Thanksgiving Peace

Last Thanksgiving I entertained a house full of family and it was great. This year we will be celebrating with friends at their home. And boy do they celebrate! There will be an abundance of good things. Every traditional Thanksgiving food will be spread out before us. There will be two turkeys, one roasted and one deep fried. Friends, music, games, a couple of dogs and probably  some silly hats will complete the jovial scene. Above all that, together we will thank our God for blessing us so richly. On the eve of this good day I was left with not much to do. No cooking, no house to get ready. So I took the girls out for a very chilly nature walk. I brought coffee and donuts and went searching for the perfect spot for our “coffee party”. When the girls ran off to climb rocks and play in the leaves I just say there enjoying the silence. I watched as a tree lost it’s very last leaf. It gently fluttered down very dramatically, in slow motion. That’s when it hit me- Peace. I am so thankful for the peace in my life, the peace in my home, the peace in my spirit. With a culture always on high-speed peace may seem hard to come by. But peace is free and peace is calling.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.”

Colossians 3:15

more precious than jewels

My grandmother passed away about a year ago. My father has been steadily cleaning out her house since then. He recently called me to say that he found “more of those knitting needle things, some really strange looking ones.” So, of course I had to go over and claim them before they went into the garbage can. I guess some of them are kind of strange looking to a non-knitter. My Grandma Jean was a serious knitter. Lots of circulars, straight needles, double pointed needles and crochet hooks. Some are so old that I’ve never seen any like them before. The color has been  worn off the tips and the thinner needles are actually bent from so much use. There are stitch holders and stitch counters so old and brittle they crack when I try to use them. It turned out to be the perfect time for me to acquire these new treasures. Here I am knitting a sweater, coming to that point where I need to switch over to a circular needle to finish the neck. I wasn’t liking the idea that I had to go out and buy new needles for 2 inches of neck. I kept putting it off. Would you believe there in grandma’s stash was the right size circular I needed? Brand new and in it’s original packaging! They are great too, super pointy (which I like) and very smooth. When I use my grandmother’s needles I feel closer to her than say, when wearing her jewelry. The bent, worn out needles are a testimony to my grandmother’s character. Which makes them more precious than jewels.

Seaweed Scarf

While at the beach this past summer my daughter found a huge piece of seaweed. It was about as tall as she was. It was wide and flat in the middle but the edges were all frilled like ruffles. She began draping in and wrapping it around different parts of her body, making clothes out of it. It was so pretty I decided that when fall came I would make a scarf that looked just like it. I now have my seaweed scarf. My daughter didn’t know anything about my plan.  So, when I finished it I asked her what she thought it looked like. Her reply, “It’s seaweed! But, it’s the wrong color.”.

Yeah, she’s right, the real seaweed was browner, mine is more of a dull, mossy green because that’s what I want. I knitted the scarf and then crocheted around the edges to get the ruffled effect. Keeping true to the real seaweed it has one wide end and one thin end. When wound around my neck a couple of times it makes a nice warm ruff.