My Beautiful Rug

I fell in love with this rug last year. At that time it cost forty dollars. I stumbled upon it again this year, and it was marked down to twenty dollars. I bought it! It is a very girly rug, and I thought my husband would not appreciate it. So, I decided that the best place for this beautiful rug was in my laundry room. He doesn't go in there very often. My cat, Dory, a very girly cat, absolutely loves this rug. If the laundry room door is closed she cries until you open it so she can go in and lie on the rug. (I hope that was the correct use of lie. I always get lay, lie, and laid confused.)This rug makes me happy and brings a smile to my face every time I enter my laundry room - which is always piled high with dirty clothes. As a wife and mother of four I say that LOL means Lots of Laundry!

Relieved from Duty

After I finished the scarf for New Jersey's special olympics I saw on facebook that there were several other states in need of scarves. I scanned through the list for the state whose "must receive by" date was the latest. I discovered that was Alaska, giving me about a month to knit a scarf. Thinking that was plenty of time, I pledged to knit one scarf, printed a pattern and started to knit. I did knit - every night, but with four days to go until the scarf needed to be mailed I found myself about eighteen inches short. I began to visualize myself knitting while I was just about doing everything else, as well as knitting late into the night. My husband commented, "I didn't know that knitting could be so stressful." Sunday, during a knitting break, I went onto facebook and discovered a post that said that Alaska had received more scarves than it needed. I felt as if the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. I am truly thankful for all the wonderful knitters who were able to get their scarves completed and sent on time. You know, those amazing people who are able to manage their time so incredibly well. As a knitter I really want to knit for charity, but I am finding it difficult when there is a deadline. I think I have all this time, but in reality it never quite seems to be enough time. That seems to be the case for many others things in my life. Time - I always seem to be fighting time. I felt that God said, "Your intentions were good, and that was all I needed. You are relieved of your promise." Thank You, God. Now for the Knit 1, Bless 2 blanket I pledged to complete by May 31 . . .

Vogue Knitting Live

Saturday, January 22 was a cold and blustery day in New York City. Taking place at the Javits Center was the motorcycle and boat show. Taking place at the Hilton New York was Vogue Knitting Live! On this cold windy morning, my sister-in-law, Doreen, her friend, Amelia, and I drove to Port Imperial to take the ferry over to New York City. The ferry was packed with lots of men and a few women going to the boat and motorcycle show, and lots of women and a few men going to Vogue Knitting Live. Once off the ferry we took the bus up to 52nd street and walked the few blocks to the New York Hilton. Upon entering the Hilton we quickly realized that we were in knitting heaven. Vogue Knitting Live took up three, (or was it four?) floors of the hotel. There were two floors called The Marketplace, where you could purchase everything ever made for knitting and crocheting. There was amazing yarn by the miles. The rooms were filled with the most talented knitters and crocheters in the U.S. Inspiration was everywhere! I easily could have spent thousand of dollars on the patterns, books, yarn, and other materials, but I carefully walked through the two floors of marketplace booths and then made my purchases. I purchased an autographed book titled Cowlgirls by Cathy Carron. I was blessed to have some time to talk with Cathy and we quickly discovered that we were both moms to beautiful daughters whom we love to knit for. Cathy's book is filled with cowls to knit for my girls. I also purchased a pattern book titled Huggable Friends 1. This book is filled with patterns to make adorable huggable boy and girl dolls. My niece is expecting boy-girl twins in June and these dolls would make the perfect gift. At the same booth I bought the coloring book of huggable dolls. I thought perhaps I could use the pictures in the book as patterns for needle felted dolls. My final purchase was the gorgeous knitting bag that is in the photo on this post. I did not get the name of the talented woman who made this amazing bag, but I believe you can find some on Etsy. They are each one of a kind, but each and every one is beautiful. There were also lots of classes to take and lectures to attend. We chose to just go this year and get a good idea for what is was all about. Next year, though, I plan to sign up for those. As soon as Vogue announces the dates for next year I will be marking them in my calendar. If you live on the west coast Vogue Knitting Live is coming to you in April. Check out http://www.vogueknittinglive.com/. It is one event you do not want to miss if you are a knitter or crocheter.

I must also mention that we had a delicious lunch at The New York Marketplace. This was on the ground floor of the hotel. Both the service and the food was outstanding. I will certainly be returning to eat there, even if there isn't a knitting event taking place.