It’s getting to look a lot like Christmas says the song and friends as they post their newly decorated holiday trees and assorted decorations on social media. Every image is beautiful and encouraging to begin decorating. I like deciding whether to be sentimental (hang the antiques from yesteryear) or crafty (make a few), or to consider purchasing new ornaments for the tree. Whatever the case, decorating for the holidays brings on excitement . . . but also the emotions. So it is for me.
Continue reading Christmas (Stockings) of Past, Present, and FutureTag Archives: healthy-living
Knitting, step aside for barn quilts!
Perhaps a hidden gem of a ‘field trip’ or perhaps I am the last to partake in this experience, here is an idea for you and your family, rain or shine. It is called the Wyoming County’s Barn Quilt Trail. I originally heard about it from the Rochester, NY cadre of colleagues from SME some years, ago and as we do in life, filed it away as a really neat thing to do wondering if the opportunity would ever arise. And, it did thanks to a very patient and kind CF (college friend). Think map of Wyoming County. Think quilts. Think a community who has united themselves by hanging quilts, that is barn quilts, on different structures throughout their community. Wyoming County Strong!
These structures currently include businesses, private homes, and barns. The quilts are called barn quilts in the fact that they are wood therefore can be displayed outside, sometimes painted in design, sometimes pieced. All of them are brilliantly colored and all represent traditional quilt patterns. (The names of all the quilts seen here are posted on the map at the bottom of the post. Can you make the match?)
Continue reading Knitting, step aside for barn quilts!
Plan, Make, Finish, Wear
This is a question some of us, as knitters, ask ourselves. Are we wearing our hand knits? We ask that question for the sole purpose of giving ourselves a reality check. If the idea is to be adding a beautiful hand knit to our wardrobe, truly are we? This is essentially the honesty factor as to why we do what we do and whether we are succeeding in pulling off the look that we were after by knitting these garments in the first place. We all know, no matter what the creative process or how capable we are in our craft, some projects ‘work’ while others do not.
Continue reading Plan, Make, Finish, Wear
In Appreciation
Call me old-fashioned, not with the times, or even schoolmarmish, I cannot say enough how I appreciate a well-intentioned thank you. Whether a wave from a stranger in a car, a smile followed by a nod in a waiting line, it matters to me. When it comes in the form of writing it is especially sweet but when in handwriting, that thank you lingers in my heart for a very long time.
Peeling Back the Layers
This is on the topic of life after the loss of a loved one. Not the emotional impact nor the significant life change but more-so on the items that were labeled ‘his’ that were left behind. What I call the layers of physical reminders in and around the house. Loss is a tricky thing and we all cope differently. I am speaking of how I handled his ‘comforts of joy’ that I no longer desired to have around. Where to begin? How to deal? Well, I did what I do best. I organized them. I organized in groupings, like layers, from easiest to most difficult in their significance to our relationship meaning the easiest to the most difficult in coping with each of his things.
Reflections
Sometimes you cheat on your own website. My View, a column in the Buffalo News offers a place for writers to express their own personal thoughts on a topic of your choosing. There are some guidelines (of course) which can easily be found online. Today, I was published. Some of you have been asking how I’ve been since my great loss(es) of 2017 and here I try (within the word count allowed) to express where I am today.
Me-ssoni for Tech Geeks
I am talking about a recently finished garment, my first of 2018. First due to the nature of my newly single life (adjusting/managing/accepting) but also first due to the intricacies of what was on my needles. In all fairness to the publisher of Vogue Knitting, the pattern was marked as ‘expert’ which means a high level of difficulty to knit, so I guess I was warned.
Hollyknits 