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Monday, February 25, 2008

hats off

It's a disease. A sickness.
 

I can't seem to stop.
 

In general, I don't use chunky yarn. NOT figure-flattering. But perfect for mariners with cold heads.
 

Questions were asked at Gourmet Yarn'stea party yesterday about the patterns that are being used for 4000 Hats in 40 Days. Circular patterns are fine. Jeanette has some patterns listed on her blog that are not the same old patterns Seamen's Church has been collecting for years. I've been doing a number of different patterns with ribbing, cables and stripes. I think as long as they are gender-neutral, warm and in the genre of watch cap or beanie that goes down over the ears, it's fine. If you're on Ravelry, you can check out the link to the projects we've made alreadyhere.

There's probably a reason I've been obsessed with the hat-making, other than I enjoy doing the different patterns and getting that instant gratification from quick projects. The last couple of weeks have been stressful at a level that's almost beyond description. I was sick with a nasty chest cold for a couple of days after the installation, returning to a regular schedule at work two days after Ash Wednesday (I got through Ash Wednesday on adrenaline and cough drops). Two days later, we lost one of our beloved members at church who had been hospitalized for something seemingly minor. We did her funeral on Saturday, and the following day, I attended the death of another member of the congregation, whose funeral was this past Wednesday. Stir in some bleak weather and the news that my beloved seminary, which in many ways was like a second home for me, is involved in "restructuring" and no longer going to be offering residential M.Div. programs. They claim they are "not closing," however, I am suspicious of the rhetoric being tossed about.

So prayers for Seabury--for the futures of the faculty and students, and for wisdom for the board and administration. And I'll go about my hat-making ways through Lent.
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Sunday, February 17, 2008

gone a little OCD

Why, I don't have a hat problem.
 

Why do you ask?
 

I've bookmarked a whole bunch of bulky hat patterns on Ravelry and am enjoying watching the Plymouth Encore Chunky #1444 disappear into useful hats for mariners with cold heads.
 

It's not too late to join the 4000 Hats in 40 Days crowd. Ravelry link is here
 
and information about the project for Seamen's Church Institute is here.
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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Book meme

I got tagged.

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.

Angel and Me, Stories by Sara Maitland

Find page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.


"My guardian angel put in an appearance the other day, while I was polishing the silver. I sort of hoped she would be impressed to see me performing this menial and housewifely task with such devotion. Of course, she wasn't."

Heh. I wonder how my guardian angel would feel about the yarn?

Ok, now to tag 5 people:

Paula
Kay
Songbird
Terri
Anita

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Hack, hack, cough, sneeze

So I haven't written yet about the big Celebration of New Ministry we had at St. C's this past weekend.

That's because I promptly got good and sick after it was all over. And hubby, too. Instead of being at our respective Shrove Tuesday pancake dinners, we stayed home and ate the traditional pre-Lenten Chinese delivery (chicken rice soup--it'll cure what ails you!) and huddled under blankets.

I wasn't too sick to knit so I finished knitting my mile that was part of the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry by getting to block eight of the Moderne Baby Blanket I'm making for an impending great-nephew on hubby's side (yay! using up the vintage Microspun stash).

Yesterday, between services, cough drops and heavy intake of hot fluids to keep my voice from disappearing, I set aside the blanket and cast on my first hat for this. I "met" Jeanette via Ravelry--she's in charge of Christmas at Sea for this longtime Episcopal Church ministry in New York. I've knitted a scarf or two before, because hubby was involved in the ministry with mariners back when we lived in St. Louis--we even got to go down to Paducah, KY once for him to bless a tow boat. I have a ton of brown/black Encore Chunky that I bought back for a crochet project but that didn't please me, but will make some nice fast hats for this effort. So--Lenten discipline AND knitting from more vintage stash.

And here's a funny knitting-related Ash Wednesday story. A woman was at church for our noonish service who I had never met. But even from the altar I could tell she was wearing a Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf made out of Berroco Foliage (I should get some kind of points for that). She was visiting from out of town and was only mildly startled when I asked at the Peace if she was a knitter! (She was).