Update

My husband died in my arms on April 20th.

My life has been turned upside down, and this has been a horrible time, but I thank you all so much for all your kind words and messages.

Personal

I don't usually post personal things on my blog, but my life has been turned upside down.  On January 8th my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  Chemo might buy him some time, but the cancer is terminal and he is not expected to go into remission.

I have been with him at the hospital thanks to so many dear friends who are surrounding us with love, praying, bringing me meals, staying with me during surgeries, and taking care of our dog and cat.

My husband is the love of my life.  He is kind and good, compassionate, smart, funny, strong, and courageous.  He is in pain, but is handling this with strength.  I, on the other hand, am falling apart.  I can not relieve his pain, and I don't know how to help him.

This is torture.  He is right here in the room with me, but I miss him so much.  I don't know how much time we will have together, I just pray that he can have quality time.

I am so sad and so lonely.  He has been the one to help me through so many difficult times, but he can't help me with this one.  I am in so much pain, but I know that my pain is just a fraction of his.

He just turned 48 in December.  Our 7th wedding anniversary will be the 26th of this month.  This is so unfair and cruel.  My heart is broken.

What I've been up to

Well, the eye has not been great and is slowing me down a bit, but I've still be knitting, crocheting and weaving. 

Still working on my nephew's prayer shawl, but haven't made a tremendous amount of progress on the loom.

I'm still knitting the shawl, but with my eye issue, it is really very hard to see the stitches, so I've made almost no progress.

I did remake the little crochet post stitch vest, and this time I completed the hood.  It's ok, but I'm not thrilled with how it came out, so I haven't gotten around to sewing on the buttons yet.  I need to do that because it needs to be finished while it is still close enough to wear!!!

I did finally finish my ruffle scarf.  Last year I made a ton of novelty scarves for holiday gifts.  I started one for myself, but the weather got warm and I never finished it.  I decided I needed to, and I got it done this week.  I LOVE it and have been wearing it every chance I get!

  

I have no idea why suddenly blogger insists on showing my photos sideways.  It's very annoying - but with this scarf it doesn't really matter.

Today I crocheted a hat for my niece, Cheyenne.  She has been posting all sorts of cute crocheted hats on pinterest, so I decided to make her one for the holidays.  This is similar to something that she posted.  I hope she likes it.  

Sideways again!

Anyway, Chey is a beautiful young girl, and I think this will be really cute on her.

And, I'm still working on another knit beaded scarf - a project I really enjoy!

 

 

 

Still here!

I haven't posted recently, but not because I'm not involved in projects.  I'm probably involved in too many projects, and not getting any done!!!

I'm still working on weaving my nephews prayer shawl.  I love the fabric I'm creating, but my back has been hurting so my weaving time is limited

I'm still working on the lovely shawl, but my eye has been bothering me and it isn't easy to see my stitches, so I'm making mistakes.  :(

I found an amazing post stitch crochet sweater to make, and I love the pattern.  I followed the instructions for the 6 month size, but despite my gauge appearing to be correct, the sweater turned out tiny!  It's more like a take me home from the hospital and then hand this down to another newborn because I'll outgrow it in a week size.  I hate frogging though, so I omitted the hood and the sleeves, and just completed it as a vest.  Then I immediately started a larger version using the 9 month size and a larger hook.  Hopefully this one will be better.

I haven't yet blocked it or sewn on the buttons, but this gives you an idea of what it will look like.  The larger version will be hooded and have sleeves.

I plan to donate this to Marine Corps Kids and thinking of sending it to Germany where they will need really warm items for the babies.

Grandbaby Gift

The other day my husband casually mentioned that someone he worked with had just become a grandfather, and asked if I had something made that I could send as a gift.  Um...no, but crochet is fast!  So I quickly made this little dress.  It took only a few hours to make, and I think it turned out cute!

I know that some people think that crocheted garments pale in comparison to knitted ones, but I could NEVER have created a knit dress in so short a time.

I love to weave, crochet and knit; and there is definitely a time for each.

Correction

The tallis is coming along nicely.  The fabric is a bit more green that I anticipated, but I love the beautiful ocean hues.

I did have one problem when I found a knot in one of my warp threads.  It was small enough that I got the loom warped without noticing it, but when I started to weave, the reed would not pass easily over the know and the thread became loose.  I wasn't sure how to fix it as I'm not very good with warp repair.  In a moment of extreme luck, I was able to cut the thread and repair it using the invisible join loop method that I used for crochet.  The repair area will be slightly thicker, but I've already worked past it, and it is not visible in the final fabric. 

I really like the way the fabric is turning out, and hope that I will be able to create a beautiful and useable tallit!

For Baby Marissa

Just finished this little romper top for Baby Marissa who was born this week.  She arrived early and is only 3 pounds, so this top may need to be packed away till next year, but she is a fighter and is strong and beautiful, and I look forward to the day when she will be big enough to wear this. 

The Tallis

When I first fell in love with weaving, I decided that I wanted to weave my nephew a Tallis (prayer shawl) for his Bar-Mitzvah.   Over a year ago I purchased this beautiful Rick Rack yarn by Interlacements.

Blue is my nephew's favorite color, and I loved the tones of blue and green and the beautiful sheen of this yarn.  It was sold in a 1200 yard hank for $37 - a bargain!  This "ball" of yarn is HUGE!  It looks like a birthday cake.  It is 7 inches across by 4 inches tall!  

So, the Bar-Mitzvah will be next April, and I decided it was time to start this project.  I'm really nervous about it because this project is sentimental to me. I want it to be beautiful, and I will be crushed if I make big mistakes.  I started to calculate how much yarn I would need for the warp, and got nervous that I wouldn't have enough, so I bought a second hank.  It is from a different dye lot, but if I use one exclusively for warm, and the second for weft, I should be fine.  I also needed extra yarn in case I decide to make the corners and attarah from watching fabric and if I want to create a matching bag to hold it.  These are all decisions I have yet to make.

The second hank was actually packaged as two hanks of 600 yards each.  This is much easier to work with, but still a lot of yarn to manage! Working with such huge "cakes" of yarn made me nervous - I didn't want to end up with a big tangle as I pulled from the center of the cake.  I decided to sacrifice a pair of panty hose (who can stand to wear them anyway) to hold the yarn together as I work with it.

Looks funny, but it seems to work!  I was able to pull the yarn from the center as I warped the loom and don't think I'll have a problem with tangles.  I did have to struggle with knots though!  As I warped, I found many knots in the yarn - not knots from the manufacturer where they join two ends, but knots that were created when the yarn was wound.  I had to cut and tie on several times, but I managed to stay cool and get the loom warped.

I got 112" warped and wound.  I just finished threading the reed.  All that is left it to tie the yarn to the bar and I'm ready to weave.  I am irrationally frightened of this project, but really excited to see how it turns out.  Of course, once it is complete, there is no guarantee that my nephew will want to wear it.  If he doesn't like it now, I hope he'll appreciate it when he's older.  I love that kid, and am happy that I can make this form him.  

I'll post more as I make progress.

Final Photo

It's finished, it's blocked, it's ready to ship to a baby.

I'm really proud of this!  It's not perfect, but its my first knitted sweater and a little Marine Corps Baby will be wearing it!

I did it!!!

I knit my very first sweater!!  I didn't think I could actually manage this, but I did.  There are plenty of mistakes and problems with gauge, but in the end I made a baby sweater that is actually wearable.  I'm so excited that I'm posting pics before it is truly finished.  I still need to block it.  Also, last weekend I drove across town to buy buttons and came home with only 4 when I really needed 5.  So.... 1 more button and blocking, and this will be ready to be donated to Marine Corps Kids!