Prayer Shawl(s)

Today went well. I got most of the big projects on my list under control. What I'm going to show you is the completed prayer shawl. I left it with three edging rows. Finished off all the loose ends. Put it in the dryer with a damp towel to pull off all the hairs (even with no dogs or cats here, things seem to be rather hairy.)

And I wanted to get the next one started before I leave. The first couple of rows are always the hardest- you have to really pay attention to get them right. So I got into the third row and the second color. This verifies the size will be about what I want.

Last year, I went on the train and took the one I just completed. It was sport weight yarn and took up very little space. It did use up some of my yarn stash, but it wasn't a genuine scrap-craft afghan.

Since I'm taking the car this time, there is room for a bigger handicraft box (I don't have a tub the right size, but a box is fine.) And this is worsted weight yarn, so the whole thing will go much faster. I actually bought a pattern. I was going to figure it out by looking at the picture, but the pattern was only $4, so really... why give myself the headache?

Here is the stash that is going with me. The directions say that each row takes about 30 yards of yarn. So I checked one leftover wad of yarn and it was just over 30 yards. I rolled that up and used that as my standard. Any little balls smaller than that one I don't need to take with me. Any yarns that have enough just alike (same color and dye lot) to potentially make a single project I don't need to take. What I have is 42 different colors, and most of them are enough to do more than one row.

It's packed and in my travel pile.

The other biggie I got done today was to write this month's column for the Ludington Daily News. I do have to find a couple of pictures to go with it, but that won't be too hard. I'll do that in the morning. And I worked out the logistics for one of my visits that was starting to get gnarly. I think the itinerary is all set now.

Then I have a lot of smaller jobs that I hope to get through tomorrow. And it's supposed to be nice, so hopefully I can take a walk. Friday will be for finishing any remaining tasks and packing the car. Whew!

Saturday, I'm on my way with the first stop to be selling books at the Gun Lake Winterfest in Wayland, MI. Lots of fun activities too. Stop in if you are nearby.

See Prayer Shawl Sunday

Prayer Shawl Sunday

Huh. I thought for sure I shared a picture from a year ago when it was Prayer Shawl Sunday at the Methodist Church, but I guess not. That picture would have looked a whole lot like the first one here.

I had only heard of them from my cousin Jean until last year. The idea is that they are handmade, and the maker prays for the future recipient (often people in care facilities) while doing the handwork. I had thought they had to be done with a certain pattern, but that is not the case.

In fact, in the picture above, the tubs are full of yarn that the ladies are trying to give out so people can knit or crochet a blanket/afghan/lap robe, whatever you want to call it. You can see the variety of ones they have to give away that are hanging on the railing.

Anyway, when I learned last year that these could be just about anything, I perked up immediately. I have as many tubs full of yarn as the whole church has here! I like to make things, but I don't need any more things. I've already given most of my close friends afghans.

So, on the train to New York last February, I started a prayer shawl. I wasn't going to show you until it was done because... you know... I have enough unfinished projects that it's a little embarrassing. But I needed a topic for tonight. And Sunday was the promotional day. And, I"m really close to being done. I have one more purple row and then 6 blue rows, and then an edging.

My plan is to get it finished before heading East for this year's flower show. Then I'll start another one in a different pattern. This didn't even make a noticeable dent in my yarn stash. It's done in shell stitch for anyone who cares. I'll show you again when it's done.

I was supposed to go to Muskegon for a dentist appointment today, but I cancelled. I wasn't interested in 2-3 hours of white-knuckle driving. I did go out locally to do a couple of errands. Wrote 533 words in Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp.

See A prayer shawl cousin Jean made

Stitching Tuesdays Ahead?

I have mentioned my friend Betty a few times a year. We used to get together just about every week to work on handicraft projects.

She now lives quite near the Methodist Church, and Tuesdays is bell choir right? And the School Forest and Church trails are there, right? And I have to walk before practice now that it is getting dark at 5 pm, right?

So, today, I walked, then visited Betty until bells, and then went to bell practice. Turned out I was late for everything. As I was going into town, gas prices had jumped by 50 -54¢, but one station still had $2.76, so I had to pull in there. Of course, everyone else was too, so there was a big wait. But I got gas. Then my walk was shortened, and my time with Betty was shortened, and I got to bells later than I usually do, so I got out of any of the set-up help, so I stayed till the end of tear-down.

OK, back to Betty. This picture was taken a couple of years ago, but she approved using it. (She is not a fan of pictures)

And we've decided that until they head to their winter location, we'll meet like this on Tuesdays and "stitch."

She asked if I still have a project. Well, the "rule" was it could be anything that was portable.

However, if I didn't have any project in crisis, I was working on a crewel embroidery picture. Can you see what's coming next? I haven't taken a single stitch on this since Betty and I last did handicrafts together. I don't even know what year that was.

But, there's plenty still to do. I'm not in danger of finishing it before she takes off for warmer climes.

Want to see some of the stitching closer? The golden lines are the parts I haven't done yet. They are printed on the fabric for those of you who don't know how this stuff works. Then you stitch the pattern in with various yarns and various stitches. Hope I remember how to do them!

So, I edited and stuff in the morning. Managed to get in a 2-mile walk by moving very fast.

Look what was happening while I was walking! But it won't last. Should be in the 40s the next couple of days.

Miles hiked in 2025: 445.6.

Ludington School Forest, various trails. 2.0 miles.

See Gardening with Betty

Assorted

What characterized today was more of the cold rain, but I don't feel compelled to show you a picture of that!

Partly because Om and I will be running all over this summer and won't see much of each other, and partly (mostly) because I wanted to try a recipe, we had a nice meal at home.

And what recipe is that, you ask? Rhubarb Glazed Chicken. It is yummy. Here is a link to the recipe I used, but I left out the hot sauce. Rhubarb Glazed Chicken. We added asparagus and a baked potato. There's chicken left for a couple more meals.

Worked a little more on the knitting project. I can continue to show you until it becomes obvious what it will be. Then you'll have to wait until it is bestowed upon the intended recipient.

And, oh yeah. I won an award at the Michigan Outdoor Writer's Conference.

I managed to work on most of my other tasks too, but the chicken was a little labor intensive because I stewed another big batch of rhubarb (and didn't need all of it for the chicken), and had to make an unplanned trip to the store. I don't usually goof up on that sort of thing, but I sure did today.

See A Little Project

A Little Project

Today was a cold and windy day that became a cold and rainy day. I did my usual indoor tasks and some errands. Then I decided on a new little fun project. I am a bit surprised to see how long it's been since I actually knit anything.

I'll let you guess for now what it will be, since it's going to be a gift.

Tomorrow's weather looks like more of the same. That's probably good news for this little project.

See The Heel is Turned

Just for Jean

 OK, this was just for fun, but how awesome is it to have a chicken-head friend? I mean I have a chicken-loving friend (Jean), and maybe a chicken friend (Kay-Kay).

Today was the second day of the vendor event. It went well, and on top of yesterday, I had a great sales weekend. This is going to be a very busy week.

See Bring Your Chicken to Work Day

One Little Piece of THE PROJECT

 Years ago, before there were dollar stores, I bought two of these swing curtain rods somewhere cheap. Maybe K-Mart. I know I didn't pay more than $2.50 apiece, probably less. But they only had two. I really wanted four.

I haven't been able to find anything like them that isn't cast iron, and I don't need that level of sturdy. They also don't have to swing. I could get a set of cast iron brackets with a grapevine design for $90. Just no.

I looked on places like Etsy and Ebay, and found a used set for $20. Yes! So I bought them. Then the seller contacted me and said he had made a mistake in the listing and there was only one bracket. Well, that won't work. So I got my money back.

Meanwhile my brain started to function and I thought I remembered a pair of old shelf brackets that I had saved from something. Found 'em. It only cost $4 to get some verdigris paint. I cut out some grape leaves from cardboard, and painted the brackets poorly to make them look even older.

Then I antiqued the whole thing with some black paint.

Glued on the leaves and put them up. I think it's just fine! I'm all for eclectic anyway.

I MAY finish this project tomorrow. I'm pretty close.

The car has gone to the shop to hopefully be fixed. Did errands and edited today as well. There is one more pile of stuff in the kitchen that doesn't really have homes to deal with. Ugh.

See Focused Activity

Under the Dome

 The First United Methodist Church in Gulfport is Dale and Margaret's church. The present building was built in 1913 after a previous one burned.

The most amazing feature of the building is a 32-foot-diameter stained glass dome. This was made somewhere in Europe (exact records have been lost), but came to this location when the oil man from Texas who had ordered it was unable to complete the purchase when he went bust. The pieces were already in New Orleans, and the company let the church buy it for the outstanding balance of $1500. This was a big enough sum in 1913 that the church had to think about it. Of course its current value is just a "bit" more than that!

The church had planned a plaster dome and designed and built the rest of the church. It was considered almost miraculous that this suddenly available piece of art was the exact size to fit the existing hole.

It shows angels delivering the message of Peace and Good Will to Humankind.

Here is the sanctuary, and you can see the dome in the ceiling.

Other stained glass windows tell Bible stories. Jesus knocking at the door (of your heart).

Jesus the Good Shepherd.

And a rather unusual one- Jesus with Mary and Martha. Notice there is a dog curled at his feet. I don't think I've ever seen this story rendered in stained glass before.

These are exceptionally high quality glass images.

There are also 22 needlepoint kneeling cushions, made by 25 women in 1989. Each shows two angels holding some symbol of the church or the Gulf Coast. The angels tie in with the theme of the angels in the dome. This cushion shows the angels with a shell.

As I think is typical of Methodist churches, they have a number of service projects. One is "Home Under the Dome," designed to help enrich the lives of adults with memory loss through fellowship and engaging activities while also providing support for caregivers.

BONUS SECTION: Finding myself

We went out to lunch, and on the way passed a souvenir store called Sharkheads. What fun!

This was at the other end. The last "shark store" I found is linked below.

We saw all this on the way home from eating out. Then I went for a walk and found this. I don't think I've ever seen a Joan Street before.

We went out to lunch and saw several other interesting things, but this is enough for today. I'll share tomorrow.

Walking city streets- 6.2 miles

See Coastal See Shark's Ice Cream

Small Seasonal Joys

  I wasn't sure I would have time to play, but I got in some good work time, so I met up with Loren late afternoon and we took a decent walk around the Ludington School Forest.

I've managed to do two smallish jigsaw puzzles in the past week. This one is called Nantucket Breeze. Quite easy, but the pictures are so much fun that they are enjoyable.

Then I wanted another, so I got out a favorite. This is only 300 pieces, but it's a little harder than some puzzles of that size. This is the third or fourth time I've done it. It's called Berry Sweet Bunny. I think I got it for under a dollar at a rummage sale.

A little bit of crafting makes me happy. This was my second attempt at a cardboard roll snowflake.

It turned out OK. Not great. I thought I was going to like these more than I do. Maybe I need to do a few more to improve my techniques. You may remember I made a different one last week. I think they would be fine on a large tree from a distance.

And, I've had a tiny Christmas mystery here. At night, out the east windows, there has been a tower of light that I couldn't identify. The only thing I could think of was lights on the Scottville water tower stem, but it didn't seem in quite the right place. In the daytime, I couldn't see anything where this tower is.

So, coming home from my walk today, I stopped at the store for the last of the Christmas groceries and then went in search of this tower. By then it was dusk and it was lit. Ha! Turns out it's a "new" tower behind the internet provider that went in about a half mile from us. And it has a star!

I edited hard today. We are all set for a laid-back Christmas. Maybe Josh will come over, maybe not. I have stuff for a meal, and I plan to do another puzzle. So there!

Various trails in Ludington School Forest. About 3 miles

See It's Been a Lotta Years Since...

It's Been a Lotta Years Since...

Most of what I'm going to show you today was from yesterday. I hunkered down and worked hard today.

It's been a lot of years since I bought a new jigsaw puzzle, for sure over 33 years. After losing my extensive and sentimentally valuable collection in 1990, I didn't even do any puzzles for a long time. Eventually, I started doing some that were given to me- all secondhand- which is fine. But I know I haven't purchased one. Wednesday, Meijer offered a coupon for 50% off a puzzle. Well... I gave in to temptation and bought one called Toy Shoppe.

Cathy and I opened it yesterday.

We took a break in the middle to eat some dinner, but finished it that evening without any problems. We agreed that it was enjoyable, a fun picture, not too easy and not too hard.

Today, as I was working on the pantry, I came across this. It's a latchhook wall hanging I made around 1972. We were going through a phase of liking big cats. I think the best that can be said for this is that it is not a kit, but I designed it myself. It was fun. It's pretty big, almost 2x3 feet. There is some damage to this. I could fix it if I were motivated, but I'll just put it away until the next big cleanup. I've done much nicer crafts that are more meaningful to keep, but I guess I'm not quite ready to give it up yet.

I don't think I've done any latchhook since then. I did design one that Omer's mother wanted, and then she hooked it. And one summer when Marie and David were visiting- David and Steve were about 8 or 9- we set them up to make small latchhooks, which they actually enjoyed doing. (I think they drew the pictures themselves, too.)

Also on the crafty side, I like to do things with paper, as you've recently been reminded as I talked about the Polish Porcupine Balls. But I haven't done much of anything along those lines for a lot of years, either. This year, I decided to try one of the many examples of paper roll snowflakes. They are certainly a craft, not much of an art. But I made this one and took it to Cathy.

I did work hard today. I am almost done with one editing project. I worked in the pantry, and made another, different snowflake. You'll see that one later.

See Polish Porcupine Balls