In my knitting journey, while searching for knitting and craft inspiration, I have read many other knitters’ blogs. What I found had been discouraging. While their crafts were stunning, there was a bite in their humor and I found myself wanting to find more Christian crafters’ blogs. To find some generosity and thankfulness to God. To find a knitter who loved what she did, but did it to bless those around her: her family, friends, and community. I stumbled upon this very sweet, Christian, knitting blog last night: http://bugsbeetlesandbarefootdays.blogspot.com/
As I knit gifts this Christmas for my friends and family, I involved my family with the process. When I knit two clutches (from One Skein, by Leigh Radford), and needed to felt them, I brought them along to our Thanksgiving celebration at my grandparents’ home in the mountains. After the evening meal was cleared away, and we were sitting in little bunches chatting and relaxing, I pulled out my clutches, and asked my granny if I could felt them in her washing machine. Our washer is a side-loader, which doesn’t give any opportunity to check on my projects felting. My granny said yes, so my cousins, little sisters, and I trooped down into the basement and tossed them in the washer.
When we returned upstairs, my dad and brother were playing the fiddle and guitar. We started square dancing, and my papa got up and started dancing with me. He was amazing! I’d never known this before, but my papa used to go to the Saturday night square dancing every week as a young man. We had a wonderful time, unfortunately, knocking over many (unlit) candles and moving furniture farther back. When we finished, my papa collapsed in a chair gasping and laughing, claiming he’d have to quit, or have a heart attack.
At that moment, I realized my clutches were still downstairs without anyone watching them! We raced down the steep basement steps and opened the washing machine. Thankfully, they were fine and just needed one more wash cycle to shrink enough.
My cousins (both who are in the marching band in their high school) wanted the fingerless gloves I was working on. One even requested my (mostly) made up pattern. Once I get the photos from my photo shoot, I’ll be posting the pattern. Another cousin wanted one of the clutches. I was rather flattered, because while my clutches were draped over candlesticks to dry, they looked rather like muskrats. My mom joked that my papa might accidentally shoot them if he saw them. :)
After I trimmed one of the clutches today, it looked much more like a purse and less like a muskrat. I plan to line it with a drop cloth (brand new, it’s great fabric for totes/linings/etc.) and sew colorful buttons to it. This coming Sunday will be the time I give my friends their gifts, so I’m trying to finish them all rather quickly. Several of them had very specific requests. It’s helpful in one way (I know this is what they wanted) but a little time consuming as I try to come up with things that match their specifications. I’m happy, though, that my friends and family appreciate my knitting/craftiness. I’m babysitting tonight and tomorrow night (late), so after the kids go to bed, I’ll have some good knitting time. The finishing part seems to take the longest. Finding the right button, sewing all those tails in, making sure the pairs of things match and are the same size.
I'll be posting pictures of the gifts once they are given away, but until then, I won't, because (I think) several of them read this blog.
Merry Christmas!
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