Spiderwriterknits: October 2010

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Seems I get the urge to blog on holidays. Well, holidays are for fun and goofing around. Goofing Around?? That's why I never finished a book. I looked at writing as "goofing around", nothing to take seriously. Can't finish a book that way, can you? Nothing I do is important enough to seriously it seems. I find excuses or say, "It's nothing. Anyone can do that." Well,no that's not true. Not everyone can do what I do. Some people can but not every one.

Halloween has come and gone now. It is November 5, 2010 and I am down and out with a severe sore throat. Finally called the doctor after 3 days suffering. I can barely talk. The DH responds with "I can't understand you. Talk louder!" Why does he not understand I can't talk louder. It hurts! Do y our husbands respond this way when you're down with a sore throat or any other type of illness? I'd enjoy comments.

Maybe if I'd stayed in bed,I'd be taken seriously. But since I'm up and about, taking nourishment, I'm fair game for household stuff. No, no, not me. I'll just go back to bed.

My computer tech is coming today with MS Office 2010 so I can have Outlook for my appointments, etc. MS2007 (version I bought cause it cost the least), doesn't have Outlook on it. So for another $200+ I'll have Outlook.

Computer has been acting up and he and I worked on it last week. I want to change to MS Windows 7 but he talked me out of it. Said no need to. Guess it's just as well....several hundred dollars saved.

Knitting...have much on the needles. Finished some. OTN: Lickety-Split shawl in cream Simply Soft for the Prayer Shawl Ministry; 4th Flounce scarves; top down sweater in Plymouth Colorspun red tweed for me, along with other projects I can't remember. Oh yeah! The Wrap Me Up Shawl started May 2009. I have 3 more blocks plus the lace edging then it will be finished. To tell the truth, I just simply forget about this project.

On the Top Down Sweater, I think I got the sleeve increases out of line. Will be going up to see Anita at Garden Of Yarn for her analysis. If I did mess up, that's about 10 rows to frog. Anita doesn't put up with mistakes and/or sloppy work.

I finished the Summer Umbrella shawl for myself out of Noro

Books I've read and loved

Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allen (read at 4 times)
Company of Liars, by Karen Maitland
Dissolution, by C. J. Sansom
Green Dolphin Street, by Elizabeth Goudge
Heart of War Trilogy, by John Masters
Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
NIcolo Rising, by Dorothy Dunnet
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
The Angel's Game, by Carlos Fuiz Zafon
The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs
The House of RIverton, by Kate Morton
The Hungry Tide, by - Amitav Ghosh
The Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett
The Outlander Series, Diana Galbadon (5 books in series so far)
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
The Vanishing Act, by Maggie O'Farrell
Wilderness Series, by Sarah Donati (4 books in series to date)

A New blogger, semi-old knitter, and stalled writer

Well, I've entered a new realm...for me, that is. I've started a blog. Now what to do with it?? And who in the heck am I?

Joaniecomelately seems to fit me the best. As much as I try, as many good intentions I have, I'm always late. And I hate being late. I think it is arrogant and insensitive. So, I'm working on it.

A work in progress, WIP, that's me. I feel anyone can expand their horizons, change their ways or thoughts, take on new challenges despite their age. That's the last time I'll mention age.

I'm a knitter, have been since the 1960's. Sarted as a crocheter in grade school. My Aunt Margaret taught me when I was about six years old, maybe a few years older.

I made the most elaborate, fluffy edges on handkerchiefs. Today, Several of my classmates in the 7th and 8th grades, along with myself, would work the crochet hook all during class. And this was with Sister Hilda's blessing. A stern lady, but we could do our lady's needlework. Sadly, only one of those hankies remain.

So many heirlooms of the handmade type have been lost through the years. It only dawned on me recently to look at these treasures as heirlooms. I truly wish I had that old, wool serge quilt my sister, Lois, and I slept under on those cold winter nights in the cold patch of Southwestern Pennsylvania. All Grandmother Mary did was cut squares from discarded men's clothing, most of wool serge, real scratchy material. When the square were all cut, she sewed them together to make the top of the quilt and then put on the bottom. This she stuffed with an unknown filling. When this was done, she cut small pieces of yarn to tie knots through the middle of each square to hold the fabric and the filling intact.

This quilt didn't win prizes. The colors were dark navy, brown, gray and black. Nothing pretty about it. But it was warm., especially when the ice was on the inside of the windows in the winter time. The coal stove was banked (the coals were smothered to keep the flame low so there would be hot coals to start the fire in the morning) when my parents went to bed and the ice formed quickly.

Sadly, I can barely crochet a chain nowadays. However, I do knit and I love it. Mainly , I've been working on shawls, lap robes, baby hats and blankets.

Last winter, I winter I proposed to our Monsignor that we have a Prayer Shawl Ministry in our parish. With enthusiasm I didn't expect, he gave me the go-head. I expected, prayed for two or three women to join me. By the afternoon of the first announcement in the Sunday church bulletin, I had twenty plus women on the list. Today, we have about fifteen very active ladies, with a couple working from their home in their spare time. We even have a member at a local nursing home. The rest are still on the list since we are open to people coming when they can and doing what they are able.

By November, 2007, we made and gave away 100 plus items; shawls, lap robes, and baby blankets. And the need for these is still going strong. Some of the women are lightening fast, making 3, 4, 6 items every two weeks. These are the crocheters in the group. We knitters are slower but just as productive in the end.

I thank God daily for the enthusiasm and dedication of these ladies, all of whom I did not know a year ago. Now they feel like old friends.

Writing is another passion of mine, but my husband is finding this hard to believe since I haven't written a word in quite a while. But I will write again, this is for sure.

Several unfinished manuscripts are logged in my writing files and saved on disks. One of them, is the story of my ancestors immigrating from Eastern Europe and settling in the col towns in Western Pennsylvania.

I want to show the hardships and obstacles they overcame to make a better life for themselves and their families to follow in successive generations. In this, they succeeded, despite all of the animosity encountered from some of the citizens in the surrounding areas. The same threat citizens felt when the Irish, the Germans, and other nationalities came to the United States.

For now this is enough about me. As this blog progresses, I hope to share the accomplishments of my fellow prayer shawl ministry members, my own knitting triumphs and missteps along the way. And maybe even a chapter or two. Miracles do occur.

joaniecomelately