Give me a Needle

No updates!

2010-09-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

There is a reason why this blog has been so quiet. For the last 2 years, I have been working on my knitting and quilting stash. I have done a little cross stitch and finished a few projects I'd like to post photos of, but I have mainly been on a two-needle diet:)

2009-01-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I am going to do this sampler in one single piece, or take each section alone. At this time I am leaning more towards doing each design singly. With all these large projects that I will be working on, I know I will need some smaller ones to get a sense of completions. They will also fit a bit better on my sampler wall than another large sampler.

If I do them singly, I am sure I am going to start with the lovely woman in the pink dress. She appeals to me so much! I just love the simplicity of the design and the candid expression on her face. She puts me in touch with all the young women who worked on their own designs and drew the world as they saw it. She also reminds me of my favorite kind of doll...the china head dolls with the painted black hair. I have several in my collection, two made by a 95 year old Mennonite woman that I came to know and love, Cornelia Heatwole. She was living at the Eastern Mennonite home outside Harrisonburg, VA. The home had a craft sale and I bought one of the dolls she had in the sale for $18. She had painted and fired the head, hands and feet and then dressed the doll in a Mennonite style dress. I wanted to have some more dolls made for a cousin and a niece, so I went by the home to make the arrangements. She was a charming person and I loved visiting her. Her dolls were well received and I ended up getting several more and each time I learned more and more about her and her world.

She came into my life during a time of intense spiritual confusion and she contributed to my growth in so many ways. I found myself stopping off to visit her even when I wasn't ordering or picking up a doll. God sent this woman to me during a time of great need and I would not be the person I am today without her wisdom and nurturing. Looking at this lady in pink reminds me of Miss Cornelia and of that cross roads in my life. My relationship with her reminds me of Hebrews 13: 2 "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." In so many ways, she was and "angel unaware" to me.

Another Project for this year

2009-01-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

I started JCS a few years ago and like to get it out from time to time to work a motif, so I've put it on my this year's stitching also. It's a beautiful sampler and I wish I knew more about the young woman who did it. Reproduction samplers have tremendous appeal to me. They are a real connection to a person who actually lived and formed the same stitches that I am doing as I work on the sampler. JCS could not possibly have dreamed that in 200 or so years, someone would chart her work and that hundreds of people in a time period she couldn't imagine would be following her stitches to display on the walls of their own homes.

More 2009 Stitching

2009-01-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

What fun it is to select cross stitch projects for the year! I am not sure why, but there is no doubt that the planning, kitting, and starting feels like opening a Christmas present. I've had the chart for Many Mansions for about 20 years, but just started it a couple of years ago. I've done it on an oatmeal Aida 16 ct. I really prefer linen, but there are times when I need a low light project and the Aida is just right.

(OT: philosophy alert )I have always loved this verse from the Bible. I don't know what heaven will be like, but the Bible tells us that we are made for Heaven, so it will suit us perfectly. [The Bible also tells us that if we believe that Christ died for our sins and accept him into our hearts, we know we will be with Him in Heaven. I add that caveat because I don't want people to think I am being over confident when I say that I know I will go to Heaven.]

So what is this needleworker's idea of heaven? Well, first, it will be like...Heaven! No more newspapers articles about 12 year old boys forced to be soldiers, no children being abused, no Middle East crisis, or terrorists...none of those things that make our planet a horror. Second, we will be with the God who loves us unconditionally and fills every self-doubting corner of our hearts with love. It will be like living with a perfect lover whom we are able to worship with every fiber of our being. We were made for this relationship with God and it will be far more wonderful than anything we can imagine.

Fourth, which gets it's own paragraph, is the ramblings of my imagination. When I see a beautiful photograph of some place on this earth that I will never get to, I console myself with the idea that I will have eternity to see every inch of this awesome world. I have the idea that God is not going to just scrap this planet when we have reached the brink of destruction. I like to think that it will be there for us to explore forever. We'll get to see the fantastic creations of God which only He sees now; things like beautiful sea shells that lie on the bottom of the ocean, lovely alpine meadows of wild flowers that live and die beyond the eyes of humans and my favorite image from poetry, "a host of golden daffodils." And, then, there will be the needlework projects that I can't manage to do in my lifetime. When I leave a beautiful chart in the rack at my favorites LNS, I console myself with the idea that I have all eternity to stitch to my heart's content; and maybe in Heaven, needles won't get lost and specialty fibers won't slither off my needle or fray.

Whatever Heaven really is, I know that it will fill the longings of my heart in every way. I know I am made for Heaven and it will be a perfect fit, so I content myself with the knowledge that if needlework is not part of Heaven, the longings in my heart when I see a new chart and the joy of stitching that I feel now will be filled with pleasures that go beyond the joy that stitching brings to me now.

Another New Year

2009-01-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't gotten as much done on my samplers as I wanted, but I am moved into my new house! I have a lovely little downstairs with room for 2 guest chairs, a tiny kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It's just right for me and I am surrounded by my bookcases full of craft books with projects just calling to me. I also have a lovely craft room upstairs and, while it is now quite jumbled, it will be wonderful when I have everything sorted out.

Downsizing is difficult, but I'm finding that it is satisfying. I'm working on old projects that I lost interest in and I'm seeing just how much stuff I really have. I challenged myself to not buy any new fabric, yarn or cross-stitch this past year except sock yarn and I actually have pretty much stuck to it. I allowed myself a "get out of jail free" card for one big blowout, but I didn't take it. I bought some fabric when I won a contest at a quilt shop...just to buy enough to not have to pay postage, but that wasn't too bad.

I am almost finished with the Meinen Sampler and should have it done by the end of the month. I am also just about finished with the Christmas Sampler, so I should have it done by the end of the month too! Yeah! Now I am savoring the prospect of starting something new. I still have my Dutch sampler and that now goes to the top of the list and I enjoy the Many Mansions that I have on an oatmeal Aida. I try to keep at least one Aida project on hand for low light situations. I have the border done on that. I'll also be working on Celle, but it's a little too much to think that I will get that finished by the end of the year too...still it would be nice.

I have Celle on tap again for this year's sampler stitching. I am at a hard place right now and will need some uninterrupted time to work on it. It would be wonderful if I could get this one done this year also. I will have time when I house sit for my sister, so maybe I can get that motif done.

Teaching little ones

2009-01-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

Today I taught my 6 year old granddaughter, Eli, to needlepoint. She is a natural at it and did really well. After dinner, I watched her pick up her needlework while we watched a movie...something that she has seen her grandmother, aunts and great grandmother do countless times. It was just as natural as curling up with the dog. What a wonderful legacy we have from a long list of needlewomen stretching back in time.

We were talking about the subject over Christmas vacation and teasing my 88 year old dad at all the time he has wasted and trying to calculate how many afghans he could have made with all the time spent riding in a car, watching TV or waiting in a doctor's office. Why is it that it is usually women to seek to use up all those bits of time which would be wasted...or nonproductive at the very least? I hardly ever see the women of my family just sitting and talking. As soon as we sink down into a chair, our hands go automatically to the knitting bag, or other project bag.

There is such a drive in me to use my time twice, or even three times if I can. As I write this, I have a sweater for Eli sitting next to the computer. When I can't figure out what I want to say, I grab the needles and think. When I go to read my post to check for mistakes, I automatically pick up my needles. Why? Before Christmas, my mom said arthritis was bothering her hands and the first thing I asked was. "Is your Christmas knitting done?" I knew if it wasn't done, she was going to be feeling really anxious along with being in pain.

Don't misunderstand; I am not a type A personality who is rushing to get ahead. I just don't like letting one of my senses dangle when I could be using it. So, Eli is doing needlepoint and that means Addie will soon be doing it too. Addie also got knitting needles and yarn for Christmas, so that means knitting lessons are going to be part of her homeschool day also. They are the next generations to take up the needles and carry on a long tradition.

A Gift of Memories

2008-09-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

I've been searching for something to give to my 20 year old step grandson. He came into our family when he was 12 and he is dear to my heart. He's moved away to his first apartment and I wanted to give him something for a house warming present that would say to him that he's as much my grandson as the ones I share genes with.

I gave him my "Old Fisherman." I worked on that picture for about 4 years. Just about everyone who knew me at that time saw it because I carried it everywhere. I loved working on it and locking in memories of our daily life...the life that John was not a part of at the time. I loved that piece; I still do, but it was what I needed to give to John. It was like giving him the memories of our family that he didn't have. Now I just have to find the words to tell that to him!

A Different Perspective on Homeschooling and Stitching

2008-08-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

A while back I wrote about how homeschooling would take away a lot of hours I like to spend on my various needlework projects, but then I had a different thought. In Germany, boys and girls are taught to knit in 4th grade. It's something that should be passed down to all our children. My Father-in-law told me about how the old fishermen used to sit around mending nets, or making new ones. He showed me how to do it and it is just like Macrame.

Since we homeschool, we have the option of making a curriculum that fits our kids and I'm going to set aside some time each week to pass on a tradition. I won't be able to do it right away, but I will try to work it in.

Celle and Memories

2008-07-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

In years to come, when I look at this sampler, I will think about the long conversations I had with my mother and dad while working on this sampler. Since they are 88 and 84, I really treasure this time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I stitch in memories when I do my needlework. I can look around my house at my needlework and remember when and where I stitched so many pieces. I see my son as a toddler when I look at a crewel surrounded mirror. When I see my flower thread sampler, I think of the yearly trip to the Peaks of Otter in Virginia. My needlework charts my children's growing up years and when I go to the houses of some of my friends and relatives, I see the pieces I have done for them and remember that time again.

When I look at Celle, I will remember this vacation and the time I spent with my granddaughter, Eli (Elizabeth Anne), sitting on the porch watching the birds, and the time I spent talking to my folks. I'll also remember the genealogy side trip to Boonsboro, MD where I saw the same mountains and hills my ancestors knew, and the time I spent with one of my favorite cousins when I researched my Hawn family in PA. In every stitch, I think there is a memory.

I also stopped in Charleston on my way back home and saw the Southern Girlhood exhibit there. It was fantastic and being alone, I could spend as much time as I liked viewing it. I went back and forth between the samplers and a nice little bench out front where there was an antiques magazine on the exhibit. Of course, I would love to have had someone to "ooh and ahh" with, but only a sampler lover would have wanted to take the time I took reading each description and looking over each sampler thoroughly.

Free Rice and my Vocabulary

2008-01-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

FREE RICE

What fun! This is a wonderful website. You improve your vocabulary while contributing free rice to the world's poor. Not only is a fun, but the vocabulary words chosen are linked to your score, so they are always appropriate for you. If you miss a fairly easy word, you are given more words at that level so you are never overwhelmed.

Why am I not finished?

2008-01-21T09:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I've stitched and stitched last year, so why aren't my favorite projects finished? If I had an answer to that, I'd think I won the lottery. Yes, I've stitched, but it seems like my favorite projects have had to take a back seat to the projects I made for others. Why, oh why, haven't I taken photos of them? If I did, I could look at this list and feel like I have accomplished something even if I didn't meet my goals.

So, my New Year's resolution is to take a photo of everything I stitch, no matter how small. I wonder how long it will take me to slip up on that one? Still, if I make a resolution, I will be more apt to do it eventually rather than not at all. I am also going to resolve that one of these projects gets done this year. My best bet is "Grandma Meinen" so that is going to be my target. I also need to get some Christmas ornaments done. A good friend is stitching with me and she is also doing Christmas ornaments so we can keep each other on track. Anyone else is free to join us.

Stitching by candle light

2007-11-05T22:05:00.000-08:00

In homeschool, we did something very different. I had kits for the kids to make felt animal toys. They were shaped as a ginger bread boy and a frog. The kids had to thread the needle and stitch in the small holes already provided and then stitch back the other way. The trick was that we were doing this as pioneers. As soon as the weather was cool enough to make a fire, I had their dad build one and we got 2 candles. The kids and I sat in the very subdued light and talked and sewed. They learned how it felt for our ancestors when there was no electricity. There were some unexpected dividends too. We all realized that all the family members would be sitting around the fire together and talking while they worked on their various tasks. Harnesses needed fixing, and tools needed sharpening, so Dad and the boys had things they needed to do also. Sometimes it would be a piece of whittling to make a whistle for the little ones. Mom would need to knit clothes to keep the family warm over the winter and the girls would also be assigned knitting tasks. The family would be together, talking about this and that and spending time together. Our lives today fling our families apart...to different rooms and different states. We learned to cherish our time together.

New cross sitch project

2007-07-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

My sister has returned from Alaska and she brought a some neat cross-stitch patterns she got in Anchorage. She's asked me to do one of a Sea Otter for her Christmas present. That's like getting two presents (for me). I get to stitch a great piece and I check her off my Christmas list. I like this! It is a darling design, but I can see that it has a lot of floss that is of a similar color. I'll have to hope for good weather so I can stitch in natural light. I've found that even the new Ott lights don't work as well as being outside, although they are a vast improvement.

We picked her garden and my daughter-in-law's and managed to get a lot of tomatoes, so we spent all day putting up stewed tomatoes, chili and salsa. It was so nice to spend the day working together and just visiting. I feel such a kinship with the women of the past. Our modern world doesn't make room for a lot of the ties that sustained our grandmothers.

She also brought me some wonderful hand dyed wool for making socks. This has been the focus of this year's knitting goals. I wanted to master all the skills you need to make socks and the only way I could figure to do it was to just makes socks and more socks until I was totally comfortable making them. A friend of my mother's taught me an easy way to graft the toes of the socks and that was a real key. That's the hardest part of making socks, at least for me it is. My sister also got some sock yarn for herself too and wanted me to show her how to make them. There's another thing that hearkens back to an earlier time...in two ways. First, women handing down traditional crafts and second, spending time together. When you add that to how hand knit socks feel, you can see why they are so popular.

Drought

2007-06-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

This peaceful stitching vacation is turning out to be more like going to one of those weight-loss camps where they keep you so busy exercising, you don't have time to eat! Virgina is having one of the worst droughts in many years. Actually, I began to see signs of it as soon as I crossed the Florida/Georgia line on my trip up here. The crops are in a pitiful state and it made me feel like crying.

My sister has a lot of plants in her several acre yard and a large garden also. I'm spending most of my days lugging hoses and sprinklers from place to place, hoping that the plants I watered in the morning can survive until it's their turn for water the next day. I feel like I do triage every morning and then head out to treat the most severely wounded all day long. I've never seen such drought. In the evening I hear thunder rumbling in the area and I see dark clouds gathering, but I have yet to see where it rained. I check with my daughter-in-law who lives nearby to see if they got the rain, but they haven't gotten a drop. It isn't the kind of rain that does much good anyway...just a few minutes of downpour and then the steam evaporates before your very eyes. Still, I'd love to have even that little bit of rain.

The garden is struggling along, and I am picking it and canning and freezing what I can, but it isn't much. We have had tomatoes and beans, so I am getting them put up, but there should be three times as much. Last year I had wonderful meals of veggies that came right from the garden to the plate. It has caused me to think of our ancestors who had to live almost totally from what they had grown. I guess I never thought of what a disaster is was to have a season of drought. I shouldn't complain.

So, I haven't had the time to stitch like I wanted. It's also hotter than blue blazes outside, so sitting on the porch isn't as inviting as it was last year. I spoke to someone at the grocery store and she said it was 106 in her back yard. That is beyond miserable. I have managed to do a lot of quilting in the air conditioned house though. I started a wonderful quilt for my granddaughter made from multiple shades of pink which she will love. I also cut out several quilts so I could have them ready when I went home. I shouldn't complain.

Stitching on vacation

2007-06-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I have sat down with Celle and done any work. I'm house sitting at my sister's again and thoroughly enjoying the time to sit on the porch with my books on tape and stitching in hand. I've done very little in these past few months because of homeschooling. I used to grumble about some of the text books I used to have to use, but I am seeing that creating your own material has some disadvantages too...mainly the time it takes.

My time is divided this vacation. I have a lot of quilting that I have to get done and I won't have the time to focus solely on my stitching. Still, it feels good to be working on any of the various needlework crafts that I enjoy.

A New Leaf

2007-04-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Spring is the time of new beginnings and this should be a good time to switch projects. I have worked very hard on Celle and it is now time to work on my other samplers. Since I will be going to Virginia to visit my parents, and house sit again for my sister, I am going to work on the Meinen Sampler. It is in honor of my mother's grandmother and it will be nice to stitch in some memories while we are chatting. This is one that is close to finishing, so I hope I can get it done while I am there.

That means adding some photos, both of Celle which I am thinking about retiring, and Meinen Sampler which is now active. I find it so interesting that I can be tired of a project and have no motivation to work on it and then 6 months later, I just can't wait to get back to it. I'll do a l.ittle more on Celle and then let it rest a while

Homeschooling and stitching

2007-01-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

My daughter and I have decided to start homeschooling her son, Jacob. For many, many reasons, we are unhappy with his school situation. The biggest is that Florida has the FCAT and the teachers are having to teach to the test at the expense of true learning. Add that to the fact that the school has been in lockdown twice this year, first when a man committed murder and suicide and second when the police were chasing a criminal. The latter just as the parents were picking up the kids. This school is in a nice neighborhood in a small town and yet, we can't feel like we are sending our children to school in safety. Add that to the wonderful results relatives have had, and the fact that the last regular grade I taught was 5th grade and it tipped the scale in the direction of homeschooling.

This however is going to really put a crimp in my stitching. There are the lesson plans, correcting papers and gathering material that I'll be doing in the evening plus the actual teaching time. I foresee much fewer hours available to stitch. Isn't a shame that life gets in the way of stitching?

July Stitching - on vacation

2006-07-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

In years to come, when I look at this sampler, I will think about the long conversations I had with my mother and dad while working on this sampler. Since they are 86 and 82, I really treasure this time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I stitch in memories when I do my needlework. I can look around my house at my needlework and remember when and where I stitched so many pieces. I see my son as a toddler when I look at a crewel surrounded mirror. When I see my flower thread sampler, I think of the yearly trip to the Peaks of Otter in Virginia. My needlework charts my children's growing up years and when I go to the houses of some of my friends and relatives, I see the pieces I have done for them and remember that time again.

When I look at Celle, I will remember this vacation and the time I spent with my granddaughter, Eli (Elizabeth Anne), sitting on the porch watching the birds, and the time I spent talking to my folks. I'll also remember the genealogy side trip to Boonsboro, MD where I saw the same mountains and hills my ancestors knew, and the time I spent with one of my favorite cousins when I researched my Hawn family in PA. In every stitch, I think there is a memory.

I also stopped in Charleston on my way back home and saw the Southern Girlhood exhibit there. It was fantastic and being alone, I could spend as much time as I liked viewing it. I went back and forth between the samplers and a nice little bench out front where there was an antiques magazine on the exhibit. Of course, I would love to have had someone to "ooh and ahh" with, but only a sampler lover would have wanted to take the time I took reading each description and looking over each sampler thoroughly.

June Stitching

2006-07-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

House sitting for my sister in rural Virginia provided lots of opportunity to stitch and I got a lot accomplished. My sister has dozens of plants and hanging baskets on her wide wrap-around porches and a porch and yard full of bird feeders. I got books on tape from her library and sat on the porch watching the birds and stitching. Doesn't that sound like heaven? She also has a large flower garden with a goldfish pond and waterfall, benches and ornamental trees and a food garden as well. It's idyllic, but takes a lot of care, hence the house-sitting.

I also got my granddaughter, Eli, 4, and brought her over to make doll clothes and have a picnic on the porch. She enjoyed watching the little hummingbird defend his feeder from his "wife" and "children." He was so selfish, she thought he needed to go to "time-out"! Hummingbirds will share their feeders during the courtship and nesting, but once those hatchlings fledge, it's every man for himself! We enjoyed seeing the fledglings hiding in the bushes and attempting to sneak a sip of nectar.

Just as hummingbirds are more aggressive than I ever imagined, we also saw 2 bluebirds dive bombing squirrels at a feeder. What a shock! I had no idea they could be so aggressive either. Since they don't really use the feeder much, we figured that they must have a nest near; probably in the tree above the feeder.

There was even more raw nature to hear about when Mary Beth and Bobby returned. They have a screech owl box with a tiny camera in it and we have enjoyed seeing the owls care for the little babies, but one night an owl got a cardinal that was feeding on one of the feeders. Bobby checked the owl-cam and sure enough the owls were feeding the cardinal to the babies.

Meinen Sampler for May

2006-05-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

I finally have all the siblings names done and am starting the border across the bottom. I didn't work on the sampler as much as I usually would since I was also doing Matter's Choice for a local needlework shop, but I am looking forward to doing more work in Virginia while housesitting for my sister. You can click on the picture for a better view of how the names turned out.

The more I work on this, the more enthused I get. Along with stitching and finding out historical details, I find that I am searching my own mind for memories of Grandma Meinen. I was 9 when she died, but I do remember her. On one visit, we drove up a country road to the house and I remember that she was out in her garden weeding, pinching back plants and picking radishes. She grew the long white icicle radishes. What an odd thing to remember! Still, it tells me something about her. My sister was a baby, so she must have been in her late 70's. She was still hard at work even then. By that time, Uncle Gib was doing the farming, so she didn't have that responsibility, but I am sure there still was plenty to do.

I think this was the same visit when we kids had a wonderful time climbing to the top of a huge haystack and rolling and tumbling down it. It seemed to me to be far better than playground equipment! Life on a farm seemed like the most wonderful thing but, like so many other things, the reality was a lot less enchanting. I can only imagine how much work there was to do.

Celle 1826 stitch-a-long May

2006-05-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

It's stitch-a-long time again and this is where I am starting for this month's stitching. Since I am leaving for Virginia on June 2, I'm not going to get a lot done before June 1, but I will have time in Virginia to stitch, so I'm not worried. Having my stitch-a-long group really helps though. I probably wouldn't make up for lost time this month without it. Hopefully I can get another motif done this month.

The latest on the Meinen Sampler

2006-05-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I've done some more on my Meinen Sampler and have gotten the middle names of all of my grandmother's siblings. Two of them had names that were very short and just happened to be born in a very short month, May, so I wanted to even out the lines.

In the process I found out that my great-grandmother kept a diary and that my Great Aunt Henrietta, who is 93, has it. That was a big surprise. I'd planned on getting more information on her, but never dreamed there was a diary. I'm going up to Virginia next week and my mother and I will put our heads together and see if we can find out more information. I'm getting so excited about this project. I only started out with a sampler, but I am getting more and more interested in her life. I'm hoping that I can get my mom to go with me to visit an aunt who spent a lot of time with Grandma Meinen when she was a child. More on this later.

Celle Blog Promises

2006-05-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

(many thanks to fodey.com for this wonderful newspaper idea.)

Celle 1826 stitch-a-long

2006-04-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

I made a lot of progress on my Celle SAL. I started each motif on the left side so that I can pick my work up and find an area that is suitable for my stitching opportunities. There are easy motifs to do when chatting with a friend or watching TV and harder ones to take advantage of time when there are no distractions. I find it so much easier to work this way. We do this SAL on the last day of the month and the first 2 days of the next. As can be seen from the dates on the photos, I kept on working until April 8th. I just had to get to the motif with a tiny bit of wine color which really perks the sampler up. It is amazing that such a little bit of color can make so much difference.

Progress on Meinen Sampler

2006-04-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have been stitching up a storm lately. It is so beautiful out on the upstairs porch and I find it compelling. I know that heat and humidity will soon strike Amelia Island Florida and I will be inside forever grateful to the inventor of air conditioning, so I am feeling only a little guilty for being so trifling.

It may be hard to see on these pictures, but the fabric is actually a color called platinum, a very light warm beige gray. It is similar to the tan of this blog. It is a beautiful shade and works well with these colors. I am working on the large lawn area around the cottage which contains numerous odd animals. It is hard to put it down when one of them is emerging.

I'm also finding more about my great-grandmother...clues to the person she was. Mother said that she alwas greeted them saying, "Wie gehts." (I hope I have spelled that correctly.) When she left, she always said, "I go now." This is an important clue because her parents were from Belgium, a country with three languages, French, German & Dutch. Her father's name was Pierre, but he was also called Peter. She may have spoken some French, but this indicates that German was her native language.

Great Grandma Meinen

2006-02-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

I need another sampler to work on this year about as much as I need a 6th toe, but the creative juices got going and I just had to get this done. It has been floating around in my brain for a long time now and suddenly, it was just like labor pains. I just had to give it birth. You can double click on the picture to get a larger size and then click in the bottom right to get it big enough to see my wierd animals. I just was looking at a sampler book and they followed me home.

This is the story of my Great Grandmother, Anna Marie Stoffel. She was born August 24, 1873 in Tilden, WI. Her father was born in Barnich, Belgium and her mother was born in Toernich, Belgium, but both of those towns are now in Luxembourg. They immigrated to Wisconsin in 1868. It was a rough land then. While I was doing the genealogy, I realized that Grandma's mother had made that long voyage with 6 children ages 2 to 12. She got off the ship on August 10, 1868 and took a train to Eau Claire, WI and then made the 30 or so miles to Tilden by wagon. Twenty-five days later, she gave birth to her 7th child!

Grandma Meinen came from strong stock and she would need it. Her husband, Peter Meinen died March 13, 1918 at the age of 47. Grandma was 44 and her youngest child was 6. Her only son, Gib, was 11. We don't think much about whether we have sons or daughters, but for a farming family it was critical. Fathers looked at each son as potential helper on the family farm. Land was cheap, but a successful farm took a lot of work. Daughters could help some, but not the way strong sturdy sons could. There were six daughters in the family before a son came along and Peter died before Uncle Gib was ready to take over. It all fell to Grandma Meinen, her older daughters and a hired man.

Just to work the farm was difficult, but in the late twenties, things began to get hard for the farmers. Rains didn't come when needed and prices skyrocketed. Things began to get out of control and then came the Black Friday when the bottom fell out. A lot of farmers had borrowed money when the crops were bad and they couldn't grow enough feed for their cattle. Their ancestors had cleared the land and poured their lives into it, but many of their descendants couldn't hold on. Many men lost their farms or sold out for a fraction of the value.

How did a woman with 7 daughters and 1 son make it on that farm? I don't know, but I am sure that it wasn't easy. It took determination and hard work. My mother told me about her story when I was doing some genealogy and I kept thinking that the story shouldn't die. I remember Grandma Meinen, but I was 9 when she died at the age of 80, so I didn't know her well. She raised a family who loved and supported each other and they were always close. They all raised fine families or their own. What a legacy!

I wanted to make this sampler to celebrate her life. I used a border I found in a French sampler book to represent her French Belgian ancestry. The scene at the bottom is a combination of French & German as was her family. I listed all her children, one of whom, Henrietta, is still alive and well at 93. The house looks like the houses found in the Belgian countryside and the animals don't look like anything I've ever seen, but they are charming. I couldn't find a nice flying bird, so I perched a blue bird on the chimney. He is way too big, but I couldn't seem to get him to leave.

I'm not sure I am finished with this sampler yet, so if anyone has any great ideas, feel free to speak up. I'll probably change it when I start to stitch. I am toying with the idea of doing it on 32 ct. Dirty Linen, but I'll have to see how it looks. The original idea was from a sampler made in 1905 in Wisconsin or Michigan, but I have changed it so much only the skeleton of the idea survives.

There are so many people in my ancestry that I'd like to celebrate. Someday I hope to have my sampler wall full of them...along with my 6 Permin Dutch/German samplers, And they Sinned, Dutch Beauty, all the samplers I have marked in Fine Lines and SANQ and about 50 more! If there was only enough time.

Workshop with Lorraine Mootz

2006-01-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

What a great time we had this weekend! Lorraine Mootz came to the Azalea House Sampler Guild. Jill arranged to have Lorraine come to the Azalea House and give us a wonderful slideshow and lecture on her great collection of needlework tools. What a fount of information she is! In the afternoon we worked on an exquisite kit she designed for us from a needlebook in her collection. I can't wait to get mine done and use it for my new favorite John James petite needles. Years ago needles were very precious and well cared for. I like my little needles so well and I can't get them locally so I kind of know the feeling.

Several of us stayed the night at the Azalea House Bed & Breakfast and had the opportunity to have dinner with Lorraine and catch up on her busy life and hear about some of her work at the Celle Museum in Germany. I'd love to see her collection of samplers and tools and I have long planned to go to Celle with a German friend of mine and now I have another reason to put that trip at the top of my list.

Lorraine graciously gave me a consult on my Dutch sampler. I had been concerned about the church and it was so great to be able to talk to someone who has so much experience. I feel better about it now and happy that my instinct was right.

I also made some changes on my sampler again. I'm wondering if I'll ever be satisfied. A little problem with Caleb and Joshua bothered me, so I finally frogged it and changed them. Now their faces are a little more distinct and I moved the whole works up a little. I should have changed it when I first noticed it. It just kept nagging at me. I feel like I have to offer my very best for my 9th great grandparents...gee, I hope they were nice people!

I also added a cute little Weather Pixie to the blog. She tells me how to dress for the weather. She's so cute, I decided to put on another one to show me the weather in Virginia where most of my family is. Click on the pixie if you want to see your weather.

Staats Sampler - Progress

2006-01-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

The designing process goes on. I've made some more changes. I knew it would be this way and I enjoy the freedom I have to change things around. I'm stitching down the left side and I decided the deer didn't stand out enough from the fencing, so I frogged what I had and made him a shade darker. I am pleased with the results.

I lined up the motifs with the border and HORRORS! I was off by a row and the mistake was in the very first motif. The little bird's neck is two rows long and I only put one. What to do? Well, it's my sampler, so I just deleted a line. I'm using PCStitch Pro to do the graphing and it wasn't very hard. I did have to juggle the motifs a little bit to move them into position without catching the motifs to the right of them, but it wasn't hard...the wonders of technology! I remember back when I charted everything by hand. I'd be trying to remember that my count was off as I started each motif.

It's going faster than I thought it would. Part of it is the size of the motifs. Most are the perfect size for an evening or two and it's hard to put it away when I am almost finished. I just have to see how the finished motif will look, so I've spent some late nights.

I'm going to a mini sampler retreat in Palatka, FL. It is our regular sampler guild meeting which is held at the Azalea House B & B. A few of us are going down the day before to get some extra stitching in. Lori Mootz is giving a needlebook class and she is also doing a slide show for our workshop. It should be a great class and lots of extra stitching too.

Aftermath of Christmas and New Years

2006-01-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas and New Years are over. All of the memories of 2005 are created and can never be changed. Each of my projects brings back the memories stored while I was working on them. When psychologists talk about memories, they say that odors bring back our strongest memories, but for me, it is my handwork. I have a crewel mirror I made when my son was a toddler. He's 38 now, but when I look at the picture, I see two little areas at the very top that I forgot to stitch because he managed to disappear while I and 7 friends were watching him. He was a little Houdini and he could disappear right before our eyes. I was checking the embroidery for errors or undone areas and I put it down to go and corral him. When I picked it back up I thought I had finished checking it and didn't catch the omission for about 10 years. Looking at the mirror brings back memories of a little blond head ducking around the corner of the townhouses.

After Christmas shopping was great as far as my samplers went. Mom & I went to Richmond, Fredericksburg and Williamsburg. Of course, we went to yarn shops and cross stitch shops. I went in one for some linen for my Christmas Sampler and on the sale table were back copies of "Fine Lines." If you are not familiar with it, it is a historical sampler guild. They were 75% off and I got 7, all they had. What a wonderful surprise! I took the magazine for several years, but then stopped when I started a couple of knitting magazines. These cover almost all the issues I've missed at a fraction of their cost. Now I just have to see if I can get the 2 or 3 between the time I quit and when these issues pick up. I really miss the magazine, but I'm downsizing and space is becoming a problem. Fortunately, they are small and don't take up much space.

Samplers for 2006 continued

2005-12-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

This is the other sampler I will work on in 2006. It's charted by Permin and I got it from Wyndham which is where I got Zeeland. I really like the Permin samplers, especially the ones from the Celle Museum. This one is a Quaker design and I though it would help to round out my collection. It has the added advantage of traveling well. It only has 2 colors so it fits well in my organizer and I don't have to carry a whole bunch of floss minders with me.

I have a nice little rotation chart with 1 hour segments on it. I plan to work on each sampler for 10 hours and then it is on to the next one. The rotation chart wasn't my original idea, but the chart I made on an excel spreadsheet and I would gladly share it with anyone. Just email me at hawnsmith@comcast.net and I'll send it. It has really made my stitching life easier. I have several projects where I have stalled and using the chart has helped. I really don't like doing Queen's stitch and it helps to know that I only have to do them for 10 hours and then I can get on to something I like better.

Samplers for 2006

2005-12-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

I've chosen 2 other samplers to work on this coming year. This one is from Holland and I loved the bright colors. So many of the samplers I have made are in very subtle colors and, while I actually prefer the old muted look, I also felt I needed some variety so I chose this one. I had to really watch myself as I pulled the floss for it though. I was so tempted to tone down the colors which defeats the purpose.

Dutch Sampler Changes

2005-12-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my design and right away I made a change. I had some Blue Spruce floss from Weeks Dye Works and I thought it would be great on the border. The color doesn't change very much, but there is more life in it than the regular floss, especially on such a long uncomplicated border. I like the overdyed floss if the colors are very similar, so I cut the floss long and doubled it. I made a new picture of the pattern, but the change is very subtle. I am thinking about another color for the little flowers in the border also, but this will mean an online trip to my LNS.

Elizabeth McCartney Sampler

2005-12-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

This will be my Christmas season sampler for this year and maybe many to come. I like to have something in keeping with the season to work on, so I took the Elizabeth McCartney Sampler by McIntosh Samplers and changed the colors, verse and part of the design to fit the season. This is not my original work nor a reproduction. I guess you'd call it a hybrid. Unfortunately this picture makes it look as if the lettering is done in pink, but the color is actually 498, a deep red. This is what the original looks like:

Sampler Challenge

2005-11-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

One of my sampler groups is starting a challenge. We have to sew at least one stitch on January 1 and report our progress. Some are starting more than one sampler. What shall I start?

The first is simple. I want to start the Dutch sampler I designed for my ancestors, Elizabeth Gelderner and Adam Staats who were married August 28, 1744 in New York. They started the States family in America. I am not sure if they were born in Holland or in New York. Maybe I can find out by the time I finish the sampler.

I don't know anything about their lives, but I can do some more research on the early New Amsterdam/New York families to get an idea. People often think that genealogy is a dull and dry hobby, and if you are just in the business of gathering names, I guess it is, but people now are more interested in genealogy as family history and in that, it is dynamic and challenging.

I designed this sampler using a book of Dutch sampler motifs of the time by Albarta Meulenbelt-Nieuwburg. Most of the motifs were found in samplers from the era although I didn't limit them to only the narrow time period when Elizabeth would have been a young girl doing samplers. I was more interested in the balance of size and color than the right dates. I don't really know when Elizabeth was born, but it was probably between 1722 and 1730 based on the date of her marriage.

This Too Shall Pass

2005-10-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

I belong to a group called Katrina's Stitchers. We are going through our stash of needlework projects to share with some of our sister and brother stitchers who lost everything in the recent hurricanes. I wanted to add something that meant a lot to me during a very tough time in my life. It was just a simple verse from the Bible, but as so often happens, it was what I held onto like a life raft. During that time, I cross-stitched the verse, "This too shall pass." I put it in my bedroom where I could see it every day. It kept my mind on something I believed with all my heart; that God was with me and that He knew what was going on. He would give me the strength to overcome whatever He allowed in my life.

Eventually, I did make it through that dark night of the soul. I came through it a wiser and better person with strength that I never imagined I had. The verse remained on my wall until I had a very dear friend who was going through her own difficult journey. I wrapped up the framed verse and gave it to her. I told her how it helped me and asked her to keep it as long as she needed it and to pass it on to someone else in difficulty. I don't know where that picture is now, but my prayers are with whomever needs it.

When I saw all the devastation that the hurricanes wrought I responded like many Americans. I sent a donation to the Salvation Army and then pondered what else I could do. I live on a barrier island, so I felt a kinship with my fellow stitchers. On one of my online needlework groups someone suggested sending some of our stash to stitchers who had lost everything. (See my earlier blog.) I wanted to share the verse that had meant so much to me, so I designed something similar to what I had years ago, but I made it look more like New Orleans. I used PCStitch and incorporated some of the lovely wrought iron work on the balconies in the old part of the city and some of the flavor of New Orleans. The pictures are of 3 designs I plan to use and share with my fellow stitchers on Katrina’s Stitchers.

This Too Shall Pass with Cross

2005-10-02T00:28:00.000-07:00

This is the real source of strength. I don't know why God allows such devastation or personal tragedy's, but I know that He hurts with us and that He will make something good come out of it. The world is full of heartache and is governed by natural laws. Sometimes He does intervene with what we call a miracle, but there are times when He doesn't and I guess we just have to accept that. I know He has always been there when I have needed Him and I have seen Him hold up so many people through every sort of trial and tragedy.

More: This Too Shall Pass

2005-10-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

This design reminds me of the church on the square downtown.

Stitcher's stash and Katrina

2005-09-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

I belong to a stitcher's group that is trying to get together stitching supplies for Katrina victims. We want to help our fellow stitchers build their "stash" again. Someone objected to the idea, saying that it was in poor taste and that hurricane victims didn't care about their supplies and that they were only concerned about the necessities of life.

I have to disagree about a stitcher's stash not being important to restore. When I evacuated from Floyd, I took my collection of all the DMC floss and my favorite projects. I knew they would be important to my personal recovery. Of course, people need food and shelter most, but they also need things that sweeten their lives. For most of us, stitching in any form helps us to sort out the problems of the day and keeps us sane. You might say it is our "blanky." Our stash looks forward to a future and people who have lost everything need to look toward a future that isn't bare bones necessity. They have to know that life will be normal again.

If we were the Red Cross, it would be stupid to collect stitching supplies. Organizations such as that deal in absolute necessity, but we are stitchers and we are reaching out to fellow stitchers and telling them that they will get their lives back. Their world is made up of incredible loss and we want them to be able to look forward to planning projects.

I read a book about the great cathedrals and the author said that there was a time when it was thought wrong to pour so much money into cathedrals while there were so many poor in the surrounding areas. In some cases, work was stopped on some cathedrals and, surprisingly, it was the poor who objected the most. Their lives were mired in grinding poverty, but they could always go to their cathedral and be surrounded by incredible beauty. The cathedral was the only beauty they owned. The community gave it's best to the cathedral. It employed generations of craftsmen in the surrounding areas and even those who could not contribute their work took pride in it. It wasn't too long before work on the cathedrals was started again.

Life cannot be just about the practical, even in the earliest stages of recovery. There has to be room for hope. For a stitcher, new projects mean hope. The hurricane victims will have days and days of clean-up. As they sift through the rubble they will be pierced again and again by evidence of destruction and loss. It will all seem hopeless and then someone from our group will come to them and let them pick out what they need for a new project. At the end of a day of hard work and frustration, they will grab the needles and yarn, or cross stitch or needlepoint and just for an hour or so, they will feel normal again. The day won't be all hardtack and beans. They can look forward to more stitching supplies as soon as they have room for them. They can look forward to getting their life back again.

Hurricane Knitting

2005-09-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

I belong to a group called "Hurricane Knitters." Someone wondered if it might be better to change to a name that didn't bring up such bad memories, but most everyone said they wanted to keep the name. I'd wanted to keep it also. It reminds me what a comfort my knitting is to me during times of stress. During the Floyd evacuation and other hurricanes we have ridden out with no power for days and days I did a lot of knitting. I think I have finished a kids sweater for every hurricane. To me, it is something creative coming out of something negative. It also reminds me of all that the Katrina victims have lost. It isn't only the big things like houses and furniture. It's all those little things that make our life uniquely ours.

If I lived near those places where the hurricane victims were staying, I'd bring some of my stash and needles and teach knitting to everyone who wanted to learn. It wouldn't be much, but I know how much it comforts me and for people living in a shelter with nothing to do, it just might make time pass a little easier.

JCS about 1/3 done

2005-04-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the progress I have made. This is really a lot of fun to work. It's easy to see how the stitcher could use the motifs. The bands above Adam and Eve would look good on the placket of a peasant blouse. Adam & Eve are more animated than in most designs & I grew quite fond of them while I was working on the motif.

JCS

2005-04-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

JCS I fell in love with this sampler. It was really meant to be rolled up and kept in a needlework basket. The designs are random and the peacock and Lamb are upside down if Adam & Eve are upright. Band samplers and letters are at right angles to the bottom. I got this one from The Scarlet Letter. It was made in Thuringia in 1707 and is now in the German Sampler Museum in Celle, Germany.

Be Not Weary in Well Doing

2005-04-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

This is a combination of the house sampler and the sample bands a young girl would collect to use as trimming on garments. This could be displayed or rolled up in a sewing basket to use as a pattern. This one is done in Danish Flower Thread and it is still my favorite for samplers. The rounded thread stands up on the linen and gives it a fuller look.

The Dead a Tear

2005-04-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

The verse for this sampler reads: "Absent or Dead Still let A friend be dear A Sigh the absent claim, The Dead a Tear." I made the sampler during a time of mourning for the loss of a family very dear to me who were killed in an airplane crash. Making the sampler helped with the greiving but I am not sure why. I do have some ideas though.

First, I chose this verse from a book of sampler verses by Bolton & Coe. These two ladies went through thousands of samplers and wrote down the verses and where they first appeared. It is one of the best books on samplers that I have seen. You can't really understand the function of samplers in the rearing of young girls unless you read a wide variety of sampler verses. One of the most common threads is the brevity of life. Most of the sampler workers saw death as a constant companion. They were instructed by their mothers or teachers to adapt heavenly values because life could end quickly and it so often did. The sampler verses were designed to instill virtures, or at least make the young needleworker aware of them.

So, why did working on this sampler help me with my grief? The family was what you might call a perfect family. They were living as admirable a life as I think anyone would aspire to. They were good citizens and church leaders. The girls were popular and good students. They had so many friends who loved them dearly and yet, suddenly, they were gone. They were the kind of people that nothing bad should have happened to and the very worst happened. I had to put that into perspective and picking out the verse helped. I read so many verses and saw what a frequent companion death was to our ancestors. The verse seems to accept that friends we hold dear might die. They could also move away and the chances were that they would never be seen again on this earth.

Those early settlers from the Old Country knew that they would probably never see their friends or relatives again and yet they left to make a new life for themselves and their children. This began to put death into perspective for me. We move a great deal these days, but we are only an airplane ride away from anyone we want to see. We can call them on the phone easily and now, with cell phones, we don't even have to know where they are. We can still reach them. guess I thought that people whom I loved should always be available to me. It doesn't always work that way.

As I stitched that sampler, I thought about all these things. In a strange way, I felt a kinship with those young girls whose lives were so touched by sorrow. This world is just a temporary place for us. Ever since this sorrow, I've held my friends and family more dearly. I know they can be gone in an instant. In the stitches of this sampler were thousands of memories of my friends that I will always treasure, and a lesson taught to little girls three centuries ago.

Mourning Sampler - Della Brantner Hawn

2005-02-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

Mourning Sampler in memory of my paternal grandmother Della Brantner Hawn.

Mourning Samplers

2005-02-28T21:29:00.001-08:00

Why did thousands of people, mainly young girls, do mourning samplers in the 1700-1800's? Why do so many of us love them now? I admit that they fascinate me. Some of the verses are terribly morbid, some poetic, all of them filled with pathos.

The picture above is the first mourning sampler I did. I was drawn to it for reasons I don't really understand. I missed my grandmother who had died a few years before I did this sampler. She was an important person to me and she was gone. Life had gone on without her as it always does, but I wanted to bring her along. Somehow working on this sampler and hanging it on my wall was a way of making a part of our lives. There was a link that people could see between a previous generation and me.

Working on it also brought me closer to my feelings about the loss of my grandmother. I was afraid of death. I couldn't stand the thought of it and avoided even the discussion of it. When my grandmother was dying, I told myself that she had lived a long and full life. She had stayed in her home until the month she died. I had seen her recently and had a good visit. I had been there when she was in the hospital and said my good-bys. It wasn't going to get any easier than this and I had to face it. It was time to grow up. I did, and the sampler helped. As I stitched the piece, I thought about the good things in our relationship. I thought about how lucky I was. The girl who made the original sampler dealt with a lot more death than I would in the 20th century. How many siblings had she lost? Did she even make it to maturity?

I'm sure that there are a lot of reasons for making these samplers. It was the response of a nation when our first president and leader, George Washington died. Thousands of samplers were made to honor him and to deal with the grief. More about that in the next blog.

Thank you, Ancestors

2005-02-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

I like to do some research on a sampler style and then I pick one of my ancestors and include that person's name. After getting into genealogy, I realized that I had so many ancestors who came to the US when life was primitive. They emigrated because they wanted land and a better life for their descendants. Many came here for religious freedom. They were willing to undergo hardship for their convictions. Most knew that they would never reap the rewards themselves, but they did it for their children. The more I learned the more I wanted to honor these people, so I decided that I would make my samplers as a tribute to them. Some of these samplers I design and some are reproductions or in a particular style.

Most of my ancestors were here before the American Revolution. That meant that they endured a harrowing 4-6 month journey across the ocean, and there was very little here when they reached these shores...if they survived. I may have had a wealthy ancestor here or there, but most of my ancestors were small landowners. Their houses were built with wood they chopped. The food they ate was raised by them. Life was fraught with danger. There is a record in the church in Rhode Island that my ancestors went to. A couple was killed by Indians while they were on the way to church. My ancestors were there when it happened. Scary, isn't it?

Although these samplers are a tribute to these women, I have to be careful to stitch the tribute in such a way as to not confuse sampler collectors 100 years from now. Can you imagine what a chore it would be to date such a sampler? They'd have 21st century fabric and thread and a date of 1700. The more I learn about samplers, the more I learn about my ancestors..and about myself.

Dutch Sampler I

2005-02-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

Dutch Sampler I: This was a very easy sampler and a lot of fun to work. The motifs are taken from German and Dutch samplers and was published in a McCalls magazine. I have a companion piece I hope to finish this year.

No Winter in Thy Year

2005-02-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

This was a fun sampler based on the house samplers a young girl my stitch in the beginning of her education. I could just see a young girl working on this. She would have loved putting in the dogs and cats. What about that little squirrel looking thing just outside the yard? It gives me the feeling that these samplers might have been a lot of fun for young girls as well as a means of education.

1663

2005-02-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

1663 This is a sampler I hope to get to this year. It is a typical Dutch sampler with sample bands on the left and the names of friends and family around the borders.

The Kingdom of God

2005-02-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is a sample of the two column sampler. I plan to use this format for a genealogy sampler.

Sea of Time

2005-02-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

In honor of Elizabeth Upshur Bowdion

Elizabeth Gelderner

2005-02-02T10:06:00.000-08:00

This sampler I designed to honor my 6th great gradmother who was born in Holland about 1772. She married Adam Staats 28 August 1744 in New York. I chose motifs from old Dutch samplers and put her initials and mine in the center.

Mary Trimble 1812

2005-02-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

Mary Trimble made a sampler similar to this in 1812 when she was 8 years old. I tried to make a faithful reproduction but there were too many areas where I could not follow her pattern. I decided to make a sampler that was based on her sampler instead.

Mourning the Smart Family

2005-02-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

My design: Mourning the Smart Family. This was made to coordinate with the Joanne Harvey sampler and as a memorial to dear friends who were killed in an airplane crash.

Joanne Harvey Sampler

2005-02-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

Joanne Harvey Sampler

Mourning September 11

2005-02-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

Mourning those who died September 11

Mourning President Reagan

2005-02-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorite Samplers

We've Only Just Begun!

2005-02-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Just give me a needle and I'll be happy! That includes knitting needles, tapestry needles, sewing needles, embroidery needles, betweens, cross-stitch needles and crochet hooks. If you can do it with a needle, I love it.

I think better with my needles in hand. If I have to plan for a party or dinner or holiday, I head for my knitting chair and grab whatever is in progress. If you "needle" you know that this is not a waste of time. My needles help me think. They relax my mind until is is smooth as glass and pretty soon things start to come slowly to the top. I have my planner by my side and jot down what ever burbles forth.

Whether I am wound up, exhausted or wounded, my needles smooth the waters until life gets back on track again. The busier I am, the more I need my needles. There is this Zen thing...or maybe Yoga for the brain. When life unravels, my needles bring back order.