Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Knitting and Reading

Joining in again with Ginny at the beautiful blog Small Things to share what is on my needles and what I am reading.

After finishing Emmy's vest, I decided to pick up some inexpensive 25% wool/75% acrylic in a worsted weight at our little local yarn shop, to knit her a new hat as she is growing so fast.  I also wanted to improve my skills on double pointed needles, knitting in the round.  The needles are size 6 and I cast on 64 stitches.  The rim is a knit 2, purl 2 with enough to fold up on the bottom and then the rest is just knit.

Have I ever written about our local yarn shop?  I don't think so.  The owner is one of the most generous, thoughtful people I know.  She and her husband are dairy farmers.  Their children are grown now.   About a year and a half ago they lost their house to a fire.  Now they live in a mobile home on their land.  Now she rarely shares any of this nor does she share about the pains in her knees that have required surgery, nor the reason why her hands visibly shake, yet she continues to share her love of knitting with others.  To each our daughters she has given sweet gifts from her store - asking them if it was their birthday and although their reply was some time in the past, her reply was well happy late birthday.  This fall she is giving out yarn to all those that will knit for the families of Vermont that lost all in the floods of hurricane Irene.  She is a beautiful example of Christ's love.  To strive to be more like Jesus is a daily struggle.  To be selfless.  To be giving.  To be gracious.  To be grateful. 

I am reading White Fang by Jack London aloud to Isaac and Abby (ages 13 and11).  So far it is an exciting read for those interested in adventure in the Alaska wild lands.  One of the wonderful parts of homeschooling is to be able to learn and read right alongside our children.

Looking forward to finding out what you are reading and knitting today.

Warm wishes,
Tonya

9 comments:

  1. How blessed you are to know such a wonderful soul! Your yarn store sounds like a super place to visit.
    I agree with you about homeschooling, I have learned more with my children than I ever did in school!
    Have a lovely Thanksgiving day!
    xx

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  2. Love the color you are using in your hat..I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving...you and your family have been such and inspiration to me and my family!!!

    ~~Renee

    A Knitters Notebook

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  3. That hat looks very warm. Your yarn store owners sound wonderful, what a fantastic boon...yarn *and* an inspirational woman to give you a boost each time you visit x

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  4. Sadly not knitting at the mo but interested in your book. Always looking for new stories to read my boys. especially my eldest who is nearly 10. We are nearly finished with the new Cressida Cowell Dragon story, "How to steal a Dragons sword" and looking for something new to try. I think Brendan might like White Fang.

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  5. What a wonderful person to have in your life!

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  6. Thats so lovely- wonderful to know you must be attracting souls like that! Lovely girly colours in Emmys hat without being too PINK! Happy Thanksgiving xx

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  7. What great colors in that hat...your knit shop owner sounds like a wonderful lady. What an example of Christ's love. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving...hope it's a wonderful day!

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  8. I wanted to let you know that thanks to your generosity in sharing your gnome knitting pattern, there will be children in Afghanistan loving there very own gnome. I teach kindergarten in a Catholic school and in October the wife of my principal was deployed, she is a doctor and will be working with the local population. I will be knitting and sending her gnomes to pass out to the local children. So thank you for sharing this delightful pattern, I am hoping that these little gnomes can bring some happiness to the lives of these children living in a war zone.~ Cheryl

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  9. My 9 year old son was just talking to me about White Fang - I'm going to have to pick it up! I do enjoy working with self-patterning yarn, it's such fun to watch the next bit emerge as I work. :)

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