Knitting For The Soul

Before I became pregnant with my daughter I had a miscarriage.

I took it badly. Really badly.

About 3 days prior to having the miscarriage I had learned to knit. It was a random thing I had wanted to learn for awhile. I was clumsy at first.

I don't know why, but something that weekend made me pick up those needles and I began to knit.

And knit.

And knit. It was a little like Forest Gump running in that movie.

I think at the time I only knew the knit stitch. I couldn't purl. I would knit just about anywhere and it was the one thing that kept me hanging in there. Sometimes I would sit in the rocking chair and knit, the chair and my knitting moving in time with each other.

Knitting has a meditative quality to it. A rhythm, if you will, that forces you to focus and yet, let go. It quiets your mind. I'm not the only person who thinks that, by the way. In my knitting journey I've spoken with a lot of knitters who feel the same.

I had the miscarriage in September and by December, everyone I knew got scarves for Christmas. I took some classes. I knitted bags. I knitted socks in January. (Ok, I knitted A sock. Socks are actually pretty difficult, that whole heel thing is done on 4 or 5 double point needles. If you ever get handknit socks from someone it means you are pretty special.) When it took a long time for me to get pregnant, I knitted a sweater.

And the yarn. Oh, I love expensive yarn.

Knitting, is, of course, a tactile experience and one made better or worse by the feel of the yarn on your fingers. I'm not a sophisticated knitter by any stretch and for me, the quality of the yarn has a lot to do with the quality of the finished product. (In my pieces anyway) There is nothing like hand-dyed or hand-painted yarn of natural fiber. The one in the picture I've had for some time. It looks like indian corn and has the slightest sheen to it. I've knit it into 2 other things that just didn't work. This time it's a scarf for myself. Those colors, well that's what color I am on the inside.



Knitting is basically making knots in yarn with 2 sticks. You can get really complicated with it or not. I used to envision that while I was knitting all of those little knots, that some of the knots deep inside of myself were slowly, very slowly, unwinding.

At first this made me uneasy giving people my knitting. It was as if I had knitted all of that grief into those pieces. What I realized later is that really, I had knitted my peace into them.

Indie Music Treat-Chris Wilson

On of my favorite musical artists is someone you probably don't know. Chris Wilson.

About 2 years ago he was performing at one of my favorite local shops, The Good Old Days Country Store.

I picked up a cd and was hooked. His songs are great and his voice is beautiful. His voice live is exactly the same as the CD.

This past Friday I was out there with my Aunt. I struck up a conversation with him about my favorite song and why. On Sunday, when I went back to pick up his newest CD he took some requests and played it for me! That was so neat, except I needed to really resist singing out loud (something I should NEVER do in public!)

You can go to his myspace music page and he has a pop out music player. So if you are sitting at your desk (well not that I ever could have listened to music at my desk) or at home a little later take a listen. His version of I Will Survive, gives the song a completely different meaning, it's amazing.

He also has 2 gorgeous Christmas CDs. that I'm going to start playing any second.

Buying Makeup On eBay

The other day at Ulta, I spied a small tube of a product I've wanted to try for a while. Smashbox's Photo Finish, which retails for $36!!! (Yes, I know Karley, my face is probably going to fall off from using this stuff right???) The small tube was $16.

I have no idea what possessed me to shell out $16 for a very small tube of makeup primer. Those who know me would NEVER expect this out of me. But I did and I really liked it....

By the time I got home I realized I should have checked on eBay.

I've actually sold a lot of makeup on eBay. (It's a long story) The makeup was new and sealed and sold for a lot less than it's retail price. This is especially true for high end brands.

For example, when I looked, the $36 dollar of makeup primer could be had for $20 with free shipping. You don't even need to leave the house and you can save $16. How easy is that. When I finish this little tube, that is exactly what I'm doing!

Here are a few things to consider when buying makeup on eBay.

1) Always check the seller's rating and feedback.

2) Make sure you are buying new, sealed makeup. Ask the seller a question if you can't tell for sure.

3) Make sure they have a return/refund policy. For things like personal care products you want to be especially careful with stuff like this.

4) Ask for the expiration date if the product has one. Sometimes they don't.

5) If you DO get a bad product nicely email the seller and explain the problem. With something a small as makeup they should give you a full refund. I'm not saying they always will but for myself, since I could not open the makeup to make sure it was ok. I had to rely on the fact that it was sealed. As with anything else, there is always the chance an unopened product could be faulty. I just trusted the customer and refunded whenever this came up. I think I refunded maybe 3 people's money.

Bittersweet

Is it illegal to cut foliage down from a public park in the town that you live in and pay taxes in? What about if it was something that will grow back? What if it is actually a highly invasive species. What if you found it chocking a tree? Is it still morally wrong???

hmmm...

I love decorating with natural elements. Last year, after Thanksgiving, I noticed that a local park had an abundance of Bittersweet through one part that I drive through. Have you ever purchased this stuff for decorating? It's like $5 for a little bouquet. Then it sheds and you have to toss it out.

Anyway, I vowed to remember where it was so I could use it for Thanksgiving decorating this year. I was not sure if it was the harmless American Bittersweet or the invasive Oriental Bittersweet. I assumed it was the latter because it was covering other trees and I was right.

So I cut a bunch down (I'll be honest, I didn't just cut it down because it was the bad kind, I would have cut it down if it was the other kind as well-It IS a perennial) and had enough to put in a few different places around the house.

As for disposal, I'm up in the air. I would usually throw something like this in the compost pile but I'm afraid of it seeding and messing up my woods. I'll probably toss it out in the garbage instead.

My Next Victim-Jacquie

Ever since I wrote about Jen, frankly, I'm surprised at how many of you actually want to hear my opinion about you.

Enter, Jacquie.

Another inauspicious start. (I swear to you, I'm not always socially awkward. Just with people with whom I'm about to form long term bonds. And another thing. You may want to think twice about befriending me because it's hard to escape. People have tried, they are still trying...)

Anyway, in the first grade I somehow got stuck sitting with the new girl on the bus ride home. I don't remember how this next part happened but at one point the girl started leaking chocolate pudding. Everywhere.....It was coming from her lunchbox. Apparently, her thermos. She was getting covered in it. She looked at me with a pained expression and said,

" Can I have that?" She motioned to the ART PROJECT in my hands. The one I had made out of a Styrofoam meat tray, into which, I had carved a design with a pencil.
"WTF?"
Ok, as a first grader I did not really say that, but let me tell you, had I know about those words and their meaning I would have at least thought it. She wanted it, to PUT HER LEAKING LUNCH BOX ON.

And so I gave it to her. And when I say, "and so I gave it to her" don't be fooled, reader, into believing that I wanted to give it to her. Or that I was being all nice to the new girl because I wasn't. I didn't think I had many options. I had the window seat. I was trapped next to a pudding-leaking new girl. What would you have done?

She turned out to live across the street from me.

A little while later the doorbell rang.

Standing there was Pudding Girl.

She had my art project. It was obvious that she had tried to clean it off herself because all the little grooves that I had carved out were all still filled with pudding!!!!

But what a sweet gesture. I assure you, that I did not get that at the time. But as an adult I can see how that sweet little pudding girl grew into the nurturing momma hen that she is today. I can almost cry over that little girl with my dirty art project.

Jacquie is one of my oldest and best friends. She has a huge laugh that reminds me of Paula Dean. (or rather Paula reminds me of Jacquie) I can hear it in my head as I type this. We shared every first day of school together from the 2nd grade on. (Including the one where I was wearing the awkward cranberry skirt. I would scan it for you all to see but she would kill me, she hates that picture. She does, in fact, look worse than I do.) We learned how to apply blue eyeshadow together and we were going to marry members of Duran Duran . We spent summer days in her pool and summer nights having sleepovers. Her family treated me like their 4th daughter. She got her period and breasts before I did and let me know it. I grew mine larger, just to spite her.

Despite all this growing up together, we could not BE more different. I tell her she's cheesy and she laughs at me. She lives in a BIG house with BIG hair and BIG everything but she emailed me when she started recycling!!! She has a big personality that I love and a huge capacity to love others (unless she hates them and then she REALLY hates them.) She's loyal and is very popular wherever she goes. She was way more popular than I was in school and people have always gravitated to her.

She lives in NC and is married to the love of her life, Jimmy, who installs light fixtures when he visits. She has 2 beautiful children. Every time I see her it's like no time has passed. The last time I visited her in NC I started crying when I got in line to board and didn't stop until we were airborne. I'm sure people thought I was working thought some major stuff. Nope, just missing my Jacquie already!

I will truly know that woman forever and I'm so lucky to be able to say that.

She reads my blog every day but NEVER comments... She better comment on this one-A deal is a deal Jacquie. And since I told you the library will let you rent DVD's for free, you owe me.

Sunday Soup & Muffins

Awhile ago, back when I worked actually, I designated Sundays (In the fall & winter anyway) as a day to make soup & muffins or quiche or something for breakfast that we could eat for more than one day. Then we could either have the soup on Monday evening for dinner or pack it for lunches during the week.

I've kind of gotten away from that but was thinking I should re-institute it. Being home I guess I can make soup any time I want, but I tend to work better with a schedule. I think I'll post my recipes each week in case you want to play along at home!

So today I made:

Butternut Soup with Cider Cream. I actually skipped the cream on this one because I didn't have any whipping cream. I also skipped the sour cream in the soup as I felt like this would be a nice non-dairy soup to have (even a dairy whore like myself needs to take a break sometime.) This soup is fabulous! You can taste both the squash and apple and the carrots and leeks give it a nice
depth of flavor.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. My girl and I made these together. I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is a great way to incorporate whole wheat flour into your baking without experiencing all the heaviness that is usually associated with exchanging whole wheat for white flour. I was going to skip the chocolate chips but then changed my mind and chopped up some Halloween chocolate bars instead. This of course, took this item from the breakfast to snack category but I've never been convinced a muffin is really breakfast food anyway (The ingredients are the exact SAME as cake people!) These are YUMMY!!!

Meeting Jan Brett

I love Jan Brett books and I have been reading them to my girl since we started reading to her! Her art work is stunning! She is one of our favorite children's authors around here!

Last year my daughter's pre-school class did a whole unit on Jan Brett and my husband and daughter saw "The Mitten" put on as a play at The Strong Museum.

Saturday evening, Wegmans put on a book signing (which was free) for her new book and I was thrilled to be able to go with my girl!

She was very cute!
She spoke for about 20 minutes. We had a spot up in front which was really neat. My girlie was pretty excited about meeting/seeing someone who writes her books! She (Jan Brett, not my daughter) drew the bear from "The Mitten." The kids were in awe as was I. She drew this very quickly and was really entertaining. She told us that it usually takes her one hour per inch of picture when she's illustrating a book




Then we saw her bus.
And met Hedgie the Hedgehog.


She was really sweet to each of the kids and spoke with each one as she signed their book.


"Oh Jan Brett, we love you so much" says me. She looks really impressed by this....I'm sure she's heard this from about a million people.


A very fun time for both me and my girl!



You know, I was thinking yesterday that I should have posted this for local readers to see BEFORE the event. Sorry. If you don't live locally and you are interested you may want to check out her website for dates near you. Even if you have missed this you may want to still take a look because she has a lot of neat activities and coloring pages right from her books, which is pretty neat if you've read the books!