Awaiting Baptism

I am getting baptized Saturday! I am very excited about this and have yearned for it since I was a little girl. I have been attending mass every Sunday (except for illness in the family) and RCIA on Monday evenings since October. Dan and I took the 7 week Marriage Course earlier this year, and we also attended the Trinitarian Faith Experience together. I would recommend both to anyone who wants to revitalize their marriage or Catholic faith (the Marriage Course is non-denominational Christian, although you do not have to be Christian to benefit from it, and offered through many churches worldwide; the couple on the DVD are British). It was really cool because our course was arranged so you got to have a candlelight dinner together at this wonderful local family owned Italian restaurant (Gino's in Round Rock), and then you watch the DVD course. The couple teaching it are engaging orators; you can tell they have an ideal marriage, and the course is laid out well. Throughout, you have some work you do with your partner discussing whatever the topic is, and then of course you have a little homework to complete. The most important thing we took away from the course is that we need to have 2 hours of "marriage time" every week that must be scheduled and protected as it is very important to keep your bond strong - so true when you have 4 kids! But there is so much more good stuff. If you are married, you really should find a course near you, even if you think your marriage is perfect! Nobody's perfect, so there's no way 2 people trying to cohabitate together are perfect! We'll probably take it again in a year or so because I am sure we will need some more reinforcement. Plus, the forced dates are nice! Next Monday, April 9th, we will have our marriage blessed which will be another exciting event.

This has been a tremendous growth period for all of us individually and as a couple and family. The next order of business will be to get each of our children baptized and continue forth in raising our children in the Catholic faith. I thank God for leading me in this direction and for all of the souls who have helped Him along the way. I feel truly blessed.

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Here is the shawl I am working on to wear at our marriage blessing. I hope I can finish it! It is the Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2004 issue. I wanted to make a shawl to wear at my wedding blessing, so that I would have something special to give to Savanna some day (maybe when she gets married!

Flower Basket Shawl
yarn: Treliske Organic Merino 3 ply in cream (given to me by my wonderful friend Jenny of Tiny Birds Organics) pattern calls for lace weight doubled, but I am using a single strand baby weight
needles: Addi Turbo circulars 4mm (US 6) 24"
photo of finished shawl (after blocking): click here
Sidenote to fellow knitters: This pattern can be very difficult to find- I had a hard time and spent months tracking it down (almost impossible to find a copy of the magazine, even on eBay, as this copy is out of print and highly prized. There were a lot of good patterns inside besides this one. So if you really want to make one of these, email me, and I might be able to help you find it.

Day 1 (3/4/06):

Close up of the lace pattern:

Today (on the 11th repeat so far, pattern calls for 7, but I want a bigger shawl). I have a marker on the center stitch. The bottom in the picture is actually the top of the shawl.

I have a ways to go, so I better hop to it! I don't know if you can tell, but a few rows are a bit felted because I was working on it one night when I was too tired, and I had to keep going back to fix it (there is a lot of counting involved in lace, you work with a graph, sort of like needlepoint). If you know me, you know I have a problem with sweaty hands, and this is not good when you are working with wool fibers and have to keep going back to re-knit a row several times! If you can't tell, then I am glad and don't feel so bad about it. I will post a finished picture when I am done which hopefully will be this weekend!

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In other knitting news, I finally finished these soaker shorts for Savanna (I started it last year - ever since Bubby has started walking, I just can't knit as much as I would like to). I had a doctor appt. a couple of weeks ago, this was in my diaper bag for times like this when the doctor was an hour behind schedule!

It's a circular pattern (I used size 5 addi turbos 16") knitted all in one piece (no grafting) based on a soaker that my friend Jenny of Tiny Birds Organics designed. I used the no grafting technique for a seamless soaker I learned from the "WHW Trim Soaker Pattern" at Warm Heart Woolies. I used the sports weight version of the same yarn from Treliske that I am using for my shawl. It is the softest wool yarn I have ever worked with, the best in my opinion, for babies. I dyed it in the microwave with soarin' strawberry and berry blue kool-aids. The tie-string looks like I-cord, but is actually crocheted by making a chain and then doing a half single crochet (I think that's what it's called) in each stitch (you just stick the hook in the back of each chain and then pull the yarn through without doing any yarn-overs). For the finishing touch that makes it look feminine, I crocheted shell stitch in the leg openings. Savanna is pretty much potty trained, so this isn't an actual functioning soaker for her, but just some pretty shorts to wear!