Friday, September 15, 2006

Everything you didn't know, and didn't ask

Love of Jesus!
Just wanted to share with you that I am a Christian. I have known Jesus as my Savior for as long as I can remember. I continue to go to Bible Study and pray daily. The cool thing is even when I worsh
ip on Sundays, I can knit. I am doing mission work at a church in Blaine, MN. That church welcomes everyone, with many forms of worship. They are called Living Presence Lutheran Church.
This is a great way for me to pray, meditate and worship. I have truly embraced my knitting as a gift from God. I use it daily as I make items for Charities and donate them. I started a knitting group at the school I work at. They are called the Lasallian knitters. They are currently working toward
making 100 hats for the premies in theCaps for the Capital campaign, sponsored by Warm up America! Foundation and Save the Children. They also make shawls and scarves for families who have lost a loved one to domestic violence, Sheila's Shawls and Paul's Scarves. They learn by making hats, scarves and mittens for the local area shelters.

I also wanted to share with you a great plan, a way to spend devotion time with your best pal, Your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have talked
about how I love to knit. I can't sit still well, and the be silent and know that I am God thing is difficult. Then I came across this, Seven minutes with God. I saved it, printed it and brought it to Bible study and it worked conversion experiences with others that I attend Bible study with. I know God is working wonders when something comes up twice in one day. There are NO coincidences. I think even if you don't have much time, you will have Seven minutes to be with God. I have found this to really be a blessing.
Shawl Ministry
Sheila's Shawls and Paul's Scarves is a shawl ministry that comforts families who have lost loved ones to domestic violence or are victims of domestic violence. Silent Witness Initiative is our parent organization. They started making Silent Witness figures and made a march on the National Capital on May 21-23,2004. I currently have a silent witness, Bethany, in my home. I have had her at school and take her with me when I make shawl ministry presentation in yarn shops around Minnesota.This is a picture of Bethany, the silent witness. She is wearing a shield that describes how she lost her life and was a victim of domestic violence. She displays a beaded knit pouch with Sheila's Shawls brochures in them for people to learn more about Sheila's shawls. She currently is standing in my daughter's room, as Rachel is away at college. The black shroud to the left of her is a red silent witness shape that explains the Silent Witness Initiative.This is a close up of Bethany's shield. Her name was Bethany Muller. She was 16 years old at the time of her death. She died on June 10,1990. She makes a powerful impact on many of my students, because the numbers of teen dating violence continues to go up. What the shield says is this: She was a teenager living in Roseville (a suburb of Minneapolis). She was stabbed 22 times in a triple stabbing that left her sister and a friend injured. She died wrapped in a blanket on the sofa. Her sister's former boyfriend, previously charged with "domestic assault" was charged with first degree murder in her death. This is so sad. So depressing, but if we share the information we can work to stop what we know about, not what we don't know about.
This is a shawl made by one of the students at Totino-Grace High School in Fridley. I put it on Bethany when we go places. It demonstrates the warmth and caring created by the group.
Bethany is ready for her next trip out. She and I will be going to Rocking Horse Farms in St. Cloud, Minnesota to kick off the knitting retreat they are having on September 28th.
Yarn projects and stash
This is a new Sheila's shawl. I have on the needles. It is a Faroese shawl, with a feather and fan border. I have added just two pictures of my stash. It is two small containers. I have at least 7 or 8 more stored away, awaiting projects.
NowI wanted to save the best for last!!!!! My precious Puppies!
Here is Charity, on the left. She is the youngest. The puppy of 1 year 5 1/2 months old. She is a pure bred Brittany Spaniel. She loves to run and play. When she can't get outside and yet is awake when all others are asleep. She loves to play with yarn. Whether it is in a ball, a skein or anything. She sniffs yarn! Finds it in it's bag and removes it and spreads it all over the house. This is not a one time operation, Oh no! She goes on yarn hunts several times a month. I try to get more and more creative, short of locking my projects up in a cupboard. But here she is a cuddliest pooch. Can't you just see the fiber lust in those eyes?

Then
there is Bandit, on the right. Bandit was a Shelter dog. She came to us, when we lost our precious Patchy. Patchy was a Black Lab mix that my girls grew up with. She died of cancer at the age of 8. We got Bandit, a short time later from the shelter. She is a German Shepard / Lab cross. She was about 2 when we got her. She is gentle, fun loving, but is showing her age at 10 years old now. She still teaches the puppy what to do. Bandit can catch a frisbee in midair. She is very tolerant of Charity. Especially when Charity still thinks that she can act like a puppy, even though she is technically a teenager.

Last, but not least, is the old lady of the group, Xena- the warrior princess. She is a pure bred Australian Terrier. You can't see her cute pointy ears in this picture. She looks somewhat like Toto, in the Wizard of Oz. She too, was a shelter dog. Both she and Bandit came to us with the name Angel. We needed to change that. We got Xena when we still had Patchy. Xena came in and was the low female on the totem pole, so to speak so she tolerated Patchy and Patchy thought the same. But after Patchy left us, Xena was not so sure about these others that came to live with her. She was top dog now and Bandit was much like Patchy, so she thought that was okay. She and Bandit are only two years apart so the tolerance was fine. They didn't do similar things because of their size and Bandit stayed out during the day when we were at school. But then 8 years later, we get Charity this puppy that doesn't know the rules and wants to play with everything. She tried to see if Xena was a squeaky toy. Xena let her know and still does, who is the top dog to be reckoned with. Xena has two torn anterior cruciates, so she can not jump. She runs like a rabbit, her front legs pull fine and her back legs just spring off together.

All three of these darlin's sleep in my bed. My darling husband is not so keen on the idea but they get down through out the night, because they find the bed too hot. Sleeping on the floor is cooler. So now you know it all, Religion, Knitting and Pets, what more could a woman want. Books for entertainment? Maybe but that's for another day.
Blessings and good night.

Friday, September 08, 2006

I love buttons!!

If you have been reading this blog at all. You will have noticed an increase in the buttons on the right hand side. I love Buttons. They are so cute, creative and quaint. I was thinking of trying to create a button for Sheila's Shawls or Paul's Scarves. Then when person made a shawl or scaft and donated it to the closest state coordinator they could put the button on their blog. I think that would really be fun. If I can become internet savy enough on how to make the buttons and put them on there so that others can use them that will be great. We can always use additional donations of shawls and scarves from people world wide. We have a coordinator in the country of Austrailia. I would like to get a coordinator for Canada. I have talked with many knitters from there. Well maybe this weekend, I can post a few pictures of my projects and my doggies and tell you a bit about my Christian faith. I am looking for a cool alpaca button, as alpaca and llama yarn is my favorite and they are the coolest animals that the Lord has created. I have a wonderful navy shawl on the needles now. I will have to show it to you this weekend.
Blessings,

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

School and still looking for State Coordinators

Well, we moved our oldest off to college. She will be a busy young woman. She is double majoring in Journalism and Music. She is selling Mary Kay cosmetics as well as working a job on campus. She will also becoming home once every two months to stay on the payroll of her summer employment so she will have another job next summer. She is also the New State Coordinator for Sheila's Shawls and Paul's Scarves. She is the state coordinator for Wisconsin. Welcome Rachel, we are glad to have you with us.

I am still looking for additional state coordinators. I need about 35 more. Check the first posting of this blog and you will see the state coordinators listed there. If your state is not listed, we would love to have you join our cause of sharing prayer or healing shawls with families who have lost a loved one to domestic violence or survivors of domestic violence. I have sent letters to shelters asking for volunteers. I have emailed shelters asking for help. I have joined yahoo groups and am asking for other suggestions in getting people on board. The job itself is not really very hard. Send out a shawl or a scarf when asked. Share information if people ask. The other items on the job description are as flexible or involved as you want them to be.

I am still working on the sweater for my father. This is it here to the left. I had all the pieces done, sewed it together, had him try it on and it was too long in the front and sleeves. So I took the stitching out. Ripped the sleeves out to the armholes, and the front down to the armholes. It was easy to do because it was a raglan pattern. I reknit those pieces and am in the process of sewing it back together. He will be able to wear it this fall, as soon as he gets back from vacation in the wonderful west. I also had to whip up two washcloths because I am in an exchange, and I did not get them done.
I have another shawl on the needles on the right hand side and a few ufo's. I may just rip out the ufo's and start something else. Not much else for now.
Let me know if you know someone who is willing to help Sheila's shawls.