt.

It is still just a little too short for me.

I am also finally going to knit my Firestarter socks which currently look a lot like this

It is the project that keeps getting pushed aside for knitting for others. It is also getting pushed back because I am going to have to adjust the math slightly because this is a thinner yarn than the designer used.

Then I have this yarn that is begging to become a shawl

If I can only make up my mind which one.
I am thinking about this, this, or this.

I have also been itching to make this, this and this.

Then I have this yarn

this yarn

and this yarn all waiting for just the right project.

What is a knitter to do?

Out with the Old

I never got around to posting photos of the Christmas knitting. I was worried about ruining the surprises. I think that I can safely post the photos now.

The most ambitious was this February Lady Sweater for my Mom.

Please ignore the fact that I haven’t put the buttons on it or woven the ends. That has been corrected.

My two sisters-in-law and my hubby’s niece got one of these On-the-Go bags.

The pattern for these will be available shortly.

My brother and brother-in-law each got a pair of these Dashing fingerless gloves.

Most of the rest of the family got some of these felted Slipper socks.

I am a firm believer in warm feet.

My best friend, Rose, got a Raindrops on Roses bath set

She will appreciate the work that went into those rosettes because she knits too.

My hubby got a new hat – Claudia

He also got matching fingerless gloves.

Got to keep the hubby warm.

I made these mini-clothing items for the kids to decorate the tree.

I made more but the photos are AWOL at the moment.

And finally my hubby’s favorite aunt got these slipper socks.

This is my latest design. I call it Amber Waves. The pattern is available now as a download through my Ravelry store for a $3.00.
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I will have hard copies available through my etsy store later this week.

But if you want to get a free copy along with a copy of Raindrops on Roses, check out the contest in the Acronyms post