Signs of the Times

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter and her husband joined us for lunch, and brought a little Christmas DVD they'd picked up at the store.  We turned it on and after just a little while, we were all in the Christmas spirit, thinking about trees, decorations and cooking for the holidays.

I have fired up some scents in the house to keep the mood going; balsam fir candle in the kitchen and holiday spice candle in the master bathroom.  I made myself a double shot of espresso just now, and found the filter to look a lot like a snowflake or Star of David.

Cleaning the house and getting out all the recipes for Thanksgiving dinner, I remember meals from the past, both good and bad.  The worst will always be the spinach casserole with potato chip topping made by my grandmother, that I later lost while "calling Ralph on the big white phone" if you know what I mean.

I remember drinking a whole glass of my uncle's strawberry wine, thinking it was Coke (it was in a red Dixie cup). I remember it being a lot warmer going down that Coke usually was.

Nowadays, Thanksgiving means cooking all day, eating for 30 minutes and cleaning the kitchen for a couple of hours. And this year I hear all the stores are opening up Thanksgiving Day evening, as opposed to waiting for Black Friday.  Not sure what to think of that! HO Ho ho!

Either way, I'm looking forward to the holiday season, and even more so, now that we have a little granddaughter to share it with.  I definitely feel blessed, and am recognizing all the wonderful things I already have. 

I love this brass colored yarn I've been spinning - I think its the perfect fall color!

And I finished the prayer shawl, blocked it and photographed it. From blocking, to packing it up for the postman, here is the Baby Blue Mohair Swallowtail Shawl!

Soaking

ready to be pinned

pinning and blocking

full size and drying

Swallowtail unpinned and soft as a feather

finished edges

center point

folded once

ready for shipping!

Did you think I wasn't coming back?

I know its been a long, long time since I've posted in this-here blog, but I have a very good reason!  I have been knitting voraciously (can that apply to knitting?) on a lovely shawl that I've dubbed a prayer shawl.  Its for a friend and I will tell you that while its not been hard to knit, it has taken some intentional knitting time to get it finished.  When I realized I was through with the body of the shawl, and was about to start the last 10 rows, I was elated!  Then I calculated that 10 rows of 200 stitches means 2,000 stitches for the edging alone. I said out loud the other night, how proud of myself I was, for staying with the project to the very end.  My tired fingers are thankful its done.  Now to block it and take some photos. I promise those will be in the next post!

As a diversion, I started a pair of men's gloves, using yarn I bought several weeks ago at Joy of Knitting in Franklin, TN.  They are soft and cushy, and are a joy to knit, as a matter of fact!  Size 7 bamboo DPNs and sport/worsted weight yarn.  Easy-peezy!  Love it!

We've spent quite a lot of time lately with our lovely new granddaughter, babysitting, giving a bath and shopping.  It is probably obvious that I am not ashamed at all of being a grandmother.

 I am 47 years old and proud of it!  I feel as though I've earned every wrinkle, gray hair and moment of memory loss!  There's a lot of stuff under the bridge of my life!  Being a grandmother is like a great reward for a job well done!  I'm thankful, actually, for all the ups and downs of a full life. It makes me appreciate the little things way more than a young person could.  It takes time to live a full life, like investing in a collection of precious items.  Every valuable moment of my life is important, even if I didn't realize it at the time it was happening.

Today, I am who I am.  Older, but wiser and hopefully I don't get too bogged down with the things that don't matter.  Today I realize how short life is, and plan on making the most of every last ounce of it!