'Vog luv...

I blame my heart sister Meagheen, for cranking up my love of Fluevog Shoes. If she'd just stop giving me great sock patterns to test knit, I wouldn't have to find the proper venue to showcase them for her! Oh, one could flay a sock across the ol' shag rug and hope that people will purchase the pattern. I'd get distracted by the ol' shag rug and not notice the gorgeous pattern.

I get distracted a lot by unimportant things... ooo-what is that shiny thing... and oft' times fail to see what I'm really supposed to discover. My first journey to Ireland was just that. I was distracted with a broken heart (ok, that was an important life changing distraction) that it took me two weeks into the journey to realize that I accomplished a childhood dream... standing on my great-grandparents homeland and discovering their stories! Their life changing journey guided me through mine and from that point on my world got better. It was like someone threw a peat log at me and knocked me off my un-Fluevog feet!

We're all on a journey of sort. I gotta remember it's not about the destination but about how we journey through it all. We just need to put our best foot forward as we travel towards the best in our lives... what er' it may be.

Now... back to the 'Vog site and see if Miss M and I continue to order the same shoes!

Certain Uncertainty...

Nothing like year end blues to dampen the spirits... I mean fiscal year end from work! "Hurry up and wait"... is not a motto to live by... but it's the world I live in right now. Start a project... no wait, stop... no, do it this way... no, wait. Yup, the spirit truly dampened. But then, out of the blue a knitty buddy gifted me with the most delightful 'Ode to Ireland' fingerless gloves. I giggled with delight and the blues were magically lifted. To bring it over the top... the following day I received in the mail another gorgeous pair of green lacy fingerless gloves... perfect for my Jane Austen weekends... from another knitty buddy! I have to say... my beautiful friends do know what I like!

Sometimes that's all it takes... one small gesture towards another to help lift the spirit. In this world of uncertainty... you can be certain of one thing... kindness goes a long ways.

Battles...

Coming home to a freshly cleaned house just tickles me pink...  well frankly, a whole bunch of colours!!! Once a month a cleaning service comes in and mops and sweeps, sucks and dusts, scrubs and tidies all the nooks and crannies in my wee abode. It is my treat to myself... especially since I got me a new cat-mate (well, he's a rescued old one) who leaves behind his white fur everywhere (I thinks he's proud of himself).

Another thing that tickles me all the colours of the rainbow? Completing a long hibernated knitting project! Not only is my house clean but my knitting procrastination list is down one object! I Dream of the Skelligs was a test knit for my heart sister, Meagheen. She re-jigged the design a little to make it better but for the life of me I couldn't sort out the math... so off to the side it went... for 3 months! With Meagheen fighting the health battle of her dear life I decided my math battle was nothing. I admit I did ask for help... much like Meagheen has... and it made all the difference in the world. The confidence was boosted and the test knit... complete!

Sometimes, that's really all we need... a hand to help us through our un-tidiness and someone to help us with whatever battle we face.

Less is more...

Not that my life is complicated or anything but there are times that I do wish for simpler things and less worries. I worry I can't keep up at work with all the impending changes and demands... I worry for my brother and all that is on his plate... I worry for my Mum and her increasing difficulty in walking... I worry for my Dad and his decreasing mobility... I worry for the special young people in my world whose lives have just received a curve ball... I worry for my heart-sister who is in the battle of her life...  the list goes on. I can be such a worrier wanting to make things better while at the same time appear like all is right in my world.

Maybe that's why I wanted to do the hood on my Heartland Cape in plain stockinette... no extra details, no extra patterns... and while the angel story is precious I didn't want the fancy back panel. I just wanted a beautiful simple knit so the heart cables on the hood border would become the focal point.  Maybe... in my worrisome days... I just want to be surrounded by hearts of love...... hearts of healing... hearts of hope.

I hope for better days for my family and my dear friends... that they know they are loved. That's not a lot to ask for but means so much more...

Shifting Roads...

I've been working on a test knit for a few months now. No, it's not hard or even a big project. It's just a pair of socks... but it has been driving me nuts. The cable pattern isn't even hard... but it has been driving me right around the bend! The issue... the cables go all around the leg portion which makes for an extremely tight fit over the heel! But I have been bound and determined to make this work because the pattern is so very important to my heart-sister Meagheen, the designer. The pattern is for her niece who died way too young. For both of them... I so want to make this work.

We tweaked the cuff to match the basket-cable weave... worked beautifuly! That was the easy part... but to make the rest work... oy!  Added more stitches, used larger needles, frogged the sock back... reworked the foot, frogged again... to no avail. The darn sock would not slide over the heel! What's the point of making something, while very pretty, that just won't fit!

Strange isn't it... we do that in life. We so badly want something (or someone) to work out that we'll do anything to make it happen... but it's just not the road we're supposed to travel on. No matter what car we use or how the GPS is programed or who we travel with... we're on the wrong road and we'll never get to where we supposed to be. Paths do change. Sometimes I'm alert enuff to recognize the fork in the road. Sometimes, there are people who will help steer me in the right direction. Sometimes, life just throws us off the cliff and we're forced to find another road to travel on. This is the one that really makes us wonder "why"! But this is the one that challenges us. This is the one that we need to be brave enuff to say "why not!" and go down that road. We discover that the road less travelled is exactly where we're supposed to be. So, off to work the sock... new direction given in the design and I think this is where we are supposed to be!!!!

Such Knotty Knotwork!

Oh my... what have I gotten myself into! A year long knit-along is now on my plate... a hooded cape filled with cables and knotwork and such. While it will be a most beautiful keepsake... I'm a wee bit scared! Not just for the project itself but I volunteered to help herd a group of some very delightful 'sheeple' while we wonder through this project together... ooo, I just got scared again.

So...the time has come to be brave... I may need liquid fortification! Yarn has arrived and the knotty knitting has begun. While I do this I think about a lot of things in our world that requires bravery... not because our world is a place to be afraid of... but because individually we all have things to be brave about... new skills, new challenges, life altering changes...

There are a lot of things in our world that require bravery... but brave we must be for what ever life throws our way. We are all linked together in one form or another, so brave we must be for ourselves and for each other.

Knit while Lit...

Nothing relaxes me more than curling up on couch with a pot of tea quietly knitting away while watching old classic movies. It's especially decadent on a weekday afternoon! But knitting with dear Trish, curled up on her couch with a bottle of wine... now that is a truly decadent afternoon.

2011 will bring many work challenges so a few extra days off was necessary to get the mind rested and ready for the frenzy! Now that Christmas gift knitting is done... knitting just for me was in order. Galway Toque and Scarf, a project sitting in the queue for quite some time, was completed during the Christmas break. But it was the last day off and a celebration was truly in order. So, on went the Lululemon's and with projects and a bottle of wine in hand... off through the snow I trudged to Trish's house.

We caught up on the latest news, did some preliminary planning for our Jane Austen weekend, ate delightful goodies and, oh yes... sipped a bottle of wine throughout the afternoon. Good thing simple projects were being worked on... celtic knotwork would not have faired as well!

Knit while lit? A perfect way to end some much deserved time off both of us. Note to self... wobbly knitting makes for interesting stitch counts!!!!