Sunday, December 15, 2019

Yopping Update #24 - Advent knitting continues

Welcome Dear Readers.  I hope your day is going well.  Today will mostly be pictures because I have napping to do today (see further down to see why!)  So let's get started.  First my daily Advent knits:

Rudolf - December 8

December 9 - Bell

December 10 - Reindeer sweater

December 11 - Bluebird of happiness


December 12 - Little pink Heart 
December 13 - Snowman (note his handknit scarf!)



December 14 - well?  It is suppose to be a drum (my son says it looks like a macaroon)
All hung on an i-cord garland on our fireplace

December 14 - 2nd knit to redeem myself from aforementioned drum




The testknit socks got some attention
I got the yarn I wanted for the contrasting colour on my Sandhill County Shawl.

This took about 2 hours to make into a ball because the skein was horribly tangled!



I hope to get to it today after my advent knit - but I was up at 4:30am to take my son to the airport (he was in town for a mere 14 hours) and today may be spent napping....a lot!

It is the third Sunday of Advent so the animals have joined the wreath.

In the third week of Advent shine
The wondrous beasts of every kind
Beasts who tread upon the earth
And gave their stable for the birth.
Now the beasts are on the earth
Waiting for the Christ child's birth.




I also wanted to leave you this week with a poem that was hung on the wall at the Hope Center where I go for counselling and support.

St. Francis and the Sow

The bud
stands for all things,
even those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness
to put a hand on the brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as St Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of
the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking
and blowing beneath them;
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Galway Kinnell


Blessings on you all during this third week of Advent.To follow other Yoppers check out their links on the right side top of this post right below my profile.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Yopping Update #23 - Advent Calendar


For at least two years I have wanted to make 24 little knits for Advent.  I made a few last December, but I once again added all the Advent knits to my Year of Projects list.  As December hoved into view I realized I had once again fallen short of my Advent knitting goals.

So I decided to knit one little advent knit a day DURING Advent.

Santa gnome - December 1

Yarn basket - December 2
Candy Cane - December 3
Gingerbread Man Applique for Grand-daughter's Christmas Stocking  - December 4
Santa Penguin - December 5
Wreath - December 6
Little bear Ornament - December 7
I decided how to display my advent mitts I knit earlier this year.  I found the advent calendar I had made when my children were small and I put a mitt into each little pocket.  Each day I take the mitt of the day out and clip it to the front of the calendar.  It is hanging in our living room so each day I hang a new mitt and then knit a new advent knit. 




I finished the leg of the first Knitflix sock and am about 1/2 done on the second leg.  By then I will have decided which heel to do - so many to choose from. (and we all know how much I LOVE making decisions.)



I am one repeat away from finishing the first section of the Sandhill County Shawl.  This is a very peaceful knit so far and I am ready to add the colour and begin the lace section.



I finally blocked my Clapotis shawl that I finished a few weeks ago:


I have added holly and ivy to my Advent Wreath.



In the second week of Advent shine
The plants and berries on the vine
the green grass and the lovely trees
and all the flowers that we see.
Now the plants are on the earth
Waiting for the Christ child's birth.