PIP Wednesday

Yes, "PIP" -- for "Play in Progress".  It's been snowing steadily for the past 90 minutes or more and is forecast to continue for the next little bit -- so I'm playing indoors today.

On the left is a small, inexpensive plastic loom, which I purchased for the upcoming Advent Quiet Day at my parish church.  The day is about 'the work of our hands', and consists of reflections on the spirituality of handwork.  There will be a bit about handwork in community, so I thought it would be fun and interesting to have a small project to which participants could contribute -- something simple that could be done a bit here, a bit there throughout the four hours or so we are together.  Lori at The Crafty Lady has been working wonders on a small table loom -- but that would be quite an investment for a single day, and I wasn't about to bring home yet another fibre addiction! LOL!  So...she suggested this small 'potholder' loom which can be used with especially-cut jersey-knit fabric loops or with any scrap yarns.  I opted for the scrap yarns.  What you see on the loom is some slightly fluffy Patons Diana acrylic that was donated to us by the family of a now-deceased member of our congregation (Alice, your sweet knitting spirit lives on!)  It's in such a shocking shade of pink that no one in our charity group has been inclined to knit with it, so I thought I'd try it out here.  I've warped the loom and figured out how to use the hook, so now it's tucked away, ready to be used on Saturday.

That process was a very satisfying little play time for me this morning. Now I've moved on to the other items in the photo, of which you can see only a bit, because they are Christmas gifts.  That's all I'm going to say about 'em, too.  :-)

May you have great fun at whatever you're doing today!    Meanwhile, I'm linking up with PIP WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network.

Easing Gently...

back into my routine. Yesterday I returned to jogging, after several days of snow and bitter cold, in which my only workouts were shovelling and walking -- briskly!

Today I returned to my sewing room...and began to reconnect by making a couple of blocks for Erin H's "Blocks for Sandy" project, which I learned about only yesterday from long-armer, Cathy Tomm.  'Way back on November 1 Erin, who lives in Virginia but was spared as Sandy passed by, began to make and collect quilt blocks to assemble into quilts for those who've lost everything in the hurricane.

 I thought I might be too late, but I contacted her yesterday and got a "welcome aboard" e-mail this morning, so I went to my sewing machine this afternoon and made 2 for the cause.  Such fun and funky fabric, unearthed when I went "shopped my stash" yesterday to see if I had enough on hand to start Bonnie Hunter's "Easy Street" mystery quilt in a couple of weeks.  This is another ginormous top (84" square before borders!) -- as my beds are smaller, I likely will scale back the size this year (as opposed to "Orca Bay" from last year, which I made full-sized!)  Then again, I have quite a bit of stash to clear (trust me -- it's not useful for my artwork!) so perhaps I'll go the distance...

"What?! Are you nuts?!"  I can hear you asking yourself.  No.  Well...maybe a little.  I figure that alternating working on ES while working on my C&G final assessment piece might just keep me sane.  If I don't cram my days this time of year, I fall deeply down the Procrastination Rabbit Hole and end up doing not much of anything.  So...I'm gonna offset the high-energy creative design process with simpler, less mind-boggling piecing, and hope it all works out in the end.

But I digress.  Back to Hurricane Blocks for a minute.  Apparently Erin is now receiving them by the dozens, but she's still keen, and had a wonderful Saturday with her guild, the members of which have stepped in to help with assembly, sandwiching and quilting.  So...if you have time, some spare stash (who doesn't?!) and would like to help, leave a comment on her blog -- NOT anonymously, but with your e-mail in your ID link/info, and she'll be in touch about where to send your block(s).

Meanwhile, knitting continues.  I finished the applied seed-stitch edging on the first long side of  my narrow Barn Swallows scarf, and thanks (again!) to Kelly Petkun and her Knit Picks tutorials on how to turn a corner with applied i-cord, I've turned a corner, applied edging to the first short side of the scarf, and am about to turn corner #2 and head up the second long side.  Although I know it's "however long it takes", there is a distinct possibility the piece will be finished for my friend P by Sunday, which is when she told me she thought she might be back to church.

The outline of the Advent Quiet Day is finished and has been approved by Lee, my priest, so consider this an early invitation:

Advent Quiet Day

Saturday, December 8, 2012

The Anglican Parish of St. Cyprian, Lacombe, Alberta

10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

The Work of Our Hands: Reflections on the Spirituality of Handwork

Bring a bag lunch and your favourite repetitive hand work

This could include knitting, crochet, embroidery, needlepoint, spinning, weaving, mending, hemming, binding quilts, darning, ironing, polishing silver, making cards, gift wrapping, sorting photos into albums, addressing greeting cards, wood-working, painting, journalling, beading...

anything that can be done by 'rote' and without heavy equipment...

Tea, coffee, juice, water, muffins, other snacks provided.

Opportunities for confession and reconciliation.

Eucharist (Communion) service to close the day.

R.S.V.P. to St. Cyprian's Anglican Church 

P.S. Some of you have been inquiring after Pookie -- so here's a (somewhat blurry) photo of her at 6 months (or there-abouts), resting (briefly) on one of her current favourite places -- a tote full of sock knitting:

Can't you tell she's plotting her next move?!